Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/249

 APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. ESKIMAUX. 213 permissive have, each, distinct inflections, according as, in the one, the person orders or asks, and, in the other, prays or asks. The subjunctive has a causative and a conditional form, and a third according as the action passes from the third person to the subject of the proposition, or to another third person or object. The infinitive by various inflections becomes a gerund either in the past, pluperfect, or future tenses. There is a future participle, but no participles proper, in the present or past tenses. (Mith.) In the conjunctive the equivocal character of the third person is distinguished by variations of a single letter. Thus in the equivocal sentence, " He was angry when he washed," the sound he is varied so as to show whether he (A) was angry, when he (B) washed him (A), or himself (B), or him (C) another person. The infinitive has a triple modification expressing " to wash," crmiklune ; * whilst he washes,' (participle present,) ermiksillune; 1 before he washes,' ermiksinanne ; each with varied inflec- tions, according as the agent washes himself, me, thee, another, and in the singular, dual, and plural. (Crantz.) Voices. — 'There is no voice passive proper; but this is ex- pressed by the insertion of the syllable si or ti before the passive person, adding the pronoun of the acting person. A great number of derived verbs is formed by adding to the primitive verb certain terminations which pervade every mood and tense, and modify the sense of the primitive. Such as arau, i he is used to, &c.' ; Jcarpok, ' he begins to, &c.' ; uar- pok, ' he continues to ' ; sacrpok, ' he ceases to, &c.' ; narpok, ' he does nothing but to, &c.' ; tarpok, ' he intends to ' ; jck- pok, ' he was on the point to, &c.' And there are also, instead of adverbs, particular termina- tions to express the ideas of, probably, in a different manner, better, ill, attentively, faithfully, hardly, rarely, as also, of wish- ing, expecting, doing for the first time, &c. (Mith.) Their compound verbs enable the Eskimaux to express a number of ideas by a single word. Thus, Aglegiartorasuarpok, * he goes away hastily to write ' ; (asuar, ' hastily.') AglekHgiartorasuarmarpok ; c he goes away hastily and ex- erts himself to write.' (Crantz.) Transitions. — What is most extraordinary, is the prodigious