Opuscula: Essays chiefly Philological and Ethnographical

by R. G. Latham

For the same parts we have vocabularies of four languages which are almost certainly mutually unintelligible. Two are from Baer's Beiträge; they were collected during the time of the Russian settlement at Ross. One represents the language of certain Indians called Olamentke, the other that of certain Indians called Khwakhlamayu. The other two are from the second part of Schoolcraft. One is headed Costano = the language of the Indians of the coast; the other Cushna. The language represented by the Cushna vocabulary can be traced as far inland as the Lower Sacramiento. Here we find the Bushumni (or Pujuni), the Secumni, the Yasumni, the Yalesumni, the Nemshaw, the Kiski, the Huk, and the Yukae tribes, whose languages, or dialects, are represented by three short vocabularies, collected by Mr. Dana, viz. the Pujuni, the Sekumne, and the Tsamak.

The following extract shows the extent to which these three forms of speech agree and differ:—

English.	Pujuni.	Sekumne.	Tsamak.
man	çune	mailik	mailik.
woman	kele	kele	kule.
child	——	maidumonai	——
daughter	——	eti	——
head	tçutçúl	tsol	tçultçul.
hair	oi	ono	oi.
ear	onó	bono	orro.
eye	watça	il	hil.
nose	henka	suma	——
mouth	moló	sim	——
neck	tokotók	kui	kulut.
arm	ma	wah	kalut.
hand	tçapai	ma	tamsult or tamtçut.
fingers	tçikikup	biti	tcikikup.
leg	pai	podo	bimpi.
foot	katup	pai	pai.
toe	tap	biti	——
house	hĕ	hĕ	——
bow	ōlumni	——	——
arrow	huiā	——	——
shoes	——	solum	——
beads	——	hawūt	——
sky	hibi	——	——
sun	oko	oko	——
day	oko	eki	——
night	——	po	——
fire	ça	sa	ça.
water	momi, mop	mop	momi.
river	lókolók	mumdi	munti.
stone	o	o	——
tree	tça	tsa	——
grapes	——	muti	——
deer	wil	kut	kut.
bird	——	tsit	——
fish	——	pala	——
salmon	mai	mai	——
name	——	ianó	——
good	huk	wenne	huk.
bad	——	tçoç	maidik.
old	——	hawil	——
new	——	be	——
sweet	——	sudúk	——
sour	——	oho	——
hasten	——	iewa	——
run	tshel	gewa	——
walk	iye	wiye	——
swim	pi	——	——
talk	wiwina	enun	——
sing	——	tsol	——
dance	——	paio	——
one	ti	wikte	——
two	teene	pen	——
three	shupui	sapui	——
four	pehel	tsi	——
five	mustic	mauk	——
six	tini, o (sic)	tini, a (sic)	——
seven	tapui	pensi (?) sic.	——
eight	petshei	tapau (?) sic.	——
nine	matshum	mutsum	——
ten	tshapanaka	aduk	——

On the Kassima River, a tributary of the Sacramiento, about eighty miles from its mouth lives a tribe whose language is called the Talatui, and is represented by a vocabulary of Mr. Dana's. It belongs, as Gallatin has suggested, to the same class with the language of San Raphael, as given in a vocabulary of Mr. Hale's:—

English.	Talatui.	San Raphael.
man	sawe	lamantiya.
woman	esuu	kulaish.
father	tata	api.
daughter	tele	ai.
head	tikit	molu.
ear	alok	alokh.
eye	wilai	shuta.
nose	uk	huke.
mouth	hube	lakum.
hand	iku	akue.
foot	subei	koio.
sun	hi	hi.
day	hi umu	hi.
night	ka-wil	walay uta.
fire	wike	waik.
water	kik	kiik.
stone	sawa	lupoii.
bird	lune, ti	kakalis.
house	kodja	koitaya.
one	kenate	kenai.
two	oyo-ko	oza.
three	teli-ko	tula-ka.
four	oiçu-ko	wiag.
five	kassa-ko	kenekus.
six	temebo	patirak.
seven	kanikuk (?) sic	semlawi.
eight	kauinda	wusuya.
nine	ooi	umarask.
ten	ekuye	kitshish.

North of San Francisco, at least along the coast, we have no vocabularies of any language undoubtedly and exclusively Californian. Thus, the Lutuami, the Shasti and Palaik are, in all probability, common to California and Oregon. Of each of these languages Mr. Hale has given us a vocabulary. The Lutuami live on the headwaters of the river and lake Tlamatl, or Clamet, conterminous on the south-east with the Palaiks, and on the south-west with the Shasti. The affinity between the Palaik and Lutuami seems to be somewhat greater than that between the Lutuami and Shasti.

And now we have gone round California; for, conterminous, on the east, with the Lutuami and Shasti are the Wihinast and Paduca with whom we began, and it is only by the comparatively narrow strip of country occupied by the three tribes just enumerated that the great Paduca area is separated from the Pacific. How far the Shasti and Palaik areas extend in the direction of the head-waters of the Sacramiento is uncertain. A separate language, however, seems to be represented by a vocabulary, collected by Mr. Dana from the Indians who lie about 250 miles from its mouth. From the Lutuami, the Shasti, the Palaik, and Jakon, northwards, and from the Pujuni, Talatui and other dialects lower down the river, it seems distinct. It is just more like the Jakon than any other form of speech equally distant. Neither is it Shoshoni:—

Engl.	U. Sacr.
sun	sas.
fire	po.
water	meim. momi Puj. Tsam. mop Sek.
hair	to-moi.
eye	tu-mut.
arm	keole.
finger	tsemut. tamtçut = hand Tsam.
leg	tole. kolo Talat.
foot	ktamoso.
knee	huiuk.
deer	nop.
salmon	monok.
nose	tsono. tusina Jakon. suma Sek.
mouth	kal. khai Jakon. hai Soledad.
chin	kentikut.
forehead	tei.
knife	kelekele.
iron	kelekele.
grape	uyulu.
rush	tso.
eat	ba, bas.
see	wila.
go	hara.

Slight as is this preponderance of affinity with the Jakon, it is not to be ignored altogether. The displacements between the two areas have been considerable and though the names of as many as five intermediate tribes are known, we have no specimens of their languages. These tribes are—