ost nouns undergo some change of
form, usually by adding an affix; _baru_ an axe, _dabarun_ my axe,
_iuli_ tobacco, _dajulite_ my tobacco.

ADJECTIVES.

The verb is the primitive part of speech in American tongues. To the
aboriginal man every person and object presents itself as either doing
or suffering something, every quality and attribute as something which
is taking place or existing. His philosophy is that of the extreme
idealists or the extreme materialists, who alike maintain that nothing
_is_, beyond the cognizance of our senses. Therefore his adjectives are
all verbal participles, indicating a state of existence. Thus _uessatu_
good, is from _uessan_ to be good, and means the condition of being good,
a good woman or thing, _uessati_ a good man.

Some adjectives, principally those from present participles, have the
masculine and neuter terminations _i_ and _u_ in the singular, and in
the plural _i_ for both genders. Adjectives from the past participles
end in the singular in _issia_ or _uessia_, in the plural in _annu_. When
the masculine ends in _illi_, the neuter takes _urru_, as _wadikilli_,
_wadikurru_, long.

Comparison is expressed by adding _ben_ or _ken_ or _adin_ (a verb
meaning to be above) for the comparative, and _apuedi_ for the
diminutive. _Ubura_, from the verb _uburau_ to be before in time, and
_adiki_, from _adikin_ to be after in time, are also used for the same
purpose. The superlative has to be expressed by a circumlocution; as
_tumaqua aditu ipirrun turreha_, what is great beyond all else;
_bokkia uessa dauria_, thou art better than I, where the last word is a
compound of _dai uwuria_ of, from, than. The comparative degree of the
adjectives corresponds to the intensive and frequentative forms of the
verbs; thus _ipirrun_ to be strong, _ipirru_ strong, _ipirrubin_ and
_ipirrubessabun_ to be stronger, _ipirrubetu_ and _ipirrubessabutu_
stronger, that which is stronger.

The numerals are wonderfully simple, and well illustrate how the
primitive man began his arithmetic. They are:--

1 abba.
2 biama, plural biamannu.
3 kabbuhin, plural kubbuhininnu.
4 bibiti, plural bibitinu.
5 abbatekkabe, plural abbatekabbunu.
6 abbatiman, plural abbatimanninu.
7 biamattiman, plural biamattimanninu.
8 kabbuhintiman, plural kabbuhintimanninu.
9 bibitiman, plural bibititumanninu.
10 biamantekabbe, plural biamantekabunu.

Now if we analyze these words, we discover that _abbatek