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 the channel (i.e. Rhio Strait) has far more than
four paces' depth of water, whereas there are no more than two fathoms at
the western entrance to the Old Singapore Strait."
Marco Polo says (II., p. 280): "Throughout this distance [from Pentam]
there is but four paces' depth of water, so that great ships in passing
this channel have to lift their rudders, for they draw nearly as much
water as that." Gerini remarks that it is unmistakably the Old Singapore
Strait, and that there is no channel so shallow throughout all those
parts except among reefs. "The Old Strait or Selat Tebrau, says N.B.
Dennys, Descriptive Dict. of British Malaya, separating Singapore from
Johore. Before the settlement of the former, this was the only known route
to China; it is generally about a mile broad, but in some parts little
more than three furlongs. Crawford went through it in a ship of 400 tons,
and found the passage tedious but safe." Most of Sinologists, Beal,
Chavannes, Pelliot, Bul. Ecole Ext. Orient., IV., 1904, pp. 321-2,
323-4, 332-3, 341, 347, place the Malaiur of Marco Polo at Palembang in
Sumatra.
VIII., pp. 281, n. 283 n.
TANA-MALAYU.
"On a traduit Tanah Malayu par 'Pays des Malais,' mais cette
traduction n'est pas rigoureusement exacte. Pour prendre une expression
parallele, Tanah Djawa signifie 'Pays de Java,' mais non 'Pays des
Javanais.'
"En realite, tanah 'terre, sol, pays, contree' s'emploie seulement avec
un toponyme qui doit etre rendu par un toponyme equivalent. Le nom des
habitants du pays s'exprime, en malais, en ajoutant oran 'homme,
personne, gens, numeral des etres humains' au nom du pays: 'oran
Malayu' Malais, litt. 'gens de Malayu'; oran Djawa Javanais, litt.
'gens de Java.' Tanah Malayu a done tres nettement le sens de 'pays de
Malayu'; cf.
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