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Notes
o
Malay History,
I.
Introductory
About a dozen ye ars ago a co m l~ ari so n of th e details of
RIalay histo ry as given in th e SBjarah MBlayn
'
(or "Ma lay
Annals ) with the informat ion conta ined in the Notes on th e
M alay Archipelago an d M alacca (extrac ted and t r a n s l~ te drom
various old C hinese sources by M r. W.
P.
Groeneveldt) and
with t he section in t he C omm entar ies of Alboquerque relat ing
to th e history of Malacca led me to th e conclusion th at th e
usua l chronology, wh ich clated th e fall of Singapore and th e
found ation of M alncca in the y ear 1252 9 D or thereabouts ,
wa s hopelessly unten able. Th e evidence sveilable seemed to
make i t pret ty clear t l lat these events m us t be pu t somew hat
more than a century la ter , probably sornewhere about the
year 1377 AD. in fact .
A
sho r t paper embodying th i s con-
clusion an d som e of th e argu me nts . leading to i t w as read by
m e before th e X I th Or ienta l Congress a t Pa r i s in
1897
and
sub seq nen tly appearecl in the lsrinted trans actio ns of th at con -
gress.
T he arg um ents , in out l ine, weye these.
Firs t , th e receiv-
ed chronology gave absurdly long reigns to th e Nalac ca Raja s:
for ins tan ce four gene rations of th em ,
fram
Sul t an Muhammad
Sh ah to S ul tan Alaudclin Sh ah inclusive, are ma de to cover a
space of 201 y ea rs ; which is extremely improbable and nex t
door to impossible. Similarly th e l ife cf t h e g rea t B6ndahara
Pa du ka Raja , a leading m inister of s ta te in &Ialacca in t he
15 th .
c en tu ry a nd o n e of t h e ~ s ~ o s ttriking figures in the
SBjari%hMBli~yu,wonlcl (if we acc el ~ th e ordin ary chrono logy)
cover about 130 y e u s , during more than 100 of w hich he m us t
have held th e o& ce of BBncli~hara Th is is manifestly absurd.
Secondly, the Chinese.records, which in some cases are con-
temp orary w ith t h e events the y relate, give a l ist of the names
Sour. Straits Branch R . A
Soc.
No 3 199
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14 XOTES O
MA L A Y
HISTORY.
of th e la ter Malacca Rajas . These names (with the dates
at tached to them) make i t c lear th at their reigns fel l w ithin
the 1 5t h. cent nry and clid no t extend to th e abnormal lengths
t h a t t h e o rd in ar y c h r o ~ ~ o l o g yakes 0~16. Thirdly, there is .n o
inent ion of l fa lacc a anywhere , in a ny author i ty th at has
hith erto come to l ight, prior to th e early years of th e 15 th
century.
( I ) Th is negative evidence, fo rw ha t i t is wo rth, sup -
l ~ o r t s h e view tha t Malacca was no t founded (or a t an y ra t e
dicl not rise to t h e position of an im po rtan t comm ercial em por-
ium) much before th e beginning of th at century. On th e ot he r
hand we find mention of th e S ta te of Pase i (better P as ) in
Sum atra a t an earlier date. An abstract of i ts histo ry is
inserted in t h e SBjarah Mglayu s s a sor t of episode just before
th e account of th e fall of Singap ore. According to this ac co un t,
with which th e H ik ay at Raja-raja Pas ei in th e main agrees,
th e first Muh am ma dan ruler of Pas ei was a person who on his
conversion to Isl arr ~ took th e nam e of Malik-al-Salih. H i s
successor nras his son Malik-al.Dzahir . Now the last named
was reigning and w as already a fair ly old ma n wh en h e w as
visi ted by th e ce lebra ted Arab glohe- trot ter Ihn R atn tah in
1345 o r 1346 A . D. The in fe rence i s t ha t M ub au ~r ~a da n i s in
became th e established religion in Pnse i somew here abou t th e
year
13
A .D . T he Co mi nen tarie s of Blboqnerclne record a
native tradition t ha t Iskan dar S ha h , one of th e early Raja s of
Malacca, w as converted from Hindu ism to Islam on th e occa-
sion of his
m arr iag e wi th a claiughter of a R aja of Pa se i.
W hether h a t be so or no t , th e genera l t rend-of t rad it ion goes
to sho w' th at P asei was regaxded a s being an -older sta te th an
R ~a la cc a. A11 th is evideuce combined negativ es th e ordinarily
received view th a t 91+laccd 6ec am e 'i\iIuhernmadan in th e reign
-
of a R aja w hose accession according to th e comm only accepted
chronology took place in 1276 A.D. or thereab outs. Fo urt hly ,
the Hik aya t Raja -raja Pasei, which however is a work of un-
certain an d probably rat he r lat e d ate, speaks of
a
Javanese
espedition of c onq uest successfully directed again st Pa sei ,
Jam bi and Palembang, and shor t ly af terwards speaks of th e
1)
possible exception,
which
I hat1 not a t
that
t i m e
seen, i s
d e a l t
wit11
i n
t h e
p ~ e s e n t ap er. It does not
aft'rct
t h e a r g u m e n t .
Jour.
Straits ranch
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NOTES
ON
M A L A Y EIISTORY. 4
conq uest by th e Jav an ese of th e do min ions of t h e Ra ja of
TJlong Tan ah. Th is lat ter cou ntry is of course th e so uth ern
ext remi ty of th e Malay Pen insnla , known s ince the 1 6thc entu ry
as Johors, and the clominions of i ts Raja included a number of
is land groups, such as th e Riau-Lingga Archipelago, the N a-
tuna s , Anambas , e tc . , which are duly enumerated in th e Hlkay at
Raja- ra ja Pase i. Now we know f rom G roeneveldt s Chinese
sources t ha t Pa l embang was t aken by the Javanese in t he year
137 7 A.D. Th e inference is th at th e conquest of Ulo ng
Tan ah an d i ts insular possessions (which mus t have included th e
island of Singapore) took place sho rtly afte r 1 37 7 A.D. Th e
foun dation of RiIa]acca m us t the n be p u t at som e interm ediate
date be tween 1377 and 14 A.D.
;
an d th e establisl lme nt of
Mnham madanism in tha t Sta te cannot have taken place very
m an y years before the close of th e 14 th. centu ry. W hen f i rs t
visited by C hinese envo ys in th e first clecacle of th e 1 5t h . cen-
tu ry , i t was a ~4uh am mac lan t a te .
11
Allusions to Malays
in the
Pararaton.
propose here to draw at tent ion to a few addi t ional d ata
which confirm th e conclnsions already sta ted an d t l l ro ~v l i tt le
m ore l ight on a very obscu re period of Malay history. At th e
t ime of reading my paper had not had access to th e Javanese
histor ical work styled t > e Pa rar ato n ( i.e. Book of Kings) ,
wh ich has been edited and transldted (w ith th e addition of
copious and valuable notes) by the la te m nch lamented
Dr.
J. L . A. 13randes, a mo st em ine nt a uth ority on th e history of
the Ea ste rn Archipelago. Th is appeared in 189 6 in Dee1
X L I X
of th e Verhandel iugen van het Bataviaasch Genoo tschap van
Kun sten en W etenschapp en. I t i s a woYk of uncer ta in rla te
and authorship: but is probably in par t based on more or less
contempo rary records of th e eve nts i t relates , an d is cer tainly
older than 1600 A.D. I t i s of no great leng th ; bn t i t is one of
th e few professedly his tor ical works in this par t of th e world
th at can really lay claim to some historical value. (Most
Javanese and Mala) histories are a blend throughout of
fac t and myth
;
bnt in the Parara ton only the beginning
bears the stamp of being merely legendary). It contains
A SOC NO 53 I9 9
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I4 NOT S ON M JJBTT JITSTORV.
a large nu m be r of da te s ancl covers t h e periocl 12 22 -1 48 1
A.D. ( in th e original 1144 -1403 Caka). Th is period includes
th e t ime w hen the g rea t Jav anese S ka te of Majapah i t
was founded and f lourished
;
and the Parara ton g ives Inany
interes t ing detai ls abo ut th e h is tory of Ja va dur ing th is epoch.
I t s a l lusions to M alay h is tory ar e unfor tunately
'
(as is
natural) mu ch sca ntie r . will give the m here brief ly.
T he f irst one occu rs i n th e ac co unt of th e reign of Cri
KB rtanagara, t h e la st k ing of Tumap61, wh o reigned
'
(according
to the Pa rara t on) f rom Caka 1194 to 1197 (1272-1275 A.D.)
( 6
Th is k ing , we are to la , se nt h is t roo ps agains t Malayu."
T he im me diate resnlt of this un wise expedition, wh ich left
TumapEl nlm ost ciefenceless ( there were very few men left a t
Tun~apBl,m ost of th em having been se nt to l Ialayu") , wa s th e
fall nf his lringclom in th e s am e y ear t t h e h:nds of a n o th e r
Java nese Ra ja , one Ja y a Katorlg, of Da ha. Th e expedit ion
aga inst Ma layu ancl th e fall of Tnlnap61 occnrred in th e sa m e
yenr , 1197 Caka," i . e . 12 75 A.D. Assuming th is da te to
be
correct, th e expedition m us t have been on a considerable scale.
and n ot a mere raid , for the t roops , we are to ld , did not re turn
t i l l many years la ter , apparent ly in
1293
A
D . They brought
baclr with th em , a s par t of their booty , i t may be presumed,
tw o M alay pr incesses : one of the se, by nam e D ar a PBtak was,
su b seq n en t ly marri ed to R ad en W i~ a y a , he f i r s t king
of
Maja-
pah i t , who bore th e roya l s ty le of Vr i KP r tarajas a; the o ther ,
callecl D ar a Jingg a, became th e wife of a
high
chief and the
mother of th e pr ince T uh an Ja na ka , s ty led Cr i M armadew a,
with the t i t le of R at u r ing M alnyn , and nfter tvnrds also styled
.\ji Mantrolot.
There is no th ing to show ns which Malay s ta te in par t icu -
lap was th e victim of this onslau ght. B u t a s from th e close
of th e 7th cen tury at least ( y d perha ps earlier) a.nc1 for
m any centur ies la ter th e term M alayu was especially ap-
plied to th e homeland of th e M alays, i. e. Central Sumatra
nor th-w est of Pale m ban g, i t is probable that th e Javanese ex-
pedition wa s clirected agains t this region. I n an y c ase som e
Jour
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NOT S O N MALAY HISTORY 143
part of Su m atra is a lmost certa inly intended. During the
interva l between th e despatch and th e re turn of this expedi-
tion stirring events had occurred in Java. M ajapahit had been
founded and th e wellkno\vn invaBion of th e isl .and b y . th e
forces of Kublai K ha n, th e Mongol E m per or of China (called
i n t h e P a r a r a t o n Ra t u T a t a r
)
had taken place. I t isdescrib-
ed in
th e Par ara to n , but i t s de ta il s do not concern u s
here.
ought perhaps to add that while it seems to follow from
the account in th e Para raton tha t King KBrtanagara was kil led
by his enemies of Da ha at th e time wh en TumapEl fell, the
facts ?re really otherw ise. W e know from an inscription dated
Caka 1872 '
1350
A.D. , reproduced with transliteration,
translation and co mm entary by Professoi. Kern in the B ijdrag-
en tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenltuncle ven Nederlandsch-
Indie (Dee1
LVIII),
that he clid not actnally die till the year
Cak a 121 4' (1292 A.D .), sho rtly before the arrival of t he
ifongo1 expedit ion ' (which reached Ja va in 129 3
A.D.).
This
seem s to th row som e doubt on th e correctness of t he cli~te on
which th e expedition is supposed to have been despatched to
Malayn.
But the point is not really very material.
T he next mention in th e P ara rato n of Malay coun tries
occurs in or afte r th e accoun t of th e reign of a certain queen
of NIajapahit st yl ed , (from he r place of residence) B hr en g
Kah nripan , w hose re ign began in 1331 A.D. I n th e year 1346
A.D. th e celebrated Gajah NIada, whose nam e is familiar to
th e readers of X al ay chronicles (which wrongly introduce
h i m into their somew hat legendary accounts of the 15th .
century
)
hecame
p tili aazc~ngk~cbl~7inzi,
ha t i s to say pr ime
min ister, of M ajapabit. On a certain unda ted occasion
'
(bu t
certa inly after 1334 and presumably a fter 1346
A.D.)
we are
to ld tha t Ge jah N'acla, the apatih a man gkub hnm i made a
now th at he would eat no pnl 6pa (wh atever th at may be)
until Nu san tara shall have been subdued., until Gu run , Seran,
Tafijung Pur a , H ar u, Paha ng, Dompo, Bali,
Sunda,
Palem-
bang an d Turna sik sha ll have been subdued ; t h k will e at
pnlnfin, said he.
..
R. A
Soc., No.
53
'1909.
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1 4
4
NOTES ON MALAY HISTORY
f
the se nam es , N nsa nta ra i s be lieved to denote th e
Archipelago genera l ly , G urn n i s Goram , Seran i s Ceram , both
in the Moluccas , Do m po is a s ta t e in the is land of Sum baw a,
Bal i i s the i s land ' ly ing immedia te ly to the eas t.of J av a , S und a
is th e weste rn end of Ja v a i tsel f , and P alemb ang is of course th e
wel l-known place of th a t na m e in south-ea s tern Sum at ra .
H aru , which i s of ten ment ioned in th e Sgjarah MBlayu, w as a
s t a t e on th e eas t coas t of Sum at ra , Ta i ij ung Pu ra i s ev iden tly
Borneo or som e par t icular spot in Borneo, where a p lace
bear ing th a t na m e did in fac t exis t.
I
ollow her e the identifica-
t ions given by Brandes) . Th e nam es th a t part icular ly in teres t
us a re Pahang and Tum as ik : the former requires no co mm ent ,
th e la t te r i s cer ta in ly Singapore . I n th e SBjarah MBlayu th e
bld &m e of S inga pore is given as
,
-L
w h ic h t h e M n b g s
nowadays pronounce TBmasak. I t i s evident, however , th a t
t he re has been
a
break in th e t radi t ion here : t h e y o u g h t t o
call th e place TBmasek, as i t i s pr inted in th e Romanised 1898)
edi t ion of th e SBjarah M d ag n , fo r t h at would be the, proper
Malay equivalent for th e Javan ese form Tum asik , and we shal l
mee t w ith th e lat ter form again in ziqother Javanese wo rkd in h e
sam e connect ion. Brand es derives th e nam e f rom tcisek sea ,
and imagines an identification with Samnclra
'
(near Pasei) but
refer s to th e possibi li ty of Singapore being meant . Th e En cy -
clopaedie van Ne ded and sch -Ind ie (s . v. Tochten , vol. IV ,
pp.
383-4 , following Pro fesso r K er n, correctly identifies i t with
Singapore.
Evide nt ly , (and th i s i s imp or tant as .confi rming the amend-
ed chronology of th e Pen insula ), Singapore w as sti l l in exist-
e nc e a s a s t a t e i ~ n s u b d n e d b y M a j ap a h it a t t h e t im e w h e n
Gajah Mada made h i s vow, some ,yhere abou t t he yea r 1346
A.D. probably.
I t could n ot therefore hav e been f inally de-
st royed by th e force s of Rilajapahit in
1252
B.D . ( in which yea r ,
i t ma y be reli larkecl, N Iajapahit had n ot yet been found ed).
Mo s t n nfor t~u la t e ly he re i s a t t h i s po in t ol l acuna in th e
text of th e Pa rar ato n an d nothing wha tever is told us of th e
im po rta nt eve nts wll ich took place in pursuance ' of Gajah
Jour. Straits
Branch
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NOT S
O N
[:LLbY I-IISTORY.
45
M:~da ' sdecla~:eclpolicy of conqu est , except th at in 1357 X.D.
he picked a qu:trrel with th e Sun dane se wh ich ended in a
b lo od y b a tt le ~ v l ~ e r e i nhe y were defeated and s laug htered , and
tha t i n t he '~a cn e ea r an expedi ti on from ? Ia j a l~a h i t conque red
Do mp o. Th ere up on , cve are tolcl , Ga jah
Mads
again
rnade use of
pnlnpn.
Are we enti t led to infer that the whole of th i s grea t
m i n -
ister's pro gra m me of aggressive imperialism ha d been carried
out a t tha t d a te ? Alas, no for we know f rom Chinese sources
that Palell lbang was not conquered t i l l 1377 A.D., nine yea rs
af te r Gajah M ada 's de a th ' (which the Pa rara to n pu ts in Cska,
1290, i . e.
1368
A.D.). It would seem th a t h e was not ' par-
t icular in adhering to th e very ls t te r of h is
v o w ( a s s l ~ r n i u ~t
to he correc tly repor ted) but was content to
ut
nl?
.ivith an
instalmenf of his ambit ious plan. Un fortun ately the P ar ar a-
ton th u s leaves us in th e dark as to the precise clnte w hen
Singapore mas taken and destroyed ; l>ut i t lnnkes i t ~ l ~ i nh a t
th e event m us t have ha1,pened in the 14 th and no t , as th e old
chronology h as i t ,
ia
the 13 th century . have a l ready men-
t ioned th e fact th at the Hik avat Reje-mjn. Pasei 11nts the
conq uest of th e dom inions of th e king of Ujong Tan nh
sho rtly after th at of Palem bang . H ut i t does not specifically
m entio n Sin gap ore , though it s list of the isluncls conq uered
on this occasion includes Tinlbalan, Siantan
'
(in th e originel,
S ia tan) , JBmaja , Bnngu ran , SBrasan, Snbi , Polau I laut , Tiom-
an , P u la u Tinggi, PBmanggilan, K arim ata, BBlitong, Ban gka,
Lingga, Riau, Bintan and Bulang.
111 he vidence o the ~agarakr i ta~ama.
Pro bab ly we shal l never know th e exact da te of th e fal l
of Singapore.
B u t th e evidence
available
may a t any t ime he
st re n g th en ed by solme acciclental (1iscovel.y of a l.>i the rto
n n -
I
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46
NOTES ON
MA L A Y
I I ISTORY.
our of th e then reigning sovereign of M ajapah it .
T he l iing in
ques tion was H ay am W urnk , known by th e roya l s ty le of k ing
'Rajasanaga ra and a l so ns Sang H ya ng WBkasing Sukha , no t
to m ention al l h is o th er t i t les . Th is mona rch , who
w as a
son of the queen already m entioned, appears to have ascended
th e th r o n e a t t h e age of 1 6 in t h e y ea r 1 3 5 0 A.D., h is mother
(who t il l the n had .acted a s regent) having hamled over th e
go ve rn m en t t o 11im i11 t h a t ye ar ancl he reign ed till his cleath i n
th e year 13 89 A D I t was dur ing h is re ign t ha t th e power of
l l a j ap ah i t real ly culminated ancl i ts pol it ical expansion reach -
ed i ts widest ex tent .
T he l )oem, w r i t ten in th e Java nese language of th at period ,
is a11 impo r tan t h is to rica l docum ent . Th e un ique ~ n e n n s c ~ i p t
conta ining i t w as discovered b y th e la teDr . Brancles among th e
books of t h e last Balinese ruler of Lombolr, wh en th a t is land
w as taken under th e i ~ n ~ n e d i ~ t eontrol of th e D utc h colonial
Dr. Rrandes publ ished i t in Deel L I V of the
Verhandelingen van he t Batav iaasch Genoo tschap van K an s te a
en W etenschappen iu 1902 . Unfor tuna te ly
h e
only gave the poem
in theor ig inal Bal inesescr ip t , w ithout t ransl i teration , t ranslat ion
notes or cornrnentary , a c i rcumstance which leaves i t
a
sehled
.book except to an extremely l imited num ber of specialis ts or
i t i sg iven to few (evenam ongs t D ~z tch cho lars ) to unders tand
14 th . cen tu ry Javanese and read the Balinese charac te r read i ly .
U n d e r t h e cir cu m sta nc es o n e m u s t be t h a n k f ~ ~ lha t Pro fesso r
Ke rn h as g iven som e information on th e subject for the bene-
f it of th e general reader , wh o is not a X ami scholar . I n th e
Ind ische G ids for 19 03
I,
pp
341-360 ) he gave a gen eral ac -
count of t h e con tents of t h e poem, with par t icu lar reference to
some of i ts geographical da ta , an d in Deel L V I I I (1905) ancl
Deel L X I (1905) of th e Bijdragen to t de Taal- , L an d- en Vol-
kenkunde van Neder landsch-Indie he returned to the sub jec t
and dea lt mo re particnlarly with so m e of th e genealogical ancl
chronological details contain ed in th e poem. Colonel G .
E
Ge rini furth er dealt with som e of th e geographical dat a of th e
N garakgt g i i~na,specially those connected with Siam and
th e M alay
Pen insula , in paper pnblished in th e Journ al of
th e Roya l As ia t ic Soc ie ty ( Ju ly 1905) , to which I wrote a
Jour Straits Branch
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N O T E S
O N
MALAY FIJ.STORY. 47
r e ~ l y ontest ing his claim of an ancient Siam ese occupst ion
of th e whole Penin sula
(J.
R. A S. , J a n u a r y 1906). I n t h e
Enoyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indie (s . v. To chte n, vol. IV
p.
354
the geographical data relat ing to th e Archipelago and
th e Pe nin su la are again exalninecl and som e identifications
suggested.
Th ere i s s t il l scope for a few more rema rks on these
m a t t e r s
:
the subjec t is one of local intere st to th e readers of
th i s Journa l , an d som e of th e ident i f ica t io~is h a t have been
sug ges ted require to be arnended. Th e Niiyaral i6t~igarnamen-
t ions a considerable nu m ber of places in th e Ea st er n Archipel-
ago and the Malay Peninsula as being subject to the empire of
i\l lajapahit. Beginning in Ca nto 3 wit11 Sumatra, it specifies
J z m b i ,
Palembsng, 'I'Ega, D h; r r r n~ .~ ra ya ,candis, Icanwas,
Manangkebo , S iyak RBkan , Ih m p a r , Pa ne , Kam ge , Ha ru ,
Mandah i li ug , Turn ihang , P~ t r l a l r, B a t h , .Lw as , Samndra ,
L rtinur i, Ba t an , Lam pnng and Barus . Th ese and some
o t l ~ e r si e i n t h e l and of Xa layu , says t h e poem, as abs t r ac t-
ed by Professor Kern. It then proceecls to deal with the
depe nden cies on th e is la ~ ld f Tafijungna::ara, which i~
clear ly
the same as the 1 s-fijung Purapf t he Pa ra ra ton and
is
certainly
Bo rneo , as th e nam es of the several places on i t snff iciently
prove.
They
are : Ka pua s , Ka t ingnn , Sam pi t , K uta L ingga ,
Ku ta W er ingin , Sam bas , Lawai , ICadangdangan, Land,&,S a m &
dan g, Tir5112, Sed u, B uru ne ng ' (pr ob ab ly for BB rnna i-Bru nei),
ICalasaludung, Solo t, Pasir, Baritu, Sawak u, Tab alun g, Tuii-
jungkute, Malano, and the capi tal town Tal i jungpuri .
T h e poet next proceeds ( in th e second s t ro ph e of Canto
14) to enum erate a l i s t of p laces, which l ike tho se in th e two
preceding l i s t s , thoug h not in s t r ic t geographica l o r d e ~ , ave
evident ly been grouped together because th ey belong to one
de finite region . Th is region, to w11icl1 no ge neral nam e app ears
to be attachecl, is th e i\ 'lalay Peninsu la. Th e four l ines in which
they occur appear to m e to read as follo\~rs n th e pr inted text :-
i kang sakahawan P ehan g p ramuka t aug H ujun g Medin i
re LBngliasuka len ri S ai m wa ng i KalantEn i Tringgano
N a ~ o r a k a M u w a r D u n g u n r i T nm asilr r i S an g H y a n g
R A SOC. NO 3 1909
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48 NOT S ON MBL P IlISTORY
can no t claim to Be a Kaw i scholar ancl i t is qu ite l~ o ss i-
ble th at in m y at teml?ted t ransl iteration I m ay have diviclecl
som e of th e Jav an ese wo rds wrongly th e original ru n s .most of
the m toge ther wi thou t a break. B n t I am only concerned
w i th th e proper names which. the passage conta ins , and as
in th e interp reta t ion of som e of t l~ e se ven ture to. dif fer f rom
p r e v i o ~ r s c o r n m e n t a t o ~ s ,t was necessary to quote . th e whole
passage. T.he poet then goes o n to detai l the dependencies
lying to t h e east -w ard of J av a, beginning with B ali and inclurl-
ing a num ber o f 'places in th e Lesser Snn da Is lz incls , th e Mo-
iuccas and Celehes ancl even a s far as New G uin ea ; , in fact ,
covering pra 'cticall ;. t he whole Archipelago except th e P h i l i p
pines. I t is no t necessary for m y purpose to enum,erate t l ~ e s e
places here . ' B u t t h e vvllole list gives a ve ry good sum mal.)- oE
th e Archipelago a s known to th e Javanes e in th e 14th century
of
opr era; and tho agh in
a
good
m i n y
cases theclai ln ofsnprem cy
m a y h av e been of n s om e w h at s h a d o ~ ~ ~ yiincl, yet the list is
evidence of the l~redorninaatjbsition held h y the ltingclom
of
Majapah i t a t this period.
To re turn now
to
th e place-nnmes p o r e gar ticulayly corr-
nected with the 343,lay Peninsula : Pahang, Kalanten , Tr ing-
gnno, KEllang' (noweclays less a ccu rately wr itten K laug ) and
K6da
( i ,
o I
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River , ' r~nc lha t i s no doub t t he r eason why the two a r s s epa r -
at ely meationecl. T he Eu cy cl op id ie conjectarally iclentifies
LBngltasulta wit11 Selaug or, which is ce rti~ illly m istak e. Sa i
is one of t l ~ e ata ni s ta te s and l ies to the nor th -wes t of KG-
I i~ nta u . At th i s poin t
i n y
reading cliffe~sro111 Pr of ess or K er n' s.
H e r e ad s t h e w o rd s SaB ,in~rtrn /ogether as one proper nam e,
which he t rnnsl iterates Semong. B ut I kno w of no suc h
place-name an d take vrzoang to be a part ic le , as in the p i~ ss i ~g e
in Crtnto 13 which rends Sn?ln~drct nzrc17~q Lci11r7~1 1SL~CUL
I , L I I Z ~ I L ~ Z ~I L Z L : ~ , ~ Z { /
H L C I Z L S .Where t he t ex t I I ~ L S allparent1
y
N:~co r , P ro fes so r Kern wr it es Wagor. Pe rhap s N a ~ o r
was a ulis11l.int.
If
i t is r ight I c10 not kn ow w ha t it st an ds
for. Nagor h as been identif ier? by the En cy clo ye die w ith
Ligor ancl
11t~ve o alternative explanation to snggest . B u t
there
is
~
d i t f i c ~ ~ l ~ y
er t .
:
f o r
place citlled
L)har rn , ' l~ l%gar i
mentioned in Canto
15
of th e p o el n h a s a l so ( b y C ol. ~ e r i n i )
been identified with Ligor. nloreove r Ligor was a t this l~eriocl
certainly tr ibutary to Siarn nd could not w ith an y show of
reason be claimed by Majapr t l~ i t .
T h e next. two names , which take to be Pa ka and M n~val . ,
are read as onc expression
I
Pi ~k am nm ar by Professor Icern .
T h e E n c y c l o p a J i e s u gg es ts t l ~ a they rep rcsc nt 118kan M ua r,
th a t is to sa y a m ar t in th e tlistrict oE Munr o r oil th e R'luar
ri\.er. I incline to thin k tllat tliey stancl for two dis tinct places,
~ i z .a ; kIt1ar, ~ \ l I ~ ic h1011~forms par t of Jobo re, ( i .e . the mouth
of th e iNuar river, no t i ts upper cou rse) nncl 13) a r iver on the
East coast lying between IC6rnam,zn ancl Dungun in the state
of TrFtngganu. New bo ld ' (vo l. ii , p.
60
of his well known work
on the Pen insula B ri t ish Set t lem ents i,n th e Str ai ts of Malac-
ca ) spel ls i t P a k a a; Skinner in his .Geogm phy of the Malay
Per~insnla 11 . 29) cel ls i t P ak a ; my friend I\'lr. W. W. Skeat
informs lne tha t the Socie ty 's mal I spel ls i t Pake . Th e ident i -
fication is conjectui-al , of course, i ~ n d pn t i t forwa rd w ith
some clif6dence. B u t i t seems on the whole rather more prob-
ab le t han t he p 6 k ~ a in t.e rp re ta ti on .
The
next name, Dun-
~ L L L ~vllich is i~lso ~ r i \ ' e r -na lne , h i~susL been illcidelltally
accou nted for and requires no furthei. explaniztion. Tum asik,
R . A.
Suc
No 53 ~gog
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1
5 0
NOT S O
MA L A Y
HISTORY.
identi fied i n th is connexion with t h e Is land
of Singapore by
Professor K er n , Colonel Ger in i ancl t h e En cyclo psdie ,
inily
safelj l be said to be determined beyond all doubt or question :
an nclclitional piece of evidence regarding it
will
be mentionecl
la ter . JGre m ay, as th e En cy clo yz die suggests, be JBring in
t h e P a t a n i s t at e s.
B u t i t might equally well s tand for G un -
ong JBrai
;
only th is d is t r ic t is a lreacly refer red to by the m en -
tion of L 6ng kasn ka.
Kaiijapiuiran has received 11 satisfactory explanation as
ye t. Clea rly, if i t is a Rialay place-n am e an d not altogeth er
cor rup t , th e expression m us t be a co ml~ onndone, no t a single
word.
Th e r e r em a in s o n ly Sang ( H y an g ) H u ju n g .
Th i s i s r a th e r
an in t e re s t in g n ame . Pro fesso r Kern wr i tes i t Sang R ya n g
H u c l j u n , b ~ i th e o rigina l d i st in c tly h as a g ~ t t n r a l a s a l a s
th e finai of t h e last
word. T he Encyclo~~aecl ieonjectural ly
identif ies i t w ith Ujong Salang, i .e. J u n k Ceylon.
F o r t h i s
the re is no shado w of evidence or probability.
W e m u s t l ook
for i t e lsewhere.
lay n o s t r ess a t a ll on the f ac t of t he nam e
oc ct ~r r in g etween those of l urnasil i and Kglang th Z N iig ar -
al
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NOTES O 349LAP HISTORY. 151
th a t might be. B u t there ex i s ts n o river of th a t nam e : t h e
nam e i s no t a r ive r-name a t all b u t t h e n a m e
of
a smal l
s t re tch of coast - l ine, and though there is an imp ortan t cape
the re i t ha s no river alongside of i t . One pop ular etymology
is reported by M r.
D.
F. A Hervey in No. 13 of t h i s Jou rna l ,
P. 241.
B u t i t is as impossible as most popular e tymologies
usually are and is moreover lrlixed u p with an equally improb-
ab le exy lana tion of th e na m e of t h e st at e of RF?mbau.
I t i s
real ly n ot worth repeat ing here, for th e 14 th cen tury Jav ane se
nam e expla ins every th ing . Th e modern nam e Snngai Ujong i s
evidently a cor rupt ion ( through the 17th cen tury San-yan g
Hu jong ) of th e of Sang H ya ng Hu jung , wh ich means much
t h e s a m e a s our
Holyhead .
T h e reference is to th e pronlo ntory nsua,lly called Cape
Racl~aclo,ro111 th e Portug uese nam e, which th e M aleys now -
adays s ty le Tanjoug Tuan. I t i s a ce lebra ted k r ~ ~ z c ~ tr
s h r i n e a d h a s of course its local Iegeilcl. ( ) Nowadays
I
fancy i t is sul)gosed to be th e toinb of so m e orthodox
Mul~~ammac l snain t or wol.tby. B u t in fact i t is a n 0li1
anim istic holy glace going back to very ancien t t imes and
owing i ts or igin to
a
simple. n a tu r d l>henomenon. Th e reason
for t h e speci.il sa1.lctification of th e s po t is in cide ntally given by
Begbie ' ( Th e M alayan Peninsa la ," y. 432) ancl Newbold' O ~ J .
cit., vol. ii, 12.
38) . It
is merely th a t a t th is cape 1iw0 strong
ancl 01)posing currenlis m eet ancl cau se a clangerous edd y or race
in -which boa ts a r e l iab le t o be upset . H e y e i t has na tu r al ly
come abo ut th at , to use Newbolcl
s
phrase, th e Dn t ln Tanjong
T ilan , th e elcler of Ca pe R ac ha do , is a sa in t of no orclinary
celebrity among the: sea-faring class of aatives."
Th at exhaus t s the names connected wi th the Peninsula
contailled i n th e passacre I have e xtra cted from the N?i_vnrakre~i%-
L
gama. I gath er f rom Professor Kern 's abst ra ct th at the las t
two words imply th at besides the places specif ied there p e r e
several groups of is lands which th e poet ha s no t thou ght i t
1) Tlle legend ha s been pu t on record by'
M r .
1 .
?
A . Herv ey
in
M a n "
1904),
pp.
6 6
;
h u t a t Llle n io nle ut of w r i t i ~ ~ g
an ull
a b l e to r e fe r t o i t f o r t h e p u r p o se of s e e in g w l ~ e t l l e r t t l ~ r o ~ v sn y
ad d i t i o n a l l i g ht , o n t h e o r i g in of t h e n am e Snngai Cijong.
R .
A . Soc., No.
53
xgog
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52
N O T E S O MALAY HISTORY
necessary to n:Lme.
Un fortunately the se old nam es tel l us very
l i t tle ibo ut tho condit ion of th e Pen insula a t the per iod when th e
N ii~a rak 1.5 tag arn a as wri ten. But the y tell
u s
something.
W e
need not fullow the loyal and co ~r rt l y rapaiicha
i l l
c l a i ~ i ~ i r ~ gha t
X aja pa hi t exercised a real suprem acy over al l these places;
P i ~ l e m b a n gwas not conqnerecl b y the Javanese unt i l a dozen
yea rs l ate r ancl yet it is incluilecl a~ n o n g s t he clel~enden cies of
M a j a l ~ a h i t n th e poem. I t is er lual ly improbable th a t su ch
out lying places as I i6 lan tan and Sai were genuinely s nbjec t to
Majapahi t . B u t th e l i s t of Pen insula r names sutices a t a n y
ra te to negative the view recently put forwarcl by M r. R. J.
Wilkinson in Pnp ers O II Malay Snbjec ts (His to ry , P a r t I,p.8)
th a t th e Malny colonis i~t ion f
the
Peninsu la da tes on ly f rom th e
year 1400
A.
D. E vide n tl y t he re w e re a l r e a dy in the ln idd l e o f the
1 4 t h
cen tury
a
num ber of se t t lem ents sca t tered a long th e
coas t - l ine , both on th e eas t and on th e wes t side of the P en ia -
sula.
It
i s noticeal jle th a t unl ike t h e names re la t ing to S uni-
a t r a
none of the Peninsular names given
n
tbe Nagsraliri : t%garna
have any re fe rence to th e in te r io r of th e cou nt ry : they a re
se t t lem ents on th e coas t or bare ly a few miles in land) . Som e
of these se t t l ements even th e ~ i o re the same narnes as they
70
a t th e presen t d ay and on e or two of the se names a re dist incb-
ly M alay . La ngk asu ka is no dou bt of Ind ian origin, Nag or (if
th at be the right readin g) is India n ~llodifiecl
by
Indo-Chinese . ,
pr on un cia tio n, KBlang K &clah and JBre may possibly be of M on -
K hm er origin, Sai is perha ps Siam ese, and most of th e oth ers
I
woulcl no t try to explain. B u t KBlantan seem s to be N alay an
in fo rm, and D ungun i s the M alay name for
n
common sen-
shore t ree (according to
Mr. H. N .
Ridley in N o.
30
of th is Jo ur-
nal ,
1111. 87 K 44) . Of
course S an g 'H y an g H u j ~ ~ n gs M alayan
also, but i t i s just th e so r t of na m e tha t mariners give to a not-
able
l l ~ n d u ~ a r knd b y
itself it would not be evidence of a c tu i~ l
h ln lay se t t l ement hu t lne re ly of Ma1a.y ~ ~ ~ ~ v i g a t i o nnd trade.
Taking
these na ,mes , hon ~ev er ,
s
whole,
I
th ink th ey support ;
the inferencethatbefo. re
1365
A.D. theMnlnps l~ ada l read y o lon-
isecl Lot11 c o i~ s ts f th e P eninsu la,. It i s a lso pre t ty c lear th a t
a t t hn t
d te
Singq~ot -e a s
still
in esis tence and t h a t M alacca
h i ~ d ot jret been founclecl
:
for a l i st t l l i ~ t num erates Kelang, S un -
J o \ ~ r .
Slraits
Bra nc h
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N O T E S O N MALAY I ~ 1 S T O R Y . 54
gai Ujong , Singapore en d (prob ably) i\Iriar would hardly have
omitted M alacca, wh ich lies between the se l~ la ce s, f it hacl
existed a t th at t ime. Th is s tr ing of nam es therefore once
more confi rms t he am ended chronology th at have suggested.
W itho ut lay ing any part icu la l- s t ress on th e fac t . th ink
i t is worth while drawing a t ten tion to t h e consic lerable galls
Irft by
the Xsgarak r t igam a i l l its e ~ ~ u m e r a t i o u .
I'he
Ertcyclo-
~ s d i eoints out the omission of Senggora, ancl P at an i. I t is
equally noticeable th at th ere is a complete blank between
Ii6clall ancl Xe lang no t a single place on th e coa st of P er ak is
.mentioned. T he sam e is t ru e of th e coast- l ine intervening
be tween th e Pah ang r iver and Po in t Rnmgnia. It may be
snrmised th a t th e re were a t tha t ea r ly cle te no se t t lemen ts of
any note along those two strips of coast.
IV.
F u r t h e r D e t a il s f r o m t h e W u -P ei- Pi -S hu C h a r t s .
brief reference must be made to some additional allnost
co n t e ~ n p o r a r yeviclence wh ich serv es to confir111 th a t of th e
N5garaklE:iigama in some points and t o supplernel~t t in others .
For reasons \vh ic l~will prese ntly be obvious can no t pretend
to do justice to thi s indep ende nt sourc e, ancl regret th at I
can only use i t as a sort of a l~l~ encl ixo rvhat ha s ~ ~ l re t~ c l yeen
saicl, ins tea d of dealing with it as adeq uately as it deserves.
T he evidence in question is th at of t he Chinese ch art s appended
to Chinese work called themi l-yei- pi-sh n, by one Sh e, Yung-
t 'oo. This work , i t appears f rom two papers in Vol .
XX.,
pp.
209-226
and Vol. X X I . ,
pp. 30142
of the Jorrrnal of the China
Br anch of th e Royal Asia t ic S ocie ty, is a re la t ively m odern com-
pilation but embodies m u c h makerial talien straight out of con-
siderably older books. M r.
G. Phil l ips , th e auth or of the two
papers jus t re fe rred to , considers tha t t he ch ar ts appended to i t a re
older th an the comm encem ent of the f ifteenth cent ury. They
ar e a.lleged to be t h e cha r ts used b y the Chinese cap ta ins who
navigate:l
t he
vessels conveying the celebreted Chinese
envoy
C h h g K O ( co n l~ l~ o n l yalled S a ~ n - ~ ~ o )~ n d
i s
su i te to the var i -
ous s o u tl ~ e rn n'cl wester11 cou ntr ies which Ile visited. (T his
envoy,
I
Ill )' l )a~.ent[le t ic i~[1ybserve, is recorcie~l o have visit-
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54 NOT S ON M A L A Y
HISTORY.
ed Malacca in
1409 A
D. T he l is t of m an y oth er places
wh ich h e visited in t h e cou rse of his official caree r is given
i n
an ext rac t f rom the His tory of th e Ming Dy nas ty by Mr .
W .
P.
Groe~levelclt n his valuable N ot es on th e M alay Archipel-
ago an d l ila lacca, reprinted in Bliscel la l~eous ape rs relat ing
to Indo-China, and th e Inclian Archipelago, 2nd Series , Vol.
I. p.
170.
H e went as far afie ld as Magadoxu in E a st Africa).
Mr . G. Phillips h as published facsimiles of the se c ha rts
in t h e form of a long continuous strig, divided for convenience
in to two pa r ts . Th e pa r t r e la t ing to t h e r eg ions to t he ea s t -
ward of Tenasserim appears in Vol. XXI. , of the
S.
China
Branch R .A .S . an d i s t h e one t ha t concerns us he re . It con-
taius a g reat de al of geographical information in a m uc h
dis tor ted shape . Th ere i s
no
approach to accuracy in i t s
plotting of the outline s of th e different coun tries se t down in
i t . Th us th e coas t of th e Malay Peninsula i s l aid down as a n
irregular l in e, following o ne a lm os t uniform direction fro111
right to lef t of the ch art , a l l t h e way between SBnggora a nd
Tenasser im . I n fact i t is plainly th e record of
R n
ac tua l
coasting voyage or voyages. Is la nd s are m arked in va;ioas
places along th e coast and both on these and on m any points
of the coast l ine itself sp pe ar Chinese characters . N an y of
these characters represent in t ranscr ipt ion the nat ive naines of
places. Oth ers appe ar to be Chinese clescn l~tivenames .
A
good m an y of th es e variou: place na m es have been identified
by Mr . Phil lips. B u t he a lq ea rs t o have omi t ted a cer ta in
llumber of others. H i s tran slite ratio n of th e Chinese cbara c-
hers follows a dialect which is evident ly not the on e in which
they were in tended to be read and does not tend to fac il it a te
identification. Pro bab ly to o a good deal of add ition al light
coulcl be throw n on the se na m es by som e o ne possessed of
local knowledge. therefore ven ture to invi te th e at tent ion
of Chinese scholars in th e S t ra i t s to these char t s and sugges t
that, th ey should bring the ir com bined local knowleclge and
Chinese scholarsh ip to bear upon them .
I n the meant ime M r . Phil lips ' l abours enable m e to quote
a cer tain num ber of glace nam es recorded in this cha rt . Pr o-
Jour traits
Branch
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NOT S
ON .IALAT HISTORY.
55
ceeding from right to left and start ing zt Sgnggorag a
Srm-ku-nn., we pass four groups of unexplained Chinese
charac ters and t llen arr ive a t the I i6lantan r iver
En' &
I
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156 NOTES O N MALAY EIISTORY.
-
to tlie l ef t ((port, so uth ) sicle
( 1
Tan-nacc-sezh
s marked on the
co ast just opy osite th e secon d of th e starbon1.d islands .
After
passing the shoal to port , th e course run s between Karim un
5 lp7
Keih-li-nwt,
hich it l ikewise leaves to i ,ort,
aria P ~ i l a ~ l
i sang l ~ ~ & Qi-s./iuy-s~ c,
eaving the latter
t o s ta rb o nrd. T h i s s ee m s to m e to c lin ch t h e ~ o m a k = T B h a -
sek
=
Tan-ma-seih = Singapore equation absolutely.
7
Of
coilrse th e ch art is n ot evidence th at Singapore was
s t il l an inhabi ted se tt lement a t the t ime wh n i t w as compiled.
.laps ~ n dha rts often contain names th at are merely. tcadition-
a1 : they a re
usually
compilat ions-, en~b odyin g he notes and
rec ord s of several ge ne rat ion s of trav ellers and navigato rs.
Besides, nam es often adh ere to sites long after they have ceased
to be inhabi ted . W e sha l l see in
a mom ent tha t th is i s prob-
ably the case in the present instance , for t he -ne xt th ing on
the ch ar t after Pnlau Pisang (and wrongly put quite close to
( 1 ) 'l 'l~e str trboard is lands, so f ar a s I can 1nal;e ont, are rr~arlced
gjgm t h e p o r t i J a n d s
( f ) a n d (g) l ie jus t oppos i te (be lo \v)
c).
The sl loal (11) '@@:
l ie s jus t to t i le fe l t ( \ve s t ) of (g) a n d a bit Eurtl ler, on t i le sou th- \v est
a p p a r e n t. l y , c on le s l i a r i ~ n u n .
Xr. l 'hil l ips con ject ura l ly identif ies (c), wl~ ic l the t r a - s~ i t e r a i t e s
Ch c ~ , i ~ - ~ ~ c t o , ~ l - s c r , ,i th S i n g a p o r e i s l a t ~ d but I t l l i111~t r e p r e e e ~ ~ t sollle
smal l i s land ly in g to th e son th of S ing apore ie la ~rd . I -' e rhaps, ,i t i s
t 'nliln . t 'anjsng : the ( lq,hineselallle 111ea11s Long \Vaist Island.
2 )CCf
P e l l io t , i r ~ u l l et in de I 'Ec o le 13ran1;;tise ' E ~ t r 8 1 n e r ient ,
19U4, Tonle I\ ., p. 345 a n d O e r i ~ ~ i ,. A . A l ~ l y 905 P a r t
III . ,
1 , ~ .
00.1.
rile
f i rs t n a n ~ e d ay e r i s
a
lo ng nil l e a r ~ ~ e di s se r t a t iou
in \\ h ic h a v ery l a rg e ui lm b er of p r o b l e ~ ~ ~ sf h is to ri c al ge o l~ r a p hy
r e l a t i ~ ~ go S o11 t .h - Ea n te r t~ s ia a r e e s l ~ a nz t i c e ly is cusse d .
It
teenrs
wit11 re tare ocr s to al l lllanrler of son rces, A sia tic aud Eul.oyean, and
s l ~o nl d e ie fLrrecl to by a l l \vho a re i~ l te res tec l ll theseq nes t ion s .
Jour .
Straits Branch
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NOTES ON ;\4ALA'I HISTORY
157
i t ) i s an es tuary in th e coast line, on the f r~r t l l e r r ight geogmph-
i c d hanlr of which i s a mounta in 01- lleaclland m,zrkeil
S ~ c i - ~ h w ~ ~ - ~ b m i ,
resulnabl y Tao long SagBnting,
B a t u Pa ha t , a s Mr . Ph i ll ips suggest s.
Th e course af t e r leaving
Pn lau Pisang passes some half dozen unn am ed i s lands on
th e sta rboard s ide and then puts in a t an in le t or r iver-mouth
on the left geographical bank of which i s t he en t ry 'ag fia
which Mr. Phi l l ips t ranscr ibes J f z ~an - la -k bn ,adding tha t
th e Amoy pronuncia t ion of t he ch arac ters i s Moa-la-ka . There
i s n o sor t of doub t th a t M alacca i s in tended : t h e s a m e c h a r -
a c t e r s a r e u n ~ f o r m l yused in th e various ' Chinese sources
t rans la ted bv Groeneveldt . Prob ably i f the o the r names in
the cha r t were r ead wi th t l l e ~ rHolrkien sou nd s i t woulcl ~ n n k e
th e whole t hmg m ore i n t e ll i g~b le . On th e r igh t geograp l ii cd
banlr of th e sam e inlet is the e ntr y e hich Mr.
Phill ips bas not explained.
I inay add thpt th e sail ing clirections in sc~ ibecl on th e
ch ar t rec ti fy th e rough -draw ing of the c har t i t se lf .
T h e y r un
in t h e oppos i te c lirection to th a t which
I
ha ve been following,
anrl go from Samudra vi$ Malncca to China.
I
ex t r ac t t he
follocving from Mr. Ph illips ' version , of th em
:
Going from
Malacca for five watches the vessel sigli ts Sejin Ting and Batu
P ah at r iver , three w atches f rom which Pe& ng i s land i s reach-
ed, and in f ive watches more Carimon is reached, f ive watches
m o r e S.E.
by E.
brings the vessel off Long Waist is land
(S ing epo re? ) and in to t he L inga S t r a i ts , I ) t hr o ug h w h i c l ~ ~ . . f o r
five watches on a course
E.
by very l i t t le N he Wh i t e 'Rock ,
Peclra B ran ca , is reached." Th e course the n proceeds in five
no r watches N. E . by N. o th e eastrrlsrd of Pu lau Aor,
~ n c l
t li ence to P ul su Condor and so on l~as t;C a p e S t . J a m e s t o
China. I t i s plnin th at these sai l ing direct ions confirm the
identifications alreacly given. . . ~ .
. .
11
T h i ~ell11 i s 11ere improperlg t rar~sfer re~lr o m t h e
Linggn
S t r a ~ t so the Straits of Singapore.
.
.
. .
R
A
SOC.
NO 3
1909
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158 ?TOTES ON
JIBL Y
RISTOIiY.
con t inu ing to follow th e coas t o f , he Pz n i~ l su la a s laic1
down in the cha r t , f ind nex t a f t e r th e in le t where Malacca i s
marked, a place called
Eh @
I a -~ U ZL-SC ZI ;lIiOh Mr.
Phil l ips identif ies a s Fish er 's is le t
(?)
. Th e Chinese nam e
a p p e a r s t o m e a n
Fa l s e F i v e I s l a n d s b u t t h e c h a ra ct e rs a r e
on the ma in land i ts el f. Remember ing th a t F ive I s l and s i s
an o ld Chinese nam e for Malacca , i t m ay be conjec tured th a t
' tl i is entr y refers to th e neighbonrhood of P o rt Dick son and
Cape Rachaclo. Ne xt, after coasting a considerable distan ce,
is reached
%Ed $$
Iirie??-h.?~a-se?hs i t app ears t o r e d
in M r. Phil l ips ' dialect : though be ha s no t t ransl i terated i t ) ,
jus t near which in the sea is marked
%&
n l i e ~ ~ - l l ~ f i -
ch/ielz, which M r. Ph illips identifies a s So nth Sh oals. T h e
names appear to be pnre ly Chinese descr ip t ions , ,got a t tempts
to , reproclnce geli'uine native nam es. T he second name appea rs
in t h e mid st of fo ur or five
sm all ~1 nna m q.i sland s lying off
Ke.h-lilq-k..,zg,
h e m on th of a n inlet in3rke:l
Kling rivet. shou ld like to read KBlang river
if
t h e
Chinese cha rnc ter s a,llow of such a p ronunc iat ion , a s to i ~ l ~ i c h
ques t ion
I
express no opinion. Ne xt , somewhat in land , i s
marked g lsk Keih-.?t~'-tn-siio.~~,nidenti6ed.
The n, bu t some dis tance fur ther , we pass a n island marked
f i f l I
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NOTES ON M L Y HISTORY. 59
P h ~ g l m g s c u .which if these char t s a re
really over
500
years old) is,
I
suppose, th e f i rs t recorded m en-
t ion of Pn lan Pinang, comm only called Penang. On th e sam e
assumpt ion , t ha t t hey a re t he cha r t s used for Chkng H o s voy-
ages, th e above not iced men t ion of M alacca is also th e f i rs t on
record ;
for ap ar t f roin these cha rts Malacca is f i rs t descr ibed
in t he account wr i t t en by M a H ua n in 1416
A.D.,
t h i s Ma
H u a n be ing Chinese Muham madan wh o had acco lnpan ied
ChBng Wo as inte rp rete r on his travels. Chkng H o s first voy-
nge was under taken in
1405
A.D. ancl a,s i t m ay be assumed
tha t h i s sh ip -cap ta ins ~ l l a d e se of t he mo s t up- to -da te cha r t s
the y could obtain, th e men t ion of Malacca need not snrpl ise
us , for th a t tow n had then probably been in exis tence for 20
or 5 years . B u t of course we cannot be sur e th a t the char t s ,
even supposing them to be really old, have no t been som ewh at
modified and brought
up
to date s ince ChCng H o s t ime. M y
point i s th a t whatever may be the i r ac tual da te in the i r present
shape , they undoubtedly embody some very a ncient da ta , a s
th e case of Tan-ma-se ih su6c i en t ly proves. W he the r t he
en t ry refer ring to Pena ng goes back 500 years or not
I
leave
a s an open ques t ion, thoug h I see no reason why i t shoulcl
not th e i s land i s a very conspicuous objec t to mar iners navi-
gat ing along that coast .
Nex t af ter Pen ang i s land i s a wel l lmarked r iver-mouth in
th e coast l ine, let tetecl
Keih-tn-kiangh a t i s t o
s i ~ y h e IiBclsh river, ancl a l i t t le fur th er o n an island marked
8 @@ Lung-yn-kino-yindou btedly from i t s posit ion
represent ing the Langkawi i s lands though the Chinese
n a m e is m uc h clistortecl from t he original. Ne xt com es ail
is land bearing t h e f ive charac ters
n
3 i H which
Mr. Phi l l ips does not explain, and here we appear to be pret ty
well a t the l imi t of t h e Malay Pen insula proper , for th e nextblace
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16 NOTES ON M A L A Y HISTORY
marlr ed on th e coas t li ne bea r s t l ie ch a r r c t e r s %, &@[]J
( a lso unexpla ined pe rhap s the y r ep re sen t Tak ua head land ,
i f t he re i s one? ) and the n , a f t e r pas sing tw o r ive r s an d seve ra l
unnamed i s lands , me reach Tenapser im, which l ies ou ts ide
my
present sphere of in te re s t .
V. P r e h i s t o r i c S p e c u l a t io n s a n d C o n je e lu r es .
Th e ev idence he re pu t t oge the r g ives, h ink , a n ou t l i ne
p ic tu re of wh a t t h e M a lay P en insu la w as in t h e s econd half of
tl ie 1 4 t h . c e n to r y, w l l ic l ~ b o ~ ~ g l le ry ske t ch y i s no t a l t oge the r
w i t h o u t i n t e r e s t t o u s m o d e r n s . Ono \vould l ike to peer
f u r t h e r b ac k i n t o t h e d i m p a s t
of
t h i s r eg ion and fo rm some
sor t of idea a s to w hen th e process of Malay co lonisa t ion begnu.
B u t ~n i for t una te ly he re i s very l i t t l e evic lence to he lp us . Mr
JVilkinson l iypothel ical ly gives Singapo re a very sh ort le as e of
l ife, ( f rom 136 0 P I t o 1377 A. D. h e s ug ge st s) . T h a t h o n ~ e r e r
is qui te impossible to l isve inacle th e impression th at i t d ii l
o n l' l a lny legend and t rac li tion, i t m us t ha ve las ted m uc h
longer and
I see no r ea son why i t should no t hav e f lonrisher l
dur ing th e reigns of f ive gen erat io ns of l i ings, a s th e SEjaral l
M8lay
n
asse r ts . T h a t mould give i t an exis tence of a l)out
~
c e n t u ry a s
a
i\'l lay se t t l em ent , sa p f rom abo ut
128
A
D.
t o
th e t im e of i t s des t ruc t ion ab ou t 133 7 A. D . As a a l a t te r of
f a c t t h e r e i s s o m e e v id e nc e t h a t a s e t t l e m e n t h a d e x i st e d ul ) o n
t h i s s p o t a t a n e v en e a rl ie r d a t e : b u t w e d o n o t k n o w t h a t i t
w as a M a lay o n e a n d i t ~ a ya v e - b e e n a M o n - K h m e r c o lo n y.
Crawfurd in h i s Desc r ip t ive Dic t iona ry of t he Ind ian I s l a nd ,
p 402,
r eco rds t h a t amo ng th e ru ins of t h e o ld S ingapore
(wh ich amoun ted to ve ry l i t tl e when we acqn ir ed th e p l ace in
8 9 A
D.)
w ere found so m e Ch inese coins t h e oldest of \vhicIi
),ore the name of an emperor n.110 died i n 967 A D. Unfo1,-
tmla t e ly he om i t s t o t el l u s w ha t t h e da t e s of t h e r ema in ing
coins lyere and O T inany different speciinens of Chinese coin-
age wer.e r e p f ~s en te i l n th e finr l, a l though th a t in forma. tion
wonlcl L ~ a re e en v e ry m ~ ~ c l lo t h e p o in t .
Of
course i t i s no t
s a f e t o a s s u m e t h a t t h e r e n 7 as a s e t t l e m e n t a t S in g ap o re a s
Jour ,
Stra i t s
Branch
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NOT S O N MALAY HISTORY. 6
e k l y as the 10 th . cen tu ry s imp ly because
a
Chinese coin of that.
period hns ben found tliere.
B ut on the facts i t does seem
probable th at there was a t rading stat ion there considerably
before the middle of the 13th century.
Colonel.Gerini , in his ar t icle already referred to , has devot-
ed
a good deal of ingenious speculat ion and conjecture to the
question of th e ant iqu ity of Singapore in pre-Ma lay time s. But
fenr th at the conclus ions he ar r ives a t a re merely hyyothet i -
cal. T he y clepencl largely on s~ lgg es ted etym ologies of local
na m es wliicli do no t ca rry conviction.
If,
however, he is right
(as think he probably is) in his theory th at there was once
a n old M on -K hm er tmding station on th e islaucl of Singa pore,
i t is certain th a t i t n ~ i l s t have been abancloned some where
abo ut th e middle of t h e 13 th cen tury
if
not ear lier ). Fo r a t
th a t period th e Siamese became f inally the m astcr s of t l ie
whole N en am val ley and a generation or so la ter Ligor , as
well i s Tenasserirn and Tavoy, became tr ibutary to the Siamese
ltingclom whose capital was at S ~ tk h ot h ai . Colonel Ge rini
c la ims t ha t about 1280 8 D . t l ~ e iamese conquered no t mere -
ly Ligor bnt th e whole of the Malay Peninsula. One can
on ly say tha t
u
to th e present the re is no suff icient evidence
to suppor t such a, claim. f the y conquerecl it th en , w hy clicl
they le t i t go again a few generat ions la ter?
Although there seem s to be no sn fic ien t reason for believ-
ing t h ~ th e Siames e ever subdnecl the rvhole of th e Pe nin sul a,
th e re is evidence th a t a t th is period th ey cam e into conflict 117ith
the Malays . I n the His tory of the Yuan dynasty there i s an
en try stat ing th at in th e f i rst j7ear of the period Yuan-C heng
(i.e. 1295 a n e m b a : ~ ~as sent. by Siarn t o th e co urt of Ch ina,
on which occas ion as the S iamese had for a long t ime pas t
b ee n a t w a r w i t h t h e
fiRg a
(Malays), both peoples
snbrnittecl (i .e, to t he m ajesty of C4ina) and an Im pe rial ord er
was i ssued to the S iamese say ing : Do no hu r t to the Malays ,
SO
that yon may keep your promise ' .
This en try is quoted in
Bow ring 's Kingdom a nd People of Siarn, Vol. I , p . 7 1 nnd has
Gerini, Historical Retrospect of
Jnnkceylon Islanct,
in Joiirnal
of the Siam Society,
1905
p. 131.
R
4. SOC.
NO
3
I909
*I1
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62 N O T E S O N
MBLAY
HISTORY.
beendiscussed by the l a te P rofessor Sch lege l in T 'o ~ u l g ao , Vol.
I X , No.
4 .
H e thinks that i t m ust refer to the & lalays of th e
Pen insula i t does not seem l ikely th at the Siamese could hav e
had prolonged l~osti l i t ieswi th Sum at ra a t th i s pe riod . I t l ~ i n l c
he i s r ight a s to tha t po in t and in te rp re t th e en t ry as record ing-
th e fac t tha t xvhen t h e Siamese , af ter asser t ing thei r sup rem acy
over Ligor, pressed fu rthe r sout11wn1-d into th e no rth er n pa rts
af th e Peninsu la , they cam e in to conf lict w i th th e M alays w ho
had a l ready a t th a t t ime colonisecl th e coun try . T hi s would
throw back the beginnings of regular Malay se t t lem en t in th e
Pen insnla well in to the m iddle of th e 13 th cen tury , if no t
ear l ier, and r see no reason wh y th at should not .be so . At
any ra te i t is qu i te ce rta in tha t Mr. Wilkinson 's 1400
A D,
is
much too la te . Malacca wa s not , in point of t ime , the f irs t
Malay s e t t lem ent on th e m ainland ; i t rose rapidly to a position
of preclominance w hich overshadowed i t s older neig l~b ou rs, ut
i t by no n ean s m ark s th e beginnings of i \l[alny im ~n ig ra tio n n -
to the Peninsula.
1
H e r e I m ust take leave of th is subject . I t may be con-
venient if 1 , s t a te briefly th e general conclusions wh ich t b e
evidence here adduced appears to me to establish. Th ey fire
as follows:-
I )
h at th e M alay colonisa t ion of the Peninsula ~ v a s lre,zdy
in p rogress in th e 1 3 th cen tu ry ;
2 ) tha t Siugapore , as a M alay sett l em ent, urns founded in t l lnt
ce ntu ry (or possibly even earlier
I
(3 ) t l lat Singapore w as st i l l in existence through out the f irst
60 01 70 years of th e 14t h. century
&nil
must have been
conquered and destroyed by t he Java nese of Najag all i t
s l lort ly after
1377
A D .
4 ) tha t Malacca IWLS no t foundeil t il l sonle sh or t t ime afte r
1377
A D .
5 ) t h a t t h e
reigning
family of fi'Islaccn did not 1,ecome
converted to M uham madanism unti l very near the end
of the 14 th centu ry
Pelliot; loc: cif p.
242
gives the same entry
s
I\
ell
s
nnni-
ber of others' (p . 324 et seq.)
m e nt i on i ng t h e M a l a ys .
I
have fol lo\ re(l
his version.
Jour. Straits
Branch