968 On the Aborigines of the Eastern Frontier. [Sept. 



very intimate connexion between the two. The Naga tribes are very 

 numerous, and every village appears to have its own dialect. 



I have not inserted the Khamti or Shyan because I am not convinced 

 that there is any very close radical connection between either and the 

 Burmese. This affinity seems always to have been taken for granted 

 as a matter of course, but without any just ground. It is true there 

 are a considerable number of Burman words in the Khamti, but they 

 bear the marks of recent introduction, and are not to be found in the old 

 Ahom, the parent Shyan, nor in the Siamese, with which the Ahom was 

 nearly, if not exactly, identical. I have inserted the Burmese as written 

 together with the spoken form. The Mags of Arakan, it is said, pro- 

 nounce it as it is written, and not like the Burmese. It appears to re- 

 semble the Tibetan considerably. The 1 st column of iVbor Miri I have 

 collected from a vocabulary published a year or two ago by Captain 

 E. F. Smith (of the Bengal Native Infantry), commanding at Sadiya. 

 — The last column I got from a Miri residing at this place. 



In Burman I have used th to express the sound of th in think. Also 

 a stroke under the initial letter of a syllable to denote the falling tone, 

 and a dot under the final vowel to denote the short, abrupt tone. The 

 Singpho and Namsang Naga are taken from a vocabulary published se- 

 veral years ago by the Rev. M. Bronson, and may be depended on as 

 correct. The other two Naga dialects are given by two men from vil- 

 lages near Nowgong — the only Nagas I can find in the station just now ; 

 and, as they do not understand Asamese very well, I may have intro- 

 duced some errors from them. At all events, the words are evidently 

 encumbered with affixes and prefixes that do not properly belong here. 

 I have not however ventured to remove any of them, as you will be 

 better able to do this. I am inclined to think that the radical forms 

 in all these languages are monosyllabic, as the Burmese unquestionably 

 is. The verbs, &c. would probably show a much greater resemblance 

 if we had all the terms for each idea ; as there will generally be many 

 verbs nearly synonymous ; consequently the lists do not always exhibit 

 the corresponding forms ; thus creating an apparent difference when 

 there is none in reality." 



As it is not my purpose to anticipate the results of the present in- 

 quiry, I will add nothing on this occasion to the above obliging and 

 sensible remarks of Mr. Brown. 



