SOUTHERN INDIA AND THE STRAITS. 71 



I think we may entirely reject Orawfurds' theory that these 

 first civilizers were Telegus. Had it been so. they must have 

 left traces of their own vernacular on the Malayan speech, 

 for it is inconceivable that the priests, as Crawfurd thinks, 

 could have introduced into Malay elements of a dead lan- 

 guage, used only for sacred purposes, as part of the common 

 speech, while not a word of their own colloquial crept in to 

 testify to the identity of the dominating race. For I think I 

 am right in saying that there are few or no Telugu words in 

 Malay, or. at all events, not one which might not equally well 

 have come from Tamil. 



None the less is it true a Dra vidian race has had a very im- 

 portant inliuence on the language and social life of the Malays, 

 and this in spite of Marsden's statement that -'from the Telinga 

 or the Tamool the Malayan has not received any portion of its 

 improvement." This influence was probably brought to bear on 

 Malaya a good deal later than the Sanskrit, and was. without 

 doubt, the direct result of trade. Commercial intercourse was 

 maintained from a very early date between the South of India 

 and the trading towns which formed the emporia of the spice 

 islands, notably Johor, Singapore, and Malacca. When the 

 Portuguese, at the commencement of the tfJth century, first 

 visited these places, they were amazed at the concourse of 

 foreign vessels assembled there. When this intercourse began 

 it is impossible to say. but it was probably much earlier than 

 the above. Snouck-Hurgronje. writing of Acheh. says that the 

 settlement of Klings from Southern India in that country is of 

 great antiquity : and that the Tamils were the leaders in this 

 commercial enterprise in Malaya is clearly shown by the pure 

 Tamil words — chiefly connected with commerce, though not alto- 

 gether so — which have found their way into Malay. 



These words are not numerous, but they are names of 

 familiar objects, and we must remember that, as a test of the 

 social influence of one race on another, the presence of one 

 common word for some necessary thing is of more significance 

 than a thousand technical or scientific terms, which are really 

 only a part of the language of books, and do not enter into 

 daily life. The Malay for " ship," Kapal, is pure Tamil, so are 

 Kedei, "a shop," and gedong, "a storehouse." Pett, "a box," 



