A grammar and dictionary of the Malay language : with a preliminary ...

DISSERTATION. cclxxvii
suppose them while either in quest of booty or adventure, to be
driven into the south-east monsoon or the trade -wind by a
tempest. Unable to regain the shores of the Archipelago, they
would, from necessity, and after some struggle, put before the
wind, and make for the first land. That land would be Mada-
gascar, for there is no other. In civilisation, the adventurers
would be superior to the natives; their numbers would be too few
for conquest, but their power, from superior civilisation, might
be adequate to secure a compromise. They would settle—amalgamate
with the inhabitants, and convey some instruction to
them, along with a portion of their languages. It is not
necessary to limit such an enterprise to the single adventure of
one nation, for in a course of ages there may have occurred
several accidents of the same description. One, however, might
have sufficed, for the roving fleets of the Archipelago, like our
own bucaneers, have crews of several nations, among whom
several languages would be spoken, but the most general the
Malay and Javanese.
A fleet that had been more than a month at sea, going, it
knew not where, is not likely to have saved any domesticated
animals, even supposing it originally to have had such, and conse-
quently, we find no domestic animal with a Malayan name in
Madagascar. It is not only possible, however, but highly
probable, that from its stock of provisions, it would save a
few grains of rice, a few coconuts, and a few capsicums, perhaps
even some yams and mango-seed, and all these in the Malagasi
language bear, as already mentioned, Malayan names, and
these only.
But I shall endeavour to show the possibility of such a voyage
as I have imagined, by quoting the example of a similar one,
asserted by the Malays to have been actually performed by them.
The narrative of this supposed adventure is given in some detail
in a book called "The History of the Raja of Malacca." This
raja was Mahmud, from whom Albuquerque took Malacca, in
1511. The Portuguese Commander, Segueira, had, in 1509,
attacked Malacca unsuccessfully, and it was in the time
between this and the conquest that the sovereign of Malacca
is said to have sent an embassy to Constantinople, to claim