68 ORANG MA LA 10.
copper colour. They are' generally lighter than the Mestefes
or half-breed of the rest of India; those of the superior
class who are not exposed to the rays of the sun, and
particularly the women of rank, approaching to a degree ©f
fairness.” '
The Malays, as Dr. Leyden informs us* are called' Khek
by the Siamese, and Mesu by the Burmahs.' This writer
says that the Maha-Raja of Menanghabaó'dëfïrëS*his bi%ïn
from Lankapura in Java, and that the people are supposed1 to
have hatHheir derivation from that quarter; but no historical
account of such an event as this migration has been preserved.
Mr. Crawfurd, whose opinion on this subject ié'of thé' greatest
authority, considers Menangkabao as without' dispute the
parent country of the Malayan race. He says that, unlike
all other Malay states, meaning settlements on the- epast of
the peninsula and of other islands in ‘thè~ Aröhipelöfgo,
Menangkabao is an inland Country.'
he adds,* “ to the eastern Side of the island Wêrë thè'^rëat
rivers of Palémbang and Siak, and to the fibsC th6sës%f
Manjuta and Singkef. As the "transaction does not pföténd
to very remote antiquity, we may credit the universal-USSÖttièn
of the Malays themselves, though it would not bè safe to
trust to the details which they furnish, that all rtM Malayan
tribes, wherever situated, emigrated, directly 'or ' indirectly,
from this parent establishment. We are at firskyiew' strUck
with the improbability of an inland people undertaking a
maritime emigration; but their emigration, it will perhaps
appear on a closer examination, may really be ascribed to
this peculiarity of situation. The country which the primitive
Malayan race inhabits is described aè a great and fertile
plain, well cultivated, and having a frequent and ready
communication with the sea by the largest rivers within the
bounds of the Archipelago. The probability, then, is, that
a long period of tranquillity secured by the supremacy which
the people of Menangkabao acquired over the whole island
occasioned a rapid and universal start in civilisation and
population—that the best lands became scarce—and that in
History of the Indian Archipelago, vol. ii., p. 372.
OltASG MALAI0. 69
Consequence the swarm, which ^founded' Singhapura in the
peninsula was thrown off.” ,
It „muat.be observed that most of the -information we
possess respecting the character of the Malays relates principally
to people.; of, the Malayan b®Jbfoes on the. coast in
various parts of tlie Archipelago,where they are much better
known, than imthe inland countryyof Sumatra; and it is very
much to be desired that we could obtain more, exact accounts
of the Orang Malaio in their native state.
Mr. Crawfurd informs us thatr,thereJis;> a surprising uniformity
in. ,the languages of alfthe Malayan tribes both oral
and written, a circumstance to be attijbnted'fo. th e ; similarity
of their., situations and thejjstationaryr 'cdndition' of their
s planners throughout fcipce tja'^ Jq|]qd- jw^eV their Tangi&§es
assumed its ^present form. The language* bf the peopla'pf
Menangkabao, ,the parent tribe, differs .most B B G B B R
As far as I can judgh^thebestj Malay, isiwritfo^apff J B B |
dm the state; o f Iraeda or Kedd;a h .? Here > a|^, lekst ,^ .a^ y s
are m o s t anxious about, the purity^plr(fthetr language*',and
most sCrupqlfJs, in ’ excluding foreign' words«| In the neighbourhood
pf .the, other great trib e so f the Archlpeljlgfr the
language is often, corrupted by admixture with’ their dialects,
and in thewicinity of former or existing European establish-,
fmont^tiyi-n mixture ^ P p rtu g u ^ ^ a n d Dutch,, st’d l’^ o re
jpcompstihle .with its genius.’,? ^ ^
: „ The !M£foys>havehtem,rycq
fiction derived from the Sansjcrit'poems," an(I from various
Arabian stories. For^ap account of these' I must’refer my
readers to Mr. Marsden’s History of Sumatra and his Malkyan
Grammar,, to . Dr.'teydeBSj
Literature of the Indo-!ChjneSQ,^ktia|^
of the Asiatic Researches and to Mr. Crawford’s History5of
the Indian ,Arch^p||iag9( ,
Paragraph 2.—Of, the jBkt^.s.
The Battas are, next to the’Malays^ the mb'st nut&tbus
people in Sumatra. They inhabit an inland region, in the