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^^^^^^l^^l^ C'k^'^- ))! »' t''-,. THE LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA : THE AUTOBIOQRAPHy or nurS5HI ABDULLAH. Translated from the Malay bij the Rev. W. G. SHELLABEAR, D.D. Singapore Printed at the Methodist Publishing House, 1918. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of British Columbia Library http://www.archive.org/details/autobiographyofmOOabdu ....... .......... CONTENTS. Page. Introduction Y . . . . . . . . 1. Abdullah's Forefathers . . . . . . 1 2. The Birth of Abdullah . . . . . . . f> 3. Beginning to Learn to Eead 11 . . . . . . 4. The Destruction of the Malacca Fort 32 . . . 5. The Story of Mr. Farquhar and an Elephant Drive 40 . G. Mr. Rafales Comes to Malacca . . . . 50 :. The Arrival of Lord Minto . . . . 67 8. The Treachery of Tengku Penglima Besar . . . 73 9. The Anglo-Chinese College is Founded at Malacca by Mr. Milne 81 . . . . . . . . 10. Col. Farquhar's Search for a Stragetic Position 113 . . 11. The Founding of Singapore 117 . . . . . 12. Dutch Eules in Malacca . . . . . . 126 13. The Storv of Tengku Lono- . . , . . . 132 — Introduction. In the year 1246 of the ]\Iohammedan era, on the Soth day of the month Shaabau, being the 23nd of Octoljer, 1840. a friend of mine, an Englishman whom I loved, begged me to tell him abo;u my ancestry and the story of m}- life, and asked me to write a Iwok in the Malay language. As I sat thinking alx)nt the request of my friend, I felt troubled about all this, and oppressed in spirit, for all the circumstances whicili he referred to were tilings of the past. ]\Ioreover what made me sad in my own heart was that I am an ignorant man, with very little command of language, and not skilled in the art of composition. And then again I am occui^ied more or less with the work of my profession. So because of all these things I felt worried. Another thing which made me doubtful about m^^self was that, from what I see and hear, with few exceptions, most people now profess to be clever, and talk excessively, so that others may think they are wise, but it is mere empty talk, and when anyone asks them to do some work, either to write something, or to ex- plain the meaning of a sentence, they are found to be empt}', be- cause all their talk and their cleverness is not the result of their being educated, but is only what they have heard along the journey of life, and so they are unable to make either head or tail of any- thing. And most stupid people, who have no touch-stone in their hands to enable them to tell the false from the true, when they hear people saying one thing and another, act like a drowsy man who has a pillow put under his head, he simply goes fast asleej) that is to say he accepts what they say without testing whether it is so or not. For instance, if sudh a one saw a bambgo growing, he might think, ''This is a fine straight pole without a l^end in vi INTRODUCTION. it, the heart-wood will certainly be hard." But if he were a wide- awake man he would surely tirst sjalit it open and look inside, and would find it empty. As the proverb says, " It is the jeweller who knows the je^^•el.'' J]specially at the present time, since the found- ing of Singapore, grassihoppers have become eagles, and bedbugs are tortoises, and earthworms are dragons. Xow all these wonders have come to pass through the influence of money. For though a man be of liumble rank and ignorant as well, yet as long as he has money he will be clever and held in high esteem; bnt if he should he really clever and eminent, but have no money, he would be looked down upon. Xow I apply all these examples and illustrations to my own case; in the first place, I am in a humble position; secondly, I am a poor man; thirdly, my knowledge and education are deficient; and fourthly, I am not competent to write a l^ook. Apart from <Jod I have no alnlity or a]>titude for the task, and I feel at all times my w-eakness and insufficiency. After 1 had been thinking thus, suddenly I was aroused, as if I had been startled out of my sleep by someone saying to me, " If you are humble, ask of Him who is glorious; if you are poor, ask of Him who is rich; and if you lack knowledge, ask of God, who has promised that whoever asks shall receive." Xow if such is the bounty of God, l)y the grace of the Most High I will ask help wath all my heart from Him who has spread out so great a firmament Avithout a prop, in order that the desire of my friend may be ful- filled. And though I am not adequate to the task, I shall trust that He will he with me while writing this little book. : The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah. Chapter 1. ABDULLAH'S FOREFATHERS. Xow listen, my friend! I am about to write a story of my life^ and I will call it "The Autobiography of Abdullah" (Hikayat Abdullah). Therein I shall narrate from the days of my ancestors lip to the time when my mother bare me in the town of Malacca (may G-od preserve her from all harm and danger), and further all that I have seen and heard during my life, both in Malacca and in Singapore, even up to the date when the book is finished, will be dealt vrith in this my story. In all of this I am quite sure that there will be many mistakes, both actual errors and things which I •have forgotten, mistakes in language and in the narratives, gram- matical blunders and awkward phrases. Xow in regard to all these I bow my head in the presence of all those both high and low who condescend to read my stor}% and who find such mistakes. With a sincere heart and a glad countenance I beg pardon for all my ignorance; for in the introduction to this book I have confessed that I am far from having any reputation for being clever, and I am certainly at all times full of stupidity and errors. My paternal great-grandfather was an Arab, from the land of Yemen, of the tribe of Othman, and his name was Sheikli Abdul Kadir; and he <vas employed as a teacher of religion and languages. He came from Yemen to the East, and stayed in India, at the city of Xagur, and taught people there for some time and meanwhile, : he was married. As the result of this marriage he had four sons Mohammed Ibrahim, INIohammed Desa, Xur Mohammed, and Zainu I'Abidin. .After the birth of these sons, he died there. After his death, his sons came East again to these part of the world. Mohamoned Ibrahim came to Malacca, and married my jjaternal grandmother, Pri Achi by name, who was the daughter of Sheikh ]\Iira Lebai. My father was born to them, and they gave him the name of Sheikh Abdul Kadir, after his grandfather. ; THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MUNSHI ABDULLAH. 2 The other three sous all went in the direction of Jara: Moham- med Desa went to Amboina. and married and had children there Xur Mohammed went to Sadayu, wliere he had children and grand- children; and Zainu ^1-Abidin went to Semarang, and remained there with his family nntil his death. Now my father grew up in Malacca. When he had completed the reading of tlie Koran, he Avas taught languages and arithmetic; having linished his education in these things, he took merchandise with him and went to trade in the interior of Malacca Territory. He Avas there for some time, engaged part of the tione in business, and part ot the time in teaching the people up country the ordin- ances of the Mohammedan religion, the reading of the Koran, I^rayers, and so forth. While so employed, all the people there loved him, and persuaded him to get married; and they made him the preacher at the mosque m a village called Lohok Kepong. He stayed there a little while, and then they moved to Sungei Bharu; and he remained there as preacher. After that he had a son, whom he named Mohammed Ali, and a daughter called Sharifah. Xow my father was Avell acquainted with the Hindu language, that is the Tamil, and could read and write and keep accounts in that language; but he was still better versed in the Malay language, as regards hand-writing, and compositaon, and writing letters to Malay princes; it was in all these ways that he earned his living at that time. Moreover he taught an English gentleman, named Mr. Marsden, the Malay language, and this gentleman gave him a m lettea* to show that he had been his teacher. I found this letter my father's writing case, and showed it to the Eev. Mr. Thomsen, for at that time I could not speak a word of English, much less oould I read it. A\'hen Mr. Thomsen saw the letter, he said, " This letter is called in English a " character,' and it was given to your father hy Mr. Marsden, who wrote tdie Malay-English dictionary. Your father taught him for a year and eight months in the town of Malacca." After my father had lived for some time at Sungei Bharu, all liis brothers and sisters in Malacca were very anxious to get him married in Malacca. Meanwhile my father became very ill at .Sun"-ei Bliaru. and his brothers and sisters went from Malacca to
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