r only judge upon a bloody fact. It
is from such samples of Malays that the general character is given
by those who have only the limited means of trade for forming a
judgment; but those who have known the people of the interior and
lived among them, far removed from the influence of their rajahs,
have given them a very different character. Simple in their habits,
they are neither treacherous nor bloodthirsty; cheerful, polite,
hospitable, gentle in their manners, they live in communities with
fewer crimes and fewer punishments than most other people of the
globe. They are passionately fond of their children, and indulgent
even to a fault; and the ties of family relationship and good feeling
continue in force for several generations. The feeling of the Malay,
fostered by education, is acute, and his passions are roused if shame
be put upon him; indeed, this dread of shame amounts to a disease;
and the evil is, that it has taken a wrong direction, being more the
dread of exposure or abuse, than shame or contrition for any offence.

"I have always found them good-tempered and obliging, wonderfully
amenable to authority, and quite as sensible of benefits conferred,
and as grateful, as other people of more favored countries. Of
course there is a reverse to this picture. The worst feature of
the Malay character is the want of all candor or openness, and the
restless spirit of cunning intrigue which animates them, from the
highest to the lowest. Like other Asiatics, truth is a rare quality
among them. They are superstitious, somewhat inclined to deceit in
the ordinary concerns of life, and they have neither principle nor
conscience when they have the means of oppressing an infidel, and a
Dyak who is their inferior in civilization and intellect.

"If this character of the Malay be summed up, it will be anything but
a bad one on the whole; it will present a striking contrast to the
conduct and character of the rajahs and their followers, and I think
will convince any impartial inquirer, that it is easily susceptible
of improvement. One of the most fertile sources of confusion is,
classing at one time all the various nations of the Archipelago under
the general name of Malay, and at another restricting the same term
to one people, not more ancient, not the fountain-head of the others,
who issued from the center of Sumatra, and spread themselves in a
few parts of the Archipelago.

"The French, the German, the English, Scotch,