CEYLON BRANCH—ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



41 



<5 (i and r) very similar, the next to discriminate three 

 letters very similar Q ^ and Q (u and two l's, one of them 

 said to be useless), the next, two others very similar <6 and 6 

 (e and pha), the next, four very similar <D, ®, §D g), (o, mba, 

 da, and nga), the next, three very ^similar ®, c3, ta (gha, ya, 

 sa) the next, other four very similar 0, 0, ©, (cha, wa, 

 ma, ba) to which certainly a) (kha) should have been added, 

 the next, three very similar t£, ts*, C (cliha, ja, pa,) the next, 

 two very similar -en and €53 (na and tha). 



II. The vernacular having been learned in Roman 

 characters, English will appear to our fellow subjects, in this 

 country, much less strange and foreign, than when a new 

 alphabet is to be acquired for the occasion. The step from 

 the native language to English, will be much less violent ; 

 and the acquisition of the English will be much easier, be- 

 cause the powers of the letters being known, the English 

 words may be read at once, without the necessity of spelling 

 them, and consequently the whole of the learner's voice will 

 be left free to engage itself with the acquisition of the pro- 

 nunciation, and the whole of his mind will be left free to 

 engage itself with the meaning of the term on his lips, which 

 is of course the principal thing, although in consequence of 

 the actual pronunciation having departed so far from the 

 written orthography, the acquisition of it must always be a 

 hard task to every one, to whom English is not vernacular. 



III. The most repulsive barrier in the way of European 

 residents acquiring a respectable knowledge of the vernacu- 

 lar languages will be removed, and at least half the labour 

 will be saved. One may indeed acquire an Indian alphabet, 

 even the Singhalese, so as to be able to read with some 

 facility in six months ; but such reading requires an effort of 

 the whole mind, and leaves nothing free for attending to the 

 sense. I question indeed, if such an alphabet as the Singha- 

 lese could ever become so transparent to any foreigner as 



