Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/76

 62 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE nese romances, — historical accounts of their trans- actions since the introduction of Mahomedanism, and works on law and religion from the Arabic. All of them, from the most authentic accounts which I have been able to collect, are characterized by the same feebleness, childishness, and extreme credulity, which I have ascribed to Javanese li- terature, and probably they are still more tame and infantine. When the reasoning faculties are less concerned than the passions, the poetiy of the na- tions of Celebes, who possess more individual ener- gy of character than any other people of the Ar- chipelago, and among whom women, in particular, enjoy privileges seldom yielded to them among barbarians, may be expected to assume a more re- spectable character. The following love song from the Macassar, though under the disadvantage of a translation through the Malay, may still be ad- duced as evidence in favour of this supposition. " Let the world disapprove of thee, I love thee still. When two suns appear at once in the sky, my love for thee may be altered. Sink into the earth, or pass through the fire, and I will follow thee. I love thee, and our love is reciprocal, but fate keeps us asunder. May the gods bring us to- gether, or to me this love will be fatal. I should count the moment of meeting more precious than that of entering the fields of bliss. Be angry with