Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/420

 376 HISTORY OF THE MALAYS. Marsden ingeniously observes, that probably fur- nished the first adventurers to the peninsula, and who bestowed their name on the rising colony, the prosperi^^y and greatness of which were destined to eclipse the fame of the parent state. This, I have no doubt whatever, is the true etymology of the word Malayu. It appears that the new colony was at first dis- tinguished by the appellation of the Leeward peO' pie, while the parent state were denominated the Windward people. This meteorological distinc- tion appears to me to have reference to the wester- ly or boisterous monsoon ; Barat, in the Javanese language, is the general term for wind. In Malay it is the west wind, or, as would be said in our more expressive language, the wind. The use of this correlative language to describe the parent state and the colony, was afterwards dropped, and used more comprehensively, the Windward coun- tries being all those to the west of the country of the Malays, but particularly India and Arabia, those with which the Malays had most intercourse;. It was from the colony, and not the parent stock, that the Malayan name and nation were so wixiely disseminated over the Archipelago. Singapura, Malacca, and Jehor, colonized the islands Lingga and Bintan, Kampar and Aru on Sumatra, Bor- neo on the great island of that nam«, and all the states which exist on the Malay peninsula* This 4