I am the voice of one crying, make straight in the wilderness the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. The verse in Barman stands thus: The prophet Esaias said as, The-Lord of the-way the-wilderness in straight make, crying one of the-voice I am, he said.

In Barmese, the affixes to nouns, verbs and numerals, are very abundant, many of them merely euphonic. Great attention has been paid to euphony in the formation and cultivation of this language. This is par ticularly seen in the change of the hard consonants, k, p, s, t, to the corresponding soft letters, g, b, ≈, and d. Thus E'ráwati (the river) is invariably pronounced E'rdwadi, though written with a t; Gotama (their deity) is pronounced Godama, &c. All the affixes, whether of verbs, nouns, or numerals, beginning with a sharp consonant, universally exchange it for a soft one, except where the verb or noun itself ends in a sharp consonant, in which case euphony requires that the affix should begin with a sharp, as the enunciation of a flat and sharp together is peculiarly harsh and difficult. We also trace this principle in the Manipuri language, where the verbal affix is ba, unless the verb ends in one of the sharp consonants k, t, or p, when the affix is invariably pa. Capt. GORDON does not inform us whether this principle extends to the other affixes in Manipurí, but, from the similarity of the two languages, it seems not improbable that such may be the case.

VI. Karen. We have been disappointed in not obtaining a perfect vocabulary of this language. The few words inserted in the table will, however, give some idea of its affinities. It most resembles the Barmese and Manipurean dialects, though it is essentially different from either. Its tones are five; the same in number with those of the Tai. Several of them, however, appear to be different from those of any other tribe. No final consonants are allowed in Karen.

VII. Singpho and Jili. The Singpho possesses many words in common with the Abor, the Barmese, and the Manipurean dialects. It is the language of extensive tribes, occupying the northern portions of the Barman empire. The intonations are similar to the Barmese, and its grammatical construction is almost precisely the same. It is peculiar for its combinations of consonants, many of which would at first sight appear quite unpronounceable to an European. It doubtless belongs to the monosyllabic stock of languages.

The Jilis are a small tribe who formerly occupied the highlands in the northern part of Barmah, but have been driven from their country by the Singphos. The tribe is now nearly extinct. Their language appears to have been a dialect of the Singpho, seven-tenths of their vocables being found in that language.

VIII. Garo. For a vocabulary of the language of this singular people we are indebted to Mr. STRONG, of Goalpára, who from frequent intercourse with this tribe, has had opportunity to become well acquainted with their language and customs. In the specimen given in the table, the orthography of a few words has been slightly altered, so as to conform to the Romaniz ing system. The language appears to have considerable relation to the Singpho and Jili. It is difficult to decide from the specimens before us, whether it is to be ranked with the monosyllabic or polysyllabic languages. It probably belongs to the latter. The Gáros inhabit an extensive range of hills below Gowaháti, and are in a completely savage state. So meagre is their language, that they have not even a term for horse, nor do they possess any knowledge of such an animal.

IX. Manipuri and neighbouring dialects. The following very interesting account of the singular variety of languages spoken in the neighbourhood of Manipur, is copied from Capt. GORDON's letter to Mr. TREVELYAN. "I send you specimens of (including the Manipurí) twelve of the nu

merous languages, or perhaps more properly, as respects many of them, dialects, spoken within this territory. On examining PEMBERTON's map, you will perceive that, beginning in the west with the Songpú, (here commonly confounded with the Kapwi, a much smaller tribe,) I have, in my course round the valley, reached the parallel of latitude from which I first set out, having described rather more than a semicircle. This is, however, but the inner of the two circles I propose completing, and until I have made some progress in my way round the outer one, I feel that I shall not be able to furnish satisfactory replies to the queries respecting parti cular tribes.

"In several directions, but more especially in the north-east, I am given to understand the languages are so very numerous, that scarcely two villages are to be found in which they are perfectly similar. This, I ap prehend, arises from the propensity to change inherent in all languages, and which, when left to operate unrestrained by the check which letters impose, soon creates gradually increasing differences of dialect amongst a people originally speaking the same language, but who have become disunited, and between whom little intercourse has afterwards subsisted. To the same cause is, I believe, attributed the great diversity of languages and dialects spoken by the aborigines of America, particularly in Brazil, where communities composed each of a small number of families are said to speak languages unintelligible to every tribe around them. Aware of this circumstance as respects a country more favorable to intercourse than the mountainous territory surrounding Manipur, I was not much surprised at finding instances of the same kind in this vicinity. The language spoken in Champhung is only understood by the thirty or forty families its inhabitants. The majority can speak more or less of Manipuri, or the languages of their more immediate neighbours; but I am told that there are individuals who require an interpreter in conversing with persons not of their own very limited community. Dialects so nearly similar as are those of the Northern and Central Tingkhuls, are generally intelligible to the adult male population on both sides. But the women (the two tribes in question seldom intermarry) and children, who rarely leave their homes, find much difficulty in making themselves understood. Neither of the tribes just named understand the language spoken by the Southern Tangkhuls, and that again differs as widely from the languages of the Khoibús and Marings. The southern Tángkhuls tell me that their language is spoken by the inhabitants of a large village named Kambi-maring, situated somewhere to the westward of the northern extremity of the Kabó valley. I mention this to show why I as yet do not feel myself competent to give satisfactory replies to the queries concerning particular tribes. I however think I can discover a connection (I do not include the Tai) between all of the languages in this quarter that I have yet examined, sufficiently intimate to warrant me in assigning a common origin to the tribes by whom they are spoken. From these tribes, which I imagine to be the aborigines of the country, extending east and south-east from the Brahmaputra to China, 1 derive both the Barmese and the Manipurís. To the Shyáns, I assign a different origin."

X. Anamese or Cochin-chinese. The vocabulary of this language has been furnished by Rev. Mr. GUTZLAFF, from whose letter we extract the following additional particulars.

"The Anamese spoken in Cochin-china and Tunkin with very little difference, might be considered as a coarse dialect of the Chinese, if the sounds wherewith the characters are read were also current in the spoken language. But the oral dialect totally differs from that used in perusing the books in the Chinese character, and the construction likewise deviates materially. It is however monosyllabic; has intonations and all the characteristics of the Chinese, though the Anamese have fuller sounds, and use

various letters and diphthongs which no Chinaman can pronounce correctly. The learning of the natives is entirely confined to Chinese literature, in the acquiring of which they are by no means celebrated. There exist a number of short-hand Chinese characters, which are used as syllabaries to express sounds without reference to their meaning; but they have not yet been reduced to a system, and are used in various ways. The language itself is spoken with a very shrill voice, and appears to a foreigner very uncouth. It bears only a slight resemblance to the Cambodian, but otherwise with no other dialect of the Eastern Peninsula."

XI. Japanese. Mr. GUTZLAFF says, "This language is spoken with very little variation, by about 20 millions of people, who inhabit the Japanese islands. It is polysyllabic, and only resembles the Chinese so far as it has adopted some words from that language, which are however changed, according to the organs of the natives, like the Latin and Greek words in our tongue. Having numerous inflections and a regular grammar, in a few points resembling the Mántchú, it is easier to express our ideas in it than in the Indo-Chinese languages. The Chinese character is universally read amongst the natives with a different sound and accent, more full and euphonical. For the common business of life, the Japanese use three different syllabaries, the Katakana, Hirakana, and Imatskana, which consist of certain Chinese contracted characters, and amount to 48. From hence it appears that all the radical syllables of the language are no more than 48, which by various combinations form all the words of one of the most copious languages on earth. Its literature is very rich. The Japanese have copied from and improved upon the Chinese, and have also availed themselves of the superiority of our European literature."

XII. Coreun. In regard to this language, Mr. GUTZLAFF makes the following remarks.

"Corea is little known, and the language still less. The collection of words here inserted was copied from MEDHURST'S VOCABULARY. This nation has likewise adopted the Chinese character, and is in the possession of the same literature; but in point of civilization it is below its teachers. The Coreans have a syllabary of their own, far more intricate than the Japanese, and formed upon the principle of composition. It consists of few and simple strokes, and is not derived from the Chinese character. Fif teen consonants and eleven vowels are the elements, which form 168 combined sounds, the sum total of the syllabary. The influence of the Chinese Government in this country has been far greater than in Japan, and hence the language is far more tinged with the language of Han. There are a very great number of composita, of which the first syllable is native and the last the Chinese synonym, pronounced in the Corean manner. have not been able to discover any declension, but it is not unlikely that it has a few inflections. Many words resemble the Japanese, and the affinity between these two nations is not doubtful. The language being polysyllabic, does not require any intonation, and if such exist, it has entirely escaped our notice."

We

We now proceed to give specimens of all the languages and dialects of which vocabularies have been received: to which we shall add a table showing the number of words per cent. which in any two languages agree, or are so similar as to warrant the conclusion that they are derived from the same source. It must be noted that the words are spelled according to the Romanized orthography. The vowels are sounded as follows:

a as in America woman.

á as in far, father.

The letter h is always used strictly as an aspirate, whether at the beginning of a syllable, or following another consonant. Thus th is sounded as

in priesthood, not as in think; sh as in mishap, not as in ship: ph as in uphold, not as in philosophy. Th and sh, when used to express their English sounds as in think, ship, are printed in italics. The French nasal n (as in enfant) is expressed by n, with a dash underneath.