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PREFACE.
xi
examination of a new form of speech, or a comparison with other dialects of the same tongue. To the philosopher, it offers the interesting study of a new and, as yet, unsophisticated people—and, perhaps, the only people now existing on the earth, in a completely uncivilised and savage state; whilst to the missionary, who devotes himself to the task of enlightening and converting this simple and primitive race, it will afford great facility in his labours, and place him at once upon a vantage-ground which he might otherwise lose much time in attaining. That it may be found conducive to each and all of these objects, is the ardent wish of
