more than 18 years, while the eight of Malacca, including among them the founder
who had also reigned three years in Singapore, give the improbable average of
32 years, far too long even for peaceable and civilised communities. Yet one of
these eight princes is described as having reigned only two years, while another was
assassinated seventeen months after he had ascended the throne. To make up for
these brief reigns, another prince is described as having reigned 73 years ! Another
discrepancy consists in giving to the two first kings, Arabic, that is, Mahommedan
names while they were still pagans; and it may further be objected to the narrative,
that dates are assigned to reigns for 116 years before the conversion to Mahomme-
danism, that is, for more than a century before the Malays are known to have been
possessed of any era. These objections seem to me to be fatal.
There is more consistency and verisimilitude in the account rendered by the early
Portuguese writers, who, as they tell us themselves, derived their information from
the Malayan cotemporaries of the conquerors, men who were by near three centuries
and a-half closer the events than inquirers of our own time. “ Concerning the
time,” says Debarros, “ in which Malacca was founded, or respecting its early inhabitants,
no writing has come to our knowledge, but there is a common belief among the
people themselves, that little more than two hundred and fifty years had elapsed
since the place was first peopled.” He gives no dates, nor does he furnish the names
or the number of the line of kings. This, however, is done in the Commentaries of
Alboquerque, which give six kings, all but the first with Arabic names, and in such a
corrupt orthography as would have made them utterly unintelligible, had we not
possessed a clue to them. Of this orthography, the second name in the list, Xaquem
Darxa, for Sekandar Shah, or King Alexander, is a sufficient example. The x of
the Portuguese orthography represents our sh, and the last syllable of the first part
of the name being added to the second, the whole is wrapt in almost inextricable
obscurity.
De Barros’ account of the foundation of Malacca is as follows:—“ A fugitive from
Java, whose name he writes Paramisura, and which is probably the Javanese compound,
taken from the Sanscrit, Prama-sora, meaning “ valiant hero,” arrived in
Singapore, then ruled by a chief named Sansinga. This prince received him hospitably,
but in requital was assassinated by him, with the aid of his Javanese followers,
and of a certain people called Cellates. The assassin seized the government
and retained it for five years, when he was expelled by the Siamese, not by the
Javanese of Majapait, as he is represented to have been in the Malay manuscripts.
On his expulsion he is represented as having fled and sought refuge at Pago, on the
river Muar, distant, according to De Barros, forty-five leagues from Singapore, and five
from Malacca. Eventually, along with 2000 Javanese followers, he settled at Malacca,
on the invitation of some of the Cellate3, who had themselves taken refuge on the
banks of the river of that place.
Who these Cellates were is certain enough. The word is a Portuguese formation,
from the Malay word Salat, a strait or frith, and at full length in this language would
be orang-salat, or men of the narrow seas, in reference to the numerous straits among
the many islands between the Peninsula and Sumatra. The Cellates were, in fact, the
well-known orang-laut, or “ men of the sea,” of the present time, famous all over the
Archipelago for their piscatory and predatory habits. They are correctly described
by De Barros, who calls them “ a people who dwell on the sea, and whose occupation
it is to rob and to fish (cujo officio he rubar e pascar).” Such of this people as had
fled with the Javanese from Singapore, and had formed their encampment about the
river of Malacca, found there, not far from it, as they would find at the present day,
an inland people, of the same race, and speaking the same language with themselves,
with whom they intermixed. “ The first settlement,” says De Barros, “ which they
(the Cellates) made was on a hill above the fortress which we now hold, where they
found some people of the land, half savages in their manner of living, whose language
was the proper Malay, which all these people used, and with which the Cellates also
were acquainted. But as in the beginning of intercourse, there was some alienation
caused by difference in their modes of life, concord was established through the
women, in which the Cellates were deficient, each party, however, still following the
mode of life to which they had been accustomed—the Cellates living by the produce
of the sea, and the Malays by the fruits of the earth. And as both these people
knew that the place where Paramisora dwelt was confined, they invited him to
join them. Finally, Paramisora, having seen the place, quitted his residence in
Pago, and came and dwelt among the people of the plain of Beitam.”—Decade I.,
Book 6, Chap. 1.
It was the son of Paramisora, according to De Barros, that commenced the bmldrng
of Malacca I And I continues he, “ as the Cellates were a low and vile people, and
the natives of the country half savages, Paramisora and his son, in order to make
them faithful allies in their labours, and especially, in order to avail themselves of
th e ? services in building the intended city, they ennobled them by intermarriages
K distinguished persons of those whom they had brought with them from Java,
an dfcIns the native Malays became all of them Mandanjs (mantn, m Sanscrit a coun-
^Uor or nobffi), and the^e are now the nobles of Malacca in v rtue of the privileges
conferred bv former kings on them, as being the first inhabitants of the city-
The account given in the Commentaries of Alboquerque is essentially the same.
I Paramisura (so spelt in the Commentaries) was so well contented with the country
that, on account of the service which the fishermen (the Cellates) had rendered in
bringing him to the place, he made them Fidalgos and mandans (mantris) of his
palace. Water being abundant, and the port good, with many other advantages, m
four months’ time from his arrival, he built a town of 100 families (vezmhos), where
now stands the city of Malacca. The pirates who roved over the sea m their lan-
charas (lanchang, barges), and came to Malacca for water, on account of the favour
and kindness with which they were received by King Paramisura, began to fix their
dwelling here, and to bring hither the merchandise wmch they had plundered. This
was the cause of such increase of trade that, in two years time, a town of 2000 famil
i e s was built, and commerce began.”—Chap. 17, p. 353. J ,
On one point, all parties seem to agree, (that not only the founders of Malacca, but
even of Singapore, were Javanese and not Malays, for even the Malayan account is
substantially to this effect, since it brings the emigrants who established _ themselves
in Singapore from Palembang, which was a Javanese settlement. This view receives
some countenance from the etymology of the names of the pereons and places concerned,
which, for the most part, are either Sanscrit or Javanese, evidence of the first
of these languages, it should be observed, being frequent only in countries to which
the influence of the Javanese people had extended. According to the Malay manuscript,
one of the leaders of the migration from Palembang to Singapore has the name
of Damang Debar daun, literally, “ Chief of the broad leaf.” In this case, the title is
Javanese, and not Malay. The principal leader of the migration is called Sri Tun-
Buwana. The first and last words of this compound are Sanscrit, and the second the
name of a flowering forest tree, equally Malay and Javanese. The title may be translated
“ Illustrious Turi tree of the world.” The second prince who reigned in Singapore
is called Paduka Pikaram-wira, or, correctly, Prakrama-wira. Here the first
word is equally Malay and Javanese, and may be translated “ Highness.” The two
last are Sanscrit, and signify “ valiant hero.” The name of the third prince, Sri
Ramawikaram, is entirely Sanscrit, the last of these words being, correctly, in that
language, vikrama, signifying valiant, and being of frequent use in the composition
of names of persons. The name may be rendered “ The illustrious Rama the valiant. ’
The name of the fourth prince is, also, entirely Sanscrit. Sri Maha-raja, signifying
“ The illustrious great king.” The name of the Javanese refugee who, according to
the statements given to the early Portuguese writers, seized, first the government of
Singapore, and afterwards founded Malacca, is written by De Barros, Paramisora, and
in the Commentaries of Alboquerque, Paramisura. This is most probably the
Apramasya-sura of the Sanscrit, and which the Javanese pronounce Prameya-sura,
signifying “ incomparable hero.” The King of Singapore, assassinated by the
Javanese refugee, is called Sangesinga, and this name, omitting the medial e in the
Portuguese orthography, would mean, literally, “ flower of lions,” the first part of the
word, Sang, an honorary title, frequently prefixed to the names of persons, being
Javanese, and the last Sanscrit. My guide in these etymologies, as he has often been
on other occasions, is my friend Professor Horace Hayman Wilson, without implicit
confidence in whose judgment and learning, I should not have ventured, as I now do,
to submit them.
In De Barros and the Commentaries, the name of Malacca is alleged to be connected
with the foundation of the state. There can, however, be no doubt but that it is
derived from that of the Malaka plant, Phyllanthus emblica, a shrub said to be abundant
in the locality. Mr. Marsden, after quoting De Barros, observes that, “ an error
so palpable (as that Malacca, in Javanese, means an ‘ exile’) throws discredit on the
whole narrative.” This, however, is not correct. The passage, as he quotes it, runs
thus : “ They again descended the river, in order to enjoy the advantages of a sea-port,
and built a town which, from the fortunes of his father, was named Malaca, signifying
an exile.” But the passage at full length is as follows: “ Xaquen Darxa (Sekandar
B 2