STHTTOtOGlT OF TIIK nyDO-PACiriC fSLlNDS. 8*1 



Iraat to the southern. So long as dialects spoken by indcpentloni 

 or Beparats tribes exist, the n umber of roots has a tenJency to 

 increase, each dialect being & distinct inlet for foreign words, 

 which mny or may not pass by slow degrees into circaklion in 

 §ame or all of the other diulccts also, that depending on the nature 

 of the relations amongst the tribes. A gradual and very great 

 glossal ial divergency is consistent with ihe retention of the leading 

 characters of the formation in phonology, ideology and even I'ti 

 glossary. The Indo-European, the Ntha-Polynesian, the Tibeto- 

 Ulirsindianj the Scythic, the Sernitico-Ltbyan and all other lorina- 

 tions furniah evidence of this. On the subject of the more recent 

 inlerpenetration of the South Diavirian glossaries Mr Efliot 

 remarks: "All the southern dialects become considerably iiifer- 

 Tuixed as they approach each other's limits. Thus the three worda 

 for "egg" used indifftiretilly by the people speaking Canarese, 

 (mall6, teltt, gaddn) are evidently obtained, the first from the 

 Tnmnlian, malta; the last, from the Tclugu, gadda» This inter- 

 mixture, which is of ordinary occurrence in all cognate tongues, 

 is here promoted specially by extensive colonizaUon of different 

 races, as of the Telugus into Southern India under the Bijaynagar 

 dynasty, where they still exist as distinct communities — and of the 

 followers of Rdmanuja Achdij into Mysore, where they still are 

 to be seen as a separate class speaking Tduil in their families, and 

 Carndtaca in public- The Reddies also, an entt-rprising race of 

 agriculturiste, have migrated from tlieir original seats near Rajali- 

 inandry, over the whole of Southern India, aiid even ijjto tho 

 Mahdrishtra country, where they are considered the most thriving 

 lyots, and are met with as far north as Poona." (Jo urn. Asiatic 

 Soc. vol. 18 p. 350). 



So far as tbe testimony of the 100 words which I have compared 

 can be relied on, the South Indian or [lurcst Dravirian vocabu- 

 laries would appear to have 30 to 40 ppr cent of iheir words in com- 

 mon with Gf^nd, Male and Uraon j and less than lo per cent with 

 lb« Kol dialects. The specific affinities with the Middlcj Gunge- 

 lie, the Himalayan and the UUraindian languages, though coriijidcr- 

 able as a whole, are so slight for any particular language or group, 

 that it would be unsafe to state then at even a very low number, 

 without a comparison of much larger vocabulariei. A few Dra- 



