most part, very simple, since generally the 1st pers. sing. of the Pres. may be used and declined as a substantive noun. For the reason that almost all nouns may be regarded as collectives, the plural number of them is very seldom used, but its place is supplied by the collective form; but the plural, when it is used, is nearly always considered as feminine, and takes the verb in the fem. sing.

In regard to declension, a peculiar feature must be noticed. The author remarks that he knew of nothing analogous to it, unless it were in the Semitic verb. "For, as in that, the 3d pers. sing. pret., being the simplest form of the verb, is placed first in the conjugation; so in the Galla, not the nominative, but the accusative is placed first in the declension, since the latter is the most simple form, though not always the pure root. My authorities, at every question concerning a substantive, always answered with the accusative." This and the nominative are, strictly speaking, the only real cases; the other relations being marked by position, or by affixing certain particles (postpositions). The Genitive is usually expressed by placing the accusative after the nominative which governs it. Very often, the relation denoted by our genitive (possessive), is expressed by the dative, as in English: obolezi abakoti (ti sign of the dat.), lit. The brother to my father. If any other case than the nominative governs the genitive, the sign of its case is affixed to the latter; e. g. niti Butati djeď'e, He said to the wife of Buta.

There appears to be no particular relative pronoun in Galla; its place is either supplied by the demonstrative pronoun, or by the construction of the sentence itself. This is analogous to what we observe in the language of ignorant persons and children, who use simple constructions with the personal pronoun, and rarely connect them by a relative. To this circumstance and the frequently imperfect manner of expressing the relations, is to be ascribed the great want of logical clearness in the construction of sentences in this language. The confusion is increased by constantly-occurring abbreviations of vowels, especially in the particles, which are nearly always affixed. Hence it frequently happens that a single consonant, which may represent several very different particles, is our only guide to the sense of a phrase. The propensity for affixes is carried to such extent, that the language (at least as written by Tutschek) appears to incline towards agglomeration.

The character of the language is soft and musical. It has such a decided propensity to vowels, that not a single word ends with a consonant; no word begins with two consonants; and wherever, in inflection, three consonants would meet together, the harshness is avoid

1849.]

Translation of Isaiah Thirteenth and Fourteenth.

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ed either by intercalating a vowel or by displacing the consonants themselves; finally, the rougher consonants are proportionally rare, whilst the softer ones are frequent. It is especially adapted for versification; and though the Galla poetry is otherwise very poor, rhyme is so much cultivated, that it occurs not only at the end of lines, but also frequently in the middle, and even at the end of every foot.

As might be concluded from what we have stated of the language, the objective element greatly predominates. The Galla abounds in words descriptive of impressions from without, whilst there are few terms that mark the processes of the intellect, or denote the results of reflection.

ARTICLE VIII.

TRANSLATION OF THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS OF ISAIAH, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES.

XIII.

By Prof. B. B. Edwards.

Translation.

1. Sentence against Babylon, which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw.

2. On the mountain bare, lift up the banner!

Raise the voice to them [the Medes] !

Wave the hand;

That they may enter the gates of the tyrants.

3. I have given command to my consecrated ones,

Also I have summoned my mighty ones, to [execute] my

anger,

My proud exulters.

4. The voice of a multitude on the mountains,

As of a people great,

The voice of the tumult of kingdoms, nations gathered

together;

Jehovah of hosts mustereth the armies for battle.

5. They come from a country afar,

From the end of the heavens,

Jehovah and the weapons of his indignation,

To destroy the whole land.

6. Howl! for near is the day of Jehovah,

As a destruction from the Almighty it cometh. 7. Therefore all hands are faint,

And every heart of man melteth.

8. And they are confounded;

Throes and writhings take hold of them,
As a woman that travaileth, they are in pangs;
One at another looketh in amazement,

Faces of flames their faces.

9. Lo! the day of Jehovah cometh,

Terrible, with wrath, and the burning of anger,
To make the land a desolation,

And her sinners he shall destroy out of her.

10. For the stars of the heaven and their constellations

Shall not give their light,

Darkened the sun in his going forth,

And the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11. And I will visit on the world its wickedness,

And on sinners their iniquity;

And I will cause to cease the arrogancy of the proud,

And the haughtiness of the violent, I will lay low;

12. Rarer will I make men than fine gold,

And men than the gold of Ophir.

13. Therefore, the heavens I will shake,

And tremble shall the earth from her place,

In the wrath of Jehovah of hosts,

And in the day of the burning of his anger.

14. Then as a gazelle chased,

And as sheep that no one gathereth,

Each to his people shall turn,

And each to his own land shall flee.

15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through,

And every one scraped together, shall fall by the sword; 16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes, Rifled shall be their houses,

And their wives shall be ravished.

17. Lo! I will stir up against them the Medes,

Who - silver do not regard,

And gold they do not delight in it;

18. And their bows shall dash in pieces the young men,

And the fruit of the womb, they shall not pity,

1849.]

Translation of Isaiah Thirteenth and Fourteenth.

19. Thus Babylon, the gazelle of kingdoms,

The beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans,

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Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; 20. It shall not be inhabited forever,

It shall not be dwelt in from generation to generation,

And the Arabian shall not pitch tent there,

And shepherds shall not cause their flocks to lie down there. 21. But shall couch there the wild beasts of the desert,

And filled shall their houses be of owls,

And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell there,

And the wild goats shall dance there,

22. And jackals shall howl in their palaces,
And wild dogs in their houses of delight,
And near to come is her time,

And her days shall not be prolonged.

XIV. 1. For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob,

And will yet delight in Israel,

And set them in their own land,

And the strangers shall be joined to them,

And shall add themselves to the house of Jacob;

2. And the nations shall take them,

And bring them to their place;

And the house of Israel shall possess them,

In the land of Jehovah, for servants and for handmaids;

And they shall capture their captors,

And shall rule over their oppressors.

8. And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah giveth

rest to thee,

From thy pain and from thy sorrow,

And from the hard bondage

With which thou wast made to serve, 4. Then thou shalt take up this song Against the king of Babylon, and say: "How ceaseth the oppressor!

At an end the exactress of gold!

5. Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked,
The sceptre of tyrants!

6. That smote the nations in wrath,

Strokes without intermission,
Who ruled with anger the people,
Persecution without ceasing !"

7. At rest and in quiet is the whole earth, They break forth into singing.

8. Also the fir trees rejoice over thee,

The cedars of Lebanon;

'Since thou art laid low,

There has not come up the feller against us.' 9. Sheol from beneath is moved for thee,

To meet thee at thy coming;

It stirreth up for thee the ghosts,

All the mighty of the earth,

It raiseth up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10. They all answer and say unto thee:

'Art thou also weak as we ?

To us art thou become like ?'

11. Brought down to Sheol is thy pomp,
The sound of thy harps;

Under thee is spread out the worm,
And thy coverlet is the worm;

12. How art thou fallen from heaven!

Shining star! son of the morning!
How art thou cast down to the ground,
That didst triumph over the nations ;'

13. But thou saidst in thy heart:

'The heavens I will ascend,

Above the stars of God I will raise my throne,

And I will sit on the mount of the congregation,
In the recesses of the North,

14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'

15. Surely to Sheol art thou brought down,

To the recesses of the pit.

16. They that see thee shall narrowly look

Thee they shall consider [and say]: 'Is this the man that shook the earth, That caused the nations to quake?

upon

17. That made the world like the wilderness? And its cities overthrew ?

His prisoners he sent not homeward.'

18. All the kings of the nations,

All of them lie in glory,

Each in his house,

19. But thou art cast away from thy sepulchre,

thee;