3 02 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



attempt to connect anam with sitt by means of the word 

 butan^a is apt to recall the sarcasm of VOLTAIRE "pour 

 Messieurs les etymologistes les voyelles n'y sont pour rien 

 et les consonnes pour tres peu de chose." The selection of 

 the Malay '' I'p'n ^' as an original root is singularly unfortunate 

 in view of the well-known derivation of delapan from dua 

 lepan. A reference to a table of Indonesian numerals 

 will show that the forms selected are, in several cases, 

 the exception rather than the rule. As for the Semitic 

 numerals Mr. MacDonald has been in one or two cases 

 misled by the transliteration. The " t' " in flaa is not 

 " t ^' ( "-^ ) but '^ th " ( <-^ ) and generally corrupts to '' s " in 

 other languages as hari thalatha, for instance, becomes hart 

 selasa ; Othman corrupts to Osman. The ''k" also in 

 Khamis is not the Indonesian "k" in Iknia. The Malay 

 language contains some of the Semitic numerals in the names 

 of the days of the week, but they do not corrupt to the forms 

 suggested by Mr. MacDonald. 



It would be unsafe to base any arguments as to the origin 

 or movements of the Indonesian races upon the resemblances 

 between the numerals alone. The numerals, however, illustrate 

 very fairly the theory of Polynesian migrations expounded 

 by M. DE QuATREFAGES,^ in that they are used by the Melane- 

 sian tribes who lie along the routes which the migrating tribes 

 from Ceram and Bourou are believed to have followed on their 

 way to the South Seas. Mr. A. R. Wallace, while unwilling 

 to admit the common origin of the Indonesian and Polynesian 

 races, fully recognised the remarkable similarity in language, 

 a similarity, as he points out, of " words " not mere roots, and 

 which he explains by suggesting that Malay traders must 

 have visited the South Sea Islands. Of this, however, there is 

 no historical evidence, and the primitive condition of the 

 Polynesians when first visited by Europeans militates against 

 the theory that they had commercial dealings with the com- 

 paratively civilised Malays. The resemblance in language 

 cannot be a mere coincidence. Attempts have been made to 

 minimize its extent and importance by writers who argue in 

 favour of the Oceanic races being the relics of the autocthonous 



* " Les Polynesiens et leurs migrations" — by M. A. dk Quatrefages. 



