164 ON THE LANGUAGES ANT) LITERATURE 



respect to the principal features which it at present 

 presents, the history of this nation is still very ob- 

 scure, rather, it may be presumed, from the want of 

 investigation, than from the want of materials for its 

 illustration. The history of the origin and progress 

 of the Malayu tongue, of course partakes of this 

 obscurity; but notwithstanding the great diversity 

 which occurs in the spoken dialects, in the bazar 

 jargon, or as the Malays term it, the Basa Dagang, 

 of the several Malay states, the Basa Jawi or written 

 language of composition, is nearly the same in all ; 

 and tlie popular, or vernacular languages; are reck- 

 oned pure, in proportion as they approximate to the 

 written language. 



Assuming therefore the Basa Jawi as the standard 

 of comparison, the Malayu language, in its present 

 state, consists of three principal component parts. 

 The first of these, wbich is rather the most copious 

 and current in the language of conversation, may, 

 perhaps, in the present state of our knowledge, be 

 regarded as original, though it is not only connected 

 with the insular languages, but with some of the mono- 

 syllabic, as Bdrtna and T'hay. The second, which is 

 obviously derived from the Sa7iscrit, is rather inferior 

 in the number of vocables^ to the first, though as far 

 as regards general use,, greatly superior to the third 

 part, which is derived from the Arabic. As a spoken 

 language, the Malayu exists in the greatest purity 

 in the tin countries, or the peninsula of Malaya, 

 which is obviously the Temala of Ptolemy. Temata 

 is a regular derivative from the Malay vocable tema, 

 which signifies tin, and from this, among other cir- 

 cumstances, we may be permitted to infer the high 

 antiquity of the basis of the Malay language, from 

 its giving name to the Cassitei^des of the east. The, 



