MALAY LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 
Ow“ 
Tun Malay language is a member of the Malayan section of 
the Malayo-Polynesian class of languages, but it is by no 
means a representative type of the section which has taken its 
name from it. ‘The area over which it 1s spoken comprises the 
peninsula of Malacca with the adjacent islands (the Rhio- 
lingga Archipelago), the greater part of the coast districts of 
Sumatra and Borneo, the seaports of Java, the Sunda and 
Banda Islands. It is the general medium of communication 
throughout the archipelago from Sumatra to the Philippine Is- 
lands, and it was so upwards of three hundred and fifty years 
avo when the Portuguese first appeared in those parts. 
There are no Malay manuscripts extant, no monumental re- 
cords with inscriptions in Malay, dating from before the 
spreading of Islam in the archipelago, about the end of the 13th 
century. By some it has been argued from this fact that the 
Malays possessed no kind of writing prior to the introduction 
of the Arabic alphabet (W. Ropinson, J. J. pe HOLLANDER) ; 
whereas others have maintained, with greater show of probabi- 
lity, that the Malays were in possession of an ancient alphabet, 
and that it was the sameas the Rechang (Marsprn, FrinpERicn), 
as the Kawi (Van pER TuvuK), or most hke the Lampong 
(Kurn),—all of which alphabets, with the Battak, Bugi, and 
. Macassar, are ultimately traceable to the ancient Cambojan 
characters. With the Mohammedan conquest the Perso-Arabic 
alphabet was introduced among the Malays; it has continued 
ever since to be in use for literary, religious, and business pur- 
poses. Where Javanese is the principal language, Malay is 
sometimes found written with Javanese characters ; and in Pa- 
lembang, in the Ménangkabo country of Middle Sumatra, the 
Rechang or Renchong characters are in general use, so called 
from the sharp and pointed knife with which they are cut on 
the smooth side of bamboo staves. It is only since the Dutch 
have established their supremacy in the archipelago that he 
