Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/348

Rh 326 M A L M A L Kedah, on the western coast of the peninsula of Malacca. In other states of the peninsula (Johor, Tringganu, Kelantan) dialectical divergencies both as to pronunciation and the use of words have been noted. The most important and the most interesting of all the Malay dialects is that of Meuangkabo (Menangkarbau) in the residency of Padang and in Upper Jambi, in Central Sumatra. It abounds in diphthongs, and prefers vocalic to consonantal termina tions, thus changing final al and ar into, if, and ir into iye, ul and ar into uwe, as and at into e , us into uwi ; final a mostly passes into 5, so that for suddra and suddgar they say sudero, sudego ; the emphatic -lah is turned into -malah or malah hd ; the prefixes Mr, p&r, t8r are changed into ba, pa, to,, or bdrd, p lrd, tdrd. Among other changes in pronunciation may be noted urang for orang, mungko for maka, lai for Idgi ; they use nan for yang, na for hcndak, deh for oleh, ba for bdgai, pai for pcrgi, ko 1 f or jikalau, &c. . In some districts of Menangkabo (Palembang, Lebong) the Renchong character is in general use in writing this dialect, for which purpose it is far better suited than the Arabic. .As early as 1822 a small tract on the customs and traditions of Moko-Moko, in this dialect, was printed with a translation at Bencoolen. But it is only in recent years that the Dutch have commenced to pay the dialect the attention it deserves, by publishing texts, with transliteration and translations, and supplying other materials for its investigation. See the Transactions and Journal of the Asiatic Societies of Batavia and the Hague, the Indische Gids, and more especially the philological portion, by A. L. van Hasselt, of Midden- Sumatra, iii. 1 (Leyden, 1880), where also the best and fullest account of the Renchong character is to be found. Of other Malay dialects in Sumatra, only the one spoken at Achih (Achin) deserves mention ; in Java the Batavian dialect shows the most marked peculiarities. The numi-rous and greatly divergent dialects spoken in the Molucca Islands (valuable information on which has been supplied by F. S. A. de Clercq, G. W. W. C. van Hoevell, and A. van Ekris) and in Timor differ so materially from the Malay of the peninsula and of Menangkabo that they cannot be called Malay dialects at all ; whereas the Malay spoken in some parts of the Minahassa (Celebes) scarcely differs from Malay proper. There is no grammar of Malay by a native writer with the sole exception of a small tract of 70 pages, entitled Bustanu Ikatibtn, by Raja Ali Hajji of Rhio, which was lithographed in the island of Penengal in 1857. A. Pigafetta, who accompanied Magellan in liis first voyage round the globe, Avas the first European whose vocabulary of Malay words (450) has come down to us. Next in the field were the Dutch, who provided a medium of intercourse between their traders and the Malays. F. Houtman s Vocabulary and Conversations, in Dutch, Malay, and Malagasy, appeared at Amsterdam in 1603 ; and it may be noted that the Malay spoken in those days does not appear to have materially altered since. The same dialogues appeared in English and Malay in 1614. Since then numerous grammars, dictionaries, and conversation books have been brought out by English and Dutch writers. As the best helps at present available for the study of Malay may be recom mended W. E. Maxwell s Manual of the Malay Language, London, 1882 (especially valuable for its full treatment of the i lioms) ; P. Favre, Grammaire de la langue Malaise, Vienna and Paris, 1876 ; and Dictionnaire Malais-Francais, ib., 1875, 2 vols. ; Dictionnaire Franc ( ais-Malais, ib., 1880, 2 vols. ; J. J. de Hollander, Handleiding bij de bcoefening der Maleische taal en letterkundc, Breda, 1882 ; J. Pijnappel, Maleische S^aakkimst, Hague, 1866 ; and Maleisch-Hollandsch Woordenboek, Amsterdam, 1875. The printing of Von Dewall s Dictionary, edited by H. N. van der Tank, is still in progress at Batavia. Literature. There are two kinds of Malay popular literature the one in prose, the other in poetry. The former comprises the proverbs, the latter the &quot;pantuns.&quot; &quot;Agriculture, hunting, fishing, boating, and wood-craft are the occupations or accomplishments which furnish most of the illustrations, and the number of beasts, birds, fishes, and plants named in a collection of Malay proverbs will be found to be considerable&quot; (W. E. Maxwell, Malay Proverbs }. II. C. Klinkert published a collection in the Bijdragen tot de t lalkunde van N. I. (Journal of the Asiatic Society of the Hague) for 1866, pp. 39-87. See also J. Habbema on the Menangkabo pro verbs, in vols. xxv. and xxvi. of the Batavian Tijdschrift, and Favre s Dictionnaire Mulais-Francais, passim. The pantuns are improvised poe us, generally (though not necessarily) of four lines, i:i which the first and third and the second and fourth rhyme. They_are mostly love poems ; and their chief peculiarity is that the meaning intended to be conveyed is expressed in the second couplet, whereas the first contains a simile or distant allusion to the second, or often has, beyond the rhyme, no connexion with the second at all. The Malaya are fond of reciting such rhymes &quot;in alternate contest f )r several hours, the preceding pantun furnishing the catchword to that which follows, until one of the parties be silenced or van- finished.&quot; See T. J. Newbold, Account of the British SrUlcmcnts in the Straits of Malacca, vol. ii. 346 ; Klinkert in the Bijdragen for 1868, pp. 309-70 ; L. K. Harmsen in the Tijdschrift, vol. xxi. pp. 480-533 (Menangkabo). If the Malays have kept entirely aloof from the influences of Islam in this the most characteristic part ot % their literature, they have almost equally preserved their independ ence in the other departments. Not that this may be considered entirely to their credit ; for, if they had endeavoured to infuse into their writings some of the spirit of Arabic and Persian historio graphy, poetry, and fiction, it could not but have benefited the char acter of their own literary productions. As it is, their histories and chronicles are a strange motley of truth and fiction ; their poems and novels lack coherence and imagination, and are singularly monotonous and devoid of that spirit of chivalry which pervades the corresponding branches of literature among the leading nations of Islam. As Malay copyists are much given to making arbitrary changes, it happens that no two MSS. agree, and that of many a popular work different recensions exist, which, moreover, often go by different names. This circumstance greatly tends to increase the difficulties, of editing Malay texts. Works on specially Mohammedan subjects (theology, law, ethics, mysticism) are of course only imitations of Arabic or Persian originals ; there are also numerous novels and poems treating of purely Mohammedan legends. But not only is there traceable in many of these a slight undercurrent of Hinduism and even pre-Hinduism ; the Malays possess also, and indiscriminatelyread along with their J!ohammed;m books, quite as many works of fiction of purely Hindu origin. The want, however, of political cohesion, and of a national spirit among tribes so scattered as the Malays are, which could have favoured the growth of a national epic or national songs, sufficiently accounts for the absence from their literature of any productions of this class, such as exist in Bugi and Macassar literature. The most popular of their poetical productions are the Shdir Ken Jambuhan, S/ta ir Biddsdri, Sha ir Jauhar Mdnikam and S/ta ir AbdiClmuluk, all of which have been printed. Among the prose works there are various collections of local laws and customs (undang-undang), chronicles (such as the Sajarat mal&yii), books on ethics (the best are the Makota sagdla raja-raja, and the Bustdnussalatin, and a very large number of works of fiction and legendary lore, some of which possess much descriptive power. They all bear the title Hikayat, and the following are the best-known : //. Hang Tuah, II. Hamzah, H. Ismd Yatlm, II. Jumjmnah, H. Bakhtiydr (Sddah Bakhtln r Gholdm], H. Slmiskin, H. Sultdn Ibrahim, H. Sri Rdma, H. Panddwa lima. Several of these and many other works not men tioned here have appeared in print (with or without translation) chiefly in Holland, Batavia, and Singapore, and extracts have been given in the various Malay chrestomathies by Dulaurier, De Hollander, Niemann, Van der Tnuk, Grashuis, and in Marsden s Malay Grammar. The best recent Malay writer was Abdullah ibn Abdelkadir Munshi of Singapore, who died, it is said of poison, at Mecca, some eight and twenty years ago. His autobiography, &quot;journey to Kelantan,&quot; and &quot; pilgr image to Mecca&quot; are patterns of Malay style, though the author s contact with educated Euro peans is traceable in them, while his translation (from the Tamil version) of the Panchatantra is free from such influence. Malay literature is fairly represented in England in the British Museum, the India Office, and the Royal Asiatic Society, and descriptive catalogues of the Malay MSS. in each of these libraries are available. See Niemann in the Bijdragen, iii. 6, p. 96-101 ; Van der Tuuk in Tijdschrift TOOT Ned. Indie for 1849, i. p. 385-400, and in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, ii. p. 85-135. An account of the Leyden collection, by J. Pijnappel, is given in the Bijdragen, iii. 5, p. 142-178. The finest collection of Malay MSS., upwards of 400 volumes, is in the library of the Asiatic Society of Batavia. See L. W. C. van den Berg, Vcrslag vanccne verzameling Maleische, &amp;lt;L-c., handschriften, Batavia, 1877. If it had not been for the loss, by fire, on their passage from India, of three hundred Malay MSS., the property of the late Sir T. S. Raffles, England would now boast of the largest assemblage of Malay MSS. in the world. On Malay literature in general com pare G. II. &quot;Werndly, Maleische Sf&amp;gt;raakkur,st, Amsterdam, 1736, pp. 227-357 ; E. Jacquet in the X~ouvcau Journal Asiatiquc, vol. ix. (1832), pp. 97-132, and 222-253 ; T. J. Newbold, British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, 1839, vol. ii. pp. 215-368 ;. E. Dulaurier, Memoire, lettrcs, et rapports, Paris, 1843 ; J. J. de Hollander, Handleiding bij de bcoefening dor Maleische taal en Idtcrkunde, Breda, 1882, pp. 277-388 ; and G. K. Niemann, in Bijdragen, iii. 1 (1866), pp. 113-46, 333 sq. (R. R.) MALCOLM, SIR JOHN, G.C.B. (1769-1833), soldier, diplomatist, administrator, and author, was bora at Burn- foot of Esk, near Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on May 2, 1769. At the age of twelve he received a cadetship in the Indian army, and in April 1783 lie landed at Madras, shortly afterwards joining his regiment at Yellore. In 1792, having for some time devoted himse^ to the study of Persian, he was appointed to the staff of Lord Cornwallis as Persian interpreter, but two years afterwards was compelled by ill-health to leave for