Canton. out Europe, .notwithstanding rthe variety: of;.its., lan-
A certain order nr connection* is toibeepfineewed in the
arrangement of , the.' written characters of .thejUhimese i .as
if it .had been formed^^inally!upon>a,system .to.take
plane, at once* ®nd nabgrown up, as ,other la o guages|ib^
slow land distant inter-feds. Upwai d£- of two. hundred,
charactersg • generally "consisting .each of a.few lines; or
strokes are made to mark the principal objects of nature,
somewhat in the manner of Bishop Wilkin’s divisions^*
in his ingenious book on the subject of urdvessil language,..
brireal character. These may be eonsideredijas
the genera, or -roots of language, in whkhjeveBylooker
word, or ipecies, in a systematic sense, .i^-refenedito its
proper genus. The heart is a genus, of which the.repre-
sentation of a curve line . approaches somewhat to pfi.
form of :the; object; and the species referablegtq it bna
elude all the sentiments, passions, and afiketionsyrtlrajt
agitate the human; breast: Each species is .-accompanied
by some mark denoting the genus, or heart. Under .the
genus.;«“ hand,” are arranged most trades, and manual
.exercises. Under the genus “ word,” every sort of
speech, study, writing, understanding, and debate. A
horizontal line marks a unit; .crossed by another dine, it
stands for ten, as it does in every nation which .repeats
the units after that number. The five elements of which
the Chinese suppose all bodies in nature to be compounded;
form so man ji.gbnera, each biYwMph comprehends
aigrearhumberijof Species under;it. As in, every
compound JcharaeteF; orj;sf)^ci.eV,^t'he5;abridg'ed mark of
thefgenus is disferhible by a student of that language
in.„a little time,-he is enabled! to qdnsult t-hei^hinesB
diWtionary,.in, the;1 compound. e har acte’]? § br^sp &i
cies,; :2f || arranged tu-def- their’proper
^?ie^s the.seJ^en.eea|aE.e>p-l3ji|®l,’a.t?ther bdpnnfeg|Q-f#fe
dictionary, in | | | order, which; like tha*t|,df .tlje, alpha;
feV?MTn,Yariable, and soon-becomes fern ilia® btoK&tfe
;Tbe, ^peeiefejj-under ieabhi *genus*; fgH-ojfc;each
§ll^Tic#^din4itoithe number b f str.okbssbfrwh ieh *eafc«h
Consists, independently’of -the @ae,; o.rdew, 'iwKieh; serve*
to pqinfcbufe the genus. vT^spe.ciesiwanted is^ thus* soon
found nut. Its meaning and-,pronunciation .aredgiveri
through other words in fcommori usevtKeifirst of which
demotes its?, signification, and>thefo|ber its/sound. When
no one rommsqn word is found, to render;gxaQtfy theisame
sbuhd,itMj cotnmunicatedtby ;two welds', witb-marks-,;to
inform .the inquirer that the 'eefi-sqiaantipf «the-fir-st two'rd)
arid the voweb ©f the second;, j jp.ined together; form the
pregjse soundwanted..
The composition of many of the!Chines.W.sh,^iEacteXs
often- displays' considerable-ingenuity;{anjd^s.erVfe^ulsQ to
giye, an insight into th^v@pi.nions and manneisj.-of the
people,* The.charaGtor ||^^ssit'§jef Mp^int^in^Bdes
abridged marks of lajfd,’Jljgf^ource of their physieafband