MALAY PROVERBS.* 



BY W. E. MAXWELL. 



Bead at a Meeting/ of the Society held on the 3rd -Tune, 1878. 



Some one has happily defined a proverb to be " the wisdom 

 of many and the wit of one." As the embodiment, often in 

 terse epigrammatic form, of certain shrewd bits of worldly 

 wisdom, proverbs are generally popular with the peasantry 

 of every nation ; and to judg'e from the homely metaphors 

 and illustrations to be found in many proverbs, it is from the 

 peasantry that they have usually originated. They are the 

 stock-in-trade of rustic swans, who, innocent of any book- 

 knowledge, learn their wisdom from the sea, the sky and 

 the heavenly bodies, from the habits of animals and the qua- 

 lities of trees, fruits and flowers ; or who gather lessons, it may 

 be, of patience, thrift, or courage from incidents of their daily 

 pursuits. To enable us to fully understand the national char- 

 acter of an Eastern people, wdio have no literature worthy of 

 the name and who are divided from us by race, language, and 

 religion, a study of their proverbs is almost indispensable. An 

 insight is then obtained into their modes of thought, and their 

 motives of action, and, from the principles inculcated, it is pos- 

 sible to form some estimate of what vices they condemn, and 

 what virtues they admire. 



In studying the manners and customs of a people, a ^know- 

 ledge of their proverbs is of great assistance. The g'enius of 

 the Malay language is in favour of neat, pithy sentences, and it 

 abounds, therefore, in these crystallisations, (if the expression can 

 be permitted,) of primitive wisdom and humour, though in this 

 respect it is said to be inferior to the Javanese. Some open up 

 perfect pictures of certain phases of rural life, and indeed are 

 scarcely intelligible except to those whose knowledge of the 

 country and mode of life of the people enables them to appre- 

 ciate the local colouring. As a proof of their popularity, I may 

 instance the frequent quotation of proverbs in the Malay news- 

 papers which were started in the Colony of last year, and 

 of which no less than three in the native character are now 

 published weekly in Singapore. One can seldom take up the 



* Only a small portion of the Proverbs are published in this Numbor 

 of the Journal. The remainder will appear in January, 



