1 40 The Gardens of the Sitn. [ch. vir. 



long held the dominant power. Some believe them to 

 have originally been the descendants of Arabs who settled 

 in the Celebes long before the Dutch became rulers in 

 these seas, and this view gains some support from the 

 fact of the Arabic character being used in writing, and 

 their titles as Sultan, hadji, and sherrif, are of Arabic 

 origin. They all profess Islam. The Bornean Malays 

 may be said to have but little literature : the Koran, a few 

 MS. poems, prayers, and tales are the only books gene- 

 rally seen in the island ; but the people possess a vast 

 amount of traditional lore, and many of their songs refer 

 to the history of the country, the beauty of their women, 

 or to the personal attributes and prowess of their former 

 rulers. 



The following may be taken as a fair sample of Malayan 

 poetry, and was originally published in the Asiatic 

 Journal. Many of the tales and legends of the Malays 

 are in blank verse, with a good many repetitions ; and 

 choruses, are extremely popular, as also are extempor- 

 aneous vocal performances : 



" Cold is the wind, the rain falls fast, 

 I linger, though the hour is past. 

 "Why come you not ? whence this delay ! 

 Have I offended say ? 



" My heart is sad and sinking too ; 

 Oh ! break it not ! it loves but you ! 

 Come, then, and end this long delay, 



Why keep you thus away ? 



" The wind is cold, fast falls the rain, 

 Yet weeping, chiding, I remain, 

 You come not still you still delay ! 



Oh, wherefore can you stay !" 



Malayan romances and minstrelsy are alike rich in 

 imagery, as the following examples from Marsden's 

 Malay Grammar will suffice to show : 



