Page:Code of Gentoo Laws (1776, codeofgentoolaws00halh, Halhed).djvu/35

To rank rĕĕ and lĕĕ among the Vowels may perhaps be censured as unnatural; we can only say, that being Liquids, they partake in some small Measure of the Vowel, and that to an European Ear it seems equally extraordinary to find the Persian and Arabic ع‎ ain to be a Consonant. It will also be observed in the preceding Alphabets, that the Vowels have different Forms when combined with Consonants from those they bear when unconnected.

In the Four Beids (the original and sacred Text of the great Hindoo Creator and Legislator Brihmā) the Length of the Vowels is determined and pointed out by a musical Note or Sign, called Mātrāng (implying one whole Tone) which is placed over every Word; and in reading the Beids these Distinctions of Tone and Time must be nicely observed; the Account of this Modulation as given in the Shanscrit Grammar, called Sărăfootee, is here translated.

"The Vowels are of three Sorts, short, long, and continued (or to use a more musical Term, holding.) "The Chāsh (a small Bird peculiar to Hindostan) utters one Mātrāng, the Crow two Mātrāngs, and the Peacock three Mātrāngs; the Mouse Half a Mātrāng. One Mātrāng is the short Vowel, two Mātrāngs the long Vowel, and three Mātrāngs the continued: A Consonant without a Vowel has the Half Mātrāng. These Vowels are again to be distinguished by a high Note for the one Mātrāng, a low Note for the two Mātrāngs, and an Intermediate or Tenor for the three Mātrāngs, either with Nasals or Gutturals, ēē, ēī, ō, ōū, are Dip-"thongs