I. The sacred language employed by the Priests and Budhists in the island of Ceylon. Ptolemy, in his Geography, where he speaks of this island under the name of _Salica_, has preserved several Samscred appellations; such as, _Sindocanda_, which properly ought to be written _Sindhucanda_. He also mentions the mountain _Malà_ under the name of _Malea_; and the large district of _Màhàgramam_, belonging to the Brahmans, is by him called _Maagramum_[183]. See on this subject the map in D’Anville’s _Antiquité Geographique de l’Inde_, published at Paris in 1775. This language is still spoken in the kingdom of Candia; but not on the sea-coast, where the people in general speak the Cingalese--a wretched dialect, which consists of a confused mixture of the Tamulic and Malabaric. II. The Tamulic language, which is spoken in Tanjaur, Madura, Maïssur, Concao, in some places on the coast of Malabar as far as the neighbourhood of Collam, and also in the Gauts. It is harmonious, uncommonly well adapted for poetry, and can be easily learned, because its elements are very simple. When there occur in it Samscred words, which cannot be expressed by its alphabet, it borrows some characters either from the Granthamic or Samscredamic. The characters which it borrows from the former are: _ksha_, _sza_, _shda_, _sa_, _spa_, _sma_, _stra_, _skra_. As it wants the characters _V_ and _H_, it supplies their place by _B_ and _G_; and writes, for example, instead of _Aham_, which in the Samscred signifies _I_, _Agam_ or _Akam_; and instead of _Vàva_, the new moon, _Baba_. It consists only of thirty characters, which are far from sufficient to express all the Samscred words. III. The Malabar language. It extends from Cape Comari to the mountain Illy, which separates the provinces of Malabar and Canara. This language employs two alphabets, viz. the _Maleyam Tamul_, and the _Grantha_. The former consists of twenty-three, and the latter of fifty-two characters, which are fully sufficient for writing the Samscred. The latter characters have been employed by the authors of all the sacred books which are seen in Maïssur, Madura, Carnada, and on the coast of Malabar. IV. The Canarian language, which is spoken in the district of mount Illy belonging to the kingdom of Canara, and from thence as far as Goa. V. The Marashda language. It is prevalent throughout the whole country of the _Maràshdi_, who are very improperly called _Marattas_. VI. The Talenga, an harmonious, nervous, masculine, copious, and learned language, which, like the Samscred, has fifty-two characters; and these are sufficient to write the latter. It is spoken on the coast of Orixa, in Golconda, on the river Krishna, and as far as the mountains of Balangate. All these languages have their own alphabets; so that in every province you must make yourself acquainted with a distinct kind of characters, if you wish to express your thoughts in the dialect common in each.