192 Languages of the various tribes inhabiting the [March, 



In Asamese : 



" Hi eku bhai ne khai parar uporat dushtali kare, balere parar bostu 

 karri loy, misa hakhi diya apunar labh am apunar rakhya kare am ar 

 arharah pap kare." 



The Lord's Prayer in Bengali. 



" He amarder swargastha pitah, tomar nam pujya hauk ; tomar rajatwa 

 hauk ; ar tomar ichchha swargete jeman, temani pritliibiteo saphal 

 hauk. Amarder prayojaniya ahar adya deo. Ar amra, jeman apan 

 aparadhidigake khyama kari, tadrup tumio amarder aparadh khyama 

 karo. Ebang amardigake parikhyate anio na ; kintu manda haite rakhya 

 kara. Rajattwa o gaurab o parakram e sakali sadakale tomar. Amen." 

 The Lord's Prayer in Asamese. 



He amar swargat thoka pitri, tomar nam pujya hauk ; tomar raijya 

 hauk ; ar jene swargat tene kui prithibit o tomar issha pur hauk. Aji 

 amar khabar behani amak dia, Aru jenekui amar dhdmahontok ami 

 hohun, tenekui amar dhar era. Aru amak parikhyaloi ni niba, kintu 

 apadar para amak rakhya kara. Rajatto, aru mahima, am prabhad ei 

 kakalo hadai tomar. Amen. 



All the other languages that will now come under consideration, may 

 be divided into two great classes ; those connected with the Thibe- 

 tan, and those deriving their origin from the Tai or Shyan stock. 



They all nevertheless approximate toward the Chinese colloquial 

 system, and more or less possess the characteristics of being originally 

 monosyllabic, and all intonated. Those arranged under the second 

 class are also destitute of inflections. 



The origin of the intonations common to these languages, may in all 

 probability be found in the extremely limited nature of their colloquial 

 medium, occasioned by their confining themselves wholly to a mono- 

 syllabic system. The number of their monosyllables must naturally be 

 very limited. On a new object being presented to the mind, it becomes 

 necessary to give it a name ; — the possibility of uniting two or more 

 syllables to form a word never occurred to them, they must therefore 

 have recourse to a monosyllable already in use, and their ingenuity 

 exercised to invent a method of diversifying these monosyllables. This 

 is done by adding to it, force, length, or rapidity of pronunciation. 



These intonations, depending as they do only on a modified action 

 of those parts of the larynx, which most immediately affect the voice, 



