SOME OLD MALAY MSS. 113 
the edge of the paper being torn away. 
(G.) This is an extract from the manuscript of Hikayat Sri 
Rama mentioned avove. The book is a quarto volume of about 
800 pages, and is preserved in the Bodleian library, Oxford, 
under catalogue number MS. Laud Or. 291. The paper appears 
to be of Eastern manufacture, and the handwriting is exceedingly 
good. The us. is not dated, but the records of the library show 
that it was acquired in 1633. It seems probable that it came 
from the East at the same time as letter C., which was also in the 
Laud collection before it was acquired by the Bodleian library. 
lam much indebted to Rey. H. L. E. Luering, PH. D., and 
Mr. R. J. Wilkinson, for explanations of difficult passages in 
these manuscripts and for the derivations of words of Sanscrit 
and Arabic origin. 
A.—Letter of Authority to Trade. 
e) a g a Oreo « (55> 
res) Es SEN eS Se ws cy oF labo BUNS & cy al 
fe So he ol SS ge pS IS gla” ne CK le 
ols ee p £55 glo SF 203 22 ie yoy 1 Se. 
1. Note that the word /nggris is used in this heading, whereas Jngliti7 is 
used in the body of the letter. It is remarkable that the change from 
/ tor in the word /nggris should have become fixed so soon after the 
appearance of the English in Acheen, unless the change was previous- 
ly made in some other language ; probably the word came into Malay 
from one of the languages of British India. 
2. In this letter there is no Aamzah in such words as kerajwan, perkata’an 
sw@orang, ete ; mertka itu is the only word in which hamzah appears. 
vs 
The spelling of Sammudara is interesting, especially in view of the 
fanciful derivation of the word from semut raya, which is given in the 
‘*Sejarah Malayu.” 
