CHAP. XII. 



Pretiminary Remarks — Mala^mt Account of the Creali&n- 

 cj tht fntt of mtin— death of Abei — Dc^nomlog^- — The Po- 

 lony — The Penanffttlean-^ Different descriptions of eoil 

 Spirits-^The Hantu — The Pontianak — Di^ertnt species 

 of Magic — State of edvcadon amongst the Malays — Chi- 

 nese crremom^s at births — Marriatfes — Divorces— Causes 

 of deaths— Cnriom and superstitious ceremonies connected 

 wit h— Chinese entertainments— Morah — Perjury — Anec- 

 dotes of—Revenfje— Educa tion— The Portuguese — Dtrira d- 

 td condition of — Fisheries — Vices of the Portvguese — Sin- 

 gular method of interring infants^ The Dutch* 



IN treating of the customs and superstitions of 

 the different classes of the inhabitanis of the 

 Peninsula, I shall select Malacca, not only as 

 being the place with which I have the greatest 

 acquaintance, butalsoas containing more numer- 

 ous and distinct classes than the other settle- 

 ments. The Malays, as being the earliest colo* 

 uists, deserve first to be noticed. 



The following account of the idea, entertained 

 by Malays of Malacca, relative to the creation 

 of the world, is extracted from the Indo Chinese 

 Gleaner* aud is, 1 believe, fiom the pen of the 

 late Dr. Milne* This work having only been 

 printed in numbers, which originally were con- 

 fined nearly altogether to the Archipelago, and 

 which are now very scarce, very few of my read- 

 ers can have met with it. The account is trans- 

 lated from a Malay Tale, called the Hikayat In- 

 dra-jia, or the History of (prince) Indra-jia. 



* IMo Cbinue dleancc. Vol. lit, Ko, 2, {t. 14. 



