welcomed to the world by the mother’s jo y : at marriage, a mouthful of tobacco and
one chupah (gallon) handed to one another confirm the hymeneal tye : at death, the
deceased are wrapped in their garments, and committed to the parent earth. lhe
women weep a little, and then leave the spot/ were the words of our simple narrator.
Of pfiris, dewas, m&mbangs, and other light spirits that haunt each mountain, rock,
and tree, in the Malayan imagination, they did not know the names, nor had they
anything to he afraid of, as they themselves said, than ‘ the pirates of Galang, who
are men like themselves. With this I was forced to be contented, and teamed them no
more on the subject. They do not practise circumcision, nor any other Mahommedan
rite. Their women intermarry with the Malays, which appears not to be un-
frequent: they also give their women to the Chinese; and an old woman told us or
her having been united to individuals of both nations at an early period ot her lite.
Their tribe, though confining its range within the limits of 30 square miles, may still
be considered of a very wandering kind. In their sampans (canoes), barely suincien
to float their loads, they skirt the mangroves collecting their food from the shores
and forests as they proceed, exhausting one spot and then searching for another. lo
one accustomed to the comforts and artificial wants of civilised life, theirs, as a contrast
appears to be extrema Huddled up in a small boat hardly measuring 20 feet
in length, they find all the domestic comfort they are in want of. At one end is
seen the fire-place: in the middle are the few utensils they may be in possession ot,
and at the other end beneath a mat, not exceeding six feet in length, is found the
sleeping apartment of a family, often counting five or six, together with a cat and a
dog Under this, they find shelter from the dews and rains of the night, and heat ot
the day. Even the Malays, in pointing out these stinted quarters, cried out ‘how
miserable 1 ’ But of this the objects of their consideration were not aware. In
them they have provided for all their wants. Their children sport on the shore in
search of shell-fish at low water; and during high water, they may be seen climbing
the mangrove branches, and dashing from thence into the water with all the life and
energy of children of a colder clime, at once affording us proof that even they have
their ioys. The personal appearance of these people is unprepossessing, and their
deportment lazy and slovenly, united to much filthiness of person. The middle
portion of the body of men and women is generally covered by a coarse wrapper
made from the bark of the trap tree (a species of Artocarpus), which extends from the
navel to the knee. The women affected a slight degree of modesty at first approach,
which soon gave way. The locks of the men are bound up with a tie of cloth, and
sometimes by the Malay sapu-taugan (kerchief); those of the women fall in wiid
luxuriance over their face and shoulders. Their children go entirely naked until the
^The same intelligent writer gives an account of a tribe of forest nomads, called
Sabimba, in a still more miserable condition, and whose numbers did not exceed eighty
persons. With respect to the origin of these wild tribes, so justly called half-savages
near 350 years ago by the early Portuguese writers, he observes, “ As I before stated,
they speak the language of the Malays with much less difference in pronunciation than
may be found in our own tongue in stepping from one county of England to another.
They may, therefore, be said, with little fear of contradiction, to be merely unconverted
Malays, properly so called.” The epithet “ uncivilised ” would probably be better
than unconverted, and with this slight alteration, the conclusion at which Mr. Thomson
has arrived seems to me inevitable. Mr. Logan, however, whose opinion on such a
subiect is entitled to great respect, thinks that the Banua, or aboriginal inhabitants
of the peninsula, once spoke a distinct language of their own, superseded through
their long intercourse with the Malays; and he draws this inference from their speech,
being rude and ungrammatical in sound and structure, and its containing words no
longer known to the present Malay language. I t is no doubt possible that the
Aborigines may have had a language of their own, but the probability is much against
it Similar arguments might be adduced against the universality of our own Anglo-
Saxon tongue over England, for the mass of our people speak it rudely and ungram-
matically; while many words are in common use in different parts of the country
which have long ceased to be considered as part of the English language. The case
of Borneo is against Mr. Logan’s hypothesis. In the interior of that island, of which
the coasts, like those of the peninsula, are occupied by Malay settlements, it is not one
but many tongues that are spoken by theaboriginal inhabitants; and in thefewmstances
in which these tribes, to the supersession of their own, have adopted the Malay language,
it has happened in consequence of the parties having adopted the religion, manners,
and habits of the Malays, which the rude inhabitants of the peninsula have not done.
The states of the civilised Malays on the western side of the peninsula amount to
three, or if we include the British territory of Malacca, of which the bulk of the
inhabitants are Malays, four, namely, Queda, Perak, Salangor, and Malacca. Those
on the eastern side amount to four, namely, Patani, Kalantan, Tringano, and Pahang.
Towards the extremity of the peninsula, both the eastern and western sides, and all
the islands adjacent to them, except those in possession of the European governments
form the principality of Jehore. In the interior, and between the second and
third degrees of latitude, we have the three small states of Rumbao, Jehole, and
Jompol. The actual population of all these states is unknown, but it is well ascertained
to be very small, and conjectured, excluding the wild inhabitants and those of the
British and Dutch territors, not to exceed 200,000, which would give between four and
five inhabitants to the square mile. The British possessions in the same country,
the oldest of which is not above seventy years standing, contain at present not less
than a quarter of a million of inhabitants, or about 250 inhabitants to every square
mile, a striking example of the different effects resulting from barbarism and
civilisation.
MALAWAR. The name of a mountain of Java, in the country of the Sundas, one
of the chain which bounds the plain of Bandong to the south. I t rises to the
height of 7500 feet above the level of the sea, but has no active volcano.
M AMP AW A. The name of a Malay State, on the western "side of Borneo, the
chief town of which, of the same name, is situated on a small river, twenty-five miles
north of the equator, and in east longitude 109° 15'. The territory is tributary
to the Netherland Government, and forms a portion of its “ Residency of the West
coast.” Of its extent and population no account has been given. The inhabitants
consist of Malays, Dyaks, and Chinese.
MAN. For the generic name Man, or human being, the term seems to be
derived, in all the languages of the Malay Archipelago, either from the Javanese
wong, as in the example of the Malay, where we find it as orang, or from the
Sanscrit, as in the case of the Balinese, where it is jana, corrupted into janma and
jalma. In our inadequate knowledge, it is very difficult to determine the varieties of
the human race that exist within the Malay and Philippine Archipelagos, but I imagine
they are not fewer than five, that number into which some writers on the natural
history of Man would fain compress all the inhabitants of the earth. These are the
race of which the Malay nation is the type; the Sdmang, or dwarf negros of the
Malay peninsula; the Negritos, or Aetas of the Philippines; the large negros or
Papuas of New Guinea, and a race intermediate between these last and the Malayan,
which may be called the Negro-Malay. Some account of all these will be found
under their respective heads, or under the title Archipelago.
The tribes of which the first enumerated race consist, although living in climates
very similar, are found to be in very different states of social existence, some not rising
above the level of the rudest savages of America, while others have attained a
civilisation far exceeding that of any nation of that continent at the time of its
discovery. A few remarks on the causes which have conduced to this disparity will
not be without interest. The question of race may be soon dismissed. Whatever is
entitled to be called civilisation has originated with the brown, lank-haired, or Malay
race; and the woolly-haired, whether the pigmy negritos of the Malay Peninsula and
the Philippines, or the stouter Papuans of New Guinea and its adjoining islands, have
risen little beyond the condition of mere savages. Wherever the Negro comes into
collision with the Malayan race, as in some of the Philippine Islands, it seems to
retreat, much as wild animals retreat before man, and appears to be saved from utter
destruction only by seeking shelter in the recesses of inaccessible mountains. Even
in New Guinea and its adjacent islands, where a more vigorous negro race has the
whole land to itself, the progress which it has made is hardly equal to that of the
rudest of the Malay under the least favourable auspices.
Although there be several subsidiary causes to he subsequently noticed, which have
contributed to the disparity of civilisation which is found to prevail among the several
tribes and nations of the Malay race, the most material are certainly, differences in the
quality oi the localities they happen to occupy. Wherever the soil is fertile, irrigation
easily practised, and the land not encumbered with heavy timber, an indigenous and
independent civilisation will be found everywhere to have sprung up, and where these
conditions are absent, we are sure to encounter rudeness and barbarism. A rapid
survey of the condition of society in the various parts of the two Archipelagos will