AND RUINS AT MAVALIPURAM. I59 



Monfieur de la Loubere, in his excellent account of 

 Siam, (peaks thus of the origin of the Balic language. 



" The Siamefe (fays he) do not mention any coun- 

 " try where the Balic language, which is that of their 

 " laws and their religion, is at prefent in ufe. They 

 " fuppofe, indeed, on the report of fome among them, 

 " who have been on the Coaft of Choromandel, that it 

 cc bears fome refemblance to fome of the dialects of that 

 " country; but they at the fame time allow, that the 

 " chara6ter in which it is written, is not known but 

 " among themfelves. The fecular Miilionaries fettled 

 " at Siam, believe that this language is not entirely a 

 " dead one; becaufe they have feen in their hofpital a 

 " man from the neighbourhood of Cape Comorin, who 

 " mixed feveral Balic words in his difcourfe, declaring 

 " that they were in ufe in his country, and that he 

 " himfelf had never ftudied nor knew any other than 

 ;c his mother tongue. They at the fame time men- 

 {C tion, as matter of certainty, that the religion of the 

 " Siamefe comes from thofe parts; as they have read 

 " in a Balic book, that Sommonacodom, the idol of 

 " the Siamefe, was the fon of a King of Ceylone."* 



The 



* " Les Siamois ne nomment aueun pais, ou la iangue Bali qui 

 " est celle de leurs loix et tie leur religion, soil aujourd-huit ea 

 " usage. lis soupeonnent a la verite, sur le rapport de quelques- 

 " uns dVntre eux, qui ont cte a la C6te de Coroinandel, que la 

 " laugue Balic a qutlque resemblance avec quelqu'uu des dialects 

 " de ce pais la : roais ils convienneiit en meme temps que les let- 

 " tres de la Iangue Balic ne sont connues que chez eux. Les Mis- 

 " sionnaires s^culiers a Siam eroyentque cette Iangue n'est pas en- 

 *• tiereuient tnorte; paree qu'ils ont vu dans leur hopital un homme 

 " des environs du Cap de Comorin, qui metoit plusieurs mots Balis 

 " dans son langage, assurant qu'ils etoient en usage en son pais, 

 " et que luy n'avoit jamais etudi^, et ne savoit que sa Iangue ma- 

 " ternelle Ils donnent d'ailleurs pour certain que la religion des 

 " Siamois vient de ces quartiers la, parce qu'ils ont lu dans un 

 " livre Balic que Sommonacodom que les Siamois adorent, etoit 

 " fils d'un Roi de l'isle de Cevlone." 



