iSS 
SUMATRA. 
done in the days of Cadmus, the Lampoons may have borrowed from 
their neighbours, in order to complete the number of their letters. All 
thefe people, in writing, form their lines from the left hand towards the 
ri^ht, contrary to the pradice of the Malays and the Arabians. 
Their writings^ of any bulk and importance, are executed^ with ink, 
of tttiST * on the inner bark of a tree, cut into narrow flrips of confiderable length, 
and folded together in fquares ; each fquare or fold anfwering for a page. 
On mote common occaiions rhey write on the outer coat of a joint o£ 
and on bam- bamboo; fomctimes whole, and fometimes fpHt into pieces of two or 
three inches in breadth ; with the point of their creefe or other weapon, 
which ferves the piirpofe of a flylus.* Thefe writings or fcratchings 
rather, are often performed with a confiderable degree of neatnefs; of 
which J have fpecimens in my pofleflion, as well as of their larger 
works. The proportion of thofe among the natives who can read and 
wrltCj particularly the BatraSj is very great, and perhaps not^furpafled in 
many countries of Europe. 
None of thefe languages are fo harmonious as the Malay, and the 
Lampoon in particular is very guttural , making frequent ufe of the 
found we denote by " gh", which they introduce even in Malay words ; 
and Hquifyir^ the confonant " r Thus the word Crcee^ they pronounce 
Cogh-esy and ^ras they change into bws,^ 
In Java, Siam, and other parts of the eaft, befidc the common lan- 
guage of the country, there is eftablilhed a court language, fpoken by 
* The Chioefe are faid, by their hillorlans, to have written on pieces of Bamboo, before they 
invir ted paper, 
f Tt h remarkable that tht Malays cannot exprefs the confonant F, or Ph, nor the people of 
the iftand ifte*, near Sumatra, the confonant P. The fame diilm£Uon i* obfcivcd amougll the 
inhabitants of fome of the South Sea iflands, and J bellerc holds goo4 wiih refjpe^ to the Ferfians 
and Arabians. 
perfons 
