it is
blown, on the upper side, with a finger of the same hand. The other two
holes are stopped with the right-hand fingers. In blowing they hold it
inclined to the right side. They have various instruments of the drum
kind, particularly those called tingkah, which are in pairs and beaten
with the hands at each end. They are made of a certain kind of wood
hollowed out, covered with dried goat-skins, and laced with split
rattans. It is difficult to obtain a proper knowledge of their division
of the scale, as they know nothing of it in theory. The interval we call
an octave seems to be divided with them into six tones, without any
intermediate semitones, which must confine their music to one key. It
consists in general of but few notes, and the third is the interval that
most frequently occurs. Those who perform on the violin use the same
notes as in our division, and they tune the instrument by fifths to a
great nicety. They are fond of playing the octave, but scarcely use any
other chord. The Sumatran tunes very much resemble, to my ear, those of
the native Irish, and have usually, like them, a flat third: the same has
been observed of the music of Bengal, and probably it will be found that
the minor key obtains a preference amongst all people at a certain stage
of civilization.

CHAPTER 10.

LANGUAGES.
MALAYAN.
ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.

LANGUAGES.

Before I proceed to an account of the laws, customs, and manners of the
people of the island it is necessary that I should say something of the
different languages spoken on it, the diversity of which has been the
subject of much contemplation and conjecture.

MALAYAN.

The Malayan language, which has commonly been supposed original in the
peninsula of Malayo, and from thence to have extended itself throughout
the eastern islands, so as to become the lingua franca of that part of
the globe, is spoken everywhere along the coasts of Sumatra, prevails
without the mixture of any other in the inland country of Menangkabau and
its immediate dependencies, and is understood in almost every part of the
island. It has been much celebrated, and justly, for the smoothness and
sweetness of its sound, which have gained it the appellation of the
Italian of the East. This is owing to the prevalence of vowels and
liquids in the words (with many nasals which may be thought an objection)