OF THK rNDO-CHlNESE NATIONS. 223 



that the Rukheng orthography and pronunciation are 

 neither so defective, nor so much corrupted as the 

 Bai^ma, and that consequently, in tracing the history 

 of the language, the Rukheng is of much greater 

 utility to the philologist. In another respect the 

 language may be considered as purer ; until their late 

 conquest by the Barmas, the tnhcso? Rukheng fi&e.m. 

 for along period to have retained their independence, 

 while the proper Rarma tribes have suffered various 

 revolutions. Hence the Rukheng retains more of 

 its ancient form, and is less corrupted by foreign 

 mixtures. The modifications, therefore, which it has 

 received, are chiefly derived from the Pali or Ball^ 

 which was cultivated in the country as the learned 

 language, and contained all their sacred books. The 

 Rukheng has accordingly adopted Bali words and 

 phrases more copiously than the Barma, and has also 

 preserved them in a greater state of orthographical 

 purity. The pronunciation of the Rukheng is perhaps 

 broader and grosser, but more articulate than the 

 Barma; in particular it strongly affects the use of 

 the letter /*, which the Barmas generally convert into 

 y, in their pronunciation. Such, however, is the 

 difference of pronunciation between the two nations, 

 that even in sentences, where the words are nearly 

 the same, they are not easily intelligible to each 

 other. , . . 



The Rukheng alphabet coincides accurately with 

 the Deva-tiagari system of characters in its arrange- 

 meiit, and very nearly in the power of the particular 

 letters. The only variation of importance is, the 

 expression of both the acute and grave accent of 

 the vowels, as well as their common sound, in certain 

 cases. This provision, however, does not extend to 



