elve hundred miles from Gabun to Cape
Palmas, about two thousand miles from Gabun to Senegambia, and about
six hundred miles from Cape Palmas to Gambia. It is fair to presume
that these tribes are sufficiently distant from each other to be
called strangers. An examination of their languages may not fail to
interest.

It has been remarked somewhere, that a people's homes are the surest
indications of the degree of civilization they have attained. It is
certainly true, that deportment has much to do with the polish of
language. The disposition, temperament, and morals of a people who
have no written language go far toward giving their language its
leading characteristics. The Grebo people are a well-made, quick, and
commanding-looking people. In their intercourse with one another,
however, they are unpolished, of sudden temper, and revengeful
disposition.[90] Their language is consequently _monosyllabic_. A
great proportion of Grebo words are of the character indicated. A few
verbs will illustrate. _Kba_, carry; _la_, kill; _ya_, bring; _mu_,
go; _wa_, walk; _ni_, do; and so on. This is true of objects, or
nouns. _Ge_, farm; _bro_, earth; _w[)e]nh_, sun; _tu_, tree; _gi_,
leopard; _na_, fire; _yi_, eye; _bo_, leg; _lu_, head; _nu_, rain;
_kai_, house. The Grebo people seem to have no idea of syllabication.
They do not punctuate; but, speaking with the rapidity with which they
move, run their words together until a whole sentence might be taken
for one word. If any thing has angered a Grebo he will say, "_E ya mu
kra wudi_;" being interpreted, "It has raised a great bone in my
throat." But he says it so quickly that he pronounces it in this
manner, _yamukroure_. There are phrases in this language that are
beyond the ability of a foreigner to pronounce. It has no
contractions, and often changes the first and second person of the
personal pronoun, and the first and second person plural, by lowering
or pitching the voice. The orthography remains the same, though the
significations of those words are radically different.

The Mpongwe language is largely polysyllabic. It is burdened with
personal pronouns, and its adjectives have numerous changes in
addition to their degrees of comparison. We find no inflections to
suggest case or gender. The adjective _mpolo_, which means "large,"
carries seven or eight forms. While it is impossible to tell whether a
noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, they use one adjective for all
fou