Page:The Pamphleteer (Volume 8).djvu/104

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100
Discourse of the Hon. T. S. Raffles.

only the kingdoms of Goa and Luhu in Celebes, but even the kingdom of Menangkabaú, in Sumatra, to have been established about the conclusion of this period, by princes from Java.

The third division would include the period from the above date to the final overthrow of the second Eastern Empire, in the Javanese year 1400. Some idea may be formed of the power and opulence of this second empire, established at Majapahit, from the extensive ruins of that city, still extant. These I took an opportunity of visiting during my late tour and I believe I am within the mark, when I represent the walls to have enclosed a space of upwards of twenty miles in circumference.

Within this period will be included the establishment of the Western Empire at Pajajaran, the subsequent division of the island under the princes of Majapahit and Pajajaran, the eventual supremacy of Majapahit, and the final overthrow of the government and ancient institutions of the country, by the general establishment of the Mahometan faith.

It is during this period that Java may be said to have risen to the highest pitch of her civilization yet known, and to have commanded a more extensive intercourse, throughout the archipelago, than at any former period. Colonies from Java were successively planted in Sumatra, the Malayan peninsula, Borneo and Bali, the princes of which countries still trace their descent from the house Majapahit; and that adventurers from Western India, from Siam, from Champa, from China and from Japan, frequented Java in the greatest number. But the object of the first importance will be, to trace the introduction, progress and final establishment of the Mahometan faith in the various countries where it now is acknowledged as the established religion, and particularly in Java, where we find, that notwithstanding attempts to make proselytes were as early as the commencement of the twelfth century, such was the attachment of the people to their ancient faith and institutions, that these efforts did not effectually succeed till the latter end of the fifteenth century of the Christian era.

A fourth division would commence with the establishment of the Mahometan government in Java, and might be brought down to the establishment of the Dutch in the Eastern Seas, which may be taken as A. D. 1600; and a fifth, and by no means uninteresting period, might include the history of the European establishments, down to the conquests by the British arms in 1811.

The further prosecution of this extensive inquiry would lead me beyond the limits at present prescribed; and I must, therefore, conclude with drawing your attention to the striking similarity between the early state of Greece, and that of the Malayan islands. Change but the names, and the words of Mitford's Introduction to his His-