THE SAKAI AND SEMANG DIALECTS. 63 
actually spoken by the aborigines: mere lists of words have 
their value, but the only chance of getting an insight into the 
grammar of a language lies in the collection and analysis of 
sentences, and that is now the most urzent desideratum in con- 
nection with these dialects. Such work can only be done pro- 
perly by men on the spot and thoroughly conversant with local 
circumstances, and the.task should be undertaken at once, 
before the imminent extinction of these dialects makes it for 
ever impossible. In view of the high value, from a scientific 
point of view, of such researches (which is attested oy the in- 
terest taken in them by a scholar of European reputation like 
the author of the paper I have attempted to review) I venture 
to express the hope that the Governments of the Straits Set- 
tlements and the Native States will follow the good example, in 
these matters, of the Indian Government and will give some 
assistance, or at least encouragement, towards a systematic 
linguistic survey of the Peninsula on the lines of the Linguistic 
Survey of India. 
R. A. Soc., No. 39, 1903. 
