Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/28

 14 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE to the language of verbal narrative, and ordinary conversation. The few examples of words used figuratively are plain and obvious, and probably exist in al- most every language, — as foot for base, head for chief; vegetable root, for source or origin ; high and low, for moral superiority and inferiority ; heat, for anger ; little, for low in rank, and great for high in rank. Sometimes these figurative words take a more characteristic and amusing form. From the word wajah^ to wash clothes, for example, we have wqjak, to discipline a child ; from lattah, turbid water, we have the same word meaning confusion, disturbance, anarchy; from liwar, to break loose, we have liwar, a strumpet ; from Sabbal, to quit the highway on a journey, we have sabbal, to disobey a parent ; from gabbung, the grasp of the forefinger and thumb, we have power, authority ; and from gabbal, the dust or filth that adheres to the feet in walking, is too obviously derived the same word, meaning a me- nial or servant. Comparisons and similes, used as ornaments of composition, are pretty common. Not unfrequent- ly the allusion is extremely absurd and ridiculous ; at other times, though quaint and singular, it is appropriate. A prince rendering an account of himself in a foreign country, is made to say that he is ** a wanderer without a home, like a paper