A DISSERTATION
ON THE
AFFINITIES OF THE MALAYAN LANGUAGES, &c. &c.
Wide
diffusion of a Malayan tongue. |
A certain connexion, of more or less extent, is well ascertained to exist between most of the languages which prevail from Madagascar to Easter Island in the Pacific, and from a Formosa, on the coast of China, to New Zealand. It exists, then, over two hundred degrees of longitude and seventy of latitude, or over a fifth part of the surface of the earth. I propose inquiring into the nature and origin of this singular connexion-the most wide-spread in the history of rude languages; and in the course of the investigation hope to be enabled, to some extent, to trace the progress of society among nations and tribes substantially without records, and of whose history and social advancement nothing valuable can be known beyond what such evidence will yield.
The vast region of which I have given the outline may be geographically, described as consisting of the innumerable islands of the Indian Archipelago, from Sumatra to New Guinea—of the great group of the Philippines—of the islands of the North and South Pacific—and of Madagascar. It is inhabited by many different and distinct races of men,—as the Malayan, the brown Polynesian, the insular Negro of several varieties, and the African of Madagascar. Of these, the state of civilisation is so various, that some are abject savages, while others have made a respectable progress in the useful arts, and even attained some knowledge of letters. The whole region is
