Long ā as in _father_ ē as in _they_ ī as in _pique_ ō as in _rode_ ū as in _rude_, _rood_ aw as in _lawn_ ê as in _there_ (without the _r_) ô as in _world_ (without the _r_) û is the _high-mixed_ vowel, not found in English. It may be pronounced as u. Short a as in _about_ (German _Mann_)—_not_ as in _hat_. e as in _set_ i as in _sit_ o as in _obey_ (N. Eng. _coat_)—_not_ as in _cot_. u as in _pull_, _foot_—_not_ as in _but_. The last four long vowels have also their corresponding shorts, but since these rarely occur, it has not been thought worth while to burden the scheme with extra characters to represent them. The diphthongs are combinations of one of these vowels, heavily stressed, and nearly always long in quantity—which makes it seem to us exaggerated or drawled—with a “vanish” of short _i_, _o_, (for _u_), or _a_. _ai_ (= English long i, y) and _ao_ (= English _ow_) are the only diphthongs with short initial element, and are to be distinguished from _āi_ and _āo_. In deference to long established usage in maps and the like, _ie_ is used in this volume where _ia_ would be the consistent spelling, and _oi_ for _awi_. * * * * * A word remains to be said concerning the name of the people among whom Dr. McGilvary spent his life. That name has suffered uncommonly hard usage, especially at the hands of Americans, as the following brief history will show. Its original form in European writing was _Lāo_, a fairly accurate transcription by early French travellers of the name by which the Siamese call their cousins to the north and east. The word is a monosyllable ending in a diphthong similar to that heard in the proper names _Macāo_, _Mindanāo_, _Callāo_. In French writing the name often appeared in the plural form, _les Laos_; the added _s_, however, being silent, made no difference with the pronunciation. This written plural, then, it would seem, English-speaking people took over without recognizing the fact that it was only plural, and made it their standard form for all uses, singular as well as plural. With characteristic ignorance or disregard of its proper pronunciation, on the mere basis of its spelling, they have imposed on it a barbarous pronunciation of their own—_Lay-oss_. It is to be regretted that the usage of American missionaries has been most effective in giving currency and countenance to this blunder—has even added to it the further blunder of using it as the name of the region or territory, as well as of the people. But the word is purely ethnical—a proper adjective like our words _French_ or _English_, and, like these, capable of substantive use in naming either the people or their language, but not their land. Needless to say, these errors have no currency whatever among European peoples excepting the