world that approach them in the variety and extent of the
inflections of the verb, possessing at the same time such rigid
regularity of conjugation and precision of the meaning attached
to each part." It is calculated that the whole number of tenses
or shades of meaning which a Mpongwe radical verb may be made to
express, with the aid of its auxiliary particles, augmentatives,
and negatives--prefixes, infixes, and suffixes--is between twelve
and fifteen hundred, worse than an Arabic triliteral.

Liquid and eminently harmonious, concise and capable of
contraction, the Mpongwe tongue does not deserve to die out. "The
genius of the language is such that new terms may be introduced
in relation to ethics, metaphysics, and science; even to the
great truths of the Christian religion."

The main defect is that of the South African languages generally-
-a deficiency of syntax, of gender and case; a want of vigour in
sound; a too great precision of expression, rendering it clumsy
and unwieldy; and an absence of exceptions, which give beauty and
variety to speech. The people have never invented any form of
alphabet, yet the abundance of tale, legend, and proverb which
their dialect contains might repay the trouble of acquiring it.





Chapter V.

To Sanga-Tanga and Back.