ibi ON '•Til)i ikNGXJAGtk i.Nb'L'lTi'UATURE 



scrit tlian of Ptitl ; thoua:h tl'ie mfluence of this latter 

 is not to be entirel\^ excluded. But sev^Val of them 

 have been a seciond time modified, by the intro- 

 duction of AMic, ^s thJ2 language of religion and 

 learning, aftei' the converjsioii 'of several of these 

 tribes to tlie Mahunimedaii faith. 



'The vtrnic\l\ir^ B't^^fo-C^^n^b con- 



tinent, seem all to be, in their original structure, 

 either purely mondsyllabic, like the spoken languages 

 of China^ or they incline so much to this class, that 

 it may be strongly suspected, that the few original 

 polysyllables which they contain, have either been 

 iminediately derived from the Palij or formed of 

 coalescing monosyllables. These languages are all 

 prodigiously varied by accentuation, like the spoken 

 languages of China; arid every foreign modification 

 which they have received seems to have been imme- 

 <iiately derived fi'om the Pali. 



In thie paucity of existing monuments, relative to 

 the Indo-Chinese nations, no better method presente'd 

 itself, either for classing their tribes, or laying a 

 foundation for historical researches, than by ex- 

 amining thie mutual relation of the several languages 

 which are current among them. This method, when 

 applied on an extensive scale, is always the surest 

 clue for developing the origin of a nation, and indi- 

 cating the revolutions to which it may have been 

 subjected, either by foreign conquest or colonization. 

 After the relations of the language itself, the ancient 

 monuments and compositions, preserved in it, claim 

 our regard ; and I have therefore noted, under their 

 respective heads, such as have come to my knowledge ; 

 premising that my opportunities of procuring thii& 

 species of information have been very unfavourable, 

 *and of ^'xamining them, very limited. 



