[533] It is interesting to note that by the aid of the Lampong alphabet, South Sumatra, John Mathew reads the word _Daibattah_ in the legend on the head-dress of a gigantic figure seen by Sir George Grey on the roof of a cave on the Glenelg river, North-west Australia ("The Cave Paintings of Australia," etc., in _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1894, p. 44 sq.). He quotes from Coleman's _Mythology of the Hindus_ the statement that "the Battas of Sumatra believe in the existence of one supreme being, whom they name _Debati Hasi Asi_. Since completing the work of creation they suppose him to have remained perfectly quiescent, having wholly committed the government to his three sons, who do not govern in person, but by vakeels or proxies." Here is possibly another confirmation of the view that early Malayan migrations or expeditions, some even to Australia, took place in pre-Muhammadan times, long before the rise and diffusion of the Orang-Malayu in the Archipelago. [534] _Memoir of the Life etc. of Sir T. S. Raffles_, by his widow, 1830. [535] "Anthropologie des Atjehs," in _Rev. Med._, Batavia, XXX. 6, 1890. [536] See C. Snouck Hurgronje, _The Achenese_, 1906. [537] _Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections, British Museum_, 1910, p. 245. [538] This opinion is still held by many competent authorities. Cf. J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, 1900, p. 469 ff. [539] "His remarks would scarcely apply to any other island off the East African coast, his descriptions of the rivers, crocodiles, land-tortoises, canoes, sea-turtles, and wicker-work weirs for catching fish, apply exactly to Madagascar of the present day, but to none of the other islands" (_Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1896, p. 47). [540] _Loc. cit._ p. 77. Thus, to take the days of the week, we have:--Malagasy _alahady_, _alatsinainy_; old Arab. (Himyar.) _al-ahadu_, _al-itsnani_; modern Arab. _el-ahad_, _el-etnen_ (Sunday, Monday), where the Mal. forms are obviously derived not from the present, but from the ancient Arabic. From all this it seems reasonable to infer that the early Semitic influences in Madagascar may be due to the same Sabaean or Minaean peoples of South Arabia, to whom the Zimbabwe monuments in the auriferous region south of the Zambesi were accredited by Theodore Bent. [541] Those who may still doubt should consult M. Aristide Marre, _Les Affinites de la Langue Malgache_, Leyden, 1884; Last's above quoted Paper in the _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ and R. H. Codrington's _Melanesian Languages_, Oxford, 1885. [542] Malay _mata-ari_; Bajau _mata-lon_; Menado _mata-ro[=u]_; Salayer _mato-allo_, all meaning literally "day's eye" (_mata_, _mato_ = Malagasy _maso_ = eye; _ari_, _allo_, etc. = day, with normal interchange of _r_ and _l_). [543] J. Sibree, _Antananarivo Annual_, 1877, p. 62. [544] W. D. Cowan, _The Bara Land_, Antananarivo, 1881, p. 67. [545] "The Betsileo, Country and People," in _Antananarivo Annual_, 1877, p. 79.