Ethnological Speculations. 125 



of islands at present find themselves, without traditions, with- 

 out proverbs, without songs, without monuments, and espe- 

 cially without any characteristic peculiarity in their liabits and 

 customs which could possibly throw a ray of light upon tlie 

 obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to express- 

 any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of 

 this people. By far the most probable theory, as is also ad- 

 mitted by Dr. Rink, who visited these islands with the Danish 

 Expedition, would represent them as an offshoot from the 

 north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a people which, 

 while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese 

 stock, nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold 

 a middle rank between the Malay and the Burmese. 



Considering the study of language as a most important and 

 reliable source of information, the members of the Expedition 

 made it their main object to draw up, in conformity with what 

 is known as Gallatin's method, so extensively used by all 

 American and English travellers, a vocabulary of about 200 

 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of 

 Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the nu- 

 merals) in use among the natives of the more southern islands. 

 As a Malay barque fr'om Pulo Penang was lying at anchor 

 during our stay on the northern shores of Great Nicobar, so 

 favoiu-able an opportunity was of course made use of to pre- 

 pare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that 

 port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being 

 able to judge for himself as to the similarity existing between 



