— 140 — 



The people were much astonished and said that the imperial soldiers 

 were imposing and strong as the gods. 



The author says these islands are near Malacca, probably because he did not 

 know any other place on the coast; they lie however at a certain distance, being 

 situated before the river of Perak. 



Tong-si-tiok O. 

 Hsing-ch'a Shêng-lan (1436). 



This island is situated in the sea opposite to the Strait of Lingga; 

 high mountains face each other from both sides. 



The ground is barren and not fit for agriculture; they always get 

 their rice from the coast of Sumatra and other countries. The climate is 

 variable. 



They boil salt out of seawater and make wine from the cocoanut- 

 palm. 



Men and women cut their hair and wear a striped sarong. 



The country produces areca-nuts, cotton-cloth and mats of plantain- 

 fibres. 



Articles of import are tin, pepper, ironware, etc. 



"We are not able to identify this island with absolute security, but from the 

 indications given above , combined with those in the Tung Hsi Yang K"au , which says 

 that it was quite near or identical with Johore, we have no hesitation in taking it 

 as the present island of Singapore. 



The peculiar name given to it , must remain unexplained. We must only draw 

 the attention to the two first syllables tong-si, which we have taken as the transcription 

 of the native sound, but which may also mean east and west. 



Chinese geographers speak of two other countries on the Malay peninsula, 

 called P'an-p'an and Tan-tan ( 2 ) ; the former probably is PWpm on the east-coast, as 

 we observed already on p. 121, and the latter we have not beeu able to identify. 

 Erom what is told about them , it appears that they rather belong to southern Siam 

 and should find their place there. 



o m m - d ft ft. 



