must be noticed briefly. The facts connected with the question falling
under the three following heads:--
1. _Turk blood in the ruling families of the East._--The Ghiznivide and
Seljukian dynasties of Persia, the Uzbek rulers of Bokhara, the Pasha
of Ægypt, the Great Mogul, &c.
2. _Turks living in separate communities in countries beyond the Turk
area._--Turks of Persia, Armenia, Bokhara, &c.
3. _Localities where the Turkish language has been spoken and become
extinct._--Parts of Hungary, for which see the notice of the _Cumani_.
Other localities, of which by far the most important is Bulgaria. At
present the Bulgarian language is Slavonic; and, such being the case,
the _primâ facie_ evidence is in favour of the people being Slavonic
also. Reasons, however, for the contrary will be found in the notice of
the Slavonians.
By adding, to all this, the statement that at least one nation, the
Bashkirs, although speaking Turk, are supposed to be Finnic, and, by
recollecting at the same time, the great extent of Turk conquests,
like some of those of Tamerlane, less permanent than those enumerated,
as well as the effects of the trade in female slaves (preeminently
supported by Turk nations), we may arrive at a valuation of the
importance of the Turk family as a physical influence in the way of
intermixture.
_The influences of the Turk family have been material rather than
moral._--No portion of the Turk division has ever passed for one
of the preeminently intellectual sections of mankind. The steady
monotheism, however, of the Koran, they have taken up so generally,
that Turk and Mahometan are almost as synonymous as Arab and Mahometan.
Their literature is founded on that of Persia. No great idea has ever
originated from them, and none but those of the simpler and more
straightforward kind been adopted. At the same time the Syriac alphabet
of the Nestorian Christians was introduced amongst the Uighur Turks,
earlier than in any other quarter equally remote; and fragmentary forms
of ancient Turk poetry, anterior to the influences of the Persian, and
Arabic, are to be found in Von Hammer.
The verbal truthfulness of the Turk has been praised by most who have
had the means of observation. Lying is the vice of the weak; and no
nations have so little been slaves, and so much been masters, as the
Turk.
_The Yakuts._--The isolated Turks, or Yakuts, still stand over for
notice. Their centre is the river Lena, whereon they extend at least as
far southward as the Aldan. Eastward they are found on the[27] Kolyma,
and westward as far as the Yenisey. Here the Yakut tribe is that of
the Dolganen, an outlying portion of the section first noticed by Von
Middendorf.[28]
That the Yakut are Turk, is placed beyond reasonable doubt; although
the only test has been that of language. Respecting this the two most
extreme statements which I have met with are the following:--
1st. That it is intelligible at Constantinople.
2nd. That not less than one-third of the words (and some of them the
names of very simple ideas) are other than Turk.[29]
The truth will probably be known when the recent researches of Von
Middendorf are published. In either case, however, the language is Turk.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
With the evidence of language, the evidence of physical confirmation is
said to disagree. The Yakuts are essentially Mongolian in physiognomy.
The value of the fact must be determined by what has been already said
upon the subject.
The locality of the Yakuts is remarkable. It is that of a weak section
of the human race, pressed into an inhospitable climate by a stronger
one. Yet the Turks have ever been the people to displace others, rather
than to be displaced themselves. On the other hand, the traditions of
the country speak expressly to a southern origin.
In respect to the social development of the Yakut, Von Middendorf's
distinctions are the most suggestive as well as the most critical. The
southernmost Yakuts have the horse, the middlemost the rein-deer, the
northernmost the dog. The manners of the southern ones are best known;
and these are essentially pastoral. Besides the breeding of herds of
horses, the Russian fur-trade has developed an industrial form of the
hunter-state; so that, amongst the Yakuts, property accumulates, and
we have a higher civilization than will be found elsewhere in the same
latitude; Finland and Norway alone being excepted.
Other circumstances make the Yakuts an ethnological study. They are
not only Turks who are not Mahometan, but their Christianity is still
imperfect: hence they represent the Shamanism of the Turk before
he became Moslemized. The details of the Yakut creed, sufficiently
numerous to form, along with those of the still pagan Ugrians and
Samöeids, an elaborate picture of an old religion, which, in its
_essential_ characters, was common to all the families of High Asia
and Siberia, may be best found in Ermann.[30] The simple fact of its
representing an early religion, is all that can here be noticed.
THE UGRIAN BRANCH OF THE TURANIAN STOCK.
1. _Present distribution--continuous._--West and East--From
Norway to the Yenisey. North and South (South-East)--From the
North Cape to the Russian governments of Simbirsk, Saratof, and
Astrakhan. The Volga south of its confluence with the Kama.
2. _Isolated portion._--Hungary.
3. _Ancient distribution._--Further southwards along the whole
frontier, _i.e._, in Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia. The
Eastward extension probably less than at present.
4. As portions of a _mixed_ population beyond their proper
area--In Sweden and Norway.
_Religion._--Lutheranism, Romanism, Greek Church, Imperfect
Christianity, Shamanism.
_Physical conformation._--Chief departure from the Mongol type,
the frequency of blue eyes, and light (red) hair.
_Conterminous with._--1. Goths of the Scandinavian group in
Norway and Sweden; 2. Slavonians in Russia; 3. Lithuanians in
Esthonia; 4, 5, 6. Turks, Yeniseians, and Tungús in Siberia.
In Europe, in contact with the North Sea. East of Archangel,
separated therefrom by the Samöeids.
_Divisions._--1. Trans-Uralian Ugrians.--Between the Ural Mountains and
the Yenisey. _Voguls_ and _Ostiaks_.
2. Permian Finns.--_Permians_, _Siranians_, _Votiaks_.
3. Finns of the Volga.--_Morduins_, _Tcheremiss_, _Tshuvatsh_.
4. Finlanders of Finland.
5. Esthonians of Esthonia.
6. Laplanders of Sweden and Finmark.
7. Majiars of Hungary.
1.
THE VOGULS.
_Locality._--The northern part of the Uralian range, and the
country to the east as far as the Irtish, and Tobol, and as far
north as the Soswa a feeder of the Obi. Tradition says that
they extended as far westward as the Dwina. Probability that
they extended further south.
_Name._--The Voguls call themselves and the Ostiaks Mansi. They
are called by the Siranians Yograyess, and Vagol.
_Conterminous with._--The Siranians on the west, the Obi
Ostiaks on the east, the Bashkirs on the south.
_Dialects._--The northern Vogul of the Sosva, the southern of
the Tura, a tributary of the Tobol.
_Population._--According to Schubert, one hundred thousand.
_Religion._--Shamanism, or imperfect Christianity.
_Physical appearance._--Stature small, complexion light, face
broad and round, beard scanty, hair long, black, or brown,
sometimes red. The Kalmuk (_i.e._ Mongolian) character of the
Vogul physiognomy is noticed by Pallas.
The Voguls are very nearly on the low level of a tribe of fishers
and hunters. Except towards the south, where they are partially
Russianized, and where they have also partially adopted the manners
of the Bashkirs, there is but little pasturage, and no agriculture.
The horse is not in use amongst them--the rein-deer being the nearest
approach to a domestic animal. Their tribute is paid in its skins.
THE OSTIAKS.
_Locality._--Valley of the Obi--Eastwards to the Yenisey.
_Name._--Russian, probably originally Bashkir. The native
name--Kondycho, Tyakum, or Asyakh. Called by the Samöeids,
Thahe; by the Voguls, Mansi.
_Conterminous with._--The Voguls on the west, the Samöeids
on the north, the Barabinsky and other Turkish tribes, and
(probably) with the Yeniseians on the south.
_Numbers._--About one hundred thousand.
_Dialects._--Numerous.--The Southern mixed with the Vogul, the
Northern with the Samöeid.
_Physical appearance._--Stature short, bones small, muscular
strength little; face flat, hair red, or reddish.
_Religion._--Shamanism in the north, imperfect Christianity in
the south.
The Ostiaks are almost wholly a nation of fishers.
That their limits originally extended farther south than at present is
highly probable. A tradition concerning their migration from the _west_
will be noticed in the section upon the Samöeids.
Notwithstanding the close affinity between the Ostiaks and the Voguls,
the two nations were, at the time of the Russian conquest, in continual
warfare against each other: the Ostiaks being under the government of
petty hereditary chiefs.
In the pagan parts of the Ostiak country polygamy is the custom.
2.
THE PERMIANS.
_Locality._--The government of Perm; of which they form less
than a quarter, the rest being Russians or Russianized Finns.
_Name._---Russian, probably taken from the Scandinavian term
Bjarma. The native term is Komi-uter, or Komi-murt.
_Population._--According to Schubert, about thirty-five
thousand.
THE SIRANIANS.
_Locality._--North of the Permians, about the head-waters of
the R. Kama, and R. Vytchegda, a feeder of the Dwina.
_Native name._--Same as the Permian.
_Population._--According to Schubert, thirty thousand.
_Dialects._--Four. The Siranian, itself, however, is rather a
dialect of the Permian than a substantive language.
THE VOTIAKS.
_Locality._--The R. Viatka.
Called by the Russians, Viatka.
" " Turk tribes, Ari.
" " themselves, Udy or Udmart
" " the Tcheremiss, Oda.
_Religion._--Imperfect Christianity. Probably some remains of
Shamanism.
Of all the Finnic tribes the Votiaks are the most like the Finlanders
of Finland; indeed Müller states that there is a tradition among them
to the effect that their original country was Finland, and that they
are immigrants from thence.
On the other hand, the extent to which they differ from their
south-western neighbours, the Tcheremiss, is said to be remarkable.
In respect to the physical conformation of the Votiaks, the evidence of
Ermann is favorable, that of Pallas less so. The latter describes them
as slight and undersized: the former as strongly built. In no Finnic
tribe--perhaps in no other tribe in the world,--is fiery red hair so
common as amongst the Votiaks.
They are an _agricultural_ population, not fishers and hunters.
They are also, most probably, an unmixed population; since none of
their neighbours live so exclusively to themselves, (_i.e._ not in
mixed villages, half Russian, or half Bashkir,) as the Votiaks.
The government under petty chiefs, or the heads of tribes, still
continues; and it is a privilege of the Votiaks to elect their own
village judges or arbiters.
Their population seems on the increase. At the end of the last century
it was forty thousand: in 1837 it was one hundred thousand.
3.
THE TCHEREMISS.
_Locality._--The left bank of the Middle Volga; fewer on the
right. Governments of Kasan, Simbirsk, and Saratov. Recently,
settlements in the Government of Astrakan, Conterminous with
the Votiaks.
_Name._--Russian. Native name, _Mari_=_men_.
_Numbers._--According to Schubert, two hundred thousand.
_Religion._--Imperfect Christianity. Greek Church.
_Physical appearance._--Stature, middle; hair, light; beard,
scanty; face, flat.
_Habitations._--Small villages, smaller than those of the
Votiaks, and Tchuvatch. Habits, agricultural; lately nomadic.
THE MORDUINS.
_Locality._--The most South-Western of the Finnic tribes, on
the right-bank of the Volga, between the R. Sura and R. Oka.
_Name._--Native.
_Divisions._--The Morduins of the Oka, are called Ersad;
the Morduins of the Sura, Mokshad. A third division, called
Karatai, inhabits the neighbourhood of Kasan.
_Numbers._--In 1837, ninety-two thousand.
_Dialects._--Two or more--the Ersad and the Mokshad.
_Religion._--Imperfect Christianity; Greek Church; Shamanism.
_Physical appearance._--Hair, brown and straight; beard, thin.
More Slavonic than any other Finnic tribe. The Ersad oftener
red-haired than the Mokshad.
THE TCHUVATCH.
_Locality._--Right bank of the Volga, opposite the Tcheremiss,
in the neighbourhood of Kasan, in the Government of Simbirsk
and Saratov. Recent settlements in the Government of Astrakan.
_Native Name._--Vereyal, and Khirdiyal, and Vyress:
Called by the Russians, Vyress.
" " Tcheremiss, Kurk-Mari=hill men.
" " Morduins, Wjedke.
_Numbers._--According to Schubert, three hundred and seventy
thousand.
_Religion._--Imperfect Christianity. Greek Church. Remains of
Shamanism.
_Physical Appearance._--Height, middle; complexion, light;
face, flat; beard, thin; hair, _black, and somewhat curled_;
eyes, grey; eyelids, narrow.
_Habitations._--Like those of the Turk tribes in their
neighbourhood.
_Dialects._--Two: _a._ of the Vereyal of the Gornaya; _b._ of
the Khirdiyal of the Lugovaya.
4.
FINLANDERS OF FINLAND.
_Localities._--Finland; settlers in Sweden and Norway.
_Native Name._--Suomolaiset.
_Swedish._--Finn.
_Norwegian._--Qwæn.
_Dialects._--_a._ Finlandic Proper; _b._ Savolax, spoken in
Savolax, and Carelia.
_Religion._--Lutheranism.
_Finnish words._--Kanguri=_weaver_, seppa=_smith_,
wapa=_freeman_, orya, palvelya=_slave_, myyda, ostaa=_buy
and sell_, yuoma=_ale_, kalya=_beer_, kandele,
youhe-kandele=_musical instruments_, keria=_book_,
raamattu=_writing_.
ENGLISH. FINLANDIC. SWEDISH.
_King_, Kunengas, Konung.
_Prince_, Ruhtinas, Thruhtin.
_Judge_, Duomari, Dömare.
_Cheese_, Yuusto, Ost.
_Wine_, Saxan wiina,[31] Viin.[31]
_Rye_, Ruis, Rug.
_Oats_, Havra, Haver.
Two lists, one of Finlandic, and one of Swedish, words have been
placed at the head of the present section, for the sake of serving as
an introduction to some of the questions contained in it. They are
all taken from Rühs' work on _Finland and its inhabitants_, where the
analysis of the language serves instead of historical testimony. By
observing what terms are native, and what are Swedish, we separate the
early native civilization of Finland, from the civilization introduced
from Sweden. Thus, on looking over the preceding glosses, we find
that the only terms applicable to a social or political constitution,
are those for _slave_ and _freeman_; _king_, _ruler_, _judge_, &c.,
being expressed by Swedish words. So also with the industrial trades;
_weaving_ was Finnic from the beginning, and so was _smith's-work_; but
the _carpenter_, the _builder_, the _ship-builder_, are importations,
and so on. There are native terms for _buying and selling_, for _ale
and beer_, and for more than two musical instruments; but there are no
native terms for _wine_, and none for _dancing_.
For the _metals_, and _agriculture_, the terms are _almost_ always
native. _Cheese_, however, on the one side, and _gold_, _tin_, and
_lead_, on the other, have Swedish names. So have _oats_ and _rye_.
Music, and songs, and a mythology belonged to the early Finlanders;
the second being always accompanied by the first, and the three
illustrating each other.
The great foreign influence that has affected the Finlanders of
Finland, is the Swedish, and this may be considered to have been in
steady and continuous operation, from the reign of Eric the Holy, in
the A.D. 1156. This king, bent upon conquest and conversion, landed in
South Finland, and founded what was then a new mission or colony, in
the present province of Nyland (Newland). From this point, the power
of Sweden gradually spread towards the inner portions of the country;
northwards and eastwards: not unopposed, but opposed ineffectually, by
the heathens of Tawastaland and Carelia.
5.
ESTHONIAN FINS.
_Locality._--South of the Baltic, in Esthonia, Livonia, and
part of Courland. Conterminous with the Russians, and the
Courland Lithuanians.
_Dialects._--Two: the common Esthonian, and the Esthonian of
Dorpat.
_Native Name._--_Rahwas_; of the country _Marahwas_.
6.
THE LAPLANDERS.
_Habits._--Nomadic.
_Religion._--Imperfect Christianity of the Greek Church with
the Russian; imperfect Protestantism with the Swedish and
Norwegian Laplanders.
_Native Name._--Same, Sabome.
7.
HUNGARIANS.
_Locality._--Hungary; mixed with German, Slavonic, and
Wallachian tribes.
_Native Name._--Majiar.
The Majiars are Ugrian, the country from which they descended being
that of the Bashkirs, conterminous with the southern limits of the
present Ugrian area, of which it was once a part. The date of their
migration is about A.D. 900.
From extending _farther_ than Hungary they were prevented by the two
great victories of Henry the Fowler in 935 A.D.
Those who would connect the present Hungarians with the Huns of Attila,
must also make the Huns Ugrian; since no fact is more undeniable than
the Ugrian character of the Majiars. The reasons against this have been
given already. They are, undoubtedly, scanty. Still they preponderate
over those of the other view; which consist only in inferences from the
term _Hungary_.
Lest these be over-rated, two facts should be remembered:--
1st.--That the name is Russian and _not_ native.
2nd.--That the -_n_- is no original part of the word; the older
Slavonic forms being _Ugri_, _Uhri_, and only in the later dialects,
_Ungri_.
The Majiars must necessarily be a very mixed race; their country having
been that of the old Pannonian population (probably Slavonic); of the
Romans of both the eastern and western empire; of the Goths, the Huns,
the Avars, the Gepidæ, and the Comanians.
This is what history suggests. To have _assumed_ an intermixture, for
the sake of accounting for the physical and moral difference between
such extreme Ugrian forms as the Majiar and Laplander, would have been
illegitimate.
In reality, however, the difference between the Majiar and Lap, is less
remarkable than that between the Lap and Finlander; since, in this
latter case, the contrast is _nearly_ as great, whilst the climatologic
conditions are less dissimilar.
The Majiar is the only member of the Ugrian family, which has effected,
within the historical period, a permanent conquest over any portion of
the _Iapetidæ_.
The Ugrians supply a good example of what may be called _a receding
frontier_. Their area has at one time been greater than at present.
Southwards and westwards it was once prolonged. Hence, the Ugrian has
been displaced, or encroached upon by others. It is well to note this.
It is better still to take it in conjunction (or contrast) with the
Turk area. There the _frontier has encroached_. At an earlier period it
was less extensive than at present.
In one quarter, perhaps in others, the Ugrian frontier has encroached,
_i.e._ on that of the Majiars.
In one quarter, perhaps in others, the Turk frontier has receded,
_i.e._ the Comani have become either extinct or a mixed breed in
Hungary.
Nevertheless, as a rule, the Turks frontier has encroached; the Ugrian
receded. The practical application of this distinction is wide. When we
know whether a given family habitually extends, or habitually contracts
its area, we know what will be the probable distribution of the unfixed
ancient tribes on the frontier.
In the critical ethnology of the classical writers many problems must
be worked in this way; the inferences in the two alternatives being
diametrically the reverse of each other.
1. In a people with an habitually encroaching frontier, no tribe
described by earlier writers as lying _beyond_ its present geographical
area, is to be considered as having formed part of it (_i.e._ the
family with an encroaching frontier).
2. In a people with an habitually receding frontier, many tribes
described by earlier writers as lying beyond its present geographical
area may (and often must) be considered as so doing.
Hence, in the present pair of instances, many localities once other
than Turk are now Turk;[32] whilst, on the other hand, many localities
once Ugrian are now other than Ugrian.[33]
What, then, was the maximum extension southward of the Ugrian area
before its frontier receded under the triple encroachments of the
Turks of Russian Asia, the Russians of Russia, and the Norwegians and
Swedes of Scandinavia? Possibly over the whole Scandinavian peninsula,
possibly as far as the lower Don, Volga, and Dnieper. These, however,
are geographical frontiers; frontiers less important, and less
capable of solution than the ethnological ones. Were the Ugrians ever
conterminous with other divisions of the human race than those which
they come in contact with at present? There is no evidence that they
were.
What ancient nations were Ugrian? Omitting, for the present, the tribes
of Scythia, we may answer that the following were certainly so.
1. The _Æstii_.--Modern Esthonians.
2. The _Finni_ and _Skrithifinni_.
3. The _Sitones_.--The Ugrians of the Baltic were known to the
classical writers through the Germans. The names prove this. The
_Æstii_ were the people _east_ of those who described them. The term
_Finn_ is known to no Ugrian, but to their Gothic neighbours only. The
notice of Tacitus as to the Sitones is similarly capable of explanation.
The Finland word _kainu_=_a low country_. A portion of the Finlanders
call themselves _Kainulainen_ (_Singular_), _Kainulaiset_ (_plural_).
Now this sectional name in Finland is the general name in Scandinavia;
so that the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians call the Finlanders
_Kwæn_. In Scandinavian, however, _Qvinde_=_women_. Hence, Tacitus
was persuaded by his direct or indirect German informants that the
Sitones were subject to female government.--"_Suionibus Sitonum
gentes continuantur. Cætera similes, uno differunt, quod fœmina
dominatur._"[34] Lest any doubt should remain as to Tacitus having been
told of a country of women, I may add that--
_a._ Alfred[35] speaks of a _Cvenaland_=_land of Kwæns_.
_b._ The Norse[35] Sagas of a _Kænugard_=_home of Kwæns_.
_c._ Adam[35] of Bremen of _terra fœminarum_, and _Amazons_.
The first two facts prove the name, the second the false interpretation
of it.
Far more full, however, than the classical writers are the old Norse
Sagas in respect to the Ugrians. Of these the Beormas, or Permians,
were wealthy and commercial; men sometimes to be dealt with, sometimes
to be robbed. The Laps, on the other hand, were feared as magicians, or
as men skilled in metallurgy; and, according to those who have studied
the philosophy of mythologies, they have supplied many supernatural
elements in the way of dwarfs and goblins.
In the ethnology of Scandinavia--in the skilful and industrious hands
of Retzius, Eschricht, Nilson, Kaiser, and others--Ugrian archæology,
and Ugrian craniology, are preeminently prominent. The numerous barrows
of Scandinavia are attentively studied; and observation has shown that
the older the tomb, and the greater the proportion of instruments
found within it _not_ made of iron (but of greater antiquity than the
art of forging that metal) the less dolikhokephalic, and the more
brakhykephalic, (or Ugrian,) is the skull. Hence comes the inference
that the southward extension of barrows, containing remains of the
sort in question, is a measure of the southward extension of the Ugrian
family.
Two other matters are of importance in Ugrian ethnology--the remains of
their ancient Shamanism, and the Finland _Runot_.
In respect to the former, the Ugrians are the first people wherein we
find the original Paganism in more tribes than one; so that it can be
studied in its minute differences, as well as in its general character.
Its essential identity, however, is remarkable. The Supreme Deity is
Yumel, Yubmel, Yumala, or some slightly modified name; and that from
the Morduin country to Lapland. Except this notice of the extent to
which similarity of creed, as well as similarity of language, connects
the Ugrians, no further remarks will be made at present.
The _Runot_ is the name for the popular poems of Finlanders. In few
nations are they more numerous. In none more carefully collected. I
believe that the chief one partakes of the nature of an epic, and
relates the wars between the Laps and Finlanders. Others are short,
lyrical, and adapted to music. The term _Runot_ (the plural form) is
suspiciously similar to the Scandinavian word, _Runa_, with a not
dissimilar meaning (_furrow_, _carving_, _letter_, _spell_, _verse_,
_poem_). Finland archæologists, however, repudiate this, and claim it
as an indigenous word, on the strength of certain derivative forms,
like _runionecka_=_poet_. This is not conclusive. Nor is it necessary
for the main fact, which is the existence of a home-grown poetical
literature of more than average merit, and implying musical taste for
the Finlandic portion of the Ugrian branch--of the Turanian group--of
the Altaic Mongolidæ.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] In Greek, _Rhæmata_=words.
[10] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
[11] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. vi. part 2.
[12] Prichard, vol. iv.
[13] "The Chinese as they are," p. 319.
[14] Prichard, vol. iv.
[15] Prichard, vol. iv.
[16] Buchanan, Asiatic Researches.
[17] Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv. part 2.
[18] Such are the primitive habits, still in use from the Konki to
the Monash and which are most worthy of study and record, as being
primitive and as being common to two people, the Bodo and Dhimál,
though abandoned by the Kámrúpian and most numerous branch of the Bodo.
[19] Ai or Aya is the goddess Kámákyá of Kanirup, _vis genetrix
naturæ_, typed by the Bhaga or Yoni.
[20] _Dhámi_, in Bodo. _Dom_, in other allied dialects.
[21] Decline and Fall, vol. viii.
[22] Klaproth, Memoires relatifs à l'Asie, iii.
[23] Zeuss, v. _Avari_.
[24] Decline and Fall, vol. v.
[25] Lucian, Toxaris 31. From Zeuss, v. _Alani_.
[26] 1. The determination of the language to which the name of any
nation mentioned in history belongs is of primary importance. Perhaps
there is not one fourth of the tribes described by writers, either
ancient or modern, whereof the name is native; _e.g._, the terms
_Welsh_ and _German_ are unknown in _Wales_ and _Germany_; whilst
an Englishman is a _Saxon_ in the Principality and in Ireland. For
ascertaining whether a name be native or not the two following rules
are useful.
_Rule 1._ When two different nations speak of a third by the same name
the _primâ facie_ evidence is _in favour_ of that name being the native
one.
_Rule 2._ When one nation speaks of two others under the same name, the
_primâ facie_ evidence is _against_ that name being the native one.
Thus, according to Rule 1, if a Chinese and a Greek each call a tribe
which invades their country, _Hun_, it is nearly certain that the
invading tribe called itself _Hun_ also. Of course, in cases, where
the two nations using the common term might have borrowed it one of
another, or from a third language, the probabilities are modified.
Still the general rule holds good.
The second rule may be illustrated by the term _Welsh_. It is given by
the nations of the Gothic stock to the Cambrians of Wales, the Italians
of Italy, and the Wallachians of Wallachia. We _know_ that with none of
these it is native. I consider, however, that, given the geographical
position of Germany, Wales, Italy, and Wallachia, the same might have
been _inferred_.
[27] Wrangell, from Prichard, vol. iv.
[28] Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, 1846.
[29] Ermann, from Prichard, vol. iv.
[30] Reise um der Erde.
[31] _Saxon (German) wine._
[32] Asia Minor and Thrace.
[33] Many parts of Russia.
[34] Germania, 45.
[35] Zeuss, _v._ _Finni_, and p. 157.
B.
DIOSCURIAN MONGOLIDÆ.
The term Dioscurian is taken from the ancient sea-port Dioscurias.
Here it was that the chief commerce between the Greeks and Romans, and
the natives of the Caucasian range took place. According to Pliny,[36]
it was carried on by one hundred and thirty interpreters, so numerous
were the languages. Without raising the number thus high, the great
multiplicity of mutually unintelligible tongues is still one of the
characteristics of the parts in question. And this fact has determined
the application of the term. To have used the word _Caucasian_ would
have been correct, but inconvenient. It is already _mis_-applied in
another sense, _i.e._, for the sake of denoting the so-called Caucasian
race, consisting, or said to consist, of Jews, Greeks, Circassians,
Scotchmen, ancient Romans, and other heterogeneous elements. In this
sense it has been used in more than one celebrated work of fiction. In
such, and in such only, it is otherwise than out of place.
DIOSCURIAN NATIONS AND TRIBES.
_Physical Conformation._--Modified Mongol.
_Languages._--Paurosyllabic,[37] agglutinate; of all the
tongues _not_ Seriform, the nearest approaching to an aptotic
state.
_Area._--The range of Mount Caucasus.
_Chief Divisions._--1. The Georgians. 2. The Lesgians. 3. The
Mizjeji. 4. The Irôn. 5. The Circassians.
In few, perhaps, in no part of the present volume, am I on more
debateable ground than the present. So long has the term Caucasian been
considered to denote a type of physical conformation closely akin to
that of the Iapetidæ, (_i.e._, preeminently European,) that to place
the Georgians and Circassians in the midst of the Mongolidæ, is a
paradox. Again, the popular notions founded upon the physical beauty of
the tribes under notice, are against such a juxtaposition; the typical
Mongolians, in this respect, having never been mentioned by either poet
or painter in the language of praise.
Lastly, it so happens that some of the latest researches in comparative
philology have been undertaken with the special object of making the
philological position of the Dioscurians coincide with their anatomical
one, _i.e._, of proving that the languages of the Georgians and the
Irôn are to be connected with that of the Greeks and Latins, just as
was the case with their skeletons.
For the sake of laying before the reader the amount of fact and
argument, in contradistinction to the amount of mere opinion, that
is opposed by the position here assumed for the Dioscurians, I will
analyse the grounds for the current belief under two heads:--
1. _The connexion of the Dioscurian nations with those of Europe, as
determined by the evidence of Physical Conformation._--The really
scientific portion of these anatomical reasons consists in a single
fact; which was as follows.--Blumenbach had a solitary Georgian skull;
and that solitary Georgian skull was the finest in his collection: that
of a Greek being the next. Hence it was taken as the type of the skull
of the more organized divisions of our species. More than this, it
gave its name to the type, and introduced the term _Caucasian_. Never
has a single head done more harm to science than was done in the way
of posthumous mischief, by the head of this well-shaped female from
Georgia. I do not say that it was not a fair sample of all Georgian
skulls. It might or might not be. I only lay before critics the amount
of induction that they have gone upon.
2. _The connexion of the Dioscurian nations with those of Europe as
determined by the evidence of language._--Here I can only give a
sample of the philology which would connect the Georgian with the
Indo-European tongues. It consists in the proof that the Georgian
numerals are the same as the Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Gothic, Slavonic,
and Lithuanic.
English. Georgian. Mingrelian.[38] Suanic.[38] Lazic.[38]
_One_ erthi arthi es`gu ar.
_Two_ ori shiri jeru dzur.
_Three_ sami sumi semi dshumi.
_Four_ othchi otchi wors`tcho atch.
_Five_ chuthi chuthi wochus`i chut.
_Six_ ekhwssi apchs'ui usgwa as`.
_Seven_ s'widi 'sqwithi is`gwit s`kit.
_Eight_ rwa ruo ara ovro.
_Nine_ zehru c`choro c`chara c`choro.
_Ten_ athi withi je`st wit.
One=_Es`gu_, Suanic=_êka_, Sanskrit; _jek_, Persian, the ἑκα- in
ἑκά-τερος, and ἕκ-αστος, Greek.
One=_erthi_, Georgian; _arthi_, Mingrelian; _ar_, Lazic. Here the forms
are different from the Suanic _esg`u_, and have a different origin.
_Esgu_ is a true cardinal, just as _one_ is a true cardinal. The
Georgian, Mingrelian, and Suanic forms, are not originally cardinal,
but derivative from the ordinal, just as would be the case in English,
if, instead of saying _one_, _two_, &c., we said, _first_, _second_,
&c. Now the root of the ordinal cardinal of the Georgian, Mingrelian,
and Lazic _ar_, is the πρ- in the Greek, πρῶ-τος, the _p-r-_ in the
Lithuanic _pir-mas_, the _fr-_ in the Mœso-Gothic, _fr-ums_, and the
_pr-_ in the Sanskrit _pr-atamas_; the initial _p_ having been lost,
just as the initial _s_ in the Sanskrit _sru_,=to _flow_, is lost
in the Greek ῥέω, and the Latin _ruo_. Hence, _arti_=, by _rati_
metathesis, just as the Lithuanic _pirmas_=the Latin _primus_. The _t_
is the τ of πρῶ-τ-ος.
Two=_Ori_, Georgian; _dva_, Sanskrit; δι-, Greek; _duo_, Latin, &c.
_Three_=_sami_, Georgian; _dschumi_, Lazic; _tre_, Sanskrit; τρία,
Greek; _tres_, Latin; _three_, English, &c. Here _t_ becomes _s_,
_r_ is ejected, and _m_ is added, upon the assumption of _reflected
ordinal_.[39]
_Four_=_wors`tcho_, Suanic. A transposition of _tchowors_=the Sanskrit
_ćatvâras_.--Here, remember the Gothic and Welsh forms, _fidvôr_, and
_pedwar_, respectively.
_Five_=_wochus`i_, Suanic. The _wo-_ of this form is the _pa-_ of the
Sanskrit _pa-nća_, whilst the _-chu-_ is the _ća_ of the same word. The
_-t-_ is the _t_ of the Slavonic forms, _fya-tj_=five; _ses-tj_=six;
_devja-ti_=nine, and _desja-ti_=ten.
_Six_=_ekhwssi_, Georgian=_sas_, Sanskrit; _csvas_, Zend; _achses_,
Trôn.
_Seven_=_swidi_, Georgian. A transposition of _siwdi_=_supta_,
Sanskrit; _septem_, Latin; ἕπτα, Greek, &c. It is stated of the numbers
_six_ and _seven_ that "their Indo-European origin is preeminently
capable of proof."
_Eight_=_rwa_, _ruo_, &c.=_as`ta_, Sanskrit. Here the _s_ is lost, as
in Hindostani, and Bengali, _ât`_, and _ât_; _t_ becomes _d_; and _d_
is changed to _r_.
The numeral _nine_ is let alone.
_Ten_=_jest_, Suanic=_das`a_, Sanskrit.
I do not say that there may not be letter-changes which make all this
feasible. There may or may not be. I only lay before critics, the
amount of change assumed.
In 1845, I announced, at the meeting of the British Association for
the Advancement of Science, that the closest philological affinity
of the Dioscurian languages was with the Aptotic ones. This I had
brought myself to believe from a comparison of the _words_ only. Soon
afterwards, Mr. Norriss, of the Asiatic Society, instead of expressing
surprise at my doctrine, said that, upon _grammatical_ grounds, he held
the same opinion.
How far these views are founded on fact, may be seen from the
forthcoming samples of two Dioscurian grammars, and of a short
Dioscurian vocabulary, compared with those of the Seriform tongues.
The two together form but a small fraction of the evidence that can be
adduced. It is as much, however, as is admissible in a work like the
present.
Physiological objections, based upon the symmetry of shape, and
delicacy of complexion, on the part of the Georgians and Circassians,
I am, at present, unable to meet. I can only indicate our want of
osteological data, and remind my reader of the peculiar climatologic
conditions of the Caucasian range; which is at once temperate,
mountainous, wooded, and in the neighbourhood of the sea--in other
words, the reverse of all Mongol areas hitherto enumerated. Perhaps,
too, I may limit the extent of such objections _as a matter of fact_.
It is only amongst the chiefs where the personal beauty of the male
portion of the population is at all remarkable. The tillers of the soil
are, comparatively speaking, coarse and unshapely.
GEORGIANS.
_Divisions._--1. Eastern Georgians. 2. Western Georgians. 3.
South-western Georgians. 4. Northern Georgians.
EASTERN GEORGIANS.
_Locality._--The head-waters of the Kur.
_Name._--Cartulinian, from the Province called Carthueli, the
ancient Iberia. The Cartulinian dialect is the Georgian of
Teflis, and the Georgian of the Georgian literature.
_Alphabet._--Peculiar. Probably derived from the Armenian.
WESTERN GEORGIANS.
_Localities._--Guriel, Imeretia, and Mingrelia, _i.e._, the
valley of Phasis.
_Name._--Mingrelian.
_Language._--More like the Lazic than it is to either the
Cartulinian or the Suanic.
SOUTH-WESTERN GEORGIANS.
_Locality._--Lazistan.
_Geographical Limits._--From the promontory of Kyemer-Burnu,
east of Rizeh, east of Trebizond to the mouth of the Tchorok,
south of Batoum. Not further than the Tchorok inland.
_Political Relations._--Subject to Turkey.
_Religion._--Mahometan; converted about 1580, A.D. Previously
(at least in the reign of Justinian) Christians of the Greek
Church.
_Alphabet._--Arabic. Native literature none or scanty.
Sub-dialects numerous, according to Rosen one for almost every
valley. Greek words intermixed; some, probably, of considerable
antiquity.
NORTHERN GEORGIANS.
_Locality._--The head-waters of the Tzchenistoquali, or
Lasch-churi; the Hippus of the ancients.
_Name._--Suanic.
_Conterminous with_ the Northern Mingrelian dialects of the
Georgian, and the Absné dialect of the Circassian. Less like
any of the other Georgian dialects than they are to each other.
The Suanians call--
Themselves, _S`wan_.
The Caratschai Turks, _Ows_.
The Absné, _Mibchaz_.
The Irôn, _Sawi-ar_.
The East Georgians, _M`karts_.
The West Georgians, _Mimrel_.
The Mingrelians, _Mumgrel_.
_Descent._--As the Georgians may reasonably be considered to be the
aborigines of the locality which they, at present, inhabit, they come
before us as an ancient people. The Greek poet, who first sung of
the Argonauts, knew, at least, enough of Colchis to make it a local
habitation for his heroine--though that was not knowing much. The
earliest navigator of the Euxine knew more; for, possibly, at a period
anterior to the colonization of Asia Minor, he knew it as a real land.
The Ægyptians, at the time of Herodotus, knew enough of it to claim it
as a conquest of the great Sesostris. With this claim the question of
_purity_ of the Georgian race commences.
Two separate and definite immigrations have been supposed to have
introduced into Colchis new ethnological elements.
1. _The settlement from Ægypt under the reign of the Great Sesostris._
In §§ 103-105, of his Second Book, Herodotus writes thus:--Sesostris
"overturned both the Scythians and the Thracians; and here, in my
mind, the Ægyptian army reached its furthest point. Thus far the
pillars in question appear; beyond, there are none. From these parts
he turned back, and when he came to the river Phasis, I am unable to
say truly, which of two things occurred; whether the King himself,
having separated a portion of his army, left it as a settlement in the
country, or whether some of his soldiers, harassed by their wanderings,
stayed behind on that river. For the Colchians are evidently Ægyptians.
I say this, having observed it myself, before I heard from any one
else. And, whilst I was considering it, I asked both; and the Colchians
remembered the Ægyptians better than Ægyptians the Colchians. The
Ægyptians said, that they thought that the Colchians were from the army
of Sesostris. This is what I guessed myself, from the fact of their
being both black-skinned and curly-haired. This, however, goes for
nothing. Others are so also. The main reason is that the Colchians, the
Ægyptians, and the Æthiopians are the only men who originally practised
circumcision: since the Phœnicians and the Syrians of Palestine confess
that they learned it of the Ægyptians; whilst the Syrians about the
rivers Thermodon and Parthenius, and the Macrones, who are their
neighbours, say that they learned it recently, from the Colchians.
Come, now, I must mention another fact concerning the Colchians,
wherein they resemble the Ægyptians. They and the Ægyptians are the
only ones who work flax in the same way. And the whole manner of life
and language are mutually alike. The flax from Colchis is called by the
Greeks, _Sardonicon_: that from Ægypt, _Ægyptian_."
As no external evidence will make it probable that the Georgians,
_as a nation_, are of Ægyptian origin, and as, on the other hand,
Herodotus speaks from personal observation, the exact truth is not
easily attainable. Probably, there was an Ægyptian colony on the Black
Sea. Possibly--though not probably--the Colchians were not Dioscurian
aborigines, but immigrants.
2. _The Orpelian settlement from China._--In the thirteenth century,
according to those who are most willing to allow a comparatively high
antiquity to Armenian literature, a work was composed in Armenian, by
Stephen, Archbishop of Siounia. In this, it is stated that a noble
family, called _Ouhrbélêan_, or Orpelian, entered Georgia, settled
on the frontiers of Orpeth, and became the founders of one of the
great families of Georgia; to which family the historian himself
belonged. Finally, it is added, that this family came from _Djenasdan_
or _China_. This is probably a mere tradition; one which, even if
true, would denote an immigration wholly unconnected with the real
ante-historical relations between Caucasus and the Seriform area.
The _true_ elements of intermixture with the Georgian family have been
Greek, Persian, Armenian, Turk, and Russian; as may be collected from
the history of the country. The amount of Lesgian, Irôn, Mizjeji, and
Circassian blood is uncertain.
The safest view to be taken of the history of Georgian civilization
is to remember that, different as may be the languages of Georgia and
Armenia, the political history and the local relations are alike, and
have generally been so. The Christianity of Georgia was from Armenia;
so was its literature; so also its alphabet--although in their present
rounded form its letters are very unlike the square and angular
characters of Armenia.
THE LESGIANS.
_Locality._--Eastern Caucasus, or Daghestan.
_Name._--No native _general_ name. Called by the Circassians
Hhannoatshe; by the Tshetshentsh, Suéli.
_Dialects._--1. Avar, spoken by the tribe who call themselves
Marulan,=mountaineers, from Marul=mountain. Falling into the
Anzukh, Tshari, Andi, Kabutsh, Dido(?), Unso(?) sub-dialects.
2. Kasikumuk. 3. Akush--sub-dialect Kubitsh. 4. Kura of South
Daghestan.
THE MIZJEJI.
_Locality._--West and north-west of the Lesgians.
_Name._--Not native.
_Divisions._--1. Galgai, Halha, or Ingúsh. 2. Kharabulakh or
Arshte. 3. Tshetshentsh. 4. Tushi.
THE IRÔN.
_Locality._--Central Caucasus; conterminous with the Mizjeji on
the East, the Georgians on the south, the Circassians on the
north, and Imeretia on the west.
_Name._--Called by themselves Irôn, by the Georgians, Osi
(Plural Oseti).
As the single skull of the Georgian female did all the mischief in
the physiological ethnography of Caucasus, an Irôn vocabulary has
been the prime source of error in the way of its philology. Klaproth
considered that the number of words common to the Irôn[40] and Persian
languages was sufficient to place the former amongst the Indo-European
languages. More than this, there were historical grounds for believing
that the Irôn was the ancient language of Media[41]--also of the
Alani of the later Roman empire. No man believed all this more than
the present writer until the appearance of Rosen's sketch of the Irôn
(_Ossetic_) grammar. He now believes that the Irôn is more Chinese than
Indo-European.
Assuming, however, that Klaproth's position is correct, it follows
that as the Georgian is undoubtedly akin to the Irôn, it may be
Indo-European also. This is the view taken by Professor Bopp, from
whose work, in favour of this position of the Georgian, the criticism
relating to the numerals was taken. The method is as exceptionable
as the result. If the Georgian be Indo-European, the Chinese is
Indo-European also; and if the vaunted laws concerning the permutation
and transition of letters lead to such philological leger-de-main as is
to be found in more than one work of the German school, our scholarship
is taking a retrograde direction.
However, the character of the Irôn grammar is as follows:--
The declension of nouns is simple; being limited to two numbers and
four cases. Herein the inflection expressive of number can be separated
from the inflection expressive of case--as _fid_-i=_of a father_,
_fid-t`_-i=_of fathers_. Furthermore, the sign of case _follows_ that
of number. Such is the structure of case and number in Irôn, and such
the _sequence_ of the respective inflections expressive of each.
_Singular._ _Plural._
_Nom._ fid[42] fid-t`-a
_Gen._ fid-i fid-t`-i
_Dat._ fid-én fid-t`-am
_Abl._ fid-éi fid-t`-éi.
_Nom._ moi[43] moi-t`a
_Gen._ moi-i moi-t`i
_Dat._ moi-én moi-t-am
_Abl._ moi-éi moi-t`-éi.
The comparative degree is formed by the addition of -_dar_; as
_chorz_=_good_, _chorz-dar_=_better_. This has an Indo-European look.
Compare it with the -τερ of the Greek comparatives. No superlative
inflection.
The true personal pronouns (_i. e._, those of the two first persons)
are as follows;--
A.
1. _Az_=_I_. Defective in the oblique cases.
2. _Man_, or _ma_--Defective in the nominative singular.
A.
_Sing._ _Plural._
_Nom._ ---- mach
_Gen._ man-i mach-i
_Dat._ man-an mach-én
_Accus._ man mach
_Abl._ man-éi mach-éi.
B.
_Nom._ di si-mach
_Gen._ daw-i[44] si-mach-i
_Dat._ daw-on si-mach-én
_Accus._ daw si-mach
_Abl._ da-wéi si-mach-éi.
The signs of the persons are considered to be eminently Indo-Germanic.
They are _-in_, _-is_, _-i_; _-am_, _-ut`_, _-inc`_; _e. g._
Qus-_in_ = aud-_io_ Qus-_am_ = aud-_imus_
Qus-_is_ = aud-_is_ Qus-_ut`_ = aud-_itis_
Qus-_i_ = aud-_it_ Qus-_inc`_ = aud-_iunt_.
I am as little prepared to deny as to affirm the likeness.
The addition of the sound of _t_ _helps_ to form the Irôn preterite.
I say _helps_, because if we compare the form _s-ko_-t-_on_=_I made_,
with the root _kan_, or the form _fé-qus_-t-_on_=_I heard_, with the
root _qus_, we see, at once, that the addition of _t_ is only a _part_
of an inflection. Nevertheless, I am as little prepared to deny as to
affirm its identity with the Persian _d_.
Beyond this, the tenses become complicated; and that because they are
evidently formed by the agglutination of separate words; the so-called
imperfect being undoubtedly formed by affixing the preterite form of
the word _to make_; thus used as an auxiliary. The perfect and future
seem similarly formed, from the auxiliary=_be_.
This may be collected from the following paradigms.
1.
Root, _u_, &c., = _be_. (_Auxiliar._)
_Plural_--_Present_, st-am, st-ut, i-st-i = _sumus_, _estis_, _sunt_.
_Singular_--_Preterite_, u-t-an, u-t-as, u-d-i = _fui_,
_fuisti_, _fuit_.
_Singular_--_Future_, u-gín-an, u-gín-as, u-gén-i = _ero_,
_eris_, _erit_.
_Imperative_ fau = _esto_.
2.
_Root_, k'an = _make_. (_Auxiliar._)
_Preterite_, = s-k`o-t-on,[45] s-k`o-t-ai, s-k`o-t-a = _feci_,
_fecisti_, _fecit_.
3.
_Root_, kus = _hear_.
INDICATIVE.
_Sing._ _Plural._
_Present_, 1. Qus-_in_ Qus-_am_.
2. Qus-_is_ Qus-_ut`_
3. Qus-_i_ Qus-_inc`_.
INDICATIVE.
_Sing._ _Plural._
_Imperfect_, 1. Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_on_ Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_am_
2. Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_ai_ Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_at`_
3. Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_a_ Qus-_ga_-_k`o_-t-_oi_
_Perfect_, 1. fé-_qus_-t-_on_ fé-_qus_-t-_am_
2. fé-_qus_-t-_ai_ fé-_qus_-t-_at`_
3. fé-_qus_-t-_a_ fé-_qus_-t-_oi_
_Future_, 1. bai-_qus_-_g'in_-_an_ bai-_qus_-_g'i_-_stam_
2. bai-_qus_-_g'in_-_as_ bai-_qus_-_g'i_-_stut`_
3. bai-_qus_-_g'én_-_i_ bai-_qus_-_g'i_-_sti_
CONJUNCTIVE.
_Present_, 1. qus-_on_ qus-_am_
2. qus-_ai_ qus-_at`_
3. qus-_ai_ qus-_oi_
_Imperfect_, 1. qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_on_ qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_am_
2. qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_ai_ qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_at`_
3. qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_a_ qus-_ga_-_k`an_-_oi_
IMPERATIVE.
1. ---- bai-_qus_-_am_
2. bai-_qus_ bai-_qus_-_ut`_
3. bai-_qus_-_a_ bai-_qus_-_oi_
INFINITIVE, qus-_in_.
_Participles_, Qus-_ag_, qus-_gond_, qus-_in_-_ag_.
It may safely be said, that no Dioscurian language is _more_
Indo-European than the Irôn.
CIRCASSIANS.
_Locality._--West Caucasus.
_Divisions._--1. True Circassians, calling themselves _Adigé_.
2. Absné.
_Sub-divisions_ of the Absné. 1. Absné. 2. Tepanta (or
Altekesek).
It may safely be said that no Dioscurian language is _less_
Indo-European than the Circassian. Such being the case, its grammar
forms a proper complement to that of the Irôn.
In respect to its sounds, it has the credit, even in Caucasus, of
being the most harsh and disagreeable language of the Caucasian area;
consonants being accumulated, and hiatus being frequent.
The declensional inflections are preeminently scanty. In English
substantives there is a sign for the possessive case, and for none
other. In Absné there is not even this--_ab_=_father_, _ácĕ_=_horse_;
_ab ácĕ_=_father's horse_, (verbally, _father horse_). In expressions
like these, position does the work of an inflection.
Judging from Rosen's example, the use of prepositions is as limited as
that of inflections, _sara s-ab ácĕ ist`ap I my-father horse give_, or
_giving am_; _abna amus`w izbit_=_wood bear see-did_=_I saw a bear in
the wood_; _awinĕ wi as`wkĕ_=(in) _house two doors_; _ácĕ sis`lit_=(on)
_horse mount-I-did_.
Hence declension begins with the formation of the plural number. This
consists in the addition of the syllable _k`wa_.
_Acĕ_ = _horse_; _ácĕ-k`wa_ = _horses_.
_Atsla_ = _tree_; _atsla-k`wa_ = _trees_.
_Awinĕ_ = _house_; _awinĕ-k`wa_ = _houses_.
In the pronouns there is as little inflection as in the substantives
and adjectives, _i. e._ there are no forms corresponding to _mihi_,
_nobis_, &c.
1. When the pronoun signifies possession, it takes an inseparable
form, is incorporated with the substantive that agrees with it, and is
_s-_ for the first, _w-_ for the second, and _i-_ for the third person
singular. Then for the plural it is _h-_ for the first person, _s`-_
for the second, _r-_ for the third: _ab_=father;
_S-ab_ = _my father_; _h-ab_ = _our father_.
_W-ab_ = _thy father_; _s`-ab_ = _your father_.
_T-ab_ = _his (her) father_; _r-ab_ = _their father_.
2. When the pronoun is governed by a verb, it is inseparable also; and
similarly incorporated.
3. Hence, the only inseparable form of the personal pronoun is, when it
governs the verb. In this case the forms are:
_Sa-ra_ = I _Ha-ra_ = we
_Wa-ra_ = thou _S`a-ra_ = ye
_Ui_ = he _U-bart`_ = they.
In _sa-ra_, _wa-ra_, _ha-ra_, _s`a-ra_, the _-ra_ is non-radical. The
word _u-bart`_ is a compound.
The ordinal=first is _achani_. This seems formed from _aka_=one.
The ordinal=second is _agi_. This seems unconnected with the word
_wi-_=_two_; just as in English, _second_ has no etymological
connection with _two_.
The remaining ordinals are formed regularly, by prefixing to the
radical part of their respective cardinals, _-a_, and affixing _-nto_.
_Cardinals._ _Ordinals._
3, Chi-_ba_[46] A-chi-_nto_
4, P`s`i-_ba_ A-p`s`i-_nto_
5, Chu-_ba_ A-chu-_nto_
6, F-_ba_ F-_into_
7, Bis`-_ba_ Bs-_into_
8, Aa-_ba_ A-a-_nto_
9, S`-_ba_ S`b-_into_
10, S`wa-_ba_ Sw-_ento_.
In the Absné verbs the distinction of time is the only distinction
denoted by any approach to the character of an inflection; and here
the change has so thoroughly the appearance of having been effected
by the addition of some separate and independent words, that it is
doubtful whether any of the following forms can be considered as true
inflections. They are _compounds_; _i. e._ forms like _can't_, _won't_,
_I'll_ (=_I will_), rather than forms like _speaks_, _spoke_, τέ-τυφ-α,
&c.
_Root_, C'wisl = _ride_ (equit-o).
1. _Present_, C'wis`l-_ap_ = I _ride_[47] (equit-o).
2. _Present_, C'wis`l-_oit_ = _I am riding_.
_Imperfect_, C'wis`l-_an_ = _equitabam_.
_Perfect_, C'wis`l-_it_ = _equitavi_.
_Plusquamperfect_, C'wis`l-_chén_ = _equitaveram_.
_Future_, C'wis`l-_as˙t_ = _equitabo_.
The person and number is shown by the pronoun. And here must be noticed
a complication. The pronoun appears in two forms:--
1st. In full, _sara_, _wara_, &c.
2nd. As an inseparable prefix; the radical letter being prefixed and
incorporated with the verb. It cannot, however, be said that this is a
true inflection.
1.
_Sing._ 1. _sara s-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _I ride_
2. _wara u-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _thou ridest_
3. _ui i-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _he rides_.
2.
_Plur._ 1. _hara ha-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _we ride_
2. _s`ara s`-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _ye ride_
3. _ubart r-c'_wisl-_oit_ = _they ride_.
_Original area._--The northward extension of the present Circassian
area is limited by the Russians and the Nogay Turks. Now, as each of
these areas has _encroached_, it is reasonable to believe that, at an
earlier period, Circassian tribes may have extended further northward
than at present. At the same time we must be careful not to carry them
too far; otherwise we infringe the area of the Scythians, Sarmatians,
and other nations of antiquity; who, whatever else they were, were
not very likely to have been Circassian. Some point between the Cuban
and the Don is the likeliest limit for the most northern Circassians.
The old line of frontier on the Caucasian side is incapable of
determination.
Amongst the ancestors of the present Circassians are, most probably,
the Zychi (Achæi), Abasgi, Heniochi, Cercetæ, Makropogones, Sindians,
&c.
* * * * *
The question as to the original population of the country which now
separates the nearest point of the Dioscurian area from the Seriform,
will be considered in the section upon the distribution of the Iranian
portion of the Indo-European division of the Iapetidæ. The following is
a selection of words common to the Dioscurian and Aptotic languages:--
[48]·_English_, sky
·Circassian, _whapeh_, _wuafe_
·Aka, _aupa_
·Khamti, _fa_
_English_, sky
·Absné, _kaukh_
Altekesek, _hak_
·Akush, _kaka_
·Burmese, _kydukkhe_
_English_, sky
·Tshetshentsh, _tulak_
·Koreng, _talo_
·Khoibú, _thullung_
_English_, sun
Georgian, _mse_
Mingrelian, _bsha_
Suanic, _mizh_
·Kuanchua, _zhi_
Sianlo, _suu_
·_English_, fire
·Absné, _mza_
Circassian, _mafa_
·Khamti, _fai_
Siam, _fai_
Aka, _umma_
Abor, _eme_
Burmese, _mi_
Karyen, _me_
Manipur, _mai_
Songphu, _mai_
Kapwi, &c., _mai_
·_English_, day
·Tshetshentsh, _dini_
Ingúsh, _den_
Kasikumuk, _kini_
·Koreng, _nin_
Jili, _tana_
Singpho, _sini_
_English_, day
·Andi, _thyal_
·Garo, _salo_
_English_, moon
Georgian, _twai_=_month_
Suanic, _twai_
·Moitay, _ta_
·_English_, star
·Kasikumuk, _zuka_
·Garo, _asake_
Jili, _sakan_
Singpho, _sagan_
·_English_, hill
·Kasikumuk, _suntu_
·Chinese, _shan_
·_English_, earth
·Absné, _tshullah_
Altekesek, _tzula_
·Kapwi, _talai_
Khoibú, _thalai_
_English_, earth
·Andi, _zkhur_
·Mishimi, _tari_
_English_, earth
·Dido, _tshedo_
·Koreng, _kadi_
·_English_, snow
·Lesgian, _asu_
Circassian, _uas_
Abassian, _asse_
·Chinese, _siwe_
·_English_, salt
·Lesgian (3), _zam_
·Chinese, _yan_
_English_, salt
·Kabutsh, _tshea_
Dido, _zio_
Kasikumuk, _psu_
Akush, _dze_
·Tibetan, _tsha_
_English_, dust
·Tshetshentsh, _tshen_
·Chinese, _tshin_
·_English_, sand
·Avar, _tshimig_
·Tibetan, _bydzoma_
·Circassian, _pshakhoh_
·Chinese, _sha_
·_English_, leaf
·Tshetshentsh, _ga_
Ingúsh, _ga_
·Chinese, _ye_
·_English_, tree
·Mizjeji (3), _che_
Circassian, _dzeg_
·Chinese, _shu_
·_English_, stone
·Andi, _hinzo_
·Siamese, _hin_
_English_, sea
Georgian, _sgwa_
Chinese, _shuy_=_water_
Tibetan, _çi_=_do_.
Món, _zhe_=_do_.
Ava, _te_=_do_. (5)
·_English_, river
·Anzukh, _or kyare_
Avar, _hor_, _khor_
·Champhung, _urai_
_English_, river
·Abassian, _aji_
·Tibetan, _tshavo_.
_English_, river
·Altekesek, _sedu_
Absné, _dzedu_
·Songphu, _duidai_
·_English_, water
·Avar, _htlem_, _htli_
Anzukh, _htlim_
Tshari, _khim_
Kabutsh, _htli_
Andi, _ht`len_
Dido, _tli_
_English_, water
Kasikumuk, _sin_
Akush, _shen_
Kubitsh, _tzun_, _sin_
·Singpho, _ntsin_
Jili, _mchin_
Mainpur, _ising_
_English_, water
·Absné, _dzeh_
·Songphu, _dui_
Kapwi, _tui_
Tankhul, _tu_
_English_, water
·Mizjeji (3), _chi_
·Garo, _chi_
·_English_, rain
·Andi, _za_
Ingúsh, _du_
Abassian, _kua_
·Chinese, _yu_
·_English_, summer
·Tushi, _chko_
Mizjeji, _achke_
Chinese, _chia_
·_English_, winter
·Anzukh, _tlin_
Andi, _klinu_
Kasikumuk, _kintul_
Akush, _chani_
Absné, _gene_
·Tibetan, _r gun_
Chinese, _tung_
·_English_, cow
·Circassian, _bsa_
·Tibetan, _r shu_
·_English_, dog
·Avar, _choi_
Andi, _choi_
Dido, _gwai_
Kubitsh, _koy_
Circassian, _khhah_
·Chinese, _keu_
Tibetan, _kyi_
·_English_, horse
·Lesgian (5), _tshu_
Circassian, _tshe_, _shu_
·Tibetan, _r dda_
·_English_, bird
·Avar, _hedo_
·Tankhul, _ata_
_English_, bird
·Andi, _purtie_
·Abor, _pettang_
Aka, _put'ah_
·_English_, fish
·Avar (3), _tshua_
Circassian, _bbzheh_
·Khamti, _pa_
Siamese, _pla_
Aka, _ngay_
Abor, _engo_
Burmese, _nga_
Karyen, _nga_
Singpho, _nga_
Songphu, _kha_
Mishimi, _ta_
Maram, _khai_
Luhuppa, _khai_
Tankhul, _khi_
Anam, _khi_
·_English_, flesh
·Kabutsh, _kho_
Abassian, _zheh_
·Chinese, _shou_
Tibetan, _zhsha_
·_English_, egg.
·Tshetshentsh, _khua_
·Khamti, _khai_
·Siamese, _khai_
_English_, egg
·Kabutsh, _tshemuza_
·Mishimi, _mtiumaie_
_English_, egg
·Akush, _dukhi_
·Garo, _to`ka_
·_English_, son
·Mizjeji (3), _ua_, _woe_
·Tibetan, _bu_
·_English_, hair
·Kasikumuk, _tshara_
·Jili, _kara_
·Singpho, _kara_
_English_, hair
·Avar, _sab_
Anzukh, _sab_
Tshari, _sab_
·Burmese, _shaben_
Manipur, _sam_
Songpho (6), _sam_
_English_, hair
·Tshetshentsh, _kazeresh_
·Karyen, _khosu_
·Tankhul, _kosen_
_English_, head
Georgian, _tawi_
Lazic, _ti_
Tuanic, _tchum_
Chinese, _teu_, _seu_
Anam, _tu d`u_
Ava, _kang_ (5)
_English_, head
Andi, _mier_, _maær_
Assam, _mur_
_English_, head
Absné, _kah_, _aka_
Altekesek, _zeka_
Karien, _kho_
Manipur, _kok_
Tankhul, _akao_
·_English_, mouth
·Lesgian, _kall_
·Chinese, _keu_
Anamese, _kau_
Tibetan, _ka_
_English_, mouth
·Tushi, _bak_
·Teina, _pak_
_English_, mouth
·Georgian, _piri_
Mingrelian, _pidehi_
Tuanic, _pil_
·Ava, _parat_ (4)
_English_, mouth
·Kubitsh, _mole_
·Khoibú, _mur_
Maring, _mur_
_English_, mouth
·Andi, _kol_, _tkol_
Lesgian (3), _kaal_
·Manipur, _chil_
·_English_, eye
·Andi, _puni_
·Chinese, _yan_
·_English_, ear
·Avar, _een_, _ain_, _en_
Anzukh, _in_
Tshari, _een_, _ein_
Andi, _hanka_, _andika_
·Burmese, _na_
Karien, _naku_
Singpho, _na_
Songphu, _anhukon_
Kapwi, _kana_
Koreng, _kon_
Maram, _inkon_
Champhung, _khunu_
Luhuppa, _khana_
Tankhul, _akhana_
Khoibú, _khana_
·_English_, tooth
·Lesgian (3), _sibi_
Avar, _zavi_
Circassian, _dzeh_
·Tibetan, _so_
Chinese, _tshi_
·_English_, tongue
·Circassian, _bbse_
Absné, _ibs_
·Tibetan, _rdzhe_
Chinese, _shi_
·_English_, foot
·Kasikumuk, _dzhan_
·Khamti, _tin_
_English_, foot
·Mizjeji (3), _kog_, _koeg_
·Manipur, _khong_
Tankhul, _akho_
_English_, foot
·Andi, _tsheka_
Kubitsh, _tag_
Jili, _takkhyai_
Garo, _jachok_
_English_, foot
Georgian, _pechi_
Maplu, _pokâ_=_leg_
_English_, finger
Mingrelian, _kiti_
Moitay, _khoit_=_hand_
Play, _kozu_=_do_.
_English_, hand
·Georgian, _chéli_
Lazic, _ieh_
Mingrelian, _ché_
Suanic, _shi_
·Chinese, _sheu_
_English_, hand
·Andi, _katshu_
Kabutsh, _koda_
·Khoibú, _khut_
Manipur, _khut_
·_English_, blood
·Absné, _tsha_, _sha_
Tshetshentsh, _zi_
Ingúsh, _zi_
·Singpho, _sai_
Songpho, _zyai_
Kapwi, _the_
Maram, _azyi_
Champhung, _azi_
Luhuppa, _ashi_
Tankhul, _asu_
_English_, blood
·Dido, _é_
·Manipur, _i_
Khoibú, _hi_
Maring, _hi_
·Mizjeji (3), _zi_
_English_, blood
Tshetshentsh, _yioh_
Circassian, _tlih_
Chinese, _chiue_
_English_, skin
·_English_, skin
·Circassian, _ſteh_
·Chinese, _pi`_
_English_, skin
·Dido, _bik_
·Tibetan, _shbagsbba_
·_English_, bone
·Tshetshentsh, _dyackt_
Ingúsh, _tekhh_
Akush, _likka_
Tshari, _rekka_
·Khamti, _nuk_
Siamese, _kraduk_
_English_, great
·Georgian, _didi_
Mingrelian, _didi_
·Canton, _ta_
Kuanchua, _ta_, _da_
Tonkin, _drai_
Cochin-chinese, _dai_
Tibetan, _çe_
Ava, _kyi_ (5)
Play, _du_
Teina, _to_
_English_, bad
Mingrelian, _moglach_
Suanic, _choya_
·Chinese, _go gok_
Môn, _kah_
Ava, _makaung_ (4)
---- _gye_ (2)
·_English_, warm
·Ingúsh, _tau_
·Tibetan, _dzho_
·_English_, blue
·Mizjeji (3), _siene_
·Chinese, _zing_
Tibetan, _swongbba_
·_English_, yellow
·Circassian, _khozh_
Abassian, _kha_
·Chinese, _chuang_
·_English_, green
·Avar, _ursheria_
Anzukh, _ordjin_
Ingúsh, _send_
·Tibetan, _shjanggu_
_English_, below
Georgian, _kwewrt_, _kwerno_
Ava, _haukma_ (3)
Yo, _auk_
Passuko, _hoko_
Kolaun, _akoa_
·_English_, one
·Lesgian, _zo_
Akush, _za_
Andi, _sew_
Dido, _zis_
Kasikumuk, _zabá_
Mizjeji (3), _tza_
Abassian, _seka_
·Tibetan, _dzig_
_English_, three
·Georgian, _sami_
Lazic, _jum_
Mingrelian, _sami_
Suanic, _semi_
·Canton Chinese, _sam_
Kuanchua, _san_
Tonkin, _tam_
Tibetan, _sum_
Môn, _sum_
Ava (4), _thaum_
Siam (6), _sam_
_English_, four
·Abassian, _pshi-ba_
·Tibetan, _bshi_
Chinese, _szu_
_English_, five
Georgian, _chuthi_
Lazic, _chut_
Mingrelian, _chuthi_
Suanic, _wochu´si_
Ava, _yadu_ (4)
·_English_, six
·Tshetshentsh, _yatsh_
Ingúsh, _yatsh_
Tushi, _itsh_
·Tibetan, _dzhug_.
·_English_, nine
·Circassian, _bgu_
·Tibetan, _rgu_
Chinese, _kieu_
·_English_, ten
·Circassian, _pshe_
Abassian, _zheba_
·Tibetan, _bdzhu_
Chinese, _shi_
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. 52.
[37] From _pauros_=_few_, and _syllabæ_=_syllable_.
[38] Dialects of the Georgian.
[39] It is a general accredited fact, that in some cardinals we have
the sign of the ordinal. Thus the _-m_ in _dece-m_, as compared with
δέκα, is reasonably supposed to be the _-m-_ in _deci-m-us_.
[40] Quoted under the name _Ossetic_.
[41] Asia Polyglotta, vox, _Osseti_.
[42] Fid=_father_.
[43] Moi=_husband_.
[44] _Or_ dachi.
[45] Or fa-ko-t-on, &c.
[46] Non-radical.
[47] Or, _am in the habit of riding_.
[48] The different dots denote the different classes of languages--the
first the English, the second the Dioscurian, the third the Aptotic
dialects.
C.
THE OCEANIC MONGOLIDÆ.
The epithet _Oceanic_ is applied to this group because, with
the exception of the Peninsula of Malacca, the tribes belonging
to it are the inhabitants of _islands_ exclusively.
DIVISIONS.
1. THE AMPHINESIAN[49] STOCK.
2. THE KELÆNONESIAN[49] STOCK.
The ocean is the highway between tribe and tribe, or nation and
nation, just in proportion as there is the skill, the experience,
the courage and the necessary equipment for using it. As long as the
mariner's compass was undiscovered the New World was isolated from
the Old. To the Turk on the Hellespont, in the deficiency of even the
rudest elements of water-transport, the narrow stream was an obstacle.
Hence the unscientific character of all _a priori_ generalizations
respecting the influence of land or water as the means of national
intercommunication, or as elements of ethnographical dispersions. The
desert, the prairie, or the ocean, are boundaries that limit, or paths
that extend, the diffusion of tribes and nations, just in proportion as
there is the camel, the horse, or the ship to make them available.
How nations may effect an extension over continuous tracts of land,
has been seen in the examination of the Great Turk area; how nations
may effect an extension where the land is disconnected, and where
the ocean alone is the means of communication, will be seen in the
examination of the great Oceanic area. These two forms of extension
stand in strong contrast to one another.
The best way to appreciate the magnitude of the great Oceanic area, is
to state that with the exception of the Mauritius, the Isle of Bourbon,
Ceylon, the Seychelles, the Maldives, and the Laccadives in the Indian
Ocean, and the Japanese empire with the islands to the north thereof,
in the Chinese Sea, every inhabited spot of land in the Indian and
Pacific Oceans is inhabited by tribes of one and the same race.
Or taking the localities more in detail, we may say that from
Madagascar, on the west, to Easter Island, half way between Asia and
America, and from Formosa to the north, to New Zealand southwards, in
the great islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea, in the almost
continental extent of Australia, in groups like the Philippines and the
Moluccas, and in scattered clusters like the Mariannes or the other
islands of the South Sea, the race is one and the same--and that race
_Oceanic_.
Add to all this, that those tribes which are found so widely spread
over the face of the ocean, are so spread almost _exclusively_. They
are not only _everywhere in the islands_, but they are well-nigh
_nowhere on the continent_. In the Peninsula of Malacca, and on no
other part of the main land of Asia, is an Oceanic tribe to be detected.
In an ethnographical distribution such as this, so remarkable for
both its negative and positive phænomena, there is ample ground for
speculation; and of this there has been abundance. I prefer, however,
at present, to suggest a distinction between the Oceanic area of
dispersion and the Turk.
In respect to the former, the _later_ the date we assign to it the more
explicable are the phænomena; in other words, the more advanced the art
of navigation the easier the extension from island to island.
The converse is the case with the latter. The earlier a land migration
takes place, the less is the resistance of the nations around it, and,
consequently, the greater the facilities of its propagation.
_Divisions of the Oceanic Mongolidæ._--I think that if we base our
primary divisions of the great Oceanic stock upon difference of
physical form, they will not be more than _two_; although, by raising
the value of certain sub-divisions, the number may be raised to three,
four, five, or six.
Now as the value of the members of the Oceanic groups is a point upon
which there is a variety of opinion, and as the opinion of the present
writer as to its unity as a whole, is at variance with the systems of
ethnologists, with whom he is diffident of disagreeing, it will be well
to take more than usual pains to give prominence to the leading facts
upon which the current opinions are based; and for the sake of fuller
illustration to carry the reader over the subject by two ways.
_A._ One class of the Oceanic islanders is yellow, olive, brunette,
or brown, rather than black, with long black and straight hair; and
when any member of this division is compared with a native of the
continental portions of the world, it is generally with the Mongol.
_B._ Another class of the Oceanic islanders is black rather than
yellow, olive, brunette, or brown; and when any member of this division
is compared with a native of the continental portions of the world,
it is generally with the Negro. As to the hair of this latter group,
it is always long, sometimes strong and straight; but, in other
cases, crisp, curly, frizzy, or even woolly. Upon these differences,
especially that of the hair, we shall see, in the sequel, that
sub-divisional groups have been formed.
The social, moral, and intellectual difference between these two
classes, in their typical form, is, certainly, not _less_ than the
physical--probably more. The _continuous_ geographical area is,--for
the black division, New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, New Ireland, and
the islands between it and New Caledonia. For the brown division, all
the rest of the Oceanic area,--Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Moluccas, the
Philippines, the South Sea Islands, the Carolines, &c.
Now this is one way of viewing the subject, and it is the way which
gives us the contrast in the most marked manner; the typical instances
of each group being put forward.
But another point of view limits the breadth of difference.
It may have been noticed by the reader, that in speaking of the area
occupied by the black and brown nations respectively, I used the word
_continuous_. This was done for the sake of preparing the way for a new
series of facts. In many of the countries proper and peculiar to the
brown or straight-haired occupants, there are to be found, side by side
with them, darker complexioned fellow-inhabitants; blackish and black
tribes; tribes with crisp hair; tribes with woolly hair; and tribes
with hair and hue of every intermediate variety. Furthermore, wherever
the two varieties come in contact, the black and blackish tribes are
the lower in civilization; generally inhabiting the more inaccessible
parts of their respective countries, and, in the eyes of even cautious
theorists, wearing the appearance of being aboriginal.
1. _Names._--For the lighter-complexioned, straighter-haired
type--_Malay_.
2. For the type that partakes of the character of the African Negro
inhabiting New Guinea, Australia, and what may be called the continuous
localities for the unmixed Black--_Negrito_.
3. The tribes with any or all of the Negrito characters, dwelling side
by side with Malays in Malay localities, or in localities disconnected
with the true Negrito area--_the Blacks of the Malayan area_.
I.
_AMPHINESIANS._
_Physical Conformation._--Modified Mongolian. Complexion,
different shades of brown or olive; rarely black. Hair black,
and straight; rarely woolly; oftener (but not often) wavy and
curling. Stature from about five feet three, to, perhaps, five
feet ten.
_Languages._--Generally admitted to contain a certain
proportion of Malay words.
_Area._--The Malayan Peninsula, the Indian Archipelago,
Polynesia, Madagascar. (?)
_Chief Divisions._--1. The Protonesians. 2. The Polynesians. 3.
The Malegasi.(?)
_PROTONESIAN BRANCH._
_Physical Conformation._--Colour---different shades of
brown and yellow. Face, flat; nose, short; eyes and hair,
black and straight; beard, scanty; stature, short. Frontal
profile, retiring; maxillary, prognathic; occipito-frontal,
brackykephalic; orbits, angular.
_Area._--Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Timor, Borneo,
Celebes, the Moluccas, the Philippines, &c.
_Distribution._--With the exception of the Malayan Peninsula,
insular. Islands, large as well as small.
_Religion._--Paganism, Hinduism, and Mahometanism.
_Social and Physical Development._--Maritime, commercial, and
piratical; imperfect agriculture; never nomadic; partially
industrial. Foreign Influences--Arabic and Hindu.
_MALACCA._
_Locality._--The extremity of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula.
_Population._--Mahometan Malays; Blacks of the Malay area;
tribes of intermediate character, both physically and morally.
_Dates (real or supposed)._--The foundation of Singhapura
(Sincapore) 1160 A.D. The foundation of Malacca, 1252 or 1260
A.D. The introduction of Mahometanism, 1276 A.D.
_Alphabet._--Arabic. Limited to the Mahometan Malays.
Respecting the Peninsula of Malacca, the most important point is the
fact of its being the only continental occupation of any Malay nation.
This so naturally suggests the notion of it also being the original
country of the numerous and widely-dispersed Malay tribes, that any
refinement upon the current doctrine seems, at the first view, out
of place. Nevertheless, there is so much room for the question as to
whether Sumatra was peopled from Malacca, or Malacca from Sumatra, the
island from the peninsula, or the peninsula from the island, that the
claims for Malacca to be considered as the birthplace of the Malays
will stand over until the details of Sumatra have been considered.
Whatever, however, may be the case with the antiquity of the people,
the language of the peninsula is the standard Malay. According to
Leyden, it is spoken in the greatest purity in the states of Kedah,
Perak, Salangore, Killung, Johore, Iringano, and Pahang. At Patani
it becomes conterminous with the Siamese. The alphabet is Arabic:
the literary influences are Arabic also; and the highest degree of
antiquity that can be assigned to any proper Malay work is the epoch
of the introduction of Mahometanism, _i.e._ the thirteenth century. In
stating this, I by no means imply that any extant is thus old: I only
imply that none is likely to be older.
The proper Malays themselves, however, are not only a new people in the
peninsula, but they consider themselves as such. All the inhabitants
older than themselves they call _Orang Benua_, or _men of the soil_.
I will first give the names of the particular tribes, and afterwards
introduce the more general terms expressive of the class; premising
that, as a general rule, the _Orang Benua_ population live apart from
the Malays, are found more in the interior than on the coast, are
darker complexioned, and are wilder in their manners.
_Halas._--Tattooed, inhabiting the interior of Perak.
_Jokong, Belandas, Besisik._--Somewhat shorter than the Malays,
although like them. Hair black, often with a rusty tinge; sometimes
lank, generally matted and curly, but not woolly. Eye brighter and
more active than that of the Malay, with the internal angle but little
depressed. Forehead low, not receding. Beard scanty. Legs sturdy. Chest
broad. Nostrils diverging.
The Benuas are divided into tribes, each under an elder, called
_Batin_, there being under each Batin two subordinates, a Jennang and a
Jurokra. The punishments are bloody, murder being punished by drowning,
impaling, and exposure to the sun; adultery also being punishable,
under certain circumstances, with death.
In the inheritance of property the custom of primogeniture prevails.
The sun, moon, and stars receive much of their regard; perhaps
worship. The two superior spirits of whom they have the most definite
conceptions, are named Dewas and Bilun.
A spirit has his abode in the loftiest mountains. The priests, whose
power is proportionate to the superstition of the natives, are called
Poyangs. The soul of a Poyang after death is believed to enter into
the body of a tiger. They are adepts in the magic arts of Besawye,
Chinderwye, and Tuju; this last enables them to kill their enemies by
the force of spells, however distant. The Besawye consists in burning
incense, muttering spells, and invoking, by night, the spirit of the
mountains.
Their food is the product of the hunt, not of agriculture.
_Udai._--The inhabitants of the forests of the _northern_ part of the
peninsula.
_Semang._--The same. Complexion dark; hair curly and matted, but not
frizzled. This is what Mr. Newbold relates; premising that he had no
opportunity of personally judging. Mr. Anderson and Sir S. Raffles
describe this darkness of complexion in stronger terms.
The Semang of Quedah has the woolly hair, protuberant belly, thick
lips, black skin, flat nose, and receding forehead of the Papuan.
The Semang of Perak is somewhat less rude, and speaks a different
dialect.
More than one Malay informed Mr. Newbold that the Semangs were
essentially the same as the Jokong; having the same hair, but a
somewhat blacker skin.
They live in rude moveable huts, constructed of leaves and branches,
scantily clothed, and fed from the produce of the chase, at which they
are expert. Their government is that of chiefs or elders. The Malays
accuse them of only interring the head, and of eating the rest of the
body, in cases of death.
They dip their weapons in blood when ratifying a solemn oath.
White is the favourite; perhaps, the holy colour.
They are fond of music, and have two native instruments--one like a
violin, one like a flute.
They use the sumpitan, having three modes of preparing the poison.
Their dead are _buried_, sometimes in a sitting posture; generally with
their arrows, sumpitan, and their most familiar utensils in the same
grave.
The remaining aborigines belong to the southern parts of the peninsula.
_Rayet Laut_, or _Orang Akkye_.--Differing from the tribes last
described, only in so far as they are residents of the sea-coast, not
of the interior.
SUMATRA.
The divisions political rather than ethnological--the most
important being the kingdom of Atchin, the Batta country, the
kingdom of Menangkabaw, Rejang, Lampong, and Palembang.
ATCHIN.
_Locality._--The Northern or North-Western parts of Sumatra;
conterminal with the Batta country.
_Religion._--Mahometan.
_Alphabet._--Arabic.
The Atchin stand apart from the other Sumatrans, from the extent
to which the Arabs have modified them. The Atchin kingdom, which
was powerful when first visited by the Portuguese, was of Arabic
foundation, and it was through Atchin that the Mahometanism of the
Mahometan Malays was propagated.
THE BATTAS.
_Locality._--South of the Atchin country, and nearly covering
the northern third of Sumatra. Conterminous with the Atchin and
Menangkabaw.
_Religion._--Mahometan.
_Alphabet._--Of Indian origin.
The Battas are somewhat shorter and fairer, than the other Sumatrans;
polygamists; writing, according to Leyden, from the bottom of the page
to the top; accredited cannibals.
MENANGKABAW.
_Locality._--The centre of Sumatra; the kingdom being at one
time extended over almost the whole island.
_Religion._--Mahometan.
_Alphabet._--Arabic.
_Language._--Malay of Malacca, or nearly so.
In its widest extent, the kingdom of Menangkabaw is a political rather
than an ethnographical division. To make it ethnographical, it must be
limited. In this sense it is conterminous with Atchin and the Battas on
the north, extended from east to west, across the whole island in (at
least) some portions of it, in others, probably interrupted in certain
mountain localities of the centre, and probably interrupted between the
river Jambi and Palembang.
Politically speaking, the minor kingdoms of Indrapura, Anak-sungei,
Siak, and Passamang, have grown out of the breaking up of the great
Menangkabaw kingdom. At present, its pure and almost typical Malayan
character--at least as far as resemblance in language to the Malay of
Malacca is concerned--is all that will be noticed.
REJANG.--LAMPONG.
_Locality._--South Sumatra; conterminal with the Menangkabaw
country and Palembang.
_Alphabets._--Of Indian origin.
Of all the Sumatrans, writes Marsden, the Lampongs have the strongest
resemblance to the Chinese, particularly in the roundness of the face,
and the form of the eye. They are the fairest people on the island,
and the women are the tallest and best looking; they are also the most
licentious. The Mahometanism of the Lampongs is imperfect; much of the
old superstition remaining.
_The native Sumatran alphabets._--The alphabets of the Batta, Rejang,
and Lampong tribes, are generally called _native_, although really of
Indian origin. It can scarcely be said that they embody a literature;
still their existence is an important fact. A Sumatran manuscript
is made of the inner bark of a tree, prepared and made smooth, and
cut into long strips of several feet in length. These are folded up
afterwards so as to be square, when each square answers to the page of
a book. For commoner purposes the outer rind of the bamboo is scratched
with a style; often in a remarkably neat manner. The lines run from
left to right, like the lines of the Hindus, and unlike those of the
Arabs.
The preparation of the bark is to shave it smooth and thin, and then
rub it over with rice-water.
The style is used for scratching bamboos. The pen is used for the more
important writings on bark; this is a delicate twig, or the middle of
some leaf. The ink is the root of the dammar pine, mixed with the juice
of the sugar cane.
PALEMBANG.
_Locality._--North of Lampong, on the eastern side of the
island.
_Religion._--Mahometan.
_Political relations._--Subject to Java; and in a great degree,
a Javanese settlement.
The central parts of Sumatra are little known; the mountain chain,
however, that runs from north to south in (about) 2° south latitude,
has been visited by two Englishmen, Mr. C. Campbell and Lieutenant
Dane. Their observations, which are to be found in Marsden's
Sumatra,[50] apply to three elevated valleys--the Korinchi country,
Serampei, and Sungei Tenang. I find in them no traces of any tribe
different from those already mentioned in any important circumstance.
Just south of Sungei Tenang, and east of the Rejang country is Labun,
a mountain district; whilst north of Palembang, and south of the River
Jambi, on the eastern coast, is a flat country covered with wood
and but thinly inhabited. Now, for those who look for the wildest
varieties of the Sumatran tribes, these are the most likely localities.
Accordingly, when Marsden made his inquiries as to the aborigines of
the island, he heard of the Orang Gugu, and the Orang[51] Kubu.
Of these the Orang Gugu, from the parts about Labun, are the wildest
and scarcest, being described as having their bodies covered with hair,
and as being more _orang utan_ than human beings.
The Orang Kubu are said to be pretty numerous, belonging to the other
district; _i.e._ the parts between the Jambi and Palembang. The worst
that is said of these is, that they have a peculiar and unintelligible
language, and that they feed indifferently on elephants, rhinoceroses,
snakes, and monkeys.
A few small islands on the further side of Sumatra require notice.
_Enganho Island._--Natives described by Mr. Miller, in 1771, A.D., as
taller and fairer than the Malays.
_Poggi Islanders, or people of Si Porah and Si Biru._--The manners of
these people are those of the Battas, except that they are more rude;
and that their custom of disposing of the dead is different. The Poggi
Islanders deposit the corpse on a sort of stage in a place appropriated
for the purpose, and strewing a few leaves over it, leave it to decay.
Tattooing is common.
_The Pulo Batu, or Nias Islanders._--These are lighter in complexion
and smaller in stature than the Malays. The custom of stretching the
ears so as even to flap upon the shoulders, is general here. Every
district, and there are upwards of fifty of them, is at war with its
neighbour, and the export of slaves is the consequence.
_Orang Maruwi._--The small islands of Pulo Nako, close upon the
western side of Nias, also Pulo Babi, and Pulo Baniak.--These are
merely noticed for the sake of saying that their dialect is said to
be unintelligible to the Nias and Poggi people, and that a minute
distinction between them has been recognized.
We may now consider some of the moral attributes of the Malay race;
and in doing this there is no better a division of the different forms
of their civilization than the one indicated and illustrated by Dr.
Prichard. The two areas which we have just considered--the peninsula of
Malacca, and the Island of Sumatra--have sufficiently shown that there
are, _at least_, two degrees in the civilization of their occupants.
The civilization of the kingdom of Atchin, and of the proper Mahometan
Malays in general, is a _derived_ civilization, introduced by the
conquerors, the traders, or the missionaries of Mahometan Arabia; in
which we have a literature consisting, to a great extent, of annals, an
Arabic alphabet, and no very prominent traces of any original paganism.
At any rate we have Mahometan culture as the result of Mahometan
influence, the propagators having been Arabs.
The civilization of the Jokong, and of tribes still wilder, like those
of Korinchi country, and other mountaineer districts both of the
Peninsula and Sumatra, is the primitive civilization--such as it is--of
the unmodified Malays. Without saying, that it is nowhere tinctured by
Mahometan elements, it is still an indigenous, and an inferior culture.
Hence, even without reckoning the Samangs as Malay, we have two types
of moral character, and two types of social development--the Jokong
type, or the type of the unmodified Malay, and the proper Malay type of
the Mahometans of Malacca, Menangkabaw and Atchin.
But these two types are not the only ones. Savage as are the Battas,
and nearly as they approach in this respect to the unmodified Malays,
they exhibit signs of a second influence. Notwithstanding their
imperfect Mahometanism, the influence alluded to is not Arabic. The
same influence appears in the Rejang and Lampong Sumatrans as well. I
allude to their alphabets. These are _Indian_ in origin.
For Sumatra, then, and Malacca, we have in different degrees of
development--
1st. The original Malay civilization, if so it can be called.
2nd. The same as modified by Indian influences.
3rd. The same as modified by Arabic influences, engrafted, in some
cases, perhaps, on the original Malay rudeness; but more frequently
upon an Indian modification of it.
This order is chronological; _i.e._ the primitive stage was (of course)
earlier than the Indian, and the Indian earlier than the Arabic.
Another principle of arrangement is the relation which the three
developments bear to each other. In Malacca and Sumatra the Indian
development is the most insignificant, the Mahometan the most important.
To observe how far the ratio between these types varies in different
portions of the Malay area, is one of the chief points in our future
investigations.
Dr. Prichard would study the three forms of Malay development in
Sumatra, in Java, and in the Philippines. In Sumatra for the Mahometan
aspect, in Java for the Indian, and in the Philippines for the
phenomena of indigenous growth and progress. In the main, this view is
a right one. A Philippine language, of all the Malay language, is the
richest in inflections, perhaps also in vocables; and the Philippine
civilization, as found by the first Spanish missionaries, was on a
level with that of any other non-Mahometan or non-Indianized tribe. It
was also essentially Malay. Marsden remarks upon the great similarity
between the few facts known of the early Philippine Mythology and that
of the Battas. So that thus far the Philippines are Malay; and Malay in
its most _developed_ form; also in its more _indigenous_ form. Still
they are not wholly Malay; at least their development is not wholly
independent of extraneous influences. Though there is little about them
Mahometan, their alphabet is _Indian_ in origin.
Borneo, perhaps, is the most unmodified Malay island of the Archipelago.
Hence, such remarks as require to be made upon the moral
characteristics of the Malays in general, as well as the necessary
notices of their manners and customs, must be taken from these two
islands, as they are supplied by them respectively.
_The primitive mythology of the Battas._--One of the few and
fragmentary accounts which we possess of any of the primitive creeds,
is the following one of the Batta theology:--
"The inhabitants of this country have many fabulous stories, which
shall be briefly mentioned. They acknowledge three deities as rulers
of the world, who are respectively named, _Batara-guru_, _Sori-pada,_
and _Mangalla-bulang_. The first," say they, "bears rule in heaven,
is the Father of all mankind, and partly, under the following
circumstances, Creator of the earth; which from the beginning of time
had been supported on the head of _Naga-padoha_; but growing weary at
length, he shook his head, which occasioned the earth to sink, and
nothing remained in the world excepting water. They do not pretend
to a knowledge of the creation of this original earth and water; but
say that at the period when the latter covered every thing, the chief
deity, _Batara-guru_, had a daughter named _Puti-orla-bulan_, who
requested permission to descend to these lower regions, and accordingly
came down on a white owl, accompanied by a dog; but not being able,
by reason of the waters, to continue there, her father let fall from
heaven a lofty mountain, named _Bakarra_, now situated in the _Batta_
country, as a dwelling for his child; and from this mountain all other
land gradually proceeded. The Earth was once more supported on the
three horns of _Naga-padoha_; and that he might never again suffer it
to fall off, _Batara-guru_ sent his son, named, _Layanglayangmandi_
(literally "the dipping swallow"), to bind him hand and foot. But
to his occasionally shaking his head they ascribe the effect of
earthquakes. _Puti-orla-bulan_ had afterwards, during her residence on
earth, three sons and three daughters, from whom sprang the whole human
race.
"The second of their deities has the rule of the air, betwixt earth and
heaven; and the third that of the earth; but these two are considered
as subordinate to the first. Besides these, they have as many inferior
deities as there are sensible objects on earth, or circumstances in
human society; of which some preside over the sea, others over rivers,
over woods, over war, and the like. They believe, likewise, in four
evil spirits, dwelling in four separate mountains; and whatever ill
befalls them they attribute to the agency of one of these demons. On
such occasions they apply to one of their cunning men, who has recourse
to his art; and by cutting a lemon ascertains which of these has been
the author of the mischief, and by what means the evil spirit may be
propitiated; which always proves to be the sacrificing a buffalo, hog,
goat, or whatever animal the wizard happens on that day to be most
inclined to eat. When the address is made to any of the superior and
beneficent deities for assistance, and the priest directs an offering
of a horse, cow, dog, hog, or fowl, care must be taken that the animal
to be sacrificed is entirely white.
"They have also a vague and confused idea of the immortality of the
human soul, and of a future state of happiness or misery. They say that
the soul of a dying person makes its escape through the nostrils, and
is borne away by the wind; to heaven, if of a person who has led a good
life; but if of an evil-doer, to a great cauldron, where it shall be
exposed to fire until such time as _Batara-guru_ shall judge it to have
suffered punishment proportioned to its sins; and feeling compassion
shall take it to himself in heaven: that finally the time shall come
when the chains and bands of _Naga-padoha_ shall be worn away, and he
shall once more allow the earth to sink; that the sun will be then
no more than a cubit's distance from it, and that the souls of those
who, having lived well, shall remain alive at the last day, shall in
like manner go to heaven, and those of the wicked be consigned to the
before-mentioned cauldron, intensely heated by the near approach of the
sun's rays, to be there tormented by a minister of _Batara-guru_, named
_Suraya-guru_, until, having expiated their offences, they shall be
thought worthy of reception into the heavenly regions."[52]
_Cannibalism._--Of all the tribes of the old world those of the Oceanic
stock have most generally, and, I fear, most justly, been accused
of cannibalism. For the sake, however, of giving the full benefit
of any modified form of this horrible habit to nations that have
been improperly charged with feeding on the flesh and blood of their
fellow-creatures, it must be remembered that the simple fact of human
flesh being tasted, does not constitute cannibalism--_i.e._, habitual
cannibalism. It has been tasted by savage tribes under three different
influences.
1. As a mark of honour--Sir Walter Raleigh writes of the Arawaks, that
this was showing posthumous respect.
2. Don Ruy de Guzman, writes of the Charruas, that they were not
cannibals; and what Don Ruy de Guzman states has not been definitely
contradicted. Nevertheless, it has not been denied that after their
discoverer and enemy, Solis, had been killed in war, his body was
tasted, if not eaten. This, however, was exceptional; and was done, not
for the gratification of appetite, but in the way of revenge. Charles
II. disinterred the judges of his father on the same principle; that
is, he did a thing against his own nature and against the usage of his
compatriots, under a violent stimulus.
3. Human flesh is eaten, as _food_, in some cases under incipient
famine only; in others, from absolute appetite, and with other food to
choose from. This last is true cannibalism.
Of cannibalism so gratuitous as to come under the last of these
categories, I know of no authentic cases: that is, I know of no case
where the victim has been other than a captured enemy; but then I
believe that the feast is one of the _certaminis gaudia_.
The evidence is, in my mind, in favour of the Battas of Sumatra being
cannibals in the most gratuitous form in which the custom exists.
_Head-hunting_.--No trophy is more honourable, either among the Battas
of Sumatra, or the Dyaks of Borneo, than a human head; the head of a
conquered enemy. These are preserved in the houses as tokens; so that
the number of skulls is a measure of the prowess of the possessor.
In tribes, where this feeling becomes morbid, no young man can marry
before he has presented his future bride with a human head, cut off by
himself. Hence, for a marriage to take place, an enemy must be either
found or made. To this subject I shall return when treating of Borneo.
_Running-a-muck._--A Malay (and with the exception of the old Berserks,
of the heroic ages of Scandinavia, I know of no one else with whom the
same is said to occur in an equal degree) is capable of so far working
himself into fury, of so far yielding to some spontaneous impulse,
or of so far exciting himself by stimulants, as to become totally
regardless of what danger he exposes himself to. Hence, he rushes
forth as an infuriated animal, and attacks all who fall in his way,
until having expended his morbid fury he falls down exhausted. This is
called _running-a-muck_. It is evidently, if real, a temporary form of
maniacal excitement; but probably, so much under the control of the
will, if strongly exerted, as to be capable of being either checked or
guarded against; a so-called _uncontrollable impulse_, to which, if men
yield in England, they are either hanged or locked up.
_Gambling._--This habit, or rather passion, is shared by the Malays,
the Indians, the Chinese, and the Indo-Chinese; quail-fighting and
cock-fighting being the forms in which it shows itself. A Malay will
lose all his property on a favourite bird; and, having lost that, stake
his family; and after the loss of wife and children, his own personal
liberty: being prepared to serve as a slave in case of losing.
_Slavery_.--Although recognised by the Mahometan religion, and part and
parcel of a social system like that of even the most advanced Malays,
this, in its _worst_ forms, is less general than we are prepared to
expect. Where there are savage tribes in the inland parts of large
districts, and where there are small islands in the neighbourhood of
large ones, where--in other words--the normal condition of society is a
state of war, slavery exists, with a slave-trade superadded. In settled
islands, however, like Celebes and Java, it is generally from debt, and
the consequent forfeiture of personal liberty, that the supply arises.
As such it is limited both in degree and severity.
_Maritime Habits_.--Nothing would be expected, _a priori_, more
than that tribes like the Oceanic should be essentially nautical in
their habits. Their insular position,--their wide dispersion equally
indicate this. And such is the reality. With the exception of the
Negrito portion, all the Oceanic islanders in contact with the ocean,
are maritime in their tastes: many, indeed, of the Negritos are so.
None, however, are more so than the natives of the Indian Archipelago;
and, of these, the proper Malays are the most. The _Phœnicians of
the East_ is a term that has been applied to them; and it has been
applied justly. The primitive vessel is a _prahu_; a long canoe, rowed
sometimes by fifty rowers. In the pirate localities this takes the form
of junk with sails, netting, and brass guns. Of the piracy, however, of
the Indian Archipelago, more will be said hereafter.
_Narcotic stimulants and masticatories._--Chewing the betel-nut is
almost universal in some of the Malay countries; the use of opiates and
tobacco being also common.
The nut of the _Areca catechu_, is wrapped in the leaf of the _piper
betel_, the first being astringent, the second pungent. The addition
of lime completes the preparation. This stimulates the salivary glands,
tinges the saliva red, and discolours the teeth.
_Bodily disfigurations under the idea of ornament._--Of the well-known
stories of the little pinched-up feet of Chinese women I said nothing;
waiting until I came to a ruder stage of society, before I noticed any
of those numerous imaginary improvements upon the human form, which are
almost invariably found amongst the lower tribes of our species. The
Malay dress is becoming; but the Malay habit of permanently disfiguring
parts of the body under the idea of ornament, is of sufficient
prominence to take place amongst the characteristics of the branch.
_a._ _Tattooing._--This is sometimes limited, sometimes general:
sometimes over the whole body, sometimes confined to the arms only. In
Africa the patterns vary with the tribe. In certain Malay districts,
an approach to this distinction may be found; for instance, we hear
in Borneo of some tribes that always tattoo, of others that partially
tattoo, of others that do not tattoo at all. Nay more; the habit
of tattooing seems in some cases to go along with certain other
habits--by no means naturally connected with it. Thus certain of the
Borneo non-tattooed tribes never use the _Sumpitan_, or blowpipe;
whilst others are tattooed, and use it. So at least Sir J. Brooke was
informed; although I think the careful peruser of his journal will find
that the coincidence is not always complete.
_b._ _Depilation._--Malay, but continental as well.--Depilation is
effected either by quick-lime or tweezers. Generally, I believe, the
parts of the body which are meant to be kept smooth are rubbed with
quick-lime; and the isolated hairs that afterwards appear, are plucked
out carefully by tweezers in detail.
_c._ _Filing the teeth, dyeing the teeth._--A Malay habit. There are
not less than three varieties of this operation.
1. Sometimes the enamel, and no more, is filed off. This enables the
tooth to receive and retain its appropriate dye.
2. Sometimes the teeth are merely pointed.
3. Sometimes they are filed down to the gums. This is the case with
many of the Sumatran women of Lampong.[53]
It may be doubted whether this last be wholly due to the process of
filing down.
Dyeing may follow filing, or not, as the case may be.
In Sumatra, where a jetty blackness is aimed at, the empyreumatic oil
of the cocoa-nut is used. Even, however, if no dyeing follow, the
teeth will become black from the simple filing, if the chewing of the
betel-nut be habitual.
_d._ _Distension of the ears._--Many of the tribes that file their
teeth, also distend their ears. Both are Malay habits. In some parts
of Sumatra, when the child is young, the ear is bored, and rings are
put in. Here the process stops in England, and the civilized world. In
other parts, however, the rings are weighted, so as to pull down the
lobe; or ornaments, gradually increased in diameter, are inserted; so
that the perforation becomes enlarged.
Simple perforation may extend to a mere multiplication of the holes of
the ear. In Borneo, the Sakarran tribes wear more earrings than one,
and are distinguished accordingly; "when you meet a man with many rings
distrust him" being one of their cautions. Mr. Brooke met a Sakarran
with twelve rings in his ear.
_e._ _Growth of the nails._--In Borneo, the right thumb-nail is
encouraged to grow to a great length. So it is in parts of the
Philippines.
Such are some of the more prominent Malay customs, others will present
themselves, as other islands come under notice.
_Was Sumatra or Malacca the original country of the Malays?_--The
_primâ facie_ is in favour of the island having been peopled from the
continent.
The traditions, perhaps, indeed, the _histories_ of the Mahometan
Malays complicate this view. According to the earliest accounts,
Malacca and Singhapura were built by settlers from Menangkabaw. The
two commonest accounts of the Mahometan Malaccan settlement, although
disagreeing in certain details, agree in this. In _one_ sense then, at
least, Sumatra is probably the parent state: it is probably the quarter
from which the more civilized Malays of the coast invaded Malacca; and,
if so, is also the earlier civilized locality. But this may be the
case, without invalidating the _primâ facie_ evidence in favour of the
continent being the birthplace of the stock. The Malays of the Jokong
type have never been derived from Sumatra; on the contrary, it is very
probable that the earliest Sumatrans were offsets from Malacca.
At any rate, the Malaccan origin of the earlier Sumatrans, and the
Sumatran origin of the later Malaccans, are perfectly compatible
doctrines.
As to the presumed date of the Malaccan settlements, it has already
been placed in the thirteenth century. Whether this be an historical
fact or not, it is certain that when Marco Polo, anterior to any
Portuguese voyager, visited Sumatra, and described it under the name
of _Java Minor_, the kingdom of Atchin, at least, was powerful,
flourishing, and Mahometan.
JAVA.
_Languages._--1. Sunda, spoken by one tenth of the population,
and limited to the western side of the island.
2. Javan proper, falling into
_a._ The Archaic dialect.
_b._ The Court dialect.
_c._ The popular dialect.
Culture of Indian origin; which, after attaining its full
development, was replaced by Mahometanism, is the leading fact
in the ethnography of Java.
Or--changing the expression--of the three forms of development
the proper Malay, the Indian, and the Arabic, it is the
_second_ which is paramount in Java.
The details of its displacement by Mahometanism are historical
rather than ethnological. Neither are they well ascertained
even as historical facts. The date, however, is some part of
the fifteenth century.
So exclusively have the Indian elements of the Javanese history and
archæology riveted the attention of scholars, that the Mahometan
influence on one side, and the remains of the primitive Malay
development, have been thrown in the back ground.
The Indian elements still extant, are referable to the three following
heads. 1. Language. 2. Literature. 3. Art.
1. _Language._--Notice has been taken of the existence in Java of a
_court_ dialect, the _Bhasa Krama_ or _Bhasa Bhilem_. This, perhaps,
is a phenomenon more redolent of Hindostan, than of the proper Malay
kingdoms. The _Bhasa krama_, however, is by no means the preeminently
Indianized portion of the Javanese language. The _Archaic_ Javanese
is the famous _Kawi_ language. The Kawi language was described by Sir
Stamford Raffles as Sanskrit, that had taken a Javanese form in respect
to its grammar; and it is from the notices of Raffles and Crawford
that the details of the Kawi language were first made known. This
view has been reversed by Wilhelm von Humboldt. His great work on the
Kawi language supplies reasons for considering the Kawi, as ancient
Javanese, loaded with Sanskrit vocables.
2. _Literature._--The Kawi language, an Indianized archaic, or poetical
dialect, is the vehicle for that portion of the older Javanese
literature which is most based upon Sanskrit models. The great poem
in Kawi is the _Bhrata Yuddha_, an imitation of the Mahabharata. The
Javanese annals, whether in Kawi, or Javan, in all probability deserve
the low opinion that Mr. Crawford entertains of them; as there is no
department in literature where a Sanskrit model would be more out of
place, than for historical composition.
3. _Remains of ancient art._--Palaces, tombs, images of Hindu gods, are
all numerous in Java, and all evidence of a previous Hinduism. Some of
the inscriptions are not only Kawi, but Sanskrit.
To these may be added, the still living witnesses to the original Hindu
worship. The Bédui of Bantam, and the people of the Teng'ger mountains
still retain it, although in a corrupted form. Of the latter, the
following is a description taken from Sir S. Raffles' _History of Java_.
"To the eastward of _Surabáya_, and on the range of hills connected
with _Gúnung Dasar_, and lying partly in the district of _Pasúruan_,
and partly in that of _Probolingo_, known by the name of the _Teng'ger_
mountain, we find the remnant of a people still following the Hindu
worship, who merit attention, not only on account of their being (if
we except the _Bédui_ of _Bantam_) the sole depositaries of the rites
and doctrines of that religion existing at this day on Java, but as
exhibiting an interesting singularity and simplicity of character.