Note 4 — Manila in 18191

Language.4“* * * Their colloquial language, like that of the natives of Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and many other islands in these seas, is a dialect of the peninsular Malay from whence it is thought they originated; and so striking is its similarity among all these islands, that the natives of each can, in a greater or less degree, understand that of all the others. The characters of their written language differ widely, and great varieties of arrangement exist among them. The Tagalogs write from top to bottom on palm leaves and strips of bamboo; and many of the Moros or Mahomedans use the Arabic characters.”