| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: whole sentence complete in his brain before he starts to speak.
This is largely in consequence of two omissions in Tartar etymology.
There are in Japanese no relative pronouns and no temporal
conjunctions; conjunctions, that is, for connecting consecutive
events. The want of these words precludes the admission of
afterthoughts. Postscripts in speech are impossible. The functions
of relatives are performed by position, explanatory or continuative
clauses being made to precede directly the word they affect.
Ludicrous anachronisms, not unlike those experienced by Alice in her
looking-glass journey, are occasioned by this practice. For example,
"The merry monarch who ended by falling a victim to profound
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: shore-side. The quay reaching from the drawbridge almost to the
south gate, is so spacious and wide, that in some places it is near
one hundred yards from the houses to the wharf. In this pleasant
and agreeable range of houses are some very magnificent buildings,
and among the rest, the Custom House and Town Hall, and some
merchant's houses, which look like little palaces rather than the
dwelling-houses of private men.
The greatest defect of this beautiful town seems to be that, though
it is very rich and increasing in wealth and trade, and
consequently in people, there is not room to enlarge the town by
building, which would be certainly done much more than it is, but
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