138 



An Essay on Early Relations 



[No. 37, 



was applied, as a proper name, to one individual king. It is necessary 

 however to be very circumspect in this reference ; unless I may be 

 able to get another sight of the paper ; to which I refer, after an in- 

 terval of ten years. 



The reader of the foregoing portion of this paper will have ob- 

 served that I stopped short at Marsden's 9th chapter, in the rather 

 tedious process of verifying the references, before generally given. 

 My reason was that they would be thought wearisome ; and perhaps 

 discourage further perusal. I am now of opinion that the further 

 process of verifying would only be readable by linguists ; and that 

 they will not need my aid. The list of references was first succinct- 

 ly given; and, after what has been since stated, that will suffice. 

 No one acquainted with Indian languages can hesitate to pronounce 

 that a close identity exists. It follows that the words cannot be in- 

 digenous to two localities. One must borrow from the other. 

 There is no probability that India, by commercial intercourse, bor- 

 rowed such terms from Sumatra ; neither are they terms which 

 commercial intercourse would convey to Sumatra. The fact of an 

 intercourse, at all events, is proved thereby. The nature of the 

 words imply that they were imported by a colony : the terms hav- 

 ing as much relation to mythology and manners, as to any other 

 component of a state considered to be civilized. 



Many references, from various sources, bearing on one point, 

 add strong confirmation, and especially if the references are inciden- 

 tal ; without design : and not the chief object in the writer's view. 

 Any one who has perused Archdeacon Paley's Horce Paulince will 

 remember the use which an able man made of even a few such un- 

 designed coincidences. It was in a great measure in this point of 

 view that, some years ago, I perused Anderson's Mission to the 

 east coast of Sumatra in 1823, published in 1826. The author, a 

 civilian, was deputed to promote, and extend British commerce in 

 Sumatra. This was his great object ; and to the narrative of a suc- 

 cessful accomplishment his book is chiefly devoted : references to 

 other subjects are casual, or incidental. In this point his book dif- 

 fers from Marsden's. The latter wrote specifically on matters of his- 

 tory and antiquities among other subjects ; and with his mind evi- 

 dently leaning towards an impression that Sumatra and India had 

 been in some way intersocial. Anderson apparently thought, or 



