MxVLA^ PROVERBS. H7 



" vantage of having the above-mentioned Abdullah as his 

 " teacher and assistant." 



The author goes on to say that in publishing his small collec- 

 tion of proverbs., got together from these sources, he has a par- 

 ticular aim in view, namely, to encourage other students of the 

 Malay language to complete the collection, by adding to it many 

 proverbs which may exist unknown to him, "lest the study of 

 " Malay be neglected for the study of the Javanese language, to 

 " which the preference has been given rather too exclusively of 



ite years (in the Dutch colonies) " 



<< 



As far as Malay authors are concerned, the labours of the 

 Abbe Favre and M. Klinkert in collecting- Malay proverbs and 

 aphorisms have, I think, been exhaustive. But there is a wide 

 field left for the student who cares to amuse and instruct him- 

 self, and perhaps others, by picking up quaint sayings from the 

 natives themselves. One difficulty, in making a collection of 

 this sort, lies in deciding what to admit as a genuine proverb, 

 and what to reject as a mere sententious remark or as a common 

 metaphorical expression. M. Klinkert admits to a doubt as 

 to whether " a mere phrase " may not here and there be found 

 among' the proverbs he publishes. M. Favre certainly gives 

 several specimens in his dictionary which can hardly be consider- 

 ed proverbs, notably those quoted from a " livre de lectures" 

 published in Singapore, which are in some instances mere mo- 

 ral maxims. I shall not pretend, however, in the collection now 

 published, to confine myself to a more rigid rule than that adopt- 

 ed by previous collectors. 



In this paper I propose only to supplement previous collec- 

 tions of Malay proverbs, and I shall not, therefore, include any 

 of those which are to be found in Favre's dictionary, (except 

 perhaps in cases where my version of a phrase differs from his) ; 

 though I am aware that this rule deprives me of some of the 

 best known and most characteristic specimens. Those now 

 printed have been collected at various times and places. Listen- 

 ing to the humble details of a rural law-suit, or the " simple 

 annals" of a Malay village, I have occasionally picked up some 

 saving alleged to have descended from the (i orang tnah-tvah" (the 

 ancestors of the speaker) or the " oravg dahulu kala" (the an- 

 cients) deserving of a place here ; others I have noted down in 

 conversation with Malays of all grades, from the raja to the ryot, 

 and have verified by subsequent enquiry ; for others again I am 

 indebted to the kindness of friends, Malays and others. 



As it has been necessary, in order to avoid reprinting what 



