ing
expressed in distinct and peculiar written characters. But whether this
apparent difference be radical and essential, or only produced by
accident and the lapse of time, may be thought to admit of doubt; and, in
order that the reader may be enabled to form his own judgment, a plate
containing the Alphabetical characters of each, with the mode of applying
the orthographical marks to those of the Rejang language in particular,
is annexed. It would indeed be extraordinary, and perhaps singular in the
history of human improvement, that divisions of people in the same
island, with equal claims to originality, in stages of civilization
nearly equal, and speaking languages derived from the same source, should
employ characters different from each other, as well as from the rest of
the world. It will be found however that the alphabet used in the
neighbouring island of Java (given by Corneille Le Brun), that used by
the Tagala people of the Philippines (given by Thevenot), and by the
Bugis people of Celebes (given by Captain Forrest), vary at least as much
from these and from each other as the Rejang from the Batta. The Sanskrit
scholar will at the same time perceive in several of them an analogy to
the rhythmical arrangement, terminating with a nasal, which distinguishes
the alphabet of that ancient language whose influence is known to have
been extensive in this quarter. In the country of Achin, where the
language differs considerably from the Malayan, the Arabic character has
nevertheless been adopted, and on this account it has less claim to
originality.

ON BARK OF TREES AND BAMBOO.

Their manuscripts of any bulk and importance are written with ink of
their own making on the inner bark of a tree cut into slips of several
feet in length and folded together in squares; each square or fold
answering to a page or leaf. For more common occasions they write on the
outer coat of a joint of bamboo, sometimes whole but generally split into
pieces of two or three inches in breadth, with the point of the weapon
worn at their side, which serves the purpose of a stylus; and these
writings, or scratchings rather, are often performed with a considerable
degree of neatness. Thus the Chinese also are said by their historians to
have written on pieces of bamboo before they invented paper. Of both
kinds of manuscript I have many specimens in my possession. The lines are
formed from the left hand towards the right, contrary to the practi