ON THE MALA'YU NATION. I0S 



The island of Sumatra, as well as the islands of Jawa, Tana Ugi or 

 Bugis land, (Celebes) Sulu, and the Moluccas, which with Borneo compose 

 what may be properly termed the Malayan groupe, are peopled by nations 

 radically distinct from the Malays, who speak languages entirely different, 

 and use various written characters, original and peculiar to each. These 

 nations are governed by their several laws and institutions ; and if we 

 except the state of Menangcdbaw on the island of Sumatra, it is on the 

 shores of these islands only, and in the Malay peninsula, that the Malays 

 are to be found. Whatever may have been the origin of the Maldyu 

 nation, the primary population of these various and extensive islands, 

 could never, according to any natural inference, have proceeded from the 

 Malays, though the reverse may probably have been the case, whatever 

 may have been borrowed from a more foreign source. 



Notwithstanding, therefore, the idea of Mr. Marsden,* that the 

 various dialects of the Maldyu tongue have experienced such changes, 

 with respect to the purposes of intercourse, that they may be classed into 

 several languages differing considerably from each other ; I cannot but 

 consider the Maldyu nation, as one people, speaking one language, though 

 spread over so wide a space, and preserving their character and customs, 

 in all the maritime states lying between the Sulu seas, and the southern 

 ocean, and bounded longitudinally by Sumatra and the western side of 

 Papua or JVew Guinea. 



The Maldyu language, may no doubt be traced to a still further extent. 

 and particularly among the South sea islands, but as that point more 

 naturally belongs to a dissertation on the origin of the nation and its 



* Marsden, on the traces of the Hindu languages and literature. Page 223, Vol. 4, 

 Asiatkk Researches* 



