31 
" and industry, of which they are themselves allowed to reap 
"the fruits." 
It may now be said that these hopes have been reaHsed, 
during the past century, both in the Peninsula and Borneo. 
During this period, there has also been shown among the 
whole Malayan stock an unexpected vigour and vitality. 
The populations of Java and Sumatra, and of the Malayan 
portions of the Peninsula, far from showing any tendency to 
dwindle away before the increasing Europeans and Chinese, 
have multiplied prodigiously; and are, taken all together, cer- 
tamly three or four times as great as at the beginning of the 
century. In our own Colony, the numbers of the Malays 
alone have grown from under 30,000 in Penang and Malacca 
at that time, to nearly six times the number at the last 
census. 
The wide dispersion of the Malay language has always been 
remarkable. Wherever one goes— for more than 2,000 miles, 
from Ac bin to New Guinea, and amid an endless variety of 
races — ^is found the convenience of a common speech. Some- 
thing is due to the language itself, but much to the maritime 
instincts of the people, which have spread its use. 
And this brings up the long-discussed question of their 
ori gin J which has a special interest in treating of the Malay 
Peninsula. 
The true centre of dispersion of the Malay race may be 
fixed rather in Malacca than in Sumatra, contrary to the 
generally received opinion. If the Malays are physically allied 
to the Mongol stock, it is obvious that the earliest migration 
must have been from High Asia towards the Peninsula, and 
thence to Sumatra, possibly at a time when the island still 
