distinct character for it in all the insular alphabets. It never ends a word or syllable. The first d in the Malay alphabet is a dental, and corresponds with the Arabic dental of the same class. In English pronunciation, it is found only when d is followed by r, and coalesces with it. The second d·, distinguished by a dot, is a palatal, sometimes called a cerebral, and corresponds with the European letter. It occurs but seldom in Malay, compared with the dental, and, in ordinary writing, is not distinguished from it. The Javanese is the only alphabet of the Archipelago that has a distinct character for it. G has the same sound as in the English alphabet, before a, o, and u, and never that of j, as it generally has with us, before e and i. Ng expresses a sound for which there exists a distinct letter in all the Hindu and insular alphabets. It is the ng of European pronuncia- tion, and nearly the final n of the French. Ñ is the sound which the letter n takes in English, when followed by the vowels io, as in the word union. I have borrowed it from the Spanish alphabet. In Malay, it is found as an initial, often as a medial, but never as a final. The first t, in Malay, is a dental, and, like the dental d, occurs in our pronunciation only when it immediately precedes and coalesces with the semi-vowel r. The second t·, distinguished by a dot, is a palatal of rare occurrence. Among the native alphabets a distinct character for it is found only in the Javanesc. Like the palatal d·, it is inserted in the Malayo-Arabic alphabet, but in ordinary writing it is not distinguished from the dental. It occurs in the beginning and middle of words, but never ends them. The letter h represents the simple aspirate. It never aspirates a consonant, as in the Hindu alphabets, and is found only after a vowel. As in Spanish and Italian, in so far as pronunciation is concerned, it never begins a native word or syllable. In the Malayo-Arabic alphabet, it is written or omitted, at the caprice of the writer, but is never pronounced except after a vowel.
Classed organically, the native consonants of the Malay alphabet are as follow:—labials, b, p, m, w; dentals, d, t; palatals, ch, d·, j, t·; gutturals, g, k; nasals, m, n, ng, ñ; and liquids l, r, w, y, ñ. The only sibilant is s. Of the Malay
