over, and thus shortening, or by throwing in floating particles of the language, to eke out the quantity, taken either from the chorus, or from the general auxiliary forms of the vocabulary. Rhyme is permitted by the similarity of the sounds from which the vocabulary is formed, but the structure of the language does not appear to admit of its being successfully developed in this manner. Its forms are too cumbrous for regularly recurring expressions, subjected at once to the laws of metre and rhyme. The instances of rhyme that have been observed in the native songs are few, and appear to be the result of the fortuitous positions of words, rather than of art. The following juvenile see-saw is one of the most perfect specimens noticed, being exact in both particulars: Ne osh im aun Ne way be naun. These are expressions uttered on sliding a carved stick down snow banks, or over a glazed surface of ice, in the appropriate season; and they may be rendered with nearly literal exactness, thus: My sliding stick I send quick--quick. Not less accurate in the rhyme, but at lines of six and eight feet, which might perhaps be exhibited unbroken, is the following couplet of a war song: Au pit she Mon e toeg Ne mud wa wa wau we ne goeg. The Spirit on high, Repeats my warlike name. In the translation of hymns, made during the modern period of missionary effort, there has been no general attempt to secure rhyme; and as these translations are generally due to educated natives, under the inspection and with the critical aid of the missionary, they have evinced a true conception of the genius of the language, by the omission of this accident. Eliot, who translated the psalms of David into the Massachusetts language, which were first printed in 1661, appears to have deemed it important enough to aim at its attainment: but an examination of the work, now before us, gives but little encouragement to others to follow his example, at least while the languages remain in their present rude and uncultivated state. The following is the XXIII Psalm from this version: 1. Mar teag nukquenaabikoo shepse nanaauk God. Nussepsinwahik ashkoshqut nuttinuk ohtopagod 2. Nagum nukketeahog kounoh wutomohkinuh wonk Nutuss [8]unuk ut sampoi may newutch [8]wesnonk. 3. Wutonkauhtamut pomushaon mupp[8]onk [8]nauhkoe Woskehettuonk mo nukqueh tam[8] newutch k[8]wetomah: 4. Kuppogkomunk kutanwohon nish n[8]nenehikquog K[8]noch[8] hkah anquabhettit wame nummatwomog 5. Kussussequnum nuppuhkuk weetepummee nashpea Wonk woi God n[8]tallamwaitch pomponetupohs hau 6. [8]niyeuonk monaneteonk nutasukkonkqunash Tohsohke pomantam wekit God michem nuttain pish[20].