The Malay Pantun. 
By H. OVERBECK. 
From the study of Malay pantuns arises the question how 
far this peculiar kind of quatrain is the sole property of the 
Malays, or if something identical, similar or akin is to be found 
amongst other peoples in their neighbourhood. Research would 
naturally turn first to Java, as both the Javanese and the Sundanese. 
language are akin to Malay. 
I do not recollect to have heard any Javanese pantuns during 
my stay in East Java, and J. J. de Hollander, who fully describes. 
the Malay pantun and séloka (on the relationship of the two some- 
thing will be said later) in his work on the Malay language,* does. 
not mention any similar quatrains in his work on the Javanese 
language.” Plain love songs of course may exist, as given in chap- 
ter XIV of: the “Séjarah Mélayu”:—the Malay author, by the 
way, gives to the ditties sung in honour of Hang Tuah the name 
of pantun, though it is not a Javanese name. ‘The word séloka is. 
known and according to the dictionary means a figurative expres- 
sion, or way of speaking with the purpose of conveying a thought 
in a more or less veiled form. Whether the word séloka is used 
also to designate moral verses as in India, I have been unable to. 
discover. Generally speaking, Javanese poetry differs entirely 
from the Malay shaer and pantun; a verse similar to that of the 
Malay shaer is unknown. The Javanese poet has at his disposal 
ten or more different metres, the verses of which have from 4 to. 
12 lines, the lines being of different structure within each verse, 
with a rhyme hardly noticeable for a European ear, and a prosody 
on which the views of learned men differ, In this poetry, where- 
in the greater part of Javanese literature is written, there is no: 
place for anything like the Malay pantun. Mention is made by 
some writers of the Javanese wangsallan, which according to the 
dictionary is a kind of charade or riddle in verse, wherein in an 
enigmatical way principally by the last, or also by the first syllable. 
of a word something is hinted at, whilst in a second verse, called 
jawab (answer) the thing. hinted is plainly stated. But I can- 
not give any examples of such wangsallan or say if there exists in 
Javanese any. unwritten literature as in Sundanese. 
Sundanese poetry generally follows the way of her Javanese: 
sister; the Sundanese poet works with the same metres as his 
Javanese neighbour, and their names are identical in both lan- 
guages. But besides the written literature there is the pantun, 
which in Sundanese means a tale taken from legends or from the 
1. F. J. de Hollander, Handleiding tot de Kennis der Maleische 
Taal-en Letter Kunde, Breda, 1845, p. 150. 
2. F. J. de Hollander, ib. 1848. 
Jour. Straits Branch R. A. Soc., No. 85, 1922. 
