34? Dr. Hodgkin on the Importance of Studying and 



number of vowel sounds. Thus, the word to?ig, which signi- 

 fies east in the Chinese, is converted into tonga in the lan- 

 guage of New Zealand. He further notices the prevalence 

 of particular sounds, as that of the ?ig, which occurs either at 

 the beginning or the end of words in both languages, and of 

 the particles e or y, pa, pe, te, ka, and ko, or to, which are of 

 frequent use in them, and, as it would appear, in similar modes 

 and for similar purposes. Besides these points, indicating a 

 similarity in character, there are some in which there is an 

 evident similarity of meaning, which seems to indicate still 

 more strongly than the instances last mentioned the absolute 

 affinity of these languages. 



Having endeavoured to show that the Malay language is a 

 kindred tongue to the Chinese, he points out that the language 

 spoken by the Malays properly so called, has received, at two 

 different periods, important additions from distinct languages, 

 in a manner somewhat similar to that in which the Anglo- 

 Saxon, the original of our own tongue, became blended with 

 Norman- French. These admixtures, or infusions as Dr. 

 Lang calls them, consisted, in the case of the Malay language, 



1st, Of the introduction of a considerable number of San- 

 scrit words. This modification of the Malay language appears 

 to have been accompanied by a corresponding change in the 

 religion of the Malays, who are supposed to have adopted that 

 of their Sanscrit teachers. 2nd, The next infusion which the 

 Malay language received was from some of the enterprising 

 followers of Mahomet, who introduced both the language and 

 the religion of the Koran. This introduction of Sanscrit and 

 Arabic words into the Malay language appears to explain in a 

 satisfactory manner some of the differences between the Malay 

 language as it exists at the present day and the dialects which 

 are found in those widely scattered islands, from Madagascar 

 to Easter Island, the inhabitants of which are generally ad- 

 mitted to speak a language related to the Malay. The Poly- 

 nesian language, consisting of several closely allied dialects, 

 appears to have been derived from the Malay before it had 

 received the Arabic or even the Sanscrit infusion, and con- 

 sequently points to a very remote period, at which the occu- 

 pation of those islands commenced. 



Dr. Lang endeavours to show that this connexion, as indi- 

 cated by the state of the language, is confirmed by many fea- 

 tures of resemblance between the present or past habits of the 

 Oceanic islanders and the Asiatic race from whence they are 

 supposed to have sprung. Some of the most striking instances 

 of similarity consist in the separation of the inhabitants into 

 castes, keeping themselves punctiliously from each other ; in 



