Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/67

 MALAY PENINSULA 59 duplication, prefixing, suffixing, and infixing are the processes of word-building. While the Polynesian languages employ certain forms of words as nouns and verbs without any special changes and additions, the Malayan lan- is attempt to distinguish the parts of jh independently of their position in a itence. A noun not specially qualified des- lates the sum of all the persons or objects Jf which it is the name, or has always the force an indefinite plural. The numeral one, or a demonstrative or possessive pronoun, added to it, reduces a noun to the singular number. The definite plural is formed either by reduplica- tion, as in Malay rdda, king, rada-rdda, kings, or by the addition of plural expressions, many, mltitudes, &c. The cases are indicated by >refixing prepositions. Adjectives remain in- rariable; comparison also is made by exter- aids. Besides the usual pronominal forms, is customary, especially in Malay and Java- nese, to employ servile and ceremonious ex- pressions for the first and second persons. The force of a verb is indicated by prefixes, its relation to the object by suffixes ; and though the Malayan verb differs somewhat from a noun, yet it may take the place of the latter by being merely placed in conjunction with parti- cles used to modify nouns. In Malay the pres- ent tense is determined by Idgi, still ; the pre- terite by sudah or telah, done, passed ; and the future by hendalc or mdu, to will, nanti, to ex- )ect, or akan, to, in order to. See, besides the works of Friedrich Miiller above cited, Ellis, "Polynesian Researches" (London, 1829); Yvan, " Six Months under the Malays " (Lon- don, 1855) ; Turner, " Nineteen Years in Poly- nesia " (London, 1860) ; Waitz, Anfhropologie der Naturwlker, continued by Gerland (Leip- sic, 18 60-' 6 9) ; Cameron, " Our Tropical Pos- sessions in Malayan India" (London, 1865); West, " Ten Years in South Central Polynesia " (London, 1865) ; Wallace, " The Malay Archi- pelago " (London, 1869) ; Semper, Die Philip- pinen und ihre Bewohner (Wiirzburg, 1869) ; and Perty, Anihropologie (Leipsic, 1873-'4). MALAY PENINSULA, the name given by ge- ographers to the long and narrow tract which ejects southward from Indo- China, and )rms the southern extremity of the Asiatic continent, bounded E. by the China sea and the gulf of Siam, and W. by the bay of Bengal and the straits of Malacca. It is sometimes called by the Malays Tana Malay u, "Malay Land," and is supposed to be the Golden Cher- sonesus of the ancients. It extends from the parallel of the head of the gulf of Siam, in lat. 13 30' N., to Cape Burus on the southwest, about 80 m. from Singapore, in lat. 1 15' N., and to Cape Romania on the southeast, in lat. 1 17' N. ; length about 900 m., greatest 1th about 180 m. ; estimated area, exclu- sive of Tenasserim, about 80,000 sq. m. ; pop. conjectured to be about 500,000. The upper id narrower part of the peninsula has a population composed chiefly of Siamese, or a mixed race of Siamese and Malays called San- sam. The western half, N. of lat. 10, forms a part of the district of Tenasserim in British Burmah. The lower part, or the peninsula in the restricted sense, is the country of the Malays, and has an area of about 60,000 sq. m. Along the shores of the peninsula are many islands, of which the principal are Salang, Tru- tao, Lancava or Langkavi, and Penang on the W. side, Singapore, Batan, and Bingtang at the southern extremity, and Tantalem on the E. coast. The most important political divi- sion of the peninsula is the British Straits Set- tlements (Penang, Malacca, and Singapore), which, though small in area, have about half the population of the country. With the ex- ception of the portion included in Tenasserim, the N. part of the peninsula, as far S. as the bay of Chya on the E. coast, in about lat. 9 N., is subject to the king of Siam. The Malay states are Quedah, Perak, and Salangore on the W. side; Patani, Kalantan, Tringanu, and Pa- hang on the E. side; Rumbowe, Jehole, and Jompol in the interior; and the principality of Johore, which comprises the southern ex- tremity of the peninsula. A few of these are dependent on Siam, several only nominally; but most of them are independent and under the protection of the British. A range of granite mountains runs through the whole length of the peninsula, on both sides of which spread alluvial plains, not much elevated above the sea. The maximum altitude of the range is attained E. of Quedah, between lat. 6 and 7 N., where it is about 6,000 ft. Further N. the loftiest peaks are only about half this height. The most extensive of these plains are on the W. side of the mountains. The rivers are numerous but small, and few of them nav- igable except so far as the tide ascends them ; the largest are the Perak on the west and the Pahang on the east. The only lake of any considerable extent lies between Malacca and Pahang. The zoology of the peninsula is va- ried and extensive. There are ten species of monkeys, and an ant-eater. There are several species of bats, of which the most remarkable is the Tcalung or vampire, which is larger than a crow ; it flies high in great flocks, and is very destructive to fruit. The only planti- grade animal is a small bear (ursus Malayen- sis). There are eight species of the feline fam- ily, of which the largest are the tiger and the leopard, both very numerous and destructive to human life. The domestic cat has a tail about half as long as that of the European cat. The domestic dog exists as a vagrant without a master, and there are said to be wild dogs in the forests. The Indian elephant and two species of rhinoceros are met with. The Ma- lay tapir and the wild hog are abundant. The ox and the domesticated buffalo are used for riding and for draught. The domestic ox is small and short-legged, but strong and hardy ; and there are two species of wild ox, one of which, called by the Malays saladang, seems to