THE MODERN LANGUAGES OF THE EAST INDIES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. I HAVE attempted in all humility to fill up a vacuum, the inconvenience of which pressed itself on my notice. Much had been written about the Languages of the East Indies, but the extent of our present knowledge had not ever been brought to a focus. Information on particular subjects was only to be obtained, or looked for, by consulting a specialist, and then hunting down the numbers of a serial or the chapters of a volume not always to be found. It occurred to me, that it might be of use to others to publish in an arranged form the notes, which I had collected for my own edification. Thus the work grew upon me. I I claim scarcely a word or a line as my own; my book is essentially a compilation. It is therefore with grim complacency, that I shall peruse strictures against passages, which my reference-book will bring home to perhaps one of the greatest living or deceased philologists. have attempted to make my narrative perfectly colourless as regards my own views. I invite corrections, as I seek for accuracy: I look for scientific and practical suggestions, on the chance of a second edition being required. A I have drawn upon my friends in England, India, and on the Continent, without compunction, and have been met in a most friendly spirit. Failing to get what I required touching the Languages of the Dutch Colonies in the Indian Archipelago, I went over to Leiden in Holland, and was rewarded by the liberal instructions of Professor Henry Kern, and Professor Veth, President of the Dutch Geographical Society. More than this: The Maps of this volume were published, with Geographical Memoirs, in the "London Geographical Magazine" of January and February 1878. Copies of these papers, the Maps, and a Provisional List of Languages, have been despatched to some of the Governments of British India, and to Holland, praying for remarks and corrections, asking for particulars in doubtful points, urging the preparation of LanguageMaps on larger scale, and Dialect-Maps, for each Province, suggesting the compilation of Grammars, Comparative Grammars, and reprints of serial essays of distinguished authors. Correspondence has ensued with distinguished scholars, and willing co-operators, in every part of the field from Peshawur to Bangkok and Batavia. It is really astonishing to contemplate how much has been done in the last quarter of a century, how much is doing, and how much remains to be done. Colebrooke, the greatest and most accurate of scholars, remarked in 1801 that there were fifty-seven, or even eighty-four, Provinces in India, all with peculiar Languages. By the term "Language" he clearly meant "Dialects," as well as separate "Languages," and by India he meant the two Peninsulas of Nearer and Further India. Erskine Perry, to whose labours we are indebted for the first idea of a Language-Map, remarked in 1854 that the assertion of Colebrooke was exaggerated, but in 1878 we know, that the wise old man estimated the linguistic varieties under the mark, as the total of Languages and Dialects of the first six Families, now for the first time tabulated, will show three hundred names. Different parts of the great Field have been treated at different times with wonderful ability; but knowledge has advanced with leaps and bounds, and left the authority in the rear, and the same fate will in a few years attend this compilation also. We must notice the labours of Buchanan, Leyden, Colebrooke, Marsden, Logan, Bryan Hodgson, Nathan Brown, Robinson, Stevenson, John Wilson, Max Müller, Erskine Perry, Latham, and Crawfurd; and in later years we have a cluster of scholars, on whose statements we can rest with confidence, such as Caldwell, Beames, Hornle, Trumpp, John Muir, Dalton, Burnell, Bastian, Friederich Müller, and Hovelacque. It would occupy too much space to notice the scholars, who have treated on one or two Languages only, but to some of whom we are indebted for admirable Grammars and Dictionaries; and from others we expect further and more enlarged and scientific handling of Languages, of which they have as yet only published Primers. There was a time, when we were grateful for Vocabularies, and delighted to receive short Grammatical Notes. We have got beyond that stage, and are not even satisfied with Primers, which are sufficient for a school, but not for a linguistic scholar; nor can we rest content with lists of words ranged in alphabetical order, with meanings attached to them, and called a Dictionary. Trumpp and Gundert have taught the present generation to be fastidious it is not enough to express surprise at a grammatical idiosyncrasy or a far-fetched meaning; a sound explanation must also be supplied. : The geographical limits of this work embrace the whole of that region known for the last three centuries as the East Indies, into which Madagascar and Formosa, from linguistic necessity, have been incorporated. This region is in the possession, or under the political influence, of the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese Governments. Any attempt to draw the line at a narrower margin failed: it was necessary to exhaust that great |