24 ON THE CHINESE SYSTEM OF WEITIJSTG. 



municate by writing, though they cannot by words. But, if we can judge from 

 Father Morrone's Cochinchinese Vocabulary, with the characters annexed, it 

 would seem that that cannot take place to a very great extent. We must look, 

 therefore, to some other cause. 



We find, from the Cochinchinese and Latin Dictionary published with my 

 Dissertation, that the Chinese language is taught in the schools of Cochinchina, 

 as well as their own. As the Chinese is the religious and literary language of 

 the country, which does not appear to have a literature of its own, it is neces- 

 sary that it should be learned, in order to understand Chinese books. There 

 is no need, for that purpose, of their learning the spoken language; at least, 

 they need not pay much attention to the spoken words; they study the cha- 

 racters as a different spelling of their own, as in our schools we might be taught 

 the ancient Gothic letters, if there were an object deserving of it. As far, there- 

 fore, as respects the Annamitic nations, I do not differ much from your learned 

 correspondent; but we do not seem to agree as regards the polysyllabic lan- 

 guages, of which I am now going to speak. 



III. Languages of Japan and the Loo-Choo Islands. 



We must now take leave of the Chinese race. We are among different 

 nations, the origin of whom is not well ascertained. From the physical confor- 

 mation of the Japanese, some naturalists have thought that they were a mixture 

 of the Chinese and Tartar races; but their language does not warrant this sup- 

 position. It seems evident, however, that they were civilized by the Chinese, 

 and they, at present, acknowledge the literary and moral supremacy of the 

 great empire, but they are under no kind of civil subjection to it. They are, 

 and have been, independent from time immemorial. 



We know very little as yet of the vernacular language of the Loo-Choo 

 Islands. It is, however, well ascertained that it is a dialect of the Japanese, 

 and, like it, polysyllabic. It is probable that those islands are inhabited by 

 colonies from Japan. I shall therefore confine my observations to the language 

 of the latter country; from the information we have, they may, I think, also be 

 applied to the Loo-Chooan. 



We are, fortunately, well acquainted with the national language of Japan. 

 The works of Thunberg, Siebold, Klaproth, and Medhurst, and, above all, the 



