pean convictions of their technical superiority. In Malay writings a line can thus be traced from the (incorrect) early seventeenth century perception of their for bears as naively ignorant of firearms to a poem dated 1837 which saw the wisdom of the English queen manofested in the invention of the Cooper gun, "a sure fire when the bullets hit."
It is quite possitive, however, to identify other areas where Europe was simply one of a number of potential sources for Southeast Asia's "modernizers," regardless of their social status. Since written sources, limited in nature and extent, provide only glimpses of attitudinal changes, a wider canvas may help to position Europe more clearly in a locally conceived but nonetheless global environment. The study of clothing, for example, has been accorded only a grudging legitimacy in academic institutions, but in Southeast Asia one could well argue that questions of dress provided a conceptual arena where some of the major cultural debates were staged. A regional study based on the assumption that clothing represents significant historical statements would almost certainly present revealing insights. ) From the outset of such a study it would be evident that in many Southeast Asian societies a particular status was acquired through the wearing of garmant linled with the outside. When the hero of a Minangkabau epic sets off on his travels in trousers woven by the daughter of the ruler of Bengkalis, a sarong made by the daughter of the ruler of Johor, and a headclotyh given by the daugther of the king of Siam, he is proclaiming his connections to prestigious centres of authority and power. ) Southeast Asians were predictably anxious to adopt the latest styles worn in places they had come to admire. Given the enormous prestige attached to Turkey, the presentation of "a green velvet robe made in the Turkish manner" to the ruler of Brunei in 1521 must have been greeted eith delight. ) Following a visit by Persian envoys to the court of Ayudhya, King Narai adopted Persian dress because this was appropriate, he felt, for "a mighty ruler." ) Among ordinary people the manner in which a sarong was tied, the style of a headdress, the type of jewellery could all be important indicators of communal affiliations. There was indeed a language by which individuals and groups "spoke" with cloth. ) When the "black Portuguese" in Batavia wore European hats but no shoes, an amalgam of styles which aroused Ducth amusement, they were making a public statement about