Indian Antiquary Vol 18

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 42

82
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1889.
days; but now your servant cannot undertake the smallest piece of meat would entail the most to preserve the barrier so long ; one day would be disastrous consequences on the whole comall that your servant can undertake for."
munity. Can any one give any information regarding
Larut.
C. V. CREAGA. the above custom P It would be interesting to Saorifices of this sort are not uncommon in know whether it is observed in other Native States remote parts of the Malay Peninsula. See the or in Sumatra or Java.
note on Pělas Něgri (Note 67 in Notes and I am informed that only & white male-buffalo Queries, No. 3, issued with No. 16 of the Journal can be used, which must be killed and eaten in the of the Straits Branch R. A. 8.). Forbes, author of jungle. The whole of the flesh must be consumed a Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archi. at a kanduri (feast), which is held for the purpose pelago, 1885, alludes (pp. 197 and 198) to the at & convenient distance from the village-not a custom of the people of Pasumah, West Coast of particle must be taken away. I am informed on Sumatra, to sacrifice a buffalo to purify a village. good authority that the surreptitious removal of
W. E. MAXWELL.
BOOK NOTICE. MANUAL OF BURMESE, by Capt. Cras. SLACK. Nothing is said of the changes that the initial
London :-Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Trübner & Co. consonants of words and particles undergo in com.
We suppose it was inevitable that the British position, and yet this is one of the first puzzles of occupation of Burma should produce some such the language : e.g., kó is an objective suffix; chyun. work as this, which professes, in forty very small Okká, to me; wago, to the ox: k'ald is young, pages, to teach Burmese to "travellers, students, ménk'ald (female = young) a girl; lúgald (male = and merchants, and also the military and others young), a boy: ma...... bu is negation; main official position." Capt. Slack has never been thwd-bf goes not; ma-pyit-pú, is not: kweta in Burma apparently, and has merely "compiled" cup, but shwegwet, a golden cup. his booklet, so it might well have been much In dealing with the numerals there is nothing worse than it is.
to show the learner that one cannot, as a rule, use The system on which he proceeds is clear and in one, two, three, etc. by themselves in Burmese as telligent, and itonly requires a realknowledge of the adjectives, although it must be clear to all that it language and the people to make it a useful work. is impossible to speak a word of any language As it is, we fear that the student will learn but very without a correct knowledge of the numerals. little from it, and a good deal of that will be wrong. Each class of noun in Burmese has its proper
There are vital omissions in the book which numeral adjectival suffix: e.g., akaung, brute. prevent its being of any value as a teacher. Thus benet, belongs to all animals not human: nwa, ox: the Burmese letters are given in the original thing, three : wwd thing-gaung, three oxen. Ak"6, character, but the peculiar effect of final stopped thing, belongs to words not having any other consonants on preceding vowels is nowhere even suffix: kadin, bedsteads; nga, five: k'adin ngd hinted at, though it is the main feature of gú, five bedsteade. 'As'in, a line; hle, boat; Burmese orthography. It is explained that the chyaul, six: hlè chyauk-s'in, six boats. 48', Burmese alphabet is derived from the same vehicle; hlé, cart; ngd, five: hlé ngd-xl, five carts. source as the various Indian alphabets allied to However in reviewing a book that gives the tha Nicart, but it is nowhere explained that while " grammar" of a language in two small pages, we the equivalente for 7 spell leán, those for 3 need hardly go further into omissions. spell kin, and those for a spell ks or ke. Again, The "Bentences" occupy three and a hall pages,
spells ket, Tepells kit and so on. Within and the chief thing wrong with them is that the its rules Burmese orthography is, on the whole, components are not explained and the hyphens regular; but the rules are peculiar and have to be are frequently in the wrong place : 6.g., "I learnt if there is any desire to make head or tail forget" is given 18-kyun-ok ma-hmat-mi-bw. of words written in the vernacular character. I which is really "I [do] not remember.”
The effect of the accent 8 is roughly explained, A good "simplified grammar" of Burmese by a but that of is ignored, though it is intended to scholar who knows something of grammar ag & represent & great peculiarity of the language, science is a great desideratum. There are many which lies in an extremely staccato, and to foreign who know grammar and many who know Burmese, ears a practically inaudible, sound of final con but no writer that knows both has as yet put his sonants. In hundreds of cases these accente form views on paper, to the great disadvantage of the only difference in words of widely different the now numerous students of that difficult meaning, which would be otherwise homonyms. language.