21-Jt R. N. Oust — Languages of the Indo-Gliinese [Nov. 



priesthood ; at least, these inscriptions have not been satisfactorily trans- 

 lated. 



" We walk on uncertain ground here. The great Khmer people differ- 

 ed essentially from their neighbours of Annam and Siam ; they are an elder 

 race, having descended the river Mekong at a period anterior to the Thai, 

 and before the powerful race of Annam crossed the dividing range. The 

 present Cambojans are Buddhists, with marked pagan customs. Their 

 language is placed by Dr. Logan in his Mon- Annam class, but it differs 

 materially from any other monosyllabic language. It has no tones, being 

 spoken o^ecto tono ; the numeration is quinary. Lieut. Garnier remarks 

 that modern Cambojan is a transition language betwixt the polysyllabic 

 language of the Malay, and the monosyllabic language of Indo-Chinese. 

 It is full of Siamese words, and Dr. Bastian remarks, that it is so full of 

 loan-words, that for a long time it was mistaken for Siamese. Many loan- 

 words are found contracted in the manner required by the tendency of the 

 Cambojan language, which is certainly towards monosyllabism. It has 

 also loan-words from Malay, Pali, Annamite, and Mon. The inscriptions 

 have been photographed : the written annals go back to A. D. 1346, but 

 there is evidence of a much higher antiquity to the power and civilization 

 of the nation. We find mention of a Manuel Pratique of the Cambojan, 

 by the late M. Janneau, who held a civil appointment in Cambodia, but so 

 few copies were struck off, that it is not accessible. We have vocabularies 

 by Garnier, Mouhot, Crawfurd, Aymonier, and a dictionary of French and 

 Cambojan, and numerous treatises by the latter. We have an essay on the 

 language by Mr. H. G. Kennedy, and clearly may expect that our know- 

 ledge of this important language, so accessible, and so abundant in archaic 

 monuments, and spoken to this day by a civilized people, should be speedily 

 brought up to a proper level. 



" It is stated that, in addition to the Cambojan and Laotian, above 

 described, there are at least a score of idioms spoken on the banks of the 

 great river Mekong, and its numerous confluents, and in the mountain 

 chain extending from Tonquin to French Cochin- China. According to the 

 custom of these polyglott regions, every town has at least four names, 

 being known under a different combination of syllables by the Siamese, 

 Annamites, Cambojans, and Savage people. Thus these wild Savage pagan 

 races are themselves called Penoms by the Cambojans, Khu by the Siamese, 

 Moi by the Annamese ; all these words mean ' savage,' and we have seen 

 above that the Chinese use ' Lawa' in much the same sense. Lieut. Gar- 

 nier remarks on the important aflinity of the Cambojan with the idiom of 

 some of these Savage races. We are in an absolutely incognita terra, and 

 require a master mind, like that of Mr. Bryan Hodgson, to collect materials 

 during a patient note-taking of twenty-five years, and a fine discernment 



