. Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra . ber of different names havebeen used in connection with an island vaguelysituated somewhere beyond the India of the main-land, and thought by many to be sufficientlyidentified as Sumatra, but the geographicalknowledge of the time was extremely hazy, and itis apparent that at least one of these names wasused of Sumatra by one man and of Madagascarby another. Among these names on the ancientmaps are Taprobani, Tropoban, Samara, Al Rami,Samantara, Palisimonde, Malayu, and the derivation of the pr
. Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra . ber of different names havebeen used in connection with an island vaguelysituated somewhere beyond the India of the main-land, and thought by many to be sufficientlyidentified as Sumatra, but the geographicalknowledge of the time was extremely hazy, and itis apparent that at least one of these names wasused of Sumatra by one man and of Madagascarby another. Among these names on the ancientmaps are Taprobani, Tropoban, Samara, Al Rami,Samantara, Palisimonde, Malayu, and the derivation of the present name is amatter of doubt and two explanations are offered,some stating its origin to lie in an abbreviationof the Malay words burnt suma utara, used bythe people of Java to describe the situation ofSumatra to their north-west, others declaringan earlier form, Sumudra, to have been the name,first of a village on the north-east coast, then ofthe town to which the village grew, later of thekingdom governed from the town, and finally ofthe entire island. These last authorities affirm. SUMATRA: GENERALITIES 279 Sumudra to be from the Sanscrit word for Conti, a traveller of the fifteenth century, isresponsible for the spelling Shamuthera, and IbnBatuta, the Arab who spent a fortnight at thecourt of a Sumatran king, in 1346 or thereabouts,while on his way to China, prefers Samathra orSamuthra. The Malay Chronicles relate the founding of acity on the island by a fisherman, Marah Silu, latera Mahometan ruler under the name of Malik alSaleh. The name of this city is given as chronicles also state that Mahometanism wasintroduced by a Moslem mission from Meccawhich reached the island by way of mainland In-dia. We know of a certainty nothing definite, butit is a fact that, centuries before the advent of thePortuguese, the Arabs, Hindus, and Chinese werefamiliar with the coasts of Sumatra and wereinterested in its trade. Towards the end of the thirteenth centurythat
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