216 
REPORT-1847. 
by conquest, and at the expense of other tongues. Not so with the Bfr- 
ber language. It is, for aught known to the contrary, indigenous over tie 
whole tract where it is spoken. At least, it was used in all its present loci* 
lities at the earliest dates of history. Dialects mutually intelligible not 
were, probably, mutually intelligible in the time of Jugurtha. Tliis pra 
us an element for the computation of the rate at which languages cbw. 
The geographical extension of the Chinese of China is in many points sioi* 
lar to that of the Berber of Barbary. That of the Arabic ol' Arabia it i 
remarkable and exact pamllcl. 
4. The CafiVc area.—It is highly probable that the great extent of tiif 
Caffre area in Africa is an ethnological phsenomenon of the same kWJ* 
that of the Turk area in Asia. Towards the south, at Icmit, itis an im¬ 
ported language, and has sujrplanted languages akin to the Hottentot. ]«^ 
iated portions of these may still exist to the north of those parts whereibt 
Caffre languages are spoken continuously. The northern limits of theCiftt 
languages, as at present known, fmth east and west, coincide almost c«c^r 
with the equator. Compare with the distribution of the languages of b'ouit- 
ern Africa the distribution of thu languages of Hindostan. 
5. Madagascar,—It has been stated before that Ujc language of Maw* 
gascar is not African. This is of itself remarkable; it is more reniarka^ 
still that it is Malay. Again, whilst the language is Malay, the 
conformation of tlio people, or least of a portion of them, is African. T» 
statement that tlie language of Madagascar is really eric, although credit*^ 
requires further investigation. , 
Anothop question presents itself. MHiat do the languages enumeraw 
offer in the way of a measure of the intellectual strength on the pnrtof^ 
nations that speak them? In the way of literature, next to nothing- 
and Abyssinian literatures, and at great distance from both, * 
Berber, are the only approaches to the higher applications of language. I® 
the way of tole or ballad, the general lieritage of the rudest tribes, it is prow® 
that more Is to be found than has appeared. However, for the whole rsn. 
ot the true negro area, I at present know of nothing beyond the 
specimen in the Tuinali from the mouth of a native, taken by Tutschek. 
1 ho following lines arc the beginning of a long tale or fable, which 
communicated to mv late brother Charles by his pupil Vjah DjondauA^ 
the representative of the people of the Yovnwlc. Djalo dictated it after «« 
communication of an old countryman of his, Dgimal Tamm.'l, hotn 
and assyed .no tlmt I.o had reproduced it almost exactly as he had b**' 
It related several times by his old friend.” 
Godi R.\fal. 
Nging^t ngenddnen intfidan ngCm- 
da y5r»niam yaf^ kfmfindanam kfin- 
dek; ydm'.'nirenau yeng'lndaii koW’Ki: 
k dchdgum kngideweudrn. ngendaiie 
smgeam n'ng kCnan. Guman gu- 
luanam k?iimrakeo, yalrlU n'ngku- 
, , ulbfidan dedni 
K-»gkCledg|.n, nodnen k'luuu fa fa- 
< ariaii k'’ni"le kiekiriii. Intane k*- 
kArmm, Define hufet kelMu"k; k'n- 
gtrnin: “ daki ne»'tom5 ?” 
Godi Rafal (literal trauslatioD - 
Girls they once they fou*- 
(of) dates for wentout; their - 
>n (the) hands (they) hdd ; 
the wood (they) marchod. ^ ^ 
(the) thirst tlicm killed. *, 
quickly (they) could not walk, t 
throats to them were dry* 
A lake glittering in the fie ^ 
they observed, there the date. ^ 
the trees had not yet 
One they found, there 
ripened ; they stopped: ‘ 
mount up?” 
