III. 



On the Languages and Litehature of the Indo- 

 Chinese Nations. 



by j. leyden, m. d. 



THE inhabitants of the regions wbichlie between 

 India and China, and the greater part of the islanders 

 of tlie eastern sea, tliou.gh divided into numerous 

 tribes, and equal!}- dissimilar in their languages and 

 manners, may yet with propriety be characterized by 

 the term Indo-Chinese. Situated between India and 

 China, each of whicli proudly styles itself the most 

 ancient among the nations of the earth, they have 

 contented themselves with more modest claims to an- 

 tiquity, and professed to borrow from one or other of 

 their neighbours the principal features of their reli- 

 gion, laws and manners. The different periods, how- 

 ever, at which these were adopted in different coun- 

 tries, the various degrees of civilization, and the pre- 

 existing habits on which they were engrafted, have 

 produced a diversity of national characteristics, by 

 which they are not only distinguished from the Indian 

 and Chinese nations, but also from one another, not- 

 withstanding their common mixed origin. 



: The intercourse of FAiropcans with the Indo-Chinese 

 nations, though, for the first two centuries after the 

 arrival of the Portuguese in the east, scarcely inferior 

 to that which was carried on with India or China, was 

 not of such a kind as to furnish us with a very accu- 

 rate or extensive knowledge of their laws, manners 

 or literature; and for more than a century it has been 

 rather declining than increasing. Neither, since our 



