A grammar of the Malayan language, with an introduction and praxis..

viii INTRODUCTION.
over what they term provincial dialects, I have only to say that
it is by no means my intention to contest that superiority, how-
ever ideal, which may have been acquired by a more extensive
intercourse with other nations, but only to state the grounds for
a belief that the generic name of Maldyu, now so widely disse-
minated, did not in its origin belong to that country, but to
the interior of the opposite island, where, in the neighbourhood
of the mountain of Suifgei-pagu, so celebrated for its gold mines,
and from whence rivers are said to flow towards either coast, it
is found as a common appellative at this day, and particularly
belongs to the great tribe of Sungei-pagil Malayu, of whom an
account is given in the work of valentyn, v deel, " Beschry-
vinge van Sumatra," p. 13, 14.
In discussing this subject it becomes necessary for me to ob-
serve upon some passages in a paper " on the Languages and
Literature of the Indo-Chinese nations " printed in vol x. of the
Asiat. Researches. The untimely and unfortunate loss of its
ingenious author, under circumstances the most favourable for
the prosecution of his inquiries, I deeply regret, and the more
pointedly as I feel myself called upon, in defence of my own, to
question the correctness of several of his opinions that appear
to have been too hastily adopted, and which I wished him to
have brought to the test of local knowledge. " The Menang-
Jcuboiu race (he states) who seem at an early period to have ruled
the whole island of Sumatra, whose chief assumes the title of
Maha Raja of Rajas, and derives his origin from Lankapura,
speak a dialect of Malayu which differs considerably from that
of the peninsula; but which seems, as far as I can judge, to
coincide in many respects with the Jaxva or Javanese language.
The race have probably derived their origin from Langkapiira
in