The China Group consists of one Language in the island of Formosa or Tai-wan, part of the Chinese Empire. Its coasts and plains are occupied by Amoy-Chinese immigrants, but its mountainous interior is occupied by people of the Malayan race, the furthest Eastern outwork of that great Family. European Missionaries are now settled among this people, and we have from several quarters Vocabularies accompanied by Grammatical Notices. There is reason to believe, that the Malay race passed from the Philippines into this island; they are Malays in exterior, and some are in a semi-civilised state, given to agriculture, and known as Kabaran or Pepukhwan, residents of the plain; others as Yukan, wild savages of the hill. They have never made any real progress, being either in subjection to the Chinese, or in savage liberty; they have neither Character nor Literature; there is an entire absence of Sanskrit words, which marks the period of the Malayan colonisation to be anterior to the Hindu conquest of Java; intercourse with the rest of the Malayan race must have been very slack, and the influence of the Chinese immigration and culture upon the Language very strong. Four dialects are reported:1. Sideia. 2. Favorlang. 3. Tackais. 4. Tilois.

I arrive at the Madagascar Group, consisting of one Language-the Malagásy. At a distance of many

degrees to the West, separated from Africa by the Mozambique Channel, is the island of Madagascar, the most Western outwork of the Malayan race. Crawfurd asserted, that the Malagasies were a Negrito people of African blood, with a slight admixture of the Malay in their blood and Language, from pirates or tempestdriven vessels off the island of Sumatra. Humboldt led the van in the theory of a Malayan origin; and, since the island of Madagascar has become better known, and the residence of Missionaries, his opinion is gaining ground. A Dictionary was published in English forty years ago, and in French more than two hundred years

ago. Grammars have been published, and a translation of the New Testament, in the Roman Character. The latest opinion is that of Cousins, a Missionary of standing (who has been selected by all the Protestant Missions in the island to the task of revising the Bible), that the Language is one of the Malayan Family, with an admixture of foreign words brought in in the intercourse of trade. Van der Tuuk agrees in the above, and remarks that the Malagasy resembles the Toba Dialect of the Batta Language in the island of Sumatra, above described; that there are resemblances to Javanese, Malay, and Dhyak; and that the Language must have come from the West coast of Sumatra, after an admixture with a Language resembling that of the island of Nias. Certainly the words in Malagásy are very long indeed; Malay and Javanese roots are bisyllabic, and prefixes monosyllabic; while in Malagásy we have prefixes and affixes of three syllables, extending the length of some words to a monstrous extent; and it must be admitted, that the Malagásies are a dark race, speaking apparently the Language of the brown races of the Archipelago. There are no Sanskrit words, therefore the connection must date back to a period before the immigration into Java of the Hindus. They number about two and a half millions. There is no peculiar Character, and the Missionaries have introduced the Roman Character. According to French authorities, the Arabic Character was once used.

It is admitted, that there is great variety in the physical appearance and colour of the different races, and great admixture, and it may be possible, that a person, not a scholar, living on one part of the island, might have difficulty in understanding the spoken dialect of another part; but it is notwithstanding confidently affirmed, that there is no essentially different Language spoken by the different tribes, and on closer study the apparent discrepancies would disappear. The same translation of the Bible is used throughout the island. I am informed by Cousins

K

that there are ten Dialects; 1. the Hova is the most cultivated, and spoken by the inhabitants of the Central Province of Imerina. 2. The Sakaláva is spoken by a widely scattered tribe occupying most of the Western seaboard, and part of the Northern end of the island. Many of this tribe are quite dark, and among them, living as they do on the West coast, an African element may reasonably be expected to exist, and yet the grammatical forms of the Dialect are the same as those of the Hova, though the Vocabulary is very distinct. 3. The Betsimasáraka is the chief Dialect spoken on the Eastern coast. In the interior of the island South of Imerina is the 4. Betsileo, allied to which Dialect is 5. the Ibára Dialect, spoken by a tribe lying still further South. Between the high tablelands of the interior and the Eastern coast are the tribes of the 6. Tanála, the 7. Bezánozáno, and the 8. Sihanaka, whose Dialects are closely allied to the Betsimisáraka. Other Dialects such as the 9. Taimora and 10. Taifasy are spoken, but little is known of them. At my request a paper was read at the London Philological Society, and published in the Proceedings of 1878, by the above-named distinguished scholar, which places our knowledge on a sure basis.

The last Group is that of the Alfurese-Negrito. It is confessedly not a geographical Group, but merely a device to bring under review certain savage tribes, which can in no way be held to be Malayan in race or in Language, yet are necessarily included in a description of that Family. From the great islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo both Alfurese and Negritos are entirely absent; possibly they have been killed down. From the Celebes Negritos are absent, but Alfurese are there in abundance; they are also found in the Molucca and Philippine groups. Negritos are found in the peninsula of Malacca on the mainland, in the Timour Group in great abundance, in the Philippines, Molucca, and the Madagascar Groups. The Alfurese are totally distinct from the brown Malay and

black Negrito; they are wild, savage, Pagan head-hunters. Their name is derived from a combination of Arabic and Portuguese, term "al-fuori," the "outsiders," and is written Alfora, or Harafora, or Turaja. The Negritos are black, woolly-haired savages. I have already noticed their existence in the interior of the Great Nicobar, and in each of the Andaman islands. The Negrito tribe in the peninsula of Malacca is called Samang. Vocabularies have been recorded both of the Languages spoken by Alfurese and by Negritos. We have a translation of the Bible in one of the Alfurese Languages by Hermann, and linguistic and religious works in others. There is no peculiar Character, and indeed very little is known as to the names of these Languages and tribes, and the origin of the particular races. Millies is said to have collected materials for an Alfurese Dictionary, and Schneider and Bleeker have published Grammatical Notes on the Language spoken at or near Minahassa in the Northern arm of the Celebes. We invite one of the distinguished scholars at Leiden or Delft, to publish an essay in the English Language, bringing up to mark the existing knowledge of the Language and customs of these interesting and peculiar tribes. All that I can do is to record the seven Alfurese Languages, of which we have Vocabularies:-1. BolaangMongonbo. 2. Menádo. 3. Tomohon, 4. Amœrang.

5. Minahassa. 6. Toombulus. 7. Tounsea.

The whole Family stands thus:

I. SUMATRA-MALACCA..II Languages

.14 Dialects.

3 Dialects.

None.

None.

None.

None.

.10 Languages

VII. TIMOUR....

VIII. CHINA............

IX. MADAGASCAR........

I Language

X. ALFURESE-NEGRITO.II Languages.

Total.........88

CHAPTER X.

CONCLUSION.

I REMARKED in my Preface, that I began this task, as if by a mere chance, and knowing nothing, and, though the materials have accumulated round me, and kind friends have helped me, I seem to be about to lay down my pen, knowing little better than nothing. I wish that my time of life allowed me to go over again my course of reading, as set out in Appendix C., and, following the Horatian. maxim, defer publication for the next nine years. But that policy might eventuate in nothing being done at all, and something ought to be done.

No one will sit in severer judgment on this work than I shall myself, and my first step after correcting the last proof-sheet will be to make corrections and additions in the first interleaved copy. I shall welcome criticisms, however severe, if made in good faith, and based upon truth; and the enormous extent of the line occupied by my work, from Peshawur to the Philippines, will expose me to attack from specialists at one end of the line, who will swallow as Gospel-truth all my errors at the other end. From the remarks, that have been made to me in conversation, by letter, and in print, I think in all humility that these pages will be useful; and that is my one object: in fact, to do in my old age something for India.

The Table of Languages shows no less than two hundred and forty-three names, and the Table of Dialects no less than two hundred and ninety-six names; so that in all there are five hundred and thirty-nine varieties of speech.