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

INTRODUCTION. xiii
have no claim to be excepted from the foregoing* definition of
western foreigners, or settlers from Arabia, Persia, and the
coasts of the peninsula of India, attracted by the richness of the
trade, and intermixed with the natives of the country by mar-
riages, or rather, perhaps, in these days, the progeny of such
hiixture.
Upon the subject of these terms Mi", raffles has judiciously
observed to me that in their collective sense they are equivalent
to the Arabic expression ^\jij£. arahu cijem, denoting all man-
kind, as Greeks and Barbarians, Jews and Gentiles ; which is
perfectly true as to the universality, but the Malays do not, in
imitation of those arrogant phrases, assume to themselves a superiority
over the rest of the world ; for however, as Maho-
metans, believing in one God, they might be inclined to rank
themselves above all polytheists, this sentiment cannot apply to
other Mahometans of the continent of India, much less to their
religious instructors the Arabians. Their expression must be
considered as a mere local designation, serving to draw a line
between the countries and people situated to the eastward of
^fAm-head or entrance of the straits of Malacca, who are the
drang de-bawali angin, and those situated to the westward of
that meridian, who are the drang de-atas angin. Precision, at
the same time, is not to be looked for in matters of this nature,
and I am unable to determine whether tegu, siam, camboja,
COCHIN-CHINA, and CHINA itself are in fact understood to be
comprehended in the former division, or whether it is re-
stricted (as seems from their writings the more probable) to the
Malayan and east-insular countries only.
The appellation of 3Ialdyu is given in common both to the
people and the language, but there are other terms applicable
d only