482 A TRANSLATION OF THE KEDDA ANNALS. 
excursions in the jungles here I have discovered undoubted relics 
of a Hindoo colony, with ruins of temples. This trad extends 
along: the talus of the Kedda mountain Jerrei. Besides the Sivaic 
emblem I found serial copper coins, IVJy researches have been 
unavoidably slow from the almost impenetrable state of the forests, 
and from the necessity imposed on me bo the mendacious or exag¬ 
gerating propensities of the natives, and the absurd and vexatious 
jealousy of their rulers beyond our frontier As I cannot here 
enter into a disquisition on the antient religion of this por'ion of 
the Continent, I will merely observe that my researi lies have clearly 
proved that the people worship ed Buddha and at the same time 
Siva, and perhaps some other Hindoo Deities, but that these last 
classes appeal to have oredominated in the end, their advametnent 
peihaps keeping pace with the gradual Hiceess of the Hindus in 
India in their rivalry of the Buddhists. Marong Matawangsa it 
will be observed brought his idols with him. The credulity with 
which our author gulps down all the wondeifnl stories of Sheikh 
Abdulla is not greater than the avidity shewn by the Malays ol the 
present day to credit every thing related of tl eir prophet and hoiy 
men Pious frauds it appears were equally in vogue with the 
imams as with the piiests of other religions But religion has 
generally sat very loosely on the bulk of the Malays, and ^n'ess 
the individual be a piiest he often contents himself with allowing 
otheis to pray for him. The Mahometans weie too far off from the 
seat of their power to think of establishing their creed by she sword, 
so that | eisuasion alone was adopted. The process therefore of 
conveision was slow, and men, after the peop e had consented to 
desert their idols for the new faith, stiff cherished a superstitious 
reverence for or stood in awe of these anciem Gods. E\en at this 
day their indirect influence on the minds of the least educated 
classes is consideratde. Thus, although Sheikh Abdulla persuaded 
the Raja to destroy his idols, of which I have had p'oofin the 
mutilated images I have discovered, they were not all destroyed, 
until one hundred and forty-eight years subsequently to that event 
The gold and stiver idols were doubtless converted into cotu or 
ingots, 
The use of tea and coffee, shews that these luxuries reached them 
by commerce. It is cuin.us that although coffee grows well under 
shade on this coast, the Malays of the present day do not lake 
much advantage of it. 
W e find of course that mosques rose rapidly on the ruins of the 
idolatrous temples, and that buffaloes were sacrifh ed instead of 
rams at the Irnjr feast, the scriptural sacrifice of a ram instead of 
the son of Abraham, —a practice still continued, for besides the 
religious act, the Malays prefer the fle^h of the buffalo to rhat of 
the cow, a predilection, winch probably arises from a lingering 
impression that this latter animal was venerated by iheir ancestor. 
I may likewise mention that I found several small talismans of leaf 
