384< REMARKS AND OriNIONS. 



original Iieathen songs, of which some are still in 

 existence. Who regards in the country itself, 

 the history, art, and antiquities of an .oppressed 

 people ? 



We give, from three different sources, the Taga- 

 lese alphabet, which is connected with the more 

 ancient system of writing, of the people of the 

 East Indian islands, and refer to the observations 

 with which we accompanied it. 



The inhabitants of the coasts of the island of 

 Formosa, to the north of the Philippines, seem to 

 us to belong to the same race, their language to 

 the same original language. 



We now come to the islands lying east of the 

 Philippines, which we have considered as the first 

 province of Polynesia. We find in their inhabit- 

 ants, a family of nations, who are variously con- 

 nected by the same manners and arts, by great 

 skill in navigation and trade. They are a peace- 

 able, amiable people, who worship no idols, live, 

 without possessing domestic animals, on the gifts 

 of the earth, and only offer to invisible gods the 

 firstlings of the fruit on which they subsist. They 

 build the most ingenious boats, and accomplish 

 distant voyages, by means of great knowledge of 

 the monsoons, the currents, and the stars. On 

 the western islands, the Pelew islands, Eap, the 

 Marianes, some customs of the East Indian 

 islanders, such as the chewing of the betel, 

 are found to have been introduced. 



