i_ comes from Lovek, a former capital of Cambodia; referring to the
aloes-wood called _Lawaki_ in the _Ain-i-Akbari_ written in the 16th
century, FERRAND, _Textes_, I., p. 285 n., remarks: "On vient de voir que
Ibn-al-Baytar a emprunte ce nom a Avicenne (980-1037) qui ecrivit son
_Canon de la Medecine_ dans les premieres annees du XI'e siecle. _Lawak_
ou Lowak nous est donc atteste sous le forme _Lawaki_ ou _Lowaki_ des le
X'e siecle, puis qu'il est mentionne, au debut du XI'e, par Avicenne qui
residait alors a Djurdjan, sur la Caspienne."

VIII., pp. 280-3.

OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR.

The late Col. G.E. Gerini published in the _J.R.A.S._, July, 1905, pp.
485-511, a paper on the _Nagarakretagama_, a Javanese poem composed by a
native bard named Prapanca, in honour of his sovereign Hayam Wuruk
(1350-1389), the greatest ruler of Majapahit. He upsets all the theories
accepted hitherto regarding _Panten_. The southernmost portion of the Malay
Peninsula is known as the _Malaya_ or _Malayu_ country (Tanah-Malayu) =
Chinese _Ma-li-yue-erh = Malayur = Maluir_ of Marco Polo, witness the river
_Malayu_ (_Sungei Malayu_) still so called, and the village _Bentan_, both
lying there (ignored by all Col. Gerini's predecessors) on the northern
shore of the Old Singapore Strait. Col. Gerini writes (p. 509): "There
exists to this day a village _Bentam_ on the mainland side of Singapore
Strait, right opposite the mouth of the Sungei Selitar, on the northern
shore of Singapore Island, it is not likely that both travellers [Polo and
Odoric] mistook the coast of the Malay Peninsula for an island. The island
of _Pentam_, _Paten_, or _Pantem_ must therefore be the _Be-Tumah_ (Island)
of the Arab Navigators, the _Tamasak_ Island of the Malays; and, in short,
the Singapore Island of our day." He adds: "The island of _Pentam_ cannot
be either Batang or Bitang, the latter of which is likewise mentioned by
Marco Polo under the same name of _Pentam_, but 60 + 30 = 90 miles before
reaching the former. Batang, girt all round by dangerous reefs, is
inaccessible except to small boats. So is Bintang, with the exception of
its south-western side, where is now Riau, and where, a little further
towards the north, was the settlement at which the chief of the island
resided in the fourteenth century. There was no reason for Marco Polo's
junk to take that roundabout way in order to call at such, doubtlessly
insignificant place. And th