S U M A T R A* 
mtxed and corrupted^ but between the mofl diflimilar branches, an evi- 
dent famenefs of many radical words is apparent ; and in fome, vcr}^ 
diftant from each other in point of fituation ; as for inftance the Philip- 
pines and Madagafcar ; the deviation of the words is fcarcely more than 
is obferved in the dialects of neighboiiring provinces of the fame king- 
dom,* 
The principal internal languages of Sumatra, are the Rejang and the ^^^^ ^^^^ 
Batta, whofe difference is markedj not fo much by the want of corref- cuiiar wriUog 
pondence in the terms, as by the circumftance of their being each ex- 
prefled In a diflin^t and peculiar written character. This I conceive to 
be extraordinary, and perhaps Cngukr, in the hiftory of human improve- 
ment; that two divifions of people on the Himc ifland, with equal claims 
to origin alit)', in ftages of civilization nearly equal, and fpeaking lan- 
guages derived from the fame fource, ihould write in characters cflenti- 
ally different from each other, and from the refl of the world. What 
corroborates the evidence of the alphabets being fe par ate and uncon- 
nected inventions, is, that the order of the letters is not the lame; as 
will appear by an infpeCtion of the fpeclmcns I have fubjoined for the 
gratification of the curious^. The Achenefc making ufe of the Arabic 
character, their language has the lefs claim to originality. The Lam- 
poon, a* a diakift, is fnfiiciently drftinCt from all the others, but a few 
of the letters of the alphabet, particularly the firft and fecond, are ex- 
preffed by characters manifeftly the fame with the Rejang, though the 
major part feem entirdy unlike. Perhaps, as the Greeks are laid to have 
* I am engaged in ^ attempt to rentier thh com^unCon of lai^u^g^ more extecSre, aiul as far 
a* poflibLe, to bring fpccimtn* of all thufe fpokcn in the known ^vorld, into one point of v\cvr, 
f See the following plate. The 'Ja'vmtft^ and all other eaftern writing, ihac I have evantiDcd, 
differ as much from iheft, as the Rrj&ng from ihe B&tta, The fpectmen of a J^an alphabet giTca 
in Comeille le Erun ia very Juft. The Tn^ala alpliaijet it lo found in TheretioE* Kelatioii 
done 
