nsiders a convincing manner, the identity of this language
from Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific to the Philippines
and Sumatra.

"It may here be incidentally remarked, that while so many authors are
endeavoring to prove that the Asiatic archipelago was peopled from the
Western Continent, [8] they overlook the fact of the radical difference
of language. Unless the roots of the language can be traced either to
India, Cambodia, or other parts, it must follow, as a matter of course,
that the islands were peopled at a time previous to the introduction of
the language now spoken on the Continent; else how are we to account
for the simple dialects of a rude people being radically distinct
from the language of the mother country? If the Dyaks of Borneo
and the Arafuras of Celebes and New Guinea speak a dialect of the
Polynesian, it will go far to prove an original people as well as an
original language, that is, as original as the Celtic, the Teutonic,
the South American; original because not derived from any known source.

"These brief remarks on the Malayan will, I believe, apply to the
language of the Island of Java, which, equally improved and enlarged by
the addition of Sanscrit and Arabic words, and differently modified,
retains, nevertheless, its radical Polynesian stock and its distinct
written character, as do likewise the dialects of the islands of Bally
and Lombock. The districts of Rejong, Lampung, &c., in Sumatra, retain
the original language in a much higher degree, possess distinctive
written characters, and have little intermixture of Sanscrit or
Arabic. Celebes, or Bugis-land, with a distinct language and character,
will probably be found to follow the same rule; and the Philippines,
including Mindanao, according to Marsden, possess the same language,
though altered and modified into the Tagala tongue.

"Madagascar, so far removed, exhibits in its language a dialect of
Tagala, or, strictly speaking, of Polynesian; and the South Sea islands
present striking and almost convincing proofs of the same origin.

"The inquiry ought to be pushed to the languages of the Mexicans and
Peruvians of South America; and, as far as our knowledge permits,
their identity established or disproved; for the language of this
by-gone people would go far toward tracing the course of emigration,
it being evident that a strong argument would be raised in favor of
the migration proceeding from east to west, if the language is