MALAYS (properly, MaLaws, a Malay word, the derivation of which has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained) is the name given, in a restricted sense, to the inhabitants of the Malay peninsula, but in its wider acceptation, to a great branch of the human family, dwelling not only in the peninsula mentioned, but in the islands, large and small, of the Indian archipelago, in Madagascar, and in the numerous islands of the Pacific. In the fivefold division of mankind laid down by Blumenbach. the Malays are treated of as a distinct race, while in the threefold division of Latham they are regarded as a branch of thOfongolidse. Prichard has subdivided the various repre sentatives of the Malay family into three branches, viz. (1), the Indo-Malayan, compre hending the Malays proper of Malacca, and the inhabitants of Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas, and the Philippines, with whom, perhaps, may be associated the natives of the Caroline islands and the Ladrones; (2) the Polynesians; and (3) the Madecasses, or people of Madagascar. Accepting this subdivision, we shall, in the present article, con fine ourselves to the Malays proper—the natives of Madagascar having been already noticed under that heading; and reserving the Polynesians generally and the Maoris in particular for distinct articles.
In physical appearance, the Malays are a brown-complexioned race, rather darker than the Chinese, but not so swarthy as the Hindus. They have long, black, shining, but coarse hair; little or no beard; a large mouth; eyes large and dark; nose generally short and fiat; lips rather thicker than those of Europeans; and cheek-boues high. In stature the Indo-Malays are for the most part below the middle height, while the Poly nesians generally exceed it. The Lido-Malays have also slight, well-formed limbs, and are particularly small about the wrists and ankles. " The profile," according to Dr_ Pickering, " is usually more vertical than in the white race, but this may be owing in part to the mode of carriage, for the skull does not show a superior facial angle " Such is the general appearance of the Malays proper, or inhabitants of the peninsula and Indian islands. But these also have their subdivisions. There are the civilized Malays, who have a written language, and have made some progress in the arts of life; then there are the sea-people, orang-laut, literally, " men of the sea," a kind of sea-gypsies or robbers; and there are the orang banua, or orang utan, " wild men," or " savages, ' dwell ing in the woods or forests, and supposed to be the aborigines of the peninsula aud islands. "These three classes of _Malays," says Crawfurd, " existed nearly three centu ries and a half no, when the Portuguese first arrived in the waters of the archipelago, just as they do at the present day. That people describes them as having existed also for two centuries and a half before that event, as, without doubt, they did in times far earlier." Still, while so widely differing in habits, all these speak essentially the same
language. The Malays are essentially islanders, and have much of the daring and enter prise for which nations familiar with the sea, are famous. Their original seat is by themselves stated to have been Menangkabo, in the island of Sumatra, rather than the peninsula itself. Even the Malays of Borneo claim to have had a Menangkabo Palembang, however, also in Sumatra, has been mentioned as the original seat at Man'lay civilization; and others, again, point to Java as the source from which both Menangkabo and Palembang received their first settlers. "The Javanese," says Crawfurd, " would seem to have been even the founders of Malacca. Monuinents, which prove the presence of this people in the country of the Malays, have even been discovered. Thus, sir Stam ford Raffles, when he visited Menangkabo, found there inscriptions on stone in the ancient character of Java, such as are frequent in that island; and he was supported in his conclusion that they were so by the learned natives of Java who accompanied him in his journey. The settlement of the Javanese in several parts of Sumatra is indeed sufficiently attested. In Palembang they have been immemorially the ruling people; and although the Malay language be the popular one, the Javanese, in its peculiar writ ten character, is still that of the court." The Malay language is simple and easy in its construction, harmonious in its pronunciation, and easily acquired by Europeans. It is the lingua franca of the eastern archipelago. Of its numerous dialects, the Javanese is the most refined, a superiority which it owes to the influence upon it of Sanskrit litera ture. Many Arabic words have also been incorporated with it, by means of which the Javanese are able to supply the deficiency, of scientific terms in their own tongue. In religion the civilized Malays are Mohammedans, having embraced that faith in the 13th or 14th century. The tribes in the interior and the "men of the sea" have either no religion at all, or such as can be regarded only in the light of most 'debased super stition. The moral character of the Indo-Malays generally does not stand high; they are passionate, treacherous, and revengeful. Although good sailors, and able to amass -wealth by legitimate commerce, they prefer piracy, and numerous have been the vic tims among European traders to Malay treachery and daring. Indeed, so little faith have Europeans in their professions or engagements, that they will nut er engage more than two or three of them in a ship's crew, for fear of unpleasant, if not disastrous, con sequences.