II. 6, 1.)
This Suits The Description In Our Text Well; But As Singhapura Was In
Sight Of Any Ship Passing Through The Straits, Mistake Could Hardly Occur
As To Its Position, Even If It Had Not Been Visited.
I omit Malacca entirely from consideration, because the evidence appears
to me conclusive against the existence of Malacca at this time.
The Malay Chronology, as published by Valentyn, ascribes the foundation of
that city to a king called Iskandar Shah, placing it in A.D. 1252, fixes
the reign of Mahomed Shah, the third King of Malacca and first Mussulman
King, as extending from 1276 to 1333 (not stating when his conversion
took place), and gives 8 kings in all between the foundation of the city
and its capture by the Portuguese in 1511, a space, according to those
data, of 259 years. As Sri Iskandar Shah, the founder, had reigned 3 years
in Singhapura before founding Malacca, and Mahomed Shah, the loser,
reigned 2 years in Johore after the loss of his capital, we have 264
years to divide among 8 kings, giving 33 years to each reign. This
certainly indicates that the period requires considerable curtailment.
Again, both De Barros and the Commentaries or Alboquerque ascribe the
foundation of Malacca to a Javanese fugitive from Palembang called
Paramisura, and Alboquerque makes Iskandar Shah (Xaquem darxa) the son
of Paramisura, and the first convert to Mahomedanism. Four other kings
reign in succession after him, the last of the four being Mahomed Shah,
expelled in 1511.
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