THE SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST. 151 



inhabitants, says he, have two tongues, or languages; 

 their own first; and probably the Malay was the 

 other, which they spoke fluently, but I suppose only 

 in the districts bordering upon the sea. Jaimbulus 

 takes notice, that this island abounded with hot 

 springs, which is true of Sumatra, but not of Ceylon, 

 They had also an alphabet, consisting of twenty-eight 

 letters, divided into seven classes, each of four let- 

 ters. There were seven original characters, which, 

 after undergoing four different variations each, con- 

 stituted these seven classes. They wrote also from 

 top to bottom : and that this was the case formerly 

 in Sumat7'a is my opinion.* For the manners of the 

 natives of the Philippine islands, correspond in so 

 many striking particulars, with those of the Suma' 

 trans'\ that no doubt can be entertained, says Mr. 

 Marsden, if not of a sameness of origin, at least of 

 an intercourse and connexion, in former times, which 

 no longer exists. They used to write from top to 

 bottom, till the Spaniards taught them to write from 

 left to right. The Tagala alphabet in these islands, 

 .has certainly great affinity with those oi Sumatra. 



The two alphabets of the Sumatrans con^i^t 

 only, one of twenty-three, and the other of nineteen 

 letters: but it is probable that there were two sorts of 

 them formerly, as in India, and whicl^. were origi- 

 nally the same. One was used by the more civilized 



* Dr. Leyden. who had been lately engaged in inquiries concern- 

 ing tlie tribes inhabiting the islands of the eastern Archipehs-o, partly 

 confirms this conjecture by the ioforniaiion, that the nuuii oi writing, 

 practised by one of the tribes in Sumatra (the Battas), is perpendi- 

 cular : but instead of cunmiencing at the top of the Hue, tho writing 

 begins at the bottom. Marsden's Batta alphabet is stated to be 

 correct, provided the plate be turned in a perpendicular instead of a 

 horizontal direction. H. T. C. 



\ History of Sumatra, p. 255. 



L4 



