184 NOTES ON TWO FERAE MANUSCRIPTS, 



" There are many Malay u compositions of a historical na- 

 " ture, though they are not so common as the classes that 

 " have been ennmeratecl ; such as the Hikayat Rajah bongsu, 

 " which I have not seen, but which has been described to me 

 "as a genealogical history of the Malay Rajahs. The 

 " Hikayat Malaka, which relates the founding of that city 

 " by a Javanese adventurer, the arrival of the Portuguese 

 " and the combats of the Malays with Albuquerque and the 

 " other Portuguese commanders. The Hikayat Pit raj ay a- 

 " Putti, or history of an ancient Raja of Malacca, the Hilmyat 

 " Achi, or history of Achi or Achin in Sumatra and the Hika- 

 " gat Hang Tulia, or the adventures of a Malay Chief during 

 " the reign of the last Raja of Malacca, and the account of 

 " a Malay Embassy sent to Mekka and Constantinople to re- 

 " quest assistance against the Portuguese. Such historical 

 " narrations are extremely numerous, indeed there is reason 

 " to believe that there is one of every state or tribe ; and 

 " though occasionally embellished by fiction, it is only from 

 " them that we can obtain an outline of the Malay history 

 " and of the progress of the nation." 



Leyden wrote seventy years ago, but, owing probably to 

 the limited intercourse of Europeans with the native States 

 of the Peninsula, little has been discovered since his time to 

 justify his belief that separate historical narrations existed 

 for every state or tribe. The publication of a translation of 

 the Hikayat Marong Mahawangsa by Col. Low (5) is, as far as 

 I know, the only acquisition of importance. 



In Perak I have lost no opportunity of enquiring for his- 

 torical manuscripts, and have succeeded in obtaining two, of 

 which I propose to give a short account in this paper. 



The first is a short genealogy of the Mohamedan kings of 

 Perak. It is a well-thumbed little book of 72 pages, which 

 formerly belonged to the Raja Bendahara, and has evidently 

 been treated as a treasure, for it is wrapped up in an em- 

 broidered napkin (tetampan) and an outer wrapper of yellow 

 cloth. The first page is missing but I hope to get it supplied 

 from memory or from another copy. 



The book commences with an abstract of the Sijara 

 Malay n and the Malay kings are traced from Palembang to 

 Singhapura, and from Singhapura to Malacca. A Summary 



(5) Journal Indian Archipelago Vol. III. p. 1. 



