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It is hoped that the vocabularies now offered may do something toward [strikethrough] fill up this gap in ou[/strikethrough] removing this obscurity. They have been collected with considerable care, & all, with one exception, appertain to the Southern part of the African continent. It is possible that some suspicion may be entertained of their [strikethrough] cornect [/strikethrough] correctness on account of the source from which they were derived, - [strikethrough][[?]] [/strikethrough] - i.e. from persons who had been some time absent from their native country, it should be observed, however, that a slave in Rio ^ Janerio is not ^ in the condition of a solitary foreigner, living in the midst of a people who understand nothing of his language, - but is surrounded by numbers of his own countrymen, with whom he holds intercourse in his own tongue. When, moreover, any of the negroes examined [strikethrough] showed [/strikethrough] appear to have forgotten, in the slightest degree, his native ^ language [strikethrough] tongue [/strikethrough], no further reliance was placed on his testimony. 
See Remarks.
[3?] It appears to me that from [strikethrough] the [inferor?] [/strikethrough] a comparison of the [strikethrough][ac?] [/strikethrough] vocabularies thus obtained, [strikethrough] that [/strikethrough] the following inferences may be deduced: -
I. That from the equator to Lat. 30 South, the continent of Africa is occupied by a single people speaking dialects of one general language.
II. That this general language ^ or rather family of languages, may be divided into two [strikethrough] minor general [/strikethrough] distinct classes, [strikethrough] with [/strikethrough] ^ which may be entitled (1) the Congo-Mosambique & (2) the Caffasion, each including under it several ^ minor dialects.
A few remarks will be/necessary on each of the these heads.
I. That one general language is spoken throughout southern Africa as far south as the Hottentot tribes.
It has long been known that the languages spoken throughout what is termed [strikethrough] th [/strikethrough] Southern Guinea or the Congo Empire, had a close affinity with one another. This is sufficiently proved by the comparative vocabulary given in the Mithridates, vol. 3. p. 223. The northern limit of this class of languages has never been accurately stated; it seems probable, however, that the river Gabon in Lat. 0° 30' North [strikethrough] was [/strikethrough] is the boundary. Captain Owen (Vol. 2, p. 176) says that the natives along the coast as far as Cape Lopez Gonsalvo (Lat. 0° 36' S) are [strikethrough] exactly [/strikethrough] "similar in all respects to those of Cabinda (Congo).  He remarks moreover upon the singular circumstance that the language spoken