160 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vou. IX, 
was produced when the people had been scarcely weaned at 
all (by Mohamedan missionaries) from the most pagan 
practices. In this case, of course, the word ‘‘ Allah’ would 
have been carved by the makers of the granite monoliths, 
and it must in fairness be said that an inspection of the 
characters, which stand out in relief, does not, to my mind, 
furnish any proof that it is not contemporaneous with the 
designs on the stone. 
In order to make it of later date than the carvings it is 
necessary to imagine that the part of the stone now occupied 
by the name of God formerly stood at a higher level than 
the ribbings which fringe the edges of the stone, and that 
this except for the lettering was subsequently cut away to 
its present level. The explanation is not very satisfactory, 
for, as I have mentioned above, the inscription shows no 
signs of having been added afterwards. 
The third possibility—also not very satisfying —is that 
‘the granite monuments are older than the grave, but not 
older than the introduction of the religion of Islam into the 
Peninsula, and that the word “ Allah ’’ was carved upon the 
stone, at ‘the same time as the other ornamentation, by a 
people who, though nominally Mohamedans, were, in fact, 
still pagan at heart.! The period, however, between the 
conversion of the first Moslem king of Malacca and the reign 
of Sultan Mansur Shah, in whose time the Mohamedan tomb 
was erected, is not long. Sultan Mohamed Shah, the first 
sovereign of "Malacca to accept Mohamedanism, ascended the 
throne somewhat before the year A.D. 1403, and was recog- 
nised by the Chinese Emperor in A.D. 1405. Sultan Mansur 
Shah came to the throne about A.D. 1459.2 How long the 
Malays in general, if they did so, had accepted Mohamedanism 
before the conversion of Sultan Mansur Shah, it seems 
impossible to sa 
Of the other granite monuments yet undescribed, the 
most remarkable are probably a large flat and almost circular 
object (95) which is sometimes called the Saint’s Shield 
(Périsat) and a small group of stones at the extreme edge of 
the Kérvamat reserve, where it now abuts on a Chinese rubber 
plantation. The Périsai is chiefly noteworthy for the geo- 
metric designs in low relief on one surface. The top of the 
stone is marked by a small somewhat stalk-like projection ; 
below this comes a pattern which is common in Malay designs, 
and the rest of the face of the stone is, as may be seen in the 
** sword,”’ which 7 of granite containing _ crystals of feldspar, a type 
of rock found in he Peninsula, was made locally. this sandstone of the 
paler - ‘Acheh) is, I believe, not Fotis din ee 
t account both for the name of God and the st on 
the Scie appearing to be of the same date, and also for the -_ 
untelated granite stones withi e enclosure of the Mohamedan t 
* Papers on Malay Subjects, Malay History, pp. 22 and 24. 
