ON THE ALPHABETS OP THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 7^9 
the Malayan anil Indian letters, and as the Hindu is but partial, it 
is surely more reasonable to conclude, that the alphabets are dis¬ 
tinct, and the partial metrical arrangement is but an accidental mo¬ 
dification. 
The form of the Batak letters is generally horizontal, the body 
of each letter being always so, and the vertical or the diagonal strokes 
to distinguish one letter from another, being, as it were, only sup¬ 
plemental. The letter p. for example, is a simple horizontal stroke 
thus — . The vowel i. consists of three horizontal strokes diminishing 
downwards thus, — while u. consists of three diminishing upwards 
thus . The aspirate consists of a horizontal dash with two small 
vertical strokes. The writing in fact seems to consist of a few simple 
scratches or hair strokes.* In this there is no discoverable likeness 
of any object in nature, animate or inanimate,—nothing whatever 
to indicate, that vocalic writing has been immediately derived from 
pictorial. “ In their form” says Mr, Marsden “ the characters do 
not even partially resemble those of any other alphabet.” 
The next alphabet we meet with, proceeding eastward, is the 
Korinchi, found in the country of the same name which borders on 
Menangkabau, the parent country of the Malay nation. I have ne¬ 
ver seen any other specimen of this alphabet than that given by Mr. 
Marsden, nor had he himself seen any other example than the ori¬ 
ginal from which it was taken. It is unsatisfactory, nor does the 
description agree with the plate. The number of characters given 
in the latter is 29, but the description marks the vowels a. i. o. and 
u. substantive letters, while the first of these only, is found among 
them. Among the characters in the plate there are two for the let¬ 
ter a, two for the aspirate, two for k, two for n, while there are 
five characters expressing sounds represented by Mr. Marsden by 
the double letters nd. ns. nc. mp. and nt. These last are, most 
probably, syllabic and not literal characters. 
In the Korinchi alphabet we find no dental d, and no palatal *d 
or *t. The vowel marks, the sanjata or armour, as the Malays 
call them, are, in reality only two, viz. for i and u, the first desig¬ 
nated by a simple point after and above the consonant, and the last 
by one below it. The vowel a, as in all the other alphabets, is in¬ 
herent in every consonant, and there is no other means of eliding it 
except its supercession by the application of the vowel marks. A 
* These strokes, however, are generally curved, and not straight as in 
Marsden’s copy.— Ed. 
