|
MALDIVIAN.
"THE Maldives are a chain of
islands, supposed to be about 1200 in number, in the Indian Ocean,
extending between the first degree of south, and the 7th of north, latitude,
and between the 72nd and
73rd degrees of east longitude. They are of coralline formation, and
many of them are little else than
reefs. The amount of their population is not known with any accuracy,
but it has been estimated at
between 150,000 and 200,000. The natives are generally described as a
timid and inoffensive race,
of dark colour, and rather short in person. They are expert sailors,
and carry on considerable com-
mercial intercourse with various places on the coasts of Ceylon, Malabar, and
other parts of India;
besides visiting, for like purposes, more distant localities, from the shores
of the Red Sea in one
direction to those of Sumatra in the other. They are under the rule of
a native Sultan, who pays an
annual tribute to the British government in Ceylon, and are stated to be
followers of the Moh_mm_dan
religion.
The Maldivian language is a very mixed one, and contains a far
greater number of Cingalese,
Hindustani,
Sanscrit, and
Arabic words, than of
Malay, among the dialects of which some
have wished
to class it. Dr. Leyden considered that it bears a distant relation to
Cingalese. The Maldivians have
two alphabets of their own, one very peculiar in form, and another which to a
certain degree resembles
the Persian alphabet in name and
form.
The Four
Gospels were translated into Maldivian
by Dr. Leyden, who presented the MS. to the
Calcutta Bible Society. The death of that eminent scholar
arrested the farther progress of the version,
but the native whom he had employed in making the translation was retained at
Serampore. A fount
of types was cast for the purpose of printing the Gospels, but through
some cause now unknown, no
portion of the version appears at any time to have passed through the
press."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel
Bagster [Info only]
|
