added to the nouns without being conjoined to them in writing, (except the plural ending pi,) as is also the case in the Mongolian language, the Turco-Tartar dialects, and other tongues of this class. 7 We see in the historical development of our own modern languages an abundance of similar phenomena; thus in respect of the mere quasimonumental, and, as it were, fossil existence of labials, such, for instance, as b, p; and in regard to English words like debt, which in French long ago became dette. In English the b of debt (= debitum) has become only silent, while in French, on the contrary, it has now no tolerance whatever, even as an historical landmark. There is, in fact, more conservatism in English. The French appears a more volatile, changeable element, even in the minor details of the language. Thus, again, we have in English the word doubt, with petrified silent b, which they seem unwilling, as yet, to let go, while in French we have doute without that b. Many other examples might be adduced in support of this very simple and common fact in all languages. In sept, (seven,) the French still neglect ridding their language of that now useless silent p. They do, it seems, not affect such antiquities, and will, most likely, do with words like sept as they have done with clef, (clavis,) where the final labial ƒ became gradually silent but was left untouched. It is even now allowed to remain, but another form has already come into use at the same time with it, and a key is now a-days clef and clé. 8 This interchange is seen in almost all languages of one and the same family, when compared with each other; thus, for instance, the use of k instead of t constitutes one of the characteristic differences between the Hawaiian tongue of the Sandwich Islands and the language of Tahiti, the Marquesan, Rarotangan, &c., both groups, however, belonging to the Malayo-Oceanic, or more particularly the Micronesian stock. 9 é' stands here for a letter that does not strictly belong to the word, viz. y, which is merely inserted euphonically between hoksi and opa. 10 We venture this derivation so much the more boldly, inasmuch as the etymology of bread, brod, &c., is, in a degree, still an open question, Grimm connecting it-though not particularly insisting thereon-with brocken, brechen, to break, &c., while Anglo-Saxon scholars endeavor to trace the English word bread to breadan, (to nourish,) which, however, seems rather to be a denominative verb, such as lighten from light. Their etymological attempts being mere opinions, mere assertions without proof, we feel encouraged to maintain ours. T 11 The in the Greek is is only an apparent exception to it, as is well understood by those conversant with the facts of comparative grammar. 12 There is some room left for an attempt to derive wakanka direct from wakan. The ideas possibly underlying such a derivation would appear to us rather far-fetched and fanciful. 13 Other Indian tribes call alcoholic liquor fire-water instead of spiritwater, as, for instance, the Chippewas, in whose language it is ishkode wabu, &c. 14 The word peźihuta is also applied to various other vegetable essen29 s 71 ces, beverages, &c. Thus, coffee is called peźihuta sapa, literally, black medicine; just as the Chippewas express it in their language by makade mashkiki wabu, (black medicine water.) 15 The word mini (water) is the same which is contained also in the name of Minnesota, (properly mini-sota,) meaning whitish water, and referring to the Wakpa minisota, which is the Minnesota or St. Peter's River, and also to the Mde minisota, the so-called "Clear Lake." 16 It is often the case that Indians give to other nations names simply derived from some entirely external, merely accidental, and altogether unessential circumstance or quality in these strangers, which at first principally struck their attention. Thus, for instance, the inhabitants of the United States are called by the Dakotas Isantanka, meaning Big Knives; by the Chippewas, kitchimokoman, which likewise signifies Big Knives, probably from the swords of the United States soldiers in the Territories. 17 Just in the same way, the erroneous orthography of "Minnesota” was introduced for the more correct Minisota; and this is seen again— we mention it in passing-in that monstrous Dakota-Greek compound, "Minneapolis," meaning " Watertown." 18 Any such meanings of ihaha, as "to bubble" and making a noise like that of waterfalls must be considered simply as secondary, as a mere extension of the original signification of that word, viz. laughing, i+haha, mouth-curling, as it were; nothing whatever being contained in the constituents of that word which could have even the remotest reference to water or a cascade. The word itself seems to follow this deviation from its proper import, being even differently accentuated in that sort of figurative acceptation, viz. ihaha instead of iħáha. 19 Similar blunders frequently occur. Thus, in the erroneous and unmeaning English translation of Indian names generally-for instance, of "Hole-in-the-Day"-in which word it was intended to express simply one who (as a powerful archer) perforates the sky with his arrows, which we could easily place beyond any doubt, if it would not lead us too far from our present subject. So have travelers, too, themselves put the words "squaw," "papus," &c., into the mouths of the Dakotas, though these words belong exclusively to widely different tribes, and are on other occasions again repeated by the Dakota Indians to strangers, as they simply suppose such words to be English, and, therefore, more intelligible to the latter! The same applies to the Chippewa word "nibo," (he died or is dead,) which travelers, probably deeming it the general and only Indian term for that idea, taught, as it were, to the Dakotas, who constantly make use of it in their conversation with Americans, mistaking it in turn and in like manner for an English word, or some. thing more easily accessible to the mind of the strangers. METEOROLOGY. [The following notes, derived from correspondence or from observation and reflection, are especially intended for the meteorological observers of the Institution principally in the way of answering queries, which have been frequently propounded. They may, however, be found of interest to the general reader.-J. H.] METEOROLOGY OF PORTO RICO, Mr. George Latimer, from Philadelphia, one of the correspondents of the Institution, who has resided on the island of Porto Rico (rich in gold) since 1834, informs us that the northeast trade-winds prevail on the island every day of the year from about 9 o'clock in the morning until sunset; while at night there is a strong land-breeze toward the ocean on all sides of the island. The latter is stronger, however, on the west end and on the north side, which is probably owing to the greater slope of the land toward the sea in these parts. During the rainy season, which is from the end of May to the end of October, the rain falls every day on the western portions of the island from 2 o'clock until sunset. This, however, is not the case on other parts of the island, which is divided longitudinally by a range of mountains 3,000 or 4,000 feet in elevation. These mountains turn up the current of the trade-wind air containing vapor into the colder regions, and cause its precipitation in rain on the northern slope, while on the south the land often suffers from drought for more than a year without interruption. On this side of the island irrigation is resorted to, and for this purpose there even exists a project to tunnel the mountains to conduct the water of one of the rivers from the north to the south. Mr. Latimer states that occasionally there is a cessation of the ordinary trade-wind when the air becomes almost entirely calm or light winds arise, which go entirely around the compass in the course of a few hours. This state of things frequently continues several days, and from these, as signs, Mr. Latimer has always been able to predict that a gale is blowing at the north. After the existence of a calm of ocean and air there invariably comes a heavy rolling sea from the north, so heavy that vessels cannot leave the harbor of Saint John, or load in any of the other ports on the northern side of the island. Also after this, in the course of a few hours, or in other cases after two days, comes a strong northerly wind, the return of the regular trade-wind, with much greater intensity than usual, and vessels arriving after short passages bring the intelligence of the predicted gale and its disastrous consequences. Colored bands diverging from the setting sun in the west, and converging to an opposite point in the east, are frequently seen through the summer and autumn in great beauty. REMARKS. The rainy season in the northern tropics takes place when the sun, having a northern declination, heats in the greatest degree the land during the day, producing ascending columns of air, which, carrying up the vapor it contains into higher and colder regions cause it to be precipitated in rain, the precipitation commencing as soon as the heat from the sun begins to diminish a little after midday. The phenomenon mentioned by Mr. Latimer in regard to the occasional cessation of the trade-winds may possibly be connected with the occurrence of storms on the continent of North America, or perhaps with the remarkable wind known in Texas as the "norther." This wind prevails from the Mississippi River to the Rio Grande and commences about the 1st of September and ends about the 1st of May. The day previous is marked by an unusual warmth and closeness of the atmosphere and an almost perfect calm. The first appearance of the tempest is a cloud in the north, which approaches the observer sometimes with great and at other times with less velocity, and frequently passes over his head in a series of arches composed of dense clouds separated by lighter portions. The thermometer frequently falls 30 degrees. On one occasion recorded the temperature fell in the course of three hours from 75° F. to a degree sufficient to produce ice an inch thick. After a day or two the norther is followed by an unusual cold wind from the south, as if the norther were returning. It is said to be most intense near Corpus Christi, Texas, and that it does not occur in Florida. The norther is probably due to a stratum of air along the border of the Gulf, abnormally moist and consequently heated, produced by a surface current from the south, which gradually attaining a state of unstable equilibrium is suddenly forced upward into a higher region by a heavier wind from the north. The violence of the wind, and consequently the intensity of the cold, will depend upon the distance northward to which the moist stratum extends previous to its overturn by the heavy air from the north. The norther, it is said, is not felt at sea in the Gulf. This would indicate what we would readily suppose, that the greatest rarefaction of air due to heat and moisture takes place over the land along the borders of the water.-[J. H.] METEOROLOGY OF THE GREEN RIVER COUNTRY. BY COLONEL COLLINS. Colonel Collins has been for three years in the Wind and Green River country. The Green River becomes the great Colorado of the west, which empties into the Gulf of California, and the Wind River becomes the Big Horn, and runs into the Yellowstone, which in turn empties into the Missouri. It often happens that rivers in the western part of the United States have different names in different parts of their course, and this appears to be especially the case when a river passes through a cañon; the fact not being known before exploration that it is the same stream at the two ends of the chasm. The climate in the region above mentioned is very dry, electrical appearances being manifest in currying horses or brushing clothes, and dew is very seldom seen. Along the Wind River range the storms come from the northwest and follow the chain to the southeast. On some of the high peaks of this region there is often seen a cloud-cap remaining stationary sometimes for a day or more, while a high wind is prevailing at the same time on the plains and valleys below, with a clear atmosphere in all other parts of the sky. The cap appears compact and distinct in outline and perfectly stationary. The peaks of the Wind River range are all covered with perpetual snow. There are no trees on the plains, or anywhere in the vicinity, except on the mountain-sides from their base up to near the snow-line. Frost at the foot of the mountains and in the valleys occurs almost every night during the summer. On the 4th of July, 1862, at the camp at the head of Sweet-Water River, the ice was formed from half to threequarters of an inch thick. The summer frost, although it does not kill the hardy grasses, will not allow the cultivation of grains and vegetables. Heat and moisture, the two essential conditions of growth, are wanting, though, in the very deepest valleys, perhaps, grain could be raised by irrigation, since the temperature in these is considerably higher than on the mountains. The winter was exceedingly cold; at Fort Laramie in 1864 the mercury was frozen and continued solid on the 4th of January for four hours; on the 5th fifteen, and on the 6th for twelve hours, while in the warmest part of each day the thermometer never rose above minus 20°. "I had command," says Colonel Collins, "at the time, of Fort Laramie, and had great difficulty in keeping the garrison warm. Fuel had to be drawn a distance of about fifteen miles. Every winter a number of men were frozen to death, being usually overtaken by snow storms. When the greatest cold occurs the air is perfectly still and very transparent-the transparency is so perfect that objects are seen a long way off with such distinctness as to give rise to mistakes as to their actual distance. |