“1.[2] The chief peculiarity is a drawling pronunciation, and sometimes accompanied by speaking through the nose, as _eend_ for _end_, _dawg_ for _dog_, _Gawd_ for _God_, &c. “2. Before the sounds _ow_ and _oo_, they often insert a short _i_, which we will represent by the _y_; as _kyow_ for _cow_, _vyow_ for _vow_, _tyoo_ for _too_, _dyoo_ for _do_, &c. “3.[3] The genuine Yankee never gives the rough sound to the _r_, when he can help it, and often displays considerable ingenuity in avoiding it, even before a vowel. “4. He seldom sounds the final _g_, a piece of self-denial, if we consider his partiality for nasals. The same may be said of the final _d_, as _han’_ and _stan’_ for _hand_ and _stand_. “5. The _h_ in such words as _while_, _when_, _where_, he omits altogether. “6. In regard to _a_, he shows some inconsistency, sometimes giving a close and obscure sound, as _hev_ for _have_, _hendy_ for _handy_, _ez_ for _as_, _thet_ for _that_; and again giving it the broad sound as in father, as _hansome_ for _handsome_.” “7. _Au_ in such words as _daughter_ and _slaughter_, he pronounces _ah_.” Wholly unconstrained at first by conventional usages, and almost beyond the reach of the law, the inhabitants of the West indulged, to the fullest extent, their propensity for fun, frolic, and the wild and exciting sports of the chase. Emigrants from the border States, they engrafted on the dialects of their native places exaggerations and peculiarities of their own, until they acquired almost a new language, the most remarkable feature of which is its amplification. Everything is superlative, awful, powerful, monstrous, dreadful, almighty, and all-fired. As specimens of these extravagancies four narratives of the Adventures of the celebrated Colonel Crocket are given, of which the humour consists mainly in the marvellous. As they were designed for “the million,” among whom the scenes are laid, rather than the educated class, they were found to contain many expressions unfit for the perusal of the latter, which I have deemed it proper to expunge. Other numbers in both volumes, liable to the same objection, have been subjected to similar expurgation, which, without affecting their raciness, has materially enhanced their value. The tales of both West and South are written in the language of the rural population, which differs as much from the Yankee dialect as from that of the Cockney. The vocabulary of both is most copious. Some words owe their origin to circumstances, and local productions, and have thence been spread over the whole country, and adopted into general use; such as[4] _backwoods_, _breadstuffs_, _barrens_, _bottoms_, _cane-brake_, _cypress-brake_, _corn-broom_, _corn-shucking_, _clearing_, _deadening_, _diggings_, _dug-out_, _flats_, _husking_, _prairie_, _shingle_, _sawyer_, _salt-lick_, _savannah_, _snag_.