17 
had a considerablG maruimo j>opiilation when S.wn Nila Utama, a chiof 
of Palembang, settled tlicn^ and married a daughter of the Queen. Tins 
is said to have been about A.D. 11 GO. 
The Johor Arehipehigo was probably inhabited from a very remote 
period, anterior even to the existent-e of any of the Malay race in Suma- 
tra, by a maritime branch of tlie same people, radically Malayan, wlio 
are now found in the interior of the Peninsula and of tlie southern lialf 
of Sumatra, Several tiibes in various stages of civilization still passcss 
the Johor islands. Though little known to P3uropeans, they can never 
have been without Malay or Hindu-Malay visitors, for it was by the great 
rivers of Palembang, Jambi^ Indragiri and Kampar, before whose em- 
bouchure.*? these i«iland« lie, thut the Hindus of Ceylon and southern 
India must liave gradually carried civilisation into the interior of south- 
eni Sumatra. The Indragiri, in partictilarj appears to have been crow^dcd 
with Hindu-Malay settlements, many of the numerous villages on its 
banks retaining purely Hindu names to this day. It was by this river, 
probably, that they reached the fertile plain of Menangkidiau. It is pro- 
l)able that the Malays on these rivers had attained a certain civilization 
in advance of the wandering mountain tribes, even before the Hindus 
came. 
That the ancient Singaporeans were of a maritime and not an inlaiul 
agricultural race, may be inferred from their selecting as a settlement the 
best position in these seiis for couimcrce, and one of the worst for agri- 
culture. Tfie Malayan town of the 12th century seems te have made as 
rapid progress under Sai Tribuaxa, as the l^nglisli one did in the 19th 
iiiidor RAFrLKs. The old town speedily became noted as a great emiiorium, 
and merclumts flocked to it from all quarters. De li vRKoshad also heard 
tliat " Singaptlra was the resort of the navigators of the western seas of 
Iiulia as wt-M as of those of the eastern seas from Siam^ China, Cboompa 
" iCiiampa), Camboja, and of the uianv thousand islands which lie towards 
the East.^' 
The towTi must certainly have fallen from any such position at the 
time when Mahco Polo, the first European wdio visited the Straits, passed 
it towards the end oi* tho i:ith century, lEc does not even mention any 
tiauic like Singapore. 
The real history of the Peninsula begins with the foundation of 
.Malacca, which was laid sliortiy after the fall of Singapore, about 25(J 
years before the arrival of the Portuguese in India. According to 
the most trustw(n-thy account, it happened as follows : — About that time, 
one Sakgsinga reigned in Singapore, and in the ncighhouring countiy 
of Java one Paravisa, wlio, at his death, left his sons under the guar- 
diaushiiJ of his own brother, their uncle : but he having found occasion 
to mui-der the ehlest, usurped the throne ; at which some of the noble 
Javanese, being highly disgusted, did, with Parajusoka, their late King'a 
youngest son, tly to Singapore, where they met with a kind reception 
from Sangsjnoa : bur it was not long before Paramisora, in combination 
with his Javanese, murdered Sangsixoa, and pnt liimsclf in possession of 
his kingdom* The King of Siam, to avcuge the outrage inflicted on Sakg- 
^inca, his vassal and son-in-law, forced the Javanese to quit the country 
