THE ETHNOLOGY Of EASTERN ASIA. 



and said that in the Indonesian language* everything beyond the 

 mere surface resolved uself into their phonology. Such compari- 

 sons demand a tar greater amount of knowledge, labour and 

 critical skill than grammatical ones. We propose therefore to 

 reserve them to the Fast and until we have made further observations 

 on the ! causes and varieties of phonetic developments and changes. 

 In the notes we shall incidentally notice the more obvious phonetic 

 affinities which present themselves in examining the ideohgy, post- 

 poning a full consideration of these affinities till we take up the 

 phonology as a whole.* 



• The interest that attaches to the present enquiry, and the necessi ty of going 

 fully into the linguistic evidence in particular, may be gathe: A from the following 

 remark* by Frichard and B onsen : — 



" Nor do we undertake to answer the question whether that wreck of the primi- 

 tive language, that jcreat monument of inorganic structure the Chinese, can be 

 linked by any scientific method to the other families of human speed*, and be ihm, 

 directly or indirectiy, connected with the great tripartite civilizing family of 

 mankind. But we add, there is no scientific proof that it cannot. Chinese 

 philology, from a general point of view, is in its infancy. 



" The* study of the Tibe tan or Bhotiya language, and that of the Burmese, would 



erobably offer the nearest link between the Chinese and t lie more recent formations; 

 ut even the comparison with Sanscrit roots will not I*; without results. 

 "It would be presumptuous to anticipate the issue of such well-prepared and sifted 

 comparisons ; but we have no hesitation in saying, that we incline to believe it will 

 be in favour of the existence of a primitive connexion. There is a gap between that 

 formation and all others ; and that gap corresponds probably to that caused in the 

 general development of the human race by great destructive floods, which separate 

 the history of our race from Its primordial origines. In tliis sense the Chinese may 

 be called the monument of antediluvian speech. Indeed the first emigration from 

 the cradle of mankind is said in Genesis to have gone eastward. 



" But wltatever be the result, there k only one method of arriving at it. and tliat 

 is a combination of accurate philological observation and analysis with philosophical 

 principles, and with the collateral researches of history and of physiology. It Is 

 only by such a combination of researches that we can none to fix riennitivHy the 

 rt t /^ of the Chinese language in the general history of human speech, and to 

 pronounce with historical certainty on the great questions connected with that 

 problem. The difficulties are immense ■ but greater ones have been overcome in 



phenomena of development, and thus of languages, will not be found entirety 

 useless in the pursuit of those ulterior researches.' '--.Btwwen {Address to the Bri- 

 tish Association.) 



u I shall endeavour briefly to describe the principal triors of men as I find them 

 distinguished by historical evidence, and by that of the mo»t authentic records, 

 iiumely, by their languages, which, of all peculiar endowments, seem to be the 

 most permanently retained, and can be shewn in many cases to have survived even 

 very considerable changes in physical and moral characters. Glottology, or the 

 history of languages, founded on an accurate analysis of their relations, is almost a 

 new field ot inquiry. It has been explored with great success of late, and new 

 discoveries are every day made in it. Our contemporaries are becoming more and 

 more convinced that the history of nations, termed ethnology, must be mainly 

 founded on the relations of their languages. The ultimate object of this investigation 

 is not to trace the history of languages, but of the tribes of men whose affinity 

 they tend to illustrate."— pTkhard {Natural History of Man.) 



