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interesting language of the Khasi tribe, which, though morphologically quite distinct from the Tibeto-Burman family, is geographically situated in their midst. The Rev. Mr. Pryse has published an excellent Grammar of this unique language, and there is also a Dictionary. Dr. Schott and Von der Gabelentz have turned their attention to the language also in German periodicals.

Returning to the Tibeto-Burman family, we come upon the Munipúr-Chittagong group, illustrated by the labours of Major McCulloch, Major Lewin, Lieut. Stewart, Mr. Damant, Captain Tickell, the Rev. Nathan Brown, and the ubiquitous Brian Hodgson. Yet, this group may be still described as "terra incognita." We can just see dimly that there is a great deal more that we ought to know. We ought to feel grateful to the distinguished public officers, who have supplied us with such information as we do possess, supplying, as this does, a solid basis for future superstructure.

In the Burma group of the Tibeto-Burman family we come on a clearer light, let in by a different group of scholars, both servants of the State and missionaries, settled on the banks of the Irawaddie. Among these we may notice Captain Latter, Sir A. Phayre, Major Fryer, Captain Forbes, the Rev. Mr. Judson, the Rev. Mr. Mason, the Rev. Mr. Stilson, Mr. St. Barbe, and Bishop Bigandet. It is wonderful to consider, how much they have done for the Burmese and Karen languages.

There remain of the great Tibeto-Burman family the languages, of which we have only vague reports on the Chinese frontier, from Dr. Anderson, Lieut. Garnier, Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Margary, viz. the Leesaw and others, and the allbut-fabulous Mautsee, whom we find in the heart of China: in this direction we have rich discoveries reserved for the future. In the islands of the Bay of Bengal the Andamans, the Nicobars, and the Mergui Archipelago, we seem to begin to see light dimly in the works of Lieutenant Temple, Mr. Man, Mr. de Roepstorff, and other contributors to Indian periodicals.

The languages of the Tai family are spoken by populations,

who, to a great degree, are independent of British India, viz. the Siamese, Shans, and Lao; but as a portion is within the Administration of the Commissioner of Assam, it may be convenient to mention the whole. Bishop Pallegoix has published a Dictionary and Grammar of Siamese, and M. de Rosny, Dr. Schott, Dr. Bastian, and Lieutenant Garnier, supply all that is known regarding the independent territories, with the exception of the Shans of Burma, a grammar of whose language has been published by the Rev. Mr. Cushing. Of the language of the Khamti, within the limits of Assam, we have but scant vocabularies.

Of the Mon-Anam family, Pegu is within British India; and the Mon or Peguan language is illustrated by a Grammar by the Rev. Mr. Haswell. For our knowledge of the Annamite and Kambojan we depend on the French scholars, MM. Taberd, Aubaret, Aymonier, Des Michels, and Dr. Bastian, a German; but a great deal more has to be done, and as yet no Englishman has broken ground.

Independently of the particular works devoted to one language, many most valuable works have been published in a collective form, such as Colonel Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal, Mr. W. W. Hunter's Non-Aryan Languages, Max Müller's Letter on the Turanian Languages (an Appendix to Bunsen's Philosophy of History), and Lectures, Sir G. Campbell's Languages of India, Crawfurd's Dictionary of the Indian Islands, Latham's Comparative Philology, Hovelacque's 'la Linguistique,' Fried. Müller's 'Reise des Novara,' and 'Ethnologie,' and the 'Anonymous Dictionary of Languages,' published by Hall and Co., Paternoster Row. Add to these the Journals of the Royal Asiatic Society, of its several branches, and of the Mother-Society in Calcutta, the Journal of the Indian. Archipelago, which died with the lamented Dr. Logan, the Indian Antiquary, and the Calcutta Review, all replete with original matter, while the compilations previously noted are necessarily composed of information at second hand, although some, like Colonel Dalton's Ethnology, have the merits both of original research and skilful compilation.

The Bengal Asiatic Society has for a long period extended its fostering care to the subject of philological and ethnical knowledge. The school of Calcutta scholars, always in great repute, and represented at the present time by such men as Rajendra Lala Mitra, Iswar Chund Vidyasagara, Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Jita Nunda Vidyasagara, Taranatha Tarkavachaspati, has lately suffered a heavy loss by the death of Mr. Blochmann. There are,

however, many others, and each year adds to the number of enlightened scholars. Few Europeans, it is true, have made the modern languages of India the object of their studies but the late M. Garcin de Tassy for twenty-seven years published an Annual Report of the progress made in the study of the Hindi language; while M. Vinson has contributed to the knowledge of the Dravidian languages, Tamil being the vernacular of the French settlement of Pondicherry.

The necessity of translations of the whole or of portions of the Holy Scriptures into the languages of India has greatly increased, and many excellent versions, in various languages hitherto unwritten, have become the standard of purity and elegance, from which the new literature will form itself. The convenience to linguists of these independent translations of the same book in languages totally differing in structure, can hardly be estimated at its full value. Thus Mr. Burnell, following the lead of Prince L. L. Bonaparte, has attempted the translation into certain dialects of South India of the Parable of the Sower, but this is hardly of sufficient length to illustrate fully the vocabulary and structure of a language: the translation of one of the Gospels by a missionary who uses it daily in his schools and place of worship, with the further test of its being used by the missionaries of rival bodies, is the best, and most sufficient exemplar of a language that could be imagined.

My own conclusion is, that having the support of the Government of India, together with the unselfish labour of the servants of the State, the missionaries and the scholars of Europe, we need not trouble ourselves with what appears

to us the supineness of the English Universities, who, by reserving to certain branches of knowledge the funds which were intended for the advance of knowledge as a whole, have not done what has been done by many and smaller bodies in Continental Europe. There can be no doubt, that, at the present time, the Modern Languages of British India have not received from our Universities, the support they would have had, had their value been at all known by the educated people of this country.

72

ART. III.-Ancient Arabic Poetry; its Genuineness and Authenticity. By Sir WILLIAM MUIR, K.C.S.I., LL.D.

AN indescribable charm surrounds the early poetry of the Arabs. Dwelling in the wonderful creations of their genius with these ancient poets, you live, as it were, a new life. Cities, gardens, villages, the trace of even fields, left far out of sight, you get away into the free atmosphere of the desert; and, the trammels and conventionalities of settled society cast aside, you roam with the poet over the varied domain of Nature in all its freshness, artlessness, and freedom.

It is altogether another life, which the unpropitious sun of our colder climate renders possible only to the imagination. Yet Nature, in however different a garb to that which we are used to gaze upon, will strike, when faithfully described, a chord in every heart. The dweller in the North may never have witnessed the dark tents of a nomad tribe clustering around the fountain with its little oasis of trees and verdure in the midst of the boundless barren plain, nor the long strings of camels wending their weary way over the trackless sands; yet he will recognize the touch of Nature when the true poet paints the picture, lingers plaintively over the spot where the tent of a beloved one was but lately pitched, and mourns the quickly disappearing traces of her tribe's encampment.

1 Bemerkungen über die Aechtheit der alten Arabischen Gedichte. Von W. Ahlwardt, Professor an der Universität Greifswald. Greifswald, 1872.

Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen. Von Alfred von Kremer. Wien, 1875. Kapitel VIII. Poesie.

Translations from the Moallacât and Early Arab Poets. By C. J. Lyall, B.C.S. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xlvi. Calcutta, 1877.

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