When these terms are examined, we discover
that six of them at least are the Sanskrit namfjs of
the Hindu months. They appear, however, which
is a singular fact, not to be in order the names of the
corresponding Hindu months, but to be! very wantonly
transposed. From this circumstance, from the
year commencing with May instead of April, and
from the positive numerical length of the months,
we may suspect that the Bugis year is the relic of
an indigenous calendar not very judiciously modified
by the Hindus. Among the Bugis there is,
at the same time, no vestige of any Hindu epocha
as among the Javanese. It is not improbable that
their mode of recording dates was by the length of
their kings’ reigns as in China. It is on this principle,
probably, that we have to explain the care
with which, even in their rude annals, the length of
each sovereign’s reign, before the introduction of
Mahomedanism, is given. Thus we have “ Latang
ri Suki reigned twenty-seven years.” “ King
Botee reigned twenty-five years.” “ King Bo-
konge reigned thirty years,” &c. &c. We find no
such notices in the annals of any of the other
tribes, even in those of the more civilized Javanese.
CHAPTER HI.
NAVIGATION AND GEOGRAPHY.
Indian islanders,from their geographical situation, necessarily
a maritime people,— Their maritime enterprises have never
extended beyond those countries in the immediate neighbour-
hood o f their own,— Their voyages usually coasting voyages.
— Favoured by the steadiness o f the monsoons, they occasionally
assume a bolder character.— Derive somej assistance
from observing the heavenly bodies, and now and then have
recourse to the compass.—-The compass known to them by
a native name Possibly acquired in their intercourse with
the Chinese.— Division o f the circumference o f the horizon
by the Malays.— Inferences regarding their history and
origin to be drawn from the nature o f the terms used. D ivision
o f the circumference o f the horizon by the Javanese
less perfect.— B y the minor tribes.— Indian islanders have
no specific term to distinguish the monsoons.— Ignorance o f
the Indian islanders on the subject o f geography.— Hardly
know any foreign country but by name.— Very imperfect
knowledge o f the countries they inhabit themselves.— They
have no name by which to distinguish the whole group*—
Generally ignorant o f the insular fo rm o f the principal
islands.— The word island used by them in a very circum-
sctibed sense Principle on which names are given.—Hindus
and Arabs proved, from the evidence o f language, to
have been ignorant o f the true geography and topography
o f the Archipelago.
I n rendering an account of the state of navigation
and geography among the Indian islanders, it will