both of whom were excellently sk'iilf^d m the lan- 

 guage. In 1801 was puniishecl at L,(jnd,0Aj, " A X>'ic^ 

 tionary of the -^/<i«i;y iA)figue, to whjo)^ is: prefixed^ 

 a Grammar of tha^, atiguage, by Ja,>:|e§ Howison, 

 M. D." The autjie? totAhc^ his clain\s on a ter yej^r? 

 acquaintance with the. Malays, and th^ir lariguage. 

 From the scarcity of Idowri^y's work, I have not been 

 able to compare it with the publication of Dr. How^r 

 SGK, but I suspect the additions oC thQ latter to h« 

 ijeither numerous nor in.povtant. One improvemeii&t 

 he has attempted, and it is the following. " In giv- 

 ing the Malay words in the Arabic character," says 

 he, " we have followed the excellent example of 

 liiCHAiiDSON and Gilchrist in their Persian and 

 Hmdoostanee Dictionaries, and it is, in fapt:, the ehar 

 ractev used by the Malays tbemselves." But had 

 Dtr. Howisoi^ been acquainted with the i^/i^/tfj/ ortho- 

 graphy, he would have perceived that this harharous 

 mode of converting the jE^/?cr//>^ characteT into the 

 Persic, could beof no possible utility, either to an 

 European, or an Asiatic. The Malayu has an esta- 

 blished orthography, like the Arabic, Persic, and 

 JUndostT/ii ; and this established orthography of 

 Malay MSS. he has violated, repeatedly, in ^very 

 page, not only by spelling the Malay worda in a 

 mode never used among the Malays themselves, but 

 hy omitting all their peculiar characters, an<l hj using 

 some Persic characters, as pa and ga, with which 

 the Malays are unacquainted altogether. ." A ahovj: 

 Vocabulary, F.ngUsh and Malayo,, with . gramniar 

 rules for the attainment' of the Malayo language," 

 was published at Cfi/cM/^a in 1793. The rules, differ 

 iittie from those which appear in IIowjson's Granv 

 war, prefixed to bis Dictionary, and the vocabulary 

 generally coincides with it in the explanation of 

 words, which are not very numerous. Besides th€§e 



