Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/104

 §6 GENERAL OliSlSRVATIONS ON THE Ivas, in all likelihood, a language of the Archipe- lago itself ; of a nation who inhabited a favourable and centrical situation ; and who, from these causes, first emerged from the savage state, and were af- terwards enabled to disseminate civilization over the res^t of the Archipelago in unequal portions, according as the various tribes were qualified, from distance, local situation, fertility or barren- ness of territory, and even from fortuitous circum- stances, to receive it. Java, the only country which deserves the nam« of improved, and the only one w^hich, to our know- ledge, ever had an extensive population united as one nation, is that country of the Archipelago to which I am inclined to look as the seat of the an- cient nation to which I allude. To the evidence thus derived from probability, we can add a few collateral illustrations from the source of lan- guage. In the collation of the languages of the Archipelago, we soon discover a curious variety in the orthography of the same word, carried, in- deed, on some occasions, to such an extent, that it requires a knowledge of the principle on which these corruptions came about, and some skill in the application, to trace a word to its proper root. To ascertain the primitive stock of a word, there are four tests which may be applied : 1st, The manner in which commutable consonants are used : ^d, The manner in which one class of vowels is changed into another : 3d, The use of