The greatest diversity of languages, or rather of dialects, exists in the islands, arising probably from the fact of Friesic not being a written language. The dialect of the furthest west approaches nearer to English than any other. The people of _Amrum_ are proud of the similarity. They retain the _th_ of the old Icelandic, and have a number of words in which the resemblance of their ancient form of speech to the old Anglo-Saxon English is more apparent than in even the Danish of the present day; as, for instance, _Hu mani mile?_ How many miles? _Bradgrum_, bridegroom; _theenk_, think, &c. In many of the words advanced by Mr Kohl, that gentleman evidently betrays an unconsciousness of their being synonymous with the modern Danish; and, therefore, strikingly inimical to his favourite theory of the especial Friesic descent of the English people and language. Little or nothing is known of the actual geographical propagation of the old Friesic. At present it is yielding to the Danish and the Low German in the duchies of Sleswig and Holstein. Many names are still common amongst the people, which seem to have descended from the heathen epoch, and which are, in fact, more frequently heard than the names in the "Roman Calendar," met with elsewhere. _Des_, _Edo_, _Haje_, _Pave_, _Tete_, are the names of men; _Ehle_, _Tat_, _Mantje_, _Ode_, _Sieg_, are those of women. None of them are known amongst any other people. Much confusion exists with respect to the patronymic, there being no surnames in use in many of the islands. If a man were called _Tete_, his son _Edo_ would be _Edo Tetes_; and then, again, _Tat_, the wife of the _Edo_, would be _Tat Edos_, and his son _Des_, _Des Edos_; whilst _Des's_ son _Tete_ would be _Tete Des's_, and so on in the most troublesome and perplexing combinations.