Page:A Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language with a Preliminary Dissertation- Dissertation and Grammar, in Two Volumes, Vol. I (IA dli.granth.52714).pdf/294

 by the arrival of the strangers, or, in short, to a Malagasi "revolution."

The Hovas know neither the name of the people from whom their ancestors sprang, nor the place these ancestors came from, nor the time when they arrived in Madagascar. A ray of light may, however, be thrown on this subject. As the foreign insular languages mixed with the Malagasi are exclu sively Malay and Javanese, the principal emigrants must have been Malays or Javanese, and consequently must have come from Sumatra or Java, or both. They must have left these islands during the south-east monsoon, and, therefore, some time from April to October. They were not a rude and savage people when they migrated, or they would not have constructed boats capable of conveying them to Madagascar; and they were already acquainted with the culture of rice and the coco-palm, or they would not have carried them along with them. They were probably acquainted with the process of making malleable iron, and of manufacturing textile fabrics. In fine, they must have been tolerably civilised, or they would not have imposed any portion of their languages on men as civilised as them- selves, and far more numerous.

Among the Malayan words in the Malagasi, there are about half-a-dozen Sanskrit ones which are of common use in the Malagasi, and in the same senses in which they are used in the Malayan languages. It can scarcely be doubted but that these words were introduced along with the Malay and Javanese, and if this be allowed, it follows that the Malayan migration took place subsequent to the intercourse of the Hindus with the Eastern islands, and even after their settlement in Java and Sumatra. As the migration to Madagascar, then, took place after the Malayan nations had attained a considerable measure of civilisation, and subsequent to their intercourse with the Hindus, it may, after all, not be quite so remote as we fancy; or the civilisation of the Malayan islands, and the intercourse with the Hindus, which contributed to it, are themselves of greater antiquity than is commonly believed.

There is one important class of words connected with the migrations, navigation, and influence of the Malayan nations to