174: RAJA HAJI, 
as pirates. I have not ventured to attempt to translate it. The 
character of Malay poetry makes it almost impossible to make 
pantuns readable in an English dress. The story is carried on in 
the third and fourth lines of each stanza only, the first two lines 
being either mere tags on which to hang the rhyme, or, at the 
best, some figurative statement, a kind of background against 
which to set the picture. To read ninety-five stanzas like the 
following would give little idea of the effect of the original:— 
Near the house of Inche Sabtu. 
The siyakap fish from the sea of Banca. 
The corpse was cast into a cleft of the rocks, 
Of him who had boasted he would take Malacca. 
The siyakap fish from the sea of Banca. 
Si Tuah runs away with the tray. 
His intention was to take Malacca, 
Little aware that his life would be lost. 
Si. Tuah runs off with the tray. 
Wood is turned by Si Naga Wangsa. 
Little thought he that his life would be lost. 
The body was removed by the Governor of Malacca. 
The literary merit of the poem is not great, but itis of con- 
siderable historical interest and will be valued in Malacca as the 
work of some local bard of the last century, who celebrated in the 
best language he could command the successful repulse of the raid 
attempted on his native city. 
Begbie’s account of the cause of the quarrel between the Yang- 
di-per-tuan Muda of Riouw and the Dutch, and of the fighting 
that ensued is an appropriate preface to the Malacca ballad *:— 
“At this period (a.p. 1782; Heg. 1194) Pieter Geraldas de Brigu 
was the Governor of Malacca, being assisted by five other indi- 
viduals as Members of Council: these were (1) the President of 
the Court of Justice, (2) the Commanding Officer of the Troops, 
(3) the Master Attendant, (4) the Fiscal, and (5) the Winkellier, 
or Superintendant of the Company’s trade. Few readers need to 
be reminded that a severe contest was being maintained at this 
epoch by the English against the united strength of the French 
and Dutch nations, Gerrid Pangal- was also Resident of the island 
of Rhio, another Dutch settlement in the vicinity of Singapore, 
Rajah Hadegi was the Rajah Moodah, or Iyang de Pertuan Moodah, 
of the same place, and Sulthaun Mahomed Shah, Sulthaun of the 
* The spelling of the original has been retained. 
A 
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