Sequel in two or three years, giving the characters so far as they can be found. Meantime, while I greatly regret that the Chinese character does not appear in the book, I am in one. sense glad that it is absent. For it may serve to make manifest the fact that the Vernacular of Amoy is an independent language, which is able to stand alone without the help of the written character. And I should hope that many persons may thus be encouraged to study this language who would have been repelled by the sight of the complicated and fantastic. characters. Of course every missionary, and every one who would be counted a scholar, must study the written character too, for the Vernacular or Colloquial cannot for a very long time to come possess any literature worthy of the name.
Another defect, which I greatly regret, is the very scanty identification of plants, animals, medicines, &c. Want of time is here also the excuse, which I trust my readers will count sufficient. Many such names have been put in with a query, being taken from such works as The Fuh-chau Recorder, Notes and Queries on China and Japan, The Phoenix, Dr. Porter Smith's Book on Medicines, the various dictionaries of the written language, &c., while I had not the means of verifying them.
To some it seems also a great want that there is no English-Chinese part. But that must really be a separate work. The whole style and character of Chinese thought and expression is so different from the nearest English equivalents, that the work of reversing a dictionary, which at first sight seems very easy, would really be enormous, falling not very far short of the original composition.
With all its imperfections I trust that this book shall prove helpful to those who study the language of Amoy. My chief object has been to assist those who are engaged in the work of Christian missions; but for this purpose I have endeavoured to give a full view of the language so far as I have been able to learn it; and the book is fitted to be equally useful to merchants, travellers, mariners, interpreters, and students. It is most desirable that foreigners residing among the Chinese should learn their language, so as to hold direct intercourse with them, instead of using the miserable jargon called Canton-English or "pigeon English," or being left at the mercy of interpreters. Few things would so much tend to remove causes of dispute or bad feeling, and to make the intercourse between these nations both pleasant and beneficial.
The explanations in the Introduction and Appendix have been much condensed from want of time at the last; I have therefore not been able to give the several subjects a scientific treatment, but have contented myself with such practical directions as will facilitate the use of the book and the acquisition of the language.
In conclusion I would express my thanks to HUGH M. MATHESON, Esq., Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church in England; to ROBERT BARBOUR, Esq., of Bolesworth; and to C. E. LEWIS, Esq., M.P., for the kind liberality which has enabled me to publish the work.
Ayr, 4th April, 1873.
Note.—The corrections and additions prepared by the author in the view of a second edition have been incorporated in this issue. They extend to more than two hundred items. The proofs of these alterations have been read by the Rev. WILLIAM MACGREGOR, M.A., of Amoy.
London, May, 1899.
