MALAYAN AND ABORIGINAL DIALECTS. 89 



appear, however, to have retrograded from a 

 very fair state of missionary training, are anxious 

 for education and a pastoral adviser, and, were 

 an opportunity offered them, would doubtless 

 do credit to their teachers. 



The Malayan language, as spoken here, is 

 certainly so exceedingly harmonious, that to call 

 it " the Italian of the East" would be a com- 

 pliment to the European tongue. It is less 

 in single words than in sentences, that the 

 liquid melody of the language is heard ; and 

 when recited by a good, and especially by a 

 female voice, it is perfect music to the ear. I 

 could glean from its vocabulary but few words 

 that bore any resemblance to those in use 

 amongst the Polynesian islands we had visited. 

 In euphony there was a general similitude ; as 

 also in the reduplication of words ; and some 

 few words were actually the same; but on 

 the whole, the alliance between the languages 

 did not appear to be very close. The Harra- 

 foras, or mountaineers, speak a language dis- 

 tinct from the Malayan ; and it would appear, 

 that the aboriginal tribes of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago possess languages not only differing 

 from the Malayan, but also essentially distinct 

 from each other. We found amongst the in- 

 habitants of Soutranha, a slave, obtained by 



