states under two distinct authorities, given rise to two prevailing dialects, now assuming the appellation of two distinct languages. Of these, the language of Goa or Macassar is peculiarly soft and is considered to be the more easy of acquisition, but not so copious as that of the Bugis. Whether the Bugis language contains any portion of a more ancient language than either (of which traces are said to exist in some old manuscripts of the country,) or, from commercial intercourse with other states, has adopted more foreign terms, is yet to be determined. The written character is nearly the same; the Macassars, however, using more consonant sounds than the Bugis. The same practice of softening the abrupt or harsh sound of a word ending in a consonant, by attaching a final a or o, so general in almost every tongue of the archipelago, is common to, and, I believe, invariably observed in both these languages. The possible existence of a language distinct from and anterior to those now in use, is a subject well deserving enquiry.
The Bugis trace back their history to Sawira Geding, whom they represent to have proceeded in immediate descent from their heavenly mediator, Bitara Guru, and to have been the first chief of any celebrity in Celebes. He reigned, as I before observed, over Luhu, the most ancient kingdom of Celebes: and a lapse of time, equal to seven descents, is said to have taken place before the establishment of Boni. Both this chieftain, and the founder of the empire of Goa, are represented to have been great navigators and foreigners; or, according to the romance of native tradition, deities sent from heaven to govern and take care of them. The inhabitants of Macassar have no idea by what means, or at what period, the present form of government, of the nine Glarang, and the Bichara Buta of Goa, was established.
Literary compositions, in both the Macassar and Bugis languages, are numerous. They consist principally in historical accounts of the different states, since the introduction of Mahomedanism, which is represented to have taken place so late as the early part of the sixteenth century; and in galigas or collections of traditions, regarding more early times, of romances and poetical compositions, in which love, war, and the chace, are the favorite themes. They include a paraphrase of the Koran, and several works, evidently translated from the Javanese and Arabic, and many in common with the Malayu; also works on judicial astrology, and collections of institutions and customs which have all the force of law; and each principal state adopts the practice of duly recording every public event of importance, as it occurs.
Java. I shall not longer detain you with notices of our neighbours, while so wide and interesting a field attracts attention at home. In Java, and in that range of islands which modern geographers have
