26 ON THE CHINESE SYSTEM OF WRITING. 



naiits that the Japanese cannot articulate, and vice versa. Thus the pronun- 

 ciation has become so different as to make it almost two different languages, 

 although it is easy to perceive that it is the same idiom differently articulated. 

 I have given examples of this difference in my Dissertation, p. 91. 



I can thus easily understand how the Japanese cannot converse orally with 

 the ChLnese,"either by means of the Yomi, of the Koye, or of the Mandarin dia- 

 lect, and how they can more easily communicate by means of the Chinese 

 characters. But I cannot so easily conceive how peasants and fishermen 

 acquire sufficient knowledge to enable them to do so. I can only account for 

 it by the Chinese, or Koye, being a religious as well as a learned language. 

 Keligion can perform wonders. 



Father Rodriguez tells us that there are three languages or dialects in Japan, 

 which he thus describes : 



" The first is the pure Yomi, which is the natural and primitive dialect of the 

 nation ; they write in it works of light poetry and literature. 



" The second is the pure Ko7je (or Chinese;) the priests employ it in their reli- 

 gious works. 



" The third is a mixture of Yomi and Koye; it is the vulgar language of the 

 empire. It must be observed, however, that the ordinary language, that is to 

 say, that in common use, is almost entirely composed of Yomi, with some mix- 

 ture of Koye, while in the literary and oratorical style there is much more Koye 

 than Yomi." 



It follows from the above, that books of light reading, in poetry or prose, are 

 written in the national language, or Yomi; that religious books are written in 

 pure Koye, or Chinese, and scientific and literary works in a mixed dialect, 

 containing more of the Koye than of the Yomi. I presume that in those books 

 the Koye is written in the Chinese lexigraphic, and the Yomi in the Japanese 

 syllabic alphabet. It must make a curious mixture; and it is worth inquiry 

 how and how far the peasants and fishermen are instructed in the Koye lan- 

 guage and system of writing. I suppose that the same thing may be said of 

 the people of Loo-Choo. 



IV. The Corean. 



The peninsula of Corea is situated between China and Japan, and separated 

 from those countries, on each side, by a narrow straight. It is bounded on the 



