ABSTRACT
The habitations of the said place consist o f walled houses of stone, and they-are not very high, and a great many of them are covered with the shells o f sea turtles,1 because they
in that language signifies ‘ the Virgin Mary,’ which would seem to imply that the knowledge o f artillery was derived by the Arabs themselves from the Christians, as without doubt it was.” Mariam does, indeed, mean Mary, not in Arabic only, but in several other Oriental languages, and Mussulmans are as familiar with the name through the Kor&n as Christians are through the Bible. Moreover, as the word is certainly never used by the Arabs in Arabia or Egypt to designate fire-arms, I can only suppose it to be a conventional term confined to those residing in the Archipelago, and, as such, can hardly be adduced in support o f Mr. Crawfurd’s hypothesis. Varthema’s notice o f the skill displayed by the people o f Sumatra in the preparation o f “ fuochi artificia l” at this early period is corroborated by the same learned author’s remarks on that subject:— “ A knowledge o f gunpowder must have been, at least, as early in the Indian islands as that of cannon. It is not improbable that it may have been even earlier known through the Chinese, for the manufacture o f fire-works [is] known to the Malays under the name o f Mdrchdn, a word o f which the origin is not traceable. The principal ingredients o f gunpowder are sufficiently abundant over many parts o f the Archipelago, and known by native names, sanddwa being the name of saltpetre, and bdlirang or walirang, o f sulphur.” Desc. D iet., p. 22.
