LEW CHEW AND JAPANESE LANGUAGES. 



315 



or Lew Chewan. The nose in each is generally handsome, and well proportioned to the other 

 features ; the root of it is not depressed, as in the Chinese or Malay, and the nostrils are not so 

 widely dilated. The cheek bones are not very prominent, and consequently there is a want of 

 that squareness of face whicli is so remarkable in some eastern races. The mouth is rather 

 large, the teeth broad, very white and strong, and the chin neatly cut. One mark the Japanese 

 and Lew Chewans have in common to distinguish them from the Malay or Chinaman ; it is the 

 possession of a strong black beard, which both the latter are destitute of to any extent. In 

 other parts of the body the same conformity of organization exists in the Lew Chewan and 

 Japanese. 



But it is not in mere jAysical conformity that we trace the same origin of both races. The 

 identity of the two races is proved by the more satisfactory testimony of affinity of language. 

 Dr. Fahs, while preparing his report upon the ethnology of Lew Chew, gave as much attention 

 as his opportunities afforded to the study of the language, and prepared the following vocabulary, 

 in which some Lew Chewan and Japanese words are placed side by side. It will be observed 

 there is such a similarity between the two, that no doubt can be entertained of the words being 

 the same, with only the difference which may be reasonably put down to peculiarity of dialect. 



It will be observed that two-thirds of the words, at least, in the comparative vocabulary, are, 

 with the slight differences of spelling, almost exactly the same. The orthography of a language 

 employed by a foreigner depends more or less upon his capricious estimate of the sounds that 

 the strange words seem to his ear to possess, and accordingly different observers will necessarily 

 employ a variety of spelling. In these words in the comparative lists which seem to differ 

 there will, on investigation, be found considerable affinity, and they will almost invariably show 

 a common derivation from the same root. This lexical comparison is all we can here make. 

 Unfortunately, we have no Lew Chew grammar to compare with that of Japan. 



Allusion has already been made to the full beard, as a distinctive mark between the Lew 

 Chewans or Japanese, and Chinese and Malayan. The men in Lew Chew in youth have almost 

 invariably a rich jet black beard, which in age becomes as white as snow. The hio-her classes 

 allow their beards to grow of great length, and cultivate them with great care and pride, while the 

 inferior people are obliged by law to cut theirs. The moustache is also generally worn, but seldom 



