a finger of the same hand.  The other two holes are stopped with the right-hand fingers.  In blowing they hold it inclined to the right side.  They have various instruments of the drum kind, particularly those called tingkah, which are in pairs and beaten with the hands at each end.  They are made of a certain kind of wood hollowed out, covered with dried goat-skins, and laced with split rattans.  It is difficult to obtain a proper knowledge of their division of the scale, as they know nothing of it in theory.  The interval we call an octave seems to be divided with them into six tones, without any intermediate semitones, which must confine their music to one key.  It consists in general of but few notes, and the third is the interval that most frequently occurs.  Those who perform on the violin use the same notes as in our division, and they tune the instrument by fifths to a great nicety.  They are fond of playing the octave, but scarcely use any other chord.  The Sumatran tunes very much resemble, to my ear, those of the native Irish, and have usually, like them, a flat third:  the same has been observed of the music of Bengal, and probably it will be found that the minor key obtains a preference amongst all people at a certain stage of civilization.

CHAPTER 10.

LANGUAGES.  MALAYAN.  ARABIC CHARACTER USED. LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.  PECULIAR CHARACTERS.  SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.

LANGUAGES.

Before I proceed to an account of the laws, customs, and manners of the people of the island it is necessary that I should say something of the different languages spoken on it, the diversity of which has been the subject of much contemplation and conjecture.

MALAYAN.

The Malayan language, which has commonly been supposed original in the peninsula of Malayo, and from thence to have extended itself throughout the eastern islands, so as to become the lingua franca of that part of the globe, is spoken everywhere along the coasts of Sumatra, prevails without the mixture of any other in the inland country of Menangkabau and its immediate dependencies, and is understood in almost every part of the island.  It has been much celebrated, and justly, for the smoothness and sweetness of its sound, which have gained it the appellation of the Italian of the East.  This is owing to the prevalence of vowels and liquids in the words (with many nasals which may be thought an objection) and the infrequency of any harsh combination of mute consonants.  These qualities render it well adapted to poetry, which the Malays are passionately addicted to.

SONGS.

They amuse all their leisure hours, including the greater portion of their lives, with the repetition of songs which are, for the most part, proverbs illustrated, or figures of speech applied to the occurrences of life.  Some that they rehearse, in a kind of recitative, at their bimbangs or feasts, are historical love tales like our old English ballads, and are often extemporaneous productions.  An example of the former species is as follows: