262 ON THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE 



lected by P. Gaspar de Amaral and P. Antonio 

 Barbosa, the first of whom had made some progress 

 in preparing an Anam and Portugueze dictionary, 

 and the second in compiling one in Portugueze and 

 Anam. This dictionary is printed wholly in the 

 Latin character, as the author considered the A7iam 

 character as too difficult to be useful. It is accom- 

 panies! by a short ^.unnatical sketch of the Anam 

 language, entitled ' Lu'gu^ AnKamiiicce scu Tunchi" 

 nensis brevis Dectaratw" ""i hough I have never met 

 with a learned Cochin-Chinese. I have seen several 

 persons who could speak the vulgar language by 

 rote, and have paid sufficient attention to it to per- 

 ceive, that rhe dictionary of De Rhodes is a work 

 of very great merit, though certainly susceptible both 

 of additions end emendations. A new edition of it, 

 would be a work of great utility, if our relations with 

 Cochin-China should ever become more intimate or 

 important : a circumstance by no means unlikely, 

 from the formidable aspect which that kingdom has 

 lately assumed among the more easterly natic ns. 

 The principal defect of the work is, its representing, 

 very imperfectly, the Anam pronunciation ; a defect 

 unfortunately very difficult to be remedied, as the 

 Anam language contains many sounds which corres- 

 pond very little to those of any European language, 

 and respecting which a grammarian might be temp- 

 ted to say, with the devout missionary Didacus 

 CoLLADO, when treating of the pronunciation of a 

 Japanese letter, *' quaiido in aliquo vocabulo fuerit, 

 (quod est ralde freqicevs) or are debet discipulus, Deum, 

 ut d venas ptvnuntiationis aperiat." — (Prolog, in arte 

 Grammat. Japonic, ling. p. 4.) De Rhodes also 

 published at Rome, in 1652, a catechism, for the use 

 of his Anam converts, in Anam and Latin. 



