ON THE ALPHABETS OP THE INDIAN AHCI1IPELAGO. 773 
The Birna alphabet does not possess the Hindu classification. 
Even the aspirated consonants are not generally placed in juxtapo¬ 
sition with the unaspirated. The letters seem boldly formed, and 
are not mere scratches like those of the Sumatran alphabets. As 
examples, the aspirated d, y, and the simple aspirate are represent¬ 
ed by characters which respectively much resemble a large g, k, and 
h in ordinary European band-writing. 
Celebes appears to have produced two distinct alphabets, the one 
at present in use over the whole island, and which has extended to 
Bouton and Sumbawa, or wherever else indeed the Bugis nation has 
settled or colonized. 
The modern Bugis alphabet consists of 23 substantive characters. 
One of these is the vowel a, another the aspirate, and the third a 
compound letter. The palatal *d and *t of the Javanese are want¬ 
ing, and it has not the letter y, possessed by all the western alpha¬ 
bets. It is classed after the Hindu manner, into gutturals, labials, 
palatals, liquids, and a sibilant, each of the three first classes with 
its corresponding nasal. But each of these first classes has added 
to it after the nasal, a letter which appears to he an aspirate of the 
first letter in the order of each series. Thus the consonants are 
made to amount to 20 in number. 
As usual, the final a is inherent in every consonant, and also in 
the aspirate. The vowel marks are 4, viz., for e. i. o. and u. These 
are applied to the consonants and aspirate in the ordinary manner, 
and also to the letter a as in Javanese. These is no sign of elision, 
for as a general rule, every word and syllable in this language ought 
to terminate either in a vowel or the nasal ri for which there is an 
orthographic mark. There are, however, some exceptions to this 
rule. Consonants are made to follow other consonants without the 
intervention of a vowel, or to end words as aspirates, when they 
are not expressed in writing. Thus the word makunrai, a woman, 
is written makuri and the n is left to be understood, and linroh the 
forehead, is written Iiro, the n being understood, as well as the as¬ 
pirate, for which, except as a substantive letter, when it would have 
an inherent a, there is no character. All this shows that the Bugis 
alphabet is imperfect, and for fulness and precision not comparable 
to the Javanese. 
In form, the body of the Bugis characters consists, for the most 
part, of small segments of circles running horizontally, the letters 
being distinguished from each other, by small processes, by being 
JM 3 
