Section \\l«r-rEarlier History o f the Malay o-Polynesian
Nations.—State o f these Nations before the Javan Period.
The highest cultivation whijch the islanders of the Indira
Archipelago attained before the introduction of Mohammedanism
'was, as we have seen, derived from the Indian , con-r
tinent, and was diffused among them through the medium of
Javan commerce, and navigation, A greater obscurity involves
the history of times preceding the settlement of Hindoos in
Java, and it is difficult to find data fitted to throw light on
the state of the insular nations before that event,
however, probable, as Mr. Crawfurd has observed, fhat.dhe
tribes within the Indian Archipelago were much further
advanced in civilisation than the scattered islanders ^ the
same race in the distant regions of the Pacific. "As^fh®
conquests of the Javans do not appear to have extended ;oyer
the whole Indian sea, we may perhaps form an . idea of ,the
original state of this whole groupe of nations from the,condition
of the Philippine ^landers^and others who were w ^ |f i|| ^ e
sphere of Javan influence. Even in Sumatra and in parts
of Java there are native tribes who appear to have retained
their independence, and who underwent fiftle modification p£
their primitive condition. All these nations^ haye, made .the .first
and most important steps towards civilisation. \JThey. practise
tillage, and support themselves by the produce of labiur.
They are acquainted with the use of metals, and appear to
have invented various manufactures^ They have likewise the
art of writing, but whether this was indigenous among them
or was known before the earliest intercourse with India, is
still an undecided question. The Bugis, Battas, and Tagalas,
and some other nations have alphabets of their own, in which
they write upon bamboos and palm-leaves,, some from top to
bottom, and others, as it is said, from the bottom to the top
of the line. The peculiar direction of their writing appears
to result from the nature of the material on which they write.
Some haye thought that a system of written characters was
common to the insular nations and the old Tamulian inhabitants
of the Dekhan, even before the conquests of the
Hindoos in the peninsula; and the letters which the old
voyager Iambulus found in use among the people of Taprobane
or Ceylon have been supposed to be of the same class. This
was conjectured from the direction‘■of the lines and from the
number of fetters in the last-mentioned alphabet.- But however
these alphabets may have varied in- form from each
other and from the system of- letters used in Hindustan, some
of them betray a certain affinity to the Deva-nagari, pointing-
out-their probable' origin; and-there is so much'resemblance
among tliem and relation to each other that ft' is not Oasy
to arrive-at a conviction df their separate add ihdigefious
The languages of these nations, to which we must again
refer, furnish data for the most important inquity'into. their
history. From these, by means df !a eatëful analysis and
comparison, light life been thrown on the affinitieS of par-
ticular tribes and on the earlier history of 'a great paft of the
race. The Philippine Islands, where the Brahmanised Javans
never introduced their language - of - dheif ^VMigion, appear
likely from their situation to be ?the quarter whë|Ö the’origjnal
idiom of the Archipelago may be founds !best!‘pr^efved, and
this anticipation has been verified by !fadt#. The Tagala,
whiehtis the principal dialect óf thé Philippines, displays the
most perfect exemplar of the Mnafuaghs'- df the Malayo-Poly-
nesian race.
Paragraph I.—Of the T&gala.
The most important member of this whole family of languages
is the Tagala of the Philippines^-andit is ©ne of
Which English writers have iu (general taken -very little notiee.#
The Tagala has an extensive agreement with the Malay. It
* Marsden in jiis Malay Grammar^ , admits its impedance, but he
has emitted even to give a specim,eii of it in his 'Comparative table ift the
Archseologia, jjrol. vi. 1
| ■*!B. 2