Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Allurement Of Commerce, And A
Long Abode Of The Roman Legions, Had Promoted Intercourse Between
Them And Their Conquerors.
We see, on the contrary, that the
introduction of the languages of the mother-countries was met by
obstacles almost innumerable, wherever Carthaginian, Greek, or
Roman colonies were established on coasts entirely barbarous.
In
every age, and in every climate, the first impulse of the savage is
to shun the civilized man.
The language of the Chayma Indians was less agreeable to my ear
than the Caribbee, the Salive, and other languages of the Orinoco.
It has fewer sonorous terminations in accented vowels. We are
struck with the frequent repetition of the syllables guaz, ez,
puec, and pur. These terminations are derived in part from the
inflexion of the verb to be, and from certain prepositions, which
are added at the ends of words, and which, according to the genius
of the American idioms, are incorporated with them. It would be
wrong to attribute this harshness of sound to the abode of the
Chaymas in the mountains. They are strangers to that temperate
climate. They have been led thither by the missionaries; and it is
well known that, like all the inhabitants of warm regions, they at
first dreaded what they called the cold of Caripe. I employed
myself, with M. Bonpland, during our abode at the hospital of the
Capuchins, in forming a small catalogue of Chayma words. I am aware
that languages are much more strongly characterised by their
structure and grammatical forms than by the analogy of their sounds
and of their roots; and that the analogy of sounds is sometimes so
disguised in different dialects of the same tongue, as not to be
recognizable; for the tribes into which a nation is divided, often
designate the same objects by words altogether heterogeneous. Hence
it follows that we readily fall into mistakes, if, neglecting the
study of the inflexions, and consulting only the roots (for
instance, in the words which designate the moon, sky, water, and
earth), we decide on the absolute difference of two idioms from the
mere want of resemblance in sounds. But, while aware of this source
of error, travellers would do well to continue to collect such
materials as may be within their reach. If they do not make known
the internal structure, and general arrangement of the edifice,
they may point out some important parts.
The three languages now most used in the provinces of Cumana and
Barcelona, are the Chayma, the Cumanagota, and the Caribbee. They
have always been regarded in these countries as different idioms,
and a dictionary of each has been written for the use of the
Missions, by Fathers Tauste, Ruiz-blanco, and Breton. The
Vocabulario y Arte de la Lengua de los Indios Chaymas has become
extremely scarce. The few American grammars, printed for the most
part in the seventeenth century, passed into the Missions, and have
been lost in the forests. The dampness of the air and the voracity
of insects* render the preservation of books almost impossible in
those regions (* The termites, so well known in Spanish America
under the name of comegen, or 'devourer,' is one of these
destructive insects.): they are destroyed in a short space of time,
notwithstanding every precaution that may be employed.
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