146 An Essay on Early Relations, Sfc. [No. 37, 



been made, there would be little left to regret, if the remaining Ma- 

 nuscripts were destroyed. In order to select, it was necessary to 

 examine. The intention of the Bengal Asiatic Committee was over- 

 ruled by the Committee of papers of the Madras Literary Society ; 

 and an Analysis was first demanded. The required analysis was 

 somewhat fully given, but it did not exhibit an estimate of contents 

 generally favorable, and it was spoken of as showing the worthless- 

 ness of the mass of Manuscripts. However I, who examined them very 

 minutely, know better than that, and I consider that a judicious 

 selection for translation might yet be made, and thereby the history 

 of the Drdvida-desa, or Southern Peninsula, be rendered more com- 

 plete than it is. But in a mere analysis, a general statement was 

 sufficient, and I could not specify every thing which they contained* 

 I retired from my task, under a feeling of very great thankfulness to 

 my personally unknown patron, the late Mr. James Prinsep ; to 

 Lord Auckland, and his Council ; and to Lord Elphinstone, then 

 Governor of Madras. 



Postscript to the Essay on "Eastern Relations } fyc. 



The foregoing Essay was written several years ago ; and I had not 

 then met with Crawford's sketches of the Eastern Archipelago. This 

 work I subsequently perused with attention; and took copious notes. 

 After Raffles' work this one adds but little, except on the subject of 

 philology. The copious vocabularies of the languages, or dialects, 

 in various islands of the Archipelago, not only show the common af- 

 finity to the Pali, or Magadha-basha ; but appeared to me to indi- 

 cate the existence of the native Tamil (quite distinct from Sanscrit) 

 as pervading many of the islands; and the mountaineers of Sunda, 

 in particular, I judged to have a language as near the Tamil as 

 that of the Todaver, or the Khonds. The Essay is already too long 

 and will not bear addition ; but after I see it in print, I may 

 be stimulated to take up the philology of Crawford in a supplemen- 

 tary paper. 



21s* May, 1850. 



