280 ON THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURB 



common use, some letters entirely, and accented others 

 in a manner similar to the U'cbhata, ^Ifiudhata, and 

 Swarita tones, in the system of accentuation used in 

 chaunting Mantras^ and in reciting the Vedas them- 

 selves. Thus, it has dropped both the palatal and 

 the celebral sh of the Deva-nagari, as well as the 

 double consonant ksh^ though the two first are still 

 retained in the more correct alphabets. Instead of 

 pronouncing the first series of letters ka k'/ia, ga 

 g'ha, 7iga, it recites them ka k'hd ka gciha^ nga pro- 

 nouncing ka thrice; first, in ifs natural tone; se- 

 condly, softly accented in treble, as if with the tone 

 ud hata ; and tliirdly, in a deep base tone, like the 

 aniid'hata of the Samaveda Brahm6is ; guha or ga is 

 only recited once and that slightl}' accented, while 

 nga suffers no alteration. A similar alteration occurs 

 in the second series, cha, and the fifth series, pa. 

 The vowels are generall}'- presented in the same or- 

 der as the Deva-nagari, but by a similar mode of 

 accentuation, eighteen are sometimes Employed. 

 The peculiarities of this pronunciation are, however, 

 more closely adhered to by the Tliay or Siamese^ 

 than by the Barma and RiikJicng nations, whose lan- 

 guages are neither so powerfully accented, nor so 

 monosyllabic as the T'hay. 



The form of the Bali character varies essentially 

 among the different nations by whom it is used. 

 The square Bali character, employed by the Barmas, 

 differs much from that which is used among the Sia- 

 mese. and approaches nearer the form of the Barma 

 character. The Siamese Bali character is termed, by 

 the Siamese, Nangsu Khbm, the KJwjn, or Khohmtn 

 character, having, according to their own tradition, 

 derived it from that nation. The square Barma cha- 

 racter seems to coincide with the Bali character of 



