After what hath been said of their language, it may be proper here to shew how they accent the consonants: I shall range them in the order of our alphabet, except those they pronounce after our manner. When _CH_ begins a word, or is prefixed to a vowel, it conveys a soft sound, as _Cháa_, “high;” but otherwise it is guttural: as is _D_, which is expressed by fixing the tip of the tongue between the teeth, as _Dawi_, for David. _G_ is always guttural, as we accent _Go_. They cannot pronounce _Gn_; and they have not the _Hh_, neither can it be expressed in their dialects, as their leading vowels bear the force of guttural consonants. They have not the JOD, as I can any way recollect, or get information of; nor can they repeat it, any nearer than _Chot_. They pronounce _K_, as in _Ko_; _L_ and _N_, as _D_—_S_, by fixing the tongue to the lower teeth; _T_ like _D_, as in the old Hibernian, or Celtic affirmative, _Ta_. They cannot pronounce _V_, or _X_; they call the governor of Moveel, (Mobille) _Goweno-Moweeleh_: and they have not a word which begins or ends with _X_. _KS_ are always divided into two syllables; as _Hak-se_, “mad,” &c. They have not the letter _Z_; much less any such harsh sound as _Tz_, although they have _Tl_. As they use the Hebrew consonants _Y_ and _W_, in their most solemn invocation YO HE WAH, instead of the present Hebrew _Jod_ and _Vau_; so they seem to exclude them intirely out of their various dialects: the pronunciation therefore of the Hebrew characters, which are supposed to convey the other sounds, they are unacquainted with; and those which seem to be transposed, may be clearly ascertained by persons of proper capacity and leisure, by comparing a sufficient number of Hebrew and Indian words together. The Indian accents, _Oo_, and _O_, _Qu_, and _Tl_, may, prove a pretty good key to speculative enquirers. _Tl_ often occur in their words; as _Tlumba_, “to bleed with a lancet, to bore, scoop, or make any thing hollow;” and _Heettla_, “to dance.” And the South-Americans, we are told, had likewise the same sound, as in that national name, _Tlaskala_: it seems to have been universal over the extensive continent. And, from a similarity of the Hebrew manners, religious rites, civil and martial customs, we have a strong presumptive proof, that they used the aforesaid double vowels, and likewise a single vowel, as a termination, to give their words a soft accent: and it is plain to me, that the Hebrew language did not sound so harsh, as it is now commonly expressed, but like the American dialects it was interspersed with vowels, {62} and a vowel was commonly subjoined to each word, for the sake of a soft cadence; as _Abele_, and _Ale_, instead of אבל, _Abel_, and אל, _Al_ &c.