probably left there by a follower of the British camp, for it was the time of the Kandyan war, and strangers from Tranquebar had come over to Ceylon with the army. He read the book with eager delight; it opened up to him a new region of thought and inquiry, and ultimately was blessed to his conversion. Deeply affected by a sense of the spiritual degradation of his countrymen, and impelled by love to his Saviour, he sought to make known the truth to others, and became a minister of the Gospel; and he afterwards underwent much persecution as a setter-forth of strange gods, because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

The general aspect of the present state of affairs in the Tamul country, brought about by the extensive distribution of the Scriptures, may be gathered from the following passage in a recent letter of the Rev. J. H. Gray, one of the secretaries of the Madras Bible Society:-"I think I can say, that the word of the Lord is running,' and our Lord Jesus Christ is being glorified in Southern India. If it be a proof of this, that we find the strong man armed' no longer enjoying a peaceful possession of his goods, or that we see bitterness and persecution rife among the heathen towards Christians, we are beginning to have these things abound at our doors; and the so called gentle and passive Hindoo is now seen in the streets of Madras, armed with a hatchet to cut down the gate of a missionary's house, and rescue his relative, who had fled thither as to a city of refuge from heathen superstition and uncleanness; or he is seen casting his son's or his brother's Bible into the fire, lest it should convert him; and thousands upon thousands can meet together, to cry for their gods, as lustily as ever they did at Ephesus in behalf of Diana."

TELINGA, OR TELOOGOO.

FOR SPECIMEN OF THE TELINGA, OR TELOOGOO VERSION, SEE PLATE 3, PAGE 91.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS.

THE Telinga language is spoken within 23 miles of Madras, and prevails for about 500 miles along the coast, from the vicinity of Pulicat to the borders of Orissa. In the interior it extends as far west as Beedr, through nearly the whole of Hydrabad, a part of Berar, and the eastern provinces of Mysore. The portion of the Telinga country subject to the Madras presidency includes the five Circars-Vizagapatam, Rajahmundry, Masulipatam, Guntoor, and the Cuddapah and Nellore districts of the Carnatic. The superficial extent of the entire region in which this language is predominant has been estimated at 118,610 square miles. The natives are Hindoos, and number about 10,000,000. The Telinga language is also diffused to a greater or less extent through various countries of Southern India, in which the Tamul and Canarese are the proper vernacular languages. This 'diffusion in part arises from the early conquests, dating from the fourteenth century, achieved by the people of Telinga in the south. Like the Romans, they endeavoured to secure their conquests, and to keep the natives in subjection by the establishment of military colonies; and the Telinga language is still spoken by the descendants of the Telinga families, who were deputed by the kings of Vidianagara to found these colonies. The roaming tendencies of the Telinga people also serve to account in part for the diffusion of the language. On this subject the missionaries have remarked that "in intelligence, migratory habits, secular prosperity, and unfrequency of return to their native land, this people are, in relation to other parts of India, what the Scotch are in relation to England and the world."

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

Telinga is the softest and the most polished of the languages of Southern India, and contains the

greatest proportion of Sanscrit words. In point of fulness, it may be styled the "Spanish" of the Indian peninsula. Yet the Sanscrit terms with which it unquestionably abounds form no part whatever of the basis of the language, but appear to have been engrafted on the elements of the original Telinga at some period far too remote for inquiry. The grammatical construction of Telinga is alone sufficient to prove that it has no claims to be regarded as a mere Sanscrit dialect. In the declension of its nouns effected by means of subjoined particles, in the mode of conjugating the affirmative, and in the possession of a negative verb, in the use of a plural pronoun applicable to the first and second persons conjointly, and in the peculiarities of its syntax, it offers obvious points of deviation from the forms of Sanscrit grammar, while at the same time it exhibits decided affinity in these respects with its cognate languages of the Deccan. The Telinga language possesses no word exactly corresponding with our article; the indefinite article is sometimes expressed by means of the numeral one, but in general the article is considered as inherent in the noun. Like the Tamul and Canarese, the Telinga possesses that singular part of speech called the relative participle, which displays the combined force of the definite article, the relative pronoun, and the verb. It also resembles these languages in the possession of two dialects, the common or popular medium, used for all purposes of business and conversation, and the high or refined dialect, in which the literature of the nation, consisting chiefly of poetry, is written. The dissimilarity between these dialects is so great, that commentaries are requisite in the perusal of native works, even in the case of individuals who have acquired the most complete familiarity with the colloquial dialect.

The Telinga possesses great facility in the naturalization of foreign terms; yet, with the exception of a few words obtained from the neighbouring provinces of Orissa, Mahratta, and Gujerat, it does not appear to borrow many words from foreign sources. Several technical revenue and official terms derived from the Hindustani were at one time in common use, but they now begin to be superseded by the corresponding English words. The Telinga, like other Indian alphabets, is distinguished by the perplexing multiplicity of its symbols, of which there are no less than eighty-one: some of these, however, are merely abbreviated forms of the regular initial letters; others are only used as marks for certain consonants when doubled; and some are peculiar to words of Sanscrit origin. "Hence," says

Mr. Campbell, "all native grammarians concur in reducing the characters to thirty-seven, by excluding forty-four, which they acknowledge belong to the language, but which they will not admit into the alphabet." In point of form these letters are round and flowing, and form a striking contrast to the square characters of the Devanagari, although arranged upon the same principle of classification.

III.-VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.

Schultze, the laborious Danish missionary, was the first who engaged in a Telinga version of the Scriptures. He commenced his translation in 1726, immediately after his completion of the Tamul version above mentioned. He translated immediately from the Greek and Hebrew texts, and finished the Telinga version of the New Testament in 1727, and of the Old Testament in 1732. From some cause or other hitherto unexplained, this work was never printed, although Schultze seems to have taken some steps towards obtaining the assistance of a learned Brahmin, and a fount of types for the purpose. He died in 1760 at Halle, and it has been thought that his Telinga MSS. may still be preserved in that city. The Serampore missionaries commenced another version of the Scriptures in this language in 1805, and in 1809 they had translated the whole of the New and part of the Old Testament. Soon afterwards they succeeded in casting a fount of Telinga types, but owing to various causes of delay, the New Testament was not printed till 1818, when an edition of 1000 copies was issued, aided by a grant from the British and Foreign Bible Society; and in 1820, the same number of copies of the Pentateuch were published.

But while this Serampore version was in progress, another Telinga version of the New Testament was commenced and carried on to the close of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by the Rev. Augustus Desgranges, of the London Missionary Society. He had been stationed at Vizagapatam since

1805, and therefore enjoyed great local facilities for the prosecution of his undertaking: he found, indeed, but few difficulties in the Telinga language to impede his efforts, and he remarked that “this language richly furnishes the translator with words, phrases, and sentences for his purpose;" and that in addition to its acknowledged softness, elegance and refinement, it is "regular in construction, replete with sentences clear and strong, and abounding with the most beautiful figures of speech." Mr. Desgranges was assisted by the Rev. George Cran, who was also stationed at Vizagapatam, and by Anunderayer, a Telinga Brahmin of high caste, who had sincerely embraced the Christian religion. What our Lord Jesus requires from his followers, Anunderayer had really done, for he had left his wife, mother, brother, sister, his estate and property, and had suffered reproach and persecution patiently for the sake of the Gospel. Having acquired an intimate knowledge of the Tamul language, he translated the Scriptures direct from the Tamul version into his own language, and his work was submitted, verse by verse, to Mr. Desgranges, who made such alterations as his critical knowledge of the original text suggested. Mr. Cran died in 1808, and Mr. Desgranges two years subsequently; and it was found on examination that the first three Gospels were the only portions of the translation that were in a state of readiness for the press. Of these three Gospels, 1000 copies were printed at Serampore in 1812, under the care of Anunderayer. No alterations whatever were admitted, for it was considered that to give the Gospels as the able translator had left them would be a tribute of respect to his memory.

In the meantime another version of the Telinga New Testament had been commenced. The Rev. Messrs. Pritchett and Lee, agents of the London Missionary Society, arrived at Vizagapatam a short time prior to the decease of the lamented Mr. Desgranges. Mr. Lee undertook soon afterwards a translation of the Book of Genesis, but the preparation of the version afterwards devolved almost. exclusively on Mr. Pritchett, who addressed himself in the first place to the translation of the New Testament. In the first three Gospels he is said to have availed himself of the labours of Mr. Desgranges, introducing such alterations as his own judgment suggested. When the version of the New Testament was completed, he sent it to Madras for examination, and it was so highly approved by the distinguished Telinga scholars to whom it was submitted, that the Madras Bible Society readily closed with Mr. Pritchett's proposal to print it for the benefit of the Telinga nation. An edition of 2000 copies was therefore issued in 1819, the expenses of which were defrayed by the Calcutta Bible Society. Mr. Pritchett was proceeding with the translation of the Old Testament, when, in 1820, he was stopped in the midst of his work by death.

In 1823 another version of the Scriptures was offered to the Calcutta Bible Society by the Rev. J. Gordon, also of the London Missionary Society, who had during many years been stationed at Vizagapatam. Great difficulty was experienced in deciding upon the relative merits of Mr. Pritchett's and Mr. Gordon's translations, and all printing operations were suspended until it could be ascertained which was best calculated for general usefulness. At length their respective translations of Genesis and of the history of Joseph were circulated for comparison, and when the opinions of competent judges had been collected, it was found that the result of the investigation was in favour of Mr. Gordon's production, which was unanimously declared to be “clear, intelligible, and the more literal translation of the two." At the same time Mr. Pritchett's was pronounced a good translation, and more grammatical than Mr. Gordon's, but deficient in idiom. The Committee of the Madras Society, therefore, resolved upon adopting Mr. Gordon's version, but they requested him before he sent it to the press, to compare carefully with Mr. Pritchett's translation, and "to select therefrom whatever he might think a desirable acquisition to his own." Mr. Gordon's important labours were closed by death in 1827. After his decease it was found that Mr. Pritchett's version was, after all, more correct than had been expected; certain corrections were accordingly introduced, and an edition of 3000 copies of the New Testament was printed in 1828, accompanied by 2000 copies of Mr. Gordon's version of St. Luke. Vigorous efforts were subsequently made to revise the versions prepared by Messrs. Pritchett and Gordon, and further portions were printed, which, notwithstanding their admitted defects, obtained such extensive

it

W Hughes.sc.

Engraved for "THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND: Samuel Bagster & Sons, Paternoster Row, London.