»¥ THE INDO-CHIKESE NATIOlfS. 191 



The dialects of BugSlen and Sundoy in Java, are 

 said to be very distinct from the Javanese proper ; 

 and, from the first of them, the language of Sulu is 

 supposed to be derived. This point, however, I 

 have not been able to investigatie in a satisfactory 

 manner. 



The literature of the Javanese is similar to that of 

 the Malays, to which it seems to have given origin. 

 Their Kuggazvim or Cher it ms, contain their mytho- 

 logy, and the adventures of their ancient heroes, and 

 exhibit them in a style which has no inconsiderable 

 reseniblanee to that of the Hindu Puranas. The 

 Javanese laws are arranged in codes of considerable 

 antiquity, and celebrated among all the eastern 

 islands. 



llie Jofwa or Javanese lang"uage does not appear to 

 have been regularly cultivated hy Europeans, though 

 some of the outlines of their mythological stories have 

 been published in the transactions of the Asiatic So- 

 ciety in Batavia, as well as some vocabularies of the 

 Jaxva language. In the Dutch work, entitled " Begin 

 en vuortgang da Oostind Conipan."" or the rise and pro- 

 gress of the East India company, a comparative vie^w 

 is exhibited of the Javanese and Malajju languages* 

 The Mahummedans have translated the Koran into 

 Javanese. 



. The Bali and Madura languages, spoken by the 

 'inhabitants of the isles of the same name, appear from 

 the best information I could procure, to be dia- 

 lects of Javanese. The greater part of the inhabi- 

 tants profess the ancient religion of their ancestor^, 

 resemble the Hindus in their appearance, w^ear the 

 Hindu marks on their foreliead, and the women burn 

 themselves with their deceased husbands, according^ 



