22 A TRANSLATION OF THE KEDDAH ANNALS. 
Candians as little better than evil spirits—and in this outcast and 
degraded condition they might ever have remained, had not British 
rule succeeded to the ruthless despotism of the Rajas of Candy. 
In the Mahawanso it is stated that there was a Sovereign of the 
Yakkhos. 
These Girgassi of Srai are stated to have had no Raja, but only 
Panghulus or chiefs over them, But by whom these were ap¬ 
pointed is not mentioned. It is fair therefore to infer that a higher 
than a popular authority created the office —and that the seat of 
power lay in the direction'of-Siam. (*) 
jjj&. The Gir&ssi or natives, by the account of our author, invited 
Marong Mahawaogsa to become their chief. But their “ asto¬ 
nishment at seeing him,” is at variance with the inferences which 
plainly occur to us after reading, that his Maiim knew the names 
of the bay and the Islands—that he himself knew the caste of the 
Girgasi, and conversed with them—if not in their own language, 
still it [must be supposed in one which had been established as a 
common medium of intercourse betwixt the people of the west and 
east or of India and the Indo-Chinese countries The precipitancy 
with which Mahawangsa settled and fortified himself might induce 
one to believe that he had sailed for this port with the intention 
to colonize the country per fas aut nefas, but altered his designs 
when left with one ship only. 
The narrative is equally circumstantial regarding his return long 
afterwards to Rum. So these colonists were most probably, as I 
have already conjectured, natives of India. I have not yet been 
able to positively identify the site of Langkasuka. The quarter 
where I may hereafter be able to find its ruins, is clothed with 
dense jungle and is impeded by deep swamps and ravines or water 
courses. I have traversed on foot, as usual where neither elephants 
nor horses can be used, parts of this tract, and the outlines satisfy 
me of the statistical fidelity of our author. I hope yet to discover 
the spot. If the ruins were of any considerable magnitude how¬ 
ever they would have been doubtless more easily discovered. I 
believe the village of Cuboh Balei to be close to the site of the 
orignal Town—But as that was abandoned after a while, it is 
probable the buildings were merely temporary 
Langkasuka means in Sanscrit the delightful, or joy inspiring 
Lanka—and ( 5 ^* suka, has been borrowed from that langu¬ 
age by the Malays to express joy, gladness, &c. If the origin 
Of Mahawangsa was to be predicated from this Sanscrit appellative, 
we should be compelled to consider him as having been a native of 
( 1 ) In Sumatra, the Peninsula (amongst the Binua), Borneo, Celebes, &c., 
we find so many examples of a strong tendency to republican principles that 
there is much reason to think that the earliest institutions of the Archipelago 
were highly republican. There are several Malayan states at present in Su¬ 
matra and the Peninsula, the highest functionaries in which are Panghulus.—* 
Ed, 
