DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49708#0071
57
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881.
prominent being invariably the swinging bed described by Pyrard.'’ The women’s apart-
ment, as well as the entrance door, is merely screened by a curtain.
Besides the Sultan’s Palace, there would seem to be but one house at Male built of
stoue or brick, faced with mortar—that of Galolu-ge Hasan Didi, the wealthiest Maldivian
merchant. It has a pillared front verandah and tiled roof, according’ to the modern design
commonly followed by native architects in Ceylon.f
The Sultan’s Palace is thus minutely described by Pyrard :—“ The Royal Palace is
of stone, one story high, and has a great many fine apartments, without the ornaments of
regular architecture. It is surrounded with gardens, in which there are great fountains
and cisterns of water, walled in and paved with large smooth stones, and guarded
continually to hinder people from washing in them, as being solely reserved for the
Kino- and Queen’s use. The Palace is divided into several courts, each of which has a well
in the middle, paved with fair white stones, and in one of these courts the King has two
magazines—one for ordnance and the other for ammunition. At the Palace gate there is
a guard, with many pieces of ordnance and other arms. The portal is made like a square
tower, and on festival days the musicians sing and play upon the top of it.f Passing on
from the gate, you first come to a hall where the soldiers wait, then to another great hall
where the noblemen and gentlemen attend ; for none but the officers of the household, with
the King and Queen’s slaves or servants, are allowed to go further. The floor of these
halls is raised three feet high from the ground, to avoid the ants, being neatly boarded with
wood and covered with a sort of party-coloured mats which they make in these Islands.
* * * * § * * The avails are hung with silk tapestry as well as the ceiling,
which has 'pretty fringes hanging about it. * * * * The chambers and
inner apartments are hung with silk tapestry, and enriched with gold flowers and
branches of several colours. * * * * Daylight is never seen in the
Queen’s chambers, or those of the ladies of quality; for their only light is lamps burning
continually, and the place of the room where they usually retire is blocked up with four
or five rows of tapestry.Ӥ
SANITATION.
THE
MALDIVES.
Inhabitants.
Sultan’s Palace.
The Maldivians on their Atols are decidedly above the average among Oriental races
in cleanliness. Not even on densely populated islands, such as Male, are any unpleasant
sights and smell encountered. “ There is no filth, no pigs, and, except a little fishy odour
here and there where fish is being salted and dried, all is sweet and wholesome.”||
Though much aided by nature in possessing a loose, sandy, porous soil, considerable
credit is due to these Islanders for the sanitation that exists. Their compounds are kept
constantly swept and clean, and the streets always present a tidy appearance. Personal
cleanliness is no less attended to ; men and women bathe regularly once or twice a day.
Sanitation.
RELIGION.
Muhammadanism has been the accepted religion of the Maldivians for at least six
centuries past, and had not improbably obtained an earlier hold on the more Northern
Atols. On the evidence supplied by Ibn Batuta, Mr. Gray fixes “ the probable date of the
conversion at A.D. 1200.” ■ The ever-growing commercial intercourse, however, between
the Maldives and Arab traders, added to the influence of the Muslim merchants settled
Religion.
* Pyrard, p. 157. Cf. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., pp. 282, 289.
f Another proof of the “ general deterioration” noticeable on the Maldives. The Indian Navy Surveyors
saw the ruins of some madrepore houses (Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., 1836-8, p. 108), and the statement of Ibn
Batuta and Pyrard make it clear that such houses were common enough in former days. “ They cut the
stones, each two or three cubits long, and place them in piles; then they lay across these beams of the
cocoanut tree, and afterwards raise the walls with boards.” (Gray, quoting Ibn Bat. IV., 118). And
Pyrard, (p. 89) :—“The chief men and the wealthy have them built of stone which is taken from the sea
under rocks and reefs, where it is to be had in any required length and thickness.”
I Christopher says much the same. (Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., p. 57.)
§ Pyrard, in Harris, Vol. I., pp. 713-14.
II Allan Hume, on the Lakkadive Islanders, in “ Stray Feathers,” Vol. IV., 1876, p. 441.
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881.
prominent being invariably the swinging bed described by Pyrard.'’ The women’s apart-
ment, as well as the entrance door, is merely screened by a curtain.
Besides the Sultan’s Palace, there would seem to be but one house at Male built of
stoue or brick, faced with mortar—that of Galolu-ge Hasan Didi, the wealthiest Maldivian
merchant. It has a pillared front verandah and tiled roof, according’ to the modern design
commonly followed by native architects in Ceylon.f
The Sultan’s Palace is thus minutely described by Pyrard :—“ The Royal Palace is
of stone, one story high, and has a great many fine apartments, without the ornaments of
regular architecture. It is surrounded with gardens, in which there are great fountains
and cisterns of water, walled in and paved with large smooth stones, and guarded
continually to hinder people from washing in them, as being solely reserved for the
Kino- and Queen’s use. The Palace is divided into several courts, each of which has a well
in the middle, paved with fair white stones, and in one of these courts the King has two
magazines—one for ordnance and the other for ammunition. At the Palace gate there is
a guard, with many pieces of ordnance and other arms. The portal is made like a square
tower, and on festival days the musicians sing and play upon the top of it.f Passing on
from the gate, you first come to a hall where the soldiers wait, then to another great hall
where the noblemen and gentlemen attend ; for none but the officers of the household, with
the King and Queen’s slaves or servants, are allowed to go further. The floor of these
halls is raised three feet high from the ground, to avoid the ants, being neatly boarded with
wood and covered with a sort of party-coloured mats which they make in these Islands.
* * * * § * * The avails are hung with silk tapestry as well as the ceiling,
which has 'pretty fringes hanging about it. * * * * The chambers and
inner apartments are hung with silk tapestry, and enriched with gold flowers and
branches of several colours. * * * * Daylight is never seen in the
Queen’s chambers, or those of the ladies of quality; for their only light is lamps burning
continually, and the place of the room where they usually retire is blocked up with four
or five rows of tapestry.Ӥ
SANITATION.
THE
MALDIVES.
Inhabitants.
Sultan’s Palace.
The Maldivians on their Atols are decidedly above the average among Oriental races
in cleanliness. Not even on densely populated islands, such as Male, are any unpleasant
sights and smell encountered. “ There is no filth, no pigs, and, except a little fishy odour
here and there where fish is being salted and dried, all is sweet and wholesome.”||
Though much aided by nature in possessing a loose, sandy, porous soil, considerable
credit is due to these Islanders for the sanitation that exists. Their compounds are kept
constantly swept and clean, and the streets always present a tidy appearance. Personal
cleanliness is no less attended to ; men and women bathe regularly once or twice a day.
Sanitation.
RELIGION.
Muhammadanism has been the accepted religion of the Maldivians for at least six
centuries past, and had not improbably obtained an earlier hold on the more Northern
Atols. On the evidence supplied by Ibn Batuta, Mr. Gray fixes “ the probable date of the
conversion at A.D. 1200.” ■ The ever-growing commercial intercourse, however, between
the Maldives and Arab traders, added to the influence of the Muslim merchants settled
Religion.
* Pyrard, p. 157. Cf. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., pp. 282, 289.
f Another proof of the “ general deterioration” noticeable on the Maldives. The Indian Navy Surveyors
saw the ruins of some madrepore houses (Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., 1836-8, p. 108), and the statement of Ibn
Batuta and Pyrard make it clear that such houses were common enough in former days. “ They cut the
stones, each two or three cubits long, and place them in piles; then they lay across these beams of the
cocoanut tree, and afterwards raise the walls with boards.” (Gray, quoting Ibn Bat. IV., 118). And
Pyrard, (p. 89) :—“The chief men and the wealthy have them built of stone which is taken from the sea
under rocks and reefs, where it is to be had in any required length and thickness.”
I Christopher says much the same. (Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., p. 57.)
§ Pyrard, in Harris, Vol. I., pp. 713-14.
II Allan Hume, on the Lakkadive Islanders, in “ Stray Feathers,” Vol. IV., 1876, p. 441.