406 THE TAGALESE ALPHABET. 



recognize in them only different dialects, derived 

 from one source, and would be able to trace back 

 the roots and forms to one stock. 



THE TAGALESE ALPHABET. 



Ike first of the subjoined alphabets is derived 

 from the " Compendio de la Arte de la Lengua 

 Tagala, por el Padre Fr. Gaspar de San Augustin. 

 Segunda impression. Sampaloc. I787." 



The second, from the " Arte de la Lengua Bi- 

 saya, de la Provincia de Leyte, por el P. Domingo 

 Ezguerra de la Comp. de Jesus. Reimpressa en 

 Manila, I747.'' 



The third, from an " Arte de la Lengua Bisaya,'* 

 MS. The Tagalists agree that their characters 

 have been borrowed from the Malays. The 

 Malays adopted, with Islamism, the Arabic cha- 

 racters, but the unlearned people of the interior of 

 Sumatra and Java still use the alphabet founded 

 on the principles of the Sanscrit or Deva Negri ; 

 and, according to Marsden *, written like the San- 

 scrit and European languages from left to right. 

 Leyden contradicts this. According to him, the 



* Grammar of the Malayan Language, by W, Marsden, 

 London, 1812. 4to. p. 2. 



