  We present near-infrared (1 to 2.5 micron) low-resolution spectroscopy of
eleven ultracool dwarfs with spectral types ranging from M7 to L8. Combining
our observations with data published previously by Leggett et al. (2001), we
have measured equivalent widths for the strongest atomic features and
constructed narrowband indices to gauge the strength of the strongest molecular
features. Those measurements show that the behaviourr at near-infrared
wavelengths is well correlated with spectral type, where the latter is defined
from observations between 6300 and 10000 Angstroms. In particular, four indices
designed to measure absorption in the wings of the 1.4 and 1.85 micron steam
bands exhibit a linear, monotonic correlation with spectral type on the
Kirkpatrick et al. (1999) system, allowing consistent calibration from both
optical and near-infrared spectroscopy.
