classes, persons of equal rank put o before the names of each other's things, but not before their own; it is polite to say o before the names of all women, and well-bred children are distinguished from little peasants by the way in which they are careful to put it even before the nursery names of father and mother, o toto, o caca, which correspond to the papa and mama of Europe. A distinction is made in written language between o, which is put to anything royal, and oo which means great, as may be instanced in the use of the word mets'ké or 'spy' (literally 'eye-fixer'); o mets'ké is a princely or imperial spy, while oo mets'ké is the spy in chief. This interjectional adjective oo, great, is usually prefixed to the name of the capital city, which it is customary to call oo Yedo in speaking to one of its inhabitants, or when officials talk of it among themselves. And lastly, the o of honour is prefixed to verbs in all their forms of conjugation, and it is polite to say ominahai matse, 'please to see,' instead of the mere plebeian minahai matse. Now an English child of six years old would at once understand these formations if taken as interjectional; and if we do not incorporate in our grammar the o! of admiration and reverential embarrassment, it is because we have not chosen to take advantage of this rudimentary means of expression. Another exclamation, the cry of io! has taken a place in etymology. When added by the German to his cry of 'Fire!' 'Murder!' Feuerio! Mordio! it remains indeed as mere an interjection as the o! in our street cries of 'Pease-o!' 'Dust-o!' or the â! in old German wafenâ! 'to arms!' hilfâ! 'help!' But the Iroquois of North America makes a fuller use of his materials, and carries his io! of admiration into the very formation of compound words, adding it to a noun to say that it is beautiful or good; thus, in Mohawk, garonta means a tree, garontio a beautiful tree; in like manner, Ohio means 'river-beautiful:' and Ontario, 'hill-rock-beautiful,' is derived in the same way. When, in the old
