.fi tr M A T it il. 5 
tifUally fappofet! to reprefcnt Java, The commentators of Arrkn affert 
that this ifland is ddigned by the hfala Simandiy vel Pahefimundi of that 
writer^ Jn his penplus mart Erythrm* Odoricus^ a friar, who m the 
year 133 1 villted fome of the Indian iflands, fpeaks of Java and Symdta 
which name fecms a kind of middle term between that given it by 
Arrian and the modern one of Sumatra^ and may poffibly be the true 
etymology, Relandus, an able invcfiigator of eaitern anriquitjcs, fays 
that it is called Sumatra, from a certain high land named Samadra'% 
which he fuppofes to fignify, in the language of the country, " mr^gm 
frrmha*'; hm though there is no fcarcity of lai-^e ants in the ifland, it is 
cettatft that they are never called by that name ; it is nearly as certain 
til at there is no remarkable hill there bearing the appellation he men- 
tions i nor does the derivation either carry the appearance of probability, 
or any Gorr0i>u,,.ti«g rp#«innoy tn its fiarour. He mentions likewife ; 
jtfnd in this he is fupported by the Dutch writers, that the people of the 
neighboaring iflands, call it Indalas (Jndteiees), which holds good of 
the Javans, but has no extenfive acceptance, and the natives themfelves, 
as before remarked, are ignorant of fuch a name, as well as of every 
dthcr. This is a point which I took pains to inveftigate, and which I can 
pronounce upon with certain t)^ ; and to this circumftance principally 
the ambiguity refpeding its ancient title is owing : as navigators of 
different nations had no common and permanent ftandard to refer to, each 
who vifited it be flowed an arbitrary appellation, which fiibfequent tra- 
vellers mifapplied and confounded'-. What fecms pretty evident is, 
that the h^va^^ however derived, was learned by the Portuguefe on the 
eoaft of Malabar, ivhere they macie ineii nta ca^LUlilimcnts, and re- 
quired a kno\vledge of the more eaftern countries ; very rude indeed at 
the earlier period, as appears by the Idneranum Portngahn/mm^ pub- 
^ f Much incGBTcnieocc ts experkneed by naviptor s in modern times, from the aibitary mode 
of bdlowing nanws on land newly difcovcred or exploredi That name which the inhabitatitSf 
or thofc of the neighbouring coontries, diilbguilH a place by, Ihouid ever be fcrupuloufly pre- 
fervcd ; if fuch can be afcertabed. This fteras lo have been firil attended to by Mr. Daixymple, 
liuid fince by Captain QoQho, 
c 
liflted 
