Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/136

 118 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE The number of Telinga words in Javanese is very triHing ; and even in Malay but inconsider- able. In the latter, the words are commercial terms, and a few words familiar to their written compositions, but not adopted in colloquial speech. Some of the latter are corrupt forms of Sanskrit, easily recognised by their peculiarity of tennina- tion. In Javanese we have no words of this class. Here no word is found with any other corruption than what may be traced to imperfect orthography or pronunciation. In the Malay only, we discover, probably, about a hundred words of Persian, which crept into the language, during the busy commercial intercourse which existed between the Indian isles and the Mahomedan states of India, after the conversion of the islanders to^Mahomedanism. Some have made their way through translations, and, perhaps, a few by a direct intercourse with the Persians of tJie gulf. Of the oral languages of China, a very trilling portion, indeed, has been infused into the Poly- nesian tongues, notwithstanding the long and inti- mate intercourse which has existed between the people, and the number of Chinese settlers within the Archipelago. The languages have been hin- dered from mixing, by difference of religion and manners on the part of the people, and of genius in that of their languages, — the one uncouth an4 monotonous, the other smooth and harmonious. (