526 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I8l6. 



government having existed, or of 

 tlie establishtiifnt ol" any extensive 

 colony, UMtil the cominenccaieiit 

 of the sixtli century J shoul.l ob- 

 serve, in this p!iice, tliat the Ja- 

 vanese year corie.-puu'.ls |)retty 

 nearly with the Hindu \ ear of Sa- 

 livarna ; and that the word Salia, 

 in Sanscrit, means an epocli or 

 era, and is applied to the founder 

 of ai era. 



The Javanese occasionally use 

 the nuiiieials for recording dates j 

 but more generally, and parti- 

 cularly in' dates of importance, 

 th?y adopt an hioroglyphical in- 

 vention, termed " ChondroSang- 

 kolo," in which the diiferent nu- 

 mei'als, from one to ten, are re- 

 presented by particular ol)jects. 

 This is either effected, in build- 

 ings and s>-ul|iture, by the actiir'l 

 representations of these objects ; 

 or, in writing, by tiie insertion 

 of tiieir names, the meaning fre- 

 quently liaxing some allusion to 

 tlte fact which tiie date records : 

 thus, the date of the des; ruction 

 of Majapahit, in the Javanese 

 year l-^OO, isiecwTded as f llous, 

 the order of tha numerals being 

 reversed : — 



Sii'na ilang Keitai.ing — Burni. 



Gone — gone — is the work — ol the land. 

 4 1 



Anterior to this sujiposed ar- 

 rival of Adi balva, tlic two most 

 eventful periods in the history of 

 these C(nmtr;es of which tradition 

 and history make mention, ate — 

 lirst, that which includes the ex- 

 cursions of t'ae far-famed race, 

 winch have l)een supposed to have 

 ])eoj)led -Sovith Am nica, and ac- 

 cording to Sir William Jones, 

 " importeti into the furthest part.s 

 cf .\sia, tlie rites and fabulous 

 history of Rama j"' and secondly. 



that which includes the conse- 

 quences of the invasion of India 

 by Alexander the Great, 'i'hat 

 the fabulous history of Ranja as 

 well as the exploits of Alexander, 

 ha^e been curi'ent in the Maliyim 

 Arc' ipelago from time innnemo- 

 rial, cannot be cjuestioned ; and 

 it may be reniarlved, that while 

 the Javavis use the term Rama for 

 father, the Malays universally at- 

 tempt to trace their descent from 

 Alexander or his followers. Su- 

 matra was long considered to have 

 been the Tuprohane of the an- 

 cients ; and, when we advert to 

 the single circumstance, that this 

 was said to be a country in which 

 the north polar .^tar was not visi- 

 ble, or only partially, v/e nnist 

 still doubt the correctness of the 

 modern conclusion in fa> our of 

 Ceylon. The e;istern islands fur- 

 nish that peculiar kind of jjroduce 

 which ha? from the earliest times 

 been in demand by continental 

 nati»;ns, and the same avidity uith 

 which, in modern days, Europeans 

 contended for the rich products of 

 ttie Moluccas, actuated, inalljiro- 

 babHitv, at a much earlier peiiod, 

 adventurers from Western India. 

 Tiaces of intercourse ^vith Ethio- 

 pia may be foimd at this day, in 

 the scattered tribes of the woolly- 

 liaired race j)ecnliar to Africa, 

 which are to be for.nd in the 

 Andamans, in the southern j;ait 

 of the further peninsula, and 

 througiiout the Aichi])clago; and 

 that the Hindus were at one pe- 

 I'iod an enteiprizing and com- 

 mercial nation, may, 1 think, be 

 established, with little difficulty, 

 Irom the incontestable pi oofs 

 which at this day exist in Java, 

 ajid the traffic which still exists 

 in native vessels and on native 



capital 



