Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/48

 3^ * LANGUAGE AND LItERATURE four hundred years, we shall be surprised at the small progress which the Arabic language and li- terature has made among them. The number of Arabic words introduced into the language is extremely small, greatly smaller than into any other of the more cultivated languages of the Archipelago. The reason is, that the Javanese are little more than half Mahomedans ; that their language was more copious, and did not stand in need of such words as the Arabic had to give to it ; and that in euphony, orthography, and grammati- cal structure, nothing can be more adverse to each other than the genius of the two tongues. When, in short, an Arabic word is adopted by the Java- nese, it is so thoroughly metamorphosed as scarce to be distinguishable. The few works which the Javanese have borrow- ed from an Arabic source, are solely on the subjects of jurisprudence and religion. The greater number are written in the Arabic character, with supple- mental consonants to express such sounds as are peculiar to the Javanese. The Javanese language thus written is called by the natives Pegon, mean- ing mixed, or, as we would express it in a familiar idiom, bastard Arabic, which, in fact, conveys the meaning they intend to attach to the word. The Arabic language itself is taught to the Ja- vanese youth, and a considerable number of Ara- bic works are circulated in Java, chiefly on the two 6