^{page 173 note 1} See Childers, , J.R.A.S. N.S. Vol. VII. p. 40.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 1} Mr. Christopher obtained leave from the Bombay Government to remain after the Survey was completed for the purpose of studying the people and language. His stay extended from June, 1834, to September, 1835.—Trans. Bom. Geog. Soc., vol. i. p. 55.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 2} No attempt can yet be made to discuss the question of Maldive grammar; though, if my information is correct, Mr. L. de Zoyza Mudaliyar is collecting materials for the purpose. The Ceylon Government would do well to hint to the Maldive Sultan that a few manuscripts would be a more acceptable offering than the cowries, liquid fish and cakes brought by the last annual Ambassador.

^{page 177 note 1} Ibn Batuta, while residing at the Maldives, married, about 1340 A.D., the daughter of a vizier who was grandson of the Sultan Daoud, who was the grandson of Chenourāzah, the first king who embraced the Muhammadan faith.—Ibn. Bat., Paris, 1858, vol. iv. p. 154. The probable date of the conversion is therefore 1200 A.D. Ibn Batuta saw the record engraven in wood in the chief mosque, v.i. p. 181Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 1} Moses Chorenensis, by Whiston, , 1736, p. 367.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 2} Afterwards corrupted by Arab writers to Rybahât, and by the French to Roibahât.

^{page 179 note 1} Journ. Asiatique, 1844, p. 265.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 2} Lieut. Christopher remarks (Trans. Bom. Geog. Soc. vol. i. p. 313), that he had been informed by a Buddhist priest that two Buddhist temples remained in two of the islands, the names of which, however, he forgot. The name of one of the islands of Malé Atoll is Veharmanharfooree, ‘the delightful city of wihāras.’ It is also said that the Maldive dead are buried in the posture of the statues of the recumbent Buddha, i.e. with the right hand under the right ear, and the left on the left thigh, the body being laid on the right side. Christopher also says that the bo-tree is still grown at the mosques, and held in veneration.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 3} Tennent's Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 175Google Scholar. Pilgrims, Beal's Buddhist, p. 148Google Scholar. Chorenensis, Moses, 1736, p. 367.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 1} The modern Maldive for ‘image’ is buḍu (J.R.A.S. Vol. VI. p. 57Google Scholar). Ibn Batuta (Paris ed. 1858, vol. iv. p. 126Google Scholar) mentions boudkhānah ‘an idol temple’; see next note. The word bodd, however, was a general term for an idol temple with the Arab Oriental travellers, and seems only to indicate that the Bnddhist parts of India were the first visited by the Arabs.—Journ. Asiat. 1845, p. 167.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 2} The story of the Muhammadan conversion, as given by Ibn Batata, containing so curious a record of the superstitious worship mentioned by Pyrard (v.i. sub v. Siare), and existing at the present day, should not be omitted in this connexion:—“When the people of the islands were idolators, there appeared to them every month an evil spirit, who came from the sea, resembling a ship filled with lamps. It was the custom of the natives when they beheld him to adorn a young virgin, and to conduct her to a boudkhânah, or temple of idols, built on the shore, and having a window by which she could be seen. They left her for the night, and when they returned in the morning they found her violated and dead. So every month they cast lots, and he on whom the lot fell gave up his daughter. In course of time arrived a Maghrébin, named Abou'l Berecât, the Berber, who knew by heart the glorious Korān. He lodged in the house of an old woman at Mahal. One day he found her family assembled, and the women weeping as at a funeral. He asked but could not be made to understand the cause, until an interpreter came who told him that the lot had fallen upon the old woman, and that she had one only daughter. Abou'l Berecât then said to the old woman, ‘I will go to-night in thy daughter's stead’: he was then entirely beardless. So at night, after his ablutions, he was led to the idol temple. There he set himself to recite the Korān, and in a while beheld the demon. He continued his recitation, and the demon, as soon as he came within hearing of the Korān, plunged into the sea. So when it was dawn, the people, who came as was their custom to remove and burn the corpse, found the Maghrébin still reciting the Korān. He was conducted to the King, named Chenourāzah, who was astonished to hear what had happened. The Maghrébin then proposed to him to embrace the true faith, and pressed him to receive it. But Chenourāzah said, ‘Stay with us till next month: and if you do again as you have now done and escape the evil genie, I will be converted.’ The stranger remained, and God disposed the heart of the King to receive the true faith. He became Mussulman before the end of the month, with his wives, children, and court. At the beginning of the following month the Maghrébin was conducted to the idol temple; but the demon came not, and he recited the Korān till the morning, when the Sultan and his subjects arrived, and found him so employed. They then broke the idols and razed the temple to the ground. The people of the island embraced the faith, and sent messengers who converted the other islanders also. The Maghrébin remained among them and enjoyed their high esteem: and it was the doctrine of his sect, viz. that of the Imām Mālik, which the natives professed. Even at present they respect the Maghrébines for his sake. He built a mosque which is known by his name. I have read the following inscription graven in wood on the enclosed pulpit of the grand mosque: ‘The Sultan Ahmed Chenourāzah has received the true faith at the hands of Abou'l Berecât, the Berber, the Maghrébin.’ …. One night before I knew of these things, when I was at one of my occupations, I heard of a sudden people crying with loud voice the formulæ, ‘There is no God but God,’ and ‘God is very great.’ I saw children carrying Korāns on their heads, and women rapping the insides of basins and vessels of copper. I was astonished and said, ‘What is happening?’ and they replied, ‘Do you not see the sea?’ Upon which I looked and saw a kind of large vessel, seemingly full of lamps and chafing-dishes. One said to me, ‘It is the demon: he shows himself once a month: but when once we have done as you have seen, he returns and does us no harm.’”—Ibn Bat., Paris ed. vol. iv.Google Scholar

^{page 182 note 1} The Portuguese overran the Maldives in the sixteenth century, having discovered them in 1506, the same year in which they first visited Ceylon. The Maldivans afterwards rebelled, and obtained a treaty according them the same independence which they at present enjoy under the British Government.

^{page 182 note 2} Here again is a proof that Pyrard was acquainted only with Tamil Ceylon.

^{page 183 note 1} And so thinks the Portuguese editor, Pyrard, Viagem de F., Nova Goa, 1858, vol. i. p. 160.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 2} Prinsep (J.A.S. Beng. vol. v. p. 784Google Scholar) states that modern Maldivan is written from left to right; but with all respect to so great a name, I fear he was mistaken. I will here quote what Christopher (Bom. Geog. Soc. vol. i. p. 54Google Scholar) says on the subject: “The different written characters found on tombstones on the Maldive islands are of three kinds: 1. The most ancient are called by the natives Dewehi Hakura (letters of the gods?) which in all likelihood were used by the first inhabitants, but now the knowledge of them is nearlv lost, being confined to a few individuals. In the Southern Atolls a knowledge of this writing appears to have been retained longest, for it is not remembered in the Northern ones at all, whereas orders are now written at Malé in this character for the inhabitants of the South Atolls. No old manuscripts with this character are preserved. One peculiarity in the alphabet is that some of the consonants change their form according to the various vowel-sounds with which they are united, the construction of the letter being altogether different. This character is written from the left hand. 2. Arabic (most inscriptions are in it). 3. Modern Maldive, called Gabali Tana, written from the right hand, was introduced when the Portuguese garrison was overcome, and Muhammadanism re-established by a chief and men from the Northern Atolls, and is now used throughout the islands. The language spoken is substantially the same in all the Atolls, though the Southern ones have a dialect of their own, and as they possessed a knowledge of the ancient writing longest, it is very probable that their dialect will have the most resemblance to the language of the aborigines, for, in consequence of the intercourse with Bengal and other parts, the language now spoken at Malé is intermixed with many foreign words. There are several kinds of Tana writing; and we are inclined to think that the one at present used was not generally adopted until within the last fifty years, as many tombstones are evidently inscribed in a character differing from the Gabali Tana: the letters at least have a different sound, and the signs for vowels are different.” The mariners who conversed with Prinsep could not have been some of the few individuals who knew the “Dewehi Hakura,” for the letters used by them are clearly the Gabali Tana, containing the nine Arabic numerals. I cannot account for the fact that the few words in Maldive character given in Prinsep's plate are written from left to right, except on the inference drawn from Christopher's assertion of the present use of the Dewehi Hakura, The orders issued to the Southern Atolls may be not only written in the ancient character, but also in the ancient direction, i.e. left to right. If Prinsep's informant was a Government officer, or a man from the Southern Atolls, he may have been able to use both methods. As to the ordinary method there is no doubt. (See the facsimile of a Maldive letter in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. VI.)Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 1} Ceylon, vol. i. p. 612, note.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 2} J.R.A.S. Vol. VI.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 3} I regret that neither charts nor book can be found at present in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society. Mr. Vaux, however, entertains hopes of coming upon them in the course of his labours upon the new catalogue.

^{page 185 note 1} See plate opposite p. 183.

^{page 186 note 1} The Sinhalese words in this column, some of which are borrowed from Sanskrit, and some, though Sinhalese, are not in colloquial use, have special reference to Pyrard's vocabulary, and are not intended to illustrate Mr. Christopher's, all of whose words are not given.

^{page 186 note 2} Chr. gives rûha ‘spirit,’ ‘life,’ Ar. ruh.

^{page 186 note 3} Ar. shaytan.

^{page 186 note 4} Epithet of Indra—Clough.

^{page 186 note 5} Ar. iblis.

^{page 186 note 6} Ar. allah.

^{page 186 note 7} Ar. dīn.

^{page 186 note 8} With meaning ‘life.’

^{page 186 note 9} Ar. dunyā.

^{page 186 note 10} Prinsep gives gao as the word in use, vide sup. gaa.

^{page 186 note 11} Prinsep gives suhil.

^{page 186 note 12} Prinsep gives iruwā.

^{page 186 note 13} Prinsep gives hulagu.

^{page 186 note 14} Comp. Sin. eliya pāna.

^{page 187 note 1} And the verb gorawanawa.

^{page 187 note 2} Also stands for ‘yesterday.’

^{page 187 note 3} Ar. sahāl ‘hour.’

^{page 187 note 4} Pali athit, Sans, aditiya.

^{page 187 note 5} The ordinary Sin. is handudā,

^{page 187 note 6} The ordinary Sin. is Badādā.

^{page 187 note 7} Clay image of planetary deity made and worshipped in time of sickness.

^{page 187 note 8} Ar. hummā. This seems to be the common name for fever; yet the common Sinhalese word una is preserved in Malé ons ‘Malé fever’ (p. 95).

^{page 188 note 1} Ar. jazīrat or gazirat.

^{page 188 note 2} Comp. Sin. Koralan, name of a river fish, and kūriyā, a fish.

^{page 188 note 3} Tamil karei; but for Christopher's equivalent which has the first ‘a’ short, we might suppose it connected with Malay kārang, a ‘coral reef.’

^{page 188 note 4} Eur. Port. cabo.

^{page 188 note 5} Chr. has gas=‘a tree.’ If he be right, it would he interesting to know what the present nom. plu. is. Gasa was the old Sinhalese singular, found in Elu. See Childers' Notes on the Sinhalese Language, I.

^{page 188 note 6} The Sinhalese is bœtaluwā; but comp. bukalaya, a distorted animal. Ar. bakara ‘cow.’

^{page 188 note 7} Ar. zabāb ‘civet.’

^{page 188 note 8} Perhaps from Sin. pulli ‘spot,’ ‘mark.’

^{page 188 note 9} Kukutā is ‘cock,’ kikili ‘hen.’

^{page 189 note 1} Comp. Tam. sāval.

^{page 189 note 2} i.e. ‘the black.’

^{page 189 note 3} A kind of woodpecker.

^{page 189 note 4} A small kind of heron known as the paddy bird—Loxia orizivora.

^{page 189 note 5} Comp. Sin. ruka, ‘a tree.’

^{page 189 note 6} Cf. Greek, Coconuts are called by Cosmas

^{page 189 note 7} Comp. Sin. oruwa ‘boat.’

^{page 189 note 8} DrCampbell, , of the ‘Benares,’ Trans. Bom. Geog. Soc. vol. i. p. 102, says the sugar got from the coconut is called ghoor.Google Scholar

^{page 189 note 9} ‘Salt sugar,’ i.e. in the form of salt, crystallized; the Sinhalese is gal-sīni, i.e. ‘rock sugar.’

^{page 189 note 10} Vin du pays ‘toddy.’

^{page 189 note 11} Also written poniembous thory.

^{page 189 note 12} Comp. Sin. takul, the nut of a hibiscus.

^{page 189 note 13} Tamil, karāmpu.

^{page 189 note 14} Ar. laymūn. Hind, limbu.

^{page 189 note 15} Pers. anār.

^{page 190 note 1} Malay tīmah; Macassar tumbera.

^{page 190 note 2} Malay malēla.

^{page 190 note 3} Comp. tarapilly ‘trumpets,’ v. infrá, p. 201.

^{page 190 note 4} ‘The gold-like metal,’ it will be seen that Chr. gives the same word for brass.

^{page 190 note 5} Comp. Pali anganā, also used in Sinhalese literature.

^{page 190 note 6} Christopher gives daring-fulu for ‘son.’

^{page 190 note 7} Chr. angheng-daring ‘daughter.’

^{page 190 note 8} Perhaps Sin. ek, bandha, joined.

^{page 190 note 9} Pers. damad ‘son-in-law.’

^{page 190 note 10} Pers. khusar.

^{page 190 note 11} Comp. Sin. kollā.

^{page 191 note 1} Literally ‘the two children of two (elder) brothers,’ or brothers' children. This is a good example of the old dual (see the preceding Sin. word demawpiyo ‘parents,’ and the succeeding Maldive word demitourou) remaining in use as a plural; de bœ de daru is not used in Sinhalese.

^{page 191 note 2} Chr. gives adungweka, adawatu (Ar.) and hasadā (Ar.), enmity.

^{page 191 note 3} Comp. Sin. menike, a name of a woman of rank.

^{page 191 note 4} Or as elsewhere calans. Comp. Pers. kalan ‘great.’

^{page 191 note 5} Ar. Hind. Pers. sahib.

^{page 191 note 6} Ar. Pers. sahiba.

^{page 191 note 7} Pers. bibi ‘lady.’

^{page 191 note 8} Chr. translates kalung as ‘people,’ used respectfully.

^{page 191 note 9} Pers. sardar.

^{page 191 note 10} Comp. Sin. chatur-anga ‘an army.’

^{page 191 note 11} Malaya and Jav. būdil, and badel.

^{page 191 note 12} Comp. Malay kayit, ‘a crook.’

^{page 191 note 13} Port, lança.

^{page 192 note 1} Malay kres. Pyrard says these come ‘from Achen in Sumatra, from Java and China.’

^{page 192 note 2} Comp. Sin. mole ‘brains.’

^{page 192 note 3} Chr. gives ‘eyelids’=espiya, which preserves the Sin. lit. ‘eye-feathers.’

^{page 192 note 4} i.e. ‘manly hair.’

^{page 192 note 5} ‘The eating hand.’

^{page 192 note 6} hama becomes han in compounds.

^{page 192 note 7} Comp. Sin. puka.

^{page 193 note 1} Chr. gives feli ‘cotton cloth.’

^{page 193 note 2} Ar. harir.

^{page 193 note 3} Comp. Ar. kattan.

^{page 193 note 4} Port. viloudda.

^{page 193 note 5} Derived from Ar. abā.

^{page 193 note 6} After this number Pyrard has the following: “Note that they have the numbers up to twelve (as we have them up to ten): then they go on by twelves, and their hundred is 96, or eight times 12.” It will be seen by the numbers which follow that those only which are correct according to Sinhalese enumeration are compounds of dolos, viz. tin dolos, passedolos, and addolos. They are simply, ‘three dozen,’ ‘five dozen,’ and ‘seven dozen.’ On the other hand, those which are not compounds of dolos are altered values of the ordinary Sinhalese decimal numbers. Yet it is strange that Pyrard could make mistakes with numhers so low as twenty-four and forty-eight, which by analogy ought to be dedolos and háradolos. From the letter given by Christopher, and from the Sultan's title (v.i.), it seems that the Maldivans count much by dozens; indeed, Christopher (Trans. Bom. Geog. Soe. vol. i. p. 54, etc.Google Scholar) says, “they reckon by dozens as we do by tens;” but they have not abandoned altogether the decimal system. If, however, passee and panas really stand for twenty-four and forty-eight, it will be interesting to know the Maldive for twenty and fifty. Christopher (Maldive letter in J.R.A.S. Vol. VI.) has salis, forty = Sin. hatalis. Salis is, I believe, also used in Elu.Google Scholar

^{page 194 note 1} Ibn Batuta (Paris ed. vol. iv. p. 121) has syāh 100, fāl 700, cotta 12,000, and bostou 100,000. He uses these numbers in speaking of packages of cowries.Google Scholar

^{page 194 note 2} Milion ou dix fois mil. Perhaps he means that the Maldive lacqua corresponds to milion, as a vast and not very definite number.

^{page 194 note 3} Ar. masjid, Pers. maski. The use of the more Persian form tends to confirm the Maldive tradition, according to which the islanders were converted to Muhammadanism by Persians from Tabriz (see Trans. Bora. Geog. Soc. vol. i. p. 74).Google Scholar

^{page 194 note 4} Ar. nazel.

^{page 194 note 5} Sin. œs=eyes.

^{page 194 note 6} Comp. alipan, ‘fire’; alima=‘that has light.’

^{page 194 note 7} Ar. yakūt.

^{page 194 note 8} Ar. akika, ‘blood-stone.’

^{page 195 note 1} ‘The Persian stone,’ as we call it the Turkish.

^{page 195 note 2} Ar. zabāb, from which ‘civet’ is derived.

^{page 195 note 3} Ar. shabbe.

^{page 195 note 4} Ar. tutiya.

^{page 195 note 5} Tamil samukkā, Sans, chwmbaka ‘loadstone.’

^{page 195 note 6} Malay xalasi.

^{page 195 note 7} Ar. ghurāb.

^{page 195 note 8} ‘Ship chain,’ nawa and guilly (v.s.).

^{page 196 note 1} This division into thirteen Atolls is political rather than physical: thus Tilla dou matis includes what is really the northernmost atoll, Heawandu Pholo, and does not include Mille doue madoue, though both form one long straggling atoll intersected by no deep soundings. Malcolm Atoll (so called by the English surveyors) is taken to belong to Mille doue Madoue: Horsburgn Atoll to Malosmadou. Malé has three atolls; Ari and Addou each two. Ibn Batuta gives the following as the names of some of the provinces: 1. Pālipur, 2. Cannalous, 3. Mahal, ‘which gives its name to all the islands,’ 4. Telādīb, 5. Caraïdou, 6. Teïm, 7. Télédomméty, 8. Hélédommety, 9. Bereïdou, 10. Candacal, 11. Moloûe, 12. Souweïd. These do not seem to be given in any order, but Mahal (Malé), Caraidou (Cardiva, the island N. of Malé atoll which gives its name to the Channel), Télédomméty (Tilladumati), Moloue (Moluk) and Souweīd (Suadiva) are easily recognizable. The Maldives generally are called Dhibût Al Mahal by Ibn Batuta [see Ibn Batoutah, by Defrémery, and Sanguinetti, , Paris, 1858, vol. iv.Google Scholar]. The Maldivans at the present day write Mahaldîb [J.A.S. Beng. vol. v. plate 49, at p. 794].Google Scholar

^{page 196 note 2} The word ‘dou,’ ‘dous,’ or ‘doue,’ which occurs so often in the following names,=island, ‘diues’ or ‘diuar’=islanders. Sans. dwīpa, Sin. duwa.

^{page 196 note 3} These atolls with Suadiva were sometimes considered as a sub-kingdom, apart from the other atolls. The dethroned king who lived at Cochin entitled himself ‘King of the Maldive Islands and of the three atolls of Cuaydu’ (see pp. 199, 200).

^{page 196 note 4} The number of the islands has been variously stated. The Maldive king claimed to rule 12,000 isles: the two Muhammadans of the 9th century give the number 1900; Ibn Batuta says ‘about 2000’: while Juan de Barros derives the name from Mal, the Malabar (?) for 1000, and diva, islands. Capt. Owen believed the total number was three or four times 12,000 (J.R.G.S. vol. ii. p. 84Google Scholar). It would be a difficult and unnecessary labour to attempt to count them even with our complete surveys. The Admiralty charts, however, corrected up to 1866, enable us to fix the total number of inhabited islands, spread over the atolls as shown in the table below. There is no means of ascertaining the total population: it has been estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 (Charton, vol. iv. p. 255Google Scholar); but 20,000 would, I imagine, be nearer the mark. That of Malé, as I am informed by a sailor, who was shipwrecked there last year, on the authority of the present Sultan's brother, is 2000. Lieut. Powell found 760 people in the seven inhabited islands of Heawandu atoll (J.A.S. Beng. vol. iv. p. 319).Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 1} All the words quoted from Ibn. Bat. will be found in the Paris ed. 1858, vol. iv.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 2} At p. 344 his title is spelt Rana banduy Tacourou: banduy perhaps=Sin. banda. Christopher found the treasurer called ‘Hindeggeree.’

^{page 198 note 3} J.R.A.S. Vol. VI.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 1} Pyrard, Viagem de F., vol. i. p. 86.Google Scholar

^{page 202 note 1} See Ibn Batuta's account of the Muhammadan conversion, suprà, p. 180, note.

^{page 202 note 2} Practices similar to those mentioned here and below (s.v. Cauery) are still preserved among the Malays in cases of dangerous sickness. In order to remove the evil spirits, they construct a miniature prahu, or war hoat, of wood, complete in every way, with mast, rigging, black flag, paddles, and rudder. The boat is filled with various articles, a bag of rice at the stern, and a lamp made out of a cockleshell at the prow; the body of the boat is stuffed with cups made of leaves, containing liquors of various sorts, entrails of fowls, sweetmeats of all kinds, tobacco, flowers, and copper coins. The boat is supported by a slender square bamboo platform, surrounded with pendent grass, to the ends of which are tied all sorts of eatables, and at the corners the legs and wings of a chicken. About eighteen inches below the boat are figures of turtles, crocodiles, and lizards, made of rice, resting on a plantain leaf; the whole being supported by four straight branches about seven feet high (the top leaves forming a canopy) stack into a raft made of plantain trees. Slips of bamboo are stuck round the raft, with partially-burned red rags tied to them. The raft is set afloat, and it is supposed that the evil spirits, enticed away by the food in the boat, leave the patient and attach themselves to the boat. (See “Medical History of the Laroot Field Force,” by Surgeon-Major Davie, in Appendix to the Army Medical Department Report, 1876.)

^{page 204 note 1} Ibn Batoutah, , by Defrémery, and Sanguinetti, , vol. iv. p. 112.Google Scholar

^{page 204 note 2} Paris ed. 1858, vol. iv. p. 120.Google Scholar

^{page 206 note 1} “O auctor devia saber que tambem na Europa o nome desta molestia traz a sua derivaçaō da mesma origem, privilegio que as outras naçōes não invejam por certo aos Francezes.”—Pyrard, Viagem de F., vol. i. p. 159, note.Google Scholar

^{page 207 note 1} See part iv. of Numismata Orientalia by MrDavids, Rhys, p. 34Google Scholar; Ceylon, Knox's, 1681, pp. 98, 99.Google Scholar