The African names for the above-mentioned objects analysed in Appendix A, amount to about 700. The corresponding and analogous terms introduced from the other three Continents are about treble that number. In determining the mutual relations of different languages, it is obviously not necessary to compare the whole of their component parts. All that is required is a comparison of such portions of each as may be justly viewed in the light of a satisfactory test. That the selected specimens of the languages of Africa are sufficiently _numerous_ for this end is plain. It only remains to be shown that their _nature_ is such as to render them eminently suitable and conclusive. Now it will be clear from the following considerations, that these specimens are peculiarly calculated to serve as a decisive test of the general composition and structure of languages. Terms for the Objects above enumerated will be found to include the greatest portion of the primary elements of all languages.(23) This proposition may be placed in the clearest light by means even of comparatively modern languages, for both modern and ancient tongues will be found principally to consist of the following elements: 1. The nouns above mentioned. Such nouns are in fact the names of the most familiar and conspicuous objects; of those objects which are common to all ages and countries. Verbs descriptive of the functions of such objects. 2. Names of Animals and Birds. 3. Names of Rivers, the Ocean, Hills, and Mountains. 4. Words expressive of Mental Qualities and Emotions. 5. Pronouns and other Conventional Grammatical Forms. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 1. Now, with the exception of the second, all these five classes of words may be shown to be mere modifications of those of the 1st class. 2. Moreover, as regards even the Second Class, names of Animals and Birds, terms of this description are also in a great number, perhaps in the majority of instances compounds chiefly consisting of terms of the First Class, viz., of the words for the “Members of the Body,” for “Water, Fire,” &c., as in “Red-_breast_,” “_Water-wag_ tail” (_English_). Sgyvarn-og “a Hare,” from Sgyvarn “an Ear” (_Welsh_). There are, it is true, some terms of this class of a more primitive origin, as they plainly consist of imitations of the characteristic cry or note of the Animal or Bird named, as for example “Cuck-oo” (_English_); “U-lu-la” (_Swedish_), “U-lu-l-aka” (_Sanscrit_), “An Owl.” But then it is plain that words of this kind are for the most part confined in their application to the objects designated and do not enter largely into the composition of languages. 3. Words for “Rivers” and “The Ocean” consist of terms for “Water.”