Ivi Appendix. 



'Now, comparing several sentences in eacli language, we find that in 

 Malagasi the vowels are to the consonants as 100 : 92, against 100 : 122 in 

 Malay. Thus, as the consonantal languages of Asia are departed from, the 

 speech becomes more soft and vocalic — a principle which we have seen has 

 had more extended effect in the spread of the cognate tongues easterly, 

 i.e., over Polynesia. 



Reverting, then, to the glossarial branch of the subject, in order to fairly 

 weigh the respective affinities of the different races under review, as read by 

 language, I must recall your attention to the fact stated in my former paper as 

 to the relative number of primary words retained by an European language 

 after eight hundred years of disconnection ; these amount to only about 

 one twenty-sixth of the whole. Mr. John Crawford, by his investigations, 

 has declared that one fifty-seventh of the Malagasi and one-fiftieth of the 

 Maori dictionaries were Malay, thus proving a connection whose intimacy 

 on European experience can be approximately calculated. But I may venture 

 to remark, from my own enquiries on the same subject, that had the above 

 ethnographer or myself had the advantage of a critical knowledge of both or 

 all languages, instead of only one (the Malay), double the equivalents might 

 be found, and the approaches thus drawn nearer by half. Thus, Crawford 

 states that out of 8,000 Malagasi words he detected only 140 Malayan ; while 

 I, out of Griffiths' grammar, containing certainly not more than 500 words, 

 detected eighty, in words that have had preservation throughout the whole 

 region. The effects of peculiar articulation are shown in the following 

 examples : — 



English. 



Malagasi. 



Malay. 



Tongan. 



Maori. 



Fruit 



voa 



bua 



pua 



hua. 



Hair 



volo 



iulu 



fulu 



7mru 



and so forth. 



Then, as to idiomatic comparison, it will be seen that Malay, Maoii, and 

 Tongan are virtually the same, the divergences in structure being slight. In 

 the declension of noims, or the conjugations of verbs, there are virtually no 

 inflections. The duplication of words, to weaken or intensify their meanings, 

 are common to the three dialects or languages, and the curious elaboration of 

 the pronouns has more or less existence. The relative position of adverbs, 

 verbs, nouns, and pronouns, in the construction of their sentences, also follows 

 one plan. The parallel is remarkably carried through to Madagascar, excepting 

 in the formation of moods and tenses of verbs, where inflection takes place ; 

 and in this respect the Malagasi imitates the Tamil of South India, though 

 their glossaries have no relation to each other. In this latter language, as with 

 Malagasi, the tenses are formed by the aid of certain pai'ticles called " words 

 standing in the middle," which are inserted between the root and the 

 pronominal aSixes, subject to various changes required by their rules of 



