96 THE MALAYS. 



not considerable, nor, previous to the arrival of the 

 Arabs and Malays, the kingdom either extensive or 

 influential. Abundant proof exists, both in the tra- 

 ditions of the inhabitants, and the written histories of 

 Java, that colonies from that island were the first 

 foreign settlers on the southern and western coasts, as 

 far north as Sarawak ; and during the thirteenth 

 century we find the whole of the southern and western 

 shores of Borneo, which are described as having at that 

 period no regular government, protected by the sultan 

 of the powerful Hindu state of Majapahit, in Java, 

 against the piratical inhabitants of Lampung in Su- 

 matra, who thus early appear to have been dangerous 

 in those seas. 



After the fall of Majapahit, and the triumph of 

 the Mahometan religion in Java, A. D. 1478, the 

 colonies of the coasts of Borneo are said to have be- 

 come independent ; but in 1643 we find the chief of 

 the Javanese colony of Banjarmasin, and in 1653 the 

 Sultan of Sucadana, sending missions of homage to the 

 then Sultan of Motarem in Java. In 1687 the Dutch 

 attacked Sucadana at the instance of the King of 

 Bantam, whose right to interfere in their country 

 was, however, denied by the people of Sucadana. 



As has been previously observed, the descendants of 

 the Javanese colonies are all now denominated Malays, 

 and they call themselves ' orang Malayu/ and ' orang 

 laut' meaning, respectively, Malay men, and men 

 from the sea. These descendants of Javans have 

 mixed more with the aborigines of the countries than 

 any other tribes of the coast, and it is probable that 



