it is certain that a very considerable variety exists, differing so widely, that the people of one tribe cannot understand those of another. That some of the twenty-five are only corrupted dialects of the same language, there can be little doubt, having perhaps as near a resemblance to their parent, as some years ago those of Lancashire and Derbyshire bore to the English tongue; but in how many instances this may be the case, it is impossible to say. Of the Kachiquel and Quiché, manuscript grammars have been prepared by different friars,—but they appear to be very imperfect, and without lexicons are useless. The Spaniards have taken considerable pains to make Castilian the general medium of communication among the Indians, and have succeeded to a very considerable extent; almost; all of them being able to explain themselves in that tongue, although considerably corrupted by the mixture of Indian words.
The whole of the native languages are exceedingly guttural in their pronunciation, and in their construction are formed by what Humboldt terms “aggregation,” having no inflexion of the root. He says, “nothing strikes Europeans more, than the excessive length of the words. This length does not always depend on their being compounded as in the Greek, the German and the Sanscrit,—but on the manner of forming the
34
