CAMBOJAN.

THE Cambojan language is spoken in Cambodia, once an independent and powerful state, but now divided between Siam and the empire of Anam. The language differs materially from the Siamese, being more harsh, but at the same time more copious. Gutzlaff commenced a version of the New Testament in Cambojan, but it would appear that he afterwards discontinued it. Throughout the other provinces of the empire of Anam, a monosyllabic language denominated the Anamite or Anamitic is spoken, in which, however, no translation of the Scriptures exists, but only a Grammar and Dictionary, by the Bishop Taberd, printed at Serampore in 1838.

KAREN, KARAYN OR KARIENG.

FOR SPECIMEN OF THE KAREN VERSIONS, SEE PLATE 10, PAGE 115.

1.-EXTENT AND STATISTICS.

THE Kareens, Karenes, or Careians, are a wild and simple people, scattered over all parts of the Burman territories, and of the British provinces of Tenasserim: they are also found in the Western portions of Siam, and northward among the Shyans. Their residences are in the jungles and among the mountains, and are most numerous on the mountains which separate Burmah from Siam. The number of these people, owing to their nomadic habits and wide dispersion, is difficult to be ascertained, but it has been estimated at about 33,000.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

The Karen language possesses several original elements, and in many respects varies in genius and structure from the Burmese, Siamese, and Peguese languages, though it freely borrows words from each. Its alphabet consists of twenty-four consonants, and eleven vowels. It has five tones, some of which appear different from those of any other monosyllabic tongue. The Karen language is remarkably harmonious, and well adapted for poetry: a final consonant never occurs, but every word terminates with a vowel sound. Till a comparatively recent period, however, Karen was totally unknown to Europeans. About 1835, two missionaries of the American Baptist Missionary Society, Messrs. Wade and Mason, acquired the language, and for the first time reduced it to writing. For this purpose they employed the Burmese alphabet, with a few additional characters to express the peculiar sounds of the language. The system of teaching reading, adopted by Mr. Wade, is so admirably conceived, that a person ignorant of a single letter can be taught to read a Karen book with ease in a few weeks. Mr. Mason affirms that the alphabetical powers of the Karen alphabet are of Arabic or Hebrew origin. This fact, together with the personal appearance and physical peculiarities of this singular people, and a series of very remarkable traditions current from time immemorial among them, has led him to form the idea of their being descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.

III.-VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.

The missionaries were induced to undertake a version of the New Testament in Karen by the earnest and repeated entreaties of the people themselves for books. As early as 1828, Mr. Boardman, of the American Baptist Society, was visited frequently at Tavoy, one of the missionary stations, by great numbers of the Karens, and had ample opportunities of preaching the Gospel to them. Among

the most interesting of his visitors was a native chief, who appeared particularly anxious for instruction in the way of righteousness. "Give us books," he said, " give us books in our own native language! then all the Karens will learn to read. We want to know the true God. We have been lying in total darkness—the Karen's mind is like his native jungle." The translation of the entire New Testament into Karen was accordingly accomplished by Messrs. Wade and Mason; yet during several years, for want of adequate pecuniary means, no attempt was made at printing, but each book as soon as completed was copied and circulated in MS. In 1842, the American and Foreign Bible Society granted £625 towards the printing of the New Testament, and an edition soon after issued from the press at Tavoy, under the superintendance of Mr. Bennett. Mr. Mason has since translated the Psalms into Karen, including both the Sgau and Sho dialects of that language. Of the New Testament in Sgau Karen the American Mission Press at Maulmein issued 4000 (2nd edition 8vo.) in 1850.

IV.-RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.

This version of Scripture appears to have been attended in a remarkable degree with the Divine blessing from the very first period of its execution. The Karens were in a manner prepared to welcome Christianity, not only by their religious tenets, which formed a noble contrast to Buddhism, but by a singular prediction of their ancient seers, which caused them to look for relief from Burman oppression to "the white foreigners." In 1839, when the Karens had no books, few living teachers, and only a MS. copy of St. Matthew, they were gathered together in considerable numbers from all parts by the sound of the Gospel; and settling down in a district about two days' journey from Tavoy, they formed a Christian village, the heads of every family being members of the church. Civilization followed Christianity. Cleanliness (by no means a native Karen virtue) was substituted for their former depraved habits, and various industrial arts were learnt and steadily pursued. The power of the Scriptures upon these simple and unlettered people is shown by various anecdotes related by the missionaries. "Once Mrs. Wade had occasion to read the chapter in St. Matthew about visiting Christ (as represented in his disciples) when sick or in prison. They immediately perceived how regardless they had been of persons in sickness and sorrow, and began thenceforward to perform services for the sick, which they had never thought of before. A poor widow suffering under a leprous disease, who had a young child similarly afflicted, was visited by many the next day. They performed various repulsive offices for her and the child, brought water, cleaned the house, gave them rice and other articles; and so enriched and comforted the poor creature that she was bewildered with delight. These attentions they continued constantly. Another person, bedridden with loathsome sores, was attended to in the same way. Since that time no one has been suffered to want any thing which the rest enjoy; and their acts of kindness are done with studied concealment."

MUNIPOOR A.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT.

MUNIPOORA is the language of Munipoor, a small independent kingdom, which lies south of Assam. Great confusion has arisen from the various names given to this country; the Burmans call it Kathé, and the Shyans Cassay, and geographers have distinguished it sometimes by one and sometimes by another name. It is 125 miles in length by 90 in breadth, lying between the parallels of 23° and 26°, and between the meridians of 93° and 95° East. The central part of the country consists of a rich and fertile valley, including an area of 650 square miles; the remainder of the territory is occupied by an encircling

zone of mountains and hills, inhabited by various tribes subject to Munipoor. The amount of population is probably about 70,000: Pemberton, however, estimates it at only 20,000. Brahminism was imposed on the people little more than half a century ago, by command of the rajah; but it is by no means firmly rooted.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

It appears from their language and physical peculiarities, that the Muniporeans are the descendants some Mongol or Chinese colony. Like most monosyllabic languages, Munipoora is inartificial in structure, and uninflected. It has a close affinity with Khassee.

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III.-VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

A version of the New Testament was undertaken by Dr. Carey in 1814: he procured some learned natives from Munipoor, and superintended their labours. This translation was completed, and an edition of 1000 copies printed in the Bengalee character in 1824, at Serampore: it was aided indirectly by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.

Little is known concerning the effect produced on the Muniporeans by the perusal of the Scriptures, for they have as yet no missionary among them.

KHASSE E.

FOR SPECIMEN OF THIS VERSION IN THE BENGALEE CHARACTER, SEE PLATE 1, PAGE 7.

SPECIMEN IN ROMAN LETTERS, FROM ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. v. v. 1 to 12. HABA u ioh íh ia ki paitbah, u la kíu sha u lúm ; haba u la shong ruh, ki la wan ha u ki synrán jong u: 2u la ang ruh ia la ka shintur, u la híkai ruh ia ki, u da ong,

3 Suk ki ba duk ha ka mynsiim; na ba jong ki long ka híma ka byneng. 4 Suk ki ba sngousi; na ba yn pyntyngen ia ki. Suk ki ba jemnút; na ba kin ioh ia ka kyndeu. ❝Suk ki ba tyngan bad ba sliang ia ka hok; naba yn pyndap ia ki. 7 Suk ki ba isnei; na ba yn isnei ia ki. 8 Suk ki bakúid ha ca donút; na ba kin ioh íh ia U Blei. 9 Suk ki ba pyniasuk; na ba yn khot ia ki, ki kún U Blei. 10 Suk ki ba ioh pynshitom na ka hynta ka hok; na ba jong ki long ki híma ka byneng. 11Suk maphi, ha ba ki leh bein ía phi, ki pynshitom ruh, ki ong ki ktín bymman baroh ruh ia phi na ka bynta jong nga, ha ba ki shu lamlhér: 12 Phin kymen, phin sngoubha eh ruh; naba kumta ki la pynshitom ia ki Prophet ki ba la mynshiwa jong phi.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT.

KHASSEE is the language of the Cossyahs, Cassias, or Khasias, a race of Tartar or Chinese origin, ruled by a number of petty rajahs, who form a sort of confederacy. To some degree they still preserve their

independence, but are under the supervision of a British agent for Cossyah affairs. The tract of country known as the Cossyah Hills adjoins the eastern extremity of the Bengal Presidency, lying between Assam and Sylhet on the north and south, and Jynteah and the Garrow country on the east and west, extending from latitude 25° to 26° 7', and from longitude 90° 52′ to 92° 11'. Its area, according to Thornton, is estimated at 729 square miles, and the amount of its population is about 11,000. The people, though uncivilized, are manly, upright, and sincere; and regard with detestation the falsehood and deceitfulness of the neighbouring Hindoos. They are, however, remarkably indolent and filthy, avaricious, ignorant, and extremely superstitious. Their religion has been represented to be a species of Brahminism; but they seem to have only a vague notion of some Spirit or Spirits to which they offer sacrifice, and their altars may well bear the inscription, "To the unknown God.” They have neither idols nor temples; but many peculiarly-shaped stones and rocks, as well as streams and groves, are accounted holy, and sacrifices are made to them. The country is the extreme limit of the predominance of the Brahminical sect to the eastward, for beyond these hills Buddhism is almost universal.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

This language is uninflected and simple in grammatical construction; and although strictly monosyllabic, it possesses none of those varied tones which appertain to other languages of this class. Some words of Sanscrit origin are to be found in Khassee, but it is difficult to recognise them on account of the monosyllables prefixed or added. There is no alphabet; the few among the Cossyahs who can read or write use the Bengalee character. But their use of this alphabet is merely owing to their frequent intercourse with Sylhet; for their language bears internal marks of having been at some distant period allied with the Chinese. This is shown by the personal pronoun, and by the frequent recurrence of the sounds ming, eng, ung, etc. as in Chinese.

III.-VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

A lady was honoured by God to be the main instrument in preparing the first version of Holy Scripture in this language. She was the widow of one of the rajahs or chieftains of the country; and Dr. Carey, pleased with her intelligence, availed himself of her aid in translating the New Testament. Dr. Carey had also recourse to the advice of his Assamese pundit, who, from the vicinity of the Cossyah hills to his own country, had had opportunities of acquiring a tolerable acquaintance with the language. The preparation of this version occupied ten years; it was printed in Bengalee characters, and an edition of 500 copies left the Serampore press in 1824. For about seven years it remained a sealed book, for no opportunity occurred of distributing it among the people for whom it had been prepared. In 1832 some of the missionaries at Serampore, being in ill health, visited Cherrapoonjee, a place in the Khassee country noted for its salubrity. Here their attention was drawn afresh to the spiritual destitution of the wild inhabitants of the hills, and great exertions were made for the establishment of a mission among them. Mr. Lish, the first missionary who entered upon the work, turned his attention to the revision of the Khassee version, and in 1834 he produced a new or amended translation of St. Matthew, which was printed at Serampore in Roman characters. In 1840 a Missionary Association was formed by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; and finding this station unoccupied by any other society, they sent the Rev. Thomas Jones as their missionary to these hills. He reached Cherrapoonjec in 1841, and after applying with diligence to the study of the language, he executed a new translation of St. Matthew's Gospel in Roman characters, which in 1845 he offered to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Committee ordered a small edition to be printed as an experiment, and its value and fidelity have been fully attested by competent persons, through the medium of the Auxiliary Society at Calcutta. Since then the translation of the entire New Testament has been completed by the missionaries engaged on the above station.

The system of substituting Roman letters for the native characters of Indian alphabets in printed

editions of the Scriptures and of other books, has of late years been extensively adopted in India; and the advantages of this system, especially with reference to the Khassee (which in the former edition of the New Testament had been printed in Bengalee characters, see Specimen, Plate I), cannot be better stated than in the words of an eminent Missionary, Dr. Duff, of Calcutta. In a letter addressed to Mr. Jones, the Missionary of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Society at Cherra, when the first books used in connection with the mission were about to be published, the doctor thus writes

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Thoroughly and absolutely do I approve of your determination to print your translated works in the Roman characters. It is a strange delusion of Satan that men should strive to uphold varieties of alphabetic characters anywhere, provided they could without violence be superseded by one, at once uniform and effective, seeing that such variety is a prodigious bar and impediment to the diffusion of sound knowledge, and especially Divine truth. But, in a case like yours, where the natives had really no written characters of their own at all, to dream of introducing a clumsy, awkward, expensive, and imperfect character like that of the Bengali, in preference to the clear, precise, and cheaper Romanised alphabet, would seem to me to be voluntarily raising up new ramparts to guard against the invasion of Truth. No, our object ought ever to be to facilitate, and not to obstruct, the dissemination of true knowledge of every kind; and one of the ways of doing so is everywhere to encourage the introduction and the use of the Roman alphabet in place of the native alphabets, which are linked, and associated, and saturated with all that is idolatrous."

The Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles have been already carried through the press by the Calcutta Bible Society, and other portions are in progress.

IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.

Some very interesting accounts have been received of the recent progress of Divine truth among these people. Mr. Lish, their first missionary, was welcomed joyfully; they laughed heartily when they heard him speak in their own language; but when he began to open to them the truths of Scripture, they were so forcibly impressed as to exclaim that "he was a God, and they but cows and goats." When the mission was re-established by Mr. Jones, a chief from a village which he had not yet visited thus addressed him:-" If you have any thing from God to say to us, come quickly; otherwise we may be dead, and what you have to say will be of no use to us. What will then become of us?" Mr. Jones and his coadjutors have prepared elementary and religious books in the language. Several schools have been established, and conducted by the missionaries, their wives, and a few native teachers. Many hundreds have already learnt to read, and are truly anxious for books. A desire to read and understand English is universal among them. Some of the natives have been led to abandon their superstitions, and to embrace Christianity. Since their baptism they have endured much persecution from their relatives, and in the most trying circumstances they have shown strength of principle worthy of an apostolic age.

One of the missionaries writes thus: "I have received the Gospel of St. Matthew from Calcutta, and the Cassias in the Schools are diligently employed in committing it to memory. This task they will accomplish by the time this letter reaches you. I perceive already the great utility of supplying them with the Holy Scriptures; for it is evident they understand and remember much better when they read themselves than when they listen to another: I see this very clearly in the case of my young converts."

The missionaries testify that the baptized natives "increase in knowledge, in tenderness of conscience, and in godly simplicity." One of these converts said to the missionary, "The Word of God is truly wonderful, for I have some new thoughts whenever I look into it. I do not find it so with any thing else; but the Word of God is like a fountain which sends forth fresh waters every day: they are not the same; but although they differ, they are all very good. Even the same verse says something new whenever I look into it."