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0298 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 298 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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472   SINO-IRANICA

had brought tribute before. The Javanese could hardly be expected to have been dressed like Persians, as rashly assumed by GROENEVELDT;' but they were certainly dressed like their congeners, the Malayan Po-se.

Cou K`ü-fei, in his Lin wai tai ta,' written in 1178, gives the following description of the country Po-se: "In the South-Western Ocean there is the country Po-se. The inhabitants have black skin and curly hair. Both their arms are adorned with metal bracelets, and they wrap around their bodies a piece of cotton-cloth with blue patterns. There are no walled towns. Early in the morning, the king holds his court, being seated cross-legged on a bench covered with a tiger-skin, while his subjects standing beneath pay him homage. In going out he is carried in a litter (Vc 98 swan tou), or is astride an elephant. His retinue consists of over a hundred men, who, carrying swords and shouting (to clear the way), form his body-guard. They subsist on flour products, meat, and rice, served in porcelain dishes, and eat with their fingers." The same text has been reproduced by Cao Zu-kwa with a few slight changes. His reading that Po-se is situated "above the countries of the southwest " is hardly correct.' At all events, the geographical definition of the Sung authors is too vague to allow of a safe conclusion. The expression of the Lin wai tai to does not necessarily mean that Po-se was located on an island, and Hirth infers that we might expect to find it in or near the Malay Peninsula. However vague the above description may be, it leaves no doubt of the fact that the tribe in question is one of Malayan or Negrito stock.

As far as I know, no mention is made of the Malayan Po-se in the historical and geographical texts of the Ming, but the tradition regarding that country was kept alive. In discussing the a-to-yo (Cassia fistula) of C`en Ts`an-lei, as noted above (p. 420), Li Si-den annotates that Po-se is the name of a country of the barbarians of the south-west

There is some evidence extant that the language of Po-se belongs to the Malayan family. TsuBOI KUMAZO4 has called attention to the numerals of this language, as handed down in the Kôdan.ô (Memoirs of Oye), a Japanese work from the beginning of the twelfth century. These are given in Japanese transcription as follows.—

I sasaa, sasaka

2 toa

3 naka, maka

4 namuha (nampa)

5 rima (lima)

6 namu

7 toku, tomu

8 jembira, or gemmira

9 sa-i-bira, or sa-i-mi-ra

10 sararo, or Sararo

20 toaro

3o akaro, akafuro 4o hiha-furo

100 sasarato, sasaratu moo sasaho, sasahu

1 Notes on the Malay Archipelago, p. 144.

2 Ch. 3, p. 6 b.

3 Ch. A, p. 33 b; HIRTH'S translation, p. 152.

4 Actes du Douzième Congrès des Orientalistes, Rome 1899, Vol. II, p. 121.