Two Legends of Malacca 
By R. O. Winsrept, D. Lirr. (Oxon.) 
The “ Malay Annals” (Shellabear’s romanized Séjarah Meé- 
layu, 1909, Vol. I, p. 60) record how Sultan Iskandar was hunting 
near Bertam River, when a white mouse-deer kicked his hunting dog 
into the water. He chose this spot where mouse-deer were valiant 
for his new settlement and named it Mélaka after a tree (Phyllan- 
thus pectinatus of the Order Huphorbiaceae) against which he was 
leaning at the time of the incident. 
Now there exists a similar Sinhalese legend of the founding 
of Candy, a hare and a jackal taking the place of mouse-deer and 
dog and the hare’s courage being ascribed to recoil from a rock that 
intercepted her flight (Parker’s ‘“ Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon,” 
OIA. Nos io Violt ean: 73): 
In the Hikayat Hang Tuah it is related how when they came 
to Malacca the Portuguese bought as much land as an ox-hide 
would cover and their captain cut it into strips and so got enough 
land to erect a large godown (J. R. A. S., 8. B. 83, p, 122). Ben- 
fey has collected many parallels from mediaeval and modern 
literature and folk-lore; there is the famous tale of the founding 
of Carthage, the tale of Hengist in Geoffrey of Monmouth, and 
another in the French romance Melusine; there is the popular 
etymology of Hyde Park. Popular etymology erroneously finds 
the same origin for Bhutnair and Caleutta (Todd’s “ Annals and 
Antiquities of Rajasthan,” II, 235; 1852). ‘ Thare-kettaya near 
the modern city of Prome was built 443 B.C. Its name has to do 
with a very ancient artifice. ‘ Facti de nomine byrsam taurino 
quantum possent cireumdare tergo.’” (Scott O’ Connor’s “ Man- 
dalay,” p. 301; London, 1907). American Indian attributed the 
trick to Europeans who bought land from them. In Sanskrit 
gotsharman (lit. cowhide) =“a land measure, one hundred feet 
long and ten broad.” 
(oy) 
Jour. Straits Branch 
