772 ON THE ALPHABETS OP THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 
them, but we certainly possess, at present no clear or certain ves¬ 
tige of their having actually existed. 
On the opposing surfaces of an unhewn nodule of sand stone, where 
it had been split, there was in Singapore, a very rude but long in¬ 
scription in an unknown character. The only people who are known 
to have occupied Singapore for any length of time are the Malays, 
who after emigrating from Sumatra settled here and made it the seat 
of their government for near a century, and this before their con¬ 
version to the Mahometan religion. It seems not improbable, then, 
that the inscription in question was in their native cnaracter, most 
likely in some antique form of it, as is the case with the monuments 
of Java, and of Birma in which the modem letters are never seen. 
It might indeed, be suspected that the inscription was the work of 
the Javanese who are known to have expelled the Malays, but the 
rudeness of the monument, so unlike every thing in Java, makes 
such a supposition very improbable. 
In his journey to Menangkabou Sir Stamford Raffles discovered 
three different inscriptions, the characters on which he considered 
to he identical with those of the majority of inscriptions in Java, 
that is, that they consisted of ancient Javanese writing. As Sir Stam¬ 
ford, however, was unacquainted either with the ancient or modern 
Javanese, and had, at the moment, no able assistance as he constant¬ 
ly had in Java, his conclusion must be considered doubtful, and the 
writing may on further examination turn out to be tlie ancient wri¬ 
ting of tlie Malays, the people in the heart of whose country the 
inscriptions were found. 
After quitting Sumatra and Java proceeding eastward, the first 
example of a native alphabet we meet with occurs in Surabawa, which 
is ascribed to the nation called Bima. This character is no longer 
in use, but has been long obsolete, having been superceded by the 
current alphabet of Celebes. 
Sir Stamford Raffles work contains a good engraving of this old 
alphabet, but unfortunately without the vowel points, or any other 
explanation except the naked description of the letters. Including 
the vowel, a, and aspirate, it contains no fewer than 32 characters. 
Nine of these are aspirates of other consonants, one the palatal d, 
known only besides to the Javanese, and two repreaent the letters f 
and z which are unknown to any other native alphabet of the Ar¬ 
chipelago. Thus, as far as consonants are concerned it is far more 
copious than any of the other native systems. 
