who read and write a language written in the same
character with the Koran, pride themselves on the
circumstance, and view with some contempt those
whose learning is expressed in a 'profane alphabet.
There is a surprising uniformity in the language
of all the Malayan tribes, both oral and written,
a circumstance to be attributed to the similarity of
their situations, and the stationary condition of
their manners throughout, since the period when
their language assumed its present form. The
language of the people of Menangkabao, the parent
tribe, differs most from the rest. ' As far as I
can judge, the best Malay is written and spoken
in the state of Queda, or Keddah. Here, at least,
the Malays are most anxious about the purity of their
language, and most scrupulous in excluding foreign
words. In the neighbourhood of the other great
tribes of the Archipelago, the language is often
corrupted by admixture with their dialects ; and in
the vicinity of former, or existing European establishments,
by a mixture of Portuguese and
Dutch, still more incompatible with its genius.
CH A PTER III.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF CELEBES.
A wide Difference between the Languages o f the Eastern and
Western portions of the Archipelago.—Alphabet of Celebes.
-,— Two great Languages spoken in Celebes, the Bugis and
Macassar.— Character of both.— Their Literatare.— Specimen
of their Poetry.— Composition and Derivation o f the
Languages of the Eastern portion of the Archipelago.
T h e moment we pass the island of Lombok, proceeding
eastward, striking features of difference
are, to the most ordinary observer, discernible in the
manners, customs, and state of civilization of the
people of the Indian islands. The great island of
Celebes is the centre from which that peculiar
description of civilization which characterizes this
portion of the Archipelago seems to have emanated.
The eastern portion of the Archipelago has, indeed,
received improvement through the more general
sources of civilization, of which all the nations
have partaken ; but a more local one seems to have
likewise operated.