14 Cust — Non- Aryan Languages of India. [Jan. 



language : it is said to have a Shan alphabet. The Singhpos are civilized, 

 but Pagans. It must be remembered that the point at which the Burham- 

 puter bursts the mountain rampart into India is linguistically, politically, 

 and ethnologically, one of the highest importance. The last and weakest 

 tidal stream o£ the great Aryan river of religion, language, and civilization, 

 flowed languidly up the Asam valley. More than once in history it has 

 been met by a Shan counter- current, and may be met again. The incursion 

 of the border-tribes into settled valleys is often an unwilling effort to 

 escape from a superior force propelling them from their own haunts. By 

 this outlet no doubt in times past the population of India has received 

 great additions, though the superiority in number and calibre of the 

 invaders from the North have borne them down ; and the Aryan settler 

 under Hindu, Muhammadan, and Christian rule, has held its own. 



The distance on the map from the extreme point of the southern 

 mountains of the valley of Asam to Rajmahal, the extreme point of the 

 Vindhya range, is, as the crow flies, not so great as to forbid the idea that 

 India has been occupied at remote periods by pre-Aryan immigrants from 

 the gorge of the Burhamputer ; but we await a more scientific comparison 

 of languages, and more complete ethnological research, before the theory 

 can be firmly substantiated, that the so-called Nishada black aborigines were 

 actually immigrants from the East. 



After crossing the Burhamputer, the mountains return on the south 

 side of that river in a westerly direction, enclosing the valley within a 

 horse-shoe. Next to the Singhpo come the atrocious savages and Pagans, 

 the Naga, over part of whose territory the Anglo-Indian Government has 

 thrown a loose control, the nature of which can be best illustrated by the 

 fact that within the last year they have killed their English Superintendent. 

 Behind these lies the Burmese empire, and beyond the boundary the 

 country is absolutely unknown : there are numerous clans of these turbulent 

 highlanders, with a variety of dialects : of one at least Mr. Robinson, aided 

 by the Rev. Mr. Brown, has prepared a grammar. The vocabularies of 

 several of the Naga tribes are in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. 

 A vocabulary of ten dialects has been published in the Journal of the 

 American Oriental Society. 



Next in order along this range are the Khasia or Cossiyah, and 

 Jyntea, remarkable for their republican form of government and their 

 monosyllabic language, akin to the Thai family, of which there is an 

 excellent grammar by the Rev. Mr. Pryse, and an Anglo -Khasia dictionary 

 by the Rev. Mr. Roberts : also a grammar by Robinson, and another 

 published at Berlin by W. Schott : there is also an essay by the late Baron 

 H. C. von der Gabelentz, published at Leipzig, 1850 : the New Testament 

 has been translated into this language. They were Pagans. 



