554 A SCRAP CONCERNING THE CHINESE. 



fitive men, like the Egyptians and our forefathers, 

 they had but few wants, which however increafed in the 

 fequel with the ufe of reafon, the former they could 

 fufficiently denote by the variations of the limple founds; 

 afterwards they were indeed in want of more words ; yet 

 it did not occur to them to form them like our's by the 

 combination of fingle founds, but they thought to pre- 

 ferve the latter by giving them various tones fome of 

 them fcarcely difringuifhable by an european ear. 

 Hence it was that for each of their limple ideas they 

 a limple word. 



Of all thefe languages the chinefe has continued the 

 poorer!, confining only of about 800 fyllables, each of 

 which begins with a confonant, and fome of them end 

 only with n and ng ; they have belides no b, d, g and 

 r. The other nations, as Coreans, Ton quins, Siamefe, 

 Peguans, and Thibetans, begin their monofyllabic 

 words, not only with all our founds, as well vowel as 

 confonant, but likewife form their terminations in 

 them ; and the Malay ians have a difTyllabic language. 

 Of the like nature the languages of the illands in the 

 South-Seas feem to be. 



The words of the Chinefe not conlifting of com- 

 pounded fyllables, they never attempted a diffedHon 

 of them, or an alphabet from that method ; but fought 

 to reprefent their ideas by the delineation of the object 

 thought of in rude figures : in procefs of time they fepa- 

 rated thefe figures, preferving only fome of the main 

 Irxokes, the crooked lines whereof they changed into 

 irrait, for the greater conveniency of pencil-writing. 

 Thus arofe their prefent characters ; which, in regard 

 to facility, plainnefs and eafinefs of compreheniion, 



can 



