166 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



In Monsieur LEON JAUSSEN'S translation of GODINHO DE 



Eredia's " Account of Malacca," the Putri of Gunong Ledang 

 is mentioned : — 



" Gunoledam, where lived the Enchantress 



1 Putry Raynha' a female Magician who in like manner to 

 the Sorceress ERICHTHO the Thessalonian transformed, by 

 virtue of certain plants, women into tigers, into birds or into 

 other kinds of animals.'' And again : — 



" According to a fable common amongst the Malays, the 

 Queen Putri, wife of PERMICURI, the founder of Malacca, 

 retired to the mountain and she lives there still having become 

 immortal by means of magic art. Her dwelling place is on 

 the summit of the mountain in a cavern, where she reclines 

 on a couch formed of the bones of the dead and she shows 

 herself in the shape of a beautiful young girl dressed in 

 silk #■*-#■""*■* * */' 



The Dato' of Johol's version is probably the aboriginal 

 version representing the Putri as an ugly old woman with a 

 cat. GODINHO DE Eredia's version is the civilized Malay 

 version treating the lady as young and beautiful and dressed 

 in silk in accordance probably with the ideas in similar Arabic 

 stories. 



M. L. 



DIAMONDS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



GARCIA DA Orta in his Aromatum Historia, Lib. I, p. 171, 

 treating of diamonds says : — " Alia est rupes ad fretum Tan- 

 jam in Malacae tractu, quae etiam de Rupe veteri cognominatos 

 profert. Exigui quidem sunt sed laudati : unum tamen habent 

 vitium quod ponderosi sint, quo nomine gratiores sunt vendi- 

 toribus quam emptoribus." 



" There is another rock at the Strait of Tanjam in the terri- 

 tory of Malacca, which produces [diamonds] of the class called 

 old-rock diamond. They are few but valuable : however they 

 have one fault, that they are heavy, wherefore they are more 

 valued by the sellers than the buyers." 



