Malacca, in Encyclopaedia Londinensis

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MALAC’CA, or MALAYA, a peninsula of Asia, at the extremity of the kingdom of Siam, surrounded by the sea, except at its junction with this kingdom. The northern limits are not strictly defined; but the peninsula is reckoned to be about 80°, or 560 British miles, in length, and in medial breadth about 150 miles. It derives its name from the Malays, who are mostly Mahometans, and in considerable degree civilized: but the inland parts seem to be possessed by a more rude native race, of which our knowledge is very imperfect.

In the last century, Mandelflo, or rather Olearius, who published his voyage, describes Malacca as divided into two kingdoms, that of Patani in the north, and that of Johor in the south. The former was inhabited by Malays and

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and Siamese; who were by profession Mahometans, and tributary to Siam. The town is built of reeds and wood, but the mosque of brick ; and the commerce was conducted by the Chinese and Portuguese settlers, while the native Malays were chiefly employed in fishing and agriculture. From this traveller we learn, that in Malacca there are continued rains with a north-east wind during the months of November, December, and January. Agriculture was conducted with oxen and buffaloes, the chief product being rice. Game and fruits were abundant, and the forests swarmed with monkeys, tigers, wild boars, and wild elephants. Besides the tiger and elephant, Malacca produces the civet cat ; and Sonnerat says that wild men are found here, meaning perhaps orang-outangs. Some singular birds are also found ; and it likewise produces a delicious fruit called the mangosten. The Portuguese were accustomed to purchase annually from Patani about 1500 cattle for their settlement at Malacca. The kingdom of Johor comprehended the southern extremity of the Chersonese ; and its chief towns were Linga, Bintam, Carimon, and Betusabea ; the last of which was the capital, situated in a marshy situation, on the river Johor, about six leagues from the sea, and consisting of houses elevated about eight feet from the ground. The whole of this country belonged to the king, who assigned lands to those who demanded them ; but the indolence of the Malays left it to the wild luxuriance of nature.

According to the account of Valentyn, the peninsula of Malacca is bounded on the north by the river Riadang, which runs by Linga to the east, and by a small range of hills that separate it from the kingdom of Siam ; and it contained five provinces, which derive their names from their capitals. On the eastern coast are those of Patani and Pahang, followed by the most southern kingdom of Djohor, or Johor ; and on the western coast: are those of Keidah, or Quedah, and Perah, followed by another province called the Malay coast, and of which the capital is Malacca. The inland part of the peninsula seems to remain full of extensive and original forests, without towns or villages ; but the country, though not sufficiently explored, is now known to produce pepper and other spices, with some precious gums and woods. The chief mineral is tin, in which Quedah and Perah are rich ; and a high mountain north-east of Malacca supplies rivers that afford small quantities of gold-dust. In the river Pahaung, flowing near the town of Malacca, lumps of gold about five or six ounces in weight have been found at the depth of from three to ten fathoms.

From an account of the ancient history of this country, cited by Valentyn in his Description of the Dutch Settlements in the East Indies, 1726, from a Malay manuscript written in the Arabic character, we are led to believe that the Malays were first settled on the eastern coast of Sumatra, in the kingdom of Palambang, opposite to the Isle of Branca, at the river Malajee, which encircles the mountain Mahameirae, and afterwards joins the river Tatang. Some have supposed that the river derives its name from the Malays ; but Valentyn is of opinion that they derived their name from the river, and communicated it to their present peninsula, which formerly belonged to the king of Siam, and was inhabited by fishermen. This manuscript being recent, we can only infer from it that the Malays came from the west. The traditions founded on this and other similar manuscripts report, that the Malays, during their residence in Sumatra, chose a king who reigned forty-eight years, and pretended to be a descendant of Alexander the Great. This happened about the year 1160 of the Christian era. During this reign, it is said, the Malays proceeded to the opposite coast, and settled on the north-east corner, whence they gradually spread ; and the country assumed the name of Tanah Malajee, or Malay Land, extending from 2° to 11° N. lat. After a residence of some years, the Malays built their first town Singapoera, which gave its name to the southern strait. The last king of Singapoera was compelled by

VOL. XIV. No. 965.

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a hostile sovereign of a district in the Isle of Java to retire northward, where, in the year 1253, he built a new capital, called Malacca, as it is said, from the name of a tree under which he had taken shelter, while he was hunting. Having established salutary laws, he died in the year 1274. As this king had adopted the appellations of Shah and Sultan, it furnishes a presumption, that Mahometanism was now introduced. The second in succession after this prince, who is esteemed the first Mahometan sovereign, reigned fifty-seven years. He extended more widely the name of Malays ; and, having acquired by marriage the kingdom of Aracan, he died in 1333. In process of time, the commercial town of Malacca was regarded, with Madjapit and Posi, as the third celebrated city in these regions. Sultan Mantsoer Shah, who ascended the throne in 1374, and in the course of his long reign of seventy-three years annexed by marriage the kingdom of Andrigiri, on the east side of Sumatra, to Malacca, became so powerful, that he was styled emperor. In consequence of an alliance with the emperor of China, whose daughter he married, he subdued the kingdom of Pahang. Malacca was now esteemed the chief city in these parts of the eastern world. Mantsoer died in 1447. During an inglorious reign of his son and successor, the eleventh king of the Malays, the sixth of Malacca, and the fifth who professed the Mahometan religion, Malacca became subject to Siam ; but at his death, in 1477, he was succeeded by a prince, under whose government, in the year 1509, the Malays threw off the yoke of Siam. It was in this year that the Portuguese discovered Malacca, to which they were led by the vain idea of finding the golden Chersonese of the ancients. With this view, Emanuel king of Portugal sent out a fleet of sixteen ships under the command of Sequeira. Among the officers of this fleet was Magalhaens, or Magellan, who afterwards became famous as the first circumnavigator of the globe. Many attempts were made to assassinate Sequeira ; who, finding it impossible to make a commercial arrangement advantageous to his country, returned to Portugal. At this time Albuquerque was the Portuguese viceroy in the East Indies. On the 1st of August, 1511, he arrived before Malacca with a powerful fleet, while the king of Pahang was in the town on occasion of celebrating his nuptials with the daughter of Sultan Mahmud Shah, the sovereign of the peninsula. Malacca was taken by storm ; and the king fled to Johor, where he founded a new town and kingdom. The Portuguese, having gained complete possession of Malacca, formed an alliance with Siam. The king of Johor died in 1513, and was succeeded by his son Sultan Ahmud Shah, who afterwards made a treaty with the Portuguese. Among the Portuguese governors of Malacca was Peter Mascarenhas in 1526, from whom was, probably, derived the name anciently given to the Isle of Bourbon. During the reign of a sovereign called Alawoddin, who took possession of the throne in 1591, the Dutch arrived, and formed an alliance with this prince against the Portuguese. In 1606, the Dutch, in conjunction with the king of Johor, attacked Malacca; they made various attempts in succeeding years to gain possession of the country ; but were obliged to content themselves with a factory in Johor. At length Anthony Van Diemen, the famous governor-general of the Dutch Settlements in the East Indies, finding a favourable opportunity for the execution of his purpose, dispatched, in June 1640, a fleet of twelve ships and six sloops to blockade Malacca ; and these were joined by about twenty small vessels of Johor. The Dutch soon erected a battery ; and the siege was accompanied with famine and pestilence. In January 1541, the famine was so severe, that the inhabitants were obliged to expel their women and children. The Dutch also suffered much from heat and fatigue ; and at length impatience and desperation produced a general assault, which was executed on the 14th of January ; and the governor capitulated. Valentyn reports, that during the siege more than 7000 died in the town, and a greater number found means to escape.

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escape. The Dutch lost about 1500, chiefly by the plague. Thus the Portuguese, after a possession of nearly 130 years, lost this valuable settlement, then esteemed, after Goa, the richest in the East Indies. Malacca, which is represented as a strong place, was taken possession of by the English in Augult 1795. The Malay empire is now added to the dominions of Great Britain in the East by the capture of Java ; in consequence of which, Britain is become the mistress of the whole of the Malayan Archipelago.

The Malays, whose origin is not satisfactorily ascertained, are in general a well-made people, somewhat be low the middle stature. Their limbs are small, but well shaped, and they are particularly slender at the wrists and ankles. Their complexion is tawny, their eyes large, their noses seem to be flattened more by art than nature ; and their hair is very long, black, and shining. As the Malays resemble the Chinese and Tartars in their features, it has been suggested as probable that they are descended from those nations. Their progress from Malacca, across the narrow strait of that name, to Sumatra, from thence to Java, and from Java to all Polynesia, was so easy, even in the most frail vessels, that there is no difficulty in accounting for their being found, as they really are, in possession of the sea-coasts of almost every island. Mr. Marsden, in the last edition of his valuable work, seems to have retracted the opinion which he once held of Malacca being the original country of the Malays, and to think that they passed thither from Sumatra. Not only their physical appearance, but their manners and customs, as well as language, have undergone a considerable change by the overwhelming influence of the Arabs, who, from the 9th to the 14th century, appear to have enjoyed the exclusive commerce and dominion of the oriental islands, the greater part of which has received the religion of Mahomet. These people in former times possessed great powers, and made a very considerable figure on the theatre of Asia ; and their country was well cultivated and populous. The sea was covered with their ships, and their commerce was very extensive. At different times they sent out various colonies, which in succession peopled a great part of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, Macassar, the Moluccas, the Philippines, and those innumerable islands of the Archipelago which bound Asia on the east, and which occupy an extent of 700 leagues in longitude from east to west, and about 600 in latitude from north to south. Every-where the people seem to be the same. They speak almost the same language, and they have the same laws and the same manners. Kaempfer says, in his History of Japan, that the Malayans had in former times the greatest trade in the East Indies, and frequented with their merchant-ships not only all the coasts of Asia, but ventured even over to the coasts of Africa, particularly to the great island of Madagascar. That the Malayans have not only frequented Madagascar, but that they have been the progenitors of some of the present race of inhabitants, is continued by the testimony of M. de Pages, who visited that island so late as 1774. The title which the king of the Malayans assumed to himself, says Kaempfer, of “ Lord of the Winds and Seas to the East and West,“ is an evident proof of their extensive migration ; but much more the Malay language, which spread almost all over the East, after the same manner as formerly the Latin, and of late the French, did all over Europe.

M. le Poivre, cited by Mr. Pennant in his Outlines of the Globe, says, that travellers, who make observations on the Malays, are astonished to find in the centre of Asia, under the scorching climate of the line, the laws, the manners, the customs, and the prejudices, of the ancient inhabitants of the north of Europe. The Malays are governed by feudal laws, “ that capricious system, conceived for the defence of the liberty of a few against the tyranny of one, whilst the multitude is subject to slavery and oppression." Thus we have here a chief, who has the title of king or sultan, issuing his commands to his great vasals, who obey when they think proper; these

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have inferior vassals whose conduct is similar to that of their superiors. The Oramcai, or nobles, forming a small part of the nation, live independent, and nobly sell their services to those who are disposed or able to give them the best price; whilst the body of the nation is composed of slaves, and lives in perpetual servitude. With these laws, says M. le Poivre, the Malays are restless, fond of navigation, war, plunder, emigrations, colonies, desperate enterprises, adventures, and gallantry. They talk incessantly of their honour and bravery, whilst they are universally considered by those with whom they have intercourse as the most treacherous and ferocious people on the face of the globe ; and yet, which appears extremely singular, they speak the softest language of Asia. The ferocity of the Macassars is the reigning characteristic of all the Malay nations ; and, as an evidence of their faithlessness and treachery, it is alleged, that their treaties of peace and friendship never subsist beyond that self-interest by which they were induced to make them ; and they are almost always armed, and either at war among themselves, or employed in pillaging their neighbours. Their ferocity, misnamed courage by the Malays, is so well known to the Europeans who have settlements in the Indies, that they have universally agreed in prohibiting the captains of their ships, who may put into the Malay islands, from taking on-board any seamen of that nation, except in the greatest distress, and then on no account to exceed two or three. It is not uncommon for a few of these savages suddenly to embark, attack a vessel by surprise, poignard in hand, massacre the people, and make themselves master of her. Malay barks, with twenty-five or thirty men, have been known to board European ships of thirty or forty guns, in order to take possession of them, and murder with their poignards great part of their crew. Those Malays who are not slaves always go armed ; and they would think themselves disgraced if they went abroad without their poignards, or crisses.

The attire of the males consisits of pantaloons with a wide robe of blue, red, or green ; the neck is bare, but the head is covered with a turban. The female dress, like that generally used in the East Indies, is a long narrow petticoat, reaching from the breast to the feet, whilst the other parts are naked, and the hair is commonly tied. The women are reckoned more intelligent than most others in the east ; and their conversation is of course sensible and agreeable.

The other inhabitants of Malacca are Portuguese, Moors, and Chinese, and some settlers from Bengal and Guzerat. The chief articles of commerce are azel-wood and camphor from the kingdom of Pahang; tin, gold, pepper, pedra de porco, and ivory. The manufactures are various articles of dress, worn here and in Hindoostan, cottons, chintz, &c. and some articles of copper. When Malacca came into the possession of the Dutch, the Dutch East-India company appointed the governor, under whose controul were several factories, some in the peninsula, and others on the coast of Sumatra. The factories are those of Peirah, or Perah, on the Malay coast, for the tin.-trade ; of Keidah, or Quedah, on the same coast, for carrying on commerce with the petty king of Xeedah, for tin, gold, and ivory ; of Oedjan-Salang, for tin and ivory ; of Andrigiri, on the coast of Sumatra, for pepper and gold. The Dutch also traded with Ligor and Tanaserim, in the dominions of Siam, for tin ; and with Bangkoelo, for gold and pedra de porco ; before the English established themselves there. The island Dending was also considered as a dependence of Malacca.

The country possessed by the Malays is, in general very fertile. It abounds with odoriferous woods, such as the aloe, the sandal, and cassia. The ground is covered with flowers of the greatest fragrance, of which there is perpetual succession throughout the year. There are, abundance of mines of the most precious metals, said to be richer even than those of Brasil or Peru ; and in some places are mines of diamonds. The sea also abounds with

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with excellent fish, together with ambergrise, pearls, and those delicate bird-nests so much in request in China, formed in the rocks with the spawn of fishes and the foam of the sea, by a species of small-sized swallow peculiar to those seas. These curious -little fabrics are of an oval shape, arranged in regular rows, composed of fine filaments, cemented together by viscous matter ; and, when white and transparent, are said to be worth their weight in silver.

Notwithstanding all this plenty, however, the Malays are miserable. The culture of the lands, abandoned to slaves, is fallen into contempt. These wretched labourers, dragged incessantly from their rustic employments by their restless masters, who delight in war and maritime enterprises, have never time or resolution to give the necessary attention to the labouring of their grounds; of consequence the lands for the most part are uncultivated, and produce no kind of grain for the subsistence of the inhabitants. The sago-tree indeed supplies in part the defect of grain. It is a species of the palm-tree, which grows naturally in the woods to the height of about twenty or thirty feet ; its circumference being sometimes from five to six. Its ligneous bark is about an inch in thickness, and covers a multitude of long fibres, which, being interwoven one with another, envelope a mass of a gummy kind of meal. As soon as this tree is ripe, a whitish dust, which transpires through the pores of the leaves, and adheres to their extremities, indicates that the trees are in a state of maturity. The Malays then cut them down near the root, and divide them into several sections, which they split into quarters ; they then scoop out the mass of mealy substance, which is enveloped by and adheres to the fibres ; they dilute it in pure water, and then pass it through a straining-bag of fine cloth, in order to separate it from the fibres. When this paste has lost part of its moisture by evaporation, the Malays throw it into a kind of earthen vessel of different shapes, where they allow it to dry and harden. This paste is wholesome nourishing food, and preserves for many years.

The Malay doosoons, or villages, are frequently situated on the borders of a lake, and generally command an eminence difficult of access. Their houses are raised from the ground on posts or standards, in the manner of the granaries in England; the frames are of wood; the flooring consists of layers of bamboo, over which is a lath of bamboo split thin, and tied down with the filaments of the rattan. This elastic floor is covered with mats of various kinds. The sides of the house are closed in with paloopo, which is the bamboo half split, opened, and rendered flat, by notching the circular joints withinside, laying it to dry in the sun, pressed down with weights. The houses are commonly covered with the altafs, a species of palm-leaf; the larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the middle one, under which the door is placed, being much lower than the other two ; in smaller houses there are but two pitches, and the entrance is in the smaller, which covers a kind of hall or cooking-room. The ascent to these dwellings is by a light scaling-ladder of notched bamboo, which is seldom fattened to the timbers, and is sometimes taken in at night, to guard against the sudden incursions of ferocious animals. The furniture is simple as the edifice; the bed is no other than a fine mat, with pillows embellished with some showy material resembling foil; a canopy composed of party-coloured cloths is suspended over the head ; neither chairs nor tables are necessary articles to the Javanese, who sit on the floor reclining on the left side, supported on the left hand. With the use of knives and spoons they are wholly unacquainted ; they use salvers called the doolong, which move on feet ; on these are placed the cross waiters, and in them are the cups containing their curry and rice, which at their meals is always taken up between the right thumb and fingers. The houses have not the convenience of chimneys ; the fire-places are formed of loose bricks or stones arranged on the landing-place before the door.

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The art which is celebrated as having been carried so the greatest perfection among the Malays, is that of gold and silver fillagree. It is the minuteness of the parts, and the delicacy of finger required in the manipulation, for which this manufacture is justly admired ; and Mr. Marsden remarks the usual rudeness of implement, and. dexterity of use, which distinguish the arts of an uncultivated people. They manufacture silk and cotton cloths for their own consumption. “Some of their work," says Mr. Marsden, “is very fine, and the patterns prettily fancied.“ But no branch of industry appears to be pursued among them to any considerable extent.

In literature, it would appear that the Malays have rather made a greater progress than in government and the arts. Their language is celebrated for its softness and melody. See the article LANGUAGE, vol. xii. p. 167. The most numerous class of writers, of course, are the poets ; but Dr. Leyden seems not to hold them in great account. Historical narratives, be says, abound; “occasionally," he doubts not, “embellished by fiction." He also affirms, that “the juridical customs, or traditions of the Malays, have been collected into codes.“ And the most ancient of their legal regulations, he thinks, have been derived from the Javanese. “Malayan literature," says Mr. Marsden, “consists chiefly of transcripts and versions of the Koran; commentaries on» the Mussulman law; and historic tales, both in prose and verse, resembling in some respect our old romances. Many of these are original compositions; and others are translations of the popular tales current in Arabia, Persia, India, and the neighbouring island of Java." The cultivation of the sciences they appear not to have begun. Tens of thousands are the highest class of numbers the Malay language has a name for.

One of the most remarkable peculiarities in the description of the Malays is their religion. It is the Mahometan; derived immediately from connexion with the Arabs. It is sufficiently known, that during the thirteenth century, to which the conversion of the Malays is-assigned; the Arabs were a maritime people, and conducted a trade of considerable extent with the islands and continents of the east. By what means they recommended their religion to the Malays is yet buried in obscurity ; but they founded the city of Malacca about the year 1260, when it appears not that any thing deserving the name of a city was yet possessed by the Malays. The introduction of the Mussulman religion was also the introduction of the Mussulman law, the Koran being the divine standard of both. As the Koran, however, is sufficiently vague, and still more so the laws or traditionary customs of the Malays, a worse amalgamation might easily be made. The Malays, too, embraced the religion of the prophet with a kind of laxity, retaining a large proportion of their ancient feelings and ideas ; and it is not the purest and most rigid Mahometanism which they profess. Their laws, accordingly, are a mixture of their own customs with the regulations which the Mahometan doctors have pretended to draw from the sacred text. Of the form of their tribunals, or the modes of procedure, we have as yet received no information.

The moral character of the Malays is painted by Mr. Marsden in the most unfavourable colours: “They retain a strong share of pride, (says he) but not of that laudable kind which restrains men from the commission of mean and fraudulent actions. They possess much low cunning, and plausible duplicity ; and know how to dissemble the strongest passions, and most inveterate antipathy, till the opportunity of gratifying their resentment offers. Veracity, gratitude and integrity are not to be found in the list of their virtues; and their minds are almost strangers to the sentiments of honour and integrity. They are jealous and vindictive. Their courage is desultory, the effect of a momentary enthusiasm, which enables them to perform deeds of incredible desperation; but they are strangers to steady magnanimity, and cool resolution in battle.

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battle. The Malay may be compared to the animals of his country, the buffalo the tyger. In his domestic slate, he is indolent, stubborn, and voluptuous as the former ; in his adventurous life, he is insidious, blood-thirsty, and rapacious as the latter." Marsden's Hist. of Sumatra. Daniel’s Picturesque Voyage to India. Pinkerton‘s Geography, vol. ii.

MALAC'CA, a seaport town of Asia, on the west coast of the country, and in the straits of the same name. When the Portuguese first became acquainted with the country, this city was in the possession of the king of Johore, from whom it was taken by them ; and, in a short time, became famous all over India and Europe, lying almost in the centre of trade, brought thither by shipping from the rich kingdoms of Japan, China, Formosa, Lucon, Tonquin, Cochin-china, Cambodia, and Siam ; besides what Johore produced, and Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Macassar, Banda, Amboyua, and Ternate, islands that abound in the most valuable commodities. After Goa and Ormuz, this was by far the richest city in the Indies, and a great market for all the different commodities these countries produced. It was the see of a bishop ; and the cathedral church, dedicated to St. Paul, was extremely elegant. They had besides five other parish-churches, and a noble college for the Jesuits, together with an seminary in which all new converts to the faith were instructed. The whole was encompassed with a strong stone wall, regularly fortified with bastions, the place extremely well peopled, and the garrison numerous and well supplied ; because the Portuguese considered it as the eastern frontier of their dominions, which therefore could not be kept too secure. In 16o5, the Dutch attacked and destroyed a fleet of Portuguese here, consisting of 34 sail, on-board of which were 3000 men ; but, notwithstanding this victory, they were not able to take the place. Next year the king of Johore invested it, with an army of 60,000 men, in revenge of what the Portuguese had done against him three years before, when they took and destroyed his capital; however, he was obliged to raise the siege, with great loss ; but the Dutch, well knowing the importance of the place, and the vast advantages accruing to the Portuguese from its situation and commerce, the former affording them an opportunity of levying 10 per cent upon all vessels passing through the Straits of Malacca, and the latter annually producing a large revenue, they attacked it in the year 1640, so vigorously, that they became masters of it, after a siege of six months. The walls and fortifications they preserved, as also the church of St. Paul; but most of the other churches they destroyed, and the great hospital they turned into a warehouse. In 1795, this place was taken by the British. Lat. 2. 12. N. lon. 102. 12. E.

MALAC’CA (Straits of), a narrow sea between the island of Sumatra and the country of Malacca, extending from the equinoctial line to lat. 5. N.

MALACCA PASSAGE, a channel of the Eastem -Indian Sea, between Pulo Way and the coast of Sumatra, about thirteen miles long.