HINDU LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 2&t 



the Rejang alphabet the order is as follows: Ka 9 ga, 

 nga ; Ta, da, na\ Pa, ba, ma\ Cha, ja, nia, &c. 

 (see His lory of Sumatra, plate.) In the Sanscrit, I 

 need scarcely to observe, the series of consonants be- 

 gins thus, Ka, k'ha, ga, g'ha % nga ; Cha, ch'ha, ja, 

 fha, gnya; Ta, fha, da, d'ha, na, &x. If other 

 proofs were wanting of the influence of Hindu inter- 

 course in these parts, such conformity alone, in a 

 matter so arbitrary, and which exists equally in other 

 obscure dialects, and extends even to the island of 

 Celebes, would be sufficient to establish it. The lan- 

 guages of these islanders have not, however, been en- 

 riched by an accession of Hindu words in any degree 

 proportioned to the Malayan, which uses the Arabic 

 alphabet ; but the probability is strong, that the inha- 

 bitants of the Malay peninsula were in possession ot 

 an alphabet on the same model, and were even skilled 

 in composition, before the Mahometans introduced 

 their learning and character among them. 



But the circumstance which has more immediately 

 struck my attention, and given occasion to these re- 

 marks, is that of my having met with frequent allu- 

 sion in their writings, to the most celebrated works of 

 the Hindu mythological poets, especially the Mahak- 

 harat and the Ramayan. A manuscript now lying 

 before me, which is a species of romance* exhibits 

 in almost every page the marks of the author's ac- 

 quaintance with Hindu literature and manners. It 

 contains the adventures of two princes, who were 

 sent by the king their father, to obtain for him the 

 possession of an -extraordinary self- performing in- 



Q^4 strument 



