Page:A dictionary of the Sunda language of Java.djvu/20

Rh I, many years ago, used to have a village bard, called a tukang pantun or storyteller to recite his tales. This man was called Ki Gémbang and a dozen or 15 years ago, had a great run of popular native favour, being in great request all over the Western parts of the Province of Buitenzorg. The subject of such sagas is the olden time, when Pajajaran flourished and over which the native of the present day sits the live-long night, listening to the deeds of those who have long slept with the past. Such legends are not worth anything as matters of history, but are rich in native wit and humour, and found to contain a vast deal of words, which are little heard in every day conversation. The mantle of Ki Gémbang has now a days descended on his son.

The last of my authorities, to whom I am perhaps the most indebted, is the present Demang of Jasinga, Raden Nata Wiréja, with whom I have gone over the whole dictionary, that is all words of which I was not sufficiently certain, and who during several months of 1854, at intervals, devoted a couple of hours per day, to assisting me with the elucidation of difficult or doubtful words.

No pains have been spared to render the work as correct and useful as possible; and with this predication the author throws himself upon the good will of his readers. The following resumé of the number of words under each letter of the Alphabet may be interesting in various ways