Malayan and Polynesian Languages and Races. 177 



judgment of it. Its alphabet, however, has been correctly 

 given, and this consists of the usual five vowels, and not of 

 six or nine consonants like the Polynesian, but of fifteen, viz., 

 b, d,f, g,j, k, I, m, n, h, p, r, s, t, and v, which, for variety of 

 intonation, puts it on an equality with the Wugi of Celebes, 

 although it leaves it, by four letters, short of the Malay and 

 Javanese.* The Feejee language contains Malayan words, 

 like the other languages of Polynesia ; but in what propor- 

 tion I am not aware. 



Our materials for forming a judgment of the languages of 

 the Negro races are, as might be expected, from the rude- 

 ness or the ferocity, or remoteness of these tribes, extremely 

 imperfect. One of the longest list of words of any of their lan- 

 guages which I have seen, is one furnished to myself, in 1811, 

 by the then minister of the Raja of Queda. It is of the lan- 

 guage Samang of the J^irai, one of the highest of the moun- 

 tains of the Malay Peninsula. It consists of 176 words, to 

 ■which I add twenty-one of the language of the same people, 

 from the work of Mr Marsden.f 



The phonetic system of the language of the Samang is not 

 very remote fi'om that of the Malay and Javanese ; but it 

 seems to abound moi'e in aspirates, gutturals, and mono- 

 syllables. Syllables and words may end with vowels or con- 

 sonants, but do so most frequently with the latter. 



In the 191 words to which I have alluded, I find that 156 

 are native, that fifteen are Malay, two Javanese ; that 

 twenty-three are common to these two languages, and that 

 one word only is Sanscrit. The proportion of Malay and 

 Javanese words, therefore, is nearly eighteen in 1000. 



As in the case of the languages of the brown-complexioned 

 races, the existence of the Malay and Javanese words may 

 be considered as in a great measure fortuitous ; and neither 

 in character or number can they be considered as forming 

 any necessary part of the Samang language. 



* Introduction to a Grnmrnar of the Tahitiun Dialect of tlie Polynesian Lan- 

 guage. Tahiti, 1833. An Australian Grammar, &c. &c., by L. L. Threlkold. 

 Sydney, 1834. A'arrative of the United States' Kxploring Expedition, 1847. 



t " On the Polynesian and Ka.st Insular Languages." Miscellaneous Works. 

 1834. 



VOL. XLIV. NO LXXXVn. — .1AX. 1848. M 



