fifths of the whole population, are divided, and subdivided, amongst themselves, in the most extraordinary manner.
They consist of various tribes, resembling each other in colour, and in some general characteristics, which seem to announce a common origin, but differing entirely in language, custom, and dress. No less than twenty different languages are known to be spoken in the Mexican territory, and many of these are not dialects, which may be traced to the same root, but differ as entirely as languages of Sclavonic and Teutonic origin in Europe. Some possess letters, which do not exist in others, and, in most, there is a difference of sound, which strikes even the most unpractised ear. The low guttural pronunciation of the Mexican, or Aztec, contrasts singularly with the sonorous Otomi,[1] which prevails in the neighbouring state of Valladolid; and this again is said to be totally unlike the dialect of some of the northern tribes. There is not, perhaps, a question better worthy of the consideration of
- ↑ Wherever the Aztec tongue is in use, the letter r is unknown, while in the Otomi dialect, it occurs almost in every word. Thus we have Pŏpŏcătēpĕtl, Īztăccihuătl, Tĕnōchtĭtlān, and that unpronounceable word given by Humboldt, and signifying "venerable priest, whom I cherish as a father," Notlazomahuizteopixcatatzin,—all Aztec, and all without an r; while in Valladolid, the prevailing names are Ŏcāmbarŏ, Pŭrŭūndĭrŏ, Zitācŭarŏ, and Cĭnăpēcŭarŏ, in all of which r bears a prominent part.
