HINDU LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 2,2? 



the conversion of these people to the Mahometan re- 

 ligion. The language, it is true, abounJs at nresent 

 with Arabic words, which their writers affect to in- 

 troduce, because this display of literary skill is, at 

 the same time a proof of their rek^ious knowledge; 

 but they are generally legal or metaphysical terms, 

 borrowed from the Koran and its commentaries 3 are 

 never expressive of simple ideas, have not been in- 

 corporated into the language (a few excepted) and 

 are rarely made use of in conversation. The Hindu 

 words, on the contrary, are such as the progress of 

 civilization must soon have rendered necessary, being 

 frequently expressive of the feelings of the mind, or 

 denoting those ordinary modes of thought which 

 result from the social habits of mankind, or from the 

 evils that tend to interrupt them. It is not however 

 to be understood, that the affinity between, these 

 languages is radical, or that the names for the com* 

 mon objects of sense are borrowed from the Sanscrit. 

 The Malayan is a branch or dialect of the widely 

 extended language prevailing throughout the islands 

 of the Archipelago, to which it gives name (.*), 

 and those of the South Sea ; comprehending between 

 Madagascar on the one side, and Easter Island en 

 the other, both inclusive, the space of full two hun- 

 dred degrees of longitude. This consideration 

 alone is sufficient to give it claim to the highest de- 

 gree of antiquity, and to originality, as far as that 

 term can be applied. The various dialects. of this 



• The Malty- Archipelago mz) be understood to comprehend rhe 

 Sunda y Philippine, and Molucca islands, in the maritime parts of 

 which, the Malayan is used as a lingua franca, 



Q 2 speech. 



