[Footnote 18: _Wudijoo_, a mountain--_ong_ denotes locality.]
_16th_. I this day left the mess-table of my kind friends, the officers
of the second infantry, and went to the hospitable domicil of Mr.
Johnston, who has the warm-hearted frankness of the Irish character, and
offers the civilities of life with the air and manner of a prince. I
flatter myself with the opportunity of profiting greatly while under his
roof, in the polished circle of his household, and in his ripe
experience and knowledge of the Indian character, manners, and customs,
and in the curious philosophical traits of the Indian language. It is
refreshing to find a person who, in reference to this language, knows
the difference between the conjugation of a verb and the declension of a
noun. There is a prospect, at least, of getting at the grammatical
principles, by which they conjoin and build up words. It has been
intolerable to me to converse with Indian traders and interpreters here,
who have, for half their lives, been using a language without being able
to identify with precision person, mood, tense, or any of the first laws
of grammatical utterance.
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