By Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
IN presenting this work to the Public, it may be proper to offer some explanation on the circumstances under which it was written, on the object of the Translator, and on the character and present condition of the people, whose early annals it records.
From the period at which Dr. Leyden first visited the Eastern Islands, in 1805, he may be said to have espoused the cause of the Malayan race with all the ardour and enthusiasm which so peculiarly distinguished his character. In the feudal notions and habits of this people, he found so much in accordance with his own feelings of honour and independence, that he was at once alive to their true character and interests; and, while his powerful and intelligent mind was engaged in deeper researches into their languages and literature, he neglected no opportunity of becoming acquainted with their more popular tales and traditions.
He was aware, that, in these islands, as well as on the continent of India, the commencement of authentic history was only to be dated from the introduction of Mahometanism; but, in the wild traditions of the Malays, he thought he sometimes discovered a glimmering of light, which might, perhaps, serve to illustrate an earlier period. These glimmerings, he was accustomed to say, were very faint, but, in the absence of all other lights, they were worth pursuing; they would, at all events, account for and explain many of the peculiar institutions and customs of the people, and serve to make his countrymen better acquainted with a race who appeared to him to possess the greatest claims on their consideration and attention. Under this impression, he was induced to undertake the translation of the work now published, being a compilation of the most popular traditions existing among the Malays themselves. It was intended that the text should have been illustrated by notes and references, explanatory of the more interesting parts, and that the late Annals of the different states of the Archipelago, since the establishment of Mahometanism, should have been annexed; but the premature and lamented death of Dr. Leyden will account for its appearing in its present imperfect state.
The public attention has latterly been so much directed to these islands, and the recent occupation of Java by the British authorities, has thrown so much light on the nature and resources of the Malayan Archipelago, and on the extent, character, and pursuits of its inhabitants, that it is not necessary in this place to enter upon any detailed account of either.
From the period at which Europeans first visited these islands, their civil history may be summed up in few words; it is included in that of their commerce. The extensive trade of these islands had long collected at certain natural and advantageous emporia; of these Bautain, Achau, Malacca, and Macasser, were the principal. The valour of Portugal broke the power of the native states, and left them exposed to the more selfish policy of their successors. The Dutch had no sooner established their capital at Batavia, than, not satisfied with transferring to it the emporium of Bautain, they conceived the idea of making it the sole and only depot of the commerce of the Archipelago. Had this object been combined with a liberal policy, and had the local circumstances of Batavia not obstructed it, the effect might have been different, and, instead of the ruin and desolation which ensued throughout a large portion of these islands, they might have advanced in civilization, while they contributed to raise the prosperity, and support the ascendancy of the Dutch metropolis. But when we advert to the greedy policy which swallowed up the resources of this extensive Archipelago in a narrow and rigid monopoly; and that, instead of leaving trade to accumulate, as it had previously done at the natural emporia, it was forced, by means of arbitrary and restrictive regulations, into one which, independent of other disadvantages, soon proved the grave of the majority of those who were obliged to resort to it, we shall find the cause which made it as ruinous to the Dutch as to the people.
By attempting too much, they lost what, under other circumstances, might have been turned to advantage, and the native states, deprived of their fair share of commerce, abandoned all attempts, and sunk into the comparative insignificance in which they were found at the period when our traders began to navigate those seas from Madras and Bengal. The destruction of the native trade of the Archipelago by this withering policy, may be considered as the origin of many of the evils, and of all the piracies of which we now complain. A maritime and commercial people, suddenly deprived of all honest employment, or the means of respectable subsistence, either sunk into apathy and indolence, or expended their natural energies in piratical attempts to recover, by force and plunder, what they had been deprived of by policy and fraud. In this state of decay, they continued to degenerate, till the appearance of the British traders revived their suppressed and nearly extinguished energies, and awoke to new life the commerce and enterprise of this interesting portion of the globe. The decline and corruption of the Dutch power in the East, offered little obstruction ; as our intercourse increased, their establishments were withdrawn, and long before the conquest of Java, and, indeed, before the last war, the English had already possessed themselves of the largest portion of this trade.
When we consider the extent of this unparalleled Archipelago; the vanity and peculiar character of its people ; the infinity of its resources ; its contiguity to China and Japan, the most populous regions of the earth; and the extraordinary facilities it affords to commerce, from the smoothness of its seas, the number and excellence of its harbours, and the regularity of its monsoons; it would be vain to assign limits, or to say how far and wide the tide of commerce might not have flowed, or how great the progress of civilization might not have been, had they been allowed to pursue their free and uninterrupted course, protected and encouraged by a more enlightened and liberal government. Had the commerce been properly conducted, the advantages must have been reciprocal; if it enriched the one party, it must have raised the other in the scale of civilization; by creating new wants, it must have opened new sources of enjoyment, encouraged industry and emulation.
The prejudice which has so long existed against the Malays, is fast subsiding. Among the Malay states, we shall find none of the obstacles which exist among the more civilized people of India, to the reception of new customs and ideas. Of the extensive and varied population inhabiting the Eastern Archipelago, and the continent adjacent, the gradations of civilization are wide, from the rude untutored Harafora, to the comparatively civilized Javan and Siamese; but the absence of inveterate prejudice, and a spirit of enterprise and freedom, distinguish the whole. In the interior of the larger islands, the population is almost exclusively devoted to agriculture; but, on the coasts, the adventurous character of the Bugguese, and the speculative industry of the Chinese, have given a stimulus and direction to the energies of the maritime and commercial states. Establishments are formed on each of the principal rivers; and while the less civilized inhabitant of the country is engaged in collecting its valuable raw products, in traversing the woods, and sweeping the shores, these native merchants become the carriers to the more distant markets. The natural demands and necessities which must exist in so extensive an Archipelago, in which the employment and condition of the inhabitants are so various, give rise to a constant intercourse between them, and consequently to an extensive native trade, which, from its nature, must be beyond the reach of fiscal regulation.
The whole of this population, at least, on the Malay peninsula, and throughout the islands, have imbibed a taste for Indian and European manufactures, and the demand is only limited by their means. Artificial impediments may, for a time, have checked these means; but in countries where, independently of the cultivation of the soil, the treasures of the mines seem inexhaustible, and the raw produce of its forests has in all ages been in equal demand; it is not easy to fix limits to the extension of these means. These people have not undergone the same artificial moulding; they are fresher from the hand of nature, and the absence of bigotry and inveterate prejudice leaves them much more open to receive new impressions, and adopt new examples. Whatever may have been their original religion, its character does not appear to have been deeply imprinted, and they have carried the same moderate and temperate spirit into their new faith. They have no knowledge of the odious distinction of castes, but mingle indiscriminately in all society. With a high reverence for ancestry, and nobility of descent, they are more influenced, and quicker discerners of superiority of individual talent, than is usual among people not far advanced in civilization. They are addicted to commerce, which has already given them a taste for luxuries, and this propensity they indulge to the utmost of their means. Among a people so unsophisticated, and so free from prejudices, it is obvious that a greater scope is given to the influence of example; that, in proportion as their intercourse with Europeans encreases, and a free commerce adds to their resources, along with the wants which will be created, and the luxuries supplied, the humanizing arts of life will also find their way, and we may anticipate a much more rapid improvement, than in nations who, having once arrived at a high point of civilization, and retrograded in the scale, are now hardened by the recollection of what they once were, are brought up in a contempt for every thing beyond their own narrow circle, and who have, for centuries, bent under the double load of foreign tyranny and priestly intolerance. When these striking and important differences are taken into the account, we may be permitted to indulge more sanguine expectations of improvement among the tribes of the eastern isles.
We may look forward to an early abolition of piracy and illicit traffic, when the seas shall be open to the free current of commerce. Restriction and oppression have too often converted their shores to scenes of rapine and violence; but an opposite policy and more enlightened principles may, ere long, subdue and remove the evil.
In the spirit of personal independence which distinguishes these people, their high sense of honour, and the habits of reasoning and reflection to which they are accustomed from their infancy, are to be found the rudiments of improvement, and the basis on which a better order of socie may be established.
Such were the opinions entertained by Leyden, previous to the conquest of Java; and the peculiar interest which these people excite, cannot, perhaps, be better illustrated than by the general feeling which exists towards them, on the part of every Englishman who has since been among them, and become more intimately acquainted with their character: notwithstanding their piracies, and the vices usually attributed to them in their present state, there is something in the Malayan character which is congenial to British minds, and which leaves an impression, very opposite to that which a much longer intercourse has given of the more subdued and cultivated natives of Hindostan. Retaining much of that boldness which marks the Tartar stock, from whence they are supposed to have sprung, they have acquired a softness, not less remarkable in their manners, than in their language. Few people attend more to the courtesies of society. Among many of them, traces of a higher state of civilization are obvious, and where opportunity has been afforded, even in our own times, they have been found capable of receiving a high state of intellectual improvement.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
