164 
SUMATRA. 
of certain words expreflive of a determinate meaning, wtrich fhould oot be 
confidered as mere auxiliaries, or as parciclcs fubfervieac to other words. 
Thus, ID the inftance of Rmm, a houfe ; " derfce pdda rooma" f\gnh 
fies ** from a houfe"; but U would be talking without uk or meaning, 
to fay that Seme pad^ ii the fign of the ablative cafe of that noun, for 
then every proportion fliould equally require an approi)riate cafe, and 
as well as of" ** to" and ** from," we fliould have a cafe for ** deaf as 
remd*'^^^ on top of the houfe". So of verba : ** caUo ;W ^eoke gtHan"^ 
*^ if I con Id walk this may be termed the preter-imperfc<ft cenie of 
the fubjun6:ive or potential mood, of the verb gcila^ ; whereas it is in 
f^£t a fentence, of which gellan^ hoeite, are coallituent words.* It ts 
improper, I lay, to talk of the cafe of a noun, which does not ch^inge 
its termimtioh, or the mood of a verb* which docs not alter its 
fortn. An ufeful fct of obfervations might be colksfted^ for fpeak- 
irig the language with corredtneis and propriety, but they muft be as 
• different from the artificial and technical rules of our grammarians, as 
the drefs of an European lady, from the limplicity of a Malay habit. 
Interior peo- . Bcfide the Malay there are a variety of lang-uagcs fpoken on Sumatra, 
^l^^dHTer"^*' which, however, have not only a manifeft affinity among thcmfelves^ 
from the Ma- ^^(jj ^o that general language which is found to prevail in, and to be 
kidigenous to all the iflands of the eallem fea; from Madagaicar to the 
^emoteft of Captain Coofce'a difcoveries ^ con^prehending a wider ex- 
tent than the Roman, or any other tongue, has yet boafted. Indifpu* 
cable examples of this connexion and finitlarity, I have ^Khibited in a 
paper which the Society of Antiquaties have done me the honor to pu- 
bliih in their Archaiobgia. In different, placea it has been more or lefs^ 
• B«wsev, who l:as written on this fub;ect, conftimt^ bis future tenfe, of the w'ord " maoe,"'^ 
thus* " camee maM iacba/' which is, we chufei or are inclined to read,** To fcfrm the PalTivc 
roictt \ie fays ilie particle " iier^ ts'tib "be preffwd, but lie is iWiflakan, for " I ftfnd this later** 
h exprtflVd in Malay, hy '* ttr-hfi/it fihr4it imu." TKefe endeavors to f<}uare every 
tbhvg to our own lotalaad pajtiai ideas, putt iflc in mind of foiB* vocabularies 1 have i^en, ia 
vhich the country Titles were thus exphined— Pi?*f#rtffl^Uukc i Dalt&o—vi EarJ ; Dupaity— 
a Lord Mayor. . * 
