MALAY LITERATURE. 381 



Within the last seventy-five years the prose literature has re- 

 ceived some notable additions throiigli the writings of AbduUa bin 

 Abdulkadir, a famous moonshi of Singapore, who atained to some 

 distinction under the Straits Government, being sent once or twice 

 on missions to native states. He was born in Malacca toward the 

 close of the last century, of Arab-Malay parentage, and received the 

 ordinary education of a Malay lad of good family. After Singapore 

 was founded, in 1819, he moved thither, where he thenceforth spent 

 most of his life. His most important works are the Hikayat Ahdulla, 

 an autobiograiDhy, the Pelayaran Abdulla, an account of his trip for 

 the government to Kelantan, and a narrative of his pilgrimage to 

 Mecca made in the year 1854. 



Without a doubt Abdulla was the most cultured Malay who ever 

 wrote. In his capacity as teacher he was often called upon to help 

 missionaries with their translations of the Bible into Malay; though 

 a devout Mohammedan, he was more than ordinarily liberal in be- 

 lief, and quite willing to see tbe contest between Christianity and 

 Islam go on fairly and on its merits. He once assisted a Mr. Thomp- 

 sen, of Malacca, in translating portions of the Scriptures, but it was 

 a thankless task, for the missionary was obstinate, and thought he 

 knew more about the language than the moonshi himself. As a 

 result, such wretched Malay got into the work that Abdulla felt 

 called uj^on in his autobiography to set himself right before the 

 world. This is what he says: 



"... But let it be known to all gentlemen who read my auto- 

 biography that where there are wrong expressions or absurd Malay 

 phrases in Mr. Thompsen's translation they must consider well the 

 restraint put upon me, wdierein I could neither add nor subtract a 

 word without the concurrence of Mr, Thompsen. Xow, because 

 of all the circumstances mentioned here, let no gentleman rail at my 

 character, for I was merely Mr. Thompsen's moonshi or instructor. 

 I acknowledge I am not destitute of faults, but truly by God's grace 

 I am able to distinguish between right and wrong in fill that relates 

 to the idiom of the Malay language, for I have made it my study. I 

 did not attain it by hearing, nor by the way, nor in the bustle of 

 the crowd," 



But it is in poetry that we must look for whatever of originality 

 and beauty there is in Malay literature, a fact not to be wondered 

 at if we consider the softness and mellifluence of the language, which 

 lends itself easily to the requirements of rhyme and rhythm. Two 

 chief forms of poetry are recognized — the pantun and the slia'ir. 



The Pantun, — The pantun in Malay literature corresponds to 

 the IjriG verse of Western lands. It consists of one or many 

 quatrains, as the case may be, the lines usually from ten to twelve 



