482 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, be understood alike in the different languages in which they are 
used,” is not strictly correct, as we found many Loo Choo people who 
May. understood the meaning of the character, which was the same with 
them as with the Chinese, but who could not give us the Chinese pro- 
nunciation of the w^ord. And this is an answer to another observation 
which precedes that above mentioned, viz. that “ as the Chinese cha- 
racters are in direct connexion with the Chinese spoken words, they 
can only be read and understood by those who are familiar with the 
spoken language.” The Loo Choo words for the same things are very 
different from those of the Chinese, tlie one being often a monosyllable, 
and the other a polysyllable ; as in the instance charcoal, the Chinese 
word for it being tan, and the Loo Chooan clid-chee-jmg, and yet the 
people use precisely the same character as the Chinese to express this 
word ; and so far from its being necessary to be familiar with the 
language to understand the characters, many did not know the Chinese 
words for them. Their language throughout is very different from that 
of the Chinese, and much more nearly allied to the Japanese. The 
observation of M. Klaproth, in Archiv fur Asiatische Litteratur, p. 152, 
that the Loo Choo language is a dialect of the Japanese with a good 
deal of Chinese introduced into it, appears to be perfectly correct, from 
the information of some gentlemen who have compared the two, and 
are familiar with both languages. The vocabulary of Lieutenant 
Clifford, which we found very correct, wdll at any time afford the means 
of making this comparison. 
The inhabitants of Loo Choo are very curious on almost all sub- 
jects, and seem very desirous of information ; but we were wholly unable 
to judge of their proficiency in any subject, in consequence of the great 
disadvantages under which w'e visited their country. 
Like the Japanese, they have always shown a determination to 
resist the attempts of Europeans to trade with them, partly, no doubt, 
in consequence of orders to that effect from China, and partly from their 
own timidity ; and whenever a foreign vessel arrives it is their policy 
to keep her in ignorance of their weakness, by confining the crew to 
their vessel, or, if they cannot do that, within a limited walk of the beach, 
and through such places only as will not enlighten them on this point; 
