intercourse; but to a person who is conversant with the languages of the
continent of India it must be obvious that the name, however written,
bears a strong resemblance to words in the Sanskrit language: nor should
this appear extraordinary when we consider (what is now fully admitted)
that a large proportion of the Malayan is derived from that source, and
that the names of many places in this and the neighbouring countries
(such as Indrapura and Indragiri in Sumatra, Singapura at the extremity
of the peninsula, and Sukapura and the mountain of Maha-meru in Java) are
indisputably of Hindu origin. It is not my intention however to assign a
precise etymology; but in order to show the general analogy to known
Sanskrit terms it may be allowed to instance Samuder, the ancient name of
the capital of the Carnatik, afterwards called Bider; Samudra-duta, which
occurs in the Hetopadesa, as signifying the ambassador of the sea; the
compound formed of su, good, and matra, measure; and more especially the
word samantara, which implying a boundary, intermediate, or what lies
between, might be thought to apply to the peculiar situation of an island
intermediate between two oceans and two straits.

NOT ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO THE NATIVES.

When on a former occasion it was asserted (and with too much confidence)
that the name of Sumatra is unknown to the natives, who are ignorant of
its being an island, and have no general name for it, the expression
ought to have been confined to those natives with whom I had an
opportunity of conversing, in the southern part of the west coast, where
much genuineness of manners prevails, with little of the spirit of
commercial enterprise or communication with other countries. But even in
situations more favourable for acquiring knowledge I believe it will be
found that the inhabitants of very large islands, and especially if
surrounded by smaller ones, are accustomed to consider their own as terra