224 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



an able and interesting collection ; "Analecta Rabbinnica" in 

 " 1702 "; "Antiquitates Sacrse" in 1708, a useful compendium 

 or text book ; " Dissertationes QuinqueDe Nummis Veterum 

 Hebraeorium " ; and " De Spoliis Templi." His principal 

 work— his enduring monument — is bis " Palestina ex Monu* 

 mentis Veteribus Illustrata." Recent travel has added 

 greatly to our knowledge of the Holy Land, but Reland's 

 work remains a study for all writers in sacred geography. 

 Peter Reland, his brother, compiled a good and valuable 

 "Fasti Consulares," printed after his death in 1715 (Imperial 

 Dictionary of Universal Biography).] 



The Xlth chapter of Part III. of the " Dissertationes Mis- 

 cellanese " is styled " De Linguis Insularum Quarundam 

 Orientalium," and treats of Malay, Sinhalese, Malabar, 

 Javanese (which he says is now mixed with Malay), 

 Japanese, Siamese, Annamese, the languages of the Solomon 

 Islands, of the Cocos Islands, of New Guinea, of some 

 islands called " Mosis " and " Moo," and of Madagascar 

 (noting its connection with Malay). 



The following is a translation from the original Latin of 

 .sections 1 to 8 of this chapter (pp. 57-91) : — 



I. — On the Malay Language used in several Oriental 

 Islands. 



The Malay language is so extensively used through the 

 islands of the East, that it is difficult to treat of the languages 

 of these islands without making some preliminary remarks 

 concerning the idiom of the Malays. This is the more 

 necessary on account of the scarcity of works which help 

 towards a knowledge of that language. On this account I 

 hope that I may not only obtain the praise of such as desire 

 to acquire that knowledge, but to effect a work which will 

 be pleasing to such as wish to compare other languages with 

 the Malay, or to read what I have written about the 

 languages of some of the islands of the East, if I preface it 

 with a vocabulary of some of the more common words of this 

 language. This I have taken from the larger manuscript 



