62 VALENTYN'S DESCRIPTION OF MALACCA. 



PARTICULARS ABOUT MALAKKA. 



To know Malakka thoroughly and to be fully instructed of those 

 particulars which have made it renowned, we must trace its 

 origin and foundation, and disinter for posterity, from the darkness 

 of antiquity, all that has been buried by the lapse of years and by 

 oblivion, or most probably by want of opportunity. 



If T had not been so fortunate as to secure some very rare books, 

 written in Arabic, which cannot be got now for any money, I 

 would not have been able to inform the world of those particulars 

 about Malakka, which are now here mentioned, and which we are 

 sure that but very few people could make known to mankind, 

 while among thousands ( of men) who know the Malay language, 

 there is hardly one able to read it, when it is written in Arabic 

 characters, and still less to understand that bombastic Malay, 

 mixed with so many Arabic and Persian words and sentences. 



Those books then are called " Tacljoo Esslatina" or " MaJcofa Segalla 

 Radja," i.e., " The Crown of the Kings," "Misa Gomitar ,, an&" Kitab 

 Hantoowa" or " Hangtoolia'' ( 1 ) i.e., "The Book Hantoowa," common- 

 ly moreknown among the Malay scholars under the name of " Soolalet 

 Essnlathina" thatis, " TheBookof Heraldry or Genealogical Register 

 of the Kings " (viz., Malakka Kings ). These three gems (which are 

 now only foundin very few libraries ), though full of fictions and use- 

 less stories, are considered, however, among us as the best historical 

 descriptions written in the Malay language, and which are not only 

 most useful to learn the Malay thoroughly, but in which are also 

 to be found many useful things about the Javanese, Malay and 

 other Kings, not mentioned by another author. The Mohamedan 

 Princes in India and their Priests are almost the unique possessors 

 of those works, and it is the greatest difficulty in the world to get 

 possession of one copy. But I have got them all, as I have men- 

 tioned already before, whilst speaking of the Malay language. 

 Though we find in the two first mentioned works and in some other 

 books, particulars clearing up many obscure points, yet the last 

 one mentioned is in this respect the best one, while it gives us all 

 the particulars from the very beginning, even from before the time 

 that it (Malakka) was built, and in quite a decent style (for 

 natives at least). 



(i) Hang Tuah. — There were nine of these "hangs," champions, of whom 

 an account may be found in Leyden'S "Malay Annals." Crawfurd 

 speaks contemptuously of it as a historical work, which it no doubt deserves : 

 but it is useful for the insight it affords into the national customs and man- 

 ners. 



