I have said that there are three kinds of Abipones, the _Riikahes_, the _Nakaikétergehes_, and the _Yaaukanigas_. All of them, however, speak the same language; all understand each other, and are understood. Yet each of these classes has some words peculiar to itself. The Riikahes call gnats _ayte_; the Nakaiketergehes _apatáye_. Both names are extremely suitable to gnats, for _ayte_ means many, and _apatáye_ is derived from _napàta_, a mat, which they use to cover their tents with; and so great is the multitude of gnats in the lands of the Abipones that the inhabitants seem not only covered but oppressed by them. To drink with the Riikahes is expressed by _neèt_, with the Nakaiketergehes by _nañàm_. The latter call a head _Lapañik_, the former _Lemařat_. The Yaaucanigas, in the use of words, sometimes imitate one, sometimes the other; but in a few they differ from both. The rest call the moon _Grauèk_, but they, by antonomasia, name it _Eergřaik_, a star. The rainbow is called by the rest, _Oáhetà_, but by the Yaaucanigas, _Apich_. But this variety creates neither difficulty nor wonder. The Teutonic language is used by many nations, but how greatly does it differ in different provinces, not only in dialect but also in words! How different is Tuscan from the languages spoken at Milan, Savoy, and Venice! How different is Castilian from the languages of Arragon, Andalusia, Navarre, and Valencia! CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE WEDDINGS OF THE ABIPONES. Whenever an Abipon thinks fit to choose a wife, he must bargain with the parents of the girl about the price to be payed for her. Four or more horses, strings of beads made of glass or snail-shells, a woollen garment of various colours, woven like a Turkish carpet, a spear furnished with an iron point, and other articles of this kind, are paid by the bridegroom. It frequently happens that the girl rescinds what had been settled and agreed upon between the parents and the bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage. Many girls, through fear of being compelled to marry, have concealed themselves in the recesses of woods or lakes; seeming to dread the assaults of tigers less than the untried nuptials. Some of them, just before they are to be brought to the bridegroom's house, fly to the chapel, and there, hidden behind the altar, elude the threats and the expectation of the unwelcome bridegroom.