Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrait121878roya).pdf/127

 vantage of having the above-mentioned Abdullah as his teacher and assistant."

The author goes on to say that in publishing his small collection of proverbs, got together from these sources, he has a particular aim in view, namely, to encourage other students of the Malay language to complete the collection, by adding to it many proverbs which may exist unknown to him, "lest the study of Malay be neglected for the study of the Javanese language, to which the preference has been given rather too exclusively of late years (in the Dutch colonies)."

As far as Malay authors are concerned, the labours of the Abbé Favre and M. Klinkert in collecting Malay proverbs and aphorisms have, I think, been exhaustive. But there is a wide field left for the student who cares to amuse and instruct himself, and perhaps others, by picking up quaint sayings from the natives themselves. One difficulty, in making a collection of this sort, lies in deciding what to admit as a genuine proverb, and what to reject as a mere sententious remark or as a common metaphorical expression. M. Klinkert admits to a doubt as to whether "a mere phrase" may not here and there be found among the proverbs he publishes. M. Favre certainly gives several specimens in his dictionary which can hardly be considered proverbs, notably those quoted from a "livre de lectures" published in Singapore, which are in some instances mere moral maxims. I shall not pretend, however, in the collection now published, to confine myself to a more rigid rule than that adopted by previous collectors.

In this paper 1 propose only to supplement previous collections of Malay proverbs, and I shall not, therefore, include any of those which are to be found in Favre's dictionary, (except perhaps in cases where my version of a phrase differs from his); though I am aware that this rule deprives me of some of the best known and most characteristic specimens. Those now printed have been collected at various times and places. Listening to the humble details of a rural law-suit, or the simple annals" of a Malay village, I have occasionally picked up some saying alleged to have descended from the "orang inah-tuah" (the ancestors of the speaker) or the "orang dahulu kala" (the ancients) deserving of a place here; others I have noted down in conversation with Malays of all grades, from the raja to the ryot, and have verified by subsequent enquiry; for others again I am indebted to the kindness of friends, Malays and others.

As it has been necessary, in order to avoid reprinting what