T R U B N E R’

S OR IE N TAL S E R IE S .

A knowledge of the c omm onplace , at least , of Orie n tal l iteratu re , p h i losop h y

,and rel igi o n i s as nece ssary t o t h e general reader o f the presen t day

as an acq uai ntance wit h t h e Lat i n and Greek class ics was a gen e rat i on o r s oago . Immen se str ide s h ave bee n made wit h i n t h e presen t cen tu ry in t h esebran c h e s of learn ing ; San skr i t h as been broug h t wit h i n t h e range of accuratep h i lology

,and its i nvalu ab le an c i en t l iterat u re t h oroug h ly i nvest igated t h e

language and sacred b ooks o f t h e Z oroastr ian s h ave be e n laid bare ; E gypt i an ,

Assyrian,and ot h er re cords of t h e remot e past h ave been de cip h ered

,and a

group of sc h olars speak of st i ll more re cond ite Accad ian and Hitt i te m onum en t s bu t t h e re su lts of al l t h e s c h o lars h ip t h at h as been devoted t o t h esesubje ct s h ave been almost i nacce ss ible t o t h e publ i c be cause t h ey were contained for t h e mo st part in learned or expen s ive works , or scattered t h roug hou t t h e numbers of sc ien t ific pe ri od i cal s . Messrs . T R U B N E R CO. , in a sp iri tof e n terpr ise w h i ch doe s t h em i nfin ite cred it , h ave de term in ed t o supply thec onstan tly- i n creas i ng wan t, and t o give in a p opu lar , or, at least, a comprehensive form,

al l t h i s mass of knowledge to the worl d .— T imes .

N ew E dition in prepara tion ,

Po st 8vo, w i t h Map,

T HE IN DIAN E MPIR E : IT S HIS T OR Y,PEOPLE

,

AND PRODUCTS.

Bei ng a rev ised form of t h e art i cle Ind ia , i n the Imperia l Gazetteer,

remodelled i n to c h apters , broug h t up t o date , and i n corporat i ngthe general res u lt s o f t h e Cen s u s o f 188 1 .

By t h e HON . W. W . HUNTE R, G. I. E LL .D . ,

Member of the Viceroyfs Legislat ive C oun c il,D i re c tor- General of S tatist i c s t o t h e Governmen t of Ind ia.

T he article ‘India,

’ i n Volume IV. , is the touc hs tone of t h e work, and provesclearly enough t h e sterling m etal of wh ich it is wrought. It represent s t h e essenceof the m o volumes t ch conta in the resu lts of t h e statisti cal survey conducted byDr. Hunter throug h out eac h of the 240 districts of India . I t is, m oreover, the onlyattempt that has ever been made to s h ow how the Ind ian people h ave been bu ilt up ,

and the evi dence from t h e origina l m aterials h as been for the first t ime s ifted andexam i ned by the light of t h e local resea rch in wh ich t h e aut h or was for so longengaged . —T imes

T R U B A'

E A S O R I E N T AL S E R IE S .

T HE FOLLOWIN G WOR KS IIA I'

H ALR E AD Y APPE AR E D :

T h ird E d it i on , post 8ve , c lot h , pp. xvi —4 28 , pri c e 168 .E S SAYS ON THE SACR E D LANGUAGE , W R IT IN GS ,

AN D R E LIGION OF THE PAR S IS .

1n MAR T IN HAUG , P ii.n . ,

La te o f t h e Un ive rs it i es of T iibingeii , Gott i ngen , and Bonn ; Super i n tenden tof Sanskri t Stud i es , and Profe ssor of San skrit i n t h e Po ona Co llege .

E n i'rsn E N LA R G E !) B Y D R . E . \V. \VE S T .

To w h i c h i s added a B iograp h i ca l Memo i r o f t h e la te D r. HAUGby Prof . E . P . E VAN S .

l . llis tory of t h e Re sea rc h e s i n to t h e Sa cred Wri t in gs and Re l igi on o f t h el

’a rs is , from the E arl i e st Time s down t o t h e P i esent .

ll.Language s o f t h e Pa rs i Scriptu res .

III.T h e Zend -Aves ta

,or t h e Sc riptu re of the Pa rs i s .

T h e Z oroastrian Rel i gi on , as to i t s Origi n and Developmen t .l-j - says on the S acred Language , W ri t ings , and R el igion of the Parsis , ’ by t h e

l ate Dr. Ma rt in l l ang , ed i ted by Dr. E . W W est . T he aut h or inten ded , on h is retu rnfrom Illd i l , to expand the materia ls contained in th is work into a compre h ens ive“ ca n"; u f t h e Zoroastrian rel igion , but the des ign was frustrated by h is untim elydea t h ,

h a ve. however , in a concise and readable form , a h istory of t h e researc h esin to the s acred wri t ing s and rel ig ion of the Pal‘S lS from t h e earl iest t imes down t othe presen t—m d isserta t ion on t h e lan guages of the Pa rs i S criptures , a trans lati ono i the Zv i i -l- Avest -i , or t h e S cripture o i

' the Pa rs is , and a dissertation on t h e Zoroast rian rel igion , wi t h espe c ia l reference to its orig in and development . —T imes.

Pos t B ro ,c lo t h , pp. v i i i .— r7é , pri ce 78 . 6d .

T E X T S F R OM T H E B U D DH I S T CA N O N

COMMONLY KN O\VN AS DHAMMAPADA.

”

li'

itli A ccompa ny i ng N a rra tives.

Tran sla ted from t h e C h i ne se by S . DE AL,B .A . ,

Profe ssor o f C h i ne se,

Univers i ty Col lege,London .

T h e Dhan iinapznla . as h i t h e rto known by t h e Pa l i Tex t E d it i on , as ed itedby Fauslm ll. by Ma x Miiller

'

s E ngl is h,

and Albrec h t VVeber’

s Germant ra nslat i on s . c ons i s t s only of twen ty - s ix c h apters o r se c ti on s

,w h i l s t t h e

C h i ne se vu s ion , or ra t h e r recens i on , as now t ran sla ted by Mr. Beal, c ons it-tn o f t h irty - n ine sec ti on s . T h e studen ts o f Pa l i who posse ss Fausbbll’su-xi , or e i t h er o f the above n amed tran sla t i on s

,wi l l t h erefore n eeds wan t

Mr. l ’wa l ’ u E ngl is h rende ri ng of t h e C h i n ese ve rs i on ; t h e t h i rte e n abovena nn -d add it i onal s ect ions no t bei ng acce ss ible to t h em i n any ot h er form ;for

, even if they unde rs tand C h i nese , t h e C h i ne se origi nal wou ld be nu

o b ta uiahle by t h em.

Mr lhnil‘

s rund i ring of t h e C h i nese t ranslat ion is a most valuable aid to t h ecrittra l stud y o i 'he work . it conta ins au t hent ic texts gathered froin ancien t“ noun i i b oob ,

and g eneral ly connected W i th some incident in the h i story of"whim T h eir i're a t interest , however, a nimal s in the ligh t wh ic h t h ey t h row uponH , W e in Ind ia a t the remote pe riod at whic h they were written and upontln llu tli -ul U ‘ t eac h ing zuluptcd by the founder of the rel igion . T he met h od

a .“ prinr ipa lly p ara b le, and the s impl ic i ty of the ta les and the excellence1u .” |uu l llh l lll

'

nll J‘t‘tl us well a s the st range h old whic h t h ey h ave re ta ined uponth e lu t lv lu o l lllllllu lin of people , make them a very remarkable study.

— T imes .

“I , U r al. by mah in it w oes s ible in an E ngl is h dress, has added to the great ser

has already n In e red to th e comparat ive s tudy of religious his tory .

” —AcademyVa luab le an ex h ib iti ng the doct rine of the B uddh ists i i i its pu rest least adu l:

ta u t. 1 fu n " , it l-l tl ig h reader face to face W i th that s ii nplc crdcd and ru le1 mclu a

't wbn h W o n its ww o verthe m ind s of n iyriadu, and w h ic h is now nom inallyin . l b y N

‘ m i ll ions , who h ave overla id its au st ere simpl icity w it h inn umerableu -w m o n l u , (“mu t t o n Its n in th-in , ix -rverlc i l its teach ing , a nd so inverted i ts leadingt" l l' ‘h t

'-l 1‘ tlofl'm Vi in m: (m inde r den ied it God

, now worsh ips t h at founder asI a.

‘ l E t l tl ‘lu fl u .

T R U B N E R’

S O R IE N T AL S E R IE S

Second E d i t i on,post 8vo , clo t h , pp. xx iv .

—360, pr i c e 10s . 6d .

T HE HIS T OR Y OF IN DIAN LIT E R AT U R E .

B Y ALB R E CHT IVE B E R .

Tran slated from t h e Se con d German E d it i on by JOHN MANN,

andT HE OD OR ZACHARIAE , Ph.D . , wi t h t h e sanct i on of t h e Aut h or.

Dr . B U HLE R , In spe ctor of Sc h o ol s in Ind ia , wr ites Wh en I wa s Professor of Orie n tal Language s i n E lphin ston e Co llege

,I freq u en tly fel t t h e

wan t of su c h a work t o w h i ch I c ould refer t h e stu dents .“Professor COW E LL, o f Cambr idge , wri te s I t w i l l be especially u sefu lto t h e studen ts i n ou r Ind ian col lege s and u n iv ers it ie s . I u sed to long fors uc h a. book w h en I was teac h ing i n Calcu tta . Hindu stu den ts are i n tenselyi n terested i n t h e h istory of San skr it l iterature , and t h i s vol ume wi l l supplyt h em w it h al l t h ey wan t on the subject .”Professor W HIT N E Y

,Yale C ol lege

,New h aven

,Conn .

, wr itesI was on e o f the class t o w h om t h e work was origin al ly given in t h e formof academic lec tu res . At t h eir first appearan ce t h ey were by far t h e mostlearned and abl e treatmen t of t h e ir subject and w it h t h e ir recen t add it i on st h ey st il l ma in tai n de cidedly t h e sam e rank .

Is perhaps t h e m ost compre h en s ive an d lucid survey of S anskrit literatureextant . T he essays conta ined in the volum e were origina lly del ivered as academ iclectures

, and at the t ime of thei r first publ icat ion were acknow ledged to be by fart h e most lea rned and ab le treatment of t h e subject . T h ey have n ow been brough tup to date by t h e add ition of all the m ost important resu lts of recen t researchT imes .

Post 8vo , clo t h , pp . x 11. —198 , accompan i ed by T wo LanguageMaps

,pr i c e res .

A S KE T CH OF

THE MODE R N LAN GU AGE S OF THE E AS T IN DIE S .

B Y R OB E R T N . CUST .

T h e Aut h or has attempted to fill up a vacu um ,the in conven ience o f

w h i c h pressed itself on his n ot ic e . Mu c h had been writte n ab ou t thelanguages of t h e E ast Ind ies

,but t h e ex ten t of our presen t kn owledge h ad

not even been brou g h t to a. focu s . I t occurred t o him t h at i t m i g h t be ofu se t o ot h ers t o publ is h i n an arranged form t h e n ote s w h i c h h e had c o lle ctedfor his own edification .

S uppl ies a deficien cy w h ich has long been felt . — T imes.

T he book before us is t h en a va luable con tribut ion to p h i lolog ical science . Itpasses un der review a vast number of lang uages , an d it gives , or professes to give ,every case the sum and substance of t h e Opin ions and judgments of t h e best - inf ormedwr iters . —S a turday R eview.

Second C orrected E d i t i o n,post 8vo

,pp . x ii — 1 16

, c lot h , pri ce 55 .

THE B IR T H OF THE WAR -GOD .

A Po em . B Y KALIDASA .

Tran slated from the San skrit in t o E ngl is h Verse byR ALPH T . H . GRIFFIT H , M .A .

A very spirited rendering of t h e Kumdrasambhara ,wh i c h was first publ ished

twenty- six years ago, and w h ic h we are glad to see made once more access ibleT imes.

“ Mr. Griffi th ’s very spirited renderin g i s wel l known to m ost who are at allinterested in Indian l iterature, or enjoy the tenderness of feelin g and ric h creat i veimaginat ion of its author. —1ndian Antzquary .

We are very glad to w elcom e a. second edition of Professor G riffi t h ’ s adm irabletranslation . Few translat ions deserve a second ed it ion better. —Atlzenazum.

5 16 9 92

77: [ja r/31cmO R IE A’

T AL S E R 15 5 .

Po s t 8vo . pp. 4 32 . clo t h . price 168 .

A CLASS ICAL DICTIONARY OF HINDU MYT HOLOGY

AN D RELIGION,GEOGRAPHY,

HISTORY, AN D

LITERATU RE .

lli’ JOHN l lOW S O N ,

L ate P rofesso r o f Hindustan i, S taff College.

T his no t o nly fo rms an ind i spensab le book o f reference to studen ts of Indianlitem tnm , but is a l so o f grea t genera l in terest , as it g ives in a concise and eas ilyieee s s ihle fo i ni a ll t ha t n ee d be known abou t the pe rso nage s of Hindu my t hologywh o s e n ame s are so fam iliar, but of whom so l i t t le is kn own ou ts ide the lim i ted(" I t‘d 0 ! I N : N n fa .

—7'i u u t .

It is no s llglli ga in when such subjects are t reated fairly and fully i n a modera tes low ; o n! W e need o n ly add t hat the few wan ts wh ich W e may hope to see suppliedin new ed i t io ns de tmet but lit t le from the genera l excellence of Mr. Dowson

'

s work .

S a turda y lieri em

l’ o s t 8ro , with View o f Mecca , pp. exit—172, clo th, price 95 .

SELECTIONS FROM T HE KORAN .

B Y ED\VARD \VILL IAN LANET r ans la to r o f T he T housand and One Nigh ts ; &c .

, &c .

A N ew E d it ion, levised and E nlarcred with an Introduction bw

c 7 yb

'

l‘

AN LE Y Lam-zPoOLE .

lla ~ been lon g esteemed in t h is coun t ry as the compi la t ion of one of the

grea te s t Arabic b cll i ihtl‘s o f the tune ,the la te Mr. Lane , the we ll - known t ran slator o f

the‘Amb ia n Nights '

T he presen t e di to r has en han ced the va lue of his

rcla livv'

s wo rk by d ives t ing the tex t of a grea t deal o f ex traneous ma t ter in troducedby way o f co in inen ' and pre fixing an in troduc t ion .

Sir. l’oo lo is bo t h a generous and a lea rned biographer . Mr. Poole tells us

the fa c ts so far as it is po ssib le for indust ry and cri ticism to ascerta in them ,

and for lito i-

iry s kill to presen t them in a condensed and readable form.—E aglwlr

ma n , Ca lcuttaPos t 8vo

, pp. vi.—368 , cloth, price i 4 s .

MODERN INDIA AN D T HE INDIANS ,B EING A S E R IE S O F IMPRESS IONS

,NOTES

,AN D ESSAYS .

lli’ MON IER \V1LLIAMS ,

lio n .o f the Un ivers ity of Ca lcu tta , Hon . Member of the B ombay As ia tic

S o cie ty ,lin den Pro fesso r of S anskrit in the Un iversity of O xford .

T hird E d ition,revised and augmen ted by considerable Addition s,with Illus t ra tions and a Map.

In this Vultl lnc we have the t hough t ful impressions o f a t hough tful man on some

1 the in o ~t impo rt i n t llltcflt ln lts connec ted W i th our Indian E mpire. An en

lleht no-l o hm-w an t inan . traVe lling aniong an en l igh tened ob servan t people, ProfessorSl -onlvrW illla im h i s b ro ught be fo re the public in a pleasan t form more of the mannersa n ! m at-um “f the Q ueen

'

s lnd ia n subjec ts t han we ever remember to have seen ina n ) -n w o k. lio no t o n ly de se rves the t hanks of every E nglishman for t h is ab lew n trimn iu n to the s tudy o f Mmiern India—a subjec t W i t h which we shou ld beo tn l l l ll) fam lll ir - but he de s erves the t hanks o f every Ind ian

,Parsee or H indu,

ltcid -ihtut an d Mm lem . for his c lear expos it ion of their mannei s , t heir creeds , andthe" ti e u wtlten.

l’o ut B ro

, pp. xliv .—376 . clo th, price 14 8 .

METRICAL TRANSLATIONS PROM SANSKRITW RITERS .

ri th an in t ro duc t ion , many l

’ro ae Vers ions . and Pa rallel Pa ssages from

Clas s ica l Au t h o rs .in J. Minn, I) .C . I LL.D .

,Ph. D .

An agree ab l e in tro duc t io n to Illndn poetrv.

A V'J'lm" l lm h m a v h. ta lu -n m4 a fa ir il lus tra t io n a l ike of the rel ig ious‘H ‘ an d " l ”w le t'undarv lo re o f the bes t S a nsk rit w riters

lt l uu 'l u l‘u ll h 'w h i . .1 .l

T R U B N E R’

S O R IE N T AL S E R I E S .

S econd E dition, post 8vo , pp. xxvi. —244 , clo th, price 108 . 6d .

T H E G U L I S T A N ;O R , ROSE GARDEN OF SHEKH MU S HLIU ’

D -DIN SAD I OF SH IRAZ .

T ransla ted for the First T ime into Prose and Verse,with an Introductory

P reface, and a Life of the Au thor,from the Atish Kada h

,

B Y EDWARD B . EASTW ICK, C . B .,M.A. ,

It is a very fair rendering of the original . — T imes.

T he n ew edition has long been desired , an d will be welcomed by all who takeany in terest in O rien ta l poe try . T he Gu listan is a typical Persian verse- book of theh ighes t order. Mr. E astwi ck

'

s rhymed tran sla tion has long established itself ina secu re position as the best version of S adl

’

s fin est work .—Academy .

It is bot h fait hful ly and gracefully execu ted .

”T a blet.

In T wo Volumes, post 8vo , pp. viii -

408 and viii.— 348, cloth, price 283 .

MISCELLANEOU S ESSAYS RELAT ING T O INDIANSU B JECTS .

B r B R IAN HOU GHTON HODGSON ,E S Q . ,

F. R . S

La te of the B enga l Civi l S ervice Correspon ding Member o f the Institu te ; Cheva lierof the Legion of Honour ; la te B ritish Min is ter at the Cour t of N epa l, &c .

,610.

CON T E N T S O F VOL . 1.

S ECT ION I — On the Kocch , B odo, an d Dh imal T rib es . —Part I . VocabularyPar t II. G ramm a r.—Par t l II. T heir Origin , Loca tion ,

N umbei s,Creed , Cu stom s

Cha rac ter, and Condition , ‘

with a Gen era l Descript ion of the Clima te t hey dwe ll in—Appendix .

S ECT I ON II.— ou Himalayan E thnology .

— I. Compara tive Vocabulary of the Lan

guages o f the B roken T ribes of N epal —II. Vocabu lary of the Dia lec ts of the Kiran tLanguage

— III. G ramm a tica l An a ly sis of the Vayu Language. T he Vay u G i am inar.

— IV. Analysis of the B ali ing Dia lec t o f the K iran ti Language. T he B aliing Grammar.

- V. On the Vayu or Hayu T ribe of the Cen tra l Himalaya —VI . On the Kiran t iT ribe of the Cen tral Hima laya .

CO N T E N T S OF VOL . 11.

S ECT ION III .—Ou the Aborigines of N orth - E astern Ind ia . Compai ative Vocabulary

o f the T ibetan, B odo, and Gai

'o T ongues .S ECT ION IV.

—Aborigin es of the N orth - E astern Fron tierS ECT ION V.

— Ab origines o f the E astern Fron tier.S ECT ION VI — T he In do - Ch in ese B orderers, and their connection with the H ima

layan s and T ibe tan s . Compara tive Vo cabu la ry of In do -Chinese B orderers in Arakan .

Compa ra tive Vocabu lary o f D ido - Ch ine s e B orderers in T en asserim .

S ECT ION VlI.

—T he Mongolian Afiin ities of the Caucasian s . - Comparison and AnalyslS of Caucasian and Mon gol ian Words .S ECT ION VIII.

— Physica l T ype of T ibetan s .S ECT ION IX .

— T he Aborigines of Cen tra l India —Compara t ive Vocabu lary of the

Aborigina l Languages of Cen tral In dia —Aborig ines of the B aste i Ii Gha ts . —Vocabnla ry of som e of the D i a lec ts o i the Hil l an d Wande i ing T r ibes i n t he N orthei n S ircars .—Aborigin es of the N ilgiris, W i t h R em ark s on th e ir Affin iti es .

— S upplemen t to theN ilgirian Vocabu laries . —'

l‘

he Abor igin es of S ou the rn Ind ia an d Cey lon .

S ECT ION X .

— R ou te of N epa lese Mission to Pekin ,w i th R ema rks on the Wa ter

S hed and P la teau of T ibe t .S ECT ION XL— R ou te from Kat hmandu,

the Capita l o f N epal , to Darj ee ling in

S ikim —Memorandum rela tive to the S even Cos is of N epal .S ECT ION XII.

— S ome Accoun t s of the S ystems o f Law and Police as recogn ised inthe S ta te of N epal .S ECT ION X II l.— T iie N a tive Method of m aking the Paper denom in a ted Hindustan

N epalese .

S ECT ION XIV.

—Pre- emin ence o f the Vernaculars ; or, the Anglicists Answered ;B e ing Le t ters on the E duca t ion of the People of In dia .

For the study of the less - known races of Indi a Mr. B rian Hodgson 's Miscellaneous E ssay s w ill be found very va luab le bo t h to t he philologis t and the et hnologist .—s cs.

T R U R N /S R'

5 O R [ E N T AL S E R IE S .

T hird E dit ion , T wo Vols pos t 8 \'o , pp. viii — 268 and viii .—326, cloth,price 2 18 .

T HE LIFE OR LEGEND OF GAU DAMA ,

T HE BUDDHA OF T H E B U RMESE. \Vith Annotation s .T he W ays to N eibban , and Notice on the Phongyies or Burmese Monks .

B r T n E R IGHT R E v. P . B IGAN DE T ,

Bishop o f li ttlilzitlm ,Vicar -Apos tolic of Ava and Pegu .

T he wu ik H furnis hed w it h copious no tes . wh ich not on ly il lustra te the subjec tni .ii ter, hut fo rm ii pei fec t ei ieyelopzed ia of B uddh i st lore .

— T unes .

wo rk wh ic h furn ish E uropean studen ts of B uddh ism wi th a most valuab lehe lp iii the pro secut io n o f t heir i nvest iga t ions . —E ¢lu iburgh Da ily R eview.

B is ho p llig indet'

s inv aluab le work .

"

An tiqua ry .

Viewed in t h is l ight , i ts impo rtance is sufficien t to place studen t s of the subjectunde r a deep ubllgfll luu to its an thor.

"—Ca lcut ta R eview.

T h is W o rk is one of the grea tes t au t horities upon B uddhism .—Dublin R eview.

Pos t 8vo, pp. xxiv.

—4 20, clo th, price 188 .

CHINESE B U DDHISM.

A VO LU ME or SKETCHES , H ISTOR ICAL AN D CR IT ICAL .

B Y J. EDKINS,D . D .

\utlior of (‘liiim

'

s Pla ce in Philo logy , ” R eligion in China ,

It a vas t dea l o f impo rtan t in forma t ion on the subjec t , such as is on lyto be 3 “h e ll by long - con t inued s t udy on the spo t . —Atlien(eum.

l'

p-ill the who le . we know o f no wo rk comparab le to it for the exten t of itsruin s ! muean

'li . and the simpl ic i ty w it h wh ich th is complicated system of ph ilosoph y . i e lig iu ii , l i tera ture , and ri tual is set fort h .

—B r¢tish Qua rterly R eview.

“ T he who le Vulll llw is r eple te W i t h learning . It deserves most careful studyfr om all inte re s ted in the h isto ry of the religion s of the world . and expressly of t hose“ho are “ tilt" :nwd in the propaga t io n o f Ch r ist ian ity . Dr. E dk in s n o tices in term s1 ji i~t c u iule ii inzitlon the ex agge i ated pra ise bestowed upon B uddhism by recen tl ingual; wrzte rs . —lti coril.

l’o s t 8vo, pp. 496 , clo th, pr ice 18s .

L ING U I S T I C A N D OR I EN TAL E S SAY S .

FR OM T HE Y E AR 1846 T O 1878 .

ia' RO B E RT NEEDHAM CU ST ,La t e hit- inln r o f Her Ma je s ty

's Indian Civil S ervice ; Hon . S ecretary tothe R o yal As ia tic S o cie ty ;

and Autho r o f T he Modern Language s o f the E as t Indies .“I.“ I 1 x i ] . M '

rilw tl lnd izin llft‘, especia l ly the life of the na tives ,a n ] . m i n. i ll Ii i i iaiiw. rj lllli li ily ,

ii i id l ite ra ry ta len t .T in ) m m in n o! in in: ful l o l sugge st ive and o rig i n al remarks —S l . Jmncs

’

s Ga zette.

ll”. i n n }: (mmmin 1 L i s t amo un t o f ili fn l‘ l i i 'll lm l T he resul t o f ih i i ty - fivc yearst" in "M y .

I ' 1I'm ‘

iw l Flu'i

'li ld l in ll,an d t h at o n subjec ts as ful l of fusei iiatioi i as

I "0 r‘l "Cl v ri l'alr l

l "M M n 1. i hn i imph :u w ith the h is to ry and an tiq u it ies of India1" " in!" him in ”4 J: n“ l -lu' li '

iVlllg Zi llilm l’ iiv.

"—1;'

i liuburyh D a ily].i it “uh the auth o rity o f pe rson a l experience It is t h is

m m n n t nn m h t i‘ n m ll li i i." 1 u n n i rv and the people wh ic h g ives such a viVId iiessp : “in" ! i I the l’ fl‘" A lb u m

T R U B N E R'

S OR IE N T AL S E R I E S .

Po s t 8vo,pp . c iv. — 34 8, cl ot h , pri ce 185 .

B UDDH I S T B I R T H S T O R I E S ; or, Ja t aka T a le s .

T h e O ldest Collection of Folk - lore E x tan tB E I N G T H E JA T AK AT T HAVA N N A N A

,

For t h e first t ime E d i ted i n the original Paii .BY V . FAU S B OLL ;

And Tran slated by T. W . R HYS DAVIDS .

Translat i on . Volume I .T h ese are ta les supposed to h ave been told by the B uddha. of what h e had seen

and h eard in h is prev ious births . T hey are pi obab ly the nearest representativesof the orig ina l Aryan stories from wh ich S pran g the tolk - lore of E urope as wel l asIndia . T he i ntroduct ion con ta ins a m ost in terest ing disq u isition on the m igration sof these fables

, tracm g their reappearance in the various groups of folk - lore legends .Among ot h er old friends, wem eet W i th a vers ion of t h eJudgm ent of S olom on .

—s cs .

It is now som e years s i nce Mr. R hys Davids asserted h is right to be h eard o n

th is subject by h is able -article on B uddh ism in the new ed it ion of t h e E ncyclopaed iaB ri tann ica .

—Leeds Mercu ry .

All who are interested i n B udd h i st l iterature oug h t to feel deeply indebted toMr. R hys Da vids . H i s well - establ ished reputati on a s a Pal i sc h olar is a su ffi cientguarantee for the fidel ity of h is vers ion

,and the style of h i s translations i s deservm gof h igh pra ise —Academy .

N o m ore competent expos itor of B uddh ism cou ld be found t h an Mr. R hys Davids .In the Jataka book we h ave

,t h en

,a priceless record of the earl iest imag ina tive

l iterature of our race ; an d i t presents to us a nearly complete p icture of thesocia l l ife and custom s an d popu lar bel iefs of the comm on people of Aryan tribes ,closely related t o ourselves

, just as t h ey were pass ing throug h t h e first stages ofc ivi li sat i on .

— S t. James’

s Gazette.

Post 8 vo,pp . xxv i i i . — 362 , clot h , pri ce 14 8 .

A T A L M U D I C M I S C E L L A N Y ;O R A THOUSAND AND ON E E XTRACTS FROM T HE TALMUD

,

T HE MIDRASHIM,AND T H E KABBALAH .

Comp i led and Tran slat ed by PAUL ISAAC H E R S HO N ,

Aut h o r o f Gene s i s Ac cord in g to t h e Talmud , &c.

\Vi t h N ot e s and Cop i ou s Indexe s .T o obta in i n so concise an d h andy a form as t h is volume a general idea o f t h e

T a lmud is a boon to C h r istian s at least . — T imes.

“ Its pecul iar and popu lar character w i l l m ake it attracti ve to gen era l readers .Mr Hershon is a very com petent scholar. Con ta in s samples of the good, bad ,

and in diff erent , and espec ially extracts t h at t h row l ight upon t h e S criptures . ”B ’

ruish Qua rterly R eview.

W i l l convey to E ngl is h readers a more complete and ti uthful not ion of t h eT a lmud than any ot h er work that has yet appeared .

—Da ity N ews.

W i t h out overlook in g in the sl ightest the several a ttracti ons of t h e previ ou svolumes of the Orienta l S eries. ’

we have no h es itat ion i n saying t h at t h is surpassesthem all in in terest . ”— E dinburgh Da l ly R emew .

Mr. Hershon has thus given E n g l ish readers w h at is , we bel ieve , a fa i r setof Specm i en s w h i ch t h ey can test for them selves . — T he R ecord

T h is book is by far the best fitted in the presen t state of know ledge to enable thegenera l reader to ga in a fa i r an d unbia ssed con ception of the m u lti fari ous conten tsof the wonderfu l m iscel lan y wh ich can on ly be ti uly unders tood fl so Jew ish prideasserts—by the l i fe - lon g devotion of scholars of the Chosen People . - lnquzrer.

T he value and importance of th is volum e cons i st in the fact that scarcely a singleextract is given i n i ts pages but throws som e l ight, direct or refracted , upon thoseS criptures wh ic h are the common her itage of Jew and Christian a like . —John B ull.

It is a capital S pec imen of Hebrew scholars h ip a m onum en t of learned , loving,l i ght - giv ing labour. —Jewzsh Hera ld .

T R [Ja rs /vs OR IE N T AL S E R I E S .

l'os t 8vo , pp . run—228

,clo t h

,pri ce 75 . 6d.

T HE CLASSICAL POETRY OF T HE JAPAN E SE .

B i‘ BAS IL HALL CHAMBE RLAIN,

Aut h or of Yeigo Henkaku S hiraii .

A very cu rious volume . T he aut h or has man ifestly devoted muc h labour to t h etmk o i s tudying the poe t ica l l i t er ature of t h e Japanese , and rendering c h arac teristics lm hnens into l'inJlleh vers e.

—lkn ly N a t-s .

Mr. C h amberla in }; volume is . so far as we are aware , the first attempt w h ic h h asbeen made to in terpre t t h e li tera t ure of t he Japanese to theWestern world . I t is tot h e c las s ical poe t ry of O ld Japan t h at we must tu rn for indigenousJapanese t h oug h t,and in t h e volume before u s we have a selec t ion from that poetry rendered in tograt efu l E ngl is h vers e . " T utu .

I t is undoubte dly one of the best translati ons of lyric literature wh ic h has“qu iz-ed during t h e close of the last yea r. —Celestia l E mp i re.

Mr. C h amberla in se t h imsel f a d ifficult task w h en he undertook to reproduceJan ina-so poe tw in an E ngl is h form . B ut he has ev idently laboured con amore, andhis e tlurts aw e successfu l to a degree . —London a nd Ghana. E xpress.

Pos t 8vo ,pp. x ii —164 , c lot h , pri c e 108 . 6d.

THE HISTORY OF ESARHADDON (S on of Sennacherib),KING OF ASSYRIA

, B . C. 681—668.

Tran sla t ed from t h e Cune i form Inscript i on s u pon Cyl inders and Table ts i nt h e J

i ritish Museum Collect i on ; toget h er w it h a Grammat i cal Analys i so f eac h E xplanat i on s of the Ideograplis by E x trac ts from t h eIii- Li ngual Syllaba ri es , and Lis t of E ponyni s , &c.

B r E RN E ST A . BUDG E,B .A. ,

Assyrian E x h ib it i oner, C h r i st 's College , Cambr idge .“ S tuden t s of se i iptuml areli zeology wi l l a lso appreciate t h e ‘H istory of E sar

hlld llfl ll .

‘

m u !

T here is muc h to attract t h e sc h olar in t h is volume . It does not pretend tor

-puluri s e s tudies w h ic h are ye t in t h e ir infancy . I t s primary object is to translate.m t it do es no t as sume to he more than tenta t ive

, and i t offers bo t h to t h e professedArmyrlu ln gint and to t h e o n li i iary non - Assyriologica l S em it ic scho lar the m eans ofco n t rolling its resu l ts .

—Acmhmy“ Mr. lliidge

'

e lmok is , of course , ma in ly addressed to Assyrian sc h olars andstudents '

l uey are no t , i t i s to he feared , a very num erous class . B ut t h e m orethanku are due to him on t h a t account for t h e way in wh ic h h e has acqu itted h imselfin h is Laba niotln uwk.

"T a bld .

Post 8v0 , pp. 4 4 8 , c lot h , pri ce 2 18 .

T H B M E S N EV I

(Usually known as T im ME S N E VIYI Sama r, or HOLY ME S N E VI)or

ME YLANA (ruin LORD) JE LALU ’D -DIN MUHAMME D E R - RUMI

.

Book t h e F irst .with mmr Arm unt of the L ife a nd A cts of theAuthor,of hueA a erators , a nd of his D escenda n ts.

I llustr ate d by a Select i on of C h aracteri sti c Anecd o tes,as Co llected

by t h e i r H i storian ,Mun AN A -

‘

l > - l)ix AHME D , rzr. E FLAKI,E L

‘ARIPI.

l i llhlzi tm l, am] the Poe try Vers ille il,i n E ngl i s h

,

“Y J .\l l‘ih'

It l‘i l) H U S l“. It. A . S . , 850.

mun ] l i n l ury u i m '

t'

i i lt O rienta l low ." Ab b a

-

410 71 R eview.“ '

lhll lau L W u l l i v iy \ :lhl-‘l l ll l t help t o t h e read er ignora nt of Pers ia , W ho isalu m “

in a l m tam ing :.n llmlullt in t o a very import an t department of t h e l iteraturec n ew ! i t. tha t langu age .

“T imid

T R U B N E R'

S OR IE N T AL S E R I E S .

Pos t 8vo,pp . x vi — 280

,clot h

,pi i ce 6s .

EASTERN ~ PROVERB S AND EMB LEMSILLU S T RAT ING OLD TRUT HS .

BY R E V. J. LONG,

Member of t h e Bengal As iat i c Soc i e ty,

We regard the book as va luable , and w ish for it a w ide circu lation an d atten tivercadi i ig .

”- R ecord .

A ltogether. i t i s q u ite a feast of good t h ings . —Globe.

I t i s fu ll of interesting matter. —An tzquary .

Post 8vo,pp . v i i i .— 27o , c lo t h , pr i ce 75 . 6d .

I N D I A N P O E T R Y ;

C on ta i n ing a N ew E d it i o n of the Ind ian Song of Songs , from the San s cr i tof t h e “ G ita Gov inda of Jayadeva ; T wo Bo oks from “ T h e I l iad ofInd ia (Ma h ab h arata), “ Prove rbial W i sd om from t h e S hlokas of theH itopadesa , and ot h e r Ori e n ta l Poem s .BY E DWIN ARNOLD ,

Aut h or of T he L ig h t of As ia .In t his n ew volum e of Messrs . T rubn er’

s Orienta l S eries,Mr. E dw in Arnold does

good service by il lustrat ing,th rough the m ed ium of hi s musmal E nglis h m elod ies

the power of I nd ian poetry to stir E uropean emot i ons . T he In dian S ong of S ongsi s not unknown to schola rs . Mr. Arn old w i ll h ave introdu ced it am ong popu larE nglish poem s . N ot h ing cou ld be more gracefu l an d del icate t h an t h e shades bywh ich Kris h na is portrayed in the gradua l process of being w eaned by t h e love of

B eaut i fu l R adha , jasm in e - bosomed R ad h a , ’from t h e a l lurements of t h e forest nymp h s , i n w h om t h e five senses are typ ified .

T imes.

N 0 ot h er E ngl is h poet has ever thrown h is gen ius and his art so t h oroug h ly i ntothe work of tran s lat ing E astern ideas as Mr. Arn old h as done in his sp lend id paraphrases of language conta ined in these m ig h ty epi cs . —Da ily T elegraph.

T he poem aboun ds with imagery of E astern luxuriousn ess and sensuou sness ; theair seem s laden w ith t h e spi cy odours of the trop ics , and the verse has a richness anda melody sufficien t to capti vate the sen ses of the du l lest . —S tanda rd .

T he translator,wh ile producm g a very en j oyable poem ,

h as adhered w it h tolerable fid elity to the origi n a l text .

”Overland Ma il.

We certa in ly w ish Mr. A rnold success in h is attempt to popu larise Indianclass ics , ’ t h at being , as his preface tells u s, the goa l towards w h i c h he bends h isefforts . ” —Allen ’

s Indza n Ma il.

Po st 8vo,pp. x vi — 296, clot h , pr i ce i os . 6d .

THE MIND OF MENCIUS ;O R , POLITICAL E CONOMY FOUN DE D UPON MOR AL

PHILOSOPHY .

A SY S T E MAT IC D IG E S T or T H E DOCT RIN E S or T H E CHIN E S E PH ILO S OPH E RM E NCIU S .

Tran slated from the Ori ginal Tex t an d Clas s ified , wi t hCommen ts and E xplan at i on s ,

By t h e R E V. E RNST FABE R,Rhen i s h M i ss i on S oc ie ty .

Tran slated from t h e German,wi t h Add i t i on al No te s ,

By t h e R E V. A . B . HUTCH INSON,C .M . S C h u rc h M i ss i on , Hong K ong .

Mr. Faber is a l ready w el l known in t h e field of Ch in ese stud ies by h is digest o fthe doctrin es of L‘

on fucm s . T he va lue of th is work w i l l be perce ived when i t i srem embered t ha t at n o t ime S in ce relat ion s comm en ced between Ch ina and theW est has t he form er been so pow erful— we had a lm ost sa id aggress ive— as now .

For t hose who W i l l g ive it carefu l study , Mr. Faber's work is one of t h e mostvaluable of the excellent s t ries to wh i c h i t belongs N nJu re.

wefil ms /c'

5 O R I E N T AL 5 5 1: 15 5 .

Post 8ve , pp. 336 , c lot h , pri ce 165 .

THE RE LIGIONS OF IN DIA.

B r A. E AR T H.

Transla ted from the Fi ench with the au t h o rity and ass i stan ce of t h e Aut h or .

T h e aut h or ha s ,a t the reque st o f t h e publ i s h ers , c on s iderably en larged

t h e wo rk for t h e tran s la t or, and ha s a dded t h e l iteratu re of t h e s ubje ct toda te the t ran sla t i on may , t h e refore . he l o oked upon as an eq u iva len t of anew and improved ed i t i o n o f t h e origina l.

l no t only a valua ble manua l of the rel igi on s of India, w h ic h m arks a distincts tep in the t rea tm ent of the subject , but a lso a usefu l work of reference . ”—Aca dcmz/.

'

l lttr~ Vu lltluc Ir a reproduc t ion ,w ith correct ion s an d addition s , of an artic le

con t ribu t e d by the learned au t hor two years ago to the E n cycloped ic des S cienceslte lu ieuw s

'

lt a t trac t ed muc h not ice when i t first appea red,and is genera lly

adm i t ted t o present the b est summary extan t of t h e vas t subj ect w ith wh ic h i tc ls .

—TT n . ! i ~ no t only o n the w h ole t h e hest but t h e on ly m anual of t h e rel igi on s of

I ndia . apa rt from B udd h ism ,w h ich we have i i i E nglis h . T he pi csen t work

s h ow! l in t on ly gre at knowledge of the fac t s and power of clear ex pos1ti0n ,but a lso

gre at ins ight in t o t h e inner h is tory and t h e deeper mean ing of the great religion ,for i t i s in N a l i ty only one . w h ic h it propos es to describe . —Modern R eview.

T he meri t of the W ork has been emp h a t ica l ly i ecogii ised by the most aut h oritati veO t te i i tahs t s . b o th in this coun t ry and on the con t inent of E n t ope

,B ut probably

there me few lndmn is ts (it we may use t h e word) who wou ld not derive a good dea lo f in forma t ion from it , and especia lly from the extens ive b ib l iograp h y prov ided in”u

: tw i c e —I) t|bl t ll R u 'tu l‘.

b itc h a ske tc h .\t. B ar t h has drawn w it h a master - h and .—0ritic (N ew York).

Pos t 8 ro,pp. v i i i . — I 52 , c lot h , pri ce 68 .

HIN DU PHILOS OPHY.

rm: S ftN KlIYA KS R IKA or I S ’

W AR A K R I S HN A .

An E xpos i t ion o f the Syst em of Kap ila,w i t h an Append ix on t h e

Nyaya and Vais'

eshika Sys tems.lli

‘ Jt lllN DAVIE S , l\I.A . (Can tab ),T he syst em of Kal 'ila con ta in s nearly al l t h at Ind ia h as produ ced i n t h e

d c pa t tme ii t of pu re p h i losop h y.

'

lhe n o n U i ie'i ta liut find s in Mr Davies a pat ient and learned gu id e whoIt uh him in to t lw tlit l lt‘uvll‘h of the p h i losop h y of Ind ia

,and supplies him w it h a clue

,

‘l a n y lin t he los t in t h em . In the preface he sta tes that the system ofIt in Ir t he ‘

u ri iu ct a ttemp t o n record to g ive an an swer,from reason alone,

to t iu m s a t: n oo n quest ions wh ic h a rise in every thoughtfu l m ind about the orig in oftlu wu l ul , t he inmin : . | l l 'l rela t ion s o t man a nd hi s fu t ure destiny

,

’

and in h is learned“0 I t l'll ' n o t a l

f: xhi l-ltu‘ t h e t'n llllcvt lu li of the S ankhy a sys tem w i t h the p h i lo

bptn o y u. and tha vo unc c t io n of t h e sy st em o f Kapi la w i t h t h at of S c h openn u ! . .n -l a t

el i er! " a im I'm-

u gh : (‘

hurrle Chron icle.

St: lu n w m tm on llin du l’n ilo s ophy i s an undoubted gain to all studentsf the d: w lo pmu a t o! tlu -n .

-ht . T he system o f w h ic h is h ere g iven in a tran sla t e infrom th e M ult hya It io tlt zl. n t he on ly con t ribution of India to pure p h i losop h y .

l rt m uh mm y p oin t ! o f aim -

p in t eres t t o the s tuden t of comparati ve ph i lom phy , a nd W i t h ou t r. It ivle s 'n lm -id i nte rpi e ta t io n i t wou ld be d i th cult to appreu l lh tlu an

ro ll i tu In any am —S u t ¢u clay Itet

‘icw.“o mfoma Sli a ' l u'n u bo ok an a va luable addition to our p h i losop h i ca l

lthu ty h uh . t i n -l Ou n u a ,

T R U B N E R’

S O R IE N T AL S E R I E S .

Post 8vo, pp . x .

— I 3o , c lot h , pr i ce 68 .A MAN U AL OF HIN DU PANTHEISM. VE DAN T ASAR A .

Tran slated , w i t h c op i ou s Ann otat i on s , by MAJOR G . A . JACOB ,

B ombay Staff C orps In spe ctor of Army Sc h o ols .T h e d es ign o f t h i s l ittle work i s t o prov ide for m iss i onar i e s

,an d for

ot h ers who , l ike t h em ,h ave l ittle le isu re for original re searc h

,an ac cu rat e

summary o f t h e doeti ines o f t h e Vedan ta .T h ere can be no q uesti on t h at t h e religiou s doctrines most widely h eld by t h epeople of India are m a in ly Pant h eisti c . An d of H indu Pan theism , at all events i n

its m ost m odern phases,i ts Vedan tasara presents the best summary . B ut t h en th is

work is a.mere summary : a skeleton , t h e dry bon es of wh ic h req u ire to be clothedw it h sk i n and bones

,an d to be an imated by vita l breat h before the ord inary reader

w i l l d iscern in it a l iving rea l i ty . Major Jacob , therefore , has W isely added to h istranslation of the Vedantasara cop ious notes f l cm the writings of well - known O rienta lscholars , i n wh ich he has , we th i nk , eluc idated all t h at req u ired elucidati on . S o

that the work,as h ere presented to us

,presents no diffi cu lties w h ic h a very moderate

am oun t of appli cation w i l l not overcome . — T ablet.

T he m odest t itle of Major Jacob ’ s work conveys but an inadequate idea of t h evast am ount of researc h embod ied in his n otes to the text of the Vedantasara . S o

copious,i ndeed , are these , and so much collatera l matter do t h ey bring to bear on

the subj ect, t h a t the d i l igen t s tudent W i l l ri se from t h ei r perusa l W i th a. fa irlyadequate v iew of H indu p h i losop h y genera lly . H is work is one of t h e best ofits kind t h at we have seen .

— Ca lcu tta. R evi ew.

Post 8vo , pp . x ii — 154 , clot h , pr i c e 78 . 6d .

TSUNI— IIGOAMT H E SUPRE ME BE ING or T H E KHO I -KHO I .

B Y THE OPH ILUS HAHN,Ph.D . ,

Custod ian of the Grey Co l le ct i on , Cape Town ; C orre spond in g M embe ro f t h e Geogr. Soc ie ty , Dre sden Corre spond ing Membe r of t h e

An t h ropo logical So c i e ty , Vienna , &c .,&c .

T he first in sta lm en t of Dr Ha h n ’ s labours W i l l be of interest,n ot at t h e Cape

only,but i n every U nivers ity of E urope . It Is , i n fact , a m ost va luable contribution

to the comparat ive study of rel igion and m yt h ology. Accoun ts of the ir i eligi on an d

mythology were scattered about in various books ; these have been carefu lly collected by Dr. Ha h n and pr in ted in his secon d c h apter, en riched and improved bywhat h e h as been able to collect h im self . ”— P rof. Mar Muller m the N in eteen th

Cen tum“D ixJHa h n ’

s book is t h at of a tman who is bot h a p h i l ologist and bel iever inp h ilolog ical met h ods, and a close studen t of savage manners and custom s . —S a tu rday R evi ew.

“ It is fu ll of good th ings . — S t. James’

s Gazette.

I n Fou r Vol ume s . Post 8 vc , Vo l . I . , pp . x i i . — 392 , cl ot h , pri ce 12s . 6d. ,

Vo l . II. ,pp . v i .— 4o 8 , c lot h , pr i ce 1zs . 6d .

,Vo l . III . , pp . vi ii — 4 14 ,

c lo t h,pr i ce 1zs . 6d .

A COMPREHENSIVE COMMENTARY TO THE QURAN .

T o WHICH Is PRE FIXE D S ALE ’

s PRE LIMINARY D I S COURS E,W IT H

ADD IT IONAL N OT E S AN D E ME NDAT ION S .

Toge t h er with a Comple te Index t o the Tex t , Pre l im i naryD isc ou rse

,and N ote s .

B y Rev . E . M . W H E R R Y , M .A. ,Lodiana .

As Mr. W herry ’ s book is in tended for m issmn aries in India,it is no doubt “ell

t h at they shou ld be prepared to m eet , i f they can , the ord i na i y argum en ts an d ii i te ipretation s , and for t h is pm pose Mr. Wheri y

'

s additions w il l prove usefu l .Itemew

L'

I>'

IE A'

T A L S /f/t‘[ E S

Post B vo , pp. v i . - 208,clo t h

,pr i ce 85 . 6d .

T HE B HAGAVAD- GITA.

Translated ,wi t h I nt rodu ct i on and Note s

h‘ JOHN DAVI E S , M .A . (Can tab . )

l e t us add t h at his tia nsla tio n of the Ilhagavad G i ta is , as we judge,t h e best

t h a t ha s a ! ) c l appea l ed in E ngl ish , and t h a t h i s Ph i l ologica l N otes are of qu itepecu l iar —1) ublcIt

Pos t 8 vo , pp. 96, clot h , pri ce 55 .

THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM .

Translat ed hy 1-3. H . \VHIN FIE LD , M .A. ,

Ba rriste r- a t - Law, la te Benga l C iv i l Se rv i ce .

Post 8vo , pp . xxx i i . — 336, clo t h , pri c e 108 . 6d.

THE QUA TRA IN S O F OMA R KHA YYAM.

T h e Pe rs ian Text , w it h an E ngl is h Ve rse Translat i on .

Ilv Ii. II . lat e o f t h e Bengal C iv i l Se rv i ce .Mr Whinfic ld has executed a d i ffi cu lt task w it h considerable success

,and h is

con ta ins muc h t h a t wi l l be new t o t hose who only know Mr. Fitzgera ld 'sde l ig h t fu l selec t ion — Aa uh my .

'

l'

h re a re sever al ed itions of the Quatra in s, va ry ing greatly in thei r readings .Mr. “W infiel dhe u ~ed t h ree of t hese for h is excellent t ra nslat ion . T he most p i olntuen t te nu res in the Q ua tra ins are t heir profound agn osti c i sm , combin ed w it h ah ia llh lu lu w d mor e on ph i losoph ic t han rel ig ion s grounds, thei r E picurean ism and

t h e spi ri t of um rer~ l l t olerance and ( II irity w h ich an imates t h em .—Ca lcu t ta It’ ericw.

I‘ost 8vo,pp . xx iv . 268

,clo t h

,pri ce gs .

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISHADS ANDANCIENT INDIAN METAPHYSICS.

\s e xhihiteui in a se rie s o f Art ic le s c on t ribu ted to t h e Ca lcutta R cricw.

I ly AliC lllllALI) CO U CH,M .A .

,L i n co ln Co llege

,Oxford ;

Pri nc ipal o f t h e Ca lcutta Madrasa .l'

u r pnrpm e s t h is IR perhaps t he mos t. importan t of the work s t ha t ha vet ha n i n up; « a n a m T i nt n er's O n en tal S eries ’ We cannot doub t tha t. fo l a lla n." ma y l .-l. e l l up t he “01k m u s . he u llc oi pro found in teres t . R en ew.

I n T W O Volume s . Vol I post 8vo . pp . E vi ta— 230, cl ot h , pr i ce 78 . 6d .

A COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN ANDMESOPOTAMIAN RELIGIONS .

llv 1m. (2. l ’ . TI E L E .

Vol . I . o r ru n: lim'

r'

rn x R E LIG ION .

T l rt h hld ll d (m in t h e Dut c h wi t h the Ass istance of t h e Au t h or.

B y-:s

I t | l |u h a nd ~ n ! t h e llng hsh readers a h i s t ory of E gyptian R elig ionsum. in i n h l ‘ -n . | 1 “hu h In lvo ed on the heat materia ls , and wh i c h ha s beenil m u d i d 1; H a m ‘

o i M lll h u ! i u -wm -h In t h is Volume there In a great dea l O f

"0 J I W IN " " l ' ihU fllun . fo r the trus tW Orthi nes s of w h ic hI" . 1 h " " W “ fl a nd t h e descripti on of the success i ve"mt!“u" "" d ‘ "J " 1" i ln ‘ Midd le Kingdom ,

a nd the N ew Ki llg'lo ri l , l sIn n in a m cm 4 v hlc h l hu lrn h n un“m ung ,

T I? U B N E R'

S O R I E IVT AL S E R I E S .

Post 8vo,pp . x n .

—302 , c lot h , pri ce 8s . 6d.

YUSUP AND ZULAIKHA .

A POE M B YJAMI .Tran slat ed from the Pers i an i n t o E ngl is h Ve rse .

BY RALPH T . H . GRIFFITH .

Mr. G riffith , who has don e a lready good service as tran slator into verse from theS an skrit , has don e further good work i n th i s trans lat ion from the Persian

,and he

has ev iden t ly shown n ot a l ittle ski l l in h is rendering the q ua in t and very orien ta lstyle of h is author into our m ore prosa ic , less figurative , language . T he w ork

,

besides its i ntrin s ic m erits , is of importance as bein g on e of the m ost popu lar an dfamous poem s of Pers ia , and that wh ic h i s read in all t h e independent native schoolsof India where Pers ian is taug h t. — S cotsman .

Po st 8vo, pp . v i i i .— 266,clot h , pr ic e 93 .

LINGU IS T IC ESSAYS .

B Y CARL ABE L .

All these essays of Dr. Abel ’ s are so t h oughtful , so ful l of h appy il lustrat i on s ,and so adm irably put together, that we hard ly know to wh i ch we s h ou ld S pecia l lyturn to select for our readers a sample of h is workmansh ip .

—T a blet.

An entirely n ovel m e t h od of dea l in g w it h ph i losoph ica l q uesti on s an d impart areal human interest to the otherwise dry techn ica l it ies of the science . ”—S tanda rd .

Dr. Abel is an opponen t from w h om it is p leasan t to diff er, for he wri tes w it henthus iasm an d temper , and h is mastery over the E ngl ish lan guage fits him to be achamp ion of unpopu lar doctrin es . "—Athenwum.

“Dr. Abel wr ites very good E n g l ish , and much o f h is book w i l l prove entertain ingto the gen era l reader. It m ay g ive some usefu l h in ts , and suggest som e subj ects forprofitab le investigation, even to ph i lologists . —N a tion (N ew Yark).

Post 8vo,pp. ix .

— 28 I,c l ot h

,pr i c e 108 . 6d.

THE SARVA DARSANA SAMGR AHAO R

, RE VI E W OF T H E DIFF E RE NT SYSTE MS OF H INDUPH ILOSOPHY.

BY MADHAVA ACHARYA .

Tran slated by E . B . COWE LL,M . A .

,Profe ssor o f San skr it in t h e Un ivers i ty

of Cambridge,and A . E . GOUGH, M .A .

,Professor of P h i losop h y

i n t h e Pres idency Col lege,Calcutta.

T h is work is an i ntere s t in g spe cime n of Hindu cr i t i cal ab il ity . T h eaut h or su c cess ively passe s i n rev i ew t h e s ixteen p h i los op h i cal systemscu rren t i n t h e fou rte en t h century in t h e S outh of I nd ia ; and h e give s w h atappears t o him to be t h e i r m ost important tenet s .

T he tran slation is trustwort h y through out . A protracted soj ourn in India ,where t h ere is a l iving tradit ion

,h as fam i liarised t a e tran s lator-s w i t h Indian

t h ought .

” —Atilenwum.

Post 8vo , pp . lxv .

—368 , clo t h , pr i c e 14 8 .

TIB ETAN TALES DERIVED FROM INDIAN SOURCES .

Tran sl at ed from t h e T ibetan of t h e KAH - GYUR.

B Y F . ANTON VON S CHIE FN E R .

Done i nt o E ngl is h from t h e German , wi th an In trodu ct i on ,B Y W . R . S . RALSTON , M .A .

Mr. R a lston , whose name is so fam i l iar to all lovers of R ussian folk - lore,has

supplied some i nteresting Western an al og ies and pa ral lels, drawn , for the I nO S L part ,from S lavon i c sources , to the E astern folk - ta les , cu l led from the Kahgyur, one of thediv ision s of the T ibetan sacred books . "—Aca demy .

T he translation cou ld scarcely have fa llen into better h ands . An In troduction gives the leading facts in the l i ves Of those sc h olars who have g iven thei ratten tion to ga in ing a kn ow ledge of the T ibetan l iterature an d language . — Ca lcu t taR eview.

Ought to in terest al l who care forthe E ast, for amus ing stories, or for comparativefolk - lore . —Pa ll Ma ll Ga zet te.

T R O R IE N T AL S E R I E S .

Po s t S vo,pp. xvi . —224 , c lo t h , pri c e 98 .

U DAN A VA R G AA COLt scriox or Vs iis s s rnon run BUDDHIS T CANON .

C ompi led by DHAR MA'

I‘R AT A.

B E ING T ill-2 NORTHE R N B U DDH IS'

I‘ VE RS ION or DHAMMAPAD A .

Translated from t h e Tibe tan o f E ke h -hgyur, w i t h Note s , andE x t rac t s from t h e Commen tary o f Pradjnavarman ,

ly “L \VOODVILLE ROCKH ILL.

.\lr. lto clt inll

'

s presen t work is the first from wh ic h a ssistance wi l l be ga ined{or n mo re a ccura t e unders tand ing o f the Pa l i tex t ; it is ,

in fact. as yet t he on lyte rm o f comparison ava i lable to us . T he ‘U danam rga ,

’ the T h ibeta n vers ion ,was

o rig inally d iscovere dby me l a te M. S chiet'

ner, who pub lished the T ibetan tex t , andhad in tended adding a trans la t ion , an intention frustrated by h is death , but w h ic hha s been ca rried ou t by 31r. R ockh i ll . Mr. R ock h i l l m ay be congratu la ted forhaving wel l accomp lished a difficu lt task .

—S a turday R eview.

I n T wo Volume s , post 8 ve . pp . x x iv.

—566, c lot h , ac compan ied by a

Language Map,pr i ce 255 .

A SKETCH OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE S OF AFRICA.

B r ROB E RT N E E DHAM CUST,B arris te r - at ~Law,

and late o f He r Maje sty 's In d ian C iv il Service ..\n

,v one a t all interes ted in African languages cannot do better t ha n get Mr.

Cus t’

s book . I t is encyclop ed ic in its scope , and t h e reader gets a start clear awayin any pa rt icula r langu age. and is left free to add to t h e in itia l sum of kn owledget here Col lec ted .

- A‘

u tul Mu cury .

Slr Cn st has con t ri ved t o produce a work of value to l ingu ist ic students .N a ture.

Post 8vo,pp. x i i .—3 t e , wit h Maps and Plan , c lot h , pri ce 143 .

A HISTORY OF B URMA.

Includ i ng Bu rma Prope r , Pegu , Taungu , Tenasserim , and Arakan . Fromt h e E a rl i e s t T ime t o t h e E nd o f t h e F i rst “far w i t h Br i t is h Ind ia.

R r Li izrr. S in ARTHUR P . PHAYR E , and C. B . ,

Me i iibre Corre spondan t de la S octété Académiq u e Indo - C h i n o isede France .

S ir Art h ur l’ hnyrc ’

s con tribu tion t o T rlihner’

s Orienta l S eries suppl ies a recogn ised wan t , and its appea rance has been looked forward to for many yearsG eneral l’ lmyrc tlc - crves grea t c red i t for the patience and industry w h ic h has resultedin t h is lliut my o f B urma — S a t «m lny R eview.

T h i rd E d it i on . l ’ ost 8vc , pp . 276, c l o t h , pri ce 78 . 6d .

R E L I G I O N I N C H I N A.

B y JOS E PH E DKINS,D .D . ,

Prams .

Co nta i n in g I B ri t - f Acc ou n t o f the T h ree Rel igion s of t h e C h i ne s e,w i t h

( llmt‘fl ill iu llu on the Prospect s of C h ri st ian Conve rs i o n amongst t h atPeopl e .lir. I: llam a hm lm -

n mo s t care ful in noti ng the varied and often compl ex p h aseso f opin ion . on m t o iti a n accoun t of considerable va lu e of the sulijcct.

"- S co tsma n .

A! u nun- in na rv. it h is l) "0ll part o f U r Iidkins' duty to study t h e ex ist ing

religion! in 1.1mm an dh i " long residence in t h e country has enabled him to acq u irean in t ima te kll'WVi' Ix" o f t h em a s t hey a t iresc i it ex ist .

—S alurcla y R eview.

ltr. E ‘ikllll'

\ .ol-i .i lilv “cu lt . of wh ic h t ii! is it second and revised edit ion, has .fr om the t ime tha t it wa n

pi i i i iln liw l, been the standa rd aut h ority upon the subjecti t, w h ic h ll

h um" m ay ""W "0 fa i rly a h among the first aut h orities on(”bin be i e lig io n un tl l oin -nag "

. [hut -uh pum p ,”Itu 'ii w,

T R (JAN E /ens O R I E N T AL S E R I E S .

T hird E di tion . Pos t 8vo , pp. xv .

- 250, c lo th, price 7s . 6d .

OU T LIN E S OF T HE HIS T OR Y OF R E LIG ION T O T HES PR E AD OF T HE U N IVE R S AL R E LIGION S .

B Y 0. P . T I E LE .

D o ctor of T heology , P rofesso r of the H istory of R e ligion s in theUn iversity of Leyden .

T ran slated from the D utch by J. E S T LIN CAR PE N T E R , M.A .

Few books of its size con tain the resul t of so much wide thinking , able and laborious s tudy, or enab le the reader to gain a bet ter bird ’ s - eye VleW of the la tes t resul t sof inves tiga tions in to the religious his tory of na t ions . As Professor T i ele modes t lysays , In this li t tle book are outlines—pencil ske tches , I m ight say—no thing more .

’

B ut there are some men whose sketches from a thumb - nai l are of far more wor ththan an enormous canvas covered wi th the crude pain ting of o thers

,and it is ea sy to

see tha t these pages, ful l of informa tion , these sen tences , cu t and perhaps a l so dry ,shor t and c lear, condense the frui ts of long an d thorough research .— S cotsma n .

Post 8vo, pp. x .

—274 , c loth , price gs .

T HE LIFE OF T HE B U DDHA AN D T HE E AR LYHI S T OR Y OF HIS OR DE R .

D erived from T ibe tan W ork s in the B kah - hgyur and E stan -hgyur.

Followed by no tices on the E a r ly H is tory of T ibet an d Khoten .

T ran s lated by“7. W . R OCKH ILL, S econd S ecreta ry U . S . Lega tion in Ch ina .

‘T he volume bears tes tim ony to the dil igence and fuln ess wi th which the authorhas consul ted an d tested the ancien t documen ts bearing upon his remarkab le sub‘

ect .

”- s e3 .J

“ W il l b e apprecia ted by those who devo te them selves to those B uddhis t s tud ieswhich have of la te years taken in these W es tern region s so rem arkab le a developmen t . Its ma t ter possesses a specia l in teres t as being derived from ancien t T ibe tanworks, some port ions of which , here analysed and t ransla ted

,have n ot yet a t trac ted

the a t ten t ion of scholars . T he volume is rich in ancien t s tories bearing upon thewor ld ’ s renova tion and the or igin of cas tes, as recorded in these venerable autho

rities .—D(l, zly N ews.

T hird E dition . Pos t 8vo , pp. viii -

464 , c loth , price 163 .

T H E S A N K H Y A A P H O R I S M S O F K A P I LA ,

lVith I llus t ra tive E xtracts from the Commenta ries .T ranslated by J. R . BALLAN T YN E , LL.D .

,late Pr incipal of the Benares

Co l lege.

E dited by FIT ZE D NVAR D HALL.

T he work displays a vas t expendi ture of labour an d scholarship, for whichs tuden ts of Hi ndoo ph i losophy have every reason to b e gra teful to D r. Ha ll and thepub lishers . ~ Ca lcu tta R emew.

I n T wo Volumes , post 8vo, pp. cviii. —24 2 , and viii.—37o , cloth , price a4 s .

D edicated by permission to H . R H . the P rince of W a les.B U DDHIS T R E COR DS OF T HE W E S T E R N WOR LD,

T ran slated from the Chinese of H iuen T siang (A. D .

B Y S AMUE L B E AL, B .A.,

(T rin . Co ll. , Camb. ) R . N . (R e tired Chaplain and N . I . ) Professor of Chinese,University College, London R ec to r of k

, N orthumberland , &c .

An em inent Indian authority wr i tes respec t ing th is work N o thingmore can be done in e l uc idating the H istory of India until Mr. Bea l ’s t ran sl a tion o f the S i- yu

-ki’appea rs .

It is a s trange freak of historica l preserva tion tha t the bes t accoun t o f the con

d i t ion of Ind ia at tha t ancien t period has com e down to us i n the books of t rave lwri t ten by the Chinese pi lgrim s, of whom Hwen T hsan g i s the bes t known .

- T imes .

We are compe l led at this stage to close our brief and inadequa te notice o f a bookfor ea sy to which Omen tali sts W i l l be deeply gra teful to the ab le t rans la tor. "t erary World .

T R U liA'

IS /C'

S O R IE N T AL S E R I E S .

Pos t 8ve , pp. x lviii .—398 , c loth , price i z s .

T HE OR DIN AN CE S OP MAN U .

T ra nsla t ed from the S anskri t , wi th an In troduc t ion .

By the la te A . C . BUR N E LL,Ph.D . , C .I . E .

Comple ted and E dited by E . \V. HO PK IN S , Ph.D . ,

of Co l umbia Co l lege , N .Y .

T his work is ful l o f in te res t while fo r the s tudent o f socio logy and the scienceo f r e l ig io n it ie ful l o f i inlm rta nec . It is a grea t boon to get so no tab le a work in so

we; “ mic i fn l’ lll , adm iia hly edited . and compe ten t ly t ransla ted .

"—S cotsma n .

Fuw men were mo re c ompet en t ih in B urnel l to g ive us a rea l ly good transla tiono f this we l l -known law ho o k. first rendered in to E ngl ish by S i r W i lliam Jones .llnrne ll was n o t on ly an indep

'n ten t S anskrit scho lar , but an experienced lawyer ,a nd he jo ine d to these two impo rtan t qua l ifica tion s the ra re facul ty of being able toox linns s in" tho ughts in cle ir and t renchan t E ngl ish . W e ough t to fee l verygn u-ml Dr Ho pk ins fo r having g iven us all tha t could be pub l ished of the transl at io n le ft hv l:urnell.

"—F. Max MU LLE R in the Academy .

Pos t 8vo , pp. JU L - 234 , c lo th , pi ice 9s .

T HE LIFE AN D W ORKS or ALE XAN DE R

CS OMA DE KOR OS ,B e tween and i 84 a . I Vith a S hort N o tice of all his Publ ished and U n

pub l ished and E ssay s . From O riginal and for most par t U n

publ ished Documen t s .B y T H E ODO R E DUKA, M.D . , (E ng ), S u rgeon -Major

Benga l Medica l S e rvice, R e tired ,N o t to o soon have Messrs . T i i‘i bner added to their valuab le O rien tal S eries a

hiulu l'y of the l ife an d of one of the mos t gi fted and devo ted of O rien ta ls tuden t s , Alexander t ‘

so ina de Koros . It is for ty- three years S ince his dea th, andthough an accoun t o f his career was dem anded soon a f ter his decease

,it has on ly

now appe ared in we impo rtan t memoir of his compa trio t , Dr. Duka.

”—B ookseller.

In T wo Volumes, pos t 8vo , pp. cloth , price

MI S C E LLA N E O U S E S S AY SO N S U B JE CT S CON N E CT E D W IT H T HE

MALAY PE N IN S U LA AN D T HE IN DIAN AR CHIPE LAGO.

R eprin ted from Dalry inple’

s O rienta l R eperto ry ,” “Asiatick R esea rches ,and the

“Jou rnal of the Asmtic S ocie ty of Benga l .

l'o s t 8vo

, pp. x ii. -

72 , c l o th , price 53 .

T H E S A T A K A S O P B HA R T R I HA R I.

T ransl a ted from the S anskritIiv the Iii-zv. B . HALE

llector of E ggesfo rd , N o r th D evon .

lihart i iha i i is lwlic ved to have l ive d in the firs t or second cen tu ry A. D

”a u c i‘lt'li l ulv tl po e t a nd gra inn ia ria i i , and is bes t known by his th reeS e tukau. or t e ntnrio s o f Ve rse s i .

“T he S riiigara S ataka .

”2

“T he

N it ! S a tulm . Vin in gya S a tuka .

”

( o, 57 A N D 59 LU DGAT E HILL.

i o n —7 l " u .\l .

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MIS CE LLAN E OU S PAPE R S

R E LAT I N G T O

I N D O - C H I N A .

R E PR IN T E D FO R T H E S T R AIT S BR AN CH OF T H E

R OYAL AS IAT IC S OCI E T Y

FR OM DALR YMPLE ’

S OR IE N T AL R E P E R T OR Y,

’

A N D

A S IA T IC R E S E A R CH E S A N D “70U R N AL OF T H E

A S IA T IC S OCIE T Y OF B E N GAL .

VOL I .

LO N D O N

T R U B N E R co .,L U D GA T E H ILL .

1886.

[AI! rig/115 reservmfl

P R E FA C E .

T H E impetus given to research of al l k ind s in the comparat ively

l i t tl e—known S tate s of the Malay Peninsula, which was one of the

results of the active pol icy adopt ed on the Wes t Coas t by th e

Colonial Government of the S tra i ts S ettl ements in 1874—5, l ed i n

1877 to the formation in S ingapore of a S ocie ty having for i ts

obj ect the collect ion and record of scient ific informat ion in th e

Malay Pen insula and Archipelago .

T he R oyal Asiat ic S ocie ty having agreed to the affiliat ion of

the new ins ti tut ion,i t has been s tyl ed

“ T he S tra i ts Branch of the

R oyal Asiatic S ociety . Papers communicated to the S ociety are

printed in i ts hal f- yearly j ournal , which now fi l l s the place occu

pied from 184 7 to 1856 by the late Mr . J . R . Logan ’ s “J ournal

of the Indian Archipelago .

T he importance o f placing wi thin th e reach of local s tudents

(often wi thout acces s to l ibrar i es) a knowledge of what has been

communicated to the -Journal s of learned S ocietie s i n pas t years

upon subj ects having reference to the Malay Archipelago, has

i nduced the Counci l of th e S ociety (the l i terature i n quest ion

being of manageab l e bulk) to reprin t a series of papers, collected

from variou s sources,rela ting to the S trai t s S ettlements and

E astern Archipelago .

T he subj ect i s referred to in the Annual R eport of the Counci l

for 1883 , as follows

5d 6 9 9 ZGeogto e

‘ew

v i PR E FACE .

“ It has been proposed tha t the Counci l shal l undertake the

republ icat ion of a select ion of papers relat ing to the E astern

Archipelago from the J ournal s of the R oyal As iat ic S ociety, the

As ia tic S ociety of Bengal , the Madras Li terary S ociety, &c . &c .

Many papers scattered through the volumes of the Proceedings

of thes e and other S ociet ies are of great loca l i nteres t . Marsden ,

R afiies, Leyden , Crawfurd and Low, contributed to Asiatic R e

searches N ewbold’

s papers on th e Malay S tates , and Cantor’ s

Catalogues of Malayan An imal s , R eptiles , and I‘lS llCS , are to be

found in the ‘Journal of the Asiat ic S ocie ty of Bengal a Journey

of Logan ’ s through part of the Penin sula i s printed in the ‘Journal

o f the R oyal G eographical S oc iety.

’T hese and many other

papers,i f collected and repub li shed , will , i t i s bel i eved , he eagerly

read by residents i n the S tra i t s of Malacca, who would never have

the Opportun i ty of consul ting th e fi les of the J ournal s i n which

they originally appeared . T he permiss ion of the Asiatic S ocie ty

of Bengal has been asked for the republ ication of papers contained

i n thei r J ournal ; and Messrs . T riibiier Co . will undertake the

production of two volumes,t o begin with .

In the following year the scheme had taken definite shape,and

the Council for 1884 reported that“ '

I‘

he consen t of the As iat i c S ociety of Bengal having been

received to the republ icat ion of papers relating to Indo - China

which have appeared in thei r J ournal s,th e firs t series of selections

will consist of papers extracted from As iat ic R esearches ’and

the ‘J ournal of the Asiat ic S ociety of Bengal . ’ T hese will pro

bably be preceded by.

a few pap ers orig ina l ly publ i shed in Dal

rymple'

s O rienta l R epertory .

’

T he Council have been fortunate

enough to secure the co - Opei'

ation of Dr. R einhold R ost , Libra

rian of the India O ffice , who has consented to edi t the reprinted

papers in London . It i s h oped that two volumes wil l be brought

out during 1885, and i t wi l l then res t wi th the S ociety whether or

PR E F/ICE .

not to extend the scheme and continue to i ssue, from time t o

t ime , as funds may al low, further volumes of sel ected papers

relating to the Far E as t .

A first in stalmen t, consisting of essays extracted from Dalrymple’

s

O riental R epertory ,”

Asia tic R esearches and the “Journal ofthe Asiatic S ociety of Bengal , i s now pres ented to the publ ic . T he

reprinted essays have been carefully edi ted by Dr. R einhold

R ost of the India O ffice , who has added some useful references

to modern l i t erature,giving fresh value to papers some of which

woul d otherwise have l i ttl e beyond ant iquarian interest .

W . E . MAXW E LL,

Honorary rem/y .

S I N GAPO R E . S epz. 1885.

T he R eader is reques ted to no te the fo llowing (01 173511114

p. 26, N o te, for Articles I . and I I . rem! Ar t icles I I . and I I I .

p. 105, N o te, for which is O ldJavanese read wh ich in O ldJavanese .

p. 108 , N o te,1. 6, for the fo rmer rma

’the la t ter.

p. 52 5, l . 7 from bo t tom, fo1 12111163. 176.

p. 257 l. 8 from bo t tom /01 li yreen read Kareen .

p. 255, l . 4 from bo t tom, f w new fields 164 1! rice fields .p. 266

, l. 20 from bo t tom, f or Kahan M arr’ Kahan H ill .

p. 267, l. 16 from bottom, j br selix read silex .

p. 270, l . 17 from I- ’al<chon read Pakchan .p. 293, l. 17 from bottom ,far samples rurm’ sample.

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E D I T OR IAL ZVO T E .

E ncyclopzedia Britannica would have recei ved a larger share of

attention . as a higher than a mere his torica l in teres t s ti l l a t taches

to i t,though eigh ty years have elapsed since i t was written . T ha t

paper, the outcome of ma terial s col lected in hi s travel s (1804—6)but a few years after h i s arriva l in India , certa inly shews throughout ,

tha t i n tha t early s tage his orienta l erudi t ion was more var ied than

accurate,while

,on the o ther hand , i t bears such marks of hi s l in

guistic geniu s as to j ust ify the inference tha t , had he not been

ca i ried o ff in the prime of hi s l ife, after a residence of barely eigh t

years in India , he would have contributed more to advance the

scient ific study of the languages of S . E . Asia than has been done

during the fi fty years after h i s early dea th in I 8 rr. His collee

tanea , now in the Brit ish Museum— transla tions , vocabularies , out

l ines o f gramm ar s, pli ilological disqui si tion s— bear sufficiently

ample tes t imony to hi s love of l ingu ist ic research,his indefatig

able i ndustry, and hi s apti tude for the compara tive s tudy of

language as a science,to wa rran t the assertion .

T o Maj or- G enera l G . B . T remenheere,the edi tor acknowledges

h is grea t obl iga tion s no t only for hi s courtesy in po inting ou t a

number of erra ta which had passed from h is origina l papers into

the present reprint , but more especia l ly for the va luable addi tiona l

note which , as the printing of the second volume was al ready far

advanced when i t was received,has been placed as Paper XL. at

the end of the work .

R . R osr .

Lo x rm x , N ov . 30,1885.

V I I I .

X I I I .

X IV .

XX I .

CO N T E N T S O E VOL. I.

S ome Accoun t o f Quedah . By M ichael T opping, E sq .

R epO i t m ade to the Ch ief and Council of B alambangan ,by Lieu t . J ames Ba r ton

,o f his severa l S u rveys

S ubs tance of a Le t ter to the Cour t o f D irec to rs from Mr .J ohn Jesse

,da ted July 20

,1775, at Bo rneo Proper

Forma t ion o f the E s tab l ishmen t of Poolo Peena iigT he G o ld of Limong. By Mr. Macdona ldOn thi ee N a tural Produc t ions of S uma tra . By the same

O n the T ra ces of the H indu Language and Li tera tu reex tan t amongs t the Ma lays . By W i l l iam Marsden , E s q .

S ome Accoun t of the E la s tic Gum V ine of Prince -VVales

I sland . By J ames Howison , E sq .

A Bo tan ical D escript ion of U i ceola E la s t ica , orCaoutchoucV ine of S uma t ra and Pulo - P inang . By W ill iam R ox

burgh , M . D

An Accoun t of the Inhabi tan t s of the Poggy, or N a ssauIslands

,lying off S uma tra . By John C ri sp, E sq .

R emark s on the S pecies o f Pepper wh ich are found on

Prin ce -W a les I sland . By W il l iam H un ter , E sq . ,M .D .

O n the Languages and Li tera t ure of the Indo - Ch ineseN a t ions . By J . Leyden , M . D .

S ome Accoun t o f an O rang O u tang of rema rkab le heigh tfound on the I sland of S uma tra . By C lai lt e Abel , M D .

Obse iva tions on the Geo logical Appea rance s and G eneralFea tures o f Po rt ions of the Ma layan Pen in su la . ByCapta in James Low

S ho r t S ketch of the Geology o f Pulo P inang and the

neighbou ring I s lands . By T . W a rd , E sq .

Cliii a te of S ingapo reI nscr ipt ion on the J e t ty a t S ingaporeE x tra c t o f a Le t ter from Col. J . Low

I nsc r ipt ion at S ingapo reA 11 Accoun t of S evera l In sc ript ion s found in P rovinceW e l lesley . By Lieut . - Col J ames Low

N o te on the In sc ript ion s from S ingapo re and P rovinceVVellesley. By J . W . Laidlay

PAG E

50—55

61—66

76—83

84—171

172—78

179- 201

222—23

223—26

227—32

X X I I . On an I nscript ion from Keddah . By Lieut . - Col. Low

XX I I I . A N o t ice of the Alphabet s o f the Ph ilippine I slandsXX IV . S u cc inc t R eview of the O bserva t ion s of the T ides in the

I ndian A rch ipelago 236- 50

R epor t on the T in of the P rovince of Mergui . By Capt .G . B . T remenheere 251

—56

XXV I . R epo rt on the Manganese of the Mergui P rovince. Bythe same

XXV I I . Parao raphs to be added to Capt . G . B . T remenheere’

s

R epo r tXXV I I I . S econd R epo r t on the T in of Mergu i . By the sameXX IX . Analysis of I ron O res from T avoy and Mergu i, and of

Limes tone from Mergui . By D r. A. U re 272 - 75R epo rt of a V isi t to the Pak chan R iver, and of some T in

Lo ca l it ies in the S ou the rn Port ion of the T enas serimP rov inces . By Capt . G . B . T remenheere 275

—84XXX I . R epo r t on a R oute from the Mouth of the Pakchan to

K rau , and thence ac ross the I sthmus o f K rau to the

G ulf of S iam. By Capt . Al. F raser and Capt . J . G .

Fo rlongX XX I I . R epo rt , &c .

,from Capt . G . B . T remenheere, on the Price

ofMergu i T in O re 298—301

XXX I I I . R ema rks on the differen t S pecies of O rang- utan . By E .

Bly th , E sq .

XXX IV . Fur ther R emarks . By the same

LI S T OF ILLU S T R AT IO N S IN VOL. I.

Inscript ion on a R ock at S ingapo reI n script ion found in Province VVellesleyl’ la te I ll.

Pla te IV.

I nscript ion found a t Keddahl’ late o f Philippine Alphabe t sT he Plan of the Kahaii HillT he S ketch of R oute ac ross the I s thmus

MIS C E LLA N E O U S E S S AYS .

SOME ACCO U NT O F Q U EDAH

(Prmzowzced KU DDAH).

B y M ICHAE L T OPP I N G,E sq ,

Miefly from l/ze z'

1zfor11zafz'

o1z ofFR AN CI S LIGHT , E sq ,

C/zz'

ef of P rince of Wales Island,

or P ° P immg.

[A. DALR YMPLE ’

S“O riental R epertory , London

,1808. Vol. i. pp. 399

-

402 ]

T H E country of Quedah extends from T rang,i n lat. 7

°

30’N .

,to

Crean,i n lat . 5

°

18'

5 i n length about I 50 miles , i n breadth from20 to 35 miles ; but the cult ivated lands nowhere exceed20 miles from the seashore . From T rang to Purlis the sea

coas t i s shel tered by many islands , and a flat bank lies betweenthem and the ma in , navigable for sma l l vessel s only the dis tancebetween T rang and Purlis being about 24 leagues . T he sea

coas t i tself i s low and covered with wood . Inland are manymountains

,some of which as you approach Purlis proj ect in to

the sea . T he country abounds i n rice , ca ttle, and t imber . E levenrivers empty themselves into the sea, navigable for prows only,on accoun t of the shallows without , the principa l of which are

Lingoo and S ittoul,where those vessel s are bui l t . Purlis has a

deep narrow river, at the entrance of which is a smal l sandyisland

,on which stands a fishing village, which i s protected by a

few pieces of cannon . T he bar of the river i s very long , withonly ten feet water upon i t at spring tides . T he town i s s itua tedfour or five miles from thi s entrance, i n a va l ley of a mile and a

hal f i n circumference, encompassed with steep hills . T he oldking, i n h i s la tter days , chose thi s place for h is res idence, whichoccasioned many vessel s and people to resort here. S ince hisdeath i t has sunk into i t s former obscuri ty, notwi thstanding hebequeathed i t to his second son

,T oonka Mooda, who stil l resides

13

ACCO U N T OF Q U E D AH .

here . P00j il i s a small province of Paltany, bordering uponPurlis . T he i slands Lancavy, or Ladda , and T rocklon ,

llie wes t

of thi s port about five leagues . T he G reat Ladda i s inhabi tedby a race of Malays

,who are i n general thieves , and commit fre

quen t act s of piracy these i slands are dependen t on the Luxamana of Quedah

,who governs here absolutely they are mounta i n

ous,have l i ttle pa sture, and do not yield rice sufficient for the

i nhabitants . T here i s exceeding good anchorage- ground on the

eastern s ide of them,of suffi cient capaci ty for the largest fleet ,

wi th a plentiful supply of wood and water at hand . O n the S W .

s ide i s a smal l harbour of suffi cient depth , but i ts shores are coral .I n a former war the French refi tted and wasted here

,after an

engagement with (I bel ieve) Commodore Barnet . T he land fromPurlis to the mounta in Jerry (a coas t of twenty leagues i n extent)i s low and level towards the sea , covered with j ungle, which ex

tends between Purlis and Quedah one mile from the shore . T o

the southward of Quedah the woods grow much broader, and'

th ecountry i s s til l less cultiva ted . T he principal seaport

,cal l ed

Quedah by strangers,and Qual la B atrang by the na tives, l ies in

6 ? N . lat. T he river i s navigable for vessel s o f 300 tons, bu ti ts entrance i s choked up by a flat mud - bank two and a hal fm iles in length

,with only nine feet water i n spring tides : large

sh ips,lying in five and six fa thoms , are four miles from the river ’s

mouth . At the mouth of the r iver i s a smal l brick fortress,buil t

by a Gentoo , with a few smal l guns,i l l moun ted : the greater

part of the fort i s in ruins, so that the spring tides flow in to i t .T he river i s about 300 yards wide 5 both shores are muddy

,and

have swampy places , which are covered with j ungle . T his cont innes for three miles up the river . H al f a mile within the

j ungle the paddy grounds commence .

S even miles 011 the river, from the Qual la,i s Allestar

,where

the king res ides . All vessel s tha t pass the bar can go to Allestarthe river i s narrow

,but deep the country level

,but clear and

cult ivated , having a fine rich so il . A l i t tle above Allestar theground rises . the river becomes more rapid, and at length unfi tfor any kind of navigation , excep t tha t o f smal l prows the channel on the eastern side of the island is very narrow

,being no t

fifty feet across .T he king

’

s residence at Allestar i s i n a very smal l brick fort,

buil t by his merchant Jomall, about four years ago . T he inhabitants near h im are composed of Chuliers, Chinese, and Malays .T his place was plundered and burnt in 1770 by the B uggesses ,

a ided by some of the king ’ s own rela tions,s ince which i t has con

tinued i n a very poor sta te ; the only trade left i t i s with S angoon , Paltany being destroyed by the S iamese .

Limboon , on the bank of the river, i s abou t four miles from1[T his is ev iden tly meant for T rutao

S OME ACCO U N T OF Q U E D AH . 3

Allestar. T his town is inhab i ted chiefly by Chuliars . T he soi l i sexceedingly fertile (clay and sand), producing grea t abundance offrui t and vegetables . T he country rises in a gradua l ascent the

r iver i s very rapid,with shal lows and overfal ls

,so tha t prows can

only navigate i t . A very l it tle above Limboon the prospect opensi nto an extensive pla in

,on which are many miles of paddy grounds .

T he river i s here contracted into a very narrow channel , being insome places not more than ten feet across

,and i s besides so very

c rooked,and i ts current so rapid

,tha t only smal l l ight prows can

make their way up i t . D uring the ra iny season this pla in is overflowed, which grea t ly enriches i t .At the commencement of this pla in the king is enclosing a place

for the purpose of erecting a fort to defend his country aga ins t th eS iamese . On i ts eastern boundary the country i s covered withforests 3 some sma l l v i llages , with thei r cul t ivated lands, lyingsca ttered here and there.

T he next place of any note i s Apabookit, which is about s ixmiles S E . of Allestar, on a branch of the same river . T his placei s chiefly inhab ited by Chuliar families 3 the soi l i s more sandyand l ight than tha t of Limboon , but produces abundance of gra in .

Formerly the course of the river from Qual la B atrang to Allestarwas twelve miles in length , but the fa ther of the reigning princecut through a narrow i s thmus in order to shorten the distance five

miles , and by degrees the old channel fi lled up . T his work has ,however, been of singular disadvantage to the neighbourhood , asi t has lessened the quantity of fresh water in the country by givingi t an easier communica tion with the sea . S ea - wa ter is nowadmitted up to Allestar in the dry season 3 the bar at the river

’

s

mouth is l ikewise increa sed, not having a sufficient weight (orperhaps continuance) of current to carry off the mud . T he

inhabitants of Allestar are obliged to fetch fresh wa ter in boat sduring the months of March and April

,for though wel l—water i s

good , they do not i n general use i t . At the Qual la they are

supplied wi th fresh wa ter entirely by boa ts for eigh t months inthe year. In August

,S eptember, O ctober, and N ovember the

river i s fresh to i ts entrance at low wa ter .C lose to the fort runs a creek

,which communicates with the

r iver above Limboon . T his has been purposely s topped by an

artificia l mound . Were i t opened , vessel s might aga in water a tthe river’ s mouth in all seasons of the year.T he entire country of Quedah is exceedingly wel l - watered and

fertile . T wenty - three r ivers , all navigable for prows, and someof them for larger vessel s , empty themselves in to the sea betweenT rang and Creang. T he country to the southward of QuedahR iver

, as far as Qual la Mooda (about ten leagues), i s less cul tivated than that more northward . At E ang they have the bestfruit T he p rincipal na tives have gardens at this place, to which

B 2

4 R E P OR T MAD E T O TH E

they frequently resort (an excurs ion of six or seven l eagues) tofeas t on dorians and mangostins, which ripen here in the greates tp erfection .

Qual la Moorba i s a large river,deep and rapid . T he water i s

h ere always fresh to the sea . T he land is high and the banksandy . T he heavy surge which breaks upon thi s shore during thesouth -wes t monsoon has , by opposing the curren t from the river,formed a dangerous sandbank

,extending three miles ou t to sea ,

and on which there i s only one fa thom wa ter . T hi s bank reachesa lmost as far a s Qual la Mooda . Qual la Mooda i s a sha l low and

rapid river, but convenient on account of i t s communica tion wi ththe t in -mines . T he annua l produce here i s abou t a thousand

peculs . T his smal l quantity i s not, however, owing to th esca rci ty of ore

,but to the wan t of hands , and to the few people

employed being badly pa id . T he R i ver Prie l ies next to QuallaMooda and oppos ite Pinang . T hi s place produces a l i ttle tin ; i thas , however, very few inhabi tants, and those are of very susp iciouscharacter . Crean produces rattans and canes . T his i s th esouthern extremity of Quedah

,and hence begins Perak . G rea t

numbers of Paltany peopl e have emigra ted and come down toQual la Mooda (i t i s supposed nearly fifteen thousand). I f thes epeopl e settle there, they wil l greatly increa se the cul tiva tion and

benefi t Pinang . I t i s needless to add tha t th e King of Quedahhas been advised of the advantages he would experience by havingthe country opposite Pinang wel l cul tiva ted , the so i l of which isof the richest qual i ty .

l

R E PO R T MAD E T O T H E CH I E F A N D CO U N C ILOF B ALAMB AN GAN B Y L I E U T . JAME SB A R T O N

, OF H IS S E VE R AL S U R VE YS .

[A. DALR YMPIE S O rien tal R epertory, vol. ii. pp. 9

AG R E E AB LY to an order received from the S ecretary, cal l ing uponme for a narra t ive of my proceedings on the expedition

,from the

la s t period I transmi tted them to Bombay,which was from the

yea r 1769 to 1 772 ; bu t as you have l ikewise expressed a desi refor my opin ion of B alambangan ,

I begin from the period of my1[R eprin ted in the “Joum al o f the I ndian Arch ipelago, vol. iv. pp. 4 2

—44 .

S ee a lso Logan’ s N o tes

,

”111. vol. v . 53- 65 ]

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6

abl e of cul tivation,others are

a lmost perpendicularrocks . T he

i s thmus on the north i s l owland

,wi th a singl e woody hil l i n

the middle of i t ; the southernpart of the island i s considerablyinferior in al t i tude to tha t adj oin ing to the harbour th i s parto f the i sland

,lying a long the

harbours of S eempool and S eeKooamboo

,i s about a mile long ,

and hal f that i n breadth i tcon ta ins not only th e S eempool

R E P OR T JIAD E T O T H E

south - wes t as the h ill s at the

entrance of the harbour ; th ei s thmus to the northward i slow land . T he southern ex

tremity of the i sland is detachedfrom the hil l s at the entranceof the harbour by a sal t lagoonand a r iver wh ich i s at the

southern extremi ty, and to ap

pearance i t may be made inaccessibl e by an able engineer .

hill s , which are apparently the highest 011 the island,but al so four

s teep hill s,scarcely accessible, named B atopornpok ; a sl ip of low

land , from the head of Looc - S ee- Kooambo to Looc- Parang,sepa

rates it from the h ill s on the sou thern extremity of th e i sland,so

tha t i t appears , on a t ransient view, to be capab le of being made,by a proper disposition of works

,impregnab l e at a very smal l

expense.

”

“ T his part of th e i sland i sc lothed with lofty woods , and

i s extremely wel l watered a

copious stream,i n i t s descen t

from the foot of the S eempoolh ill s to the harbour

,form s

severa l pool s ; the water i s extremely fine and clear, and th efal l being qu ick

,i t might

,with

very l i ttle trouble and expense,be carried into the ships whichmay lie close t o the shore .

”

Vide p . 18,l ine 2 1 .

Vida p . 16,l ine 17.

T he middle d i stric t i s bymuch the most extensive ; i t i ss i tua ted between the two harbours , and

,except the top of

S eempool, is perhaps the highes tland on the i sland : the hill sare named Damper, they risewi th a gentle ascent from Looc

T hi s part of the i sland hasbetter water than any otherpar t , there being a clear and

good stream of water runningunder the rocks of the steephill s at th e entrance of th eharbour

,and several other s

which I have met with in the

higher lands . I t has l ikewisegood lofty t imber

,and a large

banyan tree which measure sfour fa thoms round ; thi s par ta l so yield s rock - s tones , and a

soft k ind of porou s stone whichmay be serviceabl e in buildingany works . I have l ikewise seenhogs

,deer

,and the print of the

feet of some large kind ofca ttle .

T he middle district i s si tua ted between the two harbours .I t i s nearly five miles each way,and appears as high as the steephil l s to the southward , but hasthe advan tage of rising witha gentle a scen t from the southharbour

, and descending in th e

CH IE F AN D CO U N CIL OF E ALAMB AN GAIV. 7

S ee - Kooamboo, and leave, towards the north harbour, an

extensive pla in,with two de

tached hillocks on i t the one

on the point wh ich forms thenOrth harbour

,and the o ther to

the westward , adj oining to the

opposite coas t of the i sland .

T his dis tr ict of B alambangan i sabout seven and a half miles i nextent

,and four broad i t seems

in genera l to be very woody,but i s probably the bes t part ofthe i sland

,as i t seems to be free

from those ragged hills , whichare found in the southern di strict

,and has the advantage

over the northern , i n the convenien t admixture of high andlow land .

”

same manner towards the north ,leaving a large pla in towardstha t harbour , with two smal lh i ll s near i t , the one on the

poin t which forms the southentrance, and the other to thenorth - westward

,which bounds

the opposi te coas t . T his part ofthe i sland i s certa inly the bes tland

,and has the advantage of

the south and north district,by

the agreeable mixture of the

gentle a scents and descents ofthe high lands . T his part of thei sland is plentifully watered ,with droves of deer and hogs ,a l so large t imber

,i t has l ike

wise another advantage,which

i s a r iver , or an arm of thesea

,whose entrance i s near the

middle, between the two harbours,the bar of which has n ine feet wa ter on i t, and two or threefa thoms over i t ; about a hundred yards up from the bar, i tforms a basin , capab le of holding a grea t number of boat s and

smal l craft,from which i t divides into two branches

,one to the

n orth - west,the other to the south - west

,having steep hill s along

the banks of the latter , wh ich fal l aga in in an easy descen ttowards the sou thern harbour . T he north - west branch runs abovetwo ~miles up the south - wes t I could not determine, on accountof the fal len trees across the river , thi s may be found hereaftervery useful, when the i sland comes to be wel l inhabited, for theea sy conveyance, by water, from ei ther harbour, of goods and

necessaries for th e inhabitants of the middle dis trict .T he northern district l ies on

the east side of the low i s thmusat the head of the harbour, i ti s five miles long and two broad :i t i s an a ssemblage of sanddowns wi th a good mould a - top,i ntersected with hollows ; thi spart of the i sland, and the low

land of the middle divis ion , area lmost entirely a fresh - wa termarsh ; i t i s the leas t woody,the trees growing only here and

there on the higher groundsthe shrub s are not very thick .

“T he northern dis tric t l ies onthe east s ide of the north harbour

,and i s abou t four miles

long,and abou t two broad , and

i s divided from the former bythe i s thmus at the head of theharbour i t consi sts of sandcovered with ligh t mould on itssurface

,andhas no rising ground ,

except one smal l h illock on thenorth - eas t side of the harbour ,there are

“many hollows , ortanks , which abound with wa ter,which may be made paddy plan

8 R E POR T JIIAD E T O T H E

T his land is admirably adaptedfor rice, and when sown wi thpaddy

,yielded 220 to 230 fold .

*

T he convenience of the

port comes now under consideration . Perhaps few islands

,

with other advantages in anydegree corresponding wi th B alambangan , enj oy one harbourso excel lent as ei ther of thosethis i sland possesses . T hey areboth land—locked

,and capab le

of admitting the largest ships ,T he north harbour, though i thas many shoal s

,i s capable of

conta in ing all the navy of E ngland

,i n good soundings of clay

and mud .

”

tations, and will , I dare say,

produce an hundred—fold i t i sthe leas t woody of any ; th ebrushwood

,at present, pretty

thick .

“ I am now come to speak ofthe excellency of the two harbours which th i s i sland possesses, and which few i slandscan be sa id to enj oy ; they areboth land - locked , and capabl eof admitt ing the larges t ships ;the north harbour has manybanks across i t s entrance, l ikewise with in , but i t has two principal entrances : the western onehas five fa thoms wa ter , the

eas tern one has seven to ninefa thoms , and wi l l afford shel terfor a vas t number of sh ips , insoft mud and clayey ground,

and wil l admi t of vessel s being hauled ashore tha t can l ighten toseven feet , but hereafter there may be piers run out on the shoal s,that the larges t ships may haul alongside, a nd heave down , andfacil i tate the landing of merchandise .

T he southern harbour,

though much less capacious ,would conta in a greater numberof large ships than will probablyever meet there, and smal l oneswi thout number . T he sound

ings are so s teep tha t a man mayin t hree and a half fathoms cora lcas t a hand - lead to the shore atlowwater , and j us t without tha tdepth i s four fa thoms mud ;nearthe wa tering - place a wharfmightbe made a t a very sma l l expense,t o which ships might lay theirbroadsides . Besides these twoharbours

,of which an adequate

idea may be formed from the

plans,there are severa l o thers

on the i sland , though inferior tothese . l’ arang i s small

,bu t

appears to be safe T oommang ,

T hough the southern harbouri s smal ler

,i t i s equal ly good, and

the land - locked part close underthe high hill s i s steep too , so thatsh ips may careen ; the cod ofthe harbour i s shoal water, butexceeding secure for admittingsmal l craft , both harbours may

bemade defens ible, the northernone will take more extens iveworks

,though upon the hil l of

G unong Loonong, at the southpoint

,I bel ieve, may be a proper

place for a fortification , fromthe na tural s i tuat ion ; but thesouthern one may be made impregnable by works 011 thes teep hills , and batteries on th elow point on the opposi te shore,i ndeed vessel s can only sa i li nto thi s harbour in the north

T h is was the informa tion received from the headman of B anguey .

CH IE F AN D CO U N CIL OF B ALAMPAN GAIV. 9

on the wes t coa st,directly op

posite to Looc - S ee -Kooamboo,i s said to be perfectly shel teredfrom any swell , by shoal s whichlie off i t

,and to have good

wa ter . 011 the eas t coa st,op

posite to Mangoak, there i s al soa good harbour

,made by shoal s .

D amper i s capacious,but ful l of

banks .

east monsoon ; i n the southwes t they must warp in

,after

luffing round the point of R ahaR ocks ; a boom may be la idacross the entrance

,and a vessel

moored to defend i t,which

must des troy any boa t s of an

enemy tha t should a ttempt tolay warps to get in , they mus tl ikewise pass close under thes teep hill s , tha t guns erected

on these would point down the batches of any ship , tha t shoulda ttempt to pass, and she not be able to bring a gun to bear to theirprejudice.

i n it s kind,and wel l adap ted for hauling the seyneT hese two harbours abound with fish

,and excel lentthere are a l so

great plenty of oysters,cockles

,and other shel lfish .

“ B alambangan i s wel l suppl ied with fish ; they are ex

cellent i n kind,and of great

variety ; from the many sandfiats on almost every part ofthe coas t , except the sou thernharbour

,no place can be more

convenientforhaul ing the seyne ;there i s al so grea t variety ofshellfish

,particularly vas t plenty

of fine oysters i n the southernharbour ; upon the banks theyfind manangky and sea - slugs

,or

béche- de—mer,and at all parts

of the i sland plenty of turtle,

chiefly the torto ise shel l k ind,

though i t i s sa id the green turtleare in abundance on the backof the i sland . Wi ld hogs are

in plenty on B alambangan,particularly in the southernparts there are a l so some deer,and many peelandook, whichare the sma l l animals cal led veryimproperly by the Fngli sh hogdeer . T he B anguey people say

T here are many deer, hogs ,palandooks and vas t plenty offish

,turtle

,81C . T he wa ter in

some parts of the i sland is veryclear and good

,but in others

general ly brownish,from the

pine trees * which grow nearthe seas ide, with in high—watermark, another conveniency i sthe plenty of good t imber ofvarious kinds fi t for bu i lding

,

some close to the sea,though

the hilly part i s the larges t ;there are al so canes and ra ttans,which may be applied to manyuses cabbage trees

,wild areka ,

neepa in sma ll quantities, andrushes i n plenty, which may beuseful in tha tching temporaryhab i ta tions there are al so grea tplenty of s tones of differentnatures ; l ime, the best to behad from Keema shell s and

others,of which there i s abun

dance 0n the shoal s.

there are no ca ttle on the i sland ; I thought from the prints offootsteps and dung tha t there were . some of our people insi s tedthat they heard one low if any, there are but very few however,as fri eze ar

e droves of thousands at S ampanmangio , the i sland mayfl ,

r ac

e are the agoo , and not the fir-

pine.

10 R E P OR T IlIAD E T O T H E

be easily stocked by transporting the calves . T hese cat tle are wha tthe S ooloos cal l lissang. From T awarran , on the north - west coas tof Borneo , may be had a breed of goa t s, for which the southernpart of B alambangan i s wel l su i ted .

“T here i s on thi s i sland grea t plenty of fine t imber close tothe sea ; the high lands are reckoned to have the largest trees ;but on the hil l at the point of the south side of the north harbour ,amongst many calaoti t trees nearly of the same magnitude

,I

measured one which , as high up as I could reach , was above threefa thoms in circumference, and quite stra igh t , wi thou t branchesfor at leas t seventy or eighty feet ; the wood i s somewha t reddishand very heavy

,i t has an agreeable smel l , and i s fi t for many

u ses .

“ T he t imber on B alambangan i s of various kinds ; amongstothers are naga

,tindaloo (which i s a species of mahogany),

lawawn or poone, bin tangal, dongon , malawee,palo - maria or

A lexandrian lau rel,cal led dancawn by the nat ives ; ebony, byag or

santeekee,the leaf of which i s very large, and shaped something

l ike a fig- leaf

,the wood i s reddish , very l igh t and s trong, and there

fore fi t for oars,masts

,or yards

,though seldom large enough for

lower masts ; i t has'

a double bark,the outer th in and dark

coloured ; the inner thick , spongy, and red ; i t i s said ropes are

made of the bark of young trees. Poolle’

,as i t i s called by the

Malays,i s a l ight white wood , used for making canoes, the tree

growing very large,the Malays al so make thei r coffins of i t , as

i t lasts long under ground . T he bark i s thick,on the inside a

m ixture of green and whi te ; i t yields a white milk . T owardsthe roots i t spreads ou t in abutments , which are used for makingtarget s ; the gra in of the wood i s in long flakes ; i t s eems to b every l ight , bu t s trong . Bark - wood has a bark two inches thick ,composed of hard fi laments in fret - work

,with a soft red spongy

substance between , i t has a thin brown and green outer bark ;the wood i s white, and seems to b e hard . Agoo

,or mobohok, i n

the leaves,has a grea t resemblance to fir ; the seed al s o grows in

smal l cone s ; btit i t i s a solid heavy wood ; i t i s common ina lmost all the ea stern parts of India

,and grows even with in high

wa ter mark . A t B alambangan i t i s found ch iefly upon the northcoast , and on the shores of the north harbour, though there are

some trees inland .

Many of the trees on B alambangan are wel l adapted formasting : the Chinese j unks constantly come with pine masts fromAmoy to 800100 where they leave these, and take in others of thecountry wood , which they dispose of in China for a high price

,

being much preferred to the pine mas ts by the Chinese . N o thingi s superior to the palo -maria for knees and crooked timbers . T hisspecies

,though found a t B alambangan, i s in much grea ter plen ty

on the coasts of B anguey, S ampanmangio, &c. S ome of them

CH IE F AN D CO U N CIL OF B ALAIlIB AN GAIV. 1 1

are very large I measured the stem of one near S ampanmangio ,

above two and three—quarter fa thoms in circumference the leavesresemble the bay, but are larger ; the flowers are ex tremely beaut iful and odoriferous . T he tree yields on incision a gum usefu lin wounds , and i n the Philippines an oil i s made of the fru it.

Bes ides the abundance of fine timber,there i s on B alambangan

great plenty of anneebon , or neebon ,commonly cal led by the

E ngl ish the cabbage tree ; of thi s the rafters for covering the

b lack people ’ s houses on the coast of Coromandel are chieflymade . T here i s al so plenty of wild areka of neepa, used in all

these part s for thatching thei r houses ; a grea t variety of ra ttan sand canes , and many smal l bamboos . T he seepeetalla (cal led bythe Malays

,ka i o - oolar

,or snake- wood), i s i n plenty ; i ts leaves

and root are held of grea t efficacy aga ins t poisons . Kaempfer, i nhi s ‘Amaenitates E xoticae,

’ recommends i t for hydrophobia , and

says he has used i t successful ly in putrid fevers .T here i s a very grea t abundance of stone i n th is i sland the

h ill s adj oining to the southern harbour are composed of a species.of gran i te, very hard and ponderous , i t rings when struck i t l iesin detached blocks

,some very large, others smal l and easily

removed . T here i s a kind of stone,i n cliffs to the sea at T orong

S eebooroongy, i n the southern part of the i sland, soft enough tobe penetrated by a sword

,though i t does not seem to be affected

by the sea air. T here can be no better l ime than that made ofthe manangky shell s and cora l ines, of which there is abundanceon the shoal s .

T he soi l of B alambangan i s very various th e northern partseems to be a fine white sand bottom covered in some places witha l igh t black mould

,i n others wi th a rich fat mud , clear in many

places for a lmost hal f a mile square,without a bush or tree, and

covered with a fine grass growing in patches . S carce anywhere, i nthis par t

,are to be found thick trees, and then only in clumps on

the higher grounds whence i t may be conj ectured, thid eficiencyof wood is owing to

,the superabundance of water . In many

places in the northern district,even on the higher grounds, there

are large ponds of fresh wa ter,but all of i t brown some of these

high pla in s are sandy, others marshy and covered with rushes i t i ssa id tha t i n thi s par t of the i sland the trees shed their leaves in

dry seasons,which the natives of B anguey a scribe to the warmth

of the soi l the trees on that i sland,and on th e sou thern part of

B alambangan ,do not shed their leaves in this manner. T he soil

abou t S eempool H i l l s i s a kind of marly clay the wa ter - course isof thi s substance

,though i t appears to the eye to be flat beds of

rock when broken the water i s of a milky -white, and continuesso for a long time before i t becomes clear ; a good soi l of thisk ind i s found everywhere among the rocks a - top of the bluffhill s .

1 2 R E POR T MAD E T O TH E

B alambangan , as above observed , i s remarkably wel l suppl iedwith water : the northern part i s a lmos t ent irely a fresh -wa termarsh covered with rushes

,one species whereof i s above a fa thom

l ong and a lmost as large as a man ’ s l i tt le finger ; but all the waterof thi s part of the island i s brown l ike tea , probably from the

roots of thes e rushes . In severe droughts,which

,however, are

very uncommon in th is quarter, the inhabitants of B anguey comeover to B alambangan for their water , the springs here neverdrying up . N or are they a t tended with any noxious qual i ty ori ll - taste notwiths tanding the colour the pools have genera lly fi shin them

,which i s considered as a cri terion of salubri ty. T he

wa ter at S eempool i s very clear and soft ; i t passes over a marlybed

,and wa shes l inen remarkably white. C lear wa ter i s a l s o

found a t some o ther places of the i sland ; bu t the low land ingenera l has brown . T he northern par t i s over - run with variou sspecies of the nepenthes but whether the abundance of wa ter i sderived from thence, or whether they be the consequence of theabundance of wa ter

,must be left to the decision of natural i st s ;

however, some caution may be prudent in rooting them up , les tthe former should be the case. Bes ides the nepenthes, some othervegetable substances here yield wa ter. A species of ra ttan , namedtoongal, about the size of a man

’ s wris t,yield s plenty of very clear

wa ter . Another creeper , cal led bahanoompool, a l so yields wa ter i ti s gummy, but general ly clear and good the creeper must be cu tabove, or the water retires these creepers are found even on thet ops of the highes t hill s

, entwined with the upper branches of thet rees , and hanging down from thence. T hose found in mois tgrounds have most water; those i n dry places have l i t tle ; some ofthem are larger than a man ’ s leg they have very rough bark, withdeep scores .

“ T here i s a l so , when the t ide i s ebbed,good wa ter on th e

shore of B alambangan , opposi te to Calootan ,and the country

people say there i s , to the southward of S ooboorong-

y- Dammit , a

fresh-water lake close to the shore,though not communicat ing with

the sea . In thi s lake are many crocodiles .“

.

It i s not easy to determine which of the three districts i s mostel ig ible for an establishmen t . In poin t of securi ty perhaps thesouthern is to be preferred ; but the hillock named GunongLoonoong, a t the entrance of the north harbour

,i s capable of

being made very defensible, as i t i s far dis tant from any otherrismg ground , and commands the country adj oining : i t i s si tua tedon a h igh sandy point , where there i s a free circula tion of air, andtherefore a probabi li ty of i ts being heal thy the poin t wi thou t theh il l , being a lmost half a mile i n extent , i s sufficiently large for a

t own , and cannot be app roached by ships within gunshot t il lthey have entered the harbour

,nor can boa t s land bu t there.

Perhaps the i sthmus between Looc - S ee- Kooambo and T oommang

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

14 R E POR T MADE T O T HE

o ther necessary causes obl iged us frequently to go , from a desire ofs til l being ashore , they concea l ed i t from the doctor as long as

possible,

O

by which means their blood became poisoned wi th thi sdisease, and a t the same time gett ing drunk wi th shamshire and otheradulterated l iquors , in consequence of which debauches they go tcolds

,fluxes, and in short a complication of disorders , not to men

t ion tha t many had fel t the bad effect s of Ba tavia disorders duringour stay there at two differen t t imes from which , when theyreturned to B alambangan , they died like rot ten sheep , and then i twas imputed to the unheal thiness of the cl ima te ; but those whichkept free from these diseases received no bad effect from the air

of B alambangan , evinced , Imay say, by myself and others , who hadbeen six months together a shore , and there every month in the yeara t different t imes , never had an hour ’ s s ickness

,or ever enj oyed

our hea l ths in greater perfection,and to give a more convinc ing

proof,that I do not conform from wha t we experienced , but there

are now twentymen who have been there these eight months, andnever any of them has been sick

,and there are people arrived

here with scurvy, &c .,which have perfectly recovered .

B alambangan i s one of the most temperate cl imates of th eE ast I ever was in ,

and the air exceeding agreeable and cool ,occasioned by the refreshing breezes , exceptwhen i t i s calm ,

whichdoes not happen often and I have fel t i t so cold in the monthsof December and January that a cloth coa t and wa i s tcoat werevery acceptable i n the morning . S ome people who have givenout tha t i t rain s a lmost the year round

,with thunder and l ightning

,

could not, I am sure, speak from experience,as I have been as

l ong at the island as any person , and never saw any ra in for acontinuance longer than three or four days

,and tha t but s eldom

generally on the shifting of the monsoons , at the ful l and changeof the moon

,when i t thunders and l ightens for a few days , but

nothing which I ever saw that could make i t an object of a tt ention,

or more than in the other parts of India and ou t of three monthsonly fi fteen days ’ rain

,and this most commonly noth ing more

than a single refresh ing shower, which passes in a squall, the dropsgenerally remarkably large .

I now give a short description of th e several places wh ich I

have vi sited on my surveys in those parts,and o thers which I

have had from good authority from the most experienced of th eS oolooans.

First , B anguey i s a fine i sland,not above a leagu e from the

easternmost point of the 1101th harbour of B alambangan ,i t has

a very rich soil , fit, I bel ieve,for producing everyth ing that grows

within the t ropics . H ere are some of the bes t yarns and pota toesI ever eat ; there 15 11ku v1se planta1ns l imes , and o ther fru its , anddoes not “ant plenty of hogs , deer, and some few fowls . T herei s al so fine t imber of various sorts and s izes

,neepa, and other

CHI E F AN D CO U N CIL OF B ALAMB A N GAIV. 15

necessaries . I t i s wel l watered with fine pure s treams . T he

i nhab i tants are but few belonging to i t, whom we have found tobe useful .Mal/eeaflgz

'

n , which l ies off the south point of B anguey, hasgood t imber for bu ilding ; l ikewis e hogs and deer ; and i s wel lwa tered .

B a/aéac we know l ittl e of but by report : i t i s no t heal thy.

T he S oolooans get sal tpetre there, tortoiseshel l, &c . I t i s sa idthere i s plenty of goats

,fowls , frui ts , and some smal l quanti ty of

rice . I have l ikewise been told there i s a secure bay on the eas ts ide, fi t to admit large ships, and plentifully wa tered .

Paragon , or Palawafz.— T his i s a very unheal thy island byaccounts

,particularly the south end. T he people inhabiting here

are for the most par t a sca ly race , or, as they ca l l them ,from the

S panish, Cascados thi s they say i s owing to the water, and I have

never heard i t affects their health , or is apt to infect others . T hereare many of the same cas te dispersed abou t these countries . T he

S pan iards have for a long time possessed the north part of i t,

and have got a smal l fort i n the harbour of T ai- T ai,s itua ted in th e

north - ea s t part ; i t i s not worth a nat iona l charge, and I make nodoubt

,preaching

,as i t i s the l east expens ive , i s the bes t trade they

have. T hey are a l so possessed of an i sland cal led D zmzam n,

*

to the eastward of the north part of Pa lawan, but I do not findi t i s of any note for i ts trade or otherwise. Palawan producescanes

,ra ttans

,and some wax l ikewise rice. T he history of the

traditiona l righ t of the S oolooans t o the i sland of Pa lawan and

the north part of Borneo,

1 specified in the grant of the H onourab l eCompany ’s possessions I sha l l not discuss at present, being foreignto the purpose

,but shal l leave i t to the geographical descriptions

of the countries, as soon as I can get i t complete by my furthersurveys , when i t will be more necessary .

B oR N E o .

— Our possessions here extend from Keemanees , onthe north - west s ide

,to T owsan Abia on the north- eas t , divided in

a direct l ine east and west from the above-mentioned places , tothe north to S ampan ~Mangio . G eneral ly all th is country has veryrich soil, and l ies a lmost whol ly uncul t iva ted and covered wi thtrees

,except some spaciou s fine meadows or savannahs al ong i ts

coast,or near any towns inland , which are covered with herds of

black ca ttle,hogs

,and deer . N a ture has bordered those extensive

plains upon the seaside by a graceful range of stately trees , andplaced within severa l del ightful harbours , as a retrea t for thei rvarious inhab itants aga ins t the hea t of the sun .

T he S pania rds have only half of D umaran ; the o ther half belonged to

S ooloo .

1[T he h istory of these poli tical changes is given by F. Blumentri tt in a

pamphle t en ti t led S pan ien und d ie I nsel Borneo ,” V ienna , 1882. S ee also

Logan’

s“Journal of the I ndian Archipelago,” vol. ii. p.

16 REP ORT MADE T O T H E

S d l/Ipd fl - Ilfaflg and Malloodoo B ay , and the country round,abound with the lissang, which are very large and have no flapunder their necks l ike our cattle, with their horn s incl ined to b ecrooked l ike rams but thei r flesh i s excel lent

,preferab l e to any

thing tha t you wil l meet with in India i n genera l . On the easterncoast I have seen large droves s traying a long the beach there i sl ikewise hogs

,deer

,and fowls i n plenty .

Panda san , town and r iver , i s on the north - west coast,abou t

three leagues to the northward of T ampassook, where ves sel s inthe north—eas t monsoon may run in and lie securely i n five and

s ix fathoms wa ter off i ts mouth , screened by a point of land whichforms the mouth of the r iver and a shoa l wi thou t you . T he towni s abou t s ix leagues up the river , where there i s some black ca ttle,goa ts

,hogs

,deer, and fowls .

T ampassook, to the southward of the former , conta in s abou ttwo hundred houses ; there i s vas t plenty of refreshments to b ehad of all kinds , and the bull ocks superior to any I have seen inIndia

,a l though the bar i s not passable for days together . T he

best way to get s tock from t own would be by swimming the ca ttl ea cross the r iver

,and wa lk them up the beach to Pandasan where

they could be embarked with grea t ease ; and i n the south - westmonsoon a vessel may be pretty secure at Ab ia , abou t two leaguesto the southward of the r iver, screened by an i sland of the samename

,and for a trifl ing expense have the cattle brought there by

land , and there taken in , so tha t refreshments may be had in ei thermonsoon .

Abia i s the northern entrance into the lake of Kenny B alloothere i s l ikewise T awarran , and other entrances a long the coa s t ofBorneo, which certa inly must be a great advantage with respect tothe inland trade . T hi s lake I have heard i s nearly one hundredm iles in circumference, with great numbers of inhabitants around i t ;the one r iver that runs from i t flows into a branch of the river Banj arMasseen , which disembogues i t self near the southern extremityof Borneo (I have been two or three miles up the entrance of thelake) so tha t we might receive, i n exchange for our commodi ties,the riches of the remotest parts of thi s great i sland of Borneo .

T he grea t advantage which must accrue from such an inland navi

gation , and with so ri ch an i sland , must be too obviou s to need anycommen t .T o the sou thward of Ab ia there are the towns Amboon , S ulaman ,

T awarran ,Mancaboong, Potatan (about three hundred pecul of

pepper a year), Pangalet, Pappal, Keemanees,&c. ,

which boundthe Company ’ s possession s to the southward . I n all this partpepper grows in plenty ; a regular demand in time migh t ensureany quanti ty . T here are l ikewise refreshments to b e had at most ofthese places , but I can say nothing further w ith certa inty.

B an/301m, on Malloodoo B ay, has a few goat s

,fowl s, great

CH IE F AN D CO U N CIL OF B ALAAIB /IN GAIV. 17

p lenty of hogs and deer ; i t l ikewise produces the clove- bark . T he

inhabi tants in the bay fi sh for pearl s,which are cal led cappa s :

though they are found in grea t plenty,their colour i s not counted

so good as those found at T awee T awee,from the T epoy .

Along the north - east coast lie the towns and rivers of I’ itan(which has a harbour formed by the i s land S emadall), S oogoot,and Labook

, which countries produce camphor, birds’ nests and

the coas t being bound wi th a va s t number of islands and shoal sthe inhab i tants get a grea t quantity of torto iseshel l

,balata , & c .

'

T here i s grea t variety of fine t imber along this coast .T o the eas tward of Labook l ies the i sland of B ahalatolis (an

i sland abounding with fine spring wa ter), i n lat i tude 5°

54’

1

which forms the entrance of the bay of S andakan , a most securea nd fine bay, which is near five leagues deep , and has three fine

harbours conta ined within— namely , the harbour of B oolylooko ,

which l ies to the westward S eegalleyhood, to the south - wes t and

D oomondoung, to the southward . T he two la st have r ivers of thesame name, from which are der ived the names of harbours ;and werethis place as conveniently s i tua ted respecting the navigat ion as

B alambangan ,i t might answer every View tha t could be expected

from that or any other pla ce. I t has a good air and a number ofi slands tha t supply i t with abundance of pure wa ter. T here are

t rees on these i slands and the ma inland close to the rivers , ofvas t s ize

,fi t for planks or the largest masts , and of excel len t

k inds too such as teak , poone, camphor, &c . T hose las t are of anextraordinary length and thickness

,and stra ight withal . Dammer

i s found so plenty in the woods and along the shores tha t vessel smay be loaded with i t at the expense only of gathering ; there are

a l so grea t plenty of neepas, bamboos , and ra ttans of various kinds .S o far S andakan would encourage the building of vessel s . T he

water ri ses n ine feet . T here are fine stones fi t for building, and l imemay be had in plenty from the grea t quanti ty of shel ls abou t theplace. H ere the S oolooans have got a settlement on the smal li sland of Loobookcaun , near the harbour of Doomondaung theycarry on trade wi th the i nland part of Borneo , and the inhab itantsa long the grea t r iver of Kinabatangan (who are pagans), wh1ch havean easy communica tion by one day ’s travell ing to the r iver ofS eegalleyhood whereas , were they to come down the great r iverand a long the coast of Borneo, they would be fifteen days , wh1chthey accompl ish in three the other way . T hese people I sawa t

Loobookcaun on my surveys they are a s tout - l imbed , wel l - lookingpeople, and of a whiter complexion by far than those wln ch 1n

habit the sea - coas ts , and I have been informed by the S oolooans ,who have been up to visi t them at their habitations , tel l manysurpris ing things of their manners and customs ,

.

wh ich theyconfirmed when I saw them ,

which would be too ted ious to relate

here .

1 8 REP ORT [MAD E T O T H E

T o the eastward l ies the r ivers of T owsan * Ab ia (so cal l edfrom the meeting of many rivers i n the 800100 language), Kinabatangan

,T alasam

,S oobapoocull, and several o thers at the ea stern

poin t of Borneo,cal led U nsang ; th i s par t of the coas t has few or

n o inhabitants . I t i s reported tha t there i s gold - dust s ifted ou t ofthe r ivers of U nsang, and the inhabitants who reside on the banksof the rivers Kinaba tangan and T alasam find some gold which i swa shed down from the mounta in s in the t ime of the freshes . T hispart of the coas t i s clear from banks , and has regular soundingsand I have seen forty head of fine lissang straying al ong thebeach near the mouths o f these r ivers .

From the i sland of T ambasan , at the north part of the poin t ofU nsang

,you have a view of the mounta in s Becha Becha and

Banga - oo, being part of the T awee T awee’

s,which form the

southern extremity of the 800100 Archipelago , cont inuing in a

cha in to the north—eas t to B asseelan , and from S ooloo anothercha in from eas t to wes t . T he s i tuat ion , produce, &c . , of thesei slands I shal l leave to the geographical descrip tions . T he pearlfi shery i s their chief va lue.

S 0og or the town of the same name, i n lat i tude 60°

N .,

where the S ultan has his residence. H is dominions are on Borneoand the i s lands which form the archipelago . T he road of 800100i s pretty secure i n the rul ing monsoons , and i s only exposed fromwes t to north - west at the changing of the seasons I have seldomor ever seen i t continue to blow hard long .

T oolyan ,lying at the eas t end of the i sland

,i s a fine secure

bay for vessel s r id ing i n both monsoons .Your res idence a t S ooloo , gentlemen, no doub t has given you

a sufficien t knowledge of the genera l character of thi s na t ion ,a l so of their customs , manners , trade, produce, the na ture of thecl ime, &c .

,which mus t render any deta i l of tha t k ind unnecessary

at present not but wha t I sha l l be particular i n my geograph ica ldescript ion , from my long experience .

a t the north and north - east part, bel onging to th eS paniards , down to S amboanga fort, at the south - west part , wherethey have abouttwo hundred regulars for i ts defence and a l thoughthis garri son i s supported at the yearly expense of twenty- five

thousand dollars,i t renders l i ttle or no revenue to the king

,

nor has i t any sort of trade or produce to afford a tolerablel ivel ihood to any other than the governor and ch ief mil i tary officer

(who is a maj or), with the advantage he has of paying and

supplying the troops with necessaries .Mindanoe

,the town so cal led

,l ies about three leagues u p th e

river S a langan , s ituated at the southern part of the bay of T uboe,in lati tude 7

°

1 2’

N . , having the i s land of B angaout lying beforeits mouth , about six or seven miles to the wes tward . T his place i s

T owsan, I was told, means channel of commun ica tion .

CH IE F AN D CO U N CIL OF E ALAMB AN GAN . 19

the residence of the S ul tan , and the late S ultan (Pakoe) resignedhis authori ty to a younger brother, who i s now in the government ,though he i s s ti l l much respected , and nothing done without hi sconsent . When he was at 800100 i n the year 1 770, he seemed verywel l p leased with our design of settl ing i n those parts , and

declared him sel f much a ttached to the E nglish , and wished muchtha t they might find his country capable of giving them encouragement to fix there

,and have an opportuni ty of making himsel f

u seful to them .

As for i t s trade,as no foreigners go tha t way, they get the

few th ings they want from S ooloo at very high prices,and give

their wax,rice

,and gold in exchange, which are the chief com

modities of the country . S laves may be had at low prices theret hose are chiefly B isayors (inhabi tant s of the Philippines)genera l lytaken by those people and the Islanos (another d isti nct racewithin the country), who have an independen t S ul tan of thei r ownfrom tha t of Mindanoe : they carry on the piracies for all the

rest , i n the face of the very ports of the S paniards . T he

Mindanoes and S oolooans would support an appearance ofpeace with the S paniards

,a l though they not only countenance

but encourage them in thei r robberies , giving them a protectionin thei r domini on s and purchasing the plunder and captives

,

whilst there i s no other method left to d ispose of them ; the

Mindanoes have many fine ga l leys which they have taken fromthe S pan iards .T he bay of S ampinitin l ies abou t two leagues to the northward

of the river S alangan , which i s the only secure place for a vesselof any burthen to lie in , having from nine to fifteen fa thoms wa ter.All the coas t of Mindanoe to the southward i s mostly s teep

,

having no soundings but very near the shores .Cagayan S ooloo l ies in the lati tude of 7

°N about twenty - five

leagues to the eastward of B anguey Peak , a most plea sant l ittlei sland

,with some bul locks

,goa ts

,yams

,frui t , &c . Wa ter i s

very scarce, except at low wa ter on the south -wes t s ide, righ tabrea s t of the t own (which i s a l so the bes t place for anchoring),where i t may be had springing from under the rocks , and i ssuppl ied by a cavern which has a fine spring abou t s ixty oreighty feet below the surface of the earth

,lying near two miles

within the country.

T hese are the places which I have been to during my stay inthese parts

,and I sent a general chart of my survey s to Bombay,

and left one in the S ecretary’ s office at Madra s , to be forwarded toE urope. T hrough the hurry of business , I have not been able tofinish one now to send by this opportunity

,as I could wish

,but

must defer i t t i l l another opportuni ty ; and I must do Mr . Dal

rymple the j u st ice t o say, tha t what he has done from his ownsurveys and observations I found to be j ust, and may be depended

C 2

20 S U B S TAIVCE OF A LE T T E R

on ; the res t, which he received from intel l igence of B ahatol thep ilot (who was a l ive when I arrived at S ooloo), Dattoo S araphodin ,

and others,by being acquain ted with the same, and able to con

verse with them,I have received the same accounts from them and

tha t Mr. D alrymple has laid i t down from his own surveys and theiraccounts where he had not an opportuni ty to go . I havemade a l tera tion s and improvements on my surveys to those placeswhich were la id down from informa t ion where Mr . Dalrymple hadnot been ; there wants only the coast of Borneo from Abia t oKeemanees

,and the i sland of Palawan surveyed (the only places

I have not vi si ted in the Company ’ s possessions), to render thenaviga t ion more safe and the survey complete. When thi s i saccompli shed I sha l l then be able to make a set of charts , withd irections for the navigat ion of vessel s

,with the bearings and

dis tances from place to place , the shoa l s and soundings , views ofthe land

,and a large scale for the particular harbours , bays , 810.

S hould I be able to accompl ish thi s to the approbat ion of myhonourable employers and the sa tisfaction of navigators , I shal lthink my t ime wel l sp ent .

JAM E S BAR T ON .

B ALAM B AN GAN , Few/nary 1

,1774 .

N . B .—T he spelling of proper names is according to Lieut . B ai ton

’

s MS .

S U B STANCE OF A LETTER TO T H E

CO U RT OF D IRECTORS

17mm Mr . JOH N J E S S E,dazed /211} ! 20, 1775, a t 8 07 7200 E mper.

[A. DALR YMPLE ’

S O rien tal R eper tory, vol. ii. pp. 1

As I am the firs t servant the Company ever had,or even

E uropean which for a number of yea rs has v isi ted thi s part ofthe i s land of B o R N E o , I have presumed to lay before you every,even the minutes t particular

,which has occurred to my know

ledge worthy your observa t ion , tha t you may be the betterenabled to form a j u s t idea of your connections here , and t oj udge with precis ion wha t measures may hereafter mos t readi lyeffect the obj ect s you have had in view by an establi shmen t inthi s quarter .T he Chief and Counci l of B alambangan , i n the beginning of the

las t year, addressed a letter to the S tate of Borneo,informing them

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 2 S U B S T AN CE OF A LE T T E R

T hings being fixed on thi s bas i s— the E ngl ishman and B orneyanbecoming thus mutual ly necessary to each o ther— I flattered mysel fthe event might have produced a solid and rea l commercialadvantage, as wel l to the na t ion as to the Company ; and ,

themore so a s from the great probab il i ty of the hil l people beingsoon induced a l so to plant , who , by receiving cloth as the priceof thei r industry , would natura lly increase the consumption and

render our manufactures wi th them a necessary of l ife,these

being by far the mos t numerous and the aborigines of the i sland .

Another advantag e accruing therefrom i s , tha t having once connected these people i n in teres t with the Company, and familiarizedthem to our customs , the inhab i tants of the sea - coast would b eunable (were they inclined) to obstruct or moles t the prosecu tionof the Company ’ s views . T hese were the motives wh ich firs tinduced me to secure to the Company, i n the treaty with theB orneyans, the exclusive trade to the pepper, a l though a t thatt ime on seemingly disadvantageous terms . H ow far I may haveacted with propriety rema in s with the Company to determine.

I now come to say something of the characteris tics of thedifferen t sects of the i nhabitants .T he B orneyans , who inhabit the sea—coast

,are Mahometans ,

and, as they say, are original ly an emigrat ion from Jehore, butare ignorant of their chronology. T hey extended their dominionsover these coasts : Palawan , Mani lla

,and other parts of the

Phil ipp ines ; and even S ooloo , as Mr . D al rymple observes , wasformerly a par t of th i s empire. From these extensive conquests

,

and the unconnected tradit ions I have had from them ,I am

i ncl ined to think they were origina l ly a warl ike people ; but a smost other empires , when arrived a t a certain p itch of grandeur ,have genera l ly decl ined to nearly thei r origina l s ta te, from a wantof tha t vigorous and active governmen t which i s so es sential lynecessary i n supporting all acqu is i ti on s obta ined merely by forceof a rms

,so appears to have been the ca se with that of Borneo ;

and I am the more convinced of i t from tha t entire indolence and

i nactivi ty I found them immersed in on my arrival , being tota l lydegenera ted from tha t courage and enterprise which seems to havemarked the character of their roving ances tors

,and deprived of

thei r influence i n all their former dominions,s ituated to the north

ward of Borneo .

From wha t I have been led to say relative to th is S tate, i t maybe seen they are enerva ted and unwarl ike

,added to which they

seem to be envious of the priva te property of each other to a

great deg ree . But , on the o ther hand , I have found them fair i nthei r dea l ings ; cool and del ibera te in their resentments , evenwhere the obj ec t i s in their power ; candid in thei r intentions ;s trangers to wha t we cal l the world

,a l though not deficien t i n the

inna te faculty of the understanding, as they seem to have,i n

T O T H E C0U R T OF D IR E C T OR S . 23

great perfection , such mechanical art s as are met with i n thesecountries

,particularly in the foundry of brass cannon

,wherein they

excel all the As iatic s I have seen on thi s s ide,or have heard of on

the‘other.

T ha t they are constan t in thei r a ttachments I think I may say,from their behaviour subsequent to the unhappy capture of Balambangan

,for al though threatened by the 8001003 i n case they should

supply us,and tha t at a t ime when many of their boats were

t rading in the verge of the 800100 districts , they set them at

defiance and generously afforded such as si s tance as lay i n theirpower.Wi th respect to the Idaan

,or Mooroots as they are cal led here,

I cannot give any account of their disposi t ion , but from wha t Ihave heard from the B orneyans , they are abandoned idola ters .One of their tenets i s so strangely inhuman I cannot pa ss unnoticed ,which i s

,tha t thei r fu ture interes t depends upon the number of

their fel low - crea tures they have kil led in any engagement, or common disputes , and count their degrees of happiness hereafter todepend on the number of human skull s in their possess ion fromwhich

,and the wild disorderly l ife they lead, unres tra ined by any

bond of civil society,we ought not to be surpri sed if they are of

a cruel and vindictive disposi tion . T hey are as yet near to a

s ta te of nature,but have a grea t share of inna te cunning, of which

I had a s triking instance i n the fol lowing circumstance - T wo oftheir principa l chiefs

,induced from curios i ty

,came one day to the

factory they pla inly told me they came to see a white man , and

s hould j udge from my trea tment of them then wha t inducemen tthey might have to cul tiva te an in tercourse with me. P leasedwith the prospect

,however fa in t, of having thus met with an

in strumen t through which I m ight encompas s i n time wha t Ihave ever esteemed my capita l obj ect, I endeavoured to ingra tia temyself by giving them sma l l presents of different assortments ofgoods , and expressed a des ire to see them aga in . O ne only of themshortly afterwards returned with some provi sions , which I learn the had firs t b een endeavouring to sel l to the j unks , and even thendemanded of me such an exorb itant price as I could not thinko f complying with .

T hey are represented,however

,as i ndustriou s i n cult ivat ing

their paddy plantat ion s and in following such other employmen tsa s are known amongst them ; but hav ing no purchaser for thei rcommodity but the B orneyans, who trea t them very indifferently, the intercourse, of consequence, i s no t carried to anyextent .T heir arms are long knives and soompitans

— a tube of woodabout six feet long

,through which they blow smal l arrows poisoned

at one end,having at the other a sma l l b i t of cork wood j us t big

enough to fi l l up the hole of the tube,the leas t touch of which ,

2 4 S U B S TAN CE OF A LE T T E R

where blood i s produced,i s certa in dea th

, unless immediatelycounteracted by the antidote they make u se of.T hei r dress at present i s no thing more than a girdle or long

sl ip of stuff made of the bark of a certain tree, which turnsbetween the thighs to cover thei r nudi t ies , one end of whichhangs down before, the other behind .

T he civi l governmen t of Borneo i s vested wi th a S ul tan and

a S uperior Council,which consists of those Pangarans who hold

the grea t offices of the S ta te, such as B andahara,i n whose hands

i s lodged the whole executive power ; De Gadong, or d irectorof the S ultan ’ s household ; the T omongong, or commander- ihchief i n their occasiona l wars ; the Pa Mancha

,or media tor i n

d i spu tes ; and the S habander. T o a ssi s t these are three O rangKaya s

,D e Gadong , Ivattan , and S habander. T here are many

others who hold the t i tle of Pangarans, but who are cal led tocounci l only on particular ma tters .I cannot better convey an idea of thi s form of government than

to say i t bears a near resemblance to our ancien t feudal system ;for a l though there i s more respect pa id to the regal p ower h erethan in any other Malay country I have been in (for th i s obviou sreason

,that the S ul tan has ent irely the power of appointing the

grea t officers of S tate,and of course can a lways influence the

public council s), yet, however, each Pangaran has the ent ire swayover his part icular dependants , whose cause they never fa i l t oespouse , even where he may s tand in opposit ion to the sovereignauthori ty .

T hey have no part icular laws aga ins t treason . Murder i scapitally punished , except in the case where the master kill s theslave . Polygamy preva i l s , a s i n all other Mahometan countries ,but they seldom intermarry with foreigners . T he origina l law, i ncases of adultery , required the parties to be i ns tantly strangled , butfor want of i t being properly enforced , and the difficul ty therewould be found in punish ing such as have a number of adherents,people i n power often pass with impuni ty

,whilst

,towards the

m iddle and inferior ranks of people,i t i s extended with the u tmos t

rigour . T heft, according to the degree of the crime, i s puni shed

with dea th or the loss of the right hand . I have found in thecourse of my transaction s with them they have as yet no institut ion s of a commercia l na ture

,which may be a t tributed to the

want of communication with other nations , the Chinese excepted ,who make presents to the headmen in l ieu of duties . T hose oftha t na tion set tled here , reap without molesta t ion the fru i ts o f thei ri ndustry ; but the casua l traders suffer many losses from therebeing no law which obliges the debtor to di scharge his debt ,and the necess ity they are under of complying with every un

rea sonable reques t of those of any considerat ion i n the place.

H aving thus communicated wha t I know of the characteris tics

T O T H E CO U R T OF D IR E CT OR S . 25

and policy of the B orneyans, i t wil l not be improper to observetha t from the plenty and goodness of the t imber found here the

Chinese have been induced to adop t the scheme of buildingj unks and have found i t by experience turn ou t to advantage,a lthough necessi ta ted to bring the workmen and many of thema teria l s from China . One

,of the burthen of peculs

(580 tons), was buil t this year on the following plan : T wo

n oquedahs of j unks and the capta in of the Chinese residinghere, entered into a contract , whereby the latter, on the one part,agreed to provide the t imber, and the former stipula ted to bringthe artificers and ironwork from Amoy. T he keel was la id inthe beginning of March

,and she was launched May 28 . T he

entire cost and outfi t amounted,as I have b een informed

by the contracting parti es,to no more than S panish dollars

which,after al lowing for the profits on their congongs, i s not

more than S panish dollars .From hence i t may be inferred tha t should i t ever be the

C ompany ’ s intention to establi sh in these parts a marine, whereinsmal l craft m ight be wanted, they could be buil t on ea sy and

advantageous terms ; as I have found on inqu iry of the noquedahs ,there would be no difficul ty in procuring artificers from China

,by

the j unks , on very moderate encouragement .T he river of Borneo is navigable far above the town for sh ips

of a very considerable burthen , and the only difficul ty l ies at themouth of i t

,where the channel i s very narrow for about a quarter

of a mile in length,through which there i s not above 1 7 feet

at high wa ter. H owever,the bottom is soft mud

,and the place so

completely land - locked,there never can be any surf, and con

sequently a ship taking the ground i s a ttended with no bad

consequences .My non - acqua intance with mar ine matters disenables me from

judging with precision a s to the expediency of making dockshere but from the temporary ones made by the Chinese, whereinthey build their j unks

,and out of which they are floa ted

,I should

imagine they might be made with convenience for vessel s of4 00 tons , and 1 am rather encouraged in thi s op in ion from the

banks of the r iver being a tough clay,and therefore a good

founda ti on , in which i t has the preference above Laboan , theshores there being only a quicksand . T he wa ter here flows from8 t o 9 feet , spring t ides .Chimerical are the expectat ions of finding

,i n these countries ,

any people so di sinterested as not to be ready to take an

advantage which chance may throw in their way, where resolut ions are not more b iassed by dread than a t tachment

,and how

unreasonable i t i s to expect any success in these parts unlesswhere there i s a force sufficient to awe as wel l as to protect for

1[N akhoda— Captain j

26 FOR MA T ION OF T H E

a l though the Chief and Council here seem to think the B orneyanshave infringed their agre ement by not givi ng us the whole of thepepper

, yet nei ther have we, on our part , been able to fulfil tha tof affording them protection , which they have exper ienced by theloss of their boa ts

,seized by our mutua l enemy the S oo loos , t o

the amount of S panish dollars . T his wil l occa sionsurpri se

,a s there were not only severa l vessel s on the Balam

bangan es tablishment , but l ikewise two smal l cruisers sent fromBombay

,properly adapted to tha t purpose : of these one was

upset , being ordered out in tempes tuous wea ther to cruise for thesh ip L07rz

’

sa,then expected the other sen t wi th the same vessel

to keep ahead of her all the way to China, and which los t herpassage i n return ing , being obliged to bear away for Malacca

,

from whence she i s this month arrived . T he publ i c service therefore expec ted to accrue from them has been rendered tota l lyabortive

,by being made subservient to pr ivate convenience, and

the protection of the Company ’s al l ies having been thus wi thdrawn . T he B orneyans cannot with j us tice be accused of wan tof fai t h i n not scrupulously fulfi l l ing the engagements on thei r

part .

FORMAT ION OF T H E ESTA B LISHMENT

ON POOLO PE E N A N G .

[A . DALR YMPLE ’

S O riental R eperto ry , vol. ii. pp. 583- 600 ]

P00Lo PE E N AN G, or P R I N CE - WALE S I S LAN D ,having become a

subj ect of much a ttent ion,an authentic account of the firs t forma

t ion and progres sive improvements of tha t es tab l i shment may be

acceptable to the publ ic .

Capt . Francis Light,who had proposed i t , and who was appointed

by the E ast India Company ’ s administra tion i n Benga l to the

1[For Ar ticles I . and I I . compare T . Fo rres t Voyage to N ew G u inea ,

London , 1779 J . Hun t ’ s S ket ch of Borneo ; and S ome Part icula rs R e lat ive to S ulu , in M alayan M iscellanies,” Bencoolen , 1820, vol. i. (reprin ted inJ . Ii . Moo r ’ s N o t ices of the Indian Archipelago ,” S ingapo re, Da l ton ’ sand Leyden ’ s accoun t s in the las t - named volume. T heJournal o f the I ndianArchipelago ,” vol. ii. pp. 4 98 -

507. D al rymple’ s E ssay towa rds an Accoun t

o f S ul u was repr in ted from his O rien ta l R eper tory ”in the same jou rna l ,

vol. iii. 5 12—31 , 545—567. Keppel ’ s “ Voyage o f the 1. 40 ff.

H is E xpedi t ion to Borneo , ” vol. ii. 176. I“. \V. Burbidge, “ T he G arden so f the S un ,

” London . 1880. S . S t. John , “ Life in the Fm ests o f the Far

E as t, ” London . 1863. According to \V. P . G roeneveld t (“ Verhandehngem

B at . Gem,

”vol. xxx ix .

, p. 101 ff.) an in tercou rse be tween Ch ina and Bruneiex isted in AJ) . 669, and be tween Ch ina and S ulu in

E S T AB LI S HM E N T ON P OOLO PE E N AN G . 2 7

charge of forming the estab l ishment , i n a let ter to my lamen ted and

public—spiri ted friend the late Mr . Andrew R oss,at Madras

,da ted

S eptember 25, 1786, gives the following account of hi s proceedings on taking posses sion , he having antecedently ob ta inedthe i sland from the King of Quedda

I am favoured with yours by the Valenti/”20,August 1 1

,and

feel much obliged to the G overnor and you for so timely an

a ttention .

* Capt . Lewin and Capt . Wa l l came ashore withseveral gentlemen passengers ; as I had not then hoisted the

colours I thought thi s a proper opportuni ty t o take a forma lpossession . At noon we all assembled under the flagstaff

, everygentleman a s si sting to hoist the British flag. I took possess ion ofthe i sland i n the name of H is Majesty G eorge I I I . and for theuse of the H onourable E as t India Company ; the arti l lery and

S hips firing a roya l salute, and the marines three volleys . I namedour new acqui s it ion in honour of the Prince of Wa les

,i t being

the eve of hi s birthday after th is we adj ourned to cel ebra te theday. I asked Captains Lewin and Wal l to give their op inion swi th regard to this port in writ ing

,a copy of which I enclose for

your perusa l ; a l so a cert ifica te of the taking possess ion of thei sland , S igned by the Company.

Capt . S impson came here on the 15th , and stayed a day th eother S hips sent their letters a shore

,and passed on for China .

I suppl ied the ships which s topped here with a bullock each ,fi sh , fowls, ducks, fru it , rat tan , and canes , so tha t they appeared wel lsati sfied .

“ I brought here a very smal l force —100 new- ra i sed marines ,total ly unacqua in ted wi th the use of the musket or mil itary discipline

,I 5 artil lerymen

, 30 lascars , Lieu t . Grey, iLS ergt . -Maj or

Greyg, S ergt . (of artil lery)D ons , the H onourable Company’ s snow

E liza,and the Prince Henry storeship . T he first month passed

away quietly,with cutting down trees and clearing away the ground

but before we could get up any defence we had vis itors of allkinds

,some for curiosity

,some for ga in , and some for plunder .

H owever,a strict wa tch and constan t a ttention has prevented any

accident,but I am i n hourly dread of some mischance, from the

ignorance of the people with me, and the envy of our neighbours .

A dispute might prove of infin ite disadvantage to our new set tlement

,for in the confusion the i nnocent might be involved wi th

the guil ty,and the report would deter people from coming . All

th is would be entirely prevented by a l i t tle addit iona l force, andone or two officers of discret ion .

“ T he Acheen N oqueda, who cut off poor Bean , i s settled a t

Mr . R oss had recommended to the G overnor,S ir Archibald ,Campbell , to

d irect some of the Company’ s sh ips to ca ll at Por t Peenang, in their pa ssage to

China , as the means of g iving coun tenance to the new se t tlemen t .T Further on he s igns h im self G ray .

28 FOR MA T ION OF T H E

Quedda ; five of hi s prows are here, with betelnu t and pepper ;t o send them away wi thout their having done any faul t wouldhurt our credit

,and prevent others from coming

,and those being

here i s not very pleasan t .“A French padreand 100 Chri stians, sma l l and grea t, are come

from Quedda t o settle, bes ides a number of stragglers . T he

former inhabitant s amounted to 58 men,women , and children ,

who reside near the foot of the hill s about four m iles from us ;several Chinese are l ikewise come to ask for ground to build on ,and mean to bring their famil ies here . T he capta ins of the shipsare anxious to get possess ion , and employ people every day toclear the woods . I imagine before a year passes we shal l havecontrovers ies about the divis ion of land .

I have i n stock here,cattle, sheep , hogs, fowls , ducks, and

geese,which thrive and breed very fast . T he constant supply of

poul try and ca ttle from Quedda will enable us very soon to supplythe S hips at present they are much cheaper than at Ma lacca . Isupply the E uropean s with bread every day, and, with grindstones ,can suppl y H is Maj esty ’ s ships

,as fu el i s plenty and whea t easily

got from Bengal .

R eport of Captai ns T HOMAS WALL and R ICHAR D LE W I N , Jun.

T he stra i t which separa tes the eas t s ide of Pinang from the

Malay shore appears to be an exceeding safe place for ships to ridea t all t imes of the year

,being extremely wel l sheltered , and very

convenient for heaving down and refitting ships which may haveoccasion for such business . T he entrance i s on the north side,and the soundings are regular ; there i s no danger but may be

seen . Provision s are plenty . Wi th respect to trade with the Malays ,i ts loca l s i tua tion gives i t very grea t advantages . T he establishmentof the new settlement under Capt . Light may, we think , be verybeneficia l to all Brit ish sh ips pas sing the S tra i ts o f Malacca ; andthe E as t India Company , at a t riv ial expense , may perhaps obtai nadvantages from i t equal t o those which the Dutch derive fromtheir settlement a t Malacca .

(S igned) T HO S . WALL.

R ICHD . LE W I N , Jun .

Lat i tude of N . end of Pinang, 5

°

28’N .

PU Lo Pix ii x c,August 1 1, 1786.

Aa‘of Possession .

T hese are t o cert i fy that,agreeable to my orders and instruc

t ions from the H onourable Governor-G eneral and Council of

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30 FOR /VA T I ON OF T II E

puting abou t the ground, every one build ing as fas t as they can .

T he French padre from Q uedda has erected his cross here, andi n two months more i t will never be bel ieved tha t this place wasnever before inhab i ted . T he old inhabitants on the i sland amountt o 58 persons of all ages and sexes ; they l ive abou t four or fivemiles from us

,near the hil ls , i n a most del igh tful s i tua tion . W e are

upon a point of sand about 200 yards broad , the sea open to theN . E . and S E ,

the ma in abou t two miles from us , wh ich , wi th thedis tant mounta in s and i slands , affords a most del ightful prospect .On the N W . s ide from the poin t ex tends a beach of fine firm sand

,

about four miles in length , bending into a smal l bay, from whichruns a river of fine clear wa ter , and ends at a steep point of rockson the south s ide the beach i s l ikewise plea sant and easy

,but i s

interrupted with sma l l creeks , and very soon ends in a j ungle.

C lo se to the poin t i s 1 1 or 12 fa thoms ; the ships lay within the

ha i l of u s . I have erected a fort of neebon s, a species of palmyra ,*

the outs ide of whi ch is nearly finished this wil l defend us againstany sudden a t tack

,and there i s no fear of their coming in form

while we have S hips to protect the roads but whenever they aregone away we may expect a vis i t . T he distance i s s o smal l fromhence to S umatra tha t the prows can come at all sea sons . T he

Acheen N oqueda who cu t off Bayne i s settled a t Quedda ; he hassent h is prows here with betel nut . I think i t proper to keep on goodterms wi th him , and all thei r rogues

,unti l we are i n a sta te to en

force order . T he vessel s for Pegu will procure cargoes mucheas ier here than at Acheen our s i tuat ion i s so centrica l tha t wemust possess the grea ter part of the produce of the stra i ts , i n spi teof the D utch ; as thi s i s not unknown to them ,

we must expectevery interruption in their power. I can safely affirm tha t theE nglish have no place i n India which can come in competi t ionwi th this ; we only want a sufficien t strength here t o protect u saga ins t the p iratica l part of the E as t .”

E x tract of a Leller from Capta i n FR AN C I S LIGHT to Mr .AN D R E W R O S S

,a’a lecl Forl Corizzoallis, D ecember 28

,1 788 .

I have been favoured with yours o f August 1 1 by Captai nC orner, who arrived here Augu st 24 , and sai led Augus t 30 ;nei ther the Ceres nor Cornwallis

,nor any other vessel , ca l led here

from Madras . I am sorry to observe we have many enemies ,who strive to render u s as much inj ury as they can . I have not

yet heard of any plausible reason for their d isconten t ; whatevereffect thei r mal ice may have in Bengal, they are able to do u s

T he neebon , or annebon, is not a species of palmyra , though a palm ; itis wha t is usually called the cabbage- t ree (Areca n ibung,

E S T AB LIS HM E N T ON FOOLO P E E N AN G . 3 1

l i ttle hurt here. Our t own increases very fa s t , and with some verycreditable families of Chinese, Malabar . and Malays . W e havecultiva ted this year more than 4 00 acres

,and the people are so

wel l sat isfied with the produce of thei r labour tha t every one i semployed in clearing the woods for cul tivat ion . I have not theleas t doubt but in the space of seven years t ha t G overnmen twill be able to ra i se a revenue equa l to the expense withou ttaxing the trade or distressing the inhabitants .

I thank you kindly for the offer of age: molly ; the plant i scommon here.

”

Mr . Andrew R oss al so sen t me a copy of a letter he hadreceived from Capta i n Franci s Light , dated Prince—Wales I sland

,

February 1,1 787, of which the following i s an extract

I have been exceedingly il l of a fever,and am now so weak

tha t I cannot wri te but a few l ines a t a time .

When I left Bengal , so much time had elapsed in the prepara~

t ion tha t I became doubtful of succes s . I suspected the D utchwould throw as many obs tacles as they could in my way . T he

grea t men of Quedda i n genera l were averse t o the E nglishsettl ing here. I t happened , a s I expected , the D utch had sent anemba ssy to Quedda , and when I arrived the Laxamana and officersra i sed so many d ifficul ties tha t I could hardly obta in permiss ionof the King [of Quedda] to come to the i sland . In order tobegin a s peaceably as possible, I signed an agreemen t tha t I wouldgive the King [of Quedda] half of the profi ts ari s ing from the salesof t in

,opium

,and ra ttans, unti l the letters from the H on . Company

should arrive.

“Our inhabitants i ncrease very fas t, and did not the D utchkeep a s trict wa tch over the Chinese

,most of them would leave

Ma lacca ; forty of them had prepared to come i n the D rake,but

were stopped by order of the [Dutch] G overnment, and not a man

i s al lowed to leave Malacca without giving securi ty he wil l not goto Peenang.

“A Makau - ship intended to come here, but the S habandarcal led the capta in as ide when hewas abou t to depart , and told himby no means to stop at Peenang, for there were thirty - four prowsgone to cut off the settlement . T he contempt and deri s ion withwhich they treat thi s place

,and the mean dirty art they use

t o prevent people coming here, would dishonour any but a

D utchman .

“ Capta in H al l,of the Worcester (on hi s passage to China),

reached no further than Pedro Branco , when he bore up toMalacca

,and intends staying there un ti l May . I wrote to h im of

a settlement being establ ished here by order of G overnment ;i f N .B .

— From the sequel it appears th is was the case in three years.

32 FOR /11A T ION OF T H E

and told him his coming here would be of particular service tothi s place . T he man pretended not to know anything of themat ter . T he commanders of the country ships entrea ted him tocome , and offered thei r service t o conduct him but he sa id h ehad no business to obey my orders without the Company’ s seal .My letter did not conta in a s ingle word which could be cons truedan order .

“W e are much d is tressed for bricks , or brickmakers , as allour buildings at present are of very combu stible material s .

“ I have received nothing from the Bengal Government s incemy departure from Calcutta .

”

By way of completing the series , I shal l transcribe a shorta ccoun t given in the introduction to the third number of vol . i.

,by

Mr. T opping, of the sta te of Prince—Wal e s Island in 1 789I t must be very sa t isfactory to the public to see the following

a ccoun t of the trade of tha t infant settlement,which , a l though

the fi rst but on the i sland was bui l t no longer ago than July 1786,has now a spacious town and a colony of nearly inhabi tantsfrom i t s trade i t bears the expenses of the civi l and mili taryestablishments .

Al though i t never can become the emporium of th e O rienta lPolynesia i t may be a very profitable commercia l settl ement ifduly countenanced and protected

,but all i nfant establi shments

require so much nursing tha t I am afra id,i n the grea t concerns on

the cont inent of India,thi s set tl ement may be overlooked and

neglected.

General R eview of I mports and E xpor/s a t Frince I/Vales

Island between Marc/z and N ovember 1 789 .

E XPO R T S .

On ships to China, &c .

011 Malay prows285 ches ts Opium sold

T otalIMPO R T S .

By prows , in these eigh t mon th sfly sh ips , in th ree mon th sfly the Hon . Company

’ s opiumBy priva te opium

T otal 4 2

E S T AB LIS HME N T ozvP OOLo FE E N AN G . 33

POOLoo PE E N AN G, O R PR I N CE - WALE S I S LAN D .

On August 20,1803 , I received the following paper from my

friend S irJoseph Banks,conta in ing the information received from

a gentleman then la tely arrived from Prince - Wa les I sland :T hrough the unremitting zeal and a t tention of Mr . Christopher

Smith, appointed by the Government in India, i n the beginning of1796, to proceed to the eas tward and through the Mullucka

I slands , for the purpose of collecting the spice plants of variou skinds, hitherto sole* nat ives of these .parts , with instruction s toforward such as he should be abl e to procure to Prince - WalesI sland ; i t being thought the most congenial cl imate for makingan experiment on . We are now become mas ters of every kind ofsp ice- plant

,ei ther valuable or uncommon . T he most sanguine

expectat ions could scarcely have looked for such a successfuli ssu e from the experiment .

“Mr. Smith’ s known character as a botanis t, added to hi sunwearied a ttent ion to the duties of hi s profession , certa inly weregrounds for hope

,when a ided by the warm pa tronage and support

of such a character as the presen t Governor of our E a sternpossess ions

, Marquis Wel lesl ey, under whose fostering hand everyexertion tending to the publ i c good is sure of meeting i t sreward . We are happy to hear that Mr. S mith

,after having had

the troub l e of collecting, i s now appointed sole superintenden t ofthe rearing and bringing to perfect ion the botanical gardens on

Prince-Wa les I sland .

“ T he nutmeg and clove trees are i n the very highest s tate ofheal th and perfect ion for the time they have been there, as i s th ecinnamon tree. In a very few years we shal l not only be able tostock our own markets wi th all sorts of spice from Prince -Wal e sI sland , but a l so have the sat isfaction of supplying our neighboursat ful l as cheap a rate as they can purchase el sewhere .

“A spice so much in general u se as the black pepper should not b eforgotten . T he i sland will, with ease, next year be able to furnish2000 tons of that article

,equal

,i f not superior, to any produced

ei ther on the coast of Malabar or on the i sland of S umatra .

W e do not understand tha t the Company hitherto have purchased any pepper at P rince—Wa les Island , which they certa inlynow ought to do otherwise th e Americans , and other foreignerswho procure i t there at a moderate rate, will b e able to undersel lus in our own markets

,with the produce of our own settl ement .

“Very few spots on th e habitable globe are equal to i t . A

medical gentl eman there told the following fact , as a proof of theT his is a mistake. M . D

’E tchevery in 1770, at G eby, got them from

Patane, the eastern part of H alamahera,usually called G ilolo they were fi rst

carried to Mauritius , and afterwa rds to Cayenne and the French W es t IndiaIslands . M‘

Cluer a lso got at Geby, in 1794 , nutmeg plan ts of theround k ind, with the nuts at their roots .

34 FOR MAT ION OF T H E

heal thiness of the i sland . Between February 1802 and February1803, a space of one year, 800 men were sent i nto the hospita lfrom various sh ips arriving there

,and convicts from the differen t

settlements,out of which number only the smal l port ion of 16

died , the rest being discharged perfectly recovered .

*

“ T imber nowhere grows to greater perfection than on thi si sland ; one tree, lying on the beach , ready prepared as a ma s tfor a ship

,was perfectly s tra igh t

,wi thout a flaw

, measured inlength 105 feet .1

‘

“ T he india—rubber plan t i s very common on the hill s,and

requires bu t very l i t tl e exertion to prevent our seeking for therubber ou t of our own possess ion s .

“ T he i sland has now upwards of soul s set tled on i t,

and i t i s dai ly increas ing in populat ion and elegan ce .”

I t wil l b e a proper appendage to give a l i s t of the clove ,nutmeg

,and other va luable plants col lected on account of th e

E as t India Company , and sh ipped in th e following vessel s byMr. Christopher S mith—viz

S hips’ N ames.E lizaAu roraCartierS taffordAmboynaT homasS uccess GalleyR ebeccaB angaloreR ubyU nicornS wallowS ylphLa Imperieuse

B anga loreE xpedi tionCen tu rionO rpheu sD over CastleH un terCommerceP rincess Charlo t teQueen Cha rlotte

Grand total

I t is to be observed that s ick from sh ips may be generally supposed to beperson s affected w ith scurvy, who are, in the early period of the disease,a lmos t ins tan taneously recovered by the a ir and refreshments at land. I t isa lone from the propor tion of dea th s in the cons tan t inhabi tants of any placetha t an estimate can be made of its salubri ty of clima te.

t I t , is alleged these s ticks, ormasts , are not the product ion of Prince-W alesIsland but of S iacca or S uma t ra .

Where landed. N umber of Plan ts.P inangD o . 16 383Cape Good Hope, S t.Helena , KewP inangD0.

Do .

MadrasD o . 133PinangD o .

Do . 5, 122Do .

D o .

Kew Gardens 78P inang 3, 505Do .

Madra s 118Kew Garden s 55D o .

Calcutta 265P inang 21

Kew Garden s 79Pinang 18 , 501

E S T AB LIS HME IVT ON P OOLO PE E N AN G . 35

Abstract account of the above plants, vizN utmegC loveVa riety of rare and valuable

T otal

N . B .- Of the above sp ice plants there are nutmeg plants ,

which he collected at the ancient Moluccas , of which werethe royal nutmeg, and i t was from those islands the clove andnutmeg plants were origina l ly introduced to the Amboina and

Banda i slands .“He a l s o shipped off during his residence at the Moluccas

23 lasts and upwards of canary and gomutee s eeds .

E x tract of a Letter, dated P inang, N ovember 9, 1805,per snipD eoaynes .

”

We have been not a l it tle surprised by the very sudden and

e xtensive change i n our Government here . On wha t principleor by wha t informa t ions they have been i nduced to do this

, the

residents here are total ly at a loss to guess . As for the i slandb eing able to pay the expense i s a j oke al together the trade herei s entirely a passing one, and affords a mere brokerage

,of course

when the duty to be levied on goods , ei ther on the import orexport (for the home consumption is nothing worth ment ioning)exceeds or equal s thi s brokerage, which i t eas ily may do, our trademust cease

,and as i t produced the population

,and agai n the cu l

tivation ,these two in all probab i l i ty will not long survi ve it.*

“T he present G overnor (Capt . Philip D undas) s eems a verymi ld and modera te man ,

and one whom I do not think wil l rashlycommit the welfare of the i sland to any vague or idea l plan ofcollect ing revenue I therefore trus t much to this

,for the continu

ance of the l i t tl e consequence this b i t of a p lace has ob ta ined in.the world .

“Much seems to be expected at home by shipbuilding here,

but we have no teak here , or in the neighbourhood all comes fromR angoon . T he t imber we have i s much d ispersed , and must becollected and brough t to the island every other article requiredmust al so be imported

,all thi s mus t enhance their price

,and al so

render the supply uncerta in .

“ T hose vessel s wh ich have a lready been buil t here have all

As pepper is now produced in large quan ti ties, it is not l ikely the inhabi tan t s would leave it un less the impos t s were enormous . A grea ter danger isfrom the gaming licences to the Ch inese, who require the s tric t res tra in t of lawto preven t this vice, to wh ich they are very much addicted

,but which is s trictly

prohibited in China to all but the soldiers.

D 2

36 FOR MAT ION OF T H E

cost very dear, and have been a ttended with con siderab l e difficultyin procuring the timber for the frames . T he plank ought to beteak , as, unles s madang , we have not any plank tha t s tands wel l ,and thi s

,the Malays say, i s l iable to get wa ter- soaked and heavy.

I f the Company confine themselves to making thi s a placefor par tial repa irs and refi tting vessel s , t ogether with refreshingtheir crews

,they will find thi s place ful ly adequate to thi s

,and a

most useful and convenient port of connection between China and

India ; but i f they look for revenu e and cheap shipbui ld ing, I fearthey wil l find themselves sadly mistaken .

“Our t ides do not ri se, one spring with another, above 8 feet atthe highest cal culat ion .

”

As the most importan t cons iderat ion i n the establ ishment ofPrince Wales- Island , as i t now stands , i s in respect to the marineyard , I have thought i t proper to inser t the following informationfrom the Calcutta Mon t/zly j ournal for Apri l and May 1806

,as

i t gives reason to doubt ob ta in ing a supply of teak timber fromPegu but

,on the o ther hand , i t appears tha t supply may be had

in our own territories .CALC U T T A, April 26, 1806.

By letters from R angoon , the Pearl, Captai n Basden , fromB ombay, had arrived. T imber

,i t i s sa id , was very scarce and

high in price.

Calcutta Mont/zly f ournal for May 1806.

On Monday se’nnigh t was launched from the yard of Messrs .

John G ilmore and Co . a nob le ship of nearly tons ad

mea suremen t she was named the Fort William.

“We understand thi s ship i s des tined for the China trade , i nthe service of the H onourab le Company, agreeably to proposalspubl ished by the Court of D irectors for engaging India - bui l tships of suflicient dimension s for the regular China trade, i n consequence

,i t i s understood

,of restrict ions which Governmen t has

laid on building any more large China ships i n E ngland, whosescantl ing of timber i s equa l to tha t of l ine - of—ba ttle ships , from an

apprehended scarcity of such timber {Or the publ ic service .

”

Calcutta Mont/zly y our/ml for May 1806.

(From B ombay Courier, April 26,

O n Monday a beautiful l i ttle ship , for the servic e of th eH onourable Company’ s Marine, was launched from the yard inthe presence of a concourse of E uropean and nat ive spectators .S he was named the Mercury .

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T H E GOLD OF LIMONO .

B y Mr . MACDON ALD , wit/z a Specimen of Gola’

.

Asiatic R esearches,”vol. i. (Calcutta , p. 336

T H E country of Limong ,l on the i sland of S uma tra

,immediately

contiguous to th e Pres idency of Fort Marlbrough, and betweens eventy and eigh ty miles inland , produces the finest gold and golddus t on tha t i sland . T he Limong gold merchants repa ir annual lyto Marlbrough for the purcha se of opium and such other art iclesas they may be i n want of, i n exchange for which they giv e goldof so pure a na ture as to conta in l it tle or no a l loy. T he gold i sfound sometimes in dust, and often lodged in a very hard stone .I t i s of a whiti sh colour

, and resembl es tha t i n which the vein srun i n the gold mines of T i lt il in Chili . T he gold i s extracted bybeating the compound mass in order to disengage i t from the

s tone , which flies off i n splin ters and leaves the gold cleared ofi t . T hi s i s the mode used by a rude people

,by which a par t of

th e gold must be los t in the spl inters of th e s tone, which fly offi n beating the mass . T hey are to tally ignorant of the advantageof grinding i t to a gross powder

,mixing i t with qu icksilver

,and

separa ting the earthen and s tony particles from those of the goldby the action of a s tream of wa ter on th i s paste, carrying off theformer and leaving the la t ter precip itated to the bottom by thei rgreater weigh t . T hey are almost entirely ignorant of the pr incip lesof a ssaying and amalgamation

,but are extremely expert i n

s eparat ing part icles of foreign metal s from gold - dust by a verysuperior acuteness of vi sion

,no doubt ari sing from experience

,

and not a peculiar gift . T hey have people among them who are

gold - cleaners by occupa tion . T he gold i s found in a species ofearth composed of a clayi sh -red loam . On digging the earth i t i sfound to consis t of strata (under the loam of the surface commonlycal led soi l) of irregular - shaped stones of a mouldering nature,mixed wi th a red clay

,and hard pebbles m ixed with a pale red

clay of a more dense consi s tency than tha t of the firs t s tra tum .

T he firs t s tratum ex tends to a depth of three feet and a half, and

the second to somewha t l ess. T he consi stency under these s tratai s formed of ei ther hard rock or of gravel nearly approaching toi t. T he gold i s found mix ed with a s tone of a hard nature and

1[More co rrectly, Limun. ]

T H E GOLD OF s os . 39

capable of susta in ing a pol i sh . I t i s found near the surface, and

generally in a soi l frees t from sol id rock .

T he merchants who bring the gold for sa l e are not themselvesthe finders or gatherers of i t, but receive i t for merchandize fromthe Malays inhab i ting the in terior parts of the country. T he

na tive indolence of the Malay dispos ition prevents them fromcollecting more than is suffici en t to supply the few and s implewants of a race of men as yet unenlightened by civi l ization and

science, and ignorant of the ful l extent of the advantages of thecountry inhabited by them . We have not to this hour explored a

country which,we have rea son to suppose, produces more or as

much gold as ei ther Peru or Mexico . T hi s may be attributedpartly to the difficul t ies incident to the undertaking, and partly t oa wan t of curiosi ty tha t , indulged , might have been productive ofgreat national and private advantages . T he roads leading to th i sgolden country are a lmost imperviou s , affording only a scanty pa tht o a s ingle traveller

,where whole nights must b e passed in the

open air, exposed to the malignant influence of a hostile cl ima t e,

in a country infes ted by the most ferocious wild bea sts . T heseare circumstances that have hi therto checked curios ity, but perseverance and contrived precaution will surmount the obstacl es theyfurnish , and such discoveries migh t be made as would amplycompensate for the difficul ties leading to them . T he goldmerchants who come from the neighbouring and less rich countri esgive u s such accounts of the facil i ty of procuring gold as bordern early on the marvellou s

,and would be al together incredibl e i f

great quantities of tha t metal produced by them did not in a grea tmeasure evince the certainty of their accounts . I have seen an

imperfect char t of a part of th e interior country , made by an

intell igent nat ive on the scal e of the rate of hi s walking, and fromthe respect ive s i tua tions of the sun in regard to hi s posi t ion . I tc onta ined a cha in of what h e cal led gold mines, extending inlati tude

,n early

,not much les s than three degrees . T his chart is in

the possession of Mr . Miller, of the Counci l of Fort Marlbrough,who did me th e favour of expla in ing i t . After making al lowance sfor the l icence of a traveller, some credi t may be given to th i schart, more especial ly as we are wel l a ssured that tha t par t ofS umatra produces large quant it ies of fine gold . T he resul t of th ewhol e i s

,that i t would be a very laudable object to explore those

ri ch countries, and to establ i sh the working of gold mines in them ,

as i t could be done under a certain prospect of advantage. T he

expense ari sing from clearing the country— procuring intel l igence,making roads, establ ish ing and forming posts of communicat ion ,and of employing profess ional men— would

,undoubtedly, be at

first very considerable,but th e resulting advantages would defray

these,and render it a matter of surprise tha t a measure attended

with such obvious uti l i ty had not been adopted at an earl ier period .

4 0 ON TH R E E N AT U R AL PR OD U C T ION S

I t i s more than probab l e tha t S umatra must have been theO ph ir of S olomon ’s t ime . T his conjecture derives no smal l forcefrom the word O phir’

5 being real ly a Ma lay substant ive of a compound sense

,s ignifying a mounta in conta ining gold . T he na tives

have no oral or written tradition on the subj ect , excepting tha t thei sland has in former t imes afforded gold for exporta tion ; whether tothe eas tward or wes tward rema ins an uncerta in ty . We have certa inaccounts that th e vessel s tha t imported thi s ar ticl e were longdeta ined

,or did not return in much l ess than a year . I t i s there

fore probabl e tha t they wintered , during the violence of the southwest monsoon , ei ther at Ceylon or on the north - east coast , andcompleted their voyages during the moderate part of the othermonsoon.

1

ON THRE E NAT U RAL PROD U CT ION S

OF S U MATRA .

B y JOH N MACDON ALD, E sq .

(“Asiatic R esearches, vol. iv. pp. I9

'

33~]

I .—O N T H E CAMPHO R OF S U MAT R A.

IN answer to some ques t ion s put to me by t he Pres ident of th eAs ia t i c S ociety

,respecting camphor oil

,I have the pleasure of

giv ing the solut ion conta ined in the following short account .Camphor 011, one of the essentia l o il s , i s actually camphor beforethe opera t ions of N a ture on i t have reduced i t to the concreteform in which i t i s found in th e tree . When Mr. Marsden composed hi s j ustly admired H i s tory of S umatra

,the preva lent Opin ion

on this subj ect was,tha t the oi l and the concreted camphor were

never found in the same tree . I have the authority of a gentleman (Li eutenant Lewis), wel l informed on this subj ect from aresidence of many years in the country producing the camphor,t o differ from tha t generally accurate author

,by saying tha t he

has seen a tree, three- quarters of a mile from the sea , near T appanooly, from which three catt ies (above three pounds) of cam

phor, and at the same t ime near two gal lon s o f oil , had been

1 [S ee“Jaarboek van het mijnwezen in N ederlandsch Oost~ Iiidie

'

, vol. i.of 1881, p. 9 1 ;

“ M idden - S uma tra,

” 1. ii. p. 183 ff. ; II. p. 151 112]

OF S U MA T E A . 4 1

procured. I f a tree b e old and yield oil plentifully, the nat ive sesteem these two circumstances sure indica tions of i ts containinga cons iderable quanti ty of camphor. Mr . Macquer

,i n h is Chemi

cal D i ctionary,has remarked tha t the n itrous acid dissolves cam

phor without commotion,that the solution i s clear and limpid, and

that i t i s ca l led camphor o il . T his affords a proof tha t the formedcamphor i s produced from the oil by a natural opera tion of compos it ion

,the decomposit ion by means of the above solvent re

ducing the substance to i ts primary s tate previous to concretion .

T he Achines e are reckoned the best j udge s of camphor, and theoil they collect undergoes a process by distil lation , leaving a

res iduum of inferior camphor. T ree s of a certa i n age only yieldcamphor . I t would seem tha t a certa in t ime i s requis ite forma turing the oi l to that s ta te when its conta ined camphor becomes fi t for being concreted by the heat of the sun acting on

the tree and soil . T he camphor - tree i s one of the E nneana’ria

monogynia of Linnaeus,1and differs in a smal l variation in the

form of the leaf from the Arbor Campnorzfera y aponica , follislaurinis, fraela paroo, calyce breuissimo. T he tree very muchresembles the bay in leaves . T he trunk i s thick , the bark of abrownish appearance

,and the ramifica tion strong, close, and ex

tended . I t i s fond of a rich red loam tending to a blackish clay,mixed with a crumb l ing stone of the colour of marle. I t growsprincipal ly on the N W . s ide of S umatra, from the l ine 3

°

N .

nearly . T he wood is u seful for domes tic purposes , being softand eas ily worked . I t i s by many imagined that camphor is produced by a chemical proces s . T his i s a mistaken idea

,farther

than regards the inferior kind ari s ing from the disti lla tion of theoil. I sha l l give a brief account of the mode of ob ta in ing and

preparing i t, as practised by the nat ives of S umatra , from thet ime of the establishment of the E nglish on the i s land. T he

S umatrans,previous to thei r s ett ing ou t

,

i n ques t of camphor,

a ssemble on the confines of th e country they in tend exploring,and discharge a variety of rel igious duties and ceremonies, caleulated , in their Opinion , to promote the future success of theirundertaking. T hey enter the woods

,and

,from experience

,soon

dist ingui sh such trees a s conta in camphor . T hey pierce x them,

and i f they yield oi l plentifully,i t i s presumed they conta i n con

creted camphor,which i s found in smal l whiti sh flakes

,s i tua ted

perpendicularly in regular veins i n and near the centres of thet rees . T he tree i s cu t down , divided into j unks , and carefullyd ivested of i ts camphor . When the oil has been drawn off fromyoung trees, the camphor which they afterwards afford i s of al ess valuable na ture

,and i s termed bel ly or foot camphor, i n pro

portion to the degree of affinity i t bears to head, or the bes t sort .1[D ryobalanops Camphora Colebr. Filet , N o . 7513, b

G ives the indigenousname S z

'

mar ban taz'

y an . O thers have Marabantayan , S imarabantayan .

4 2 ON T H R E E N AT U R AL PR OD U CT ION S

When brought for sal e , i t i s repeatedly soaked and washed insoapy wa ter, t o separa te from i t all heterogeneous and sandy

part icle s tha t may have adhered to i t . When clean, i t wil l s inkin wa ter, and be of a white, glossy, smooth appearance, tendingto transparency . After it has been washed , i t is passed throughthree s ieves of differing textures , so as t o be divided into head ,b el ly , and foot camphor ; certa in proport ion s of each composethe chest s made up for the China market

,where they are sold for

£350 sterling n early. T he capoor*(a word of Arabic origin)

mat ee,or dead camphor

,i s carefully separated from the three

divis ion s,by an acuteness of di stinction acquired by the eye and

hand from hab i t and attention,and being mixed with the imper

feet kind mentioned above,i s pounded in a mortar and distri

buted among proportiona l quantit i es of foot camphor . T hiscapoor

- ma tee i s somet imes procured by boiling down the thickestpart of the oil

,or by taking the sediment of the best oil after

i t has set tled at l eas t twenty- fou r hours . Camphor oi l i s foundto be a sovereign remedy for stra in s, brui ses , and other externa lpains , from its penetrating qual i ty in entering the pores , and

gently agitat ing the affected parts,so as to quicken the s tagna ted

c ircula tion . T he i n ternal (anodyn e and diaphoret ic) and the externa l (antispasmodic and seda t ive) virtues of camphor are wel lknown . T he oi l i s found to possess these i n a certa in degree,and to be useful in removing the pa inful spasms of th e nerves andtendons by dissipating the surrounding acrid humours . Whenthe oi l i s used

,i t must be formed into a l iniment, as i t would a lone

occas ion pa in , from its strength . T he oil , appl ied to sores onhorses, has been found very beneficial . In th is ca se i t ought tobe mixed with the j uice of tobacco . S umatra affords annuallyfrom fifteen to twenty peonls (133 3 pounds each) of camphor,and more oil than there 18 at present a demand for. T he Chinesepurcha se i t ; and i t i s not clearly ascerta ined whether they use i tall in China, or make a factitiou s species of i t, by admixture ofJapanese camphor, for the E urope market : the la tter i s general lysupposed . I t is highly probable tha t the price of camphor wi l lin process of t ime ri se to an enormous degree, as one tree inthree hundred Is not found to conta in camphor

,and when found

i s immediately cut down,in consequence of which the plant

must soon become scarce,and the produce proportionably dear.

I t Is to be hoped that the oi l will,in thi s event

,be found by th e

facul ty to posses s all the useful qual i tie s of th is va luable medicine.I have the satisfaction of accompanying this paper with a specimen

, though a smal l one,of the camphor-wood with a smal l

quaiitity of the substance i n i t , the res t having evaporated fromlength of time. I f this accoun t should afford any informat ion to

Caj a’

r in Arabic, and earpu'

r in S anscrit.

OF S U MA T E A. 4 3

the President and Members of the As iat ic S ociety, my intentionwi l l be fully answered.

1

I I .—O N T H E COR AL OF S U MAT R A.

I f this paper should be deemed worthy of a place i n the T ransactions of the Asiat ic S ociety, the in sertion I must stil l cons ideras an indulgence, and my at tempt a proof that I am more anxiousthan able to increase the genera l s tock of E astern natura l knowledge recorded in the useful annal s of the S ociety. S pecimens ofcoral, for your acceptance and for the i llus tra tion of this subject,are now forwarded .

T he appearance of S uma tran coral does not al together correspond with the descript ions of the plant hi therto given .

’Ie T hisinduces me to describe such parts as are imperfectly

"

represented .

T he plant to which the variou s species of cora l belong i s one ofthe Cryptogamiae of Linnaeus , and may be reckoned one of theH erbae Marinac of T ournefort, of the H erbae Imperfectae of Mr.R ay. I t may be reduced to three colours

,red, black, and

whitish—yel low the last i s the most common in the E astern seas .I t i s of a fungous texture, equal ly hard ou t of and in it s naturalelement ; and i t s pores are charged with a ju ice of a milky ap

pearance, in some degree acrid . T he bark covers every part ofthe tree, and contains a number of perfora ted papillae terminatingi n tubes , having two or more holes in each , intended , I imagine,for the admission of the matter affording nutriment to the plan t .T he interna l project ions of the papillae adhere to the part icles ofsand and stone on which the cora l grows, and are the only ap

pearance of roots i t exhibits . On examining the in ternal extremit ies of these papillae by means of glasses

,some very sma l l

ramifications are discovered . T hese are very easily observed inthe papillae

,which are a ttached to the bark of the root . T he

tree i s sa id to grow to the height of two feet I have seen someas high as ten feet . From these and other differences in appearance, I am apt to think tha t some E uropean and Indian cora l sare not the same

,but species of the same genus . From the very

rapid growth of coral on the wes t coas t of S uma t ra and i n the

E astern seas in genera l, as wil l be shown in this paper, there can

subsis t but l i t tle doub t tha t i t i s a vegetable substance, though

1[Ma rsden ’ s “H is tory of S umatra , third edi t ion p. 149 if . S ;

M u l ler, “ B ijdragen tot de kennis van S uma t ra ”(Leiden , pp. 17—19 .

T ijdschrift voor I ndische taal land en volkenkunde iv . p. 24 7 f. Yule’ sN o te in his edi tion ofMa rco Polo, ii. p. 24 4 fl

'

. O Mohn ike,“ Blicke auf

das Pflanzen und T hierleben in den N ieder l . Malaienlandern”(Munster, 188

pp. 167, 274 . A . H . B isscho G revelink, Plan ten van N ederlandsch - I ndie”.

(Amsterdam , p. 4 51 ff.

S ee the remark at the end of th is paper .

4 4 ON T H R E E N AT U R AL PR OD U CT ION S

there have not been wanting some who have supposed i t a foss i lformed like crystal s and spars , and others , eminent natural is t s ,who have ranked it among the animal tribes . Boccone discovered tha t thi s plant encloses a nutritiou s j uice under its barkand Count Marsigli remarked and observed i ts flowers and seeds .I shal l here insert Marsigli

’

s accura te experiment , which affordsthe decis ion of almost absolute demonstrat ion in favour of coralbeing a vegeta ting plant — “H aving steeped some cora l freshga thered in sea -wa ter

,he perceived in a short t ime tha t the l i ttl e

ruddy tubercles which appeared on the surface of the bark begangradual ly to unfold

,and at length opened into white flowers in

the form of stars with eigh t points, which were sustained by a

li t tl e calyx,divided in l ike manner into eigh t parts . U pon taking

the coral ou t of the water,the flowers immediately closed , and

returned into red tubercles as before,which tubercles , being closely

squeezed , yielded a sort of milky j uice, and upon returning thecora l in to the water as before

,the tubercles in an hour’s t ime

opened or flowered afresh and th i s was continued for s ix or eightdays , when the buds

,or tubercles, ceased to bl ow any more .

In ten or twel ve days they became detached from the coral , andsunk to the bottom , i n form of l it tl e yel low ba l ls . T hese tuberc les , then , according to the analogy of plants , should b e theflowers of coral

,and the milky viscid j uice conta ined therein ,

the pollen ; accordingly i t i s held that, when this j u ice falls ona properly- disposed body

,or nidus

,a new cora l arises therefrom ,

and the analysi s of cora l answers precisely to tha t of other sea

plants, all of them afford ing a volati le urinous sal t , and a thick,

b lackish,foetid 011

”(“ E lementa Chemiae

” of Boerhaave,vol . i .

p . 135, note ; and Me’

m. de l’Acad. an .

W hether,after all

,the striated papil lae, which are of a s tellar

figure, and the two or more apertures of which are divided general ly into twelve parts

,conta in an an imal

,whose labour produces

the growth of the coral,or who inhabits the coral for its own im

media te sa ti sfaction,is a ques tion tha t has been much agi tated ,

withou t a ffording any certa in conclusions . Monsieui de Peyssonnel

,after having inquired into and discu ssed the variou s

arguments for and aga ins t coral ’ s being a petrification or a congela t ion , concludes tha t i t i s the work of an i nsect , which hedenominates an U rtica

, Purpura, or Polype, tha t contracts in air,expands in wa ter

,and i s sensible to touch or th e action of an

acid . From Marsigli’

s experiment,as reci ted above, I th ink we

may safely conclude tha t Peyssonnel mis took the matter, and

supposed a flower an insect ; for i t i s well known tha t manyflowers , 011 being plunged in to an acid , will exhibi t s igns of contraction and movemen t . W e observe many growing substanceswhich are inhabi ted by animal s

,or insects

,merely for their con

venience,and not to promote the growth of such substances ,

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4 6 ON T H R E E N A T U R AL PR OD U CT ION S

a few bushes growing on i t,formed on the top of the shoal , which

l ies nearly i n th ir ty - seven fathoms of wa ter. I could not m istakethi s shoal , as there was no other contiguous to i t , and as my char t

,

by which I suggest th e safest course to run in , then lay beforeme. In May and S eptember 1789 I had an opportunity in going to and re turn ing from T appanooly harbour (which I had beend irected to survey), to be aga in on several of the shoal s includedi n my chart of the coasts of the Dutch dis tricts

,and, according

to my expectat ions, found the depth of the wa ter on them considerably diminished since the survey had been taken . In March1 790 I was sent for by a gentleman at Fort Marlborough

,whose

house commanded a v iew of the sea , to observe the water breaking on two shoa l s i n the roads . T his gentleman had res ided onthe coa s t near fifteen years , and frequently in th i s house, withou thaving observed these shoal s , which , had they appeared at anyformer period

,must have been remarked

,their s i tuat ion being

clearly and dis tinctly exposed to the da i ly and immedia te obser

vat ion of the s ettlement . At the distance of s even miles fromFort Marlborough , nearly in a south - wes t direction , there i s asma l l i sland having a few cocoa- nu t trees on i t . T hirty miles

(or i t may b e twenty- five) distant from this i sland,one of th e

northern pepper settlements is si tua ted on a rising ground. T he

gentleman res iding there has informed me tha t he has a lways beenab l e to dist ingui sh the ma sts of vessel s lying a t anchor near thi si sland , and that he lately twice dis tinctly, i n the proper bearing ,observed the trees of the i sland

,but tha t afterwards

,from hazy

weather,or some other affection of the a tmosphere

,he could not

p erce ive th e i sland,or rather the tree s on i t. Former res idents

of Laye,the place of observation

,have i n va in , when using the

b es t glasses , looked for th is i sland , invisib le t il l lately . S uch arethe s tubborn facts , which may be adduced in proof

,not only of

th e very rapid growth of coral , but al so of the format ion of i slandsfrom i t as a necessary and observed consequence. T he growthof coral alone may not produce this effect ; other a iding circumstances may in tervene. Boccone and Marsigli have remarkedthat, when cora l m eets with s tones , coarse sand , or any other subs tances , it seizes them firmly. and speedily i ncludes them withina s trong extension of its close ramificat ions . T hese collection si n sea s , subj ect to frequent s torms and agitat ions

,must be con

siderable, and promote in no smal l de gree the eleva tion of islands.E arthquakes are very frequently fel t on this i sland , and on th econtiguous ones . S evera l shocks are sometimes experienced during th e course of a month . I t i s observable tha t this tremendousphenomenon in i ts progres s undulates the space i t moves ortravels under, and tha t the concave parts of these undulationsopen into fissures

,when the motion i s violent . I t i s not impro

babl e bu t that such openings take place under shoal s, or immedi

OF S U MA T R A. 4 7

a tely contiguous to them . In this case , t o preserve the equilibriumit seems reasonable to suppose tha t the surrounding land and

subs tances wil l rush in,hurried a long by the genera l move

ment, in a grea ter quantity,from the degree of momentum

impell ing them,than what occupied the space of the

fi ssure when at res t . T hese h iatu s take place only on thes ide of the undulat ion from which the earthquake proceeds

,and

the sand on tha t s ide,now inclining to re s t after having experi

enced the shock,but s til l pos ses s ing a tendency to move i n the

direction of the earthquake, will na tura lly fa ll into the hiatusopened for its reception before the undulat ion can reverbera t einto i ts original posit ion . H ence the shoa l

,or island , will be i n

some degree ra i sed,by an effect s imilar to tha t of a lever though

by different means . T hese i slands and shoa l s being furtherremoved than other parts exposed to the shock from the subter

raneous or submarine crannies or channel s in which the earthquakea cts, will of course resi s t i ts action more than parts possess ingless incumbent weight . T he undulations wil l therefore meetwi th more resistance

,and deposi t a greater quanti ty of sand than

in s ituations resi s ting less . In the formation of islands from coraland sand, as soon as the sand appears above the surface of thewater

,birds carry roots and variou s seeds a ttached to them for the

construction of nests : hence the speedy appearance of bushesand trees. Instead of supposing with some tha t t he numerou si slands on this coast have been formed by the violent commotion sof nature occasioned by earthquakes , which separa ted them fromthe continent, i t i s more reasonable t o suppose their format ion onthe above principles , and chiefly by coral , more especially whenwe consider that the depth of water between many of these i slandsand S umatra i s unfathomable . T he numerous clusters of islandsin the E astern seas, from 36

? to 169 of E . longi tude, are all

supported by bases of coral , and surrounded by shoal s emergingfrom the surface, or pushing thei r conica l frusta i n to a new element .E xperience has ascerta ined the forma t ion of i slands from coral ;i t i s not al together conj ecture to suppose tha t various groups ofi slands in the great E as tern Archipelago wil l in process of t imebecome continents or insular tracts or spaces of land . On thecoas t of Coromandel , in the immedia te front of Madra s , exposedanchorage has produced , and produces annually, lamentabl eaccidents , attended wi th much publ ic detriment . T he posi t ionof a shel tering i sland in that s i tuation would be an obj ec t ofnationa l benefit and priva te safety and advantage. T o a ttemptto effect this a considerab le amount of cora l might be transportedfrom this coas t at no great expense

,and sunk wi th s tones and

other substances in seven , eight, or eleven fathoms of water. Inthe course probably of forty or fifty years an i sland might beformed by the growth of thi s substance . T his i s a long period to

4 8 ON TH R E E N A T U R AL PR OD U CT ION S

look forward to for the benefi t of fu tu ri ty,bu t from wha t I have ,

from my own observat ion,inserted in thi s paper

,I am conv in ced

of the pract icabil i ty and success of a scheme which many wil ltreat as Chimerica l and vi sionary

,while others

,more thinking,

will see the u til i ty of the design and probabil ity of success, bu twil l be deterred by the difficul ty and t ediousness which wouldat tend the execution .

R E MAR K B Y T H E PR E S ID E N T .

I t seems at length to b e settled among natural i s t s that coralsand coral l ines are the cretaceous habita tions of an imal s

,and one

of the l inks in the great cha i n of nature. T he idea of makingi slands for the protection of sh ips at anchor i s very sublime but i tmight be feared that very dangerous reefs of cora l would b eformed before an i sl e could appear above th e wa ter . An art ificia lembankment of cora l might , perhaps , on some coas ts be a powerfulbarrier again st an encroachment of the sea .

I I I .—ON T H E COPPE R OF S U MAT R A.

I have th e satisfaction of laying before th e Asia tic S oci ety aspecimen of copper- ore, the production of the island of S umatra .

I t i s found on and in the h ill s of Mucchy, near the sea , betweenAnnalaboo and 8005500, to the north of our extreme E ngl ishsettlemen t of T appanooly. T he soi l which generate s the ore i sa mixed loam ,

consi st ing of clay,smal l s tones , and red sand

,

founded on an undersoi l of soft rock intersected with vein s ofthi s u seful substance. T he space affording the ore i s con siderab l e,extending above a degree in length

,and further ea s t , or into the

country,than has been yet a scertained . A considerable quanti ty

of ore i s annual ly col lected on the surface of the h ill s , to whichthe indolence or ignorance of the inhabitants at present confinestheir search . I ts being found on the surface may probab ly b ea scribed to the effort s of earthquakes , which are very preval en ton thi s coas t and over th e i sland in general . T he natives , frominexperience

,are incapab l e of conducting a mine and pursuing a

metal l i c vein . T hey are content with excava ting the ore t i l l thei rlabour i s interrupted by the flowing of the water

,which soon take s

place i n a country subj ect to heavy rains throughout the year. As

many of these vein s widen as far as they have yet been traced , i ti s more than probable tha t these hills conta in inexhau stibl e minesof thi s metal . T he ore

,by repeated smel t ings and other opera

t ion s to free i t from i ts sulphur, has been reduced to a metal , and

then found to include a considerab l e proportion of gold . As nopart of the world conta ins a greater quantity of th i s latter meta lthan S umatra in proportion to the area i t occupies on the globe

,

OF S U MA T R A . 4 9

i t i s probable that th e discovery of gold mines would a t tend the

establishment of copper ones in the hills of Annalaboo . T his i sso much the more probab le

,as metal l ine stones of various kinds

,

and which the Ma lays regard as sure indicat ion s ofa soi l a ffordinggold

,are found on these hil ls

,i ndependently of the considera tion

tha t gold - dus t i s collected i n the immedia te neighbourhood , andi n the interior country

,contiguous to the hill s yield ing the copper

ore . I t i s s ingular tha t the same method of rough - smel ting whichi s practised at G oslar i n G ermany should be i n use among theuncivil ized inhabitan ts of S uma tra . T he S uma tran method possesses more ingenui ty

,and i s at the same time more s imple. An

undemonstra ted knowledge of the pla ines t and most obviousprinciples of science i s congenia l to the most rude as wel l as to

the most civi l ized conceptions , and the advantages which th etal ents of born genius have conferred on E urope are by no mean sa conclus ive proof of the inferiority of intel lect which the

fortunate i nhabitants o f E urope l ibera lly b estow on their lessenlightened brethren of the E as t and West . T ha t “ t ime and

chance happen un to all th ings under the sun i s a truth tha tamounts to a voluminous di squ i si tion on thi s subj ect . But toreturn . T he ore- ga therers choose a level spot of hard clay, whichthey divide in to equidis tant points by l ines i ntersecting eachother

,and la id Off equal ly on two S ides of a square . T hese

point s, i ncluded in the square space, they surround wi th circlesof which the points are the centres . T he circles are invertedbases of cones

, excavated to receive the fused metal . T he

smel ting space i s now covered wi th wood , charcoal , and othercombustible ma tters

, and the ore i s di stributed among theseadmixtures . T he mel ted ore i s received into the formed holes ,leaving the scoriae or recrement above. T he metal

,s til l requ iring

many smel tings to render i t fi t for use , or perfectly mal leable and

ducti le,i s taken ou t in the form of pointed cakes , and sold for

twenty S panish dollars perpecul, or five pounds sterl ing forpounds avoirdupois weight . T he natives are part icularly careful inpreventing accidents

,for

,previously to fusing the ore

, they heatthe ground to a grea t degree in order tha t all the wa ter near thesurface may be absorbed or made t o exha le, having experienced ,I imagine

,tha t copper when in a s ta te of fusion , meet ing the

smal les t quanti ty of water, wil l fly in all direct ions with a forcedestructive of every vulnerable substance with in the sphere of i t saction . I have been ififormed tha t the metal has been el iquatedat Madra s lately , and found to conta i n very l i t tle appearance ofa

any other bu t of gold . T he useful solvents , aqua fort i s, aquaregia

,and S piri t s of sal ts , readily dissolve the S uma tran copper .

A deep green solu tion i s produced i n a very short t ime by theaction of the weaker acids on the rough ore . T he above methodof smel t ing wil l s epara te all coarse , mineral , and h eterogeneous

E

50 H IN D U LAN G U AGE AN D LI T E R A T U R E

substances from the metal,bu t will s t il l l eave i t strongly impreg

h ated with i ts peculiar minera l earth . T he detaching of thi sminera l earth i s the most difficul t and expens ive operat iona ttending the refinement and purificat ion of copper, i t beingfrequently neces sary to add a proportion of another metal t o effecti t . T his considera tion wil l probably prevent a priva te companyfrom applying for publ i c permiss ion to work these mines , and

therefore they must rema in in thei r present stat e,unles s the E as t

I ndia Company wi ll order the experimen t to be made from thereports and opinion s o f such as may be qual ified to give them onso interest ing a subj ect . By submitting thi s short account to thegentlemen of our society , whose u seful researches will, I hope ,produce permanent nat ional benefi t by advancing the knowledgeof nature, of science, and of l i terature, Opinions, properly weighed ,wil l be diffused among the publ ic of the advantages tha t mayresul t from an establishment for working copper - mines o n th ewes t coa s t of S uma tra .

1

O N T H E T R AC E S OF T H E H IN D U LAN GU AGE

AN D LIT E R AT U R E E XT AN T AMO N G S T

T H E MALAY S .

B y W ILLIAM MAR S DE N , E sq .

[“Asiatic R esearches, vol. iv. pp. 223

T H E S anscri t,or ancien t language of the H indus, i s a subj ect so

interest ing in i tself tha t every discovery which con tribu tes to throwl igh t upon it s h i story or to mark i ts exten t, carries wi th i t a degreeof importance . T he proofs of i ts influence in the northerncountries of Assam

,N epa l

,B ootan ,

and T ib et, as wel l as in thesouthern parts of the pen insula of India , are t o be found in theworks of the miss ionaries and the researches of thi s society butth e progress i t made i n early t imes amongst the inhab i tants o f theE a s tern i slands and countries possessed by the Malays has not

,I

bel ieve, been pointed ou t by any writer . My acqua i ntance wi thth e language of the latter people

,together with some attent ion

1 [“ T ijdschrift voor N ederlandsch Indie, 1869, i. p. 27. Jaarboek van

het Mijnwezen,”1876, ii. p. 76 ff ]

E X T AN T AAION G S T T HE MALAYS . 5 1

pa id to the dialect s of India i n general , have enabled me too bserve tha t the Malayan is indebted to the S anscri t for a considerable number of i ts terms. I have al so sat isfied myself tha tthe i ntercourse by which this communica tion was effected musthave taken place i n times anterior, probably by many centuries , t othe conversion of these people to the Mahometan rel igion . T he

language, i t i s true, abounds at present with Arab ic words , whichtheir wri ters affect to introduce, because thi s display of l iteraryskill i s at the same time a proof of their rel igiou s knowledge bu tthey are generally lega l or metaphys ica l terms borrowed from the

Koran and i ts commentaries , are never expressive of simple ideas,have not been incorpora ted in to the language (a few excepted),a nd are rarely made use of in conversation . T he H indu words

,on

the contrary,are such as the progress of civil iza t ion must soon

have rendered necessary, being frequently expressive of thefeel ings of the mind or denoting those ordinary modes of thoughtwhich resul t from the socia l habits of mankind , or from the evil sthat tend to interrup t them . I t i s not, however, to be understoodthat the affinity between these languages i s radical

,or tha t the

names for the common objects of sens e are borrowed from the

S anscri t . T he Malayan i s a branch or dialec t of the wideextended language preva i l ing throughou t the i s lands of the

archipelago to which i t gives name,* and those of the S ou th S ea ,c omprehending between Madagascar on the one S ide and E as terIsland on the other, both inclus ive , the space of ful l two hundredd egrees of longitude. T his considerat ion a lone i s sufficient togive i t cla im to the highes t degree of antiqu i ty, and to original i ty,as far as tha t term can be applied . T he various dialects of thi sspeech

,though they have a wonderful accordance i n many

essential properties,have experienced those changes wh ich sepa

ration,t ime

,and accident produce, and i n respect to the purposes

of intercourse may be classed into severa l languages , differingconsiderably from each other. T he marks of cultiva tion by whichthe Malayan is distinguished from i ts ruder neighbours

,are to be

a ttributed,i n my Opinion, to the effects of an early connection

tha t must have subsisted between the inhabitants of th is E astern

peninsula and those of the continent of India ; but what thenature and circumstances of this connection may have been i t i snot easy to determine. A spiri t of foreign conques t

,and sti l l

more a zeal for the propagation of their religious tenets, appearincompatib le with the genius of the H indu system , excep tingamongst the disciples of Boodh but I have never discovered inthe Malayan customs or opinions any traces of the pecul iar institut ions of that extraordinary sect .

T he Malay Arch ipelago may be unders tood to comprehend the S unda ,Philippine, and Molucca I slands , in the mari t ime parts of wh ich the Malayands used as a lingua franca .

52 H IN D U LAN G U AG E AN D LI T E R AT U R E

A commercia l in tercourse has a lways subs i s ted between the

manufacturing countries of India and the marts for the produceof the S pice I slands

,such as J ohor

,S ingapore , and Malacca ,

and when th e Portuguese, at the commencemen t of the s ixteen thcentury

,firs t v isi t ed these places , they mention with surprise the

concourse of foreign vessel s a ssembled there . But independentlyof other objection s tha t m igh t be ra i sed to the probab il ity of theset raders having polished the language of the people whose portsthey frequented , or having imparted to them thei r national l iterature, i t i s to be observed tha t by much the grea ter proport ion of

the ship s belonging to na tive merchan ts which now enter the

S tra i t s of Malacca come from the coas t of Coromandel,and con

sequently are naviga ted by person s who speak the languages preva i l ing in these parts ; wherea s i t i s evident tha t from the T el ingaor the T amool the Ma layan has not received any portion of itsimprovement , but from the genuine H induvee of the northernprovinces

,prior to i ts debasemen t by the mixture ofArab i c noun s

and the abuse of verba l auxil iaries . I f the communica t ion mus tn ecessarily be supposed to have i ts origin i n commerce

,I should

b e incl ined to consider the peopl e of Guzera t , notwiths tandingtheir d is tance, as the instructors of the Malays . T heir resort toMalacca i s part icularly noticed by D e Barros and other au thenticwri ters , and i t i s well known tha t the H indu language has beenpreserved wi th more puri ty in tha t than in any other mari time prov ince of India .

T he na ture of the affinity suggested will sufficiently appear t othose who are conversan t with the H indu dialects by the fol lowi ng examples of S anscri t words

,which are at the same t ime so

famil iar to the Ma lays,and so thoroughly incorpora ted into thei r

v ernacular tongue,tha t thei r foreign origin i s n ever suspected,

al though the terms adopted from the Arabs can,wi th very few ex -r

ceptions, be immedia tely pointed ou t by the most ordinaryscholar . I t i s true tha t he i s a ssi s ted in thi s discrimina ti on bythe peculiari ties of theArabic orthography, for the Ma lays

,as wel l

as the Pers ians and other people who,in consequence of their

convers ion to the fa i th of the Koran . employ thi s a lphabet i ntheir writ ings

,do yet rej ect the use of certa i n letters

, ei ther as

superfluou s or as not su ited to the smoothnes s of theirown sounds,

and which therefore appear only i n words purely Arabic . T he

H induvee words,on the contrary , being d ives ted of thei r proper

dres s,and clo thed in common with those origina l ly Malayan

,i n

the adopted Arab i c character (with certain j udiciou s modificat ion s) wan t the same token of their origin , and are more a ss imilated wi th the res t of the language .

I n thi s short l is t o f words , taken , wi th l i ttle pa in s in th e selection , from a Ma layan d ictionary

,the departure from the H induvee

is scarcely more than may arise from a differen t hab i t of spell ing

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54 H IN D U LAN G U AGE AN D LI T E R A T U R E .

enchanting air he had heard in a dream . H owever fl imsy th i sfounda tion and incoherent the parts of its superstructure, i t givesscope to the display of a l ively and ferti le imagina t ion

,much

del icate imagery, and pa thet ic express ion of sentiment . T he

fol lowing pa ssages a l lude unequivoca lly to wel l—known personagesi n the Poorans : T erlaloo baecb sega la roopa

’m

'

a malza - lna’

alc

separteepana’ooa leema

,

”

pal3

-

'

e S urpassinO good was thei r whol e

appearance most admirable,l ike unto the five Pandoos . Agai n

Laboo’

nz’

a meng- amo/e eetoo separtee pana

’ooa leema ta t/eala eea

meng—amo/eclea

’alam rayet booraoo,

’ ’

333S— “T he manner in which they

fought was l ike that of the five Pandoos when they ru shed int othe ranks of the Kooroos. T hes e can be no other than the

renowned favourites of Kri shna, whos e bri ll ian t actions and

personal accomplishments are the theme of immortal song . T he

machinery of the R amayan i s in terwoven wi th the story , and thi sc ircumstance tends to increase my regret tha t we posses s notransla t ion

,even in ab stract, of tha t much- admired poem . T he

Malayan princes are, l ike R ama,a ttended in thei r wars by apes

of extraordinary endowments,who fight with more than human

prowess, and overcome the R aksasa, (f

lu -33 or hobgoblin s who

serve under the banners of the adversary. One of the former,

whose talents as an ambassador are the subj ect of panegyric,i s

sa id to resemble tha t dip loma t ic monkey who was sen t by S re eR ama to the King of Langkapooree. T he mixture of qual it i e sand act ion s gravely attributed to them In thei r double capaci ty ofmonkeys and heroes, produces a very ludicrous and amusinge ffect . T hough thei r ideas are ra t ional

,their manners and pro

pensities are fa i thful to nature. Mention i s al so made of B isnoodewa

, 3ad3- ~r of the mounta in Maha - meroo

, ”a le/0 ; of the blu elotos growing in the pool Mandoo ratna, of a l ionpossessing supernatural powers

,S inga - saktee, and elsewhere S inga

rajoon , 035

3 who shot a rrows at Maharaja Karna, 03

5. S ome ofthese la tter names I do not recollect to have met with i n the

notices we have of the H indu mythology.

T hese similes and a l lu sion s mus t refer, as i n all poetry, tos tories with which the readers were presumed to be wel l acqua in ted

,

and seem to imply tha t transla tion s of the works were formerly i nthe hands of the Malays . I do not know tha t such rema inamongs t them at thi s day, bu t my ignorance i s no proof of thecontrary for at the t ime when I had opportuni ties of making th einquiry , I was uninformed as t o the exis tence of the original s

,and

the passages above quoted were of course unin tell igible to me.

T hey mus t be sought for i n the pen insula of Malacca,or amongs t

the Menangkabo people in S uma tra . A spiri t of invest iga tioni s now gone forth , and under the influence of the Asia ti c S ociety,and from the example of i ts pres iden t , we may confidently hopetha t no region of O rien tal l i terature wi l l be left unexplored .

T H E E LAS T I C G U M VIN E . 55

S ince the foregoing paper was written and communica ted to a

few friends, I have seen a copy of the third volume of the“Asia t ic R esearches (just received from Calcut ta), and observethat the connect ion between the Malayan and the S anscri t hasnot escaped the notice of the pres iden t

,whose learned and

elegan t anniversary discourse points i t ou t (pp . 1 1 and 12) in a clearand decided manner . T he sanction of hi s authori ty to myopinion fully reconciles me to the anticipat ion of a supposeddiscovery.

VI I I .

S OME ACCO U N T OF T H E E LAS T IC GU M VIN E

OF PR IN C E W ALE S IS LAN D ,

AN D OF E XP E R IM E N T S MAD E O N T H E M ILKY JU ICE W H ICH IT

P R ODUCE S : W IT H H I N T S R E S P E CT IN G T H E US E FUL PU R POS E ST O WH ICH IT MAY B E APPLI E D .

B y JAM E S HOW I S O N . E sq .

(Communicated by JOHN FLE M I N G , E sq .)

[“Asiatic R esearches, vol. v . (1798) pp. 157

—165 ]

O U R firs t knowledge of the plant being a na tive of our island arosefrom the following accident . In our excursions into the forests ,i t was found necessary to carry cutlasses for the purpose of clearing our way through the underwood . In one of those an elasticgum vine had been divided , the milk of which drying upon theb lade

,we were much surprised i n finding i t possess all the proper

1[Besides the numerous passages in Marsden ’ s other works, in Leyden ,

Crawfurd, R affles, Logan , Favre, referred to by Mr. W . E . Maxwell in the

exhaust ive trea t ise 011 the subjec t in his“Manual of the Ma lay Language

pp. 5—32, compare also on the general ques tion of H indu influence in

the I ndian Archipelago, Friederich’

s var ious a r t icles in the Verhandelingenvan het B ataviaasch genootschap ; B urnell

’s S ou th - Indian Palaeography ”

p. 130 ff. ; K . F . H o l le’ s “ Oud - eu N ieuw- I ndische Alphabetten(Ba tavia , 1882) J . J . de H ollander ’ s Maleische taal - en letterkunde” (B reda ,1882), pp. 283 ff. ; P . J . Veth

’s

“ Java (H aarlem, I . 4 10 ff . ; Ke1n’

s

valuable con tribut ion s to the Mededeelingen der Koninglijke Akadem ie vanW etenschappen

”and “ B ijdragen tot de taal land en volkenkunde van

N ederlandsch Indie and the a r ticle, ‘Malay Language and Li tera tu re,” inthe E ncyclopaedia B ri tann ica . T he oldes t S an sk ri t inscriptions discovei ed on

the eas t coast of Java and in W es t Borneo are of the fifth cen tu ry A . D .

, wh ilethe oldest Kavi inscription da tes from the year 840 ]

56 T H E E LAS T I C G U M VIN E

t ie s of the American caoutchouc . T he vine which produces th i sm i lk i s general ly about the thickness of the arm,

and almost round ,with a strong ash- coloured bark

,much cracked

,and divided lon

gitudinally has j oin ts at a sma l l di stance from each other , whichoften send out roots , but seldom branches runs upon the groundto a grea t length and at las t r i ses upon the highes t trees into theopen air. I t i s found in the greates t plenty at the foot of themounta in s

,upon a red clay mixed with sand , i n si tuat ion s com

pletely shaded , and where the mercury in the thermometer wil ls eldom exceed summer hea t .I n my numerous a ttempts to trace th i s v in e to i ts top , I

never succeeded ; for , after following i t i n i ts d ifferent windings,somet imes to a distance of two hundred paces , I los t i t , from i tsascending among the branches of trees tha t were inaccess iblee ither from thei r s ize or height . On the wes t coas t of S umatraI understand they have been more succes sful

,Dr. R oxburgh hav ing

procured from thence a specimen of the vine in flowers , fromwh ich he has classed i t

,but whose descript ion I have not yet seen .

W i th us the Malays have found tasting of the milk the bes tmode of d iscrimina t ing between the elas tic gum vine and thosewhich resemble i t i n giving out a milky j u ice

,of which we have a

grea t variety,the l iquid from the former being much les s pungen t

or corrosive than tha t ob ta ined from the la tter .T he u sual method of drawing off the milk i s by wounding the

bark deeply i n differen t places,from which i t runs but slowly

,i t

being ful l employment for one person to coll ect a quart in th ecourse of two days . A much more exped itiou s mode, but ruinousto the v ine

,i s cutting i t i n lengths of two feet

,and placing under

both ends vessel s to receive the milk . T he bes t i s a lways procured from the oldes t vines . From them i t i s often obta inedin a consis tence equa l to thick cream

,and which wil l yield two

thirds of i ts own weight in gum .

T he chemica l propert ies of thi s vegetab l e m ilk , so far as I havehad an opportun i ty of examining

,surpri singly resemble those of

animal milk . From i ts decomposi t ion,in consequence of sponta

neous fermenta t ion , or by the addition of acids , a separa t ion takesplace between i ts caseous and serous par ts

,both of which are very

s im ilar to those produced by the same processes from anima lmilk . An oily or bu tyrou s ma tter i s a l so one of i ts componentparts , which appears upon the surface of the gum so soon as th elat ter has atta ined i ts sol id form . T he presence of th is considerably impeded the progress of my experiments, as will be seenhereafter.I was at some t roubl e in endeavouring to form an extract of th i s

milk so as to approach to the consi s tence of new bu tter, by whichI hoped to retard i ts fermen ta tive s tage

,withou t depriving i t o f

i ts u seful qual i t ies ; but as I had no apparatus for dis till ing , th e

OF PR IN CE WALE S IS LAN D . 57

s urface of the milk , tha t was exposed to the air,instantly formed

into a sol id coa t,by which the evapora tion was i n a great degree

prevented . I,however , learned , by collecting the thickened milk

from the inside of the coa ts , and deposi ting it in a j el ly - pot, tha t,i f excluded from the air

,i t might be preserved i n this s tate for a

considerable length of t ime.

I have kep t i t i n bottles, withou t any preparation , tolerablygood

,upwards of one year , for, notwithstanding the fermenta tion

soon takes place, the decomposition i n consequence i s only

partial ; and wha t rema ins fluid st il l retains i t s origina l properties ,a l though considerably diminished .

N o t having seen M . Fourcroy’

s memoir on Caoutchouc, I couldnot make tria l s of the methods proposed by h im for preservingthe milk una l tered .

In making boots , gloves , and bottles of the ela stic gum,I

found the fol lowing method the bes t : I first made moulds of wax ,

a s nearly of the s ize and shape of wha t they represented as

po ssible ; these I hung separa tely upon p in s , abou t a foot fromthe ground

,by p ieces of cord wrought into the wax . I then

placed under each a soup - pla te,in to which I poured as much of

the milk as I though t would be sufficient for one coa t . H avingdipped my fingers in thi s, I completely covered the moulds one

after another,and what dropped into the pla tes was used as part

of the nex t coa t the firs t I genera lly found sufficiently dry i n thespace of ten minutes

,when exposed to the sun , to admit of a

second being applied however,after every second coa t

,the oily

mat ter before mentioned was i n such quanti ty upon the surface,

tha t,unti l washed off wi th soap and wa ter

,I found i t impossible

to apply any more milk with effect, for, if la id on , i t kep t runningand dividing l ike wa ter upon wax .

T hirty coats I i n common found su fficient to give a covering ofth e th ickness of the bottles which come from America . T his circumstance may, however , at any t ime be ascerta ined , by introducingthe finger between the mould and gum

,the one very readily sepa

rating from the other.I found the fingers preferabl e to a brush

,or any i nstrument

whatevei,for laying on the milk

,for the momen t a brush was wet

with tha t fluid,the ha ir became united as one mas s . A mode

which at first view would appear to have the advantage of allothers for ease and expedition in covering clay and wax mouldswi th the gum— via ,

immers ing them in themi lk , did no t at allanswerupon tria l

,tha t fluid running almos t entirely off

,a l though none of

the oily ma tter was present,a certa in degree of force seeming

necessary to incorpora te by friction the milk with the new formedgum .

W hen,upon examina ti on

,I found tha t the boots and gloves

were of the thicknes s wanted,I turned them over at the top , and

58 T H E E LAS T I C G U M VIN E

drew them off, as i f from the leg or hand, by which I saved th e

troubl e o f forming new moulds . T hose of the bottles beingsmal le st at the neck

,I was under the necess i ty of dissolving in

hot water .T he ins ide of the boots and gloves wh ich had been in contact

with the wax-being by far the smoothest, I made the outs ide . T he

gloves were now finished,unless cutting their tops even

,which

was bes t done with scissors . T he boots , however, i n their presen ts tate

,more resembled stockings , having as yet no soles . T o

supply them with these I poured upon a piece of gunny a properquantity of milk to give i t a thick coa t of gum . From thi s , whendry

,I cut pieces suffi ciently large to cover the sol e of the foot ,

which,having met with the milk , I applied firs t replacing the boot

upon the mould to keep i t properly extended . By thi s mode thesol es were so firmly j oined tha t no force could afterwards separat ethem . In the same manner I added heel s and straps

,when th e

boots had a very nea t appearance. T o sa t isfy myself as to thei rimpermeabili ty to wa ter I s tood in a pond up to their top s for thespace of fifteen minutes ; when , upon pull ing them off, I did no tfind my stockings in the leas t damp . Indeed

,from the nature of

the gum ,had i t been for a period of as many months, the same

resul t was t o have been expected .

After being thus far successful I was greatly d isappoin ted in myexpectat ions wi th regard to thei r reta in ing their origina l shape ;for

,on wearing them but a few t imes , they los t much of their fi rs t

nea tness the contractions of the gum being only equal t o abou tseven - eighths of i ts extension .

A second disadvantage arose from a circumstance diflicult toguard aga ins t

,which was

,tha t i f by any accident the gum should

be i n the smal les t degree weaker in one place than another theeffect of exten s ion fel l a lmos t en tirely on tha t par t

,and the con

sequence was tha t i t soon gave way.

From wha t I had observed of the advantage ga ined in substanceand uniformi ty of s trength by making use of gunny as a bas i s forthe soles

,I was led to suppose tha t i f an elas tic cloth , i n some

degree corresponden t to the elas t ic i ty of the gum ,were used for

boots , s tockings , gloves , and other articles , where tha t propertywas necessary

, the defects above ment ioned might in a grea tmeasure be remedied . I accordingly made my fi rs t experimentwith Cossimbazar stockings and gloves .H aving drawn them upon the wax moulds , I plunged them into

vessel s conta in ing the m ilk,which the clo th greedily absorbed .

When taken out they were so completely d istended wi th th e gumin solution , tha t , upon becoming dry by exposure t o the air

,no t

only every thread,but every fibre of the cotton had i ts own dis

t inct envelope,and in consequence was equal ly capab le of res i s t ing

the action of foreign bodies as i f of sol id gum .

OE P R IN CE WALE S I S LAN D . 59

T he firs t coa t by this method was of such th ickness that fors tockings or gloves nothing farther was necessary. Wha t wereintended for boots required a few more appl icat ions of m ilk withthe fingers , and were fin ished as those made with the gum only .

T his mode of giving cloth as a basi s I found to be a very grea timprovement, for, besides the addition of strength received by thegum , the opera t ion was much shortened .

Woven substances tha t are to be covered with the gum ,as a l so

the moulds on which they are to b e placed,ought to be consider

ably larger than the bodies they are afterwards in tended to fi t,for

,

being much contracted from the absorpt ion of the milk , l i ttl eal terat ion takes place in thi s diminuti on in S ize

,even when dry,

as about one—third only of the fluid evapora tes before the gumacquires i ts sol id form .

G rea t attent ion mus t be pa id to preven t one par t of the gumcoming in contact with another while wet with the milk or i tswhey ; for the ins tant tha t takes place, they become in separablyunited . But should we ever succeed in having large planta tion sof our own vine

,or in transferring the American tree (which i s

perhaps more productive) to our posses s ion s , so tha t m ilk couldbe procured in sufficien t quantity for the covering of various cloths,which should be done on the spot, and afterwards exported toE urope

,then the advantages a ttending th i s singular property of

the milk would for ever balance i t s disadvantages . Cloths and

coverings of different descriptions migh t then be made from thi sgum - clo th , with an expedition so much greater than by the needl e ,tha t would at firs t appea r very surpris ing the edges of thesepara te pieces only requiring to be wet wi th the milk or i ts whey,and brought into contact

,when the article would be fini shed and

fi t for use . S hould bo th milk and whey be wanting , a solution ofthe gum in ei ther can a lways be obta ined , by which the same end

wou ld be accompl ished .

O f all th e cloths upon wh ich I made experiments, nankeen ,from the strength and qual ity of i ts fabric, appeared the bes tcalcula ted for coat ing wi th the gum . T he method I fol lowed inperforming this was , to lay the cloth smooth upon a table, pourthe milk upon i t , and with a rul er to spread i t equa lly. Butshould thi s ever be a ttempted on a larger scale, I would recom

mend the fol lowing plan : t o have a cisterfi for holding the milk al i t tle broader than the cloth to be covered , with a cross bar i n th ecentre

,which must reach under the surface of the m i lk , and two

rollers at one end . H aving fi lled the ci stern , one end of the pieceof cloth i s to be passed under the bar, and through between therollers

, the former keeping the cloth immersed in the milk , thelatter in press ing out wha t i s superfluous, so tha t none may be l os t .T he cloth can be hung up at full length to dry, and the opera tionrepeated unti l of whatever thickness wanted . For the reasons

60 G U M VIN E OF PR IN CE WALE S I S LAN D .

above men tioned , ca re must b e taken that one fold does not comein contact with another while wet.H aving observed tha t mos t of the pa tent ca theters and bougi es ,

made wi th a solu tion of the ela stic gum,whether in ether or i n

the es sential o ils , had ei ther a disagreeable s tickiness, or were toohard to admit of any advantage being derived from the elast icityof the gum

,I was i nduced to make some experiments wi th the

m ilk towards removing these obj ections .From tha t fluid

,by evapora t ion , I made severa l large - s ized

bougies of pure gum,which

,from thei r over -flexibility, were tota l ly

u seless . I then took some sl ip s of fine cloth covered with thegum

,which I rolled up unti l o f a proper s ize, and which I rendered

sol id by soaking them in the milk,and then drying them . T hese

possessed more firmness than the former , bu t i n no degree suffic ien t for the purpose i ntended . P ieces of s trong ca tgut

,coa ted

with the gum ,I found to answer better than ei ther .

Bes ides an effectua l clo thing for manufacturers employed withthe minera l acids

,which had been long a des idera tum , th is sub

stance, under different modifica t ions , might be appl ied to a numbero f other u seful purposes in l ife, such as making ha ts , grea tcoat s ,boots , for sa i lors

,sold iers , fishermen , and every o ther de

s cription of person s , who , from their pursui ts , are exposed to wets tockings ; for inva l ids who suffer from damps ; bathing- caps ,t en ts , coverings for carriages of all kinds , for roofs of houses ,trunks , buoys, &c .

T his extraordinary vegetable production , i n place of beinginj ured by wa ter

,a t i ts u sua l tempera ture * i s preserved by i t.

For a knowledge of thi s circumstance I am i ndebted to the

C hinese . H aving some years ago commissioned a rticles made ofthe elast ic gum from China , I received them in a smal l jar fi ll edup with wa ter, i n wh ich sta te I have s ince kept them withou tobserving any s igns of decay.

S hould i t ever be deemed an obj ect to a t tempt planta t ions ofthe elastic gum vine in Bengal , I would recommend the foot of theCh it tagong , R aj maha l and B auglipore bills , as s ituat ions wherethere i s every probabili ty of succeeding

,being very similar in soi l

and cl imat e to the places of i ts growth on Prince- Wa l es I sland .

I t would , however , be advisable to make the firs t tria l at thi sset tlement , to learn i n wha t way the propagat ion of the plan tmigh t be most successfully conducted . A further experience mayal so be necessary to a scerta in the season when the milk can beprocured of the bes t qual i ty

,and i n the grea tes t quanti ty, with

the l eas t detr iment to the v ine .

F rom an accountof experimen t s made w i th the elastic gum by M . G rosart,

in ser ted in the Annales de Chimie”foi 179 1, it appea rs, tha t u a ter , when

boi l ing, has a power of pa r tially d issolving the gum so as to render one partcapable of being finally joined to ano ther by pressu re only .

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62 U R CE OLA E LAS T I CA , OR CAO U T CH O U C VIN E

or gum - resin,every one seems sensible of, as i t possesses qual i t ie s

total ly d ifferent from all such sub s tances as are usually arrangedunder those generic names yet i t st il l continues , by most authorsI have met with

,to be denominated elas tic resin , or elast ic gum .

S ome term i t s imply caoutchouc,which I wish may be considered.

as the generic name of all such concret e vegetable j u ices (mentioned i n thi s memoir) as possess ela st ic ity

,infiammability, and

are soluble i n the essentia l o il s without the a s si stance of hea t .In a mere definition i t would be improper to state what qual it ies

the obj ect does not possess consequently i t must be unders toodthat this substance i s not soluble i n the menstruums which usual lyd issolve resins and gums.E as t India Caoutchouc would be a very proper specific name

for tha t of U rceola elastz'

ca , were there not other trees which yieldj uices so s imilar as to come under the same generic character ;bu t as th is i s rea lly the ca se

,I wil l apply the name of t he tree

which yields i t for a specific one Caoutchouc of U rceolaelastz

'

m , Caoutchouc of Ficus [ ll/lira , Caoutchou c of Artomrpus

DE SCR IPT IO N OF T H E PLAN T U R CE OLA.

PE N T AN D R IA MON OGYN IA .

G E NE R AL CHAR ACT E R — Calyx beneath five- toothed ; corolone- petal l ed

,pitcher - shaped

,with i ts contracted mouth five

toothed ; n ectary entire , surrounding the germs follicles two,

round , drupacious seeds numerous,immersed in pulp .

U R CE OLA E LAS T ICA.

S hrubby,twining

,l eaves opposite, oblong, panicles terminal , i s

a nat ive of S umatra , Pulo - p inang,&c .

,Ma lay countries .

S tem—Woody,cl imb ing over trees, &c .

,to a very great extent ;

young shoots twining,and a l i ttl e ha iry ; bark of the old woody

parts thick , dark - coloured,considerab ly uneven a l i t tl e scabrous

,

on which I found severa l species of moss , particularly large patchesof l ichen ; the wood i s whi te, l ight , and porous .La wn— Oppos i te, short - pet ioled, horizontal , ovate , ob long ,

pointed,entire, a l i ttle scabrous , with a few sca ttered white ha ir s

on the under s ide.S tipules .

— N one.

P arallax— T erminal,brachia te

,very ramous .

Flowers .— N umerous, minute, of a dull , greenish colour, and

hairy on the outside.

B racts .—Lanceolate, one at each divi sion and subdivision of

the panicle .

Cabm—Perianth , one - l eaved,five- toothed , permanent .

OF S U M/1T B A AN D P U LO -PIN AN G . 63

Carol— One peta lled , pi tcher- shaped, ha iry, mouth much contracted , five- toothed

,divis ions erect, acute, nectary entire, cylin

d ric , embracing the lower two - thirds of the germs .S fa fzzens.

—Fi laments five, very short, from the base of the corol .Anthers arrow- shaped

,converging, bearing their pollen in two

grooves on the inside,near the apex between these groove s and

the insert ions of the fi laments they are covered wi th wh ite softha irs .P aid — G erms two ; above th e nectary they are very ha iry

round the margins of their trunca ted tops . S tyle s ingle, shorterthan the stamens . S tigma ovate , with a circular band dividingi t into two portion s of differen t colours .F erz

’

ant/z.— Foll icles two, round , latera l ly compressed into th e

“

shape of a turn ip , wrinkled , l ea thery, about three inches in thei rgrea tes t diameters— one- cell ed , two - va lved .

S eeder —Very numerous , ren iform , immersed in firm,fleshy pulp .

From wounds made in the bark of this plant there oozes a

milky fluid,which on exposure t o the open air separates into an

elast ic coagulum and wa tery li qu id apparently of no use afterthe separation takes place. T his coagulum i s not only l ike theAmerican caoutchouc or Indian - rubber

,but possesses th e same

properties,as wil l be s een from the following experiments and

observations made on some which had been extracted from thevine about five months ago . A bal l of i t, now before me , i s to mysense total ly void of smel l ; even when out in to i s very firm

,nearly

spherical,measures nine and a hal f inches in circumference

,and

weighs seven ounces and a quarter ; i t s colour on the outside i sthat of American caoutchouc, where fresh cut into of a l igh tbrown c010ur t il l the action of the air darkens i t ; throughou tthere are numerous sma l l cel l s, fi l led with a portion of l ight brownwatery l iquid above mentioned . T his bal l

,in simply fa ll ing from

a heigh t of fifteen feet, rebounds about ten or twelve times,the

first i s from five to seven feet h igh,the succeeding ones of cours e

l essen ing by grada t ion .

T his substance i s not now solub l e in the above - mentionedl iqu id contai ned in i ts cel l s , a l though so in timately bl ended therewith when firs t drawn from the plan t as to render i t so thin as tobe readily appl ied to the various purposes to which i t i s so wel ladapted when in a fluid sta te .

From what has been sa id , i t will be evident that this c aoutchoucpossesses a considerab le share of sol idity and elast ici ty in an

eminent degree . I compared the las t qual i ty wi th tha t of Americancaoutchouc

,by taking smal l sl ips of each and extending them

till they broke ; tha t of U rceola was found capable of bearing amuch grea ter degree of extension (and contraction) than theAmerican ; however, thi s may be owing to the t ime the resp ectivesubstances have been drawn from thei r plants.

64 U R CE OLA E LAS T I CA , OR CAO U T CH O U C VIN E

T he U rceola caoutchou c rub s out the marks of a b lack l eadpenci l as readily as the American

,and i s evidently the substance

of which the Chinese make their elast ic rings .I t conta in s much combustible matter

,burning entirely away

with a clear flame, emitting a considerable dea l of dark - colouredsmoke

,which readily condenses into a large proportion of exceed

ing fine soot, or lamp - b lack at the same t ime i t gives bu t l i ttl esmell

,and tha t not disagreeable ; the combustion i s often so rapid

as t o cause drops of a black l iqu id , very l ike tar, to fal l from the

burning mass th i s i s equal ly inflammable with the res t , and cont innes when cold in i ts s emi - fluid state, but total ly void of elas tici ty .

I n America, the caou tchouc i s u sed for torches ; ours appears tobe equal ly fi t for tha t purpose . E xposed in a si lver spoon to a

hea t , abou t equa l to tha t which mel ts lead or t in,it i s reduced into '

a thick,black

,inflammable l iquid

,such as drops from i t during

combustion,and i s equal ly deprived of i ts ela stic powers

,conse

quen tly rendered unfi t for those purposes for which i ts originalelas t ic i ty rendered i t so proper .I t i s insolub l e i n spiri t s of wine

,nor has water any more effect

on i t,except when ass i s ted by hea t

,and then it i s only softened

b i t .yS ulphuric acid reduced i t into a black

,bri ttl e

,charcoal - l ike sub

s tance, beginning at the surface of the caoutchouc, and i f thep ieces are not very thin or smal l , i t requires some days to penetra teto thei r centre during the process , the acid i s rendered very darkcoloured , almost black . If the sulphuric acid i s previou slydiluted wi th only an equal quanti ty of wa ter

,i t does not then

appear to have any effect on this substance,nor i s the colour of

the l iqu id changed thereby.

N itric acid reduced i t in twelve hours to a soft,yel low

,unelast ic

mass,while the acid i s rendered yellow; at the end of two days

the caoutchouc had acqu ired some degree of friabil ity and hardnes s . T he same experiment made on American caoutchouc wasa ttended with similar effects . Muria tic acid had no effect on i t .S ulphuric ether only softened i t , and rendered the different

minute portions i t was cut into eas i ly uni ted,and without any

s eeming diminution of elast ici ty.

N i tri c e ther I d id not find a better menstruum than the vitriol ic ;consequently

,i f the ether I employed was pure

,of which I have

some doubt,th i s subs tance mus t differ essential ly from tha t of

America , which Berniard reports to be soluble i n n i tric ether.Where this substance can be had i n a fluid s tate there i s no

necessi ty for dissolving or softening i t to render i t appl icab le to

the variou s u ses for which i t may be required but where the drycaoutchouc i s only procurable, sulphuric ether promises to be a

usefu l medium by which i t may be rendered so soft as to bereadily formed into a variety of shapes .

OF S U M/1T R A AN D P U L0-1mmN 0. 65

Like American caoutchouc, i t i s solubl e i n the ess ential o i l o fturpentine , and I find i t equal ly so in caj eput o il, an essential oi l ,said to be obtained from the leaves of Melaleuca leucaderm

’

mu .

Both solutions appear p erfect,thick, and very glutinous . S piri t

of wine, added to the soluti on in caj eput o il , soon united withthe oil and left the caoutchouc floating on the mixture i n a softsemi - fluid s ta te, which , on being washed in the same l iquor, andexposed to the air

,became as firm as before i t was dissolved

, and

retained i ts elast ic powers perfectly ; while i n the intermedia testa tes between semi -fluid and firm

,i t could be drawn out into long

transparent threads,resembl ing

,i n the pol ish of their surface

,

the fibres of the tendons of animal s when they broke, the elasticity was so grea t , that each end instantaneously returned to i tsrespective mass . T hrough all these s tages the l eas t pressure withthe finger and thumb united different port ions as perfectly as i fthey never had been separated

,and without any clamminess or

s ticking to the fingers,which renders mos t of the solutions o f

caoutchouc so very unfit for the purposes for which they are re

quired . A piece of catgut covered with the half inspissa ted solut ion

,and rol led between two smooth surfaces , soon acquired a pol ish

and consistence very proper for bougies . Cajeput oil I al so founda good menstruum for American caoutchouc , it was as readilys eparated by the addit ion of a l i ttle spiri t of wine, or rum , as theother

,and appears equal ly fi t for use

, as I covered a p iece of catg ut with the washed solution as perfectly as with tha t of U rceola .

T he only difference I could observe was a l i ttle more adhesivenessfrom its not drying so quickly. T he oil of turpentine had grea terattraction for the caoutchouc than for the sp iri t of wine, couse ~

quently rema ined obstinately uni ted to the former, which preventedi t s being brought into that s tate of firmness fi t for handling whichi t acquired when caj eput oi l was th e menstruum .

T he caj epu t solution employed as a varnish did not dry, bu trema ined moist and clammy , whereas the turpentine solution driedpret ty fast .E xpressed oil of ol ives and l inseed proved imperfect menstruums

whi le cold , as the caoutchouc, in several days , was only renderedsoft, and the oil s vi scid but wi th a degree of hea t equa l to thatwhich mel ts t in

,continued for about twenty- five minutes , i t was

perfectly dissolved , but the so lution remained thin and void ofelast ici ty. I al so found i t soluble in wax and in butter, i n thesame degree of heat , but sti ll these solutions were wi thout elasticity, or any appearance of being u seful .I shal l now conclude wha t I have t o offer on the caoutchouc ,

or U rceola elasz‘z’

m,with observing tha t some philosophers of

eminence have enterta ined doubts of the American caoutchoucbeing a s imple vegetable substance

,and suspect i t to be an

artificial production,an idea which I hope the above deta i led

F

66 AN ACCO U N T OF T H E IN HAB I TAN T S OF

experiments will help to eradicate,and consequently to restore the

h i stories of that substance by M . De la Condamine and others tothat degree of credi t to which they seem j ustly enti tled , in suppor tof which i t may be further observed that besides U rceola elastz

'

az

there are many other trees,natives of the torrid zone, that yield a

milky juice possessing qual i ties nearly of the same nature asAfi ocmpzzs z

'

nfegrz’

folz’

a (common jack tree), Ficus relzgz'

osa ez‘I/zdz

'

m,

s fipomane bzglana'

ulosa , Cecropz’

a [fieliam,ON .

T he caoutchouc ofFirm relzgz'

om,the H indus cons ider th e mos t

tenaciou s vegetable j u ice they are acqua inted with ; from i t thei rb es t b ird- l ime i s prepared . I have examined i ts qual i ties , as wel las those of s us Indira and A f fomrpus z

'

ntegrffolz'

a,by experiment s

s imilar to those above rela ted , and found them triflingly elast icwhen compared with the American and U rceola caoutchoucs , buti nfinitely more viscid than ei ther they are a l so inflammab l e,though in a les s degree, and show nearly the same phenomenawhen immersed in the minera l acids , solution of caustic alkal i ,alcohol

,fat

,and essential o il s but the solution in cajeput oil

could no t be separa ted by spirit s of wine and collected aga in l iket he solutions of the U rceola and American caoutchoucs.

l

A N ACCO U N T OF T H E IN HAB IT AN T S OF T H E

POGGY , O R N A S S A U IS LAN D S,LY I N G OFF

S U MAT R A .

B y JOHN C R I S P, E sq .

Asia tic R esearches, vol. vi. pp. 77

AT a. period when so many importan t voyages o f discovery havebeen recently effected , and such various new countries and newraces of men made known , the following account will , probably ,appear too trivial to exci te the a tten tion of ei ther the merchant

,

the poli tician , or the philosopher . T here i s , however, one circumstance respecting the inhabitants of the N assau , or Foggy I slands ,which lie off the west coas t of S uma tra, which may be consideredas a curiou s fact in the h istory of man, and as such

,not unworthy

1[S ee on N OS . VI I I . and IX . , A . H . B i sschop Grevelink, “ Planten van

N ed. Indi 'e” p. 385 f. Mohnike ,”l. 1. pp. 159- 66 ; James Collins,

R eport on the Caoutchouc of Commerce

T H E P OGGY, OR N AS S A U I S LAN D S . 67

of notice. From the proximity of these i slands to S uma tra,which

,

i n respect to them,may be considered as a continent

,we should

na tura l ly expect to find their inhabitants to be a set of peopleoriginal ly der ived from the S umatra stock

,and look for some

affinity in their language and manners but , t o our no smal l surp ri se, we find a race of men whose language i s total ly differen t

,

and whose customs and hab i ts of l ife i ndica te a very distinctorigin

,and bear a striking resemblance to those of the inhabitants

of the la te discovered islands in the grea t Pacific O cean . I t was aconfused idea of this circumstance which fi rs t excited my curiosity, and i nduced a des ire to make a more minute i nquiry intothe his tory of these people than has h itherto been effected ; for,notwiths tanding the vicinity of these i s lands to an E nglish settlement , we , as yet, had but a very imperfect knowledge of the inhabitants . An a ttempt had been made , between forty and fiftyyears pas t, to make a set tlement among them

,and to introduce

the cul tiva t ion of pepper , but this design was frustra ted by theimproper conduct of the person to whom the management of thebusines s was entrusted . T he imperfect a ccount which was givenof the people by the person appointed to go to the i slands onbehal f of the India Company , and another not more sa ti sfactory,by Captai n Forest , are i nserted in Mr . Dalrymple

’ s India D irectory and

,as far as I knew,

these accounts constitu ted the wholeof our knowledge of these i slands .T he N as sau , or Poggy Islands , form par t of a cha in of i slands

which lie off the whole length of the wes t coas t of S umatra , atthe dis tance of twenty to thirty leagues ; the northern extremityof the northern Poggy l ies in lati tude 2

°

18’

and the southernextremity of the southern island in lati tude 3

°

16’

S . T he two are

separa ted from each o ther by a very narrow passage,ca l led the

S tra i t of S ee Cockup , i n lati tude 2°

4 0’

S . and longitude abou t100

°

38’

ea st from G reenwich .

I left Fort Marlborough on the 1 2th of August,1792 , in a smal l

vessel , and made the southern Poggy on the morning of the 14 th ;oasting a long which we reached the stra i ts of S ee Cockup, wherewe came to an anchor at one o

’clock the same day.

T hese s tra i ts are about two miles in length , and a quarter of amile over ; they make very safe riding for ships of any size, whichlie perfectly secure from every wind

,the wa ter being l i teral ly as

smooth as in a pond . T he chief defec ,t as an harbour , Is th e grea t

depth of water,there being twenty - five fathoms close i n shore,

and forty five fathoms In the mid channel . While lying at anchor,we could pla inly discern the high land of S umatra . I n the s tra i tsare scattered several smal l i slands , each of which consists of oneimmense rock

,and which probably was originally connected with

the ma in islands. T he face of the country i s rough and irregular,consisting of high hills or mounta in s

,of sudden and steep ascent

F 2

68 AN ACCO U N T OF T H E IN IIAB I T AN T S OF

and the whol e appearance of these i slands,in common with

S umatra,bears s trong marks of some powerful convulsion o f

N a ture . T he mountains are covered with trees to their summits ,among which are found several species of excel lent t imber ; th etree called by the Malays , B intangoor,

‘and which on the other

s ide of India i s cal led Pohoon , abounds here. O f thi s tree are

made masts, and some are found of sufficien t d imensions for thelower mast of a first- ra te ship of war. D uring my stay here

,which

was about a month , I did not d iscover a s ingle plant which wehave not on S umatra . T he sago tree grows in plen ty

,and cons ti

tutes the chief art icl e of food to the i nhabitan ts , who do not

cul tivate rice the cocoa nut tree and the bamboo , two most u sefulplants , are found here in great pl enty. T hey have a variety of

fruit s,common in these cl imates , such as mangosteens , pine- apples ,

plantain s , buah , chupah, &c . T he woods i n their presen t s tateare imperviou s to man the species of wild anima l s which inhab i tthem are but few ; the large red deer, some hogs, and severalk inds of monkeys are to be found here, but nei ther buffa loes norgoa t s ; nor are these fores ts i nfested , l ike those of S umatra, withtigers or any other bea s t of prey. Of domest ic poul try, there i sonly the common fowl , which probab ly has been original ly brough tfrom S umatra ; bu t pork and fish consti tute the favouri te anima lfood of the na tives . Fi sh are found here in considerable plentyand very good . On the reefs of coral , which extend from theshore

,and are frequently dry at low water, are found var ious k inds

of shel l fi sh, but I did not di scover any which I had rea son to

suppose uncommon . T he shel l o f a large species of nautilus ,marked l ike a zebra

,i s frequently p icked up on the shore of these

i slands,and having been informed that on e of these shel l s with

its fi sh in i t would be acceptab le at home,I offered the nat ives

their own terms to procure me one, but they all a ssured me tha ti t was absolutely out of their power to comply with my wishesthat the shel l i s frequently driven on the shore, bu t always emptythat i t comes from the sea , and i s not to be found on the rocks

,

and that no one on th e island had ever seen one of the shel l s inthe s ta te I required .

I found here a species of cockl e , the shel l of which was enclosedi n the most sol id k ind of cora l rock ; the aperture of the rock wassufficient to permit the shel l of the cockl e to open in some degree

,

but too smal l to permi t removing i t wi thout breaking the rock .

H aving found them of differen t sizes , and i t being a species of theKeemoo which grows to a very large size, i t should seem that thecavi ty of the rock increases as the fi sh grows . I f, according toMr. Hunter ’ s theory

,the animal has a power of absorb ing part of

i t s own shell , this power may perhaps extend to the rock whichcontain s i t , and whose substance i s of a s im ilar na ture .

1[B intangor utan, Calophyllum spectabile, Mohnike,

”p.

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70 AN ACCO U N T OF TH E IN HAB I T AN T S OF

apprehension at coming on board , but thei r men , far from showingany disapprobation , rather encouraged them to come into the vessel ,and several ven tured up the s ide . When in thei r canoes , thewomen use a temporary dress to shield them from the hea t of thesun ; i t i s made of the leaves of the planta in tree, of which t heyform a sort of conica l cap, and there i s a l so a broad p iece of theleaf fa stened round thei r body, over their breas ts, and anotherp iece round their wa i s t . T his leaf readily spl its

,and has the

appearance of a coarse fringe. When in their v i llages , the women ,

l ike the men,wear only a smal l p iece of clo th round their middle.

Among them we ob served some of a very pleasan t countenance,with fine expressive eyes . Mr. Best

,a mili tary gentleman of the

es tablishmen t,with whose company I was favoured on this trip

,

went up to one of their vi llages , a ttended only by the Malay interpreter and a Ma lay servant . H e was received with grea tcordial i ty and civil i ty, and s tayed two nights at their village. Manyof the people had never before seen a E uropean , and with muchcuriosi ty examined his dress , part icularly his shoes .D uring a s tay of about a month among them I collected the

following par ticulars,respecting their manners and customs, the

truth of which I was careful to have confirmed, by making m yinquiries of differen t persons

,and by the means of differen t

Interpreters .T he inhabitants of the Poggy Islands are bu t few ; they are

divided in to sma l l tribes,each tribe occupying

‘

a smal l r iver, andl iving in one vil lage. On the northern Poggy are seven villages,of which Cockup i s the chief ; on the southern Poggy are five.

T he whole number of people on the two i slands amoun t , by th ebes t accounts I could procure

,only to the inland parts of

the i slands are uninhabited . Porab , or Fortune i sland , i s inhabitedby the same race of people

, and i s sa id to conta in as many inhabitan ts as the two Poggy s . When we consider the mildness of thecl imate, the ease with which the inhabitants procure wholesomenutri tive food , and the l i t tle res trai n t la id on the communicat ionbetween the sexes

,this pauci ty of inhab i tants seems to indica te

tha t the period when thei r residence i n these i s lands commencedcannot be very remote . T heir houses are buil t of bamboos and

ra i sed on posts the under part i s occupied by poul try and hogs ,and , as may be supposed , much fi l th i s collected there. T he

whole of thei r clothing cons ists of a piece of coarse cloth , madeof the bark of a tree, worn round the wa i s t, and brought acros sbetween the thighs they wear beads and other ornaments about theneck, of which a smal l green bead i s the most esteemed ; thoughcocoa- nu t trees are in such plenty

,they have not the use of oil ,

and their ha ir,which i s black

, and might grow long and graceful ,i s, for want of i t, and the use of combs , i n general matted and

plen tifully supplied wi th vermin,which they pick out and eat

TH E P OGGY, 01? N AS S A U I S LAN D S . 71

a fi l thy custom , but very common among savage people. T heyhave a method of fi l ing or grinding their teeth to a point

,which

i s al so in use on S uma tra .

T heir sta ture seldom exceeds five feet and a ha l f, and manyamong them fal l short of this ; some of them are extremely wel lmade, with fine turned l imbs and express ive countenances ; theircolour i s l ike tha t of the Malays , a l ight brown or copper colour .T he custom of ta ttooing or imprinting figures on the skin i s general among them

,of which I sha l l say more presently.

T he principal article of their food i s sago,which i s found i n

plenty on these islands . T he tree when ripe i s cu t down , andthe p ith which forms the sago taken out

,and the mea ly par t sepa

rated from the fibrous,by macera tion and treading i t in a large

trough continual ly suppl ied wi th fresh wa ter ; the meal subsidesand i s kept i n bags made of a kind of rush , and i n this s ta te i tmay be preserved for a considerable t ime . When they take i tfrom their s tore for immediate us e, some further prepara t ion ofwa sh ing is necessary , but they do not granula te i t . One tree wil lsometimes yield two hundred pounds of sago when they cook it,i t i s put into the hollow j oint s of a thin bamboo

,and roa sted over

the fire .

Besides this articl e,they have a variety of nouri shing plants ,

such as the yarn , the sweet potato , the planta in , &c . T heiranimal food consists of fowls

,hogs

,and fi sh shel l fi sh they eat

raw. T he use of betel , so common in the E ast, i s unknown tothem

,and I observed in many marks of the scurvy in their

mouths .T heir arms consi st of a bow and arrows . T he bow is made of

the N eebong tree, a species of palm,which , when of a proper

age, i s very strong and elastic ; the s trings are formed of the en

tra i l s of some animal ; the arrow i s made of a smal l bamboo orother l igh t wood

,headed with brass , or with another p iece of wood

fixed to the end of the shaft and cut to a point these arrows,we

were told,are sometimes poisoned . T hough st rangers to the

u se of fea thers to s teady the fl ight of th e arrow, they nevertheles sdischarge i t from the bow with much strength and skill . Wi th amongrel breed of dogs

,probably procured origina l ly from S uma tra

,

they rouse the deer in the woods , which they sometimes k il l wi ththeir arrows they a l so kil l monkeys by the same means, and eat

thei r flesh . W e observed among them a few who were in poss ession of creeses or Ma lay daggers .T heir knowledge of metal s i s entirely derived from their com

munication wi th the inhabitants of S umatra . T hey are s til ls trangers to the us e of coin of any kind, and a metal coa t buttonwould be of equa l value i n their esteem wi th a p iece of gold ors i lver coin

,ei ther of which would immedia tely be hung about the

neck as an ornament. A sort of iron ha tchet or handb i ll , cal led

72 AN ACCO U N T OF TH E IN HAB I T AN T S OF

pararzg, i s in much esteem with them ,and serves as a s tandard for

the valu e of vari ous commodities,such as cocoa nuts

,coolit coys ,

poult ry, &c.

We were informed that the different tribes of O rang Mantawee

who inhab i t the Poggy I slands never war wi th each other to

which account we could readily give credit from the mildnes s oftheir dispos it ion . Indeed the friendly footing upon which theyappeared to l ive one with another was a circumstance too strikingt o escape our notice 5 during our whole stay with them ,

and whil ed istributing various presents among them

,we never heard a single

d i spute , nor observed one angry gesture . T hey,however, informed

us that a feud has long subsi s ted between the inhab i tants of th ePoggy Islands

,and thos e of some island to the northward ,

whom they cal l S ybee.

‘Aga ins t thes e people they sometimes

undertake expedition s i n their war canoes but i t did no t appeartha t they had engaged in any undertaking of this kind lately.

Mr. Bes t measured one of thes e war canoes , which was preservedwi th grea t care under a shed ; the floor of i t was twenty—five feetin l ength

,th e prow proj ected twenty - two feet

,and the stern

eighteen,making the whole length s ixty- five feet the greates t

breadth was five fee t, and the depth three feet eight inches . For

navigat ing in their rivers and the s trai t s of S ee Cockup , wherethe sea i s as smooth as glas s

,they use a smal l canoe made from a

s ingl e tree, constructed with grea t neatness, and the women andyoung children are extremely expert in the use of the paddle.T he rel igion of thi s people , i f i t can b e sa id tha t they have any,

may truly be cal led the rel igion of N ature . A bel ief of the exi stenceof some powers more than human cannot fa i l to be exci ted amongthe most uncultiva ted of mankind , from the observa tions of variou ss triking natural phenomena, such as t he diurna l revolu tion of thesun and moon

,thunder and l ightning

,earthquakes, &c . &c . ,

nor will there ever b e wanting among them some of superiortalents and cunning who wil l acquire an i nfluence over weakminds , by a ssuming to themselves an interes t wi th or a power o fcontrol l ing those superhuman agents ; and such notions constitut ethe rel igion of the inhabi tants of the Poggys. S ometimes a fowland sometimes a hog i s sacrificed to avert s ickness , to appeasethe wrath of the offended power

,or to render i t propi tious to some

proj ected enterprise ;and Mr. B estwas in formed tha t omens ofgoodor i l l fortune were drawn from certa in appearances in the entra i l so f the victim. But they have no form of rel igious worship , nor dothey appear to have the most dis tan t idea of a fu ture s tate ofrewards and punishments . T hey do not practise circumcis ion .

T he mode of d ispos ing of their dead bears a resemb lance totha t of the O tahei tans. Very shortly after death the corpse i s carried

1[S eib i is a dis trict in the island of S iberut, another of the Mentawei

Islands ]

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74 AN ACCO U N T OF T H E IN HAB I T AN T S OF

they fi l l up the marks , the right to which depends on havingkilled an enemy . S uch i s the accoun t they gave us , and i t i sprobable enough tha t thi s custom may origina l ly have beenintended as a mark of m il itary dist inction ; but such origina li nten tion cannot at presen t have place , as the marks are commont o every individual

,and wars scarce occur once i n a genera t ion .

T he figures imprinted are the same throughout, or the varia tion ,i f any, i s very trifl ing, except ing that , in some of the young men ,the outline only of the broad mark on th e brea st i s traced, bu tthi s i s fi l led up as they grow older. T he women have a s tarimprin ted on each shoulder

,and general ly some smal l marks on

the back of the hands . T hese marks are imprinted with a pointedi nstrument

,consis t ing of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a

piece of st ick abou t eigh t inches in l ength : th is pi ece i s s truckwith another smal l long st ick with repeated l ight strokes . T he

p igment used for thi s purpose i s made of the smoke col lectedfrom a specie s of resm which i s m ixed with water ; the operatortakes a s tem of dried grass

, ora fine p iece of stick , and dipping theend in the pigment , traces on the skin the outline of the figure

,

with grea t s teadines s and dexteri ty ; then , dipping ~ the brass poin tn the same composi tion

,be, with very quick and l ight strokes

,

drives i t i n to the sk in , tracing the outl ine before drawn , whichl eaves an indel ible mark. Mr. Bes t submitted to the operationon his leg, and found i t a t tended wi th some pa in .

S uch are the customs and manners of the inhab i tants of th ePoggy I slands which lie with in sight of S uma tra . T he many particulars i n which they differ from any set of i nhab i tants of thela tter i sland put i t

,i n my opin ion

,beyond a doub t tha t they are

of a different origin,but from whence they came i t may not be

ea sy, and probably wi l l not be thought of importance, to trace .

T hey have no clear tradit ion to ass i s t i n such an i nqu iry .

When Mr . Bes t was at their vi l lage , on asking from whence theyorigina lly came, they told him from the sun , which he unders toodas sign ifying from the eastwardAs the sounds which express idea s are arb i trary, and i t not being

probab le tha t people who have never had communica t ion shouldhi t upon the same sounds to expres s the same ideas , affinity inlanguage may be considered as one of th e surest indica tions ofsamenes s of origin ; but even i n j udging from th is cri terion , avariety of circumstances may render u s l iab le to error. I havehowever subj oined a pretty copious specimen of the language of

the Poggy I slands .But another circumstance, which I th ink migh t as si st in tracing

the origin of these people, i s the figures u sed in ta ttooing theirbodies ; for as all the men are marked according to the samepa ttern nearly, i f any peopl e should be di scovered among whomthi s custom preva i ls

,and whose bodies are tattooed generally

T H E P OGGY, OR N AS S A U IS LAN D S . 75

with figures of the same kind , i t would afford no sl ight presumpt ion of a common origin .

1

I had in tended to have examined the whole cha i n of islandswhich lie off S umatra, and which are inhabited by very differen tsets of people

,but a number of cros s and untoward accidents

prevented the accompli shment of my original des ign .

S PE CIME N OF T H E LAN G U AG E OF T H E POGGY I S LAN D S .

S a rah S tone- rockD ua H ogT elloo FowlsApa t B irdLeemah E ggAnam FishPeeloo (for Peetoo) S un

Balloo MoonS eewa S tarsPooloo G od

B uah T a rah N akedS ama W attoo T o speakS eree Manooah H ereMantaow T hereS enan Allip ComeO okooee G OE enah Yes

O otay N o

Ma tah H a rdAssak S oftAli R oughCakaloo S moo t hR apit S tra igh tT alinga C rookedChone Prong or ha tchetLeelah Co coa nu tBa tela T o fightBa rah T he sea

Kavaye A large boatD aray A canoe

Lorow—Logow S ou rMancheep S weetGeb Geb—Choie B oh W oodMarch T he w indMatayeMalossay A bow

Maboolow An a rrowMapoochoo C loudsS eemaroo T hunderOvange

— B obengang Ligh tningJojar E ar thquakePolack A dog

1[T he sketches accompanying this account have here been om itted, as the

Illustra tion s given by R osenberg may now be referred to. ]

BookooB abooee S akoko

G ago

O omale

AjolohE ebah

Chooloo

Lago

Panyean

S araloggye S aneetooT ocomongManeeboo

Kai

KasauKa i comongKainangOho

T an iMakalaM amama

MokaraMalooploopMoipoiroo

T amaipoiroo

T aagla

T oata

S agack

Koa tKalabaAvauk

Ma lajaMakik iLovenR oosaLogueR orow

B oojootS alagoo

BeelaT ataoo

IOJ'

O

76 R E MAR KS O N TH E S PE CIE S OF PE PPE R

N AM E S OF PE R S ON S .

N AME S OF ME N . N AME S OF

R ajah of Cockup Mengriah N angsannee

G oolooh T arah T allee S heeboo

Mareeat G oryebooh

Jagnla Kayoo T amaneegal.1

R E MA R KS O N T H E S PE C IE S OF PE PPE R

W HICH A R E FO U N D O N PR IN CE -WALE S

IS LAN D .

B y W ILLIAM HUN T E R,E sq . , M .D .

Asiatic R esearches,” vol. ix . pp. 383

HAVI N G had an opportuni ty,during a residence of some month s

at Prince of Wa les ’ I sland,to a scerta in

,partly by observatio n and

partly by inquiry ,som e particulars which I conceive to be new

respecting the cul ture and prepara tion of b lack pepper, the principal staple of tha t i sland, I am induced to lay the fru i t of myresearches before the Asia tic S ocie ty. T 0 these I have added a

few remarks on the other specie s which are found on the i s land .

I j udged i t would not be without util i ty to add the O ri enta l namesof each species

,and i n th is part of my task , as far as regards th e

S anscri t and i ts derivat ives,I am indeb ted to the l ibera l a ss istance

of Mr. Colebrooke .1 . P iper 7zzgruzzz.—Lin . sp. 4 0. S yst . 74 . R eich . 1 . 75. W illden .

159 . PI. Zeylan . 26. Mat. med . p . 4 1 . W oodv. Med . B ot. 5 13 .

t . 187. Camelli de plantis Philip . i n Ph il . T rans . vol . 24 . p . 1 773 .

Loure iro Cochinch. 30. Mill er i l lus t . Plenck icon . Miller ’ s D ict .N o . 1.

1[T he Mentawei Islands

,to wh ich group N o rth and S outh Pagi

' belong,were nomina lly ceded to Holland in 1824 , but not incorpora ted w i th the D utchE ast Indies t ill the roth ofJuly, 1864 . T hey have also been described by Ma rsden , H is tory of S umatra,” thi rd ed . pp. 468—73 H . v . R osenberg,in “

T ijdschrift voor de taa lkunde,

"

&c . vol. i. pp. 399—440, and in “ D er

Malayische Arch ipel , pp. 188—205 ;“Jou rnal of the Indian Archipelago,”

V01 ix . pp 279-

305 H . A . Mess , in T ijdschrift voor N ederlandsch- Ind ie”i. pp. 339—63 B ickmore

, p. 4 82 f. D e Hollander, Land en volkenkunde van N ed . Cos t - Indie,” i. pp. 634

-

4 3. Many of the words given abovedo not tally wi t h the much fuller vocabularies supplied by R osenberg. S eea lso the Batavian “ T ijdschrift, vol. xxv. p. 484 ii ]

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78 R E MAR KS ON TH E S PE CIE S OF P E PPE R

133acre . But some experienced cul t iva tors think that the distance

should be grea ter—perhaps nine feet as the roots would be be tternouri shed

,and the produce more abundant .

When a plan tation i s to be commenced the large t imber i scu t down by Malays

,at th e rate of five dollars per tirlong. T he

remaining labour i s performed by Chinese, who dig out the roots,burn them and the trunks , pulverize and l evel the soi l , plant thepepper vines and the trees which are to support them . I t i s usualto contract with them for making the plantation in th is manner

,

and taking care of i t for three years , at the end of which time i ti s in hearing, at the rate of 225 dollars for 100 plants . T he sumi s l iqu ida ted by instalments , as the contractor requires i t to pay hi sworkmen . S omething more than one third is pa id in the firs tyear , because the labour i s then greates t ; bu t about one—fourthof the whole i s general ly reserved til l the contract is completed ,and the plantation del ivered over. T his does not include theprice of the plants or cutt ings , which are furnished by the pro

prietor of the planta tion .

T he vine i s firs t made to cl imb on a pole . At the end of tenor twelve months i t i s detached from the pole to undergo th eprocess cal led laying down . A circular hole , about eighteeni nches in diameter,

’

is dug at one side of the plant . At the bottomof thi s the plant is carried round in a circle, and the end of i t i sbrough t to the tree which i s in fu ture to form i ts support . T he

depth of the hole In which the vines are la id down varies according to the situation and nature of the soil , and much j udgment, tob e acquired by practice, i s requ isi te to adapt i t to these circumstances . In high and dry situat ions , the depth must be considerably greater than in those which are low and moist. T oo l i ttledepth in the former would expose the roots to be parched in drys easons , and too much i n the lat ter would occasion them to ro tfrom exces s of mois ture.

T he trees used for supporting the pepper v ines on Prince ofWa les’ I sland are the Morinda eiz

‘rifolzzz (Mans a

’o) and the

E ry tfirzmz eom lloa’

ezza’ron (D adap). T he Chinese planters a llege

tha t the pepper supported by the E rythrina thrives better and la stsl onger than that supported by the Morinda . One i nstance Ih eard quot ed in proof of thi s assertion was a planta tion whichhad been long neglected and overgrown wi th weeds . When i tcame to be examined , the vines which had grown on the Morindawere all dead , while those on the E rythrina were s til l strong and

productive . T he reason assigned by the planters for this difference

i s,that the roots of the E rythr ina do not spread so much , or pene

trate so deep, as those of the Morinda , whence they interfere les swi th the pepper

,and do not draw so much nourishment from the

earth .

T he Morinda was formerly made to growwi th one stem ,bu t

FO U N D ON PR IN CE WALE S IS LAN D . 79

thi s was not found to afford sufficient spread for the vines .T herefore, when tha t tree i s u sed , the practice now i s to break offthe principal s tem at the height of about two feet from the ground .

T his obl iges the tree to put out latera l branches at tha t height .When these have a tta ined the length of about a foot or fifteeninches they are cut off. From their ends ari s e erect shoots

,each

of which forms a stem,so that the vine has four or five stems to

climb on instead of one .T he vines at three years of age begin to produce, and they are

reckoned to be i n ful l b earing at five or six. T hey continuenearly i n the same state for eight years more, or t il l they are

fourteen years old . From tha t period they are reckoned on the

decl ine ; but the planters o n Prince ofWales ’ I sland cannot yetjudge from experience at wha t ra te

,or in how long a t ime

,they

decay . S ome Chinese, who have cult iva ted the plant on the

Malay coast , say the vines have not a rrived at thei r po int ofgreatest produce til l they are fourteen years old and that fromthis

,gradually decl ining, they continue bearing til l near thirty.

T he first year of. bearing, or at three years old , the vines do notyi eld more than hal f a ca tti each . But plants kept in good order

,

when in their prime, will produce three ca tti s .* A plantation ofvines at Sungi now in i ts eleventh year

,has been

let for three years at seventy picols yearly, or at the rate ofcatti s each plant. It must therefore produce as much more as

will pay the tenant for his labour and risk . T hey are general lylet for t he firs t five years of bearing , or from three to eight yearsold

,at 160 picols per laksha or at 160 catti s for 100

vines.T he vines yield two crops yearly. T he firs t gathering commences

i n December, after the heavy ra ins are over , and at the same timethe Vines have put out new flowers . T his first col lection may be

finished in February . T he flower s which spread in D ecemberhave ripened their seeds in April or May. T he second collectionthen begins

,and ends in July. D uring this time blos soms have

expanded , which are to furnish the crop of next D ecember. But,

with the most careful cul tiva tors , who ga ther only the buncheswhich are ful ly ripe, these two harves ts run so nearly into o ne

another,that the collection i s i n a manner cont inued without inter

ruption from D ecember til l August, so tha t there i s only an interva lof

.

four months in the year,which i s the season of the heavy

rams .T he bunches are plucked off entire, taking care to pull only

those tha t are ripe. T hey are thrown into baskets,and al lowed to

A ca t ti is lb.

1' A dis tric t near the sou thern extremity of the island, of which the soil isfound peculiarly favourable to the cultivation of pepper. T he oldest vinesare in this district .

80 R E MAR KS ON T H E S PE CIE S OF P E PPE R

remai n for a day. T hey are a fterwards spread on mat s,and

trodden wi th the feet, to s eparate the frui t from the s talk . T he

gra in is next winn owed , to clear i t from the stalks and the l igh tergra in s , and the good heavy gra ins are spread on ma t s i n thesun to dry for three days . I t i s calculated tha t 100 cat ti s of

green pepper with the s talks yield thirty - five catti s of clean anddry pepper . T he collection of one day from 4 6,000 plants o fthree years old was 5 ,00 ca tti s of green , or 175 of dry pepper .I t is usual

,as was before noticed , when the plantation i s

del ivered over to the proprietor, at the end of three years,to let

it to a Chinese farmer for five years more, as the proprietor is

thereby less l iable to imposi tion , the only precaut ion necessarybeing to see that the tenan t i s careful of the vines during the last

year, and leaves them in good condition at the expira tion of thel ea se . T his Is the only way in which a very extens ive plantat ion

,

or one whereon th e proprietor cannot bestow his whole at tention,

can be managed to advantage . But i f the proprietor has t ime,

and i s careful and acute , he may render i t something more productive by keeping i t in hi s own hands . T he labour of cleaningthe vines, throwing up earth abou t the roots, and collecting the

produce of the planta t ion above mentioned plants wasp erformed by sixteen Chinese workmen .

T he table at th e end of th i s paper exhib i ts a calcula tion of theprofi t s that may be expected In twel ve years from a given space ofground planted with pepper, supposing i t to s ell at ten dollars a

picol, which was the price on the field when I was on the i sland,

and then esteemed very modera te. But I understand i t haslately fal len to something between eight and nine dollars .T he whole quantity of pepper produced in tha t year on

th e i sland was estimated a t something between and

picols . T aking the medium quanti ty at twelve dollars ,which was the sell ing price, thi s ar ticl e must have amounted to

dollars . T he i sland pepper i s more esteemed than thatwhich comes from the Malay continent and S uma tra

,and i t s ell s

for about one dollar more per picol. T he difference i s occas ionedby the has te of the Malays to gather the frui t before i t i s sufliciently r ipe.

2. P iper B eiZe.— Lin . sp. 4 0. S yst . 74 . R eich . Wi l ld . 159.

F1. Zeyl . n . 27. Loureiro, Cochinch. 3 1 . Burm . Zeyl . 193 . t . 83 .

f. 2 . Morison,H is t . 3. 603 . Miller’ s D ict . N o . 2 . Leaves ob

liquely corda te, acuminate, waving , seven- nerved, smooth .

B etele T ambie/ s ive B eire. Burm . Zeyl . 4 6.

B eire, B eteZ/e, B eiele,B elle. Bauh . H i s t. i . p . 4 37. R ay. H i s t .

19 13 . Acos t. Arom . c . 10. C lu s . exot . 176. t . 176. Dal e,

Pharm . 3 13 .

B eetla Codi. R heede Mal , 7. p . 29 . t . 15. B ula t weela . H erm .

Zeyl . 34 . 36. 66.

In 1802 .

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8 2 R E MAR KS ON TH E S PE CIE S OF P E PPE R

Malay. C

T his species has been general ly confounded with Piper lengumbut a compari son of the figure above quoted from R umphius, withthat of R heede’

s Ca ttu- tirpaii, H . M . 7. p . 2 7. t . 14 . will clearlyevince them to be different .T he P iper [oz/gum i s cal led in S anscri t P ippali, i n H ind i P ipe] ,

and i n Persian P ilpili a’

eraz . T he species now under considerat ion appears to b e the same tha t i s cal led in S anscri t C/zavieci

,

and i n H indi C/zaa. All the S anscri t medica l writers , as wel l asvocabulari es of that language, concur i n stat ing the produce ofth i s plant to be Gay

'

a pippa li or Gaj'

pzpel. T his name was,how

ever, assigned to a very differen t plant examined by S ir Wi ll iamJones

,

* the T etrant/zera apeiala of Dr. R oxburgh.T And thefrui t of a plant

,very different from both, i s sold under that name

by the na tive druggist s in Calcut ta .

5 . Piper Latgfoliam.

Fru i t l ike the former. Leaves al terna te,deeply cordate

,ob tuse

,

n ine- nerved .

Mal.— Gcia’12or

T he l eaves are used as a pot - he .rbHaving seen only a smal l specimen , withou t fructification , which

I know merely by description,I cannot speak wi th certainty of

thi s species .

I[Probably, C/ia

'

ée ta'

li. ]Asiat. R es ,

v . 4 , p. 303. 1' Pl. Corom . , N o. 14 7.

FO U N D ON PR IN CE IVALE S I S LAN D . 83

T AB LE E XH I B IT I N G AN E S T IMAT E OF T H E E XP E N S E AN D P R ODUCEIN 1 2 Y E AR S O F 100 U R LO N GS PLAN T E D W IT H P E PPE R .

B a lance.

S p.Dols . S p. D ols . S p. D ols . P

I st year, clea1ing of heavy t imberby Malays

,a t $5 per i

'

trlong.

T o the Chinese con tracto r, 1n thecou rse of years

,when he engages

to deliver the planta t ion in fullbearing, a t $225 per

plan ts .

Of th is in the fi rst yea r 84 37 50 8437 50 8937 Dr.

zud year , fa r ther payment tocon t rac tor 4 218 75 4218 75I n teres t o f I st year at 12

per cen t 1072 50 D r.

3rd yea r, in full to con t ra c tor 984 3 75 984 3 75

00

Interes t in the 3rd yea r Dr.

4 th year, in terestS upposing the plan ta t ion to be letdui ing the fi rs t 5 years of bearingat 160 picols per la csha , th iswill be picols ; which maybe sold on the ground a t

Dr.

5th year, in teres t I544 82

5th year’ s crop

6th yea r, in teres t6th yea r’ s crop

7th year, in teres t7th yea r

’ s crop8th yea r, in teres t8 th yea r ’ s crop

9th yea r , interestT he plants , being now in full vigou r,may be let for 4 y ea rs more a t 2

ca t tis each plan t , or picols ;wh ich Is C f

roth yea r, in teres tl oth year ’ s crop

11th year, in teres t11th year ’ s crop

12th yea r, in teres t12th year ’ s crop Cr. l

1[S ee also (J . Anderson) R elations of the Government of Prince of W ales

Island,

”&c . pp

”. 10 ff. 29, 52 C . L. Blume

,Monograph ie der O os t

Indische pepersoorten ,

”in Verhandelingen van het B ataviaasch genootschap,

vol. xi. p. 137 ff. ; G . J . Filet , “ Plantkundig W oordenboek,”N o . 4824

—33

A . H . Bisschop Grevelink,“ Plan ten van N ederlandsch I ndie pp.

4 28-

39 ; K. W . van G01kom , D e I ndische Cu ltures vol. ii. pp.

517-

525 ; F. Jagor, “ S ingapore pp. 62- 64 ]

84 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

O N T H E LAN GU AG E S A N D LIT E R AT U R E

OF T H E IN DO - CH I N E S E N AT IO N S .

B y J. LE YD E N,M.D .

[“Asia tic R esearches, vol. x . pp. 158

—289 ]

T HE inhab i tants of the regions which lie between India and China,and the grea ter par t of th e i slanders of the E as tern S ea, thoughdivided into numerous tribes

,and equal ly d iss imilar i n thei r

languages and manners,may yet with propriety be characterized

by the term Indo - Chinese . S i tuated between India and China ,each of which proudly styles i t self the mos t ancient among the

nations of the earth , they have contented themselves with moremodest claim s to antiqu i ty

,and profes sed to borrow from one or

other of thei r neighbours the principal fea tures of their religion ,laws and manners . T he different periods , however, at whichthes e were adopted in different countries

,the variou s degrees of

civi l izat ion , and the pre - exi sting hab it s on which they were en

grafted,have produced a diversi ty of na tional characteri s t ics , by

which they are not only dist inguished from the Indian and

Chinese nations , bu t al so from on e another, notwithstanding theircommon mixed origin .

T he intercourse of E uropeans wi th the Indo - Chines e na t ion s,though for the firs t two centuries after the arrival of the Portu

guese in the E ast scarcely inferior to that which was carried onwith India or China , was not of such a kind as to furnish us witha very accura te or extensive knowledge of their laws , manners, orl iterature, and for more than a century i t has been rather decl ining than increas ing. N ei ther, s ince our late rapid acqui sitions i nI ndian languages and l i tera ture , have we ob tained any importantaccess ion s to our informat ion in this quarter

,though both politi

cal and li terary reasons seem to require them .

T he material s o f this imperfect sketch were chiefly collectedi n the course of a voyage which the state of my heal th caused meto take t o the E astern I sles in 1805, during which I res ided somet ime at Penang

,and visi ted Achi , with some o ther places on the

coas t of S umatra and the Malayan Peninsula . Cul tivating an

i n tercours e with a variety of individual s of d ifferent E astern tribes ,I ava i led myself of the faci l i ties which the si tua tion presented , tocorrect the vague ideas which I had previously entertained con

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86 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R AT U R E

of mounta ineers,the nat ions who occupy the countries which ex

tend from India to China , profess only one rel igion , and adherea lmost solely to the sys tem of Buddha . I n so vas t an extent ofcountry some divers ity of loca l insti tu t ion s i s always to b e ex

pected bu t the sp iri t of the sys tem and i t s influence 011 the

manners of the people, in the same state of civil izat ion , i s essentially the same from Chatigan to China . T his system in i t s grandfeatures identifies i tself with tha t which preva i l s i n N epal , Butan ,and T iber

,and has extended i tself over the immense region s of

Chin , Cham ,andJapuén , o r China, T artary, and Japan . T hough

i t does not appear that all the nat ions who occupy thi s prodigIOusexten t of territory employ the same learned language in the preserva t ion of their sacred books and rel igious tracts, yet thi s is the casewi th the Indo - Chinese na tions, who , with the S inghalese

,or in

habi tants o f Ceylon , uniformly employ the B al i or Pa l i , in the

sacred compos it ions of the Buddhist sect . T his language doesnot exis t as a vernacular tongue

,but is the language of rel igion

,

learning,and science, and appears to have exerted an influence

over the vernacular languages of the Indo - Ch inese na t ions , s imilarto tha t which the S anscri t has exhibited among the popular languages of H industan and D ekhin .

T he Malayan language, and the more original languages of theE a stern Isles

,seem in their original forma tion to have been poly

syllabic, l ike S anscri t, Pal i , and the spoken dialects of India .

T he modifica t ions which these languages have received from a

foreign source, seem for th e most part to have been effectedra ther by the immedia te agency of S anscri t than of Pal i , thoughthe influence of this la tter i s not to be entirely excluded . Butsevera l of them have been a second t ime modified , by the introduction of Arabic

,as the language of rel igion and lea rn ing, after

the convers ion of severa l of these tribes to the Mahummedan

fa i th .

T he vernacular Indo—Chinese languages on the continent seemall to b e

,i n their origina l s tructure, either purely monosyllabic ,

l ike the spoken languages of China , or they incl ine so much tothi s class , tha t i t may be strongly su spected tha t the few origina lpolysyllables which they conta in have ei ther been immedia telyderived from the Pal i , or formed of coalescing monosyllables .T hese languages are all prodigiou sly varied by accentuat ion , l ikethe spoken languages of Ch ina

,and every foreign modifica tion

which they have received s eems to have been immediately derivedfrom the Pal i .In the pauci ty o f exi sting monuments relat ive t o the Indo

Ch inese nation s,no better method presented i tsel f, ei ther for

classing thei r tribes or laying a founda tion for historica l researches ,than by examining the mutua l relat ion of the severa l language swh ich are current among them . T his method, when applied on

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N AT ION S . 87

an extens ive scal e,i s a lways the surest clue for developing the

origin of a na t ion, and i ndicat ing the revolutions to which i t mayhave been subj ected

,either by foreign conquest or colonization .

After the relat ions of the language i tself, the ancient monumentsand composi tions preserved in i t cla im our regard and I havetherefore noted

,under their respect ive heads, such as have come

to my knowledge premising tha t'

my Opportuni t ies of procuringthis species of information have been very unfavourab l e, and o fexamining them ,

very l imi ted .

T he Indo - Chinese languages may be considered in th e followingorder

Polysyllabic Languages .

3. Bugis . 5. Ba tta .

4 . B ima. 6. Géla or T agala .

Monasyllaaic Languages.

10. T ’hay . 12 . Law.

11. KhOhmén . 13. Anam.

T fie Learned Language.

14 . Pali .

I . Malayu- T he Malayu language

,so pronounced in the

Malaya Peninsula , bu t by E uropeans general ly denominatedMalay

,i s used by the numerou s and enterpris ing nation of that

name, who are termed Khek by the S iamese, and M5511 by theBarmas .1 T hi s language

,which from i ts sweetness has been

termed the I ta l ian , and from its widely extended use the

H industani of the E a s t,though i t coincides with the monosyllab ic

languages in i ts general construction and analogies,i s properly

polysyllab i c in i ts form . H aving spread i tsel f over a grea t extentof country, not only in the Malaya Peninsula, bu t far among theE as tern I sles

,and having been propaga ted by a race more ski lled

in arms than in letters , i t has branched out into a lmost as manyd ialects as states , by mixing in different proportions with the

na tive languages of the aboriginal races . T his i s the circumstancewhich renders the investigat ion of the origin and rela tions of theMalayu language a matter of difficul ty, as i t becomes necessaryto examine the his tory of the nat ion, as wel l as the structure and

composition of the language i tself. T hough used by a na t ion ofcompara tively late origin

,at l eas t with respect to the principal

1[T he Bu rmese word is Pa sfiu’ , which is also used in Karen along wi th

Pa t/ze’

. In bo th languages Pa l/zz’

is the common term for a Mohammedan .

T he S iamese word Kai/e (K/zié in S han), is a general term for a s tranger, aforeigner, and requires the addi tion of the determinant Mala

’

y u to convey themeaning a

88 ON T H E LAN G U AG E S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

fea tures which i t at present presen ts , the history of thi s nat ion i ss til l very obscure , rather, i t may be presumed , from the wan t ofi nvestiga tion than from the want of material s for i ts i llus tration .

T he history of the origin and progress of the Malayu tongue ofcourse partakes of th is obscuri ty ; but notwiths tanding the grea tdivers ity which occurs i n the spoken dia lects , in the bazaar jargon ,or

,as the Malays term i t

,the Basa. Dagang

,of the severa l Malay

S ta tes,the Basa Jawi

,or wri tten language of composi t ion

,i s nearly

the same i n all ; and the popular or vernacular languages arereckoned pure in proportion as they approximate to the wri ttenlanguage .

Assuming therefore the Ba sa Jawi as the standard of compari son

,the Malayu language in i ts presen t s ta te consists of

three principa l component parts . T he firs t of these, which i sra ther the most copious and current i n the language of conversat ion

,may perhaps , i n the present sta te of our knowledge, b e

regarded as original,though i t i s not only connected w ith the

insular languages , but with some of the monosyllabic, as B airma1

and T’hay. T he second

,which i s obviously derived from the

S anscri t,i s ra ther inferior i n th e number of vocables to the first ,

though, as far as regards genera l use, greatly superior to the third

part,which i s der ived from the Arabic . As a spoken language ,

the Malayu exi sts in the grea tes t purity in the tin countries, orthe penin sula of Ma laya , which is obviously the T emala ofP tolemy. T emala i s a regular deriva tive from the Malay vocab l elenza

,whi ch signifies t in

,and from this

,among other circum

stances, we may be permitted to infer the high antiqu ity of th e

ba si s of th e Malay language from its giving name to the Cassiteridesof the E ast . T he Ma layu language i s spoken in i ts great es tpurity in the S ta tes of Kiddeh or T anna S ay, Perak, S alang61,Killung, JohOr, T ringgano, Pahang, and as far as Pa tani , where i tmeets the S iamese . Among the western Ma lays in general i t i sspoken wi th more purity than among the more easterly i sles , bu ton the coas t of S umatra , or Pulow Purichu,

2 i t i s intermixed wi ththe Bat ta and o ther origina l languages . T he Menangkabow race ,who seem at an early period to have ruled the whole i sland ofS uma tra, whose chief assumes the name of Maha R aj a of R ajas ,and derives hi s origin from Lankapt

’

tra , speak a dialect of Malayuwhich differs considerably from tha t of the peninsula but whichseems , as far as I can j udge, to coincide in many respects with

1[Bu rmese has no affin i ty wi th M alay . ]

2[Acco rding to Van der T uuk (

“ Malay D ict. , Pulo percha, “the

gu tta -

percha is land according to the Abbé Favre and Prof. I’ ijnappel, intheir Malay D ic tiona ries, percha is i. q . martya ,

“the inhabi ted world .

”T his

opinion was first propounded by Van der T uuk in his B ataksch W oorden

boek ”s . v. 7norsa . ]

3 [On the d ialec t of Menangkabow, see the third section of “M iddenS uma t ra (Leiden , pa r t i.

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90 ON TH E LANGUAGES AN D LI T E R AT U R E

unaccounted for ; and as the few coinciding words may all havebeen derived from a common source

,i t i s p erhaps a more natural

i nference t o conclude tha t they have all been modified by somegeneral language

,than

,with S irW. Jones , to determ ine tha t the

paren t of them all has been the S an scri t . T he same author, i nh i s H i s tory of S umatra

,seems incl ined to th ink that the Malay

language was indigenou s i n the Ma lay Peninsula,from which i t

extended itself among the E astern I sles t il l i t became the lingu al

frazzca of tha t part of the globe. T he author of the descript ionof S iam , in the modern part of the

“ U niversa l H i s tory ,” not only

a s sign s a very different origin to the language , bu t accounts in avery different manner for i t s uncommon extent . Describ ingMalacca

,he observes : “T he Malayan tongue i s formed out of

the languages of the different na tions which resor t h i ther, byselecting the choices t words in each . H ence i t i s reckoned themost agreeable and el egant in all the Indies , which qua l i ty, j oinedt o i t s use i n trade, causes i t to be learned by the remotest E asternp eople .

”A language formed according to this ingenious idea.

of selection might probably be remarkably agreeable and elegant,but i t would be s ti l l more remarkable as a new phenomenon inthe h istory of na t ions . I t would certa inly be a very uncommonoccurrence i n

,

the his tory of mankind to discover a nat ion s ochoice i n ma tters of abstract sound

,and so refined in their organs

of hearing,as to take the trouble t o learn a cop ious and unknown

language for the mere abstract pleasure of gratifying thi s del icatesense or appeti te for sweet voca l ic sounds . N evertheless

,though

the author i s a l i ttl e unfortuna te in his doctrine of causes , thefact to which he a l ludes i s worthy of a tten tion ; for i t i s notnecessary t o possess a. very minute knowledge of the Malayulanguage to be able to call i ts original i ty in question . I t maybe safely affirmed tha t nei ther the Malay Zz

'

ngz/a fret/1m of commerce nor any of the mari t ime dialects of Malayu exis ted previous t o the era of Mohammed

,i n a s ta te s imilar to that in which

they appear at presen t 3 and these dia lects seem to comprehendall tha t are usual ly included under the denomination of theMalayu language.

T he Malayu language, i n this l imited sense, i s obviously indeb ted to two foreign sources for the maj ority of the vocab les whichcompose i t

,and these are the S anscri t and the Arab ic .

T he connection between the S anscri t and Malayu was firs tremarked by S irW . J ones, and Mr . Marsden has confirmed thefact by abou t fifteen examples

,selected

,as he says, with l i ttl e

pa ins , from a Ma lay dict ionary,which

,had he been acqua inted

with the S anscri t language,he migh t with very l i t tle labour have

extended to fifteen hundred,or perhaps five thousand . Many of

the S anscri t words i n the Malayu,as he observes , are such as the

progres s of c ivi l izat ion mus t soon have rendered neces sary,being

OF T H E [ N E G - CHINESE NATIONS. 9 1

frequently expressive of menta l feel ings or such modes of thinking as natura l ly resul t from the socia l habits of mankind, or fromthe evils which tend to in terrup t them . Many of the names ofthe common obj ects of sen sa t ion are a lso of S an scrit origin ;nevertheless, the s imples t part of the Malayu language , and tha twhich i s most indispensable to its existence as a distinct tongue,i s certa inly not derived from the S an scri t . 1

W i th respect to the conn ection between Arabi c and Malayu ,Marsden observes tha t the latter language abounds with Arabicwords , which writers affect to in troduce because this display ofl iterary skill i s at the same time a proof of their religious knowledge . H e adds , that these words are gen erally legal or metaphys ical terms , borrowed from the Koran or its commentaries ,that they are n ever expressive of s imple ideas , are rarely used inconversation

,and

,with few exception s

,seem n ever to have been

thoroughly incorporated in to the language . T his account of theintroduction of Arabic into Ma layu ls un exceptiona l ly j us t, excepting with respect to the use of Arabic terms in conversation , whichi s affected by all Malays who have any pretens ion s to l iterature .T he number of Arabic vocables

,too , tha t have been introduced

into Malay composit ion s,though certainly in ferior to those of

S anscri t orig in,are con s iderably more numerous than might be

supposed from this statemen t,or rather

,as in Persic and T urki,

i t is difficult to assign any bounds to their in troduction but thepleasure of the wri ter . I t may a l so be observed here, that in theMa layu language Arabic plura l s are very commorily used as

singulars, as often happens ln T urki and other dia lects whichadmit of a mixture of Arabic . Marsden has men t ioned anotherpeculiarity, m which the Arabic vocables adopted by the Malayudiffer from adopted S anscri t term s . W hil e the Arabic wordsreta in their peculiar and harsh pronunciation

,those of S an scri t

origin are softened down and assimila ted with the res t of thelanguage. T his observa tion must l ikewis e be taken with manyl imita tions , for numerous words of Arabic origin are so completelyassim ila ted to the Malayu pronuncia tion

,tha t they are no longer

capable of being recogn ized,even by a n ative Arab , un less by

a t ten tion to their radical s,the am and 0/za z11 in particii lar, excep t

in religious terms are genera l ly converted mm [ 4117(and Gaf , both

in writing and pronunciation . I t 15 certa in ,however, that Arabic

words are na tura lly in tractable, and are apt to have a foreign

appearance when a ssumed into any other language, in spite of allmodification s . T he Arabic i s a language so complete ln i tsel f, andso pecu liar ln i t s s tructure

,tha t i t is as l i ttl e capable of coalescing

neatly with any other language as a curved l in e with a stra ightone.Marsden has l ikewise hazarded an opinion that the pol ish which

1[S ee above, p. 55, no te. ]

92 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

th e Malayu has derived from S anscri t or H induvi, has beenobta ined immed iately from the na tive s of G uzera t, previou s to thedebasemen t of the genuine H induvi of the northern provinces bythe m ixture of Arabic noun s and the abuse of verba l auxil iaries .T he resort of the people of Guzerat to Malacca

,he adds ,

“ i s particularly noticed by D e Barros and other au then tic writers ; andi t i s wel l known tha t the H indu language has been preserved withmore puri ty in tha t than in any other mari time province of India .

T o this i t i s sufficien t to an swer that the S an scri t vocables adoptedin Malayu and Guzerafiti, are genera l ly preserved purer

'

in theformer than in the la tter ; that the Guzerati has no pretens ion s tobe considered as a pure dialect of H induvi

,but

,on the con trary,

i s one of the very firs t that was corrupted by a mixture of Arabic ,and that long prior to the period mentioned by D e Barros . T he

Bengal i language i tself,corrupted in pronuncia tion as i t certa in ly

i s,migh t have been more safely adopted as the medium for th e

in troduction of S anscrit vocables in to Malayu . Many S an scri twords tha t are in curren t use in Bengal i l ikewis e occur in Malayu ,wi th almost the very same pronunciation . O f thi s i t i s easy toproduce a multitude of in s tances . T he fol lowing are such aspresen t themselves spon taneously

T ot’

hapi T atapi

Punah PunT a tkalé T atkala

B ongsh BangsaKichhu orKichhi KichiIngg1t , a signal Inga t

'

Ba rang, a gift , a thing, a quali ty Ba rang - barang

But i t i s needless to adduce further instances,as the Malay

history and language i tself exhibi t traces sufficien tly clear to directus to the region with which the Malays had th e mos t frequen tin tercourse at an early period

,and from which their language

seems to have received the mos t cons iderabl e modification s,and

tha t i s th e ancien t k ingdom of Kal inga . H ere I am again underth e n ecessi ty of dissen t ing from Marsden ’ s opinion . H e saysI t i s eviden t that from the T elinga or the T amool the Malayan

has not received any portion of i ts improvemen t.”

I apprehendthat the express reverse of this opinion i s eviden t

,for the Ma lays

at th is very peri od know the Coromandel coast by no other namethan T anna Kel ing , the land of Kel ing or Kal inga : a mul titudeof compositions current among them profess to be tran slat ionsfrom the Basa - Kel ing, or Ka l inga language ; and the Malayulanguage con tains a great number of words tha t are T amul ,Ma layalam ,

and T el inga ; though n either S an scri t, H induvr’

,nor

Guzerati ; and a variety that are on ly to be found in T el inga, thevernacular language of th e Kalinga D esa .

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94 ON T H E LANGUAGES AJVD LITERATURE

Malayu term s , which express th e most s imple and remarkableobj ects in nature

,appear to be only gros s auricular corrupti ons of

tru e regular terms in th e more ancien t E as tern languages , asJawa , Bugis, T

’hay,and Barma ; and many of th e simplest obj ects

are not dis tinguished in Malayu by s imple words,bu t by com

pound metaphorical and sign ifican t terms . T he omis sion of thefirst syllable in words derived from a foreign language

,whether

ancient or modern,i s a frequen t practice in the Malayu language

thu s th e S anscrit Am ia ra becomes B z’

lam,and thu s rambulcm

,the

moon in Javanese,becomes 8 1214272 in Malayu 5 and Mo

‘

putz’

,which

signifies white in Bugis , becomes puff in Malayu.

lAgain

,the

metaphorical term mam- barf,which l iterally signifies the eye of

day,i s the on ly native term for th e sun 5 though a

corruption of the Bal i term C/zakm rtrala,has been adopted in th e

higher dialect , or poetical s tyle , termed the Basa Dalam . T he

Malay term tu/zcm,which s ign ifies t/ze aged, i s used as synonymou s

with Alla/zt’aala , which they have adopted from the Arabic. A

number of T ’hay vocables occur in Malayu ; but for the mos tpart they are n either expressive of our simplest ideas

,nor of the

most remarkable obj ects in nature,excepting perhaps bu

,th e con

tracted term of Aéu, I , in Malayu,which i s the same in T ’hay or

S iamese . A variety,however

,of important words seem to have

been adopted from the Barma language , especial ly in the verba lauxiliaries 5 and in most of these instances i t may be observedtha t the Malayu pronunciation coincides better with tha t of T avay,or T innau, than with tha t of the Barmas proper. T hus the substantive verbal auxil iary of the present ada’a , seems to be on ly amodification of the more s imple dd or dé of the Barma language

,

the pas t swirl of th e Barma syz'

- a’é,the auxil iary of the future

j aa’z'

of the Barma m - zz’é,pronouncedya - d

’

é or j a - d’

é , 7nd 0,will or

may,i s a modifica tion of the Barma mz

,or mm/z’ , and the per

missive aux il iary Zé/z of the Barma Zé. O f the conn ection of theMalayu with any of the spoken dial ects of China, i t i s mored ifficul t to speak with accuracy , in the presen t s tate of our knowledge . Barrow,

and some other authors of reputat ion,are inclined

to attribu te th e origin of the Malay tribes to the na tion s of China 5and that au thor observes that many words , in the languages ofS umatra , are s im ilar in sound to Chinese vocables 5 and that thecorresponding words generally express the same idea in bothlanguages . O f the valu e of th is opin ion i t i s not easy to speakin correc t terms

,for the proper Chinese languages are a t leas t ten

in number,and the dial ects of S uma tra vary almost as much on a

small scal e as the dialects of the Chinese 5 and to jumble togethera number of corresponding words in al l those dia l ects , may there

[B a/rim is more correctly derived from S anskrit bhatgara . T he Javanesehas bula n and rémbulan 5 the la t ter form has the prefix m , which appea rs alsoin radix,

“sun .

”T he B t

'

igfs word for white isprize; md is a prefix. ]

OF TH E [NDO- CHINESE NATIONS. 95

fore be no very difficult task . S ome coincidences there certa inly arebetween the Malayu and the Chinese -Mandarin language 5 thus inthe firs t personal pronoun , saya and gun, which both signify I inMalayu , very n early coincide with the Chinese seab and ”go, whichhave the same sign ifica t ion 5

1 bu t on the whol e these coincidencesseem nei ther very numerou s nor important.T he Ma layu language is extremely well fi tted for being a Zz

’

ngua

franm,or general medium of communication among the E astern

I sles, by the smoothness and sweetness of i ts tone , and th e sim

plicity of i ts structure and construction . I ts s imple pronoun sindica te rank and s ituat ion ,

and are a lmost as numerous as inChinese ; but the different dial ects of the Ma layu vary con

siderably, both in the use of the pronouns and of the verba lauxil iari es. I t may also be observed tha t the more mixed and

impure any dia l ect of Malayu i s, i t i s more verbose , more indefin ite in i ts expression s

,and more loaded with useless auxil iarie s

and epithets , which encumber the language , withou t adding eitherelegance

,force

,or dign i ty . T he beauty and elegance of the Malayu

i s i ts simplicity, and the puri ty of its minor dialects may often beascerta ined by this criterion a lone.T he l i terature of the Malays

,though the language is wel l

adapted for poetry,i s not distingu ished by many features of

original ity. A degree of monotony and repeti tion occurs in all

th e composi tion s of the monosyllabic languages,which has a great

tendency to damp the ardour of compos ition and extinguishpoetical fire . T he construction of the Ma layu is analogous to thatof the monosyllabic languages

,and there is a lso cons iderable

s imilarity in the character of its compos ition s . T he most favouri tespecies of composi tion among the Malays i s the Pantun , a wordwhich i s generally transla ted song, but which perhaps might withmore propriety be rendered simile or proverb , as i t consi sts of as imile , proverb , or apophthegm versified, and i t s appl ica t ion . A

Pan tun i s a rhyming quatrain , and i s a lways restricted to fourl ines ; hence i t affects a kind of oracular brevity, which is verydifficul t to be comprehended by E uropean s , who can seldom perceive any conn ection between th e s imil itude and the applica ti on .

T he Malays a l lege that the appl ication of the image , maxim , or

simil itude,i s a lways accurate ; but i t may be suspected that if

one - half of the verse be for the sen se,i t often happens that th e

other i s only for the rhyme 5 as in the ancien t W elsh triads ortriplets , in which there i s professedly no connection between thenatural image and the moral maxim . T hese Pantuns the Malaysoften recite , in al ternate con tes t, for several hours 5 the precedingPantun always furn ishing the catch - word to that which follows

,

1[S a

’

y a is an abbrevia ted form of the S anskrit sa/za'y a , “ slave, wherea sgua is a purely Chinese word, god being the pronoun of the fi rs t person in theAmoy dialect.

96 ON T H E LANGUAGES AN D LITERATURE

until on e of the parties be sil enced or vanqu ished, or, as th e Malaysexpress i t , be dead (sua

’a Many of these Panttins bear no

inconsiderable resemblances to the D obras and Kabitas i n theancien t H induvi and Vraja dial ects of H industan .

T he S a'

tyerl i s another species of composition which is ana l ogous

to the Persic Mesnevi. Mora l poems; resembling the Pendnaméhsof the Pers ian s , didactic works , or descrip tive composi tions andl egendary or heroic narra t ives

,are composed in this measure . T he

Cheritra or H ikaiat, a l so denomina ted Chi tra and Kuggawin ,from

the Javanese,i s more general ly written in prose , but frequen tly

in termixed with verse,both in the measures of the S ziyer and

Pantun . T hese Cheritras conta in the mythologica l s tories curren tamong the Malay tribes

,and also fragments of their h is tory

, em

bellished in a poetica l manner. T he three grea t sources of all th eMalay l egends are the Javan ese, Kel ing, and Arabic languages, bu tin the composi tions of later da te

,the characters and inciden ts are

so m ixed that i t i s not always easy to determin e to which of thesesources they ought to be referred . T here i s also one class

'

ofs tories which the learned Malays term S usupan ,

I imagine from anancient dynasty of Javan ese princes to whom they rela te . S omeof these legends a l so coincide in the genera l s tory with those ofthe S iamese, as the Malay S elimbariwith the S iamese Kht

’

mp’hen 5

and the H ikaiat S hah Murdan with the S iamese Lin- téing.

2W hen

characters familiar in S an scri t mythology are introduced into theMa lay legends , their adventures are genera l ly tran sferred by theMalays to th e interior of Java and even Arabian characters areoften represented as performing their adven tures in the Ma laycountries . Many of these narra t ives exist both in prose and vers e

,

and of several there seem to be two edition s one derived immediately from the Javanese language , and which commonly con ta in sa considerable number of Javanese vocables 5 the other from the

Kel ing , which often con tains a certain proportion of words moreimmediately derived from the S anscrit and T el inga.O f thi s lat ter class are probably the narratives termed H ikaiat

Pindawa , or Pandu s tories , which seem popular vers ions , or ratherabridgments

,of the differen t parts of the Mahabh ’arata 5

” some ofwhich

,in rea l i ty

,give the outl ine of th e story as faithfully as the

popular abridgmen ts of i t,which I have perused in “Mahrata

,

”

T amul ,” or T el inga . I am only acqua inted with the following

Malay H ikaiats of th is class Pindawa Lima,” the s tory of the

1[T his is the Arabic S ee on the va rious kinds ofMalay poetry,

J . J. de Hollander ’ s IIandleiding bij de beoefening derMaleis che taal - enletterkunde pp. 301

—322 ]

9[S ee on the S ha‘

ir S i Lembari, “ T ijdschrift voor N ed. Indie,”1849,

vol. i . p. 388. T he H ikayat S hahi Merdau is bet ter known under its o thert i tles, H . B 1krama D itya Jaya and H . Indara J aya . S ee L . W . C . van den

Berg’ s Verslag van Maleische, &c . , handschriften (Ba tavia, p. 27 ;

and De Hollander’ s Handleiding,”p.

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98 ON TIIE LANGUAGES AND LITERATUR E

neini . T he Koran i s also translated into Malayu in the sameparaphrastic manner as into Pers ic .T here are many Ma layu composit ion s of a h is torical nature ,though they are not so common as the classes tha t have beenenumerated such as the H ikaiat R ajah - bangsu, which I havenot seen

,bu t which has been described to me as a genealogical

h is tory of the Ma lay R ajahs . T he “ H ikaiat Malaka,

” whichrelates the founding of tha t ci ty by a Javanese adven turer , thearriva l o f the Portuguese , and the combats of the Malays wi thAlbuquerqu e and the other Portuguese commanders . T he

Hika iat Pitrajaya - Putti,

” or h istory of an ancien t R aj ah ofMalacca ; the H ikaiat Aclu , or history of Achi or Achin inS uma tra ; and the H ikaiat Hang - T uha

,or the adven ture s of a

Malay chief during the reign of the las t R ajah of Ma lacca , and theaccoun t of a Malay embas sy s en t to Mekka and Con stantinople,to request as sistance again s t the Portuguese . S uch hi storicalnarratives are extremely numerou s ; indeed there i s reason tobelieve that there i s one of every S tate or tribe ; and thoughoccasiona lly embell ished by fict ion

,i t i s only from them that we

can obta in an outl ine of the Ma lay h is tory,and of the progres s of

the nation . T he j urid ica l customs or traditions of the Malayshave l ikewise been collected in to codes of differen t an tiqu ity andau thority . Among those of the grea tes t authority are the U ndangU ndang ,

”and the Addat Malayu .

”T he most ancient of these

regulat ion s,however

,appear to have been adopted from the

Javanese and B tigis . Particular S tates have at differen t periodscomposed peculiar regula tions ; as the Addat Kiddeh, whichwere compiled by R aj ah S hah Alum ,

in An . H eg.

N o dramatic compos i tions in the Ma layu language have fa l lenas yet into my hands

,though many of them are said to exis t.

S cenic exhibition s termed W ayang - wayang were t ill la tely verycommon in th e pen in sula of Malayu

,bu t are now represen ted as

l ess frequently exhibited . T he subj ects of the Malayu dramasare the same as those of thei r h istor ies and romances , from which ,like the drama t ic composi tions of the S iames e and Chinese

,they

on ly differ in a ssuming the form of dia logue and soliloquy,th e

progress of the incidents being generally the same .T he following specimen s of the Malayu Pantun and S ayer wil lexhibi t the measure of the verse and the s tyl e of the composition .

1[An accoun t of mos t of the works above specified, with the t i tles more

correctly given , will be found in Van der T uuk’s description of the Leyden

collec tion , now in the Ind ia O ffice, in T ijdschrift voo r N ederlandsch Indie,”

1849 , i. pp. 385-

400;“ Journal of the R . As. S ociety,” N . S .

,vol. ii. pp. 85

135 5 B ijdragen voo r de taalkunde, T hird S eries , vol. i. pp. 409—76 vol. v.

pp. 14 2-

78 5 vol. vi. pp. 96—102 5 L . W . C . van den Berg,

Verslag van eene

verzameling Maleische, &c . , handschriften ”(Ba tavia , and J . J . de

Hollander, Handleiding bij de beoefening derMaleische taal en letterkunde”

(Breda, pp. 308

OF TH E INDO CHINESE NATIONS 99

T he firs t Pantun i s a chal lenge to engage in a poetical contes t.T he rest exhibi t the pecul iar images introduced

,and the manner

of presenting them in the Pan tun

T uan bulu,saya tumiang

Marileh kita berkiler taj iT uan sapulu, saya sumbilanMarileh kita bersindir- nyan i.

You are a bamboo and I am but a slender twig,Yet come on , let us sharpen our weapons 5You are as ten , and I am only as nine,Yet come, let us contend in iron ical verse.

Boah dalima berpangsu pangsuS ama juga b ijinya merahJangan tuan berpilis bangsuS ama juga daranya merah.

T he pomegranate has many partition sB ut the seed is equally red in them all

D o not give an undue preference to a race ofmen,

For the blood is equally red in them all.

Boah mamplum deri Pa tan iMasa sabiji de kulum rusaT uan Islam saya Na sraniS ama sama menangung dt

’

isa .

Of all the mangoes of Pa tani,A ripe one is but a mouthful to a stagYou are a Moslem and I a Chris tian ,B ut we mus t equally bea r our own faults.

B a tang padi jangan de rt'

1rt'

1t

Kalu de rt'

irt'

tt rusak batangnyaHa ti muda jangan de t i

'

mitKalu de tt'irt'tt rusak badanya .

S hake not the rice stalk,If you shake it the s talk is ruinedD o not yield to you thful inclina tionIf you yield your person is ruined.

S iri ki'th ing deri Pa taniPinang muda deriMalakaPut i kt’ining anak NasraniItu membawa badan chilaka .

T he yellow betel - leaf of Pa tani,

T he fresh betel - nut o fMalacca ,A whi te yellow Chris t ian damsel,

“

B ring a person to to tal ruin .

T he following passage of the S e’

limbari i s given as a specimenof the S ayer verse , in which the Ma lay romances and moral poemsare generally composed . In both measure and styl e they exhib i tconsiderabl e resemblance to the ancient E ngli sh and French

H 2

100 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

romances ; th ere i s l i t tl e vari ety of pau se or accent, and the l ineconsists 1ndifferently of eight or n in e syllables , one long syllablebemg reckoned equ ivalent to two short

T atkala tuan lankah de n a tangMa ta mamandang separti bin tangChahianya limpah gilang gumilangT eadalah abang dapa t mamandangPipinya bagei pa ti de lalangB ersamb1

’

1t dangan lehernya j inj angParas separti gumba r dan wayangBarang de makan berbayang bayangD ahinya bagci sahari bt

'

ilan

Keningnya ben t1’

ik bagei detelanLalu de ambil jadikan tfilanMamakei chinchin perma ta S elunChanggeynya panj ang berkilat kilatS epartimut iara sudah terikatPinggangnya ramping terlalu chan tikLeber laksana gumba r delarikMangluarkan ka ta yang pa tah cherdik

B ibirnya bagei pa tey chicharikT eada mamaki laku bersajaGiginya itam bakas berbajaChan tik molik gilangde R aj aB et sunting ku tum bunga S eraja ,Parasnya elok bukan kapalangAn tahkan j iwa garangan hilangKapada ma ta sudah terpandangT eadalah dapa t kumbali pulang .

1

W hen my mis tress looks fo r th from her window,

Her eye sparkling like a s ta r ,Its brillian t rays glancing and gli t tering,H er elder b rother canno t suppor t i t s lustre 5Like the red mango is the hue of her cheek,Becoming her tapering neck

,

T raversed with shadows whenever she swallowsH er fea tures like tho se of a sta tue or scenic figure,Her forehead like the new moon in its fi rs t day,H er eyebrows curved , so fa ir I could devour her,Long has she been cliosen to be my m ist1ess .

W earing a ring set with the gem s o f Ceylon,H er long nails shining like lightning,T ran spa ren t as a s t ring of pea rls ,H er wais t slender and extremely elegan t ,H er neck turned like a polished s ta tue,E loquen t in the enunc ia tion of her wo rds,H er pa rting like the c rimson red wood

N ot by dress , but by herself adorned 5Black are her teeth s tained wi th baja powderG raceful , slendei , appea ring like a queen,H er locks adom ed wi th the S elaj a flowers ,H er fea tures beaut iful W 1th no defec t of symmet ry.

1[T his ext rac t is not to be found in Leyden

’ s own copy of S i Lembari, nowin the India Office Library, N o.

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102 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

E ngli sh character only is u sed,ye t the pronunciation and the

significat ion of words are generally given with great accuracy .

B owrey, however, had the assis tance of the two emin ent oriental i sts ,Hyde and Marshall , in i ts composi tion , both of whom were excellently skilled in the language . In 1801 was publ ished a t London“A D ictionary of the Malay T ongue , to which is p refixed a G rammarof tha t Language,

” by James H owison,MD . T he author founds

his cla ims on a ten years ’ acqua in tance with the Malays and theirlanguage . From the scarcity of B owrey

’

s work , I have not beenable to compare i t wi th the publication of Dr. H owison

,bu t I

suspect the additions o f the latter to be nei ther numerous nor importa nt . One improvemen t he has a ttempted, and i t i s the following — “In giving the Malay words in the Arabic character,says he

,we have followed the excel len t example of R ichardson

and G i lchris t in their Pers ian and H indoostanee D ictionaries , andi t i s

,in fact, the character used by the Malays themselves .” Bu t

had Dr. H owi son been acqua in ted with the Ma lay orthography,he would have perceived tha t this barbarous mode of convertingthe E nglish character in to the Pers ic cou ld be Of no possibl eu ti l i ty either to an E uropean or an As ia tic . T he Malayu hasan established orthography

,l ike the Arabic

,Persic

, and H indoos tani ; and thi s es tabl ished orthography of Ma lay MS S . he hasviola ted repeatedly in every page

,not on ly by spel l ing the Malay

words in a mode never used among the Malays themselves,but by

omitting all their p ecu l iar characters,and by us ing some Pers ic

characters, as pa and ga , wi th which the Ma lays are unacqua in ted

a l together . A short Vocabulary, E ngl ish and Ma layo , with gram

mar ru le s for the attainmen t of the Ma layo language,was publ ished

at Ca lcu t ta in 1 798 . T he rules differ l i ttle from those whichappear in H owison ’ s Grammar, prefixed to h is D ictionary, and th eVocabu lary generally coincides with i t in the explana tion of words ,which are not very numerous . Besides thes e works which havebeen printed

,many Vocabulari es and D ictionari es exist in MS S .

in D utch, E ngl i sh , and Portuguese, and of these severa l are in my

possession . R eland , in his D z'

ssermiz'

o rl’

eLz'

fzgz/z'

s I zzsularum Orien

talz'

um, men tions a large MS . D ictionary which he had consul ted ,

composed by Leidekker, a D utch clergyman in Ba tavia, from whichhe has selected a specimen of the language . S evera l smallerVocabu laries of Malayu have been published

,chiefly by voyagers

and travellers,with various degrees of accuracy . Being genera l ly

constructed in a very hurried mann er,by person s devoid of a

radical knowledge of the language,and often , as may be presumed ,

under the n ecess i ty of express ing their question s by a mixture ofsigns , they gen erally abound in very ludicrou s errors and ris iblem i s takes . O f th is k ind many in s tances might easily be selectedfrom Labillardiere

’

s Malay Vocabulary ; nor i s that published byProfessor T hunberg, in h is T ravels , entirely free from them .

OF T H E IN D O - CH IN E S E N A T ION'

S . 103

Besides , they are generally mixed with a variety of Zz'

fzgzzafraflra andother E astern words tha t are never received in correct Malayu .

1

T he sacred S crip tures,a t an early period , began to be translated

into the Malayu language. T he Gospels of Ma tthew and Markwere firs t published in the Ma layu language and Arabic characterat E nkhausen

,in 1629 , in 4 to , according to the vers ion of Alb .

Corn . R uyl, and accompan ied with the D utch version . A secondedi tion was publi shed at Amsterdam in 1638 . T he G ospels ofLuke and John were published in Ma layu at Ams terdam in 164 6,

according to the version of J ohn Van H azel . Van H azel andJus t . H eurn , in 164 8 , published P salmz

'

quz’

zzgz/agz'

nfa primer,

Mfr/az'

cé ez‘B e/gz'

ré. T he four G ospels were republished , more correctly, with a vers ion of the Acts of the Apostles , by Just . H eurn ,

at Amsterdam,in 4 to, 165 1 . G enes is was published in Malay at

Amsterdam in 1662,according to the vers ion of D an . Brouwer 5

and the N ew T estamen t,by the same author

,in 1668 . A second

edit ion of G enesis was publ ished in 168 7. T he four E vangel istsand the Acts of the Apostles were publi shed, in the Malayu tongue ,at Oxford , in 1677, in 4 to .

,and reprin ted in 1 704 . Both edition s

are in the R oman character,and though H eurn

’

s version was foll owed , yet the firs t edition had the advan tage of being superintended by the l earn ed Hyde

,who has prefixed to i t a disserta tion

on the dial ects of the Malay,and the method to be employed in

studying the language . T he Psalms, or R sczlt'

zmz Zz'

ngzza

Malaz'

m at E elgz'

m , was publ ished by Van H asel and H eurn at

Amsterdam in 1689 . T he Psalferz'

um Mariam was publ ished atAmsterdam in 1 735,with musica l notes .2 A complete vers ion ofthe Bible was publ i shed at Amsterdam ,

in R oman characters , in1733 , and thi s vers ion was aga in published in the Arabic character,with the addi tion of the Malay peculiar letters

,at Ba tavia , in 5

vols . 8vo,1758 , under the direction of Jacob Mossel , G overnor

G enera l of the D utch possession s in the E a s t Indies . T he person swho superin tended the edition were J ohan . Mauritz Mohr and

H erm . Petrus Van de W erth . A Malay Ca techism was a l so composed by Gustavus W il liam Baron Van Imhoff, and prin ted atBa tavia in 174 6. T his vers ion of the Bible is composed in theidiom of Ba tavia and Malacca

,and I have heard i t obj ected tha t

i t i s not very in tel l igibl e in S umatra and other Ma lay coun tries 5but I regard i t as qu i te impossible to form a Ma layu vers ion whichwou ld be approved in poin t of style in every Malay country atthe same time

,for so grea t i s the diversity in poin t of styl e between

the Javan ese-Ma layu and the Arabic - Malayu , that even in thesame coun try those who are proficients i n the one are oftenscarcely abl e to understand the other.

1[S ee G . H . W erndly

’

s“Maleische S praakkunst (Amsterdam,

pp. 276-

307 5 G . K . N iemann, in B 1jdragen ,

”T hird S eries, vol. i. p. 113 if.

and P 333 ff2[W erndly, I. I. pp. 229

—76 ]

104 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

I I . f auna— T he Jawa or Javanese language is admitted byth e Ma lays to be tha t of a more ancien t na tion than themselves

,

and at no very distan t period seems to have been curren t throughthe whole exten t of Java . T he i sland of Java was formerly subject to a s ingle sovereign

,bearing the t itl e of R a tu A gong, or

S usuhunang, of the S usupun race , who generally held h is court atKiripun, S uryakarta . T he nation was brave

,enterpri s ing , and

populous,and before the in troduction of th e Mahummedan re

ligion ,abou t the year A.C . 1400, their power was supreme in th e

E as tern seas,and they extended their conquests to S umatra

,Borneo ,

and even as far as the Moluccas . T heir voyages often riva l l edthe celebra ted Argonautic expedition in the spiri t of adventure .T hey became known to E uropean s on ly in the decline of theirpower ; yet i t was s til l so formidabl e as repeatedly to shake th eauthori ty of the Portuguese in Malacca itself ; and one of the dependen t princes of Java was able to fi t ou t a flee t of thirty largevessels , the admiral of which was so strongly bu il t as to bereckon ed a t tha t period cannon - proof. T he Jawa language i ssubdivided into a great number of dia lects

,all of which may be

respectively classed under the heads of Basa—dalam and Basa—luar,

the in terior or high language,and the exterior or vulgar language

of the coasts . 1 Both of thes e differ cons iderably from the Malayu,

which has adopted a multi tude of terms from the Basa- luar Jawa,or coast language of Jawa

,compared even with which the Ma layu

language appears to be a corrupt derivative . T he language of thein terior

,however

,or the Basa - da lam Jawa

,has a close and int imate

connection with S an scri t, and express es the simpl es t obj ects andideas by vocables which seem to differ no farther from the S anskri tthan in th e corrupt pronuncia t ion necessarily produced by th euse of a l ess perfect alphabet . T he only Javan ese that I have metwho could speak the Basa - dalam Jawa was not able to write thecharacter 5 yet I perceived, in forming a short radical vocabulary,tha t h e used many S anscri t words for common obj ects which arenot in u se in any dia lect of Malayu .

T he a lphabet of Jawa i s pecu l iar , and has 110 resemblance inthe order of posit ion to the D evanagari . T he number of characters i s twen ty, and these are varied by four vowel s, e, i , u , o 5but the real number of vocalic sounds is considerably greater.T he Javan ese character i s wri tten from right to left . T he a lphabethas been exhibited wi th considerable accuracy by Le Brun , andal so by R eland 5 and i t appears to have a ttracted the a t ten t ion ofthe l earned Hyde

,as an Alp/25158121771 B arzfamezzse was found among

his pos thumou s papers,which had been wri tten for him by the

ambassador of the K ing of Bantam .

Various ancien t inscrip tion s and monuments are said to exist in1[T he impo r t of these Malay terms has been misunders tood . T he B asa

E rama and B asa - 71570130 o f Javanese are evident ly intended ]

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106 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

I I I . E zfgz’

s .— T he Bugis may be reckoned the original language

of the i sland of Cel ebes , in th e same manner as th e Javanese i sthat of the i sland of Java. T his ancient, brave, and martialnation also became known to E uropeans only in the ir decl ine,bu t there are a variety of circumstances rela t ive to them wh ichinclin e me to regard them as probably more ancient in the

E astern seas than even the Javanese . In courage,en terpris e ,

fideli ty, and even fair dea l ing in commerce, th ey are placed a t thehead of all th e ora ng z

‘z

’

mor,or E astern men

,even by the testimony

of the Malays and Javanese themselves,and to compare to them

either the Chinese or the continen tal Indo - Chinese nations wereto compare an ass

,caparisoned in stiff and gilded trappings , to a

gen erous courser. T he nation to which th e Bugis exhibi t th egreates t res emblance is the Japanese

,bu t I have not been abl e

to discover that the same s imilari ty exists between their respectivelanguages which appears in their na tura l characters .T he i sland of Celebes was formerly divided into seven princi

palities, which were all un i ted under an elective and l im itedsovereign . In this s ta te the i sland was the centre of E as terncommerce , and extended i ts conquests on the one hand as far asthe i sland of Bali

, and on the other beyond the Moluccas .T he Bugis language was ass iduously cultiva ted , and their ancientmythology, tradit ions , laws , and history, preserved in books , thegreater part of which are stil l extan t

,especial ly in th e in terior,

among the tribes who s til l adhere to their ancien t rel igion . 011

the sea—coas t the Mahummedan rel igion preva il s , and the ir booksresemble more the la ter Cheritras of th e Ma lays . I n 1603 the

Mungkasar R ajah , with the whol e Mungkasar nation , by one ofthe most s ingular revolutions on record

,renounced their ancien t

religion ,and not only adopted I slami sm

,bu t compelled a number

of the inferior S tates to imita te their example .T he Bugis language

, on the coasts, i s much mixed wi th th eeastern Malayu

,and i s found pure on ly in the ancient books and

in the in terior of Celebes . I t exhibi ts s trong features of originality in i ts vocables , but resembles th e Ma layu and T agala in i t scon s truction . W i th Malayu

,Javanes e

,and T agala i t exhibits many

coincidences,but i t contain s

,in i ts original s ta te

,almost no words .

(Ba tavia , 1880)5 for Javanese, the gramma rs by Fa vre (Pa ris ,P . Jansz (S ama rang, and T . R oorda (Am sterdam ,

and

the diction a1ies by P . Jansz (1876 Favre and the new edit ion , byA . C . Vreede, of R oorda

’

s wo rk for S undanese, the gramma rs byS . Coolsma (B a tavia , Grashuis (Leiden , and H . J . O osting

(Amsterdam , and the D ictionaries by O osting (Ba tavia , 1879) and.

Coolsma (Leiden, for Madurese, A . C . Vreede’

s“ Handleidmg

(2 pa rt s ; Leiden, 1874—76) and ano ther by S tockman s and Marinissen (S urabaya , La stly, for Bal inese we have the G rammar and D ictiona ry byR . van E ck (U t recht, and anticipate more comprehensive works fromDr. Van der T uuk. ]

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E NA T ION S . 107

of S an scri t origin . W i th the ancien t T erna ta or Molucca lan

guage i t a lso exhibits some coincidences,bu t as I have had no

favourable opportun i ty of s tudying the B tigis , and none at all o f

examin ing the T erna ta , with any degree of accuracy, I canno tpretend to determin e the na ture of this conn ection . Comparedwith the Ma layu or Javanese

,i t has certa in ly more the air of an

origina l than of a deriva t ive tongue .T he B t

’

igis alphabet consists of twenty - two letters,which are

varied by the s ix voca l ic sounds,a,u,i , e, o , ung. T he form of

the character 1s pecul iar,though i t appears to belong to the same

class as the Ba tta and T agala . T he power of the characterscoincides n early with that of the Javanes e letters

,though they

differ a l i ttl e both in n umber and in the order of arrangemen t .T he form of the Bugis character seems not on ly to differ cons iderably in differen t states

,but the a lphabet a l so varies in the number

and order of the l etters . T his proceeds from the adoption orrej ection of the doubl e consonan ts , which, though used in ancien tand classica l composition s

,are seldom or never employed in

l etter- writ ing or common busin ess 5 and hence,when a Bugi

’ swrites down h is a lphabet

,i t may vary in the number of the

characters from seven teen to twen ty - two . T he on ly Bugisa lphabet , printed or engraved, with which I am acqua in ted

,i s that

which is given by Forres t in a corn er of one of the maps of his“Voyage to the Mergu i Archipelago . T he le t ters are not

formed according to the common round B t’igis hand , but sharpangled

,l ike the R ej ang and Ba t ta character 5 but in other respects

i t is sufficien tly correct . T he Bugis character i s a lso employedfrequen tly in writing Malayu composition s .T he language of the ancien t Bugis compositions displays l ittl ed iversity of dia l ect , but cons iderable variety exis ts in the languageof conversa t ion in the differen t Bugis S tat es . T he dia lect ofMungkasar or Macassar

,the bravest and most renowned of the

B tigis tribes, differs considerably from the Bugis proper 5 but thedialects of Ltibu

,E n rekang , Mandar, and especia l ly T it- R aj j a,1

seem almos t to be differen t languages .T he Bugis language has n ever been regularly cultiva ted by

E uropeans,though the D utch have formed abridgmen ts of some

of the historica l relations in which i t abounds . I have formed ashort radica l vocabulary of both the Bugi

’

s and Mungkasar, bu tcannot con sider i t as pure and unm ixed

,being derived from

inhabitants of the coas t, though some of them were very in telligen t ,and tinctured with thei r peculiar learn ing . From the same sourceI obtain ed the following lis t of the mos t popular Bugis compos it ions

1[More correctly, Luwu, E n rekan , Mandhar, and T oraja . T he language

generally spoken in these district s is Alfuru. ]

108 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

1 . Nama S agi'

in i

2 . Ba tara Guru3. Guru D e S illang4 . T ojorisr

’

impa

5. Lasini Leleh6 . Ba tara Latoh7. Oputolaga8 . Araulangi

9 . Pano ri T awgéhIO . Lajiri-hoi1 1 . Jamuri China12 . Laurupoysi

R otun Na ri- T a tta , D a tu Nagima14 . Lamaputoda

- T uripo

15. La tum Mullurung16. Lauhdun - R eo

17. Lapa Bicha ra Lari S indénaré18. Gutupatalotopalaguna

19. Lappang N garisang20. Opu

- S angmuda

2 1. O pula - Ma ru- D a tu- na - S openg22 . Latu -

gétana Paju Limpoy23. S awira Gading2 4 . Adewata

25. R otun D iliwung26. Da ta Pamt'isu27. Lanaga Ladt

'

ing

T he greater part of the composit ion s here enumerated celebrateth e deeds of their na t ional heroes . But besides these

,the

“Addat,or codes of Bugis law

,are of considerable antiqu1ty ,

particularly those of Gua, W aj u , Boni, and Mandar,and of grea t

repute among the E as tern tribes . S evera l of them are translatedin to Malayu and Javanese. T he Koran i s also tran slated in to theBugis language.T he Bugis songs and romances are famous among al l th ei slands of the E as t, and , as far as I can j udge from a very l im itedknowledge of them , equa l ly excel in force of thought and fluencyof versification . T he use of rhyme i s much less frequent thanamong the Ma lays . T he melody of th e verse depends upon th erhythm

,and the measure in the his torica l poems has often con si

derable similarity to some of the specimen s of S an scri t verse . T hefollowing l in es are given as a specimen from theth e only Bugis story in my posses s ion

1[N o a t tempt has been made to check this list , as the descriptive ca talogues

o f the extensive Bugis and Makassa r litera ture, by D r. B . F . Ma t thes (1875,188 1, and some va luable con t ribut ion s , by Professor K . G . N iemann ,to the B ijdragen ,

”may now be con sulted . T o the former we owe also

G rammars,D ic tiona ries , and Chres toma thies, bo th of the Bugis and Makassa r

languages 5 while the former has brought out a t rea t ise on the A lfum d ialec tspoken in the Minaha ssa (R o t terdam,

and a compa rative D ictionary ofe ight Alfuru dialect s, in the B ijdragen, T hird S eries, vols . iv. and v. ]

R otun - ri5051'

1

La -

galigoT obala O nj t

R adaong Labeh

Lamada R omangPalawago

Lawaju- LangiLamapa

-

puliD a tu-MowunléhLalt

'

tmpang MegaLasawung

- LangiR o tan di PapangAji LédéhLamapang AniroLa tan - nari- j iviB ayapagt

'

tli

Latupu S allau

Latt’

ipt'

igulla

La tan na ri PulangS a tya - bonga

Lasat1'

1ng-

pugeLa—galigo T okolinghéngLa tan n aroagi

D atula -KilaLapanadora

R o tan di timang toan lan it'

i1

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1 10 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

R aja- T umpa rikape'

ku mulnappa rinnawatingT 111a returona salina lOpalopakuS apahna t ikko o tako tindria pauwaT immt

'

mroapar1’

1par1’

1ng tindria kampulajangang.

E ja ! objec t of my secret affections , be not easily moved to grieve,\Vhatever news a rrive from the ba t tle, t ill you see

My k ris R aja T umpa taken from my girdle, be then grieve for the deadT here are three prohibitions in my betel- box , with which you mus t

conform :

T hey are wrapt up in the folds of the betel- leaf— talk not in the time ofact ion

Loiter not idly within your ten t—skulk not as you advance on the foe.

T he Mangkasar poetry is characterized by the same features asthe Bugis

,and their na tional wars with the D utch are said to be a

favourite topic among the poets of tha t race . T he followingspecimen , which i s a poetica l challenge , alludes to the divers ionof cock—fighting, the favourite amusement of the nation

Kérimi jangang riwaya bij a jangang sundawa

N aimiunne’

bt'

tngasa tinumbukkéya

Bukki tonja kontasilla p1'

1na inukké n1'

1r1'

1ntu

T inumbukkéya bara éyapt'

tn nisillung.

\Vhere is tha t courageous cock , tha t t rue game- cock , t rained to combatFor here is his ma tch. full ofyouthful spirit, yet unconqueredLet him then en ter the list s wi th me, if he would be conquered 5H i therto invincible, if I am ever conquered, it will be now.

IV. B ima .— T he Bima language i s u sed in the independen t

S tate of Bima,which includes the eastern part of S umbawa and

the western part of the i sland E ndé,which was childishly denomi

nated Flore s by the early Portuguese navigators , and after themby succeeding voyagers and geographers . I f my information i scorrect, th e Bima language extends over the greater part of thei sland E ndé . T he Bima language i s related in some respects toBugis and Javanese

,and on the coast i s mixed with Malayu 5 bu t

n evertheles s i t has strong pretens ions to originality in i ts pronouns,

verba l auxil iaries , and simple names of obj ects . In those instancesin which i t exhibi ts a relation to the Bugis

,i t seems to be more

closely connected with the Mangkasar than the Bugis proper, andyet in sen tences the difference is s triking , as in the followingexample : “W here i s the house of the R aj ah ?” E zZ’qy kaarrz

’

ruma ta saagngaj z'

(Bima), Kéré Iaj zma embana kérayéngT he sun in Bima i s termed Mara - lira, i n Mangkasar Ma la/a

,i n

Bugis Ma laya. A man,in Malay araag, i s in Mungkasar and

Bugis fa ir, and in B ima ditto . T he dial ect of S umbawa,which

prevail s in the district s of the island of that name which are not

1[T he difference lies only m the variety of expressions for “ day,

” lira, allo,0 550, joined to ma id , eye.

OF T H E INDO CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 1 1 1

subj ect to the S ul tan of Bima , i s of a more mixed character, andthough i t appears to contain many original vocables , yet the massof the language seems derived from other sources

, as Bima,

Javanese,and Bugis . N either the B ima nor the S umbawa have

any pecul iar character,bu t us e indifferently the Bugis or Malayu .

I attempted to investigate the relat ions of both of these languagesby forming compara t ive vocabularie s of radical words , bu t notbeing able to procure any compositions in e ither of them

,I do not

flatter myself wi th having been able to ob tain the pures t nativeterms in every instance .

Specimen of Me B rigz’

s,Mangkasar, B ima , and S umbawa

Languages.

Ma ngkasar.

inukkéiyo

ikateikauikau- ngasing

yenj oyangasing

ye1’

nne

anjorenginai

apa

kemiungapana

kerayéngnia

erokokt

'

tlégi

ma talob1

'

1lun

bintoéngangbosialo

bungiberibasa

karvéngtaungbut tajenetamparangbinanga

bombangkasimonchong

pépébat1

'

1

bulayengsalakachéla

ba sit1

'

1mbe'

ra

1 12 ON T H E LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

T his specimen of a comparative vocabulary will convey someidea of the actual s tate of these languages

,and of the actual

vari ety which subsist s in the language of conversation,especia l ly

on the coasts and marit ime districts . Many of the words whichoccur in one language are a l so found in others

,though generally

with some difference of pronunciation,and sometimes in an

oblique sen se . Frequently too , besides the terms which I haveselected , which are on ly those of curren t u se , several other wordsof the same sign ification might be found within the compass ofthe language . T hus

,in stead of angz

'

ng, wind , in the high Bugis ,salara fzg occurs in th is significa t ion ; and ins tead of sa la

’

ka,si lver

,

bulémaz‘a occurs in the high Mangkasar dialect .2In the same

manner,th e persona l pronouns in Bugis termina t e their plurals in

manang , and in Mangkasar in ngasz'

ng ,both of which s ign ify all.

T hu s , (B ug ) (Mang .) we al l ; (Brig )z'

leamanaflg , (Mang .) zVeazmga’

sz’

ng, you all 5 sama/rang ,

(Mang . ) yen/b yangngarz'

flg, they all . I t i s worthy of observationtha t the U dia language, spoken in O rissa, forms the plura l o f i t spersona l pronoun s by th e addition of th e particle ma izé, or manang,like the Bugis . T hus

,in U dia

,umb/zéma

’

m,

o r éma’

né,sign ify we, ye, they .

3

V. E a tfa .— T he Ba tta language , which I regard as the mos t

ancien t language of S uma tra ,i s us ed by the Ba tta tribes , who

chiefly occupy the cen tre of that i sland . T he s ingulari ty of their

1 [A b rief compa ra t ive table. of Nias , Ba t ta , B ima, and Lampong words is to

be found in vol. ii. of the“Malayan Miscellan ies

”(Bencoolen , of

Bugis, Makassa r, Mandha r, Buton , S asak , Bima, S umbawa , T emoora , and

E nde words in R affles’ “Java ,

"vol. ii. pp. cxcviii. and cxcix . but the mos t

extensive vocabula ry of Malay , S umbava , S angar, and Bima,is given by

Zollinger, in Verhandelingen van het B at. Gen . vol. xxiii. ]2[B a laang mean s gold,

”in Makassar (a la

'

wang in Bugis), ba laang -ma ta is

lit. unripe gold— Zia. gold o f inferior k ind .]3 [T his ,

is ohv1ously a casual co incidence, the pronominals , ma’

fzang and

7zga5eng ,“all having no thing to do wi th the U riya termina t ion , ma

‘

nan,

measure

Ma ngkasar.

tt'

imbaga

keboklelingejakuniijow

gau

jukujangangjangang-jangangmachangulara

bembe

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1 14 ON T H E LAN G U A GE S AND LI T E R A T U R E

pu t him to dea th and fea s t on him . W hen a woman fal l s s ickshe i s trea ted in l ike mann er by her mos t in t ima t e female ass oc ia tes . T hey a lso sacrifice and fea s t on him who arrives at o ldage, and thi s i s the reason tha t so few of them ever a tta in i t , forthey k il l every one who fall s s ick before tha t T h isa ccoun t of H erodotus certa inly corresponds very m inu tely withthe customs attribu ted to the Ba tta race

,and renders i t probabl e

tha t th is modern na t ion derive their origin from the ancient Padayor Ba tay . N either i s i t more incredibl e that the Batta s shou l deat human flesh as a rel igiou s ceremony

,than that an thropophagy

should be practised by the cla ss of mendican ts t ermed AgoraPunt

’

h in Bengal,and o ther parts o f India , which i s a fact that

c annot eas ily be ca l l ed in ques tion . I t i s surpris ing that th i ss ingular cus tom has received so l ittl e investiga t ion .

T he names of th e differen t Batta tribes of whom I have b eena ble to hear are th e following :

1. Ba t ta S ebalr’mgr’

r. 5. Ba tta T oin .

2 . Ba t ta Padembanin . 6 . Ba t ta B ila .

3 . Ba t ta Kwalu. 7. B atta Kurtilang.

4 . Ba t ta Bannay. 8 . Ba t ta S ipagabu.

In many of the Ba tta cus toms considerable s imilari ty to thos eo f th e N a irs of Ma labar may be traced , as in the law of inheritance

,according to which it i s not the son , but the n ephew, that

succeeds . ’

T he Ba tta language has cons iderabl e claims t o original i ty ,though i t i s not only conn ected with the Ma layu

,but also with

the Bugis and Bima languages . In poin t of con s truction i t i sequally simple as the Ma layu

,but i t is wi th the Bugis that i t

seems to have the most in t ima te connection .

2 Indeed,the man

ners of the aborigina l Bugis are supposed to have exhibi ted no

smal l resemblance to th e pecul iar cu s toms of the Bat ta na tion 5for the R ajja or T

‘

a—R aj ja tribe, in the cen tral parts of the i slandCelebes , are said s ti ll to eat the ir prisoners of war. T he Bat talanguage i s th e chief source of tha t d iversi ty of d ial ect which i sd i scoverable in the languages of S umatra . T he R ajang or R ej angd ial ect i s formed by the mixture of the Batta and Ma layu 5 th eLampting by mixing Malay and B a tta with a proportion ofJavanese . T he Karrows, who are subj ect to Ach i or Achin

,u se

on ly a sl igh t variat ion of the Ba tta language 5 while the languageof Achi proper con s is ts of a mixture of Malayu and Ba tta , withall the jargon s u sed by the Moslems of th e E as t, whether H indus tani ,Arab - T amul

,orMapilla . T heAchines e resemble th eMapillas

Herodo tus, lib . iii. s . 99 .

1[T his is not borne out by the exist ing Bat ta laws ] .

2[According to Van der T unk T obasche S praakkunst, p. the Batta

language shews t races of affinity with the Kawi and T agala 5 according to

S chrerber (l. l. p. with the Malay. ]

OF T IIE IrVD O - CH IN E S E N AT I OZVS . 1 15

of Malabar more than any other tribe of Malays 5 they have longbeen connected with them as a people , and use many Mapilla

terms curren tly in their language . T he dialects of N éas1 and thePoggy i slands , the inhabitan ts of the lat ter of which are termedMantaway by the Ma lays

,have perhaps grea ter pre tens ions to

o riginal i ty than any of the dia l ects of S uma tra , but resemble theBatta more than any other d ial ect . H ence i t m ay be suspectedtha t i f we were acquain ted with the books of the Ba ttas

,and

knew th e ful l exten t of their language in all i ts variety of expression , ell iptic phra ses , and obsole te words

,th e coincidence

would be stil l more striking . T here i s probably , too , some divers ity of expression in these dial ects , even in their presen t s ta te, forin forming a short radica l vocabulary of the N eas language , I foundi t differed cons iderably in some in stances from the specimenpubl ished by Marsden in the s ixth volume of the Archaeologia .

”

T he Ba tta language has been cul tiva ted by writing from theearl iest times , and numerous books are sa id to exis t in i t . I haveo n ly been able

,however, to procure the names of the fol lowing

1. S iva Marangaja . 3 . R aja Isiri.2 . S iva - Jarang—Mundopa. 4 . Malamdeva .

T he Bat ta alphabet i s peculiar both in the form of i ts charactersand in the order of their arrangemen t . I t con s is ts of n ineteenletters

,each of which is variable by six voca l ic sounds l ike th e

Bugis . In the power of the l etters i t n early corresponds with theBugis and Javanese alphabets , the difference between all thesebeing extremely trifl ing, cons is t ing solely in one of them expressing two cogna te sounds by one character, or adding a new character, or the modifica tion of a cha racter, to expres s a doubleconsonan t of frequen t recurrence . But the Bat ta character hasanother p ecul iarity : i t i s written n either from right to left , nor

from left to right,nor from top to bottom

,but in a manner directly

opposite to tha t of the Chin es e, from the bottom to the top of thel ine

,as the Mexicans are sa id to have arranged their hieroglyphics . 3

T he ma teria l for wri ting i s a bamboo or the branch of a tree , andthe ins trument for wri ting

,the poin t of a kris 5 con sequen tly their

na t ive forests a lways furnish them with ma terial s in abundance,and instead of our pages and volumes

,they have their bamboos

and l iterary faggots . Marsden has given a tolerably correct Ba ttaa lphabet in hi s H i s tory of S uma tra , but instead of placing the

1[On the N ias language see the “ T 1jdschrift voor de taalkunde

,vol.

xxvi

g

ii. pp. 93 ff. 5 and“Verhandelingen van het B at. Gen,

”vol. xxx . pp.

61

[O n the litera ture of the Ba t ta s, see the valuable a rticle by G . K . N iemannin “ B ijdragen ,

” third series , vol. 1. pp. 24 5—303 5 and Van der T uuk

’

s

B ataksch Leesboek”(1860 vol. iv. ]

1[Acco rding to Van derT uuk, Ba t ta is written from left to right T oba sche

It has three dialects—T oba, Mandailing , and D airiwhich have again va rious subdivision s . ]

1 16 ON T H E LAIVG U AG E S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

characters in a perpendicular l ine,he has arranged them horizon

ta lly, which convey s an erroneou s idea of their natura l form . T he

Ba ttas sometimes read their bamboos horizontally instead of per

pendicularly, as the Chinese and Japanese do their books 5 bu t th eChinese consider the correct mode of reading to be from the topto the bottom of the page

,and the Ba tta s from the bottom to the

top . T he l ines at the top of a Chinese page are always regular ,and if a l in e termina tes in th e m iddle of a page

,the blank space i s

towards the bottom . N ow,the Ba tta s sometimes write on growing

trees,and in th is case , if a blank space occurs , i t i s towards the

top of the d ivision , a circumstance which determines wha t theycon s ider as the na tural posi tion of their characters . T he Ba t tacharacters

,when arranged in their proper posi t ion

,have con sider

able analogy to th e Bugis and T agala . T he Lampung and R aj angchara cters co incide in power wi th those of the Ba t ta

,though the

arrangemen t i s d ifferen t,and so far from being con sidered as

origina l a lphabets,they are only regarded

,as far as I could learn ,

by the Ba ttas,as differen t forms of the same character. Indeed

,

th e grea ter part of the differences they exhibit in form may befa irly attribu ted to th e different ma terial s on which they write

,and

the different manner of writing ; while the d ivers i ty in the numberand arrangemen t of the l etters may be referred to the same causeswh ich have produced a s imilar variety in the Bugis a lphabet.

VI. T (iga’

la .—T he T agala , or rather T it- Gala, or the Gala

language,i s among the Phil ippines wha t the Malayu is in the Ma lay

i slands,or the H industani in H indus tan proper . A S pan i sh mis

sionary, who posse ssed a minute knowledge of this language , hasdeclared tha t “ the T agala possess es th e combined advan tages o fth e four principal languages in the world. I t i s mysteriou s as th eH ebrew ; i t has articles for noun s , both appellat ive and proper

,

l ike the G reek 5 i t i s el egant and copiou s as the Latin 5 and equa lto the I tal ian as the language of complimen t or business .” T o

examin e rigorously the j ustness of this eulogium 13 foreign to mypurpose ; i t is n ecessary on ly to s ta te that i t i s considered

b

by thos ewho have s tudied i t with mos t a tten tion as the radical language

,

from which the grea ter part, i f no t all , the dialects of th e Philipp in es are derived. A missionary who had resided eigh teen yearsin thes e i slands

,and whose accoun t of them has been transla ted

from the S pan ish,and printed by T heveno t in the second part of

h is “ R ela t ion s de divers Voyages Curieu ses,”Pari s

,1664 , declares

tha t , though every district has i t s particu lar dia lect , yet tha t thes ehave all some rela tion to each other

,such as subsists among the

Lombard, S icil ian ,

and T uscan dial ects . T here are six dia lects ofthi s k ind in the i sland of Manila , and two in O ton .

1S ome of

1[Man ila and O ton are the old names o f Luzon and Panay respectively.

T here 15 no founda tion fo1 the spelling T a Gala .

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1 18 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

s tyl e on bamboos , and from the res emblance of th e l etters to theBa t ta character

,I should ra th er imagine tha t the ancien t T agala

mode of writing was from the bottom to the top . T he T agalacharacters are still u sed in Comintan, and in genera l among th eT agala s who have not embraced Christian i ty 5 and even by theChris tian converts they are sti ll preferred in epis tolary correspondence

,though the con trary

,

has been in sinuated by some of themissionaries

,who allege tha t th e R oman a lphabet was eagerly

adopted,on accoun t of i ts being more easily read.

T he T agala language, with a con s iderable number of peculiarvocables and grea t s ingularity of idiom

,i s n evertheles s to be con

sidered as a cogna te language wi th Malayu,Bugis

,and Javan ese .

Few languages , 011 a cursory examina t ion,present a greater

appearan ce of original ity than the T agala . T hough a multi tude ofi ts term s agree preci s ely wi th those of the languages j u s t enumera ted

,though the more simple id ioms are precisely the same , and

though the n oun s have neither,properly speaking, genders ,

numbers,nor case s

,nor the verbs

,moods

,ten se s

,or persons

,ye t

the idioms are rendered so complex,and the simple terms are so

much metamorphosed by a variety of the most s imple artifices ,that i t becomes qu i te impossible for a person who understands allthe origina l words in a sen tence ei ther to recognize them individually, or comprehend the meaning of the whol e . In il lu strat ing,therefore

,th e mechan i sm of language, few languages are more

instructive than the T agala . T he artifices which i t chiefly employs are th e prefixing or postfixing to s impl e vocables certa inparticles

,which are aga in combined and coalesce with others ;

and th e complete or partial repetit ion of terms in this redupl icationmay aga in be combined with other particles .T he T agala forms th e plural s of noun s by the word manga , as

th e Malays by Maya/Ir, both of which signify many ,and seem to

be th e very same word , a s the m and a are often pronounced insuch an indis tinct mann er in the Indo - Chinese languages thatthey seem n either to correspond exactly to our 772 nor our 5, butto an in termediate sound . T o proper names the T agala prefixe sthe particl e 55, and ang to appella tive nouns . T he firs t of thes ecorresponds to th e Malayu 5a and the la t ter to ya ng, both of

which are frequen tly used in Ma layu in th e same manner 5 bu t th eT agala combines both these with the particl es ay a and E a

,the

firs t of which s ignifies of it, and the latter and thu s they form.rz

'

rza,Iza na ,

m’

na,

flarzg, which (excep t the la s t, which is on ly adifferen t mode of writing the Malayu ”y ang , of these, who)scarcely occur in Ma layu . T he plural o f n oun s in Malayu i ss ometimes formed by the repeti t ion of the singu lar, and sometimesthis repeti tion is not complete

,bu t consis ts on ly of the firs t

syllable or syllables .“

T hi s also occurs in th e T agala, in whichlanguage éazzal, the Malayu Izarzar, signifies j u st , true 5 and farm

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 1 19

s ign ifies a man, corresponding with the Bug is z‘an . A j us t man ,

i n T agala,i s therefore a ng éanal na raw

,or

,by the addition of

another particl e and a l tering the position of the words,a ng z

‘anang

banal. N ow, i f we substi tute the Malayu word arang for theBugis and T agala t erm fan or z

‘aaa

, we may render both thesesen tences thus : y ang ara ng yang Izanar, and yang [zena rny a arang .

In the plural , to sign ify j us t men,the T agala gives ang nzanga

z‘a nang aaaanal, to which the corresponding Malayu phrase i s y angaany a

’

fé arang y ang aaaenar ; or aga in in T agala, a ng aabana/nanzanga law ,

to which the corresponding Malayu is yang aaaana rnyabanyak arang .

1

T he s imple pronouns , which vary so much in all the dial ects ofthe E astern S eas

,are n early the same in T agala and Ma layu

,

though i t is not very easy to recognize them in the former languagewhen combined with particl es . T hus in the firs t person aka

,iea,

a n,E anzz

'

,are pure Ma layu 5 and in the second person , nzn cor

responds equal ly with nza,while z

'

/eaa and z

'

ya seem to be on lytr ivia l var ia tion s of the Ma layu a ngi na and aya. In the third

person sz'

ya i s on ly a variety of 3a yaa , l ik e .tz'

appa for ra - apj a , who ,in Ma layu ; while nzya , of him ,

his,i s pure Malayu ; as are 2721

,

tha t,and nz

'

n,of th is 5 while y an , th i s, and y az

'

n,that

,

2 correspond toz'

a z'

and a nn . I t is , however, chiefly in the verb tha t th e pecul iarcharacter of th e T agala language displays i tself. T he substan t iveverb is genera l ly omitted altogether

,and i ts mean ing i s denoted

by impl ica t ion , or the position of the words in a s en tence. S omet imes

,however

,it i s expressed by the article ay ,

the con traction ofthe Ma layu aa

’

a’

a,as S z

'

na a ng nzasz'

pag ?“W ho i s dil igen t ? ” or

ra ther,Who i s he who i s d iligen t ? Ang nzarzf ag ay sz

’

] agnla ,

I t i s Jagnla tha t i s dil igen t ,” or l i tera lly, H e who i s diligen t i s

one Jagula .

”

T he T agala verb s being on ly names of action s or states ofexistence , they cannot properly be sa id to be either active or

passive, n either have they any person s , n umbers or moods 5 allthese being expressed by particles prefixed or postfixed

'

to theradica l word . T he principa l particles employed in modifying th eT agala verbs are a l so common to the Ma layu language. T he

T agala particl es are na,nag ,

mag, pag , nngnz, y , an ,in ; those

which correspond to them in Ma layu are na,ny ang, mang or an

”

,

pang, yang/nang, ya ng, an , a/zz'

n . T heir significations are radica llythe same

,nor do they differ essen tial ly in their simpl e appl icat ion 5

but in the variety of modes accordin cJr to which these particlesmay be combined with the verb, in i ts s imple form , in i t s redupli

1[Apa r t from the au thor’ s imperfec t acquain tance wi th Malay , as appea rs

from these examples , his comparing but two languages of the group, irrespective of its o ther members , would now sca rcely be considered likely to lead to

a sa tisfac tory resul t . Van der T uuk,Kern , F r . M iiller, and Brandes, have

led the way to a more sys tema tic in tercomparison of these languages ]2 For n z

'

u read 11237, fory an—y arz'

, and fory aia—y aan . ]

1 20 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

cate form , in i ts semi- redupl icate form ,and the variety of tran s

posi t ion s o f l etters and the changes of one l e t ter for another ,anpkanz

'

n gra tz'

a , which all thes e combina t ion s give occasion to 5in all thes e the T agala i s infin i tely superior to the Ma layu , i f therei s any meri t in a superiority which cons is ts in grea ter intricacy .

T he changes which occur in Malayu are few and obvious ; inT agala they are digested into an extensive and complex system ,

i n which perfect fam iliarity with every form that the word canassume

,not only by the addition of particl es , but by the inter

change of l etters,i s n ecessary to enable a person to detect the

radica l,which is often more disgu ised than in the most complex

Arabi c derivatives . T hu s in T agala the root z‘alog s ign ifies to sleep 5nafalag aka, I sl ep t ; na taz

‘a/ag aka

,I am sleeping ; nzaz

‘alag , sleep

ma z‘atalag aka, I will sl eep ka ialag , pagkatalag, andpagkaka z‘alag ,

sleeping

o'

na fafalagpa aka, I slep t or was s leeping ang na tafalag ,the sl eeper ; ang ma taz

‘alag, the person who 13 to sleep naka talag

aka,I had slept 5 na talagan ,

the having been asleep na talalagan ,

the being a sleep kafalagan and ka tafalagan ,the being asleep , or

ac t of sleeping, or the sleeping- place ; and for the plural nangaraIagan ,

nangataz‘

alagan , panga talagan , pangatatalagan , &c . , the particles na ,

ma and pa becoming nanga , nzanga and panga in th eplura l . T his i s an instance in which the changes of the radicalword are very obviou s 5 i n the following they are less so z— B u/za f

,

t o l ift 5 bungmn/za f, knngnznka/zat, knnzn/za t, knknka l, pagbn/za t, nakabnkaz

‘

,naan/zat

,kz

'

nn/za f,bz

’

nnbnka f,bzz/za fz

'

n,bnbn/za fz

'

n ,nagpakn

flat,nagpapabnka t, nzagpakn/za z

‘

,nzagpapakn/zaz

‘

, pagpakn/zaz‘

, pagpapakn/za t, pz

’

nabn/zaf,

nzn/zaZ,nanzu/zaz

‘

,namnmaka f

,

nzanznka t, nzanznmnkaz‘, pinanznkaz

‘

, pz’

nanzarnn/za f, panzn/zalz'

n,

pamnnzn/za iz’

n . T he addition of a greater number of part icleswould s ti ll produce a considerable number of additional metamorphoses , in which i t would be very difficul t to recognize theorigina l radica l fizz/mt ; bu t these may suffice to show the gen iu sof the language 5 and they wi l l a lso tend to S how the extremedanger tha t any etymologis t or grammarian incurs who presumesto trea t of one of th e E as tern languages withou t a radica lknowledge of i t, and even , in some degree, of i ts cognated ial ects .1

T he greates t defects of Fra . Gaspar’

de S . Augus tin ’

s T agalagrammar proceed from hi s no t having comprehended suflicientlyt he origina l s implic i ty of the d ia l ec t

,nor even the s imp le artifice

by which th e greater part o f thes e changes have been effected 5

1[A compa ra tive view o f the Malayan languages, o f which the T agala is

jus tly con sidered as the type, is given by Fr. Muller in his G rundriss derS prachwissenschaft

” sec tion ii. pa rt ii. pp. 87—158 . Fr. J . M. F . de

Cueva s gives in the appendix to his excellen t Arte de la lengua Ybanag,

”

a language spoken in the N . E . pa rt s o f the island of Luzon , tablesexhibiting the va rious deriva t ives in to which a root -word may branch off. ]

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1 22 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

D i to sa dakkilang kaharian nang G reciaAy i tong bayanrrang Athenas lalo, a t mona

S a ibang manga bayang na sasakop1

baga

Hangan saona, at magpangayon pa .

Besides th e T agala na tion,there are several other races which

inhabi t these i slands who differ con siderably from each other infea tures

,language

,and th e various rela t ion s of the socia l s ta te 5

but concern ing them i t i s more difficul t to speak with any degreeof certa in ty . S uch are the Pampangos , who reside to the northof Man il la ; the Bisayas , who are general ly diffused over thePhil ippines ; and the pa in ted race, termed by th e S pan iards Pintados , who are by some reckon ed a branch of th e Bisaya nat ion ,

2

and a l l i ed to the T agala and Bugis races , whil e by others theyare supposed to be of the same origin as the H araforas .

O f the Bisaya language I have seen som e l is ts of words . It

appears to be ei ther mixed with T aoala or derived from the samesource ; but i t i s seldom poss ible to j udge of any of the E as ternlanguages from a few straggl ing specimen s

,formed 1n the hurried,

inaccurate,and 1ncurious manner in which these are gen eral ly col

lected . For thi s rea son I shal l offer no observa t ion s on the

Pampango language,of which I have a l so seen specim ens 5 on th e

B iaju,T irun

,or Idan languages of Born eo 5 nor on th e Harafora ,

or the Papua languages of the E a s tern I sles . T he S ti lu tongue is avery mixed dialect

,but 13 derived chiefly from the Ma layu , Javan ese,

and T agala .

3Forres t

,however

,i s inclin ed to refer i ts pecul iari

t ies to the Bisaya . T he language ofMelindenow,or Magindano ,

which nearly coincides with the Lanun dial ect,i s a l so a compound

of Malayu,Bugis

,and T agala

,with a certa in proportion of the

ancien t T arnata or Molucca language , which seems to have beenan original tongue . T he B iaju language is reckon ed original , butit has no written character. T he B iajus are of two races the onei s settled 011 Borneo

,and i s a rude bu t warlike and industriou s

na t ion,who reckon themselves the origina l pos sessors of the i sland

of Borneo 5 th e o ther i s a species of sea - gipsies ,‘ or itineran t

1[S . de Mas

,in his “ E stado de las Isla s F ilipinas vol. 1. Pobi. ,

pp. 1 14—16, says, tha t befo re the adven t of the S pan ia rds , T agala poet ry con

s isted only of love songs . F . J . de Moya y Jimenez men t ion s in his workLes Isla s Filipinas en p. 235, a D icciona rio poetico tagalo published

about the middle of la s t cen tury.

2[F. Blumen t rit t , E thnographie der Philippinen p. .46 ]

3 '

[Acc01ding to Mon tano,who gives a sketch of the S iilu language

(R apport , pp. 153 the a rea over which it is spoken extends to Mindanao,Palawan , Balabac, Ba silan , the S ulu a rchipelago ,

and the no rth of Borneo .

S ee a lso the vocabula ry and phra ses communica ted by Dr. A . B . Meyer to theT ijdschrift voor de taalkunde ,

”v .ol xx . pp. 4 49 ff ]

Mindanao . T he va rious languages spoken in tha t island have butrecently been 1nvest1gated S ec A. B . Meyer , 1. 1. pp. 44 2

-

4 9 5 A . S chaden

berg in“Zeit schrift fr'u E thnologie, vol. xvii . pp. 33

—36 ; Montano,

l 1. pp. 155- 87 ]

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 123

fishermen who l ive in sma l l covered boats,and enj oy a perpetua l

summer on the E astern O cean, shifting to leeward, from i s land toisland , with the varia tion s of the monsoon . In some of theircustoms this s ingular race resemble the na t ives of the MaldiveI slands . 1 T he Mald ivian s annual ly launch a smal l bark

,loaded

wi th perfumes,gums

,flowers

,and odoriferous wood, and turn i t

adrift at the mercy of the winds and waves , as an offering to th eS piri t of the winds

“

5 and sometimes simi lar offerings are made tothe spiri t whom they term the K ing of the S ea . In l ike mannerthe B iajus perform their offering to th e god of evil , launching asmal l bark loaded with all the sin s and misfortunes of the na t ion ,which are imagined to fal l on the unhappy crew tha t may be soun lucky as firs t to meet with i t .T he T mmor T edong tribes l ive chiefly on th e N .E . coas t ofBorn eo

, and are reckoned a savage and pirati cal race, addicted toea ting the flesh of their enemi es . W i th their language I am

tota l ly unacqua in ted,bu t i t i s reckon ed peculiar . I t i s very pro

bable , however, tha t they are on ly a tribe of Idan , whom ,aga in , I

imagin e to be on ly a race of H araforas or Alfoe'

rs,as they are

termed by the D utch, who seem to be the mos t ancien t and original

race of all the E as tern I slands,excepting perhaps the Papuas .

T he Idan are sometimes termed Marrit 5 they are certa inlythe origina l inhabitants of Borneo

,and resemble th e H ara

foras equal ly in stature,

agil i ty , colour, and mann ers . T he

H araforas are indigenous in a lmost all the E astern I sles , and are

sometimes found on the same island with the Papuas or O rien talnegroes . T hey are often l ighter in colour than the Muhammedanraces , and generally excel them in s trength and activi ty. T heyare un iversal ly rude and un l ettered

,and where they have not

been reduced to th e sta t e of slaves of the soi l , their manners havea genera l resemblance . In thei r mann ers the mos t s ingular fea turei s the n ecess i ty imposed on every person of some time in his l ifeimbruing his hands in human blood , and in genera l among allt heir tribes , as wel l as the Idan

,110 person i s permitted to

marry till h e can show the skull of a man whom he has slaughtered .

T hey eat the flesh of their en em ie s,l ike the Ba tta s

,and drink ou t

of their skulls,and the ornamen t s of their houses are human skull s

and teeth,which are con sequen tly in grea t reques t among them ,

as formerly in S uma tra,the ancien t inhabitan ts of which are sa id

to have original ly had no other money than the skulls of thei renem i es . T he H araforas are found in all theMolucca s , in Celebes ,the Philippin es

,and Magindano , where they are termed S ubano ,

or Manubo 5 and th e ferociou s race men tion ed by Marsden ,who

l ive inland from S amanka,in S uma tra , and are accustomed to

1[A. G ray, “ T he Maldive Islands , in Journa l R . Asia t . S oc . ,

N . S . ,

vol. x . pp. 173—209 ; H . C . P. Bell’ s R eport in “ Ceylon S essional Papers

for 1881, N o . XLIII. ]

1 24 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

a ton e their own faul ts by offering the heads of strangers to th ec hiefs o f their vi llages

,are probably of the same description .

T he Papuas , termed by them selve s Igoloté , but by the S pan iardso f the Philippines

,negrn

‘

as a’al man ia

,from their colour and woolly

hair,are the second race of aborigines in the E as tern I sles , in

s evera l of which they are s ti l l to be found,and in all of which

th ey seem to have original ly existed . S ome of the ir divisionshav e formed small savage s ta tes

,and made some advances towards

civil iza t ion 5 but the grea ter part of them , even with the exampleof more civil ized races before their eyes, have betrayed no symptoms e ither of a taste or capaci ty for improvemen t , and con tinu ei n their primitive s ta te o f nakedness

,sleeping on trees

,devoid of

hou ses or cloth ing,and subs isting on the spon taneou s products

o f the fores t,or the precariou s success of their hun ting and fish

ing. T he natives of th e Andaman I sles s eem to be of th is race,as a lso th e black mountaineer tribes of the Malay Peninsulat ermed at Kiddeh, S amang ; at Perak and in the Malay coun triesto the N NV. of Kiddeh, Bila 5 whi le to th e sou thward of Pera

’k ,and th rough the S traits of Ma lacca

,to the eas tward , t hey are

t ermed Dayak . T he Papuas,or O rienta l n egroes , seem to be al l

d ivided in to very smal l sta tes,or ra ther societies , very l i ttl e con

nected with each other. H ence their language i s broken in to a

multi tude of dialects, which in proces s of t ime, by separat ion ,

a cciden t, and oral corruption, have n early los t all resemblance .T he Malays of the Pen in su la con s ider the language of the blacksof the hill s as a mere j argon

,which can only be compa red t o the

chattering of large birds ; and the Papua dia l ects in many of theE astern I sles are generally viewed in the same light .T he Arabs

,in their early voyages

,appear to have frequen tly

encountered the Papuas,whom they describe in the mos t frightful

c olours,and constan tly represen t as cann ibal s . T hey are men

tioned by the travellers Ibn W ahab and Abu Ze1d, in the S ilsilet

al- T uarikh,transla ted by R enaudot

,and n early the same accoun ts

s eem to be repeated by Masudi,Yakut and Ibn alwardi . T he

foll owing passage,which gives the name of one of the tribes , i s

adduced from the Pers ic trea tis e termed “ S eir ul Ahlim,

” theauthor of which appears to have vis ited the E astern I slands . Aftermen t ion ing the grea t island of camphor

,probably Borneo , he

a dds : “Beyond this are other i slands of differen t sizes , amongwhich there i s one of con s iderable extent

,inhabi ted by a race of

blacks termed Kabalu t,who resemble brutes in form

,and when

1[T here is here a confusion of Igorrotes and Negritos . - Ou the former ,

see F . Blumen tri t t, E thnographie,”

p . 24 tf . 5 on the la t ter, also calledAeta s, ib. pp. 3

—9. Vocabula ries are given by A . B . Meyer

,1. 1. pp. 462

—5,

and A. S chadenberg, l. 1. vol. x ii. pp. 166 74 ; Montano, l. l . Kern ,1n the B ijdragen ,

” Fourth S eries , vol. vi. pp. 24 3—64 , claims for their lan

guage a thoroughly Philippine character, wi th certa in admixtures from moreremo te members of the family.

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1 26 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

H anr’

rman are reckoned a tribe o f mounta ineers , even by many o fthe H indus . T he barbarous bu t brave and active Idan ofBorneo are termed Maru t , which i s the S anscri t name of theforty- n ine regen ts of the winds , and compan ion s of Indra . T he

s tandard of the Battas i s a horse ’ s head with a flowing man e,

which seems to indicate a connect ion with the Hanagrivas ofS anscri t hi story. In th e presen t s ta te of our knowledge of thesetribes

,however

,i t i s not conj ecture

,but rigid and accura te descrip

t ion that i s required 5 and in the present ins tance i t i s not myobj ect to cons ider their civil , poli tical , or moral relation s , un l es s asfar as the se affect th e philological investiga t ion of their languagesand l i terature . As th e chief u til i ty that resul ts from the examina t ion of some of th es e ruder dialects i s to enable u s to ascerta inthe l imits of languages more in teres ting and importan t, perhapsit may be though t that great minu teness would b e misapplied onobj ects of such secondary importance . I t mus t

,however

,be

recollected tha t succes s in important researches often depends 011the accuracy with which inferior investigation s have been conducted ; that in commencing an investiga t ion i t i s not always . easyto predict wha t will ul tima tely prove of superior or inferiorimportance 5 and tha t a t al l events i t i s safer to bes tow too mucha tten t ion than too l ittle 011 what mus t b e the bas is of his toricalinvestigation . In all such inqu iries I therefore do no t hesi tateto adopt th e sen timen t of th e learn ed Le Long

,that “ truth i s

so interest ing and satisfactory when perceived that no painsshould be spared to di scover i t

,even in the smal les t matters .

VII. R nk/zéng— T he R ukhéng i s the firs t of that s ingular class

of Indo - Chinese languages which may be properly termed monosyllabic , from the mass of their radica l words con sist ing of monosyllables

,l ike the spoken dialects o f China . T hese monosyllables

are subj ected to grea t variety of accen t and in tonation in almos tevery instance , and require an accuracy of pronuncia tion

,and a

del icacy of ear in speaking and comprehending them,far beyond

what i s requis ite in the languages of E urope,or even in the

polysyllabic languages of As ia . T he Indo - Chinese languages ofthe monosyllabic clas s borrow a cons iderable varie ty of termsfrom the Pa l i or Bal i

,which exis t s among them as the language of

l earn ing and science 5 bu t in adopting thes e polysyllables theyaccommodate them to their pecul iar enunciat ion by pronouncingevery syllabl e as a dist inct word . T he R ukhéng i s th e languageof the original inhabitan ts of Arakan

,who adhere to the tenets of

Buddha . Form ing in ancien t t imes a part of the empire ofMagadha , from which theyfseem to have derived th e name of Mug

’l

or Mauga , by which they are generally termed by the inhab i tants

1 [S ir A. Phayre’s H istory of Burma pp. 47, 48,

OF T H E IN D O - CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 1 27

o f Bengal , and being from their s i tuat ion more immedia tely connected

D

with India , their language i s by n o mean s purely monosyllabic, but forms , as i t were

,the connecting l ink between the

polysyllabic and ni onosyllabie languages . T he R ukhéng race i sadm it ted to be of the same rad ica l s tock a s the Barmas or Birman s

,

a nd i s understood to have grea tly preceded that na tion in civil izat ion . T he Barmas indeed deriv e their own origin from the

R ukhéng,1 whom they gen erally denom ina te Barma kyi

,or the

g rea t Barmas , and they con s ider the R ukhéng as the most ancien tand original dialect of the Barma language . T his idea i s certainlyc orrect

,and i t may be added tha t the R ukhe

’

ng orthography andpronuncia t ion are neither so defective nor so much corrupted as.the Barma , and tha t con sequen tly, in tracing the his tory of thelanguage

,the R ukhe

’

ng i s of much grea ter util i ty to the philologis t.In another respect the language may be con sidered as purer 5un ti l their la t e conquest by the Barmas the tribes of R ukhéngs eem for a long period to have re ta ined thei r independence

,while

the proper Barma tribes have suffered various revolution s . H encethe R ukhe

’

ng reta ins more of i ts ancient form ,and i s less corrupted

by foreign mixtures . T he modifica t ions , therefore , which i t hasreceived are chiefly derived from the Pa l i or Bal i , which Wasc ul tivated in the coun try as the learned language , and con taine dall their sacred books . T he R ukhéng has accordingly adoptedBal i words and phrases more cop iously than the Barma, and hasa l so preserved them in a grea ter s ta te of orthographica l puri ty.T he pronuncia tion of the R ukhe

’

ng i s perhaps broader and grosser,but more articula te

,than the Barma ; in particular i t strongly

a ffects the u se of the l et ter 7,which the Barmas genera lly convert

in to y in their pronunciation . S uch , however, i s the difference ofpronuncia t ion between the two n ation s , tha t even in sen tenceswhere the words are nearly the same they are not easi ly in telligibleto each other.T he R ukhe

’

ng alph‘

abet coincides accurately with the D evanagari system of cha racters in i ts arrangemen t

,and very n early in

the power of the particular l etters . T he on ly variat ion of importa nce is the expression of both the acute and grave accen t of thevowels

,as well a s their common sound

,in certain cases . T h is

provision,however

,does not extend to all the voca l ic sounds in

the R ukhéng a lphabet,but only to those sounds of this species

which are of mos t genera l use. A s imilar con trivan ce for thee xpression of accen t occurs in all the a lphabets of the monosyllabic languages, but varies in exten t according to th eexigencies of a particular language . T hus in R ukhéng, after the

1[On the origin of the word R akheing , see the same in the Journa l of

the As . S oc . of Bengal ,”vol. xiv. p. 24 ; and on the two essen tial poin t s of

d ifference between Arracanese and Burmese, C . J F . S . Fo rbes ’ Comparat iveG ramma r of the Languages of Fur ther India

”pp.

1

57- 60 ]

1 28 ON T H E LAN G U AG E S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

s impl e alphabet follow th e combinat ion s of the s imple l et terswith zaa

, y a , m ,and of k preceding them . T hen follow som e

tripl e combina t ion s of the same lett ers,a fter which are exhibi ted

the common forms of syl lables which termina t e in a con sonan t,as

ak,ang ,

az’

a/z, a’

z‘

,a

’

p,and oth ers of a s imilar kind 5 and fina l ly the

varieties of accent,as acute and grave

,are presen ted

,in thos e

vowels and na sa l s which are chiefly subj ect to be influenced bythem .

T he R ukhéng character has cons iderabl e s imilari ty to the

Barma in the greater part of i ts l etters . T he following simplecharacters

,however

, g’

ka, j a , j

’

ka,ny a , z

‘a,f lra , n

’

a,d

’

ka,na ,

m,Z/a , as well as some of the more complex combina tion s , differ

grea tly from the respect ive forms of th ese characters in the Barmaalphabet

,and exh ibi t con siderable resemblance to some of the

ancient Canara characters . T he R ukhe’

ng s imple alphabe t i sexhibi ted wi th con s iderab l e correctne ss by Capt. J . T owers inthe fifth volume of th e “Asiati c R es earches

,

” though many of hi sparticu lar observat ion s

,as wel l as genera l vi ews , are far from

’

beingaccura t e

,ch iefly

,i t may be presumed, from the novelty of th e

i nvestiga t ion .

T he R ukhéng language , in the s implici ty o f i ts s tructure andexpress ion

,has great ana logy to th e Malayu . I t has properly n o

numbers,ca ses

,nor flections in i ts noun s 5 nor conj ugat ion s

,

moods,ten ses

,or person s in i t s verbs . Many words have a sub

stantive,adj ective

,or verbal signification

,according to thei r

pos it ion in a s entence 5 but in gen era l th e names of obj ects,

qua l i ti es,and actions

,are sufficien tly distinct from each o ther.

T he plura l s of noun s are form ed by numera l s,or words express ive

of plura l i ty,as M, a man

,IzZ- sza - ra zak

,three men

,112dknng, many

men,112akra - Znng , all men 5 nn

’

mnza,a woman

,nn

’

nzma akzing- szz

,

many women . Comparison s are made by particl es expres s ive ofnumber or quan t i ty

,such as nzya , or nzrét- té

,much 5 akré and klaré,

very 5 prét, l ess , under ; akzing, many . Cases are expressed byparticl es equiva len t to th e prepos it ions or postposit ion s of o therlanguages

,or by j uxtaposi tion

,which has often th e force of the

gen i tive in the R ukhéng language . T hu s,a man ’ s hand may be

expressed indifferen tly by lzZ-Za’

k, hi-kaza -Zak,or ZzZ- c/zzad—Za

’

k.

T he s impl e pronouns are nga , I ; ka or nzang, thou ; and yang—an ,he 5 the plurals of which are formed by the addition of no as nga

- ra,

we 5 nzang- ra, ye 5yang - rn - ra

,they. But in addition to these simpl e

pronouns there are various others which indica te rank and s i tuat ion

,a s in Ma layu

, Chinese, and the monosyllabic languages ingeneral

,which have all of them paid pecul iar a tten t ion to the

language of ceremony in address ing superiors , inferiors , and equals .T hese ceremonia l forms in R ukhéng are sometimes formed byparticl es added to th e s imple pronouns , and sometimes they aresignificant terms , such as servant, lord, highness, maj esty, u sed

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130 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

B ali. Many int eresting works are represented to exis t in theR ukhéng language , but the greater part of them are tran sla t ion sfrom the B ali. T he T illawer Cherita i s said to conta in the historical tradition s of the R ukhéng nation 5 the Karik

,

” composedby Angul i -Ma la

,and the T

’hamma—sat, or“Dherma S as tra ,

conta in their system of religiou s Observances and code of laws .T he following i s a l ist of th e most popular R ukhéng composition s

R aja—br'

rntza

R aja -wongtza

T emi

NemiJanakaS uwanna - asyangB huridat

T zaingda-

gr'

rngma

S ada - shyei’

ch- chaungMahc

'

)

U ni-nga-

gyaingS o

’

p- soung-

gyéngB huridat- kapya

’

.

B o - thi- hmain - der

W é- saing - daraS aing

-we- ra

Krauk - chéNara - cho

A thi’k- bala

Abhi dam -maK’hunei

’

ch- kyengPa ra -ma - saing-

gou’k -kyeng

Maha - R aga- t

’ha- kyeng

S apa- kyeng

T’

ham -ma - sat-kweing-khya

T’ham-ma- sat- k ra ’k - ru

T’

ham -ma - sat-Manr'

1

T’

ham -ma - sat- krudaingLogasara

S a - bri- hla

T aing - t,hari

R adana - hrwé- khriR adana -

paing -

gr’

ingR adana -

paddarngR adana -kweing

-khya

R adana -

powng-khyowk

B a- na’t- sa

Kraing -ma - tei’ch-

p’

hak-

powngwat

’

hu

N ga- tzi- sada -

pring- do

From this l ist i t i s evident tha t th e subj ects of some of theseworks are the adven tures of characters well known in S anscri tmythology

,as th e “ R ama W ut

’

hu,” or h is tory of R ama ; the

Budd ’ho -wa - da,

” or h is tory of the Avatar Buddha . O thers ofthem seem to be only R ukhéng versions of well - known S anscri tcompositions , as the

“H i- to—pa - desa,

” or “H itopadesa 5” th e

40. Ga’

p—p

’

ha- kyeng4 1 . Lakhana - di—ba

4 2. Noma - kapya4 3. N ga

- chaing - braing

44 . R ama - 1vut’

h1'

1- cha

4 5. B ramasara

4 6. B ud - dho-wa - da

4 7. Peda - sow’ t4 8 . Mung

‘

ala- sow’

t

4 9 . Khunei’

ch- ra’

k

50. Khunei’

ch - ra’k-

parei’

p

51. Pa tha - wi- jeya52. S a -

gra- r'

r ch’

howng

53. Lé-keweng- u—ch’howng

54 . S rt- t’ha- da- nr

'

r

55. S at-powng

56. S at- yeng57. S at- hnéwaing

58 . S a - hrwé-k’

he

59 . Moe- to- k rang- cha

60. Gu-waing-

podi-mowng

- cha

6 1. H i—to-

pade- sa

62 . Noma - ko - ga- tha

63. T 5ché-hnei’

ch- ra- si

64 . Khowng-

gri

65. Khowng- lap

66. Khowng- ngé

67. T a-hnaung-

gra

68 . Me- t ’haung- gra

69. S u -me- t’

ha

70. R ewatta - cha

71. A swa-

pida72. Prowng

- bra

73. Owng-pa-di- cha

74 . Paing—pru- cha

75 U ga

76. Mowng- Chwa - cha

77. Cho- ré78. Ya

’

t - ré79. Lr

'

rng- di- cha

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N A T IOA/S . 13 1

T’ham -ma - sat- Manu , or “Dherma - sa stra

,of Menu . T he

S uwanna—Asyang” i s the popular s tory of S uvarna S t ingi

,or

the golden cow , formed by the Brahman S umbukara Misra , andpresen ted to R aj a Mukrinda D eva Gajapati. T he B huridat

” i sthe history of R aj a B huridatta of Magadha , men tioned in the“Maha Bhara ta

,

”and the “ B huridat- kapya

,or “ B huridutta

kavya ” i s a poem on the same subj ect. T he R aj a - buntza” i s the

R ukhéng edition of the“R aja Vamsavali 5

’ ’ the “R a ja -W ongtza”

is a differen t work 011 the sanre subj ect,and the Pa t ’ha wi- jeya

seems to be the “Prit’

thu - vijeya .

”O f th e modificat ions they

have received in th e process of tran sla tion I have hitherto hadl i ttl e opportun i ty of j udging , but as far as I have been able toinvestiga te the subj ect , not on ly th e style , but the inciden ts andprogres s of the S an scri t narration i s genera lly a l tered

,to render

them more i l lus trative of the a scetic doctrines of the Buddhis ts ect

,such as the gui l t of kill ing animal s

,even accidenta lly

, and

the perfection acquired by R i sh i s in sol itary reti rement by mean sof subl ime penance and medita tion .

T he R ukhéng language has never been cultivated by E uropeans ;the observa tions on i ts a lphabetica l system by Capta in T owers

,

and the short specimen of i ts vocables in Dr. F. Buchanan ’sComparative Vocabulary of some of the Languages spoken in

the Burma E mpire ,” both in the fifth vol . of the “Asia tic

R esearches,being all that has been published concern ing i t in

any E uropean language . T he specimen given by Dr. F. Buchananonly varies from the Barma in seven words out of fifty

,and these

are only variet ies of pronunciat ion,excepting laas/zee

,a child

,

which i s a l so Barma, and 7naz‘ez

’

nay , which seem s to be an error,

as'

it does not signify “ to s it ” either in R ukhéng or Barma , bu tl i terally “ does not s tand

,

” the proper R ukhéng term being m’t

ekazak. T he words in the vocabulary certain ly ex ist in R ukhéngs well as in Barma , but in some in stances differen t words are inmore gen eral use in the former

,as akrz

,long

,in stead of s/ze

’

,and

pa- nzra nazng-

grang, beast, instead of z‘arzfzan . T he R ukhéng

pronunciation sometimes , too, i s modified by the Burma , and theletter 7' i s a lmost a lways omitted in the specimen , though i t is a distinguishing characteris tic of the R ukhéng pronunciat ion . T hu s ,the R ukhéng requires nzrz

'

gri, earth, in stead of nzyegyee, in thespecimen ; krz

'

,great

,in stead of kyee; krep/zanza, foot, instead of

kz'

eepama kraza’

k,six

,in stead of kz

’

ank; kmy ,a star, in st ead of

kyay ; and ne,the sun

,instead of nay . T hese errors , however,

are not to be attributed to Dr. F. Buchanan , nor det ract in thel east from the meri t of his exertion s in commencing the investigation ; they eviden tly proceed from the inaccuracy

,hurry, and

indistinct pronunciation of his Barma ass istan ts , and m his si tuat ion were perhaps not to b e a1oided, unless by attending to th enative orthography.

1 32 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

Dr. F. Buchanan has al so exhibited comparative specimens oftwo mixed dialects spoken in Arakan ; the firs t t ermed R u

'

inga ,spoken by the Moslems of the coun try

,and con s is ting of a mixture

of Arabic,H indi

,and R ukhéng 5 the second , termed R usan , us ed

by the H indus of Arakan , who adhere to the system of Brahma ,and formed by a large proportion of corrupted S an scri t and Benga l i ,un i ted to a comparatively smal l portion of R ukhéng. T he dial ec tof the province of Y0

,as i t i s pronounced by the Barmas

,and R o

as i t i s termed by the R ukhéng, i s on ly a sl igh t varia t ion of theR ukhéng, which i t approaches much n earer than the Barma . T he

range of mounta in s to the north and eas t of R ukhéng i s inhabitedby a race termed Kheng

1 by the R ukhéng and Barma tribes , or, asi t i s written by Dr. F. Buchanan

,Kiayn , but who t erm them

selves Koltin,and whose language i s p ecu l iar

,having l ittl e or no

affin i ty to ei ther R ukhéng or Barma . From the two names , R 0and Khe

’ ng,the name of R ukhéng i s general ly derived 5 bu t th e

nationa l name of the R ukhéng race is Ma - rum -ma,which seems

t o be only a corruption of Maha -Varma , Varma being an ep ithe tgenerally assumed by the tribes of K sha triya extraction . T he ir1

habi tants of th e moun tains between R ukhéng and Chatigan aretermed S a—mowng

- syang by the R ukhéng tribes, and are assertedto speak a differen t language . T hey are probably on ly a d ivisionof the Kheng

,or Kolrin . W hether thes e are the same with the

Krikr'

s, who inhabi t the high ranges of h ill s to the N . E . of Chatigan ,I have not been able to determine . In th e able and curiou sdescription of th i s s ingular race given by J . Macrae

,E sq . , in th e

s even th volume of th e “Asia t ic R esearches , the languages of theKrikr

'

and Mug or R ukhéng races , are said to be so in tima telyconn ected as to be mutual ly intell igibl e. T ha t the two adjacen ttribes should be mutual ly able to understand each other i s veryprobable 5 but tha t their respect ive languages are connected inthis instance

,I apprehend to be very dubiou s 5 for in a specimen

of above 500 radica l terms of the R ifki,which I owe to tha t gentl e

man ’ s politeness , I find very few which are s imilar to the corresponding R ukhéng, or tha t were unders tood by an in tell igen tnat ive of Arakan . T he subj ect

,however , requ ires further investi

gation , and there seems to be 110 person better qual ified than Mr .Macrae for prosecu t ing the inquiry

,both by hi s abil itie s and hi s

s i tuation .

VI I I . B arma — T he Barma language i s u sed by the great and

1[According to Col. G . E . F ryer ( Journa l As. S oc. o f Benga l for 1875,

p. the Khyengs call themselves H iou or S hou . S ee also the Brit ishBurma Gazet teer vol. 1. p. 184 ; and C01. Ho race B rowne’ s S tat ist ical and H is toricalAccoun t o f T hayet - myo

”Forchhammer, who calls

them Chins, has t ran sla ted from the Burmese the code of their CustomaryLaw,

wi th valuable no tes and has given an accoun t of the language in hisNotes on the Languages and D ialect s spoken in B r. Burma , pp. 6

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1 34 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R AT U R E

remotes t resemblance,and the origin of which is i tself involved

in grea t obscuri ty .

1

T he character of the Barma language has a very considerableeffect on the s tyle of th e composi tion s i t con tain s . R epeti tionsof the same turn and expres sion are ra ther affected than shunn ed ,and a kind of naked strength and s impl ici ty of phras e, with shortsentences pregnan t with mean ing

,are the grea test beau ti es which

the language adm i t s of. “ T he B omans,says Carpanius ,

“ i ntheir poetry are more careful of preserving s imilar termina t ion s .

than an equal number of syllables , and u se th is s tyle particularlyin trea t ing of rel igiou s subj ects .” T he fact , however, i s , tha t thes imilari ty of termina tion i s n ei th er sought nor shunn ed

,bu t recurs.

from the gen ius of the language very frequen tly. T he s tyl e of th eprincipa l Barma composition s i s a species of mea sured prose ,regulated a lmos t solely by the accen t

,as in the R ukhéng, the

differen t d ial ects of Chin ese and the other monosyllabic languages .T he ton e of pol ished conversa t ion requ ires an approximation tothi s s tyle of composition . T he verb is genera l ly placed in the

close of the sentence,and the defect of conj unct ive particles

to conn ect the differen t members of a sen tence renders a

considerable degree of repetit ion absolu tely n ecessary t o preventconfusion .

T he Barma language has been highly cul tiva ted in composition ,and con ta ins numerous works in rel igion and science , bes idesnumerous books on a strology, mythology, medicine, and law,

in thelatter ‘of which the most importan t i s the Dam -ma - S at kyec,

” orgrea t sys tem of j ustice with the con s titution s of th e Barma princes .'

I h e Barma s are a sserted by Dr. Buchanan to posses s numeroushistorica l works rela tive to the different dynastie s of their princes

,

the most celebrated of which 15 the Maha - raj a -W ayngee.

“ T hesepeople ,

” says he,

“have a lso translated his tories of th e Chinese andS iamese

,and of th e k ingdom s of Kathee

,Koshan -

pyee, Pagoo ,S aymmay, and Laynzayn . On th e importance of such works , supposing them to be strictly of an hi storica l na ture , i t i s n eedles s todila te . I t appears probable however

,that many of them may

re semble the H indu Cheritras. T he Barmas posses s numeroussmal ler poems and songs

,and even natafeas

,which may probably

be derived from S anscri t tradi tion , as the adventures of R ama in.

1[O n the Burmese alphabet , see C . J . F . S . Fo rbes , l. 1. pp. 95—98 ; I .

T aylor, T he Alphabet ,” vol. ii. p. 34 5. According to Forchhammer,it was

derived from the T a laing about 600 yea rs ago : In t roduct ion to W agaru,”

p 5 ][T here being no dist inct ion between R akhaing a nd Burmese litera ture,

the two lists might have been amalgama ted in one. N o a t tempt has beenmade in either lis t at verifying and correcting the t it les . O n Burmese literature, see S angermano, T he Burmese E mpire,” sec t ion xx . ; Forchhammer

’s

R epo r t on Litera ry “'

ork”(R angoon , 1882) and on the law litera ture , his .

prize essay, O n the S ources and Developmen t o f Burmese Law,

”prefixed to '

his edit ion of W aga ru (R angoon ,

OF T H E [ N D 0. CH IN E S E N A T ION S . I 35

Lanka are favouri t e top ics in th eir dramas . T he following are

some of the most popular works in the Barma language, and

several of them , I find,exist equa l ly in the R ukhéng, S iamese,

and Ma layu . S ome of them are purely mythological , but othersare Cheritras of the historical class .

J ina -Mana

N unda -JinaN undaguma

Chundaguma

Na radaT emi

Nemi

D’

hammapada

N amagaraLogasara

Loganit’hi

Maho - S ut’

ha

W esundura , or S tory of R ajahVésundara

Param ik’han

Chudongk’

han

Bungk’

hamKado - k ’

han

Cha tu D amasara

S angwara , termed in S iamesethe S ut

’hou

B huridat

T he Barma language has some variety of pronunciation in th edifferen t prov inces of tha t empire . T he dia lect of the vs,s i tuated on the eas t of th e Arakan moun ta in s , has been a lreadynoticed . T he T anéngsari, or language of th e inhabitan ts ofthe T anaserim district, denomina ted T innaw by the S iamese,al so differs con siderably from the common Barma . T he

T anéngsari certa inly have many pecul iari t ies of express ion ,and

many words in common us e among them are at presen t obsoleteamong the Barmas of Ava ; but the maj ori ty of them are to befound in the Barma writings

, and the T ane’

ngsari are thereforereckoned to use an obsole te dialect ra ther than a pecul iarlanguage

,I have a lready men ti oned in wha t respects the Barma

and R ukhéng are related to ea ch o ther . T he following com

parative l is t of terms wil l show more particularly the extent oftheir difference in current use

2 1. Kinara -

pyeu, or accoun t of the

celestial Kinara22 . Malinméng W ut

’hu,or H istory o f

R aj ah Malin23. Jinaka , or Histo ry of R aj ahJinaka ,

denomina ted in S iamese Maha

Chimok24 . Yuwaji, termed in R ukhéng R uari

25. S wipri- weng

- khan26. T o - twék- k ’

han

27. Mnn igungsala

28 . Anusasana

29. S uan - nashan30. W it

’hora

31 . Kagileinga

32. S ada - syi’

ch- chaung33. Anaga

- atwéng

34 . Nga re - khan or descript ion of

Naraka35. Attagatt

- lénga

36. Hmat- chov’

v bong

136 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R AT U R E

R uk/ze’

ng. B arma .

touch pait - té seing- su-ha , thi

t rouble ma - ré khekst reng th akri akyan

ma rriage maya - ui- cha p- té lék- t ’hat-gya

life ab rang asyangcircle apawk akwéngstorm mukri moseik

hail mu-

gyowk mo - si

morning ma- sowk - tha, nyi-

ga ma- neik

evening nya- ja nya

- né,né- é

sea mreik peng- lé

dust m ré-moh among, mye-mongmud ta - mai suinfire ming mi

length hré shi

d itch mroung kewng

gold hrui sué

s ilver mue'

ngoehorse m rang miyin

fowl krak kyiak

cock krak -

p’

ha kyiak- t

’hi

hen krak -ma kyiak-ma

snake mrui myewé

sail rowak yewék

bed saloeng kadengtailor ang

-

gi- dap khyowk

- sarna

whi te apri'

i pyr'

i

hard kyang ma’

.

vegetable haung- sei’ch ruakk being

- ewék

V ayeng- su - ha

first ayenga akhaayeng

- da - ha

second hnei’

ch-khu - chowng hnet’

ch- khu- su-ha

I akyeweng-hma kyewen

- nor'

t’

pwe akyeweng

- t o -hma kyewen- do

thou mong meng

you mong- ro meng

- do

he yang- su su

they yang- su- ro su- do

this dé-

ga di- ha

that t’

ho -

ga ho- ha

who beh’

i

what jama baha

which asu bésr'

t,béha

if t’

ho - shyang hléangthough la - la

’

t- hle’

ukk phye’ch-bleang

abou t le’khi - gra

’ t -me pat

many akt'

tng apongperhaps kaing- ra - bya kan- hné

yes how’

r-

payak hou’ t -kéno ma -hi ma - si

is hi si

was bri pyi

has been hi- yak si- biI ought to do it akyeweng

- louk -kowng-

yak kewen - n01'

t’

p- louk -

gowng-de

I will do i t akyeweng- ro - hma louk - ra - re

’ 1 kewen - nou’

p louk -

ya- dé

1[A t r us tworthy vocabula ry of H ill Arracanese is given by C01. T . Lewin,

in his “H ill T ract s of Chtttagong ”(Calcut ta, pp. 146

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138 ON T IIE LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

B orgian MS S . a dia logue between a savage Kh ien and an exT a lapoin , wri tten in the I tal ian language by D . CajetanusMantegatius, the obj ect of which is to expose the doctrine of theT a lapoin s

,as con ta ined in the books of the Barmas . Khien

s eems to b e th e name of the rude tribe termed Khéng byMosl em wri ters

,and Kiayn by Dr. Buchanan 5 and the work

i tself,the tran slat ion of a composition circulated among the

converted Barmas by th e Catholic missionaries . T he T a lapoinss eem

,however

,to have reta lia ted on the missionaries 5 and Dr.

F. Buchanan has prin ted Vincen t iu s S angermano’

s tran sla t ion ofA Vi ew of the R el igion of Godama

,composed byAtul i Zarado ,

for the express purpose of converting the Christian s , in which theE ngli sh

, D utch , Armen ian s , and other na tions are exhorted toadore Godama ,

the true God 5 to adore a l so hi s law and his

priests,to be sol icitou s in the giving of alms

,and in the obser

vance of S i la , and in performing B avana .

1

1X . Mam— T he M611 language is s ti l l u sed by the origina linhabitan ts of Pegu , who denomina te themselves M611, though bythe Barma s they are termed T al cing, and by the S iamese , Mingmon . T his language has n ever been cul tiva ted by E uropean s ,and th e on ly specimen of i t known to me i s tha t printed byD r. F. Buchanan

,

“Asiat ic R esearches,

” vol . v . I t seems to b equ ite orig ina l , and i s sa id by the Barma s and S iamese to have noaffinity wi th ei ther of their languages . I have met no l earnedmen of the race

,nor have had any opportun i ty of cultiva t ing th e

language 5 but I have been informed by a T a lapoin that theypossess many an cient h is tories in this language

,which i s not

impossible,as they seem to have a tta ined civil iza tion at a more

early period than the Barmas, and though now reduced, to haveb een formerly a grea t and poten t na t ion . In the early Portugueseh istories they are denominated the Pandalus of Mon ,

and theyare supposed to have founded the ancien t Kalaminham empireat a very early period . T he name Kalaminham

, men tion ed bythe Portuguese

,i s probably connected with the S iamese name of

the nation,Ming - in 6n . T he Mon a lphabet

,if I can depend on

t he specimen s of th e character shown me by a Barman of somelearn ing

,i s on ly a sl igh t varie ty of the Barma - Bal i , with which i t

corresponds in the power and arrangemen t as well as the formof the characters . I have

,however

,had l i ttl e opportun i ty of

investiga ting this subj ect,and expecting to have vis i ted Pegu

,

did not avail myself of tha t Opportun ity to the fullest ex ten t .T he examination of the Mon character and language has no

1[T hough the dict ionaries of A . Judson and the grammars of F . Carey

,

Judson, Lat ter, and Chase are now available, and though hundreds of volumesin Burmese have been prin ted , no scien t ific philologicalwork 011 the languagehas yet been a t tempted ]

OF T H E IN D O - CIIIN E S E N A T ION S . 139

peculiar difficulty, and may be easily accompli shed by the firs tl iterary inquirer who may visi t Pegu 5 and I sti ll indulge the hopetha t my future inquiries may be attended with success in investigating their rela t ion s . 1

X . T /zay .—T he T hay language is tha t which is used by the

S iamese, who in their own tongue a ssume this name as theirna t ional appel la tion . By the Barmas they are denomina ted S yanf

'

from whence the Portuguese seem to have borrowed their S iamand S iaom,

from whom the other na tion s of E urope have adoptedthe term . La Loubere, who visited S iam in 1687

—8 as envoyextraordinary from the French monarch , has given incomparablythe most accura t e accoun t tha t has ever been exhibi ted of thisna t ion

,formerly reckoned the most pol i shed of E astern India .

H e divides them in to two races,the T ai and the T ai Yai. T he

la tter na tion , he adds , are reckoned savages,though the mos t

ancien t. T heir name sign ifies l iteral ly the G rea t T ai, and in orderto distinguish themselves from this na tion

,the ruling race in

modern S iam assume the name of T ai- noé , the Little T ai. Dr.

F. Buchanan,however, on th e authority of the informa tion he

received in the Barma domin i on s,divides the S iamese race into

many states,

and gives a specimen of the vocables of threedialects . T his brief vocabulary

,with La Loubere’

s observation son the S iamese language and “ T he Maxims of the T alapoin s,

”

tran sla ted out of S iames e by th e catholic miss ionaries , which hehas published in h is “H i storica l R ela t ion of the Kingdom ofS iam ,

” con stitu te all tha t has been published respecting thelanguage or l itera ture of this na tion in any E uropean tongue. T he

resul t of my own inquiries certa inly coincides more directly withLa Loubere

’

s information than with tha t received by Dr. F.

Buchanan . All the intel l igen t S iamese whom I have met, andamong these were T alapoins both of the T ai and the T ai

—yai race,agree in a sserting tha t th e S iamese na tion ,

properly so cal led ,consist s of two tribes

,the T ’hay and the T ’hay - j

’

hay, for so the

1[On the T alaing, the oldest litera ry vernacular o f Further India, see

C . J . F . S . Fo rbes , l. 1. pp. 29—51, 130

—56 5 B ritish Burma Gazet teer ,”

vol. i. pp. 153—62 I. Forchhammer

,No tes on the Languages and D ialect s

spoken in B rit ish Burma”

pp. 3-

5 ; and J . M . Ha swell’ s “ Gramma ticalNo tes and Vocabulary of the Peguan Language

” Forchhammer, 111

his R epo rt , gives the t i tles o f more than fifty T a laing works . ]2[In Burmese, the wo rd f ilm/z: (pronounced skim ) applies only to a S han ,

wherea s a S iamese is called Yod/zay ci, from Ayuthya , the ancien t cap1tal of

S iam . T hough in S iamese the term s siyem (now obsolete) and sayam— bo tht raceable to S an skrit s'yama fi occur, the proper denomina t ion of a S iamese 15

T hai . In S han the slight distinct ion is made tha t T ai mean s a S han , T ha t aS iamese . E viden tly, one n ame

,whether S han or T ai, was o riginally used for

bo th S han s and S iamese . T he legenda ry accoun t s concerning the origm of

the S 1amese are given by A . Bastian , R eisen in S iam ”pp. 4 31

—4 3.

Compa re also Cushing’ s S han G rammar In t roduc tion . )

1 40 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

n ames are properly written . O f thes e the most ancien t are theT

’hay -j’

hay, formerly famous for their l earning and the power oftheir empire . I t i s added tha t many monumen ts of th is ancien trace exis t in the kingdom of S iam ,

and I was informed , in particular

, tha t in the vicin i ty of Ligor, abou t five days ’ j ourney fromT rang , there are variou s ancien t inscription s on ston e among theru ins of a very ancient temple which are a ttributed to the T ’hayj

’

hay, but which no person among the modern T’hay i s able to

decipher . T he T’hay language, or S iamese , as i t i s wri tten by

these two races , does not differ essen tially 5 but the spokendialect among the T ’hay—j

’hay i s much more strongly accentedthan among the T ’hay proper

,or the presen t rul ing race of S iam .

T he T’hay -j

’

hay inhabi t the coun try between the Me - nam and theMe - kon , or river of Cambodia 5 bu t the T

’hay for the most partinhabi t on the wes t of the Me - nam

,or between tha t r iver and th e

fron t iers of the T innaw Mfin,and Barma nations . As to th e

T ai- loong, of whose vocabulary Dr. Buchanan has given aspecimen

,all the S iamese tha t I have met, though they admit

that a dis trict i s denomina ted by this appellat ion , unan imouslydeny tha t there is ei ther a race of men or a dia lect of the languagewhich bears this name. T he words themselves which Dr. F.

Buchanan adduces as specimens ei ther of the T ai- loong or th eT ai- yay are pure T ’hay whenever they are not auricular corruptions of pronuncia tion or words of differen t mean ing

,introduced

a pparen tly by the in terpreter’ s misapprehen sion of the sen s erequired to be expressed . Having myself been frequently exposedto similar misapprehens ion s

,and knowing from experience the

d ifficulty of avoiding i t,especial ly in languages in which not on ly

the significa t ion varies with such delica te shades of pronunciation.as are a lmos t undis tinguishable to an E uropean car

,but the train

o f ideas themselves i s regu la ted by such a subtle and as i t werehieroglyph ical se t of principles

,I am far from insinuat ing any

carelessn es s in Dr. F. Buchanan , whos e compara t ive vocabularyis the first a ttempt to class ify these languages

,but I am attempting

to accoun t for the mistakes in to which he seems to have beeninevitably led by the misapprehension of his in terpreters . T husmoo signifies the hand in T ’hay 5 andpaw - moo, which he exhibits asthe T ai- loong variation

,i s only f é - mzé

,the palm of the hand , in

the proper language 5 Zzén , which he writes kayzz, sign ifies the armin T ’hay or S iamese proper 5 and in the same language t or/wore,which he gives as the T ai- yay synonym ,

s ign ifies the lower part ofthe arm from the elbow to the wris t 5 and moo, the T ai—loongsynonym , signifies the hand . T in sign ifies the leg in S iamese 5 butnay /2g , which he gives as the T ai- nay, sign ifies the skin 5 and

kofee/z, the T ai- yay synonym ,

the j oints of the leg . In the samemanner Zangz

‘een , which he gives as the T ai- nay or common

S iamese for foot,s ign ifies l i tera lly the upper part of the foo t 5 and .

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14 2 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

i diom is con sonan t to the Malayu, though not to the Barma orR ukhéng, in which

,as in E ngl ish

,the firs t substan t ive has a

possess ive sign ification . T hus the phras e a man ’ s head i s expressed in Barma and R ukhéng by Zzé which i s l i teral lyman - head 5 but in S iamese i t i s laud -Hem

,and in Malayu kapalcz

orang, both of which are li terally head - man . A s imilar differenceoccurs in the pos ition of th e accusa t ive with an active verb

,which

case in Barma and Malayu genera l ly precedes the verb , as tumma z

’

ng e/za’

,l i tera lly rice eat 5 bu t in S iamese follows it as ke

’

ze ka’

w,

l i terally eat rice 5 which corresponds to th e Malayu makan - 720511

T he adj ective general ly follows th e substan tive,and the adverb

the word which i t modifies , whether adj ective or verb . W heneverthe name of an an ima l , and in genera l when that of a species orclass i s mentioned , th e gen eric or more genera l name of the genu sto which i t b elongs, i s repea ted wi th i t , as often happen s in theother monosyllabic languages as well as in Malayu . In the posit ion of the adverbial particle th e Malayu often differs from theS iamese

,as 7720720pargz

’

,l i tera l ly where go, but in S iamesepriz

'

lmé’

z’

,

go where. T he S iamese composition i s a l so , l ike tha t of the Barma ,a species of m easured prose regulated solely by the accen t and thepara l leli sm of the members of the sen tence , but in the recita tive theS iamese approaches more nearly to the Chinese mode of reci tat ion

,and becomes a kind of chaun t, which differen t Brahmans

have a ssured me is very s imilar to th e mode of chaun ting theS amaveda .

T he T’hay coincides occasionally, even in simple terms , both

with the Barma and Ma layu 5 bu t these terms bear so smal l aproportion to the mass of th e language tha t they seem ra ther th eeffect of acciden t or m ixture than of or1g1nal conn ection .

’ T he

following are some of these coincidences which present themselvesspontan eously

T’lzay . B arma .

river klong kyong or k rongelephan t Chang ch

’heng

saw lfiei lt'

ia

finger nyew nyo

to ka ga

self éng éng

T he T ha i or S iamese alphabet differs considerably in the powerof i t s characters from the Bal i, though i t not on ly has a gen eralresemblance to i t in poin t of form

,but a l so in the arrangement of the

characters . T he vowels,which are twenty in number, are not repre

sen ted by separa te characters,but by the character corresponding toth e short dear variou sly accen ted , excepting the vocal ic m and he,which are on ly variation s of the r and Zconsonan ts . T he con sonan tsare th irty- seven in number

,and are not arranged by the series of

OF T H E IN D O - CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 14 3

five, l ik e the D eva- nagari and Bali 5 bu t the firs t s eries, cons istsof seven l etters ; the second series , of six 5 the th ird series ,30 or of six ; the fourth series

,00 or p0, of eight ; the fifth

series, j 0, of four 5 and the las t series

,S KI

,of s ix , including the

voca l ic (Wear,though two of them are not in common use . E ach

o f thes e letters IS varied by sixteen simpl e accen tua t ions and bythirty- s ix complex ones . T he l etters £0

,nga , t0 or 00, 720, 700, 00

o rp0, are also fina l con sonan ts . H ence i t is ea sy to perceive then ear approximat ion of the S iamese to the del icacy of the Chines eaccen tuation

,whil e in other respects the alphabet is considerably

more perfect than in the Mandarin or Court language of th eChinese, which has neither the same variety of con sonants nor

admi ts so many in the clos e of a syllabl e . T he S iamese pronunc iation

,even of con sonan ts

,corresponds very imperfectly to the

E uropean mode : 7 and Z are genera l ly pronounced 72 in the clos eo f a syllable

,0 i s often prefixed to a con sonan t

,but from the

total suspen s ion of voice in pronouncing syllables which terminatein a con sonan t no aspira t ion can be pronounced after them

,700

a nd and c/zy0, are often difficul t to be distingu i shed inpronuncia tion

, as are ya and j 0 eye and d ye, with other combination s . From thi s circumstance many combination s of lettersare pronounced in a manner somewhat different from tha t inwhich they are written .

T he first E uropean who a ttempted the s tudy of S iamese l i terature was the l earned G ervase

,but his lucubra t ion s have n ever

been publ ished . T he l earned and indefa t igable Hyde procuredfrom the S iamese ambassador a t London an imperfect copy ofthe S iamese a lphabet, which has been

' published by G reg . S harp ein th e “ S yntagma D issertationum,

”1767. I t i s inferior to La

Loubere’

s a lphabet in accuracy, though i t con tain s a greatern umber of compound characters . La Loubere’

s alphabet conta ins three forms of the 30, corresponding to the N agar1 but th e500 and s/z

’

lz0,being disused in common pronuncia tion , are com

monly omitted both in the alphabet and in modern MS S .

T he S iamese or T ’hay language con ta ins a great variety ofc omposit ion s o f every species . 1 T heir poems and songs are verynumerous

,as are their Cheritras, or his torical and mythological

fables . Many of the S iamese princes have been celebrated fortheir poe t ical powers

,and several of their h istorical and mora l

composi tion s are stil l preserved . In al l their composi tion s theyeither affect a plain

,simple narra tive , or an unconnected and

abrupt s tyl e of short,pithy sen tences

,of much mean ing . T heir

books of medicine are reckoned of con siderable an tiquity. Bothin science and poetry those who affect lea rning and el egance ofc omposition sprinkle their s tyle copiously with Bal i. T he laws of

1[S ee Pallegoix, G rammatica Linguae T hai,

”pp. 172

14 4 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R AT U R E

S iam are cel ebra ted al l over the E as t,and La Loubere has men

tioned three work s of superior reputa tion,the Pra - T am—non ,

”

the Pra - T am- R a,

”and th e Pra - R aj a - Kam-manot .” O f these,

th e firs t i s a collection of the ins titu tion s of the ancient kings o fS iam 5 the second i s the con stitu tiona l code of the kingdom ,

and

con ta in s the names,function s

,and preroga t ives, of all the officers ;

the third,which is about 150 years old , con tains additional regu

lations . O f these , the firs t i s th e most cel ebra ted and the mostdeserving the a tten tion of E uropeans .T he S iamese historie s of the T ’hay dynasty deta i l with much

m inuteness and grea t exaggera t ion the even ts which have occurredin S iam and the adjacen t s ta t es and coun tri es during the las t1,ooo years . T hey a l so deta i l the even ts of 4 oo years previous totha t period with les s precision , from the bu ilding of the cityN akhon . T he records

,however , of th e T

’

liay- j

’

hay dynasty aresupposed stil l to exist

,and perhaps i t may yet be possibl e to glean

a few grains of pure hi storic gold from the sands which gli tter inthe long val leys of th e Me- nam and Me- kon .

T he Cheritras or roman t ic fictions of th e S iamese , are verynumerous , and the personages in troduced, with the excep tion o fR ama and th e characters of th e R amayan ,

have seldom muchsimilarity to those of the B rahméns . T he following are some of

the most popular among the T ’hay,several of which conta in the

same stories and inciden t s as those which are curren t among theR ukhéng, Barma, and Malayu nat ions .

R ama-kién

R adinS um - mut- ta -ko- domVVét- jé - sun - donVVorawo

'

ngU n - nar1'1tMaho- sot

go

pog

gxm-h

oo

n

u

Chatri10. Chalawan1 1. P

’hi

’

im -hom

12. Pra - t ’hom13. S u' t

’hon

14 . Pok’

ha - wad- di

15. T éng- ou

16. Lin - t ’hong17. N ok- k

’ht

'

tm

18. P’

ha - non - son -

paja19 . Malt - kali -p

’

hon

20. S t'im -

p’

han - sit

21. S iian - na -hong

In the genera l characteris tics of s tyl e and manner theseCheritras resemble those of the R ukhéng, Barma, and Malayutribes , and exhibit the pecul iar manners of the Indo - Chines enations, as well as th e pecul iar features of their mythology. T he

P rang t’hong

Nang- sip

- songR ama

Chumpa- t’ hongLt

'

ik- si'ta - ko

P ’

him - swanPaja -

p’hali

T’haw - krt

'

ing- sén

Khun -

p’hen

T rei - wongChin - nara tP

’

howit’

hat

S u - t ’hinH iii- sangS ang

- sin - chayVVo rant

'

tt

Chit ra -kan

Nang- iit

’

hayMahat- Chinék

Mlék- t ’hong

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14 6 ON T HE LAN G U AGE S AIVD LI T E R A T U R E

o f a hero who was born with a chank and an arrow in hi s hand,

wi th which , and moun ted 011 a lion,he accompl ished many ad

ven tures among the R akshasas and G irgasis, Yakshas or Yak, asthey are termed by the S iamese . T he

“W oranut relates th eadventures of the twin brothers W oran t

’

tt and W oranét. N angfit

’

hay rela tes the adventures of a N aga princes s who was carriedo ff by a R aj ah . S ome of the fiction s exhibi t a wild and s ingulars tyl e of fabling with which we are l i ttl e acqua in ted ; bu t th egreater part are obviously derived from the S anscri t through theBal i.T he T

’hay exhibits con s iderable varie ty of measures in composi tion

,and frequen tly in troduces severa l of them in the same

work,in the same manner as i s frequen tly done in B r1j , Punj abi,

and S ik ’ h composition s . T he most frequent measure,however

,

among the T ’hay,a s among the R ukhéng and Barma , seems to

be tha t denomina ted R ap, which cons i sts of four long syllabl esbut admits occasional ly of one or more intercallary short ones 5the Ja- ui, which con s is ts of five sy l lables , the Chabang of six, thePat

’

hamang of seven , the Jésunta of eight, are also frequentlyemployed .

T he following specimen of T ’hay is taken from the beginn ingof the Maha Chinok,

” a work in which the greater part of theseare introduced .

D eserzybz‘z

'

oiz

J ang mi 1111'

1ung nung Lok ’

ha -ma k ’hai

Jay kwang traht'

tng W aui t t ’hang laiChu Mit t ’hin la Chai rt°1a pai ma

T haw p’

hu suwoi rat B o mi satru

Krop k i ong para B ibiin pracha'

.

S ong nam maha P ra t ’het nanaChmok p

’

homi Jom ma thuk muungS om det p

’

homi Chin,Chain ,

Pram, Law

Krong se narzit Ming -mon,T in - naw

P in cha nan ma Map mai nong nt'

ni ngB o mi an a rai P

’

harang phang- ka

R é ra t prachzi Ma kha t’

ht'

tk mutingT ’haw krong para Khek nidu nong n t

'

rftngPin chaw p

’

hen din Ma muting ka kaiK ’

haw mfi k pla- t ’hok K t

'

ila P ’

hrang - se’

t

Bomi p’

ha i rdk Chin Cham Pram - T ’het

B iblin p’

ho min Chong sakk N alziyPinsuk kit priam pri Jipt

'

in ChinhéMt

’

iung l’ra Na rin Aw s in ma k 'ha t

'

l"haw krong p

’

hen din N i nun Ilia lay3 111121 56111 pra cha

T here was a certa in count ry, powerful and of grea t exten t , termed MithinlaIn this coun t ry a certain R aj ah exercised the sovereign autho rity

,

named Maha Chinok (Janaka ), overshadowing his people l ike the spreadingbanyan t ree . For a lo ng series o f yea rs he ruled this coun t ry, while none wasable to injure i t , or subjec t it to fo reign autho rity. R ice was abundant

, and ofa cheapprice ; no d1sease prevailed, and no disconten t agains t the sovereign ,

OF T H E IN D O CIIIN E S E N A T IOIVS . 14 7

and the inhabitan t s enjoyed every pleasure, as in the region of Pra - N arayen .

T he sovereign of the coun try d iffused joy over the face o f the land,among the na tives, while merchan t s resorte d thither in fleet s o f ships, con

stan tly going and coming ; and as there was no d is turban ce in the land , the

inhabitan t s of every coun try frequen ted it ; the Chin (Chinese), the Chaim

(the Chinese T a r tars), the P ram (B rahméns), the Ming- M6n (M6ns of Pegu),the T innaw (Barma s of T enaserim), a ll of them in innumerable mult itudes ;a lso the Franks of E urope came thi ther to traffi c, the Khek (Malays). the Kids.(Chulias), the Phrangset (French), the Pram - t ’het (Kelings or H indus of Kal

inga), the Chong- sakk and N a - Lay (Cafi

’

ree t ribes , W i th sta ined skin s andta tooed faces), the J ipun (Japanese), and the Chinho (T onkinese), resor tedthither with goods , to buy and sell

,con stan tly in grea t mul titudes .”

T he “Maha Chinok” of the S iamese seems to be a popu lara ccoun t of R aj a Janaka , of Mait

’

hila, derived from the R amayan ;

but i t i s eviden t , if the text can be con sidered as correct, tha t th ework has been ei ther in terpola ted or modern ized

,from the mention

of the Franks and th e French .

1

T he following specimens of R ukhéng and Barma will indicatethe similari ty of s tyl e and measure which prevail s in al l themonosyllabic languages .T he specimen of the R ukhéng i s taken from the N ga - chaing

braing.

T fze B if f/2

O - lé lé sangkhyé hna

Kaing b’

ha ta saingT wo

’

k kying tsr'

tng bowngPri bri

“

syowng- hma

Para tzugéLo rui towng thi

Alung mré’

pS yang T heik

- d’

ha t gaNé hmat pro ra

D owk thi da hnei’

ch

Khyaing sa sukhaT zaing lé sa déO tzeng lé bri 56D ewa nat - tzei

’

ch

Ahnei’

ch mroung kraT zaing bri ebwa hma

S ei’

ch- tza lé baT ara tzu si

Pri kha - n i-wéPri gri sa hla

Ka pila hnei’

ch

Khrei’

ch pha T howk 16Médc

'

) bofing hi

S iri mahaMaya waing t

’

he’

Amri thaing d’

he

T si’twelé ti0 thaing dé t suwebriMré gri kreit k rak

1[S ee, further , the a rticle on S iamese litera ture by Capt. J . Low,

in

Asia tic R esearches, ” vol. xx . pp. 338

G002‘07720.

Aup t’

hak akowngLa t lat towng éO thaing de

’ t suwet’haT sé Ia waing hnik

Paik towng bri thoPiang é nan hmonAhlueng tu pro

Angarang to bucikMi tso maya

U ye in 53. go

Lé la tan di

O lé lat bri so

U yeng t’

hé doangK0 wat krang rué

Pra j ang ron mra

N i ma hla n i

G otami hna

M5. pri rat leaf:Lé krang shea t ruwePrang thak hnan moangAhluang tu pro

Angarang to hneik

Mi tso mayaT haing kha ngewéh khakKaing hléii k lék t suweAmrerat néT howng lu chwa goPhwa hléang lé i

14 8 ON T H E LAN G U AG E S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

\Vhen one hundred thousand revolutions of the world were completed, eachoccupying four S ankhyas, then the devou t wo rshipper ob ta ined the objec t o fearnes t desire and the sublime T hik D ’

ha t who is acquain tedw ith the secret s of futurity , ob ta ined supreme felicity, t ranquillity devoid of care,and self- absorpt ion . After the pure D eva Na t ’ha had passed numerous ages inthe possess ion of supreme felicity

,med i ta ting on the four law s o f truth, when

the period of the divine favour was n ea rly completed , in the excelleii t and

populous region of Kapila , S uk to (S udd hodana) became his beloved fa ther,a nd S riMaha Maya , his venerable mo ther

,became pregnan t of a perfec t con

ception . W hen this conception took place , the s trong ear th was agita ted upwa rds and downwa rds , t rembling and shaking. After ten mon ths ’ pregnancy,supporting her swelling womb with her hand, his mo ther Maya was walkingfor recrea tion in a deep fo res t of Angarang t rees , diffusing a round an exquisiteodour. W alking up and down in a pleasan t garden , reci ting the divine nameson her rosa ry, and radia t ing in b rillian t beauty, and accompan ied by two youngers is ters of the same complexion , unable any longer to suppo r t the burden of

Go tama (Gautama ), she leaned on the shoulder of her two younger sis ters.W ithin a deep fores t , in a grove of Angarang ti ees, which difi

‘used a round an

exquisite odoni , his mo ther Maya,

firmly gi asping the b ranches with he1hands , and s tanding ei ect on her feet , bi ought fo r th the dei ty Go tama .

T heik- dha t,or T hik - dhat

,i s the Barma mode of pronouncing

S id’

hata,as i t i s writ ten ,

which i s the Ba l i corruption of S idd ’har- t ’ha .

According to this ana logy,Budd ’ha i s pronounced Bugda , and

S udd’

ho,the con traction of S hdd ’

hodana , S uk- to, and sometimesS ug

-

.doT he following specimen of Barma verse i s taken from the Chatu

Damasara , as it i s termed in Pal i , which IS denominated the K0Khan in Barma

D escription of V070nasl'

.

B aranasi

Pyi gyi pyihtt

Kyo- niy lt'

i-be'

i

VVe - h iy kosi

Nago k’haing

-

gainge

'

in hW t'

in di

B aranasi

Ch6ug j ipyo waT

’ho pyi ma hneik

D ana ma me’

Chawng lé sadengMeng i tang kht

'

iin

Chi'

tin gye’

han li

Khyiuk suin pyo byoH na myo mehlyéangHmya hné chéng eweW an dt

'

iéng p’

hyong tan

Makouk yt'

iin d i

T a kht’

iin ha ga

Hnei’

ch kwa ma swéMyew chwé kliyé

’

ch so

H i'

ileng kaeliaH loup shya maneyngKyan k ’

heng myech6ngT i di séng ewe

Hné long makyan

Kyeng‘

dan mwe nyekMyék sek n ibaPeng ga néng t

’

hek

Hui’ch chek mi'ishihKhan khi si nyi'nP

’

hyeang hé pyo t’

hu

Lt'

i ahwon hné

Machan kyeang hmuLeik hléo pyew sa

Ché khu hneik chain

R aj a t ’han di'iéngT a eng makhyo

Kyeju do gyowngS epo pyeng gyéwinMyet lé thuin so

Ku - san hlé deikPyiuk la so kha

K0 gweya hlien

Hman chua che’

ng chei ’chI’hyeit pé so la

Neng ngan sa do

Myo ba ché yi'

t

Chéng yé hu- sa

Yé tu khyan p’

hyeng

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150 ON T H E LAN G U AG E S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

or Camboja. I t has n ever been cu l tiva ted by E uropeans , and Ihave had no opportun i ty of examin ing i t . T he S iamese, fromwhom I received my informa t i on

,a ssured me tha t i t was en t irely

differen t from either the T ’

hay or the Juan , or language of CochinChina . T he K

’

hohmén are reckon ed an ancien t and l oya l p eople,and were formerly subdued by the T ’hay - j

’hay, or ancien t S iames e

race . T he modern T ’hay , or S iamese , s til l denom in ate the Balicharacter

, N ongsu R 12070 or th e K’

h6hmén letter, from this na t ion .

T h ey are not,however

,supposed to have existed as a polished

na tion so early as the Law,but are bel ieved to derive the ir origin

from the warl ike race of moun ta ineers named Kh6,the Gueos of

the early Portugese his torians,who are still represen ted as prae

tising their ancien t cu s to.

,ms of eat ing human flesh and pa in ting

and tatooing their bodies . D e Barros , however, seems to representthe language of the K ’

h6hme’

n a s differen t from tha t of Camboj a,though the S iamese do‘ not dis tinguish them .

“ T here are two

kingdoms,

” says he,

“ adjacen t to each other, and both of themmari time

,which have each a peculiar language 5 the firs t i s termed

Como, and the second Camboj a .

”

(D emo’. i i i . l ib . 2,c .

XII . Leno — T he Law language i s u sed by the inland na tion ofthat name

,who are gen era lly termed

,a fter the Portuguese writers ,

L020, and in the plural , L005 , from their con si st ing of differen traces . T heir language

,D e Barros observes , i s peculiar, and the

S iamese a ssert tha t i t i s differen t from the T ’hay . I t has neverbeen cultiva ted by E uropean s

,very few of whom

,bes ides Al ex

ander D e R hodes have ever visited the coun try . According toKoempfer H i story of Japan

,

” p . th e Law nation do not differmuch from the S iames e ei ther in language or writing

,

1 except thatthey are unable to pronounce the l etters I and r, and thi s opin ionI am much incl ined to adopt

,though I have had no favourabl e

opportun i ty of investiga t ing the subj ect . If, however , I may bea l lowed to judge from the specimens of the Law language whichI have been able to procure from S ia n ese and Barmas

,i t appears

to bear th e same rela tion to the T ’hay, or S iamese, tha t theR uk

’

he’

ng does to the Barma . W ith the T ’hay - j’

hay i t accordsmore fully than with the T

’

hay proper, and in adopting Pa l i“

termsi t adheres more accurately to the Pa l i orthography than either ofthem . T he following short l is t of words and phra ses wil l conveysom e idea of the difference which subsi sts between the T ’hay andth e Law. As the T ’hay- j

’

hay approaches the Law more nearlythan the T ’hay

,when tha t d ia l ect u s es p ecu l iar terms I have pre

1[T he Lao , closely ak in to T hai, has two set s of cha racters, bo th very

d ifferen t from the S iamese ; see Bastian ln“Journal R . As. S oc.

, N . S . , vol. iii .

A Vocabulary ofMoi words 18 given by Gaut ier in E xcursions et R econnaissances,

”pa rt 14 , pp. 238

—43 , where is a lso men tioned a MS . d ict ionary of the

dialect by P . Azemar,m issionary at B reiam. ]

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N A T I OIVS. 151

ferred adducing them,for the sake of comparison . W here the Law

and the T ’hay agree in the radical

,an apparent divers i ty is often

produced by the convers ion of the Z and 7 in to ii or

T’lzay .

riukk

phutron

ron uk

mai ru

11ai hén ri'

i

mak

thale'kli

'

in

klongrapth6ng- kham

,th6ng

taki'tat ’ham , jiasabutpiin

klainga

’unnuéykléit

khapronghillthungtalatpit

n i'

ia

luitropli’tangjiinta- kiangt

’

ham j ang araitaw rai

pra- chan

Pu-iing

phu- chay

muangritin

krai,or kai

a raipai

- n t'inma - ui

k’ha

’

ii

pi-

pach- ay

pi-

Ipu

- j ingme

k’

ha

di- chan

rau

I t i s from this nat ion that both S iamese andO

B armas allege thatth ey derive their religion

,laws, and in sti tu tions . I t is in the

152 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

country of Law tha t all the celebra ted founders of the rel igion o fBudd ha are represen ted to have left their mos t remarkable vestiges .C eylon boa s ts the sacred traces of the left foo t of Budd ’ha on thetop of the moun ta in Amala- S ri- padi

,or Adam ’ s Peak . S iam ex

hibits traces of the right foot on the top of the golden mounta in ,S wa - na - bapato . O ther traces of the sacred s teps are sparinglyscattered over Pegu

,Ava

,and Arakan 5 but i t i s among the Laos

that all the ves tiges of the founders o f this rel igion seem to b econcentered

,and whither devotees repair to worship at the traces of

the sacred steps of Pra—Ku-ku—son,Pra - K6n - n

‘

a- k6n , Pra - Pu t - t ’haKat- sop

,and Pra - S a—m itt- ta- ko - dom . T hese S iames e names of the

four Budd ’has s eem to correspond to th e Barma Kaukasan , G onagom

,Ka syapa , and G o tama

,the S ingha la

,Kakusar

’

ida , Konagam ,

Ka syapa,and Gautama . T here can be no doubt

,however

,from

the order of the names , bu t tha t they are the four las t Budd’has

in the l i s t given by Hémachandra Acharya, in the Abhid’

hana

Chin taman i, under the fol lowing S an scri t appella t ion s, from whichal l these S iamese , Barma, and S ing

’hala names seem to be onlyBal i corruption s . T he S an scrit names are K00

’

00000,If0

’

5y0p0, and S ofty/0517100} T he language of Law i s repre

s en ted as abounding in books,especially transla tion s from the

Bal i,and i f the an tiquity of the nation can b e depended on , they

mus t be extremely in teres ting , from the s ituat ion of the countrybetween China and the other Indo - Chin ese na t ions . T he Law

nation consi s ts,l ike the S iamese

,of two differen t races of people ,

denomina ted in S iamese , Cfiz’

ezzg- mdz

'

and L072- o/z0ng, which aresaid by Koempfer to be the names of their ch ief cities . T he

firs t of thes e are t ermed by the Barmas, Y220 , and the second ,

La in D e Barros adds a th ird tribe , which he denominates67200 emy . In th eir general appearance the Law resembles th eMon .

XII I. An0m.— T he Anam language is that of Cochin China

and T onkin . I t is represented by the Ca tholic miss ionarie s tobe l ikewis e genera lly used in Champa and Kau—bang 5 but theirassertions mus t be taken wi th some l imitation when they addLaw

, Camboj a and S iam . T he Anam language, as wel l as then ation

,i s often denomina ted the Juan by the Malays and

S iamese . I t has a lways been more cu ltiva ted by the Cathol icm i ss ionaries than any other of the Indo - Chin es e languages ,though thes e fa thers may

,with some degree of proprie ty, affec t

1[Krakuchchhanda , Kanchana , Kas

'yapa , S aikyasinha. H emachandra, v.

[T here is eviden tly some confusion in these terms. T he wo rd [00 to

designa te a Lao man is S iamese,and appea rs to have thence pa ssed into

Burmese whereas the S han s call a. Lao man y zm . In S iamese y uen(wr i t ten y awazz)means an Annamite. ]

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154 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

l i terature i s greatly affected by al l who pretend to distincti on inl earn ing in these countries 5 and in the language of Anam th eChinese characters are denominated Chiiw.

l Bu t besides thi sanother species of character i s in gen era l u se

,and common ly

employed in ma tters of busin ess and priva te affa i rs,which i s con

s tructed on a principle en t irely differen t 5 and though i ts l e t tersare numerou s, they bear no proportion to the Chinese sign s , andaccording to D e R hodes they are un in tell igibl e to th e Chineseand those who are unacqua in ted with the Anam language . T hes echaracters in theAnam language are termed N 6m. W hat rela t ionthey bear to th e Ba l i characters I have not been able to determ in e accurately

,though I su spect they will be found to be con

nected with tha t or the T ’hay a lphabet . I t i s perfectly certa in ,however, t hat they have no connection with the proper Chinesecharacter . I have been informed by an in tell igen t Chines e whohad res ided some time in both S iam and Cochin China , tha t th eproperAnam character greatly resembles tha t of the S iamese . T he

m i ss ionary Borri says tha t the Cochin Chines e , in harangues ,l et ters , memorial s , petitions ,

‘and such things as do not belong to

printed books , for thes e of necess ity must b e in Chinese characters, gen eral ly employ about three thousand characters, whichth ey find sufficient to express their mean ing . I f the compoundcharacters and con traction s of th e S iamese be included in theiralphabet they would n early amount to thi s number .T he Chinese character forms in real i ty an abstract philosophica l

language , such as has long been the theme of specula t ion inE urope

,though i t i s genera l ly regarded as an absurd and impos

sible reveri e . I t i s no t indica t ive of sounds , bu t of rea l obj ec tsand idea s 5 and con sequen tly i t i s read and understood by at lea s ttwenty differen t na tions

,who would scarcely understand a word of

one another ’ s ora l language,and would all use differen t words

to express the same mean ing . T he only E uropean charactersanalogous to the Chines e symbol ical wri tten language are ournumeral

,algebra ica l

,a stronomical

,and chemical s igns , which are

con s tructed on the same abstract principl es . T he Chin ese , however, sometimes con trive to make these singular characters perform a double office

,and express sounds as well as ideas 5 as

when they write down E ngl ish names,which another person can

pronounce with great accuracy . As far as I have been able tol earn , however, thi s can on ly be accomplished by person s who usethe same spoken language .T he Anam language is s imple

,original , and monosyllabic .

What relation s i t may possibly bear to some of the spoken mono

1[In addi tion to the Chu - nhu and Chu - n6m, the R oman charac ter, Chu

quoc - ngu, may be men t ioned, which appea rs to be now la rgely used , as it is inMalayan coun t ries unde r E nglish or Dutch sway — T he Chinese characterssuperseded the Indian alphabetical wri t ing in the six th cen tury A. D .J

OF T H E [ N D 0 CH IN E S E N A T ION S . I 55

syllabic languages of China , to the Man - chew—T artar,to the

Korean , Formosan ,Likyu, or ra ther R iu-kiu languages

,I cannot

possibly pretend to determine 5 but i t certa inly has very littleaffin i ty to the Mandarin or Court language of China , which i sproperly termed Khuan ; to the K6ng

- t6ng, or language ofCan ton ; to the copious polysyllabic and inflected Japanese 5 orto any of the other Indo - Chinese languages .I t i s certa inly possible to find s evera l Anam vocables whichcoincide both in sound and s ign ification with words in the Khuanor Mandarin Chinese, and a l so in the K6ng- t6ng, as wel l asothers

,which closely resemble T ’hay or S iamese vocables 5 but

n everthel es s,all the essen tia l parts of the Anam language are

original and unconnected wi th any of the other monosyllabiclanguages of which I have any knowledge. Barrow

,an authori ty

of some weight,in his “Voyage to Cochin China,

” seems to cons ider the Anam as a deriva tive from the Chinese because i t isconstructed on the same principle (p . T he spokenlanguage ,

” he observes,

“has undergon e a very cons iderablechange

,which is the l ess surpris ing

,as the inhabitan ts of the

n orthern and sou thern provinces of China are un in tell igible toeach other 5 bu t though i t has been a l tered i t does not appear tohave received any improvemen t

,nei th er from additions of their

own nor from the introduction of foreign words ” (p . T he

precise mean ing of this sen tence I con fess I do not understand .

T he mass of the Anam language,whether nouns , verbs , or sigui

fican t particl es,i s tota l ly differen t from tha t spoken Chinese

language with which he has compared i t 5 and he himself admits“ that i t i s so much changed from the original as to be nearly,i f not wholly

,un in tel l igible to a Chinese .” T he Anam nat ion

employ severa l sounds and letters which are incapable of beingpronounced by a Chinese

,such as o

,and r. T he particles which

form the cemen t or construction of the language are a l sod ifferent 5 and in addition to all these

,the Anam language has a

peculiar character of i ts own,which i s not understood by the

Chinese . I t i s difficul t after thi s to conceive wha t s imilarityexists between the Chinese and Anam ,

un less tha t they are bothmonosyllabic languages

,and tha t the sign ifica tion of terms i s

regulated in a grea t measure by their accen tua t ion . But thoughthe same monosyllables occur

,and though they are a l so accen ted

frequen tly in a s imilar manner,yet even in thi s case the significa

t ion of thes e monosyllables is for the mos t part totally differen t.In the syn tax or con struction of the two languages there i s a l so avery grea t difference

,for in a lmost all the in stances in which the

B arma language differs in con s truction from the Malayu , T’hay,

and Anam,the Chinese agrees with the Barma and differs from

the three others . T hus,when two substan tives follow each other

in Chinese and Barma , the firs t i s in the gen i t ive or obl ique case 5

156 ON TH E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

whereas , in Malayu,T

’hay,and Anam , the s econd is in th e obl iqu e

ca se. S ometimes,too

,the Chinese order of arrangemen t d iffers

equa l ly from them all . T hus,in Ch inese the adj ective genera l ly

precedes the substan t ive,wherea s i t follows i t in Ma layu , Barma,

1

T’hay, and Anam . I t mus t be observed

,however

,tha t when the

term Chinese i s applied to the spoken languages of China, i t i su sed in a very wide sign ification

,un les s some particular province be

specified . T he Chines e colloquia l languages appear to be morenumerou s than the Indo - Chinese tongues , and equally unconnectedwi th each other. Barrow himself declares tha t scarcely two provinces in China have the same ora l language (

“ T ravel s inChina , p . W hile the na ture of th e Chinese character i s s til lso imperfectly understood

,i t i s not surpris ing that the investigation

of the spoken languages of China has been to tal ly n eglected. I nth e course o f some inquirie s that I made among the Chinese ofPenang, I found tha t f0ur or five languages were curren t amongthem which were total ly dis tinct from each other, and the nameso f s everal others were men t ioned . I was informed that the principal Chinese languages were ten in number ; bu t I have foundthat cons iderable vari ety occurred in the enumeration of theirnames , and suspect that they are con s iderably more numerous i nrea l i ty. T he following i s one of th e l ist s I received of these tenlanguages , but I have since been informed tha t i t rela tes only tothose which are spoken in the sou thern and western provinces .

v .

O f these , as has been s tated , the firs t i s represen ted as th elanguage of Can ton

,and the eighth as the Mandarin language

,or

tha t which prevail s i n Pekin . T o thi s l is t may be added th efol lowing

T he las t of these i s denomina ted Chin - Chew by the Chinese o fMacao ; but the language spoken in Macao itself i s the H yangS on . T hi s enumera tion ,

however,i s extremely imperfect ; nor

have I been able to determine which of them are to be accountedo rigina l languages and which d ia l ects . N e ither

,without particular

invest igation , i s i t poss ibl e to ascerta in whether the Anam language

1[N ot in Burmese ][On the dialect s of the Chinese language see G . von der Gabelentz

’

s

Chinesische G ramma t ik pp. 13—16, 34

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158 ON T H E LAN G U AG E S AIVD LI T E R A T U R E

t o say 07212, which signifies elder brother , and hi s wife , on theother hand

,ought e i ther to denominate hersel f handma id

,or

e72g , younger s is ter. A woman ,in like manner

,addres s ing herself

kindly to another,who i s ei ther younger in years or inferior in

rank , ought a lways to denomina te hersel f elder s is ter 5 a husband,address ing his wife in pol ite terms , ought always to term heryounger sister ; and in general , speaking to a young woman , sheshould use the same expression 5 but an old woman he ought toterm 17022

,or aun t . A lover addressing hi s mistres s terms her

younger si ster, whil e she in return terms him elder brother . A

son , address ing his fa ther, ought not even to term him 0120, fa ther 5bu t 07212, fa ther

’ s elder brother ; 01222, fa ther’ s younger brother ; or

2022, mother’ s brother . In a s imilar mann er

,address ing hi s mother

,

h e ought not to term her 7722, mother ; bu t e i ther fa ther’ s s is ter ,or 212, mother

’ s s i ster . 1‘ I t i s easy to perceive tha t th i s m inute

accuracy of phra seology mu s t have occas ioned grea t trouble tothe Catholi c m i ssionaries in rendering port ion s of S crip ture in tothe Anam language 5 accordingly we find tha t they were extremelyd i s tre ssed about the propriety of the terms to be u sed wheneverG od the Father, J esu s Chris t, th e H oly Ghos t , or the VirginMary were to be introduced as in terlocutors , and d ismal ly puzzledwhether the Virgin ought to denominate herself handma id , or7722

,mother

,in addressing her S on Jesus Chris t ; as a very trivial

change of phraseology, m a language so del ica te in i t s shades anddis tinct ion s

,might have given origin to the most dangerous

heresy.T he accents in the Anam tongu e are of such indispen sabl e

util i ty tha t they have been very properly termed the sou l of thelanguage

,whil e the primary monosyllables , varied by accen t , have

been made to repres en t i ts body . Conversa t ion is a species o fchaun t or recita tive , as in the Chinese dia l ects and the o thermonosyllabic languages , which has at firs t a very ludicrous effectt o an ear unaccustomed to i t . T he in tona t ion or accen t2 of th eAnam struck me as. en t irely s im ilar to Chinese , though Borri , theCa thol ic m iss ionary , to whom it was familiar, pronounces i t softerand sweeter, more harmon iou s and .copiou s in both i t s ton es andaccents . H e adds tha t every word expresses a varie ty of sigu ifications according to th e divers i ty of accents with which i t i spronounced 5 so that to converse in i t correct ly a person ought tounderstand the grounds of music . T ha t he ought to have an earof th e most del icate s en s ibi l ity is ind ispu table 5 and as th is cannever prevai l very equally in a numerou s nation

,thi s variety of

1[It should be no ted tha t 07212 only means (the speaker’ s) elder bro the r, 0772

(not mg) his younger bro ther or sister, 1702 (not 17022) grandmo ther, 25 fa ther’ s

younger sister.[O n the various in tona tions which mark the pronuncia tion in the provinces

of Hué, Quang, and T onquin, see T . V . Ky’ s grammar, pp. 4

OF T H E I N D O CH IN E S E N A T I ON S . 159

a ccen t gives r ise to such divers ity of dia lect tha t through thewhole Anam region every con siderable vil lage or district has as i twere a differen t language, and i s often obl iged to have recourseto the written character for commun ication with the districts inits vicini ty .

Borri affirms tha t th e sacred books of the Anam nat ion aretermed S e

’

k K ing,while those relat ive to civi l subj ects are

denomina ted “S ek—Chuw.

”H e adds that the firs t trea t of the

crea tion of the world , the na ture of m ind , the differen t classes ofin telligen t beings

,mora ls

,and m etaphys ica l theology 5 bu t both

these classes of books seem ra th er to refer to Chinese l iteraturethan to tha t which i s pecul iarly Anam

,for S e

’

le sign ifies on ly book,

Chriw i s the name applied to the Chines e character, and K ing ”

is the name of the books firs t put in to the hands of the studen t sof Chinese l itera ture . N umerous T ru -

yen or Cheritras , however,a re known to exist in the Anam language

,and form the subj ect

of their drama t ic represen ta t ion s,in which the Anam nation are

n ot inferior .to th e Chinese .T he ancien t code of T onkin laws possessed grea t celebrity

, and

was highly venerated previou s to the la te conqu es t of tha t coun tryby the Cochin Chin ese . I t i s represented by the miss ionaryLe R oy as composed in the most eleva ted style of Chinese, andful l of uncommon modes of expression . H e a l so men tion s tha tit was prin ted with an Anam transla tion , composed by an ancien tT onkin mandarin .

1

T he Anam style i s sometimes highly bold and figurat ive,and

a t tain s a degree of animation which is not very common amongthe Indo - Chinese na tion s of the con tinen t . 2 I f the French versionc an be depended on , we n eed only refer in proof of this to theman ifes to i ssued by the usurper Quang—trung in 1790, to quietth e m inds of his subj ects

,a larmed at the reports of the prowess

of the French auxil iaries , who aided the first efforts of the presen tmonarch for the recovery of hi s throne . “ Be not s o credulousa s to l is ten to wha t they say of the E uropeans . W ha t superiora bil ity should tha t race be possessed of T hey have al l the eyesof green serpen ts

,and we ought only to regard them a s floating

c orpses , cast on our shores by the sea s of the N orth .

”N ouvelles

des Mission s O rien ta le s ,” p .

T he rel igion of the Anam na tion is a modification of theB udd ’hist system

,n early resembling that which prevails in China .

Many local and pecul iar supers tit ions,

3 however, are blended wi th1[A French tran sla tion , by M. Philastre, was published in 1876. S ee also

E . V illa rd,

E tude sur le droit pénal annami te in E xcursion s et R econ

n aissances ,” N o . 13, pp. 732[On Annamese litera ture see an able ar ticle by E . Villard in the same

serial, N o . 12, pp. 4463[S ee a series o f a rticles, byM. Landes , on Annamese custom s and supersti

t ions in E xcursions et R econnaissances,” N os. 6, 7, 8, and

160 ON T H E LAIVG U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

i t, such as the worship of the dog and tiger, to the firs t of whichhuman excremen t

,and to the s econd human flesh

,i s offered .

T races of this worship are found among the mounta ineers o n the

borders of India , as wel l as in the proper Indo - Chinese coun trie s .T hus the tiger i s worsh ipped by the Haj i n tr ibe

,in th e vicin i ty of

the Garrows or Garudas .T he Quan - t6, an ancien t race , as the name sign ifies

,who

inhabi t Kaubang, or the moun ta inou s range which d ivides theAnam coun tries from China , regard themselv es a s th e originalinhabitants of T onkin and Cochin China

,and con sider the Anam

as a Chinese colony . T he Quan - to have a pecul iar language,

and write with a s tyle on th e leaves of a plan t termed in Anam '

72200 . T he M6i and Muhng are also mounta in eer tribes,who

speak languages differen t from the Anam,but i t i s hi therto

unknown whether they are original race s or only branches of theQuan - to .

T he fol lowing compara t ive vocabulary of the Barma , T’hay

,and~

Anam languages , with the Kong dial ect of the Chinese , will convey some idea of their mutua l relation s and differences . A few

R ukhéng varia tion s are also exhibi ted in th e Barma column, with.the in i t ial R . prefixed .

T

G od prayieng pra- chaw

heaven n ip- ban sawan

the ear th kam - ba pi-

p’

hopea rth mye, R . mre

’

din

a ir lé loinwa ter yé, R . ré nam

mi,R . meing sai

né tawan thar-

yong,ngu t

la duin ngiiit

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162 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

maung, meng 511

do

dén

den - do

bédu , belubahzi

bédéng

t ’hang-

phe,thang- mot

apowng mak

cheichs cha -

gule'

hit, nit

t‘

akhyo kai kai

at’

hék bc’

Sn

tai, langnay116k

XIV. Pali.— T he Pal i language among the Indo—Chines enation s occupies the same place which S an scri t holds among theH indus

,or Arabic among the followers of I slam . T hroughou t

the greater part of the maritime coun tries which l ie between Indiaand China , i t i s the language of rel igion ,

law,l i terature

,and

science , and has had an extensive influence in modifying th evernacular languages of these reg i ons . T he name of thi s language,though commonly pronounced Bal i

,i s more genera l ly written

Pali,but both forms are occa s iona l ly used . As the origin of th e

word i s s til l very obscure, i t i s difficul t to determine which is themore correct orthography . I f

,however

,we could venture to

identify the term with the B ahlika b ’hasha,which in the S ahitya

A 710772 Kong (312277210

lrui nr

teng sam

tion 51

lang ringlak lok

bai chhattang pat

chin kow

tap sapklang pak

kin chint6i

,tau, ta , kwa ngo, nga

chr’

mg- toi, moi nga

- t étoi

bai, mar,ngi

'

i ni

woi

Chung- bai, moi ni- té

bai

né k’

hi, t’ha

Chung-no k

’

hi- té, t’ha - te

’

ai nakonz

‘

ro meyanao (placed after nakoa word)kak

OF T H E IN D O - CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 163

Dérpana ofViswanatha i s enumera ted as one of the languagesproper to be used by certain cha racters in drama t ic works

,the

latter ought to be con sidered as the more correct. La Loubere,

on the authority of D ’

H erbelot, has s tated (tom . 1. p . 4 4 2) tha tthe ancien t Persic language was termed Pahalevi (Pahlavi), andtha t the Persians do not distingui sh in writing between Pahali andB ahali. T his conj ecture would be confirmed by the iden ti ty o fthe terms Bal i and B ahlika b ’hasha

,were i t to be establ ished 5 for

no doubt can be en terta ined tha t in S an scri t geography the epithetB ahlika i s applied to a northern Indo - Pers ic region , probablycorresponding to Balkh Bamiyan . Among the Indo - Chines enation s the Ba l i i s frequen tly denomina ted Lanka—basa

,or th e

language of Lanka and Maga ta,or

,as i t i s often pronounced

,

Mungata , a term which seems to correspond with the S anscri tMagad ’hi

,which

,in many of the Vyakaranas, i s enumera ted as

one of the dialects proper to be used by certa in characters introduced in N atakas or H indu dramas. According to Koempfer, theBali, in the Khom language and by the inhabitan ts of Pegu , wastermed Maccata - pasa,

” or Magad ’hi b ’hasha,as we may safely

venture to render i t. P . Paul inus,however

,applies th i s term

inaccurately to the square Bal i character instead of the languageMus . Borg.

” p .

T his language,notwithstanding i ts extensive use among so

many na tion s and the degree of cultivation which i t has receivedfrom the differen t tribes by whom it is employed, has hi thertoattracted l ittl e a ttent ion among E uropeans . T he indefatigabl eKoempfer, in his

“Amaenitates E xoticae,”has very imperfectly

exhibited the Bal i alphabet . La Loubere had previously publ ishedi t more correctly according to th e form employed among theS iamese his Bal i a lphabet is repeated in the French E ncyclopaedia 5and Carpanius, i n h is Alphabetum B armanum,

”has exhibited

the simple letters according to the square form employed by theBarmas . La Loubere

,in his H i s torica l R elat ion of S iam ,

haspublished “ T he Life of T hevetat,

” sa id to be translated from theBal i , with a fragment termed An E xplana t ion of the Patimouc,or T ext of the Vinac.” P. Paul inus a S . B artholomaeo

,in h i s

Museum B orgianum,

” has,in hi s u sua l petulan t

,inaccurate

,and

d esultory manner , exhibited some confused notices concern ing theB idagat,

” the Padi -mauka,

” the Kammuva ,”and a Com

pendium of the Barman Laws ,” composed in the Pal i language .

Dr. F. Buchanan , in his E ssay on the R el igion and Litera ture ofthe Barmas Asia t. R esearch .

” vol . has publ ished a tran slat ion of the “Kammua ,

” execu ted from the La t in vers ion ofVincentio S angermano, which differs con s iderably from the noticesconcern ing tha t work published by P . Paulinus

,according to

whom ,in 1776, an I tal ian trans lation of i t was made in Pegu at

the instance of Cardinal Borgia . W hether any of these vers ionsM 2

164 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AIVD LI T E R A T U R E

have been made directly from the Pa l i or only through the mediumof a Barma o r S iamese vers ion is at l eas t very dubious 5 but theenumeration may su ffice to show how far the a tten t ion ofE uropeans has been turned to th is language . I t would appearthat the learned La Croze , in hi s epistolary correspondence, hasalso treated concern ing the relation s and affin i ties of the Pa l i

,bu t

I have had no opportuni ty of consul ting the collect ion of hisl etters . P . Paul inus

,in his coarse

,acrimon iou s

, and offensiveway, has a l so obtruded on the public some conj ectures concern ingi t, but the publicat ion of his

“ Vyacarana, s eu locupletissima

S amscrdamicae l inguae Institutio , R omae 1804 , has given a deathblow to h is vaun ted preten s ions to profound orien tal learn ing,and shown

,a s was previously suspected, that he was incapable of

accura tely distingu ishing S an scri t from the vernacu lar language s ofIndia .

"6

T he Bal i alphabet s eems in its origin to be a derivat ive fromthe D eva - nagari

,though it has not on ly acqu ired cons iderable

difference of form , but has also been modified to a certa i n degreein the power of the le tters by the monosyllabic pronunciation of

T he philological merit s or demerit s of P . Paulinus form no pa r t o f theproper subject of this essay he is only men t ioned here for the purpose of dis

claiming his cri tical authority, when placed, as i t has frequen tly been byE uropean w ri ters , in compet i tion wi th such autho rities in H indu li tera ture as

S irW . Jones orMr. Coleb rooke. In his “Museum B orgianum he hasmistakena specimen of Malayu for Bengali ; but this is no thing to wha t occurs in his

S anscri t G rammar . T he same blunder has been made before him by the

polyglo t t O ra tio D omin ica 5 but the following are his own . A numerousclass of S an scri t nouns fo rm the fifth ca se in a t ; in T amul and Ma layalam ,

however, a case of simila r impor t termina tes in 01,and this case, which be

longs to these vernacula r languages, but never to S ansc ri t , has P . Paulinusunifo rmly subst ituted in his S anscri t Grammar in the place of the regula rS anscrit flection in T his subs titut ion of the let ter 1 for t is not confined tothose ins tances only in which the analogous flections of a vernacular languagem ay be supposed to have led to the erro r ; i t occurs in numerous instancesin which the S anscrit and popular dialect s coincide in using the le t ter 1, andwhich mus t therefo re be cons idered a s the blunders of absolute ignorance.

T hus , in the names o f the tenses o f the S anscrit verb, he gives 10! forfor 101, for lid, and 1221 for 17221. A blunder simila r to tha t which occurs in thefifth case of noun s runs through a va riety of the flections of the S anscri t verb .

T hus, he gives 001702201 for 0111107202, 017027020! for 11120220701, 17120201 for b’

lzavet,

171229701 for 1112225704 01711221 for a b’

lm’

t, ablzaw

’

s/zy a l for bu t the

whole work swa rm s wi th simila r errors . \Vhat should we think of a La t ingrammarian who should falsify the abla t ive case in noun s, and misrepresen tthe third person singula r in verbs ? Yet this is no thing more than wha t hasb een done by the redoub ted P. Paulinus , whom the lea rned S ylvest re de S acyterms un des écr iva ins les plus tranchans et les plus de

’

da igneux 5”and he has

not only erred in the pa rt icula r instances which he has adduced in his G rammar, but he has a lso la id down rules to justify his erro rs as in his rules forthe permu ta t ion o f the let ter ! in to 1

,dlr

, &c . All his o ther works tha thave fallen into my ha nds equally abound in erro r

,a rrogance, and ignorance .

E qually superficial , inaccura te , and virulen t in his invect ive, a critic o f his owns tampwould be tempted to retort on him his own quota t ion from E nnius

S imia quam similis turpissima best ia vobis .

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166 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

two characters,the square Barma - Bali character will b e found

to approach nearer the proper Barma character than the Bal i ofS iam .

T he Bal i i s an ancien t dialect of S an scri t, which sometimesapproaches very near the origina l . W hen al lowance is made forthe regular in terchange of certa in letters , the el i sion of harsh consonan ts

,and the contraction of simila r syllables , all th e vocable s

which occur in i t s ancien t books seem to be purely S anscri t . I nCheritras and la ter compos itions

,however

,some words of the

popu lar languages of the country sometimes insinuate themselves,in the same manner as T amul , T el inga , and Canara vocable soccas ionally occur in the la ter S anscrit composition s of th eD ekhin . T he Bal i

,while i t reta in s a lmost the whol e exten t o f

S anscri t flexions,both in nouns and verbs , nevertheless employs

this variety ra ther sparingly in composition , and affects the ftcquen t in troduction of the preterite participl e , and the u se of impersonal verbs . It a l so u ses the ca ses of noun s i n a more indeterminate manner than the S an scri t, and often confounds theactive , n euter , and pa ss ive ten ses of verbs . Like other derivat ive dialects

,i t occasional ly uses S anscri t nouns ‘

and particles inan oblique sense ; bu t notwi thstand ing all these circumstances ,i t approaches much nearer the pure S anscri t than any otherd ialect, and exhibits a close affin i ty to the Prakrit and the Zend .

1

T hese three dia lects,the Prakrit

,the Bal i

,and th e Zend, are

probably the most ancient derivatives from the S an scri t . T he

grea t ma ss of vocables in all the three, and even the forms offlexion , both in verbs and nouns

,are derived from the S anscri t,

according to regular laws of el ision,con traction

,and permuta tion

of l etters . S omet imes in pursu ing these analogies , they n earlycoincide ; sometimes they differ considerably ; sometimes one, andsometimes another of them approaches n earest to the originalS anscrit . T heir connection wi th this paren t language was perceived and poin ted out by S ir W . J ones , and has al so beenalluded to by P . Paul inus

,who derives his informa tion concern

ing the Bal i from Carpanius and Mantegatius . T he fa te of thesethree languages i s a l so in some degree similar . T he Prakri t isthe language which con ta ins the greater part of the sacred booksof the Ja ina s ; the Ba l i i s equal ly revered among th e followerso f B uddha ; while th e Zend , or sacred language of ancien t I ran ,has l ong enj oyed a s imi la r rank among the Pars is , or worshippersof fire , and been the depos itary of th e sacred book s of Zoroas ter .I t i s perhaps

,however

,more accura te to cons ider al l the three

ra ther as d i fferent d ia l ects of the same derivative language thanas d ifferen t languages ; and conformably to this idea , the Ba lii t self may be reckoned a dialect of Prakri t . T he term Prakri t,1[Compa re now the conspec tus of the P012 language and li terature in the

E ncyclopaedia Bri tannica,”s.v. ]

OF T H E IN D O CH IN E S E N A T I ON S . 167

both in books and in common use among the B rahméns, i s employed with some degree of la titude . S ometimes the term i sconfined to a particular dial ect

,employed by the Ja inas as the

language of rel igion and science, and appropriated to females andrespectabl e characters of an inferior class in dramas . S ometimesi t includes all the dialects derived immediately from the S an scri t ,whether denominated Prakri t

,Magad ’h i

,S i

’

iraséni,Pais

’

achi, orApabhrams

'

a 5 and sometimes i t i s even extended to the Desab

’

hashas,or popu lar tongues of India

,as Mahrasht

,or Mahra t ta ,

Canara , T el inga, U dia , and Bengal i . According to the extendeduse of the term Prakrit , i t may certain ly include both Ba l i andZend 5 and if more extensive res earch should j ustify the idea derived from an imperfect investiga t ion

,I apprehend tha t the Bal i

may be iden tified with the Magadh i,and the Zend with the

S tiraséni, of S an scri t authors .T hese three dial ects, the Prakrit, Bal i , and Zend, have beenregularly cul t ivated and fixed by compos ition . T he same lawsof deriva tion are applicable to the forma t ion of all th e three 5 butyet there i s often considerabl e diversi ty in the forms which particular words as sume, as appears from the following comparativespecimen

fa ther

mo ther mat ta

s'

t'

rkarah suaréI I I v

swa, swanam sunau

vrukshah rukha

gra’

rmam khaman gueoue

the lingam lingammoun tain parvatah

world prit’

hivi pattwé

168 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

I n th is specimen th e Prakri t words are s elected from theManorama Vritti” of B ’

hamaha, and the“Prakritalankes

’ warah ”

of Vidya Vino- d’

ha 5 the Ba l i are taken at random from theKumara- B ap,

”Chitamnan,

” and H atamnan 5 and the Zendfrom the vocabulari es of Anquetildu Perron , whose orthography,s ince I have not been able to procure the original Zend, has beenpreserved

,however inaccurate

, in preference to conj ectural emendation ; though I am convinced that an orthography more conformable to the original wou ld render the connection of Zendwith its cognate dialects more apparent .

Sp002'

77ze72 of £012from 2120H02‘0772722272.

S aggekamécharupé bc iri- sik ’

ha ra -

ga techantalikk’hé vimané dipe

’ rat’he- cha

game taruvanagahané géhavat’

hamhi k ’

hétté.

B ’

humma chziyantu deva : j ala t’ -hala - visamé yakha-

gandabba naga tit’

han

taman tikéyarn muniva i a vachanam sadavo me sunantu.

D hammassa vanakalo - ayum bhaddanta namotassa B ’

hagavatc'

) Arhatto

s'amma sambuddassa .

Yésanta san tachitta tisarano sarana eta lokantaréva bhumma bhumma cha

deva guna gana -

bo—ahana d

’

hayata sabbaka’

rlam é té ayantu déva varakanakamaé

méru raj é vasanto.

S antosahétum munivaravachanam sétam maggam sammaggam sabbesu

Chakkavalésuyakhadeva- cha bramhano.

W hich may be thus restored into S anscri t withou t the radicalchange of a s ingle word2

S wargé kamécharr'

rpe'

girisrkharagaté chantarikshé vimanédiperashtre'

grametaruvanagahané griliavatihi kshétré.

B hr’

rmau chayantu deva jalast’

hala vishamé yaksha gandharva nagas tist’

han tam antiképam munivaravachanam sad’

havo mes'

rinvantu.

Dhermas'

ravanakaloyum b ’hanyantam narnastasya B’

hagavaté Arhatosamyak sambudd

’hasma .

Yésantah santa - chi t ta trisarana sa rana ihaloko'ttarévab ’human ab’

humaucha ,

1[T hese list s were compiled some 78 yea rs ago , before the real na ture and

linguist ic posi tion of Zend had been discovered. S ee, on this subject, now, the

art icle on the Persian language in the E ncyclopaedia B ri tannica .

” T he Paliwords , even where they are o therwise co rrec t, show in their t ransli tera tionthe S iamese pronuncia tion ]

[T his fi rs t a t tempt at restoring Pali into S anscri t has been left unnoticedby all who have wri t ten 011 the history of Pali studies ]

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170 ON T H E LAN G U AGE S AN D LI T E R A T U R E

alphabet,though i t i s probably the origin of th e ancien t Kufic

character,i f not the actua l H imyaric character i tsel f. I have at

presen t l ittl e doubt tha t the character of the ancien t Zend , or , asi t i s termed

,according to Anquetil du Perron

’ s orthography,Azz

’

ean te’

,i s derived from the Deva - nzigari 5 for tha t author himself

admits tha t the vowel s coincide wi th the Guzeratti, and hint s tha tin some alphabets the consonan ts also have a similar arrangement .N umerous circumstances l ikewis e lead us to conj ecture tha t ifever the Persepolitan inscrip tion s in th e Arrow character are deciphered

,i t wil l be on the principles of thi s a lphabet . N iebuhr

has s ta ted,from actua l observat ion ,

tha t the characters of theseinscription s are certa in ly written from left to right , l ike the D evan agari and the alphabet s derived from i t. I f this au thority canbe depended on ,

i t completely sets aside every attempt to explainthem by any a lphabet wri tten from the right hand to the left. A

subj ect,however

,l ike the Arrow character, concern ing which

there are a lmost as many Opin ion s as au thors who have engagedin the discussion

,can n ever be illus tra ted by mere conj ectures ,

however ingen iou s or plausibl e .*

In revising the sheet s of this essay I perceive tha t severa l omissions haveoccurred from the number and na ture of the va rious ma teria ls employed, and

the d ifficulty of cla ssing them in the proper order of a rrangement . T he fol

lowing addit ion s are therefo re subjoined .

T o the n otices concern ing Malay composi tions the following may be

added

1 . Asalagama Islam, or the prin Permata marifat Allahciples o f the Islam fa i th . R eazu

’

l lehafi.

2 .

“ Idlal agz’

rma Islam, explana R ueia parungan .

t ion o f the Islamic wo rship. N t'it Mahummed .

“ Idlalu’

l fikeh,

”explana tion of Cheritra deripada S uliman .

the law o f Islam. Cheritra deripada al Oma r .Makota segala R aja . Cheritra R aj a D ewa Ahmud .

Pa siru’

l Koran . Cheritra Koba t Leila Inda ra .

Ha sid Imam ulMumenin . H umsah penchuri.

H ika ia tMi’ raj Nab i Mahummed . H ikaia t segala S r

'

isuhr'

inan.

H ikaiat Nab i Mahummed . H ikaiat Misa T i'nnon panj i W ilaH ikaiat NabiMr

’

rsa. Kasr'

ima .

H ika iat Nab i Y t'

rsuf. H ika iat Misa Gomitar.H ikaia t deripada kajadiaun Mir H ika iat Ja ran Kolina .

Mahummed . H ika iat Chahaju Langarei.H i

'

ikam Islam. S ilsilitu’

l S alarin, or, Penr'

rrunan

Hr'

ikam Khaj . segala R aj a .

H i'

1kam Kan t'in . H ika ia t Ambon .

E lmu Fikeh . H ikaia t Achi.

E lmu Fa lak . H ika iat Ba yan .

Kltabu’

l Fara id. H ika iat B aktiyar.

Kitab ul Allah. H ika ia t T ana H itum.

S ijihu’

l IIuse i'

nu’

l Kashefi. H ika ia t Jowha r Manikam.

S ama r adaylnu’

l Islam . H ika ia t D arn perjanga .

Mira t a i Mi’

iin inin. H ika ia t Dewa R aja .

Marifat 11] Islam,or Pungaiial l lika ia t R aja Bosman dan Lok

agama Islam . man .

OF T H E IN D O - CH IN E S E N A T ION S . 1 71

4 7. H ikaiat R aja T ambik baja . 52. H ikaiat R aj a N ila D a tu Ka

48 . H ikaia t R aj a S uliman . waja .

4 9 . H ikaia t R ajah ul Ajam o Azbah.

“

53. H ikaia t R unga R a ri.50. H ikaiat R aja Kirripun . 54 . H ikaiat Isma Ja t im .

51. H ikaia t R aj a Kambayu. 55. H ikaiat Abdullah ibn ul Omar.

In addition to the list of Ba rma composi tions, the following names of twelvepopula r works may be men tioned

I . VVi bado 5. Nyawa 9 . N amosara Lénga

2 . VVi be’

ng 6. S eng-

gyo 10. Vadana sui- gyaing3 . Padi muk 7. VVi- miy 1 1 . T ong

- fi cho

4 . Newa 8 . S iho namakara 12. Yédana R asi

T he following additional no tices and correction s of names refer to the lis t ofBarma composi tion s given under the a rt icle Barma

,

”according to the respec

t ive numbers

Jainda Mana B ikhu , an accoun t of the female a scet ic Jainda Mana .

Nunda Jaina,

”the history of a D eva , also named Anunda .

T emi , ” the religious in sti tutes of T emi .“Nemi

, ano ther of the ten grea t religious books of the Buddhist s, whichare recited in the following order — 1. T emi 5 2 . Nemi 5 3. Janaka4 . S awan Na syan 5 5. B

’

huridat ; 6 . Maho so t ’ha 5 7. S ama ta8 . W it

’

hora ; 9 . Chanda G 1’

1ngma 5 10. W esundara . Besides these,the two following works are of grea t authori ty

T he Paréik-

gyi,” which is the Barma Hatamnan .

Pa t ’ham ,

”which is the book of their mythology, revealed by Mya

Chewa -

para .

Dherma a book on jus tice.

Namaga ra ,”a ritual of prayers .

Logasara and Loganithi,”moral t reatises .

Paramikhan ,

”accoun t of S ama ta and T ’hik D ’

ha t .B ongkhan ,

”the adven tures of Nemi.

Kado - khan ,a religious work on the expia tion of crimes .

T o - twek- khan,

”the same work a s the R ukhéng Nga

- chang brang.

Anusasana,

”a small book for children

,like the T amul Atist'rdi,

”and

o ther composi tion s of Avyar.Attaga t

- Lénga , the B idagat.

Hmat- chew- Bong,”a system ofmorality.

17: ACCO U N T OF AN OR AN G O U T AN G

XII I .

S OME ACCOUNT OF A N ORANG OUT ANG OF

REMARKABLE HEIGHT FOUND O N T H E

I S LAND OF S UMAT RA ;

T OG E T H E R “71T H A D E S C R IPT ION OF C E R T AIN R E MAIN S OF T H IS

ANIMAL P R E S E NT E D T O T H E AS IAT IC S OCIE T Y B Y CAPT . CO R N

FOOT , AN D AT P R E S E NT CONT AINE D IN IT S MU S E UM .

B y CLAR KE AB E L, M .D .,

&c . &c . , 07221Member of t/20

Asia tic 5002001 of Col/outta .

[“Asia tic R esea rches

,vol. xv . pp. 489

-

98 ]

IN the paper which I had the honour of reading to the As iat icS ocie ty on the e ven ing of the 5th of January la s t, I en

deavoured to be as comprehen s ive as poss ible in relationto the published hi s torie s of large man like apes

,and to

the many speculation s of philosophers respecting them , andin order the better to accompl ish my purpose I divided mysubj ect under the following heads —First

,I gave an accoun t

of wha t particulars I had been able to collect of the circumstances which a ttended the capture of the S uma tra animal 5secondly

,I gave the amplest descript ion in my power of its

different rema ins as they were before the S ociety ; thirdly, Iadduced a description of Wurmb

’

s an ima l as described in theBa tavian T ran saction s

,

” for the purpose of showing i ts ident itywith the S umatra orang - outang 5 fourthly, I brought forward adescription of the small orang—outang of Borneo

,for the purpos e

of showing i ts rela tion ship to the two former an imal s,and for th e

bet ter examin ing the opin ion of Baron Cuvier, tha t i t i s on ly th eyoung one of W urmb s and consequen tly of the S uma tra anima l ;and lastly, I quoted some n otices of very large man l ike apescon ta ined 111 the works of the older travel lers

,and attempted to

determine to which of these the S uma tra orang should be referred .

T he essay which I read to th e S ociety was prepared in ha ste andfrom imperfect material s , and a l though i t m igh t p erhaps be su i tedto i ts principa l obj ect, tha t of exci ting inqu iry, i t was certa inlyunfi t for publ ica tion . For this reason

,and because those who

are l ikely to be chiefly in terested in this communica tion will b ebet ter satisfied with facts than opin ions , I sha l l at presen t l imi tmyself to an account of those particu lars of the appearance o f

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174 ACCO U N T OF AN OR AN G O U T AN G

cu t down al l the trees before they could drive him to combat hisenemies on the ground , aga ins t whom he stil l exhibited surprisings trength and agil i ty

,though h e was at leng th overpowered by

numbers, and destroyed by the thrusts of spears and the blows of

stones and other miss iles . W hen nearly in a dying s tate heseized a spear made of a supple wood , which would have withstood the strength of the stoute s t man , and sh ivered i t in pieces 5i n the words of the narra tor, he broke i t as if i t had been a carrot .I t i s sta ted by those who a ided in his death that the human l ikeexpression of his countenance , and pi teous manner of placing hishands over h is wounds, dis tressed their feel ings, and a lmost madethem quest ion the nature of the act they were comm i tting. W hendead

,both natives and E uropean s con templa ted hi s figure with

amazement . H is s tature a t the lowes t computat ion was upwardso f six feet

,at the highest i t was n early eight, but i t wil l afterwards

b e seen that i t was probably about seven . In the followingd escription , which I give in the words of my informant

,many of

my readers wil l detect some of those external conformationswhich distinguish the young E astern orang - outangs which havebeen seen in E urope . T he on ly part of the description in whichthe imagina t ion s eems to have inj ured the fidel i ty of the portrai t regards the prominence of the nose and s ize of the eyes

,

neither of which are verified by the integuments of the an imal ’shead .

“ T he animal was nearly eight feet high , and had awell - proportioned body, with a fine, broad, expanded chest andnarrow wais t . H is head a l so was in due proportion to hi s body ;the eyes were large

,th e nose prominent

,and the mou th much

more capacious than the mou th of man . H is chin was fringedfrom the extremity of one ear to the other with a heard thatcurled neatly on each s ide, and formed altogether an ornamen talrather than a frightful appendage to his visage . H is arms werevery long

,even in proportion to h is height and in rela t ion to the

arms of men,but his l egs were in some respects much shorter .

H is organ s of generat ion were not very consp icuou s , but s eemedto be sma l l in proportion to hi s s ize . T he hair of his coat wassmooth and glossy when he was first kill ed

,and his teeth and

a ppearance al together indica ted that he was young and in theful l possess ion of his physica l powers . U pon the whole ,

”adds

his b iographer , “ he was a wonderful beast to behold,and there

was more in him to exci te amazemen t than fear .”

T hat thi s an ima l showed grea t tenacity of l ife is eviden t fromhi s surviving so many dreadful wounds

,and his peculiari ty in thi s

respect seems to have been a subj ect of intense surprise to all hi sassa ilants . In reference to this poin t i t may be proper to remark ,that after he had been carried 011 board ship and was hau led upfor the purpose of being skinned , the firs t s troke of the knife onthe skin of the arm produced an instantaneous vibrat ion of i ts

FO U N D O N T H E IS LAN D OF SUMA T R A . 175

muscles,followed by a convuls ive con traction of the whole mem

ber. A l ike quivering of the muscl es occurred when the kn ifewas applied to the skin of the back and so impressed Capt .C ornfootwith a persuas ion that the an ima l reta ined his sens ibil i ty,tha t he ordered the process of skinn ing to stop til l the head hadbeen removed .

I t seems probable tha t this animal had travelled some distanceto th e place where he was found, as his legs were covered withmud up to the knees

,and he was considered as grea t a prodigy

by the na t ives as by the E uropeans . T hey had never before metwith an an imal l ike him

,although they lived within two days ’

j ourney of one of the vas t and almost impenetrable forests ofS umatra. T hey seemed to think tha t hi s appearance accoun tedfor many strange noises

,resembl ing screams and shou ts , and

various sounds,which they could neither a ttribute to the roar of

the tiger nor to the voice of any other beas t with which they werefamiliar . W ha t capabili ty the grea t orang - outang may possess o fu ttering such sounds does not appear, but thi s bel ief of the Malaysmay l ead to the capture of other individua l s of his species , and tothe discovery of more interesting particulars of his conforma t ionand habits .T he only ma terial di screpancy which I can detect in the dif

ferent accoun ts which have been given of this an imal regards hi sheight, which in some of them is vaguely stated as from aboves ix feet to n early eight . Capt . Cornfoot, however, who favouredme with a verbal description of the an ima l when brought 011 boardh is ship

,s ta ted tha t “ he was a full head ta l ler than any man on

board,measuring seven feet in what might be ca lled his ordinary

s tanding posture , and eight feet when suspended for the purposeof being skinned .

”

T he following measurements,which I have carefully made

,of

d ifferen t parts of the an imal in the S ociety ’ s museum,go far to

d etermine this poin t, and are entirely in favour of Capt . Cornfoot’ s accuracy . T he skin of the body of the an imal , d ried andshrivel led as i t i s , measures in a straight l ine, from the top of theshoulder to the part where the ankle has been removed , 5 feet 10inches 5 the perpe720

’i022107' length of the n eck as i t i s in the prepa

ra tion, 35 inches 5 the l ength of the head from the top of the fore

head to the end of the chin, 9 inches 5 and the l ength of th e skin

s t il l a ttached to the foot from its l ine of separa tion from the leg, 8inches we thus obta in 7 feet 65 inches as the approximate heighto f the an imal . T he na tura l bending posture of the ape tribewould obviously diminish the height of the stand ing posture inthe l iving animal

,and probably reduce i t to Capt . Cornfoot

’

s

measuremen t of 7 feet, whilst the s tretching that would take pla cewhen the an imal was extended for dissection migh t as obviouslyincrease his length to 8 feet .

1 76 A CCO U IVT OF AN OR AN G O U T AN G

D E S C R IPT ION OF T H E R E MAINS OF T H E ANIMAL.

[Izaak—T he face of this animal,with the exception of the

beard,i s n early bare , a few s traggling short downy ha irs being

a lone sca ttered over i t , and i s of a dark l ead colour. T he eye sare small in rela tion to those of man

,and are about an inch apart 5

th e eyelids are well fringed with lashes . T he ears are one and ahal f inches in l ength , and barely an inch in breadth , are closelyapplied to the head, and resembl e those of man

,with the excep

t ion of wan ting the lower lobe . T he nose i s scarcely raised abovethe level of the face , and i s chiefly di s tinguished by two nostri ls .three - fourths of an inch in breadth , placed obliquely side by s ide ,T he mouth proj ects considerably in a mamm i llary form

,and i t s

open ing is very large : when closed the l ips appear narrow,but

are in real ity half an inch in thickness . T he ha i r of the head i sof a reddish - brown , grows from behind forwards, and i s fiveinches in l ength . T he beard i s handsome , and appears to havebeen curly in the anima l ’ s l ifetime , and approaches to a chestnutcolour 5 i t i s about three inches long , springing very gracefullyfrom the upper l ip near the angles of the mouth in the form ofmustachios, whence descending i t mixes with that of the chin ,

thewhole having at presen t a very wavy aspect. T he face of thean imal i s much wrinkled .

H072215 .— T he palms of the hands are very long, are qu i te naked

from the wrists , and are of the colour of the face . T heir backs,

to the las t j oin t of the fingers,are covered with ha ir

,which i11

cl ines a l i ttl e backwards towards the wrists , and then turn s directlyupwards . All the fingers have na il s , which are s trong

,convex

,

and of a black colour 5 the thumb reache s to the firs t j o int of thefore - finger.

Feet— T he feet are covered on the back with long brown hairto the las t j oint of the toes ; the grea t toe i s s e t on n early atright angles to the foot, and i s rela tively very short. T he originalcolour of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet i s somewhat uncertain

,in consequence of the effect of the spiri t in which

they have been preserved .

S kim— T he skin i tself i s of a dark l eaden colour. T he hair i sof a brownish red

,but when observed at some dis tance , has a

dull , and in some places an a lmost black appearance,but in a

strong light i t i s of a light red . I t i s in all parts very long ; on thefore - arm i t i s d irected upwards 5 on the upper- arm i ts generaldirection i s downwards , but from i ts length i t hangs shaggy belowthe arm ; from the shoulders i t hangs in large and long massytufts

,which in cont inuation with the long hair on the back seem

to form one long mass to the very cen tre of the body. Aboutthe flanks the hai r i s equal ly long

,and in the l iving an ima l mus t

have descended below the thighs and nates . On the l imits, how

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1 78 ACCO U rVT OF AN OR AN G O U T AN G .

Fron t fil my /7707710712of 1120Feet .

Length from the end of the heel to the end of the m iddleLength of sole of the foo t

m iddle toering toel it tle toefore toe .

grea t toeC ircumference over the knuckles Of the toes

D ad

Length of m iddle toefo re toer ing toelit tle toegrea t toe

’lIea 522re7722’72t of 2720Lower 7020.

C ircumference of the jaw round the chinLength o f the ramus from the head of the jaw to its baseBread th o f the ramus or a scending portion of the j aw at a level

with the teeth .

D epth of the jaw at the symphysis men ti

M E AS U R E ME N T OF T H E T E E T H .

Number of T eeth, 32—~ namely, 2 can ine , 10 grinders, and 4 incis ivet eeth 111 each j aw .

W hole length of lower can ine teethG rea tes t length of fangS malles t d it toG rea test length o f the enamel or exposed pa r t ofthe teethPa r t exceed ing the o t her teeth 111 lengthLa teral bread th measured on a level wi th the jawB readth from before inwa rds

I T ee/12.

length o f the la tera l 15O f enamel expo sed .

'

7ireadth o f cu t t ing surface '

4D i t to of cen t ral teeth '

4

T he fron t tee th o f the upper jaw grea tly resemble those of thelower, W ith the exception o f the m iddle in cisive teeth, which are

twice the w id th o f the la teral ones . 1

1

[Von R osenberg, “ Der malayische Archipel p. 99 5 W allace, T he7tialay Archipelago , ” pp. 40

“ Midden S uma tra ,

”

part iv. 3, p. 5 ;O . Mohn ike , l’ ilanzen u iid

'

l hiei leben in den N iederlandischen Malaienlandern

”(1883 pp. 338 74 ]

X IV.

O B S ERVAT ION S O N T H E GEOLO G ICAL AP

PE A R AN CE S A N D G E NERAL FEAT URE S OF

PORT ION S OF T H E MALAYAN PEN IN S ULA,

A N D O F T H E COUNT R IE S LYING B E T WIXT IT AN D 18°N O R T H

LAT IT UD E .

B y Capta in JAM E S Low,of i/zeMadras Army .

[“Asia t ic R esearches, vol. xviii. pp. 128

IT i s with extreme diffidence tha t I ven ture on th is subj ect,as i t

i s one which cannot be fully elucidated wi thou t a much moreexten sive research than I have had i t in my power to make

,and a

higher degree of geologica l knowledge than I possess .S ince

,however

,the countri es a l luded to have not hitherto been

geologica l ly described,and as pol itica l circumstances preclude

Briti sh research from a wide portion of these interes ting region s,

the S ociety will,I trus t

,receive with indulgence the resul ts of my

personal investiga tion .

T he grand genera l features of the Indo - Chines e region s s eemto be a l ternate ranges of hill s s tretching n early north and south

,

and conforming occa s ionally to the genera l direction of pen insulartracts

,and of va l leys of various breadth

,through which flow large

rivers .T he principal ranges are , tha t which divides Asam from Ava ,then the S iamese and Ava range

,n ext the S iamese and Cambojan ,

and aga in th e Cambojan and Anam range . T he con tinui ty ofthese appears to be most l iable to in terruption s as they approachthe south , and non e of them

,as far as my informa t ion extends ,

c an be compared in height to the secondary ranges of those loftyH ima layan mounta in s, from which they are eviden tly offsets . T he

broadest val ley seem s to be tha t of Ava,and the narrowest the

Cambojan one . T he general inclination to the south of the wholeo f the region s lying betwixt Benga l and th e sea of Kamtchatka i sapparen t from the course of the rivers being in tha t direction .

From regions contiguous to the source s of these rivers,the t ide of

populat ion which overspread the southern pla in s appears to haveflowed, a position which might b e il lus tra ted by the affin iti e s o flanguages .T he Indo - Chinese ranges are

,i n so far as we yet know

,covered

N 2

180 T H E GE OLOG ICAL APPE AR AN CE S OF

by deep forests . I t i s only therefore in the ravines , formed bytorrents , and on the face of an occasional precipice , tha t theirstructure can be conj ectured ; and thes e faci l it i es are ava i labl eat but a very few poin ts , owing to the wildnes s of the coun tri e sin which they occur

,and of the barbarou s hordes which roam

over them .

I will begin with that part of the Ma layan Pen insula lying in'

abou t 4°

S . lati tude , and keeping on the wes t coa s t . T his pointi s in the Perak coun try

,which is governed by an independen t

Malayan ch ief in a l l iance with the British . From thi s las t circumstance we may hop e in t ime to ga in a more perfect acquaintancewith i ts geologica l peculiari tie s .Close to the entrance of the Perak river are the B ountin I slands ,hilly

,with rocky shores . G ran i te s eem s to be here th e preva il ing

rock . T he pla ins of Perak are chiefly alluvial , up to the l inewhere a marked a scen t towards the cen tra l range is discernible ,and which may perhaps be averaged at fifteen miles from the sea .

T he range in question i s a portion of the great north and sou th one,which divides the Ma layan Pen insula longitudina l ly. T he riversto the eastward of i t con sequently disembogue themselves in to th eGulf of S iam ,

while those to the westward enter th e B ay of

Bengal and the Ma lacca S tra i ts . T his range , general ly con s idered ,l ie s nearer to the wes t than to the eas t coas t of the pen in su la.W here i t bounds Perak on the eas t

,i t i s both lofty and , in so far

as observed,con t inuous . G old has been found in the beds of

some of the moun ta in torren ts which j oin the Perak river. Fromspecimens of ores of gold

,found in the h il l s east of Malacca, it

would seem tha t th e matrix i s mos t frequen tly quartz. T hat theMalacca Pen insula was the golden Chersonese of the ancien tscannot now be proved , but i t yi elds at th is day gold in suffi cientabundance to render this position probable . T he gran i te formation appears to predominate amongst the Perak hill s , and in i t arefound the vein s of tin from which the D utch formerly derivedmuch profit, and which now yields va luabl e suppl ies of tha t metal .T he mines must be very rich , since even at this period the na t iveworkman seldom digs above ten or twelve fee t below the surface ,and often con ten ts h imsel f with merely wash ing the soi l taken.

from the beds of rivul ets and s eparat ing the oxide of the meta l inthe shape of a black sand . T he oxide of ant imony i s also obta inedin large quan t i ties amongst the h ills , but my specimens be ing pureI cannot speci fy the rocks wi th which they are associated . Limei s al so

,according to na tive formation

,obta ined

,but i ts nature and

l ocal i ty have not been a scerta ined . From some na t ive accoun tsalso i t seems not improbable tha t coa l wil l be d iscovered in thistrack . Perak i s a fine coun try

,wa tered by a river of a very

picturesque nature , and i t contains a cons iderable population ofC hinese and Malays . From Perak

,northward to Penang

, the

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T H E GE OLOGICAL APP E AR AZVCE S OF

many other valuable m ineral s may yet be found there . T hismoun ta in abounds wi th all th e va luable woods of th i s coa s t ,amongs t which are severa l k inds of fi r . T he inclinat ion of the hil li s apparen tly to th e ea st

,and there i s a very remarkable break (of

six or seven hundred feet,j udging by the eye and telescope at the

distance of ten miles) in the rock,eas t of th e peak

,which may

have been caused by an earthquake .T he latter phenomenon

,i t may be remarked , i s not followed by

such violen t effects on thi s coa st a s on th e i sland of S umatra and

on Java . T he exi s tence , however, of hot springs in variou s partsof the cen tra l range indica tes the preval ence of m inera l substances ,of which specimen s have no t yet been obta ined .

Advancing n orthwards from G unong Chera i , and pass ing th emouth of th e Kedda r iver , which takes i t s ri se in the centra l rangeand ferti l izes an exten s ive track of rich soil , the fir s t obj ect whicha ttracts the a t tent ion i s the E lephan t R ock , a short distance northfrom Kedda . I t is a dark ma s s of gran i te seemingly

,and i t shoots

very abruptly ou t of the forests to the heigh t perhaps of fourhundred feet.T he coast con t inues low to the northward of th is poin t . T urning to the Laueang I slands , we find gran i te s til l prevail ing ; buthere in the bird - nes t rock s ” we are enabled to note the southerntermination in thi s l ine of the l imeston e forma tion which has beentraced by me up to the northern boundary of the Martaban province . I have no doubt tha t detached l ime rocks abound in th ecentra l range

,but they are not connected wi th thi s forma t ion in

so far as we yet know . T he firs t decided indica t ion of the presenceof l ime was observed in a perfora ted rock lying off the N . E . s ideof Pulo T rotto .

T he cal careous rock is here much tinged by oxide of iron , andm ixed up with differen t earthy substances . T he s trata are incl inedto the west at an angle of abou tS evera l m iles north of this poin t

,the T rang rocks begin . T he

fi rs t of these was visi ted by me,but i t merits much narrower in

spection than time permi tted me to make .I t i s a huge mass of heterogeneous rock ri sing out of the sea toth e height of about three hundred feet . I ts shape approaches toan oblong square

,and i t i s rendered inacces sible by cli ffs . T he

whole seems inclined a t a sl igh t angl e to the south .

From the decomposing na ture of the surface itwould be no easyta sk to arrive a t a speedy conclu sion respecting its whole structure .

I t appeared to me to res t on a grani tic base,covered by various

admix tures . T he superincurnben t ma ss i s heterogeneous . Limestone in variou s stages

,veins of quartz and ores of i ron are most

prominen t ; calcareous incrtrstations l ine the hol lows of the cliffs ,where al so the agaric mineral abounds ; and the cl iffs are in someplaces curiously marked by broad vertical ribbon - l ike s treaks

,

P OR T IOIVS OF Z'

IIE MALAYAN P E N IN S U LA . 183

varying in colour according to the strata from which the wa terconta in ing the colouring ma t ter has flowed— white

,black

,and

dark bluish , and s la te colours , are most frequen t . At the southend, abou t ha lf- way up the cli ff, there are magn ificen t na tura la rches . T he grotesque calcareous s talactites

,which depend j us t

over the en trances to these,give them as a whole the a spect of a

decayed G othic ruin .

A cavern has been formed qui te through the north end of therock , by the action of the sea below and the gradua l decay of thes tructure above . S talacti tes here abound .

Our boa t carried u s in to the cen tre of this cave i t i s gloomy,but the roof i s perhaps fifty feet high

,and dome—shaped though

rugged . H ere were observed fiirn sy ladders of flexible cane,

s tretched betwixt proj ections of the rock,and on emerging from

the cavern s im ilar ladders were observed to have been arrangedup the face of the cl iff in a zig

- zag manner , here fastened toj utting poin t of rock , there reeved through a perfora ted angle .

T hese had been thu s placed by adven turous Malays in quest ofthe edible birds ’ n ests . T he ir trade i s more dangerous than tha tof the samphire ga therer or the H ebridean b irder, but i t i smore profitabl e than e ither . S evera l of the birds ’ n es t i slandsin this l ine have been so tortuously hollowed out by the slowopera t ion of ages

,tha t previous to going in , the n es ter fa s tens

to the en trance the end of the clew he takes with him,tha t he may

not lose his way . On these occa sion s they use dammer torches .T he eye of the swa l low which builds these nes ts mus t be peculiarlyformed to enable i t to work and n estle in such a labyrin th where.total darkness preva i l s .A pocket compas s was placed close to tha t par t of the cl i ffwhich seemed mos t strongly impregna ted with iron ,

but i t was notaffected .

N ear and to the north of th is rock is a very rocky islandtermed Ka Pesa by the S iamese , because in their legends i t i srelated tha t an undutiful son , having den ied a ssistance to hisparen ts out of the profits of a successful voyage, the gods sen t as torm which drove his vessel to sea

,where i t was tran sformed in to

this rock .

T he genera l s tructure n early corresponds with tha t of the rockj us t noticed , but i t has a mos t s ingular a sp ect from a s eries ofpeaks which rise from it— bleak and s tria ted, and which on a

n ear approach resemble the chimn eys of glass manufactories .T he geologica l fea tures of thi s island may be bes t s een a t the

north end,where large masses have fa l len from the cliffs . H ere

granular magnet ic iron ore,imbedded in a calcareous and mica

ceous gangue,was found in considerable quan t i ty . A nearly

sim i lar sort of iron ore abounds on the high ground on the ma inl and at the entrance of the T rang river.

184 TH E G E OLOGICAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

T hese rocky i slands are adorned by numerous beau t ifully flowering shrubs and trees , and are frequen ted by the white sea pigeon

(Columba delmaris) and by birds of passage . A coars e coralbottom preva i ls around each

,bu t the dep th suddenly increases at

the dis tance of two or three hundred feet from the shore 5 oystersare abundan t . At the north s ide of the narrow en trance to T rangharbour

,in N . lat. 7

° i s a remarkabl e ca lcareous rock withsevera l caverns in i t. T he carbona te of l ime, in conglomera tedmasses or in stalactites

,i s here much purer than that found

amongst the i slands j us t described . S evera l o f the stalactit icmasses are bell or fungus - shaped

,the apex upwards

,and when

struck are found to be remarkably sonorous . T hese are all t ingedwith iron .

Pulo T ilibon , which forms th e northern s ide, exh ibits graniteand ironstone with vein s of quartz in i t . From all tha t I haveseen , i t should seem that t he l ime forma t ion becomes more compact and pure as i t is followed in a northern direction .

T he rock in question con ta in s a detached portion , having astra tified appearance

,and inclin ing to the S E . at an angl e o f

abou t In one of i ts caves were observed twelve humanskulls la id ou t in a row. T hey were those , the S iamese sa id , ofBurmans

,who were sla in in those wars when they attacked and

destroyed T ilibon . Part of the stockade which surrounded the townwas yet standing when I vis i ted the spot in 18 24 , abou t fourteenyears after i ts destruct ion . T he thick p lanks or beams were qu i tesound and very hard. T he tree from which these durable wal l shad been obta ined i s the Mai—ke- um of the S iamese, and the Kayugittah of the Malays .T he T rang river i s broad

,with a high ridge running at right

angles to i t on the west s ide of the entrance . G ranite rocks hereprotrude through the soil

,which i s red and ferruginou s . T he

shore i s overspread with lumps of m icaceous i ron glance, veryfu sible. T he i ron is in smal l rounded particles—black

,bu t yielding

a reddish streak,and when reduced to powder

,adhering to the

magnet. T he ma trix is a brown ochre,which soi ls th e fingers .

T he quartz which 15 found imbedded in the gran i te of thi s coasti s gen eral ly very lamellar , and th e plates transparen t . T here aresevera l hill s d1scernible from thi s place

,but l ittle informa tion was

obtained regarding the grea t range . T he young R ajah of Ligorinformed me tha t the pas s betwix t the hills i s difficul t, bu t a s h erode his elephant the whole way on several occasion s , h is accounti s no doubt exaggerated .

Most of the small i slands lying betwixt T rang and Junk - ceylonseem for the greatest part composed of gran i te . I t prevails in thelat ter i sland, and here again tin appears in proximity to or in terspersed in i t and i t s debri s .A range of h ill s, the highes t of which I bel ieve wil l not be found

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1 86 T i IE G E OLOGI CAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

remarkable for the magnificen t rocks wi th wh ich i t i s s tudded .

At the dis tance of ten mrles they appear l ike huge artificialpyramids

,bu t on a nearer approach their outl ines change to

columnar or mass ive . T he principa l rocks occupy a l ine of aboutten miles in a north and sou th direction . T he northern extremityl ies behind the town and va lley of Phtinga ; the southern res ts i nthe sea . about four m il es from the mou th of the Phunga river .T heir direction therefore i s nearly tha t of the T rang rocks . T he

part of the range lying in the sea con sists of numerous detachedrocks of difi

‘

erent eleva tion s and mostly inaccessible . T he heightdoes not in any in stance, I should sta te, exceed five hundred fee t

,

and seldom fa l ls short of two hundred . One of them has a verycolumnar a spect

,which might lead a distan t specta tor to suppose

i t was basa l tic . T hey are all,however

,chiefly composed of

,I

suppose, primary l imestone, and , l ike the rocks which have beena lready described , exhibit no traces of organ ic rema in s . S ome ofthe specrmens of stalacti te which have been presen ted to theS ociety were taken from one of a series of grottos in and near thebase of one of the Phtinga rocks . T hese cavern s are abou t s ixfee t above high - wa ter mark . T he roofs are low and seldomexceed ten feet in height , and they look a s i f supported by th ena tural p il lars of spar which have been gradual ly formed by filtrat ion from the top . S evera l of the sta lactites have barely reachedthe floor, others touch the floor

,and a double format ion i s go ing

on . T he sides of the grottos are l ined with the same calcareou sspar .T here i s an insulated rock n ear this spot which is perforated by

a grand na tural tunnel . T o the top of the a rch the height i s abou ttwen ty feet , and grotesque- shaped s talacti tes depend from abovethe en trance from the roof. A boa t can get wi thin the a rch .

T he va lley of Pht'

rnga i s about three miles long by one on an

average in breadth , being ova l - shaped and wides t near the sea .

I t i s hemmed in to eas t and west by rocks and h ills . T hose onthe west are l ea st abrupt and seem mostly gran i tic ; those on th eeas t have a very picturesque appearance

,and where the river

wa shes their bas e presen t perpendicular cl iffs of four and fivehundred feet . T hey are even more purely calcareous than therocks a t sea

, for many look a t a short distance as i f formed ofcha lk . T his they owe to the agaric m inera l . T in abounds inthe gran i t ic hills in the vicinity of this val ley . T he grea t hill rangeof the pen insula was not observed from th is poin t owing to theinterven ing rocks ; but the S ramese chief informed me that i tmus t be crossed in the route thence to the opposite coas t of thepen in sula . N o informa tion could be expected from him as to therocks associated there. T he popula t ion here i s about e ight thousand soul s, inclrrding s ix hundred Chinese and about one hundredS iamese prrcsts of all ages .

P OR T I O N S OF T H E MALAYAN P E N I N S U LA . 187

Passing to the northward of j unk - ceylon the coas t i s b old forthe dis tance of a degree, and lying abou t th irty miles off thi s l ineare numerous ca lcareous perfora ted rocks

,frequen ted by the edible

birds ’ - nes t ga therers .From a ll accoun ts obta ined from nat ive travellers— from

persona l observa t ion when sa i l ing up the coas t,and with reference

to the narrownes s of this part of the pen in sula— it has appearedto me tha t the great cen tra l range is here of les s width than a t anyother poin t . Bu t I cannot admi t tha t thi s c ircums tance , a s some

have imagin ed,should give any colour to the supposition tha t

any in terna l naviga tion i s or could be rendered practicable betwixt the B ay of Benga l and the G u l f of S iam . I have beforeme na t ive plan s in which the hill s are la id down a s con t inuous .At any ra te, the incl ina t ion of the coun tries towards the G ulf ofS iam on the one s ide and the B ay of Benga l on the other, i s so

grea t as to preven t the r ivers which flow over th em from beingnavigable to good - s ized boa ts

,beyond perhaps ten or twelve m i le s

from their mouths .T he sources of two rivers may indeed l ie wi th in a few m ile s ofeach other on oppos ite s ides of a hil l or a range

,ye t the spot

where they respectively lose the name of moun ta in torren ts and

become navigable,may be very widely a sunder . I t i s true

that by runn ing up the Kra or any other stream in a boat , a

travel ler may get within two or three days ’ march of the place ofembarka tion on a river on the opposi t e coas t ; and th i s i s all

tha t can,with our presen t informa t ion

,be admitted . All th e

rivers on thi s coas t are wide and some are deep at their mouth s ,but

,with the exception of the T enaserim and T avoy rivers , which

incline to the northward and avoid the hills,they sudden ly con

tract and grow sha l low. T in abounds betwixt J unk - ceylon and

Mergui .T he coas t of T enaserim

,from 10

° to 1 2°

30’

N .,i s shu t ou t from

the ocean by high and gen era l ly rocky islands .T hose which form the wes t s ide of Forres t ’ s S tra i ts up to the N .

poin t of D omel , in 1 1°

3’ N . (in s tead of 1 1

°

2 1’

as he gave i t), arewel l wooded and are chiefly composed of gran i te. D omel i s a finei sland

,twen ty m i les in l ength by twelve or thereabouts in breadth ,

w ith a rocky coas t . O n sa il ing past a spot described and sketchedin Forrest’s work

,and at which he men t ion s having taken in marbl e

bal la st,I could on ly find a grea t quan t i ty of large smooth boulders

of quartz,which had been associated wi th sla te for upon inspec

t ion of the coas t,thick stra ta of soft black sla te, with veins of

quartz,were discovered . T he sla te had in some places an admix

ture of iron ore .

In coasting D omel the hills on the ma in land are dis tinctly perceivable . T he highest po in t was conj ectured to be about threethousand feet high . T hese hil ls belong to the grea t range in al l

188 T H E GE OLOGICAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

probabil ity . T he highest peak of S t. Ma t thew’ s I sland may b en early as high .

All the is lands in this cha in examined show bold coasts towardsthe sea .

T here i s a considerable open ing north of D omel,where a dis

t inct archipelago of bleak and rocky i slands begin s and stretchesnorth and south. T he belt i s formed of four or five paralle l rowso f i slands

, and may be twen ty m ile s in breadth . T hey are notlaid down in the charts . A vessel I sa i led in pass ed throughamongs t them in coa s ting

,and as the numerous dangerous rocks

with which this hitherto unexplored track abounds rendered i tn ecessary to anchor frequently

,I had opportuni ties of vis i t ing

many of the islands . T he channel s are for the most par t deep ,and a vessel of two or three hundred tons can scarcely find

anchorage n ear many of the islands when with in half a cable ’ slength of them .

T heir forma tion is prim i tive . T he gran i te i s occas iona l ly a ssociated with black schis tose s trata or sandy sla te . T he specimenproduced was taken from a vertical s tratum of exceedingly indura ted

'

schis t t inged by oxide of iron . Lime rock was not observedto prevail but severa l o f the i slands seem heterogeneously composed . O ccas ionally quartz , white and tabular, was seen to pervade in broad veins the gran i tic rocks .S everal “ birds ’ nes t ” rocks are scattered amongst thi s group ,and i t may be inferred tha t they are cal careous . Pearl - oystersare occasionally picked up 3 the pearls got from them are seldomof much value . I f pearl beds of any desirable extent do exi s t ,th e practice of diving for them

,as a t Ceylon , might be applied

with advan tage . T he whole of the i slands noticed are desti tu te ofany fixed population ; but there i s a tribe , termed Chalome and

Pa se,the families of which rove abou t collecting the birds’ n ests

,

the dammer, the béche- de - mer,conch slugs

,wax , scen ted woods ,

and other products of the i s lands . T hey l ive in covered boa ts,

and appear inoffens ive,readily bartering the above articles for

such merchandise as the B urrn ans bring to them .

T he S iamese appear to exert very l it tle i f any con trol over thes ei slands . T heir part of the coas t term ina tes a t Pak Chau , a riverof no consequence further than tha t i t forms

,according to S iamese

Opin ion,the southern boundary of the Bri tish possess ion s in thi s

quarter.Leaving this coas t for a space , I will now cross the pen insula ,

and endeavour to give as brief an accoun t of such geological andm inera logical notices as I have been able to obta in resp ectingS iam .

T he sea which washes the shores of the pen insula 011 the eas ts ide i s s tudded with numerou s i slands , bold , and for the mos tpart rocky . T he edible birds ’ nests being here procurable from

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190 T H E GE OLOGICAL APPE AR AN CE S OF

S iamese priest s have long imposed th is sculpture on their followers,who never doub t their assertion tha t the legisla tor a l luded tostamped the impression with his own foot .T his Prabat has been made on the sol id rock (a gran i te , if my

informat ion i s correct), which protrudes at top, and a s ta ir has

been cu t out of the rock to a scend by . A copper ore i s sa id tobe found on the flat grounds near thi s place . About fi fteen ors ixteen miles above Prabat there i s a low hill cal led Phra Chauja ,where gran i te

,from my informa t ion , preva i ls , and where the

natives fancy they can trace on the face of a rock the l ineamen tso f Buddha . Iron ores are found here . At N apphaburi, on thesouth of the road to Laos , large quan t ities of a very white argillac eous earth are obta ined

,and red ores of sulphur are sa id to b e

brough t from thi s quarter . At Khorat they use,i t i s said

, a plumpudding stone

,or breccia

,for building and a t N apphaburi, in thi s

quarter,they find yellow

,red

,and white ores of a rsen i c (realga r

a meta l wh ich en ters largely int o the S iam es e pharmacopoeia .

T he range of hil l s s tretching N . E . from a poin t in about N .

lat . 16°on the eas t bank of the river of S iam , yields ore of iron in

grea t abundance ; and the Chinese have therefore establ ished alarge party a t T hasung, a town lying 011 a branch of th e river .T hey manufacture variou s coarse articles of cutlery

,which are

rej ected by the S iamese them selves in favour of foreign importat ion s of tha t metal . Iron m in es exist a l so at S okkothai

,higher up

the river . T he range of hil ls d ividing S iam from S outh Laos i scon t inuous , according to every accoun t I have received fromna t ive travel lers , who invariably go most of the j ourney by land .

T hey affirm tha t there i s n o wa ter commun ica tion acros s thec oun try, so tha t the river Anam la id down by some geographers*

appears to have no exis ten ce .

T he Me N am, or grea t river of S iam ,

has been traced by me,

in na t ive maps obta ined from people of Laos,up to abou t 2 1° N .

lat. , where are h igh hill s abounding in hot springs . P’

hokhau

Lo - ang Prabang , a hil l many days to the northward of Laochag'

,

in the south of Laos , yields , i t i s sa id , gold and preciou s s ton es .I t may be the Mohany Leng of Du Ha lde

,where

,he observes

,

were to be found “ gold, s ilver , copper , tin , and red sulphur .” At

Chan tabun, on the eas t coas t of the G ulf of S iam,gran i te i s

bel ieved to be the preva il ing rock,and quartz - crystals

, C eylondiamond , and coarse rubies, ca t

’ s eyes, and other precious s tones

are collected, i t i s reported , in the vicin i ty . S tea ti te i s found inLigor .W e now return to T enaserim . T he high i slands fron ting Mergu i

are, I think , of primitive granite 3 and K ing’ s I sland

,with most of

Pinkerton and o thers .

P OR T ION S OF T H E MALAYAN P E N IN S U LA . 19 1

th e l esser i slands in i ts n eighbourhood,presen ts bold gran i te cliffs

t o the sea?

T he bill on which the town s tands con sis ts of gran i te, decomposed at the surface, with much quartz in terspersed in veins . T heochry appearance of the soil in some places indicates thepresence of iron

,and tin ore i s found in the streams at the base

of the hill 5 lead ore i s reported to exis t in the upper parts of thi sprovince . T he rocks on the island forming the wes t s ide of theharbour are s trongly impregnated with oxide of iron . In thevicin i ty of th e town argillaceous petrifacti on s are found . T he

clay con ta ins some l ime bu t no marks are discernibl e n earMergu i of l ime rocks : some petrified c rabs were obta ined . T he

province of Mergui,or T amau

,abounds with tin ore

,especially to

the southward .

T he sea n orthward to T avoy is pretty free of i slands . G reygran i te i s the prevailing primi tive rock throughout th e province ofT avoy.

T here i s a low range of hill s which stre tches north and south,

close a long shore , and shu ts from the sea a grea t port ion of theprovince n early opposite to the town of T ava i

,on the west bank

of the river at Kamau,i s an eleva ted ridge of severa l miles in

l ength,which is a lmost wholly composed of iron stone of differen t

degrees of compactness . On the surface the soi l and gravel arereddi sh bu t 011 a high part of the ridge i s a rock very hard andfine- gra ined

,but not striated

,and of a blackish colour . I t i s

s trongly impregna ted wi th iron,and so magnetic tha t a p iece

newly detached,and of a pound in weight held a piece of iron n ine

gra in s in weight in suspen sion . I t was Wi th much difficulty that afew specimen s could be taken off with an iron crow. T his rockmight

,from its black appearance

,be supposed of meteoric origin .

But i t i s evidently connected with the ferruginous stra ta beneath,and seems not to con ta in any n ickel .T avoy is a very h illy province . T he firs t range conn ected withthe grea t cen tre bel t l i es about ten miles eas t from the town .

H ence to the ma in range there i s a succession of north and southranges

,gradual ly increasing in height and having very narrow

val leys betwixt them . T hrough these va l leys flow rapid streams,

which,after pursu ing the direction of the va lleys to various dis

tances,find outlets , and then turn ing westward flow through leve l

tracks un ti l they reach the sea . T he rou te to the N ay Dang Pas sinto S iam l ie s about north - eas t from T avoy . I performed the

1 B ritish Burma Gazet teer vol. i. pp. 46 ff. ii. pp. 383—400.

E . O’

R iley, No tes on the Geological and Geographical Cha rac teris tics of theT enasserim Provinces, ” and On the Metallrferous D eposi t s and M ineral Productions of the T en . in j ournal of the Indran Archipelago,

”vol. iii. pp.

386-

401 and 724—43 ]

192 T H E GE OLOG ICAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

j ourney to th e summit of th e pass in 1825 , and on foot, as theroad i s impassable ei ther to el ephan ts or horses . Indeed the onlypaths in some places are the beds of mounta in torren ts . A densej ungle covers the face of the country

,precluding the probabil ity of

sati sfactorily pursuing geologica l pursu i ts . T he tin mines lyingthree miles off the rou te were vis i ted by me . T hey do not heredeserve tha t ti tl e

,as the T avoyers merely wa sh th e sand of the

streams and collect the fine black particles of ore . T he temperature of the air i s found to be about 64

° or 65° un t il eight or nine

o ’clock,and that of the wa ter 68° (Fahrenhei t

’ s thermometer), s otha t the workmen n ever begin their labour unti l tha t hour. As

the popula t ion does not extend beyond the firs t range of bills,and

the mines are buried in the fores t far beyond these,the men are

exposed to the a ttacks of elephants and other wild beas ts whichh ere abound .

O ther mines of tin l i e on the sou thern coas t below T avoy,

and a meagre,black

,and sl ightly sparkl ing ore of an timony has

been obta ined from the province, but i ts l ocal i ty I am no taware of.Frequen t vertica l or incl in ing stra ta of hard slate and sandy

slate are found at interval s to lie across the pa th bu t wherevera bold cliff appea rs scarcely anything except gran i te i s vis ible .

At Laukyen ,fifteen miles north- eas t from T avoy (a ha l ting

place or circular cleared space of the forest), and lying a few

hundred yards 011 the eas t of the route, my guides showed me ahot spring in the almost dry bed of a torren t .T he adj acen t stra ta were , after many hours ’ labour

,la id ba re ,

and specimen s were taken from the spo t where the wa ter bubbledup. T he rock appears to be a transi tion slate

,pass ing in to l ime

ston e (for i t effervesces sl igh tly with an acid) and having thinfi lms of pyrites betwixt the cubica l portions which compose i t.T he water ra ised the thermometer to T he gas which escapedwas not inflammable . T he pebbles around were incrusted with acalcareous sal t . T he wa ter has no peculiar taste. T here i s amound on the eastward of the spring, but no volcanic indica tionswere perceived in any d irection .

T he grea t T enaserim river was crossed in th is route in a trackwhere either perpendicular cl i ffs of gran i te or wooded hill s hem i tin on both sides . I ts bed i s strewed with large blocks of thesame primi tive rock . By leaping and s tepping from one to the

other of these,we cros sed to the eas t bank . T he breadth i s here

,

as far as I can recollect (in the absence of my notes), about thirtyyards . I t i s quite impassable in th e rainy season . From theappearance of the s tream here I should be inclined to fix i tssource somewhere about 1 5

°

30’

north . T he road dis tance to thetop of the N aye Dang Pass i s about sixty miles in a direct l in ei t i s abou t fi fty miles . I t was found impossibl e to march early in

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194 T H E GE OLOGICAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

On the route from Yé to Martaban I perce ived in the dry bedso f r ivers mass ive s tra ta of stria ted clay s la te of a fawn colour.T hese s tra ta are ei ther vertica l or dip a t a cons iderable angleMartaban and the adj oining countries would wel l reward thelabours of a geologis t . As the Burman war was being carried on ,when the former was vis ited by me

,i t was no t withou t the imm i

n en t r isk of being cu t off,or of being made a prisoner by the

enemy, then encamped on the north s ide of the river, that I wasenabled to explore the country up to abou t north la ti tude 18°

A has ty geographica l sketch of th is province may no t here bea l together irrelevan t

,for

,without some idea of the local i t ie s of a

c oun try,the future geologica l traveller may find his

‘

plans proveabortive .

1

Martaban i s bounded 011 the north by a branch of the grea tc en tra l range of hill s d ividing i t from S iam . On the south i tm erges in to the dis trict of Yé , being d ivided from i t by theB alamein

, a narrow s tream . On the eas t the S iamese rangepresen ts a very formidable barrier

,showing at interva l s peaks of

c on s iderable elevation . T he highest of these was conj ectured to

be abou t five thousand feet in height . Across thi s wa l l there i son ly one good pass

,tha t termed Pra song chii by the Burman s ,

a nd Phra Chedu sam- ong by the S iamese ,“ the pas s of the three

Pagoda s,and lying in la t itude 1 5

°18

’

N .,longitude 98

°22

’15

” E .

according to Capta in G rant ’ s observa tion after the peace . Anotherbu t di fficul t pa ss l i es directly north of Martaban . On the wes ti t i s partly bounded by the sea and partly by the provinces o fChetang and T ham Pagu . It may be compu ted to conta in abou ttwelve thousand square miles .T he principal river i s th e Krung Mautama (of th e Peguers), or

S anlt’

m (of th e Burmans), which rises in a range of mounta in s tothe north - west of Che- ang Mai in Laos

,passes within two or three

d ays ’ march of tha t capi tal,and after a turbul en t course , appa

rently betwix t two of the inferior ranges of the grea t bel t , disgorgesi tsel f with impetuos i ty on th e pla in j us t above the i sland of R a

Kayet,in about 18

°

20’ north la t itude . I t i s j oined at th e Ka

Kaye t stockade by the Yunzalen r iver,which flows from the

H aphun hills , lying in a north - wes t direction from hence,and

which I bel ieve to be the same which I observed from the grea tS hu i Madu temple at Pegu , to bear as fol lows : the northernextreme southern extreme E .

1 a part south,and abou t

forty miles distan t . But the s tream was found by me to have abar of gran i te across , abou t eight or ten miles b eyond the stockade,and not to be navigable to the smal les t canoe s . H ence i t rol l smore quie tly 011 t i l l i t disembogues i t sel f into the sea at the KhyetKhami Pagoda . Opposite to Martaban i t may be abou t a mil e 111width .

1 B r. Burma Gazet teer, vol. 11. pp 32 ff- l

P OR T ION S OF TH E IllALAYAzV PE N IN S U LA . 195

T he other rivers which swel l i t are the Dang D am i’

Kyang , whichj oins i t at Mahi Phra Pagoda

,the Gyén Kyang , which fal ls into

i t at Phra Pyri,or the “W h ite Pagoda

,

” the Attaram,01 Attiyan

river , which en ters i t n early oppos ite to the town of Martabanthe VVakrt’i Kyang. which disembogues n ear the Kye

’

t KhamiPagoda and the Dang W ein Kyang, which pours i tself into th eG ul f of Martaban . T hese are a ll navigable far inland by largeboa ts .T he chief hill s within th e province are part of the T ava i range,with its branches— one of which is d ivided by the S anlt

’

m river atMalamein . I t runs in low broken h ills , about fifty miles north ofthe town ofMartaban

,and j oins the j eu Kyet moun ta in s n ext a

s hort range runn ing acros s one of the upper branches of theAttaram (or Attiyan) river the J eu Kyét Phra - tang , a high - peakedhil l

,fifteen or twen ty m i le s to the wes tward of the town ; th e

Jogabeu- tang to the northward,and the two in sula ted hil ls called

Dang Dami and Maj in .

T he numerous detached and insulated rocky hill s which are

sca ttered over the pla ins,and the many islands which s tud the

expanded S an lun,together with the dark and towering S iamese

h ill s in the background,produce scenery of a very impressive kind .

T he ranges of hill s in thi s province betray gran i te a s their chiefingredien t . But the detached and very abrupt rocks and hill s , ofelevation s of from two hundred feet to e ight hundred feet , whichshoot up from the pla in

,have

,in so far as exam ined by me

,been

found to be invariably composed of limestone . T he limestone i si n various stages

,from an earthy and gritty kind up to hard

marble,and the cl iffs on severa l of them have the same marked

fea tures which the T rang and Phtinga rocks d isplay ;being streakedwith red

,brown , and white, and eviden tly suffer ing a rapid decom

position . T he pla in s on which these are based are covered genera l ly by an a l luvial soil , but in some places i t i s dark and porous,l ike the cot ton ground of India . T he substra tum in the lowerparts is common ly a s tiff clay

,but towards the S iamese range the

soi l becomes more friable,t inged with oxide of iron , or mixed with

debris of rocks,and res ting on gravel in large round masses . H ere

on the bank s and 011 th e low i slands the Khyen tribes cul tiva tecotton

,indigo

,tobacco

,and pulses . Potters ’ earth i s obta ined in

abundance n ear Martaban . O f this,most of the utens i l s known

by the name of Pegu jars , were formerly made .On the low range of hills on which Martaban s tands

,gran i te

p erhaps p1edominates . But at the town many sla ty and sandystra ta , having an inclina tion of about here tinged with oxide ofiron

,there intermix ed with sl ightly ca lcareous and other ma t te rs

,

and quartz,are observable . At Malamein a breccia i s found

,which

has been used in the con struction of th e pagoda there. T hi s subs tance hardens so much by exposure tha t i t will'

last for ages,as it

,

196 T H E G E OLOGICAL APPE AR AN CE S OF

has here done . On the high grounds , which occasionally flankthe river

,th e surface i s t inged red by iron ores .

Abou t fifty miles by wa ter up the Attaram river, and with in ’

about two m i les of i ts eastern bank , stands S einle- dang, one of th es ingular l imestone rocks j us t a l luded to . Abou t mid - day, betwix ti t a nd the ri ver

,and 011 a swampy pla in sligh tly incl ined to th e

r iver, I was gratified by discovering a s ingular hot foun ta in (for i ti s of too pecul iar a na ture to be merely t ermed a spring). T he

Burmans cal l i t Ye- br’

r (“ ho t T he orifice is nearly a

circl e,th e diameter of which i s about thirty feet . T he rim i s of

earth,and only ra ised abou t a foot above the surface of the wa ter .

N ot having been prepared for such an interesting obj ect , I hadnot provided myself with a l ine 5 but the depth is no doubt verycons iderabl e . T he wa ter was so clear tha t the green calcareou srocks which proj ect from the s ides were qui te d ist inct at a depthof twen ty feet at leas t . A s trong bubbling appears near the

middle . A thermometer propended from a bamboo was droppedinto the wa ter, and after a space quickly withdrawn . An a l lowance of two degrees being made for loss of hea t in th e remova l ,the tempera ture by Fahrenhei t ’ s thermometerwas found to bewhich i s 1 2° hotter than the Ba th waters .H ad any volcan ic indica tion s been observed in th e vicin i ty, the

circular format ion of thi s wel l m igh t have induced the bel ief tha tit had once been a cra ter . A visi tor to th i s place ough t toapproach i t wi th caution— s ince part of th e wa ter near the edge i scovered with weeds

,wh ich so resemble the surface of the bank

tha t a p erson migh t un th inkingly step on them to h is inevi tabledestruction . H e would fa in t instan tly from the hea t , and sink .

Al though the well s 011 the plain s were all n early dry at the periodwhen thi s foun ta in was visi ted

,

* yet i t di scharged twenty gal lon son the leas t computa t ion in a minute , and towa rds the eas t s ide .T he l eaves and branches which had fallen n ear were incrrrsted witha cal careous deposit

,and the bottom of the rivule t was covered

with a flaky calcareous substance . N o specimen could be obta in edof the rock , as i t l ies far below the surface ; but from the green ishhue perceived in i t , we may suppose i t to partake of the nature o fthe specimens brough t from Lankyen hot spring in T avoy . Idrank some of the wa ter and was not afterwards sens ible of anypecul iar effect from i t . U pon subsequently examining i t with theobliging a ss istance of a medica l gentleman f a t Martaban

,i t was

found to be a cha lybea te,and to con ta in l ime in combina tion with

some o ther earth or earths . T he test s are enumerated below¢

I was favoured on this occa sion wi th the company of Lieutenan t George,and Mr. Adams , o f the Marine S ervic e

1" Mr. lirown ,

A S .

,hl. N . I .

I i st. T irrcture o f careclru precipita tes a dark b rown substance ; hence thepresence of iron is inferred .

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198 T H E G E OLOGI CAL APP E AR AN CE S OF

ficiency in sculpture . T he bel l s of their temples have generallyins cribed 011 them some pious s en tences

,and the name and titles

cf the person who bestowed them .

T he only inscription observed by me was tha t which Alongphra,or Alompra , caused to be engraved on a marbl e slab which standsunder a shed at the grea t S hui Madu temple at Pegu . I t recordshis va lorous exploits and piou s d isposi tion . T he alabas ter o fwhich the Burman s form their images i s only procurable wi th inthe proper Ava terri tory . T he Prapatha , or Prabat, i s an engravingoften found on gran i te slabs a t temples , and i s in tended to repres en t an impres sion of a foot of Buddha . T hey con ta in manyemblems

,most of which are obscure

,and only to be made ou t by

the help of a Phtingr'

, or pries t of Buddha . T he MartabanPht

’

rngis could not inform me when Buddhism was in troducedin to Martaban ; bu t from severa l circum stances i t should seemtha t the coun try was on ly se t tled abou t A .D . 1 286. From an

a ttent ive examina t ion of such Ba l i MS S . as have come in to mypossess ion, I am qui te d i sposed to conclude tha t the Buddhistrel igi on reached the Indo Chinese nat ion s progress ively fromCeylon ; and tha t the Ba l i language, as now used amongs t them ,

however varied th e a l phabets may be in which i t i s written ,is

iden t ically the same wi th tha t employed by the C ingal es e priestsof Ceylon . T his las t approaches so very closely to the Pracrittha t i t becomes doubtful which is the elder language of the two .

A comparison betwix t them would showwhich i s the direct derivat ive from the S anscri t .Above the rocks described the river flows through a rich a l luvia lcoun try

,thinly inhabi ted by tribes of Khyens , or Karian s . T hese

people carry on a bartering trade wi th the traders of Martaban .

T hey treated me wi th,as much hospital i ty as their s i tua tion

adm i tted of. T hey are gen era l ly a fine race of people— a thletic ,and of much fa irer complexion s than th e Peguers and Burman s .T heir whole deportmen t favourably con trasts wi th tha t of thesetwo races .T hey l ive independen tly

,keep dogs for the chase

,cul tiva t e

co tton, weave i t in to cloth , and dye i t wi th ind igo raised by themselves

,and they are very comfortably hou sed . T hey change their

ground every two or three years . I met a whole tribe in rapidprogres s down the river . T hey gave as a rea son tha t the cholera

(wh ich seems from t ime immemorial to have preva i led in th ej ungly parts of thes e regions) had swept off so many persons thatthey had been obliged to a bandon their vi llage and seek a new

abode . O pposite the smal l Ix hyen village of Michantaung, whichl ies 011 an i s land

,i s a singular rocky hil l

,th e base of which i s

wa shed by the river . I t may be s ix hundred feet high , and i t hasa black and scorched appearance . I t i s a lmos t bare of gra ss, andthere are only a few tree s on i t . T hese grow i n the hollows and

P OR T ION S OF T H E MALAYAN PE N IN S U LA . 199

crevices . I t m igh t be taken for basal t or gran i te at a short o rstance, but on a close in spect ion i s found to con sis t of a blackl imeston e , breaking o ff in to cubica l fragmen ts . T he a scen t i sabrup t and difficult, and the tread of the feet i s succeeded by ahollow sound as i f the hi l l was but one va s t ca tacomb . S everal

pit s , having circular orifices and of abou t three feet in diameter,

were observed in the a scen t . T hey are of cons iderabl e depth,for

stones .thrown in to them were heard for about twelve secondsrebounding in their descen t to the bottom . On looking downthese I noticed large fungus - shaped s ta lactiti c masses hangingfrom the sides . N ear the summit of th e h ill , the ridges of therock are so angular and sharp tha t scarcely one of my peopleescaped being badly wounded in thei r feet .From the top a most plea sing and exten sive view was

obtained of the surrounding coun try, and the bearings of remarkable obj ects were taken . On a bleak ridge

,about two hundred

yards from where we were , a wild sheep or goa t was observed .

T his an ima l ’ s colour i s nearly black , and the ha i r shaggy. S evera lball s were fired at i t wi thou t effect . T he na tives sa id tha t thi sspecies was on ly occasiona lly to be met with ; but a s they hadn ever seen a sheep i t could not be ascerta ined from their accountswhether the an ima l we saw was of the goat or sheep tribe . I mayhere observe generally tha t th e wild an imal s and birds found inthe coun tries we have j us t been going over are chiefly the fol lowingelephan ts

,which are very numerous 5 the rhinoceros , which Malays

,

Burman s,and S iamese dread more than they do the elephan t

,

owing to its savage temper ; th e bison , which i s found of a verylarge size in T hedda , the head being of a fawn colour ; the wildox

,of the s ize of a large buffa lo

,and a l so a species resembling

in every respect the domestic ox 5 the buffalo, the roya l t iger, th el eopard

,bears (but very rarely seen ), t iger- ca ts , abou t the size of

a fox ; l eopard- ca ts,having very beautiful coa ts and being abou t

the size of a common ea t,but more sl imly formed ; the fox - cat

,

wi th tiger strip es , and which is destructive to poultry— this anima ll ives in den s

,but i t climbs trees in s earch of prey .

T he elk and variou s k inds of deer are abundant. Baboons,

a sses,slo ths

,opossums

,flying and other squirrels

,chamel eon s

and other varieties of the l izard tribe, variou s species of thetortoi se

,all iga tors

,and guanas

,are very numerous . In T avoy

the na t ives keep packs of large dogs,with which they run down

deer. T hese dogs run by sight,and they are regularly kenn elled .

T he breed seems peculiar . I observed a dog at a remotevi l lage in tha t province equal in s ize to a N ewfoundland dog .

W olves , or wild dogs (for I had no opportun i ty of j udgingwhich), are found in the forests . N o j ackal s or common foxeshave yet been discovered , and i t i s bel ieved tha t they do not exi s tb elow the lati tude of 1 9

°

north . Many kinds of tortoises,as

200 GE OLOGY OF T H E . lIALAYAN PE N IN S U LA .

before observed , and river turtle, were seen by me . T he nat ives ,especia l ly the Karians

, tra in dogs to search for them,as they form

often a chief article of their food .

T he birds are— white sea eagles,white land- eagles

,hawks of

variou s species,vul tures

,and ki tes .

T he peafowl here exhibi ts a brill iancy of plumage which farexcel s tha t of th e Indian one . I t i s a l so a larger bird . T hereare at the l ea s t four elegan t varieti es of the phea san t tribe 5 a l s oqua ils in abundance

,and severa l kinds of partridges , of which the

green , with a red tuft, and the blue , are most conspicuous . T herei s l ikewise a j ungle cock

,having a rich blue and reddish plumage ,

and n early twice the size of the common j ungle fowl . H e i s wellarmed wi th two long spurs 011 each leg. Pel ican s and the u sua lt ropica l wa ter - fowl abound . A perfect species of duck , having ablackish back and whitish breas t

, and the weight of which is n earlydouble tha t of the common duck

,i s very common .

Leaving the Michan - tang and proceeding up the S an lun river,the low rocks observed 011 the banks exhibit coarse black l imes tone . T he high cl iffs further removed show the more advanceds tage of the l ime forma t ion . At Ka Kayet s tockade, close to th eh il ls , the gran i te aga in begins ; and here were found sca tteredabout smooth quartz and other pebbles of severa l pounds inweight

,which had been used a fter their ammun it ion had fa iled by

th e Burman garrison when defending themselves from the attacksof the S iamese . Baske ts ful l of these pebbles were arranged a longthe pal isade ins ide . S evera l specimens of regularly crysta l l izedquartz were here picked up .

T he“ Khyen N i

,or R ed Karians

,who inhabi t the j ungly

hi lly tract s tretching from this place in a n ortherly direction are

of a very savage and warlike disposi ti on . T hey use thick buffa loh ide for armour

,and fight with spears and poisoned arrows . T he

cl ima te of this province i s tempera te . At Martaban during therainy sea son

,which i s no t the coldest

, the following average wastaken from a series of notes on the s ta te of the thermometer .

Average of Fahr. ther.7 4 1am.

Fifteen days 1n Ma y 82

T werrty five days 1r1 j une 73I o t ty two days , from 15 1 j uly to 14 th Airgtist 80

T he geology of Ava i s l i ttle known,nor has any one of th e

many who accompan ied the tr00ps up th e Irawadr'

favoured theworld wi th a connected sketch of the rocks observed on i t s bank s .T ha t the l ime forma t ion wil l be found to extend up to Asam therei s every reason to bel i eve from the accoun ts received , and s incei t i s known tha t carbona te of l ime in shape of the fines t marbl e ,and a l so alabaster in a pure state , are very common in the

coun try,thu s countenancing the posi t ion taken up in ano ther par t

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202 T H E G E OLOGY OF P U LO PIN AN G

arrangement 5 but on more accurate examination they may be

divided in to three principal cha ins , commencing a t the north ,gradual ly approaching towards th e south , where they form one

narrow barrier between the two sides of the i sland , branching offat las t along its southern extremity at right angles eas t and west .T he m iddle cha in

,including the western hil l and Moun t E lvira ,

i s tha t of grea tes t eleva tion,being about two thou sand five

hundred fee t above th e level of the sea . T hey are all loftie s ttowards the north , decreasing gradual ly as they advance sou thward . Between th e termination s of the cha in s towards the northare deep bays and sloping val l eys fil l ed with a lluvia l deposi t .T he greates t diameter of each hil l i s from north to south . T he

genera l ou tl ine i s rather blun t and ridged , presen ting no very boldpeaks or points . S ome of th e lower hill s are obtusely con ical .Besides the principa l groups above described , there run s a sma llcha in para ll el to the ea s t coas t of the i sland behind the nutmegplanta tions at G lugor, of an eleva t ion varying from six hundred toeight hundred feet

,un i ting with the grea t range near i ts sou thern

extremity. T here are a l so some isola ted h ill s a long the coas t, theprincipal of which are Moun t E rskine, Moun t O l ivia , and MountAlbina .

T he va l l eys are not deep ; few of them have very abrupt , andnon e precip itous s ides . T he whole group, or ra ther seri es o fcha ins , i s so closely covered with fores t tha t no t a bare spot i svi s ibl e

,except where the industry o f uran has been exerted .

T he heigh t i s not su fficien tly grea t to produce much effect uponthe nature of the vegetat ion ; but smal l as i t compara t ively i stowards the summ it s

,the palm s and fern s increase in number , and

the forest in general becomes more stunted , though even on th eh ighest poin t are to be s een some magn ificen t t imber trees .An arborescen t fern of grea t beauty

,ris ing to the height of

from fifteen to twen ty feet,i s met wi th on ly on the great h ill at a

considerable el eva t ion .

T he soil of the h ills i s a reddish l ight sandy clay from thedecomposition of the gran i te composing them

,the process of

which may be seen going 011 wherever roads have been cu t belowthe surface . I t i s seldom more than eigh t feet in depth , mos tfrequen tly less

,and the vegetable mould above i t i s from six to

twelve inches . T here i s l i ttle gravel and no fragmen ts , excep toccasionally of quartz

,probably

t )

frorn exposed ve in s .T he whole of th e group of bills

,and indeed every rocky or

el eva ted part of Pinang,i s composed of gran i te . N o other

moun ta in rock occurs in immed ia te connection with i t . I t varie sin grain

,in colour

,and occasiona l ly in the proportion of i ts ingre

dich ts . It i s everywhere traversed by veins of quartz and quartzrock

,wh ich are often of large size . Corn rn encrng a t Fort Corn

walli s and going round the island,firs t to the north

,we find th e

AN D T H E N E IGH B O U R IrVG IS LAZVD S . 203

following varieties z— At Pulo T icoose Point,where the beach i s

rocky and composed of immense fragmen ts,i t i s of a fine gra in

and grey colour, a s in specimen N o . 54 . At Ba tu Feringi , wherea small s tream forms a magn ificen t wa terfa l l and a grea t mass ofrock i s exposed

,the gran i te , of ra ther coarse gra in (N O . i s

t raversed by a vein of quartz rock (N o . 2) resembl ing prim i tivesandston e

,very hard and from two feet to two and half feet i n

breadth . In i t the s tream has formed n umerous tube- l ike cel ls ,some of them two or three feet deep . I have seen some fine

specimen s of colourless rock - crystal con ta in ing crystal s of schorl ,which were collected here

,but I had no t the good fortune to

meet with any on my vis i ts . At th e eas t point of T uloh B ohangthe gran i te i s grey and coarse - grained (N o . At the west poin tof i t i t i s of a fine gra in

,and of a sl ightly green i sh colour . O n

th e b each,to the west of Kricha Muka , a smal l village on th e

north s ide of the i sland, among the rolled masses of gran i te , are

some wi th beautiful veins and imbedded crystal s of quartz, andpri smat ic crys tals and amorphou s port ion s of hornblende ? (N o .

S pecimens of these,of good size , were with difiiculty broken off ;

and indeed,to show them in perfection

,i t would be requis it e t o

carry away the rolled masses en tire . N o . 6 i s a specimen of th egran i te found opposi te S addle I sland , of moderately fine grain ,and con ta in ing a large proportion of mica . On the south - west ,the gran i te

,con ta in ing a large proportion of fel spar and quartz,

i s n early of a whit ish colour (N o . At night , from reflectingthe moon

’

s rays,i t i s observed to gli sten a t the dis tance of more

than a m i l e. Irn bedded in i t we found a globul e of fine - grainedblack gran i te con ta in ing abundance of m ica (N o T he whol eof the south s ide of the i sland i s composed of a coars e brown i shgran i te (N o. On the sou th- east poin t

,opposite P1110 R imau,

i t occurs aga in of a grey colour (N o . T hese differentvari eties , found a long the coas t

,occur a lso in th e body of the

moun ta in s , and i t has therefore been con s idered unnecessary t otran smit specimens taken from the in terior.T he eas t and south - wes t plains l

‘

are en tirely o f alluvia l for~ma tion , probably in great measure formed by the detritu s of themoun ta in s wa shed down and collected through the lapse of ages .At fi rs t s ight

,of the eas t pla in particularly

,which j u ts in a tri

angular form into the narrow stra i t between the i sland and th eQuedah coas t , and on which are built G eorge T own , the Fort,the vario us publ ic buildings

, and th e habita tion s of the E ngl ishresiden ts, the geologis t i s 1mpressed with the idea tha t the sea

T he figures throughout refer to the numbers of the specimen s herewi thsen t .

’l‘ S ome of the following remarks on the pla ins , rivulets, wa ter,&c . ,

haveal ready appeared in my Contr1butions to the Medical T opography of Princeof W ales ’ Island, ” prin ted by the Pmang Government .

204 T H E GE OLOGY OF P U LO PINANG

mus t have a t one t ime covered i t and washed the base of th emoun ta ins . T his is confirmed in some mea sure by the phenomena observabl e on the oppos ite shore of Quedah , where Capta inLow has traced the success ive depos it s of a l luvia l ma t ter fors evera l miles inland , and the gradua l retirement of the oceanindicated by ridges runn ing parall e l to the presen t l ine of coa st .T he proces s of convers ion o f such a hard materia l as gran i te in toalluvial matter i s dis tinctly seen on the road to the G rea t H ill inthe smal l valley between Mount O l ivia and the H ighlandsof S cotland . T he precipitous bank , abou t s ix ty or s even ty fee tin height

,presen ts a mass of red clay ey sand , used genera lly in

l ieu of gravel for repa i ring the roads , which i s merely decomposedgran i te as seen in specimen s N os . 55 and 56, taken from the spot .N otwithstanding this alluvial origin

,no organ ic rema ins , not even

shells,have been found hi therto imbedded in any part of th e

va l ley . Query— may not thi s be accoun ted for by the smal lnumber of an imal s which inhabi t the i sland

,and by the paucity

of shells now in exis tence along the‘

coast ? T he indigenousan imal s are principa l ly birds and insects, and on two tours roundthe island I did not discover in all one hundred shells on anypart of i t .T he soil of the val ley i s variou s . N ear the poin t i t i s sandy

,

with a surface of abou t four inches of vegetable mould fromdecayed leaves and branches of trees . In advancing about am i le in to the in terior the ground begins to ris e, and the superficia ls tratum is a l so a l ight vegetable mould

,abou t a foot in thickness

,

res ting on the sand . N ear the foo t of the moun ta ins the soilbecomes rich in many places

,and beds of white clay resembl ing

fullers ’ earth are found here and there , more especia l ly in PuloT icoose B ay. In those parts of the island near the sea - coas t

,

which are general ly overflowed and thickly covered wi th mangrovethe soi l for a foo t in thickness i s a rich black mould .

T hroughou t the i sland i t is l ight , and in mos t parts i s composed of clay

,with a large portion of sand , which renders it very

porous .W a ter , generally speaking of good qual i ty, i s to b e had in

almost every part of the island by digging a few fee t below thesurface . In some places i t i s sl igh tly brackish ; in others i t i stainted by pass ing over the decayed roots or l eaves or branchesof trees ; and sometimes i t i s m ixed with the clayey particles o fthe soil over which i t runs . T here i s no large river in the i sland ;the severa l r ill s from the moun tains collect into two or threer ivulets which traverse the valley in differen t directions . T heirbeds are sandy ; the wa ter pure as crysta l , and of excellen tqual i ty , un impregna ted with any del eterious ingredien t . I am

not aware of the existence of any m inera l water in the island .

S tream tin has been found near Amee’

s mills,a t the eas t foo t of

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206 T H E GE OLOG Y OF P U LO PHVAZVG

her ; and beh ind i t i s S onsong, or the companion of th emessenger.

(1) Pulo B eedan ,or Bidan , i s abou t a m il e in l ength and three

fourths of a mile in breadth,of an ell iptica l shape

,with a bay on

its sou thern s ide . I t i s th ickly wooded,t he trees a s usua l coming

in mos t places down to the wa ter ’ s edge . I t may be n oticedhere

,once for all, tha t th is c ircumstance offers an ob stacle to th e

complete investiga t ion of the geologica l s tructure of th e i slandround Pinang

,as i t does of Pinang i tself in some measure. T he

in terior cannot be penetrated,and were i t even poss ible to do so

,

th e closen ess of vege ta t ion would shu t ou t all view of the rocks .T he observat ion s are thu s necessarily l im ited in most ins tances tothe coa s t . T he beach , on Pulo Bidan , n ear the south - eas t poin t

,

i s composed of an argillaceous rock resembl ing greywacke,both

lamel lar and conglomera t e , irregularly in termixed (N os . 4 1 ,T h is s eem s to dip a t a considerable angle to the wes t ; i t i sen ti rely covered at h igh wa ter by the sea , and th e outgoings orcrop of the s trata form sharp ridges more or less el eva t ed .

R olled masse s of i ron ston e (N o . 4 3) are found on i t of variou sS izes . On the argillaceou s rock rests a mass of l imes tone strat ified, the s tra ta dipping to the south - wes t at an angle of I tis of a bluish - grey colour (N o . and a t firs t sigh t seems tohave a sla ty texture . T he colour o f some of the stra ta i s n earlyblack . T hey are everywhere traversed by veins of quartz and

cal careous spar,i rregularly in termingled . T he whole i sland seems

to be composed of the same ma teria l .(2) Pulo Panghil i s a small ra ther el eva ted island, abou t two

mi les to the northward of the preceding,and cel ebra ted for i t s

turtles,which lay their eggs in th e sandy poin ts and bays . T he

coas t i s covered with smooth round stones of argillaceou s ma t ter,

probably rolled over from Pulo S onsong ; but th e body of theisland i s composed of the same kind of limeston e as Pulo Bidan(N o . I n T urtl e B ay, a t the d is tance of ten or twelve yard sfrom the main body of the island

,some i sola ted strata of grey

marble* (N o . 4 4 ) of fine gra in, and highly crysta l l ized, dip at an

angle of l ittle less than 4 5° to the westward .

(3) Pul o S onsong i s about three m i l es to the northward ofPulo Panghil ; a mile and a ha l f in l ength and abou t one broadat i ts southern extremity. At th e landing - place

,a smal l sandy

poin t , we observed some masses of coral rock clos e to the beachand the whole coas t was covered with broken p ieces of whi tecoral thrown up by the waves . T he i sland i s rocky and boldal l round, and as u sual th ickly covered with wood. T he rock

T his is well adapted for a rchitectural purposes, and is fully equal to tha tb rought from China a t considerable expense. I am not aware tha t i t s exis tence in the neighbourhood was known heretofo re.

AN D T H E N E I GH B O U R IN G IS LAN D S . 207

(N os. 4 6 and 4 7) i s en tirely argillaceous, runn ing in regular strataa t an angle of more than and dipping to the eas tward . O n

the beach i t presen ts more of the schis tose or lamellar s tructure

(N O . and i s everywhere traversed by veins of quartz (N o .

wi th a coa ting of a black substance (metall ic P). O n the southa nd eas t sides , and apparen tly form ing the lower s tra ta of thei sland

,the rock is of a reddish colour and soft (N o . On the

wes t s ide, which i s part icularly bold and precip itous,i t i s of a

b luish - grey colour,soft and s ilky in som e places , presen t ing the

slaty texture (N o . but not spl itting in to thin lamellae as regularc lay—sla te does . On thi s s ide are numerou s caves and theprecipices crowned with lofty trees , the immen se fragments ofrock

,the da shing of th e waves aga ins t th em , and the hol low

sound of the wa ter rushing in to the caverns , have al l an imposingeffect on the observer .

(4 ) Pulo B oon ting, abou t four m i le s north of Pulo S onsong, i so f n early ova l shape

,thickly covered with wood, abou t one a hal f

m ile long and one in breadth a t i t s broadest part . I t is precipit ous on ly on i ts n orth—wes t s id e ; in all other places the fores tcomes clo s e down to the shore . T here i s the chann el of a mounta in torren t on th e north s ide choked up with large fragmen ts ofrock

,at the foot of which is a spring of excel len t wa ter. T he

rocks are en t irely gran i tic , the felspar of the gran i te being in as ta te of decompos ition (N o . Large ve ins of quartz

,i n some

places highly crys tal l ized,traverse them in alldirection s (N o .

Among the rolled masses of the chann el above men tioned are

specimens of a green er gran i te approaching to primitive greens tone (N o . and on the beach were found a few pieces ofblack l imestone (N o . probably conveyed from Pulo B eedano r S onsong .

R ound the whole of the B oontings the sea i s beautiful ly cl ear,a nd the cora l beds are dis tinctly vis ibl e at a con s iderable dis tancebelow the surface of the wa ter. T he on ly one inhabited is PuloB idan

,in which l ive , in huts of miserable cons truction ,

abou ttwen ty Malays engage d in catching and drying fish for the Pinangmarke t . In sa i l ing round these i s lands we had a magn ificen t v i ewof Quedah peak , or Gunongq rrai, on the ma in land , which ris est o the supposed height of five thousand feet . I ts composi tion

,I

.am informed , i s en t irely gran i t ic ; i ts ou tl ines are bold , sharp and

poin ted ; the s ides are s teep , r is ing rapidly from the base and i t

presen t s one immen se den s e mas s of vegeta tion , unbroken savehere and there by a few precipitou s whi te crags . By the aid ofthe glass we discovered the chann el of a moun ta in torren t

,which

,

in the ra iny sea son must form splen did cascades in i ts course . I thas n ever been as cended by E urop eans

,and s o grea t is the j ea lou sy

o f th e S iamese G overnmen t,in whose terri tories i t i s

,tha t i t i s no t

l ikely i t ever wil l be . T he whole of the coas t below i t seems one

208 T H E GE OLOG Y OF P U LO PIN AN G

flat uncultiva ted pla in covered with mangrove,extending a con

siderable way in land .

I I I . Pigeon I sland,s i tuated n ear the southern extremity of

the west s ide of Pulo Pinang,i s of smal l size and th ickly covered

wi th j ungle . T he rocks at the bas e,from the action of water,

presen t some most fan ta stic forms ; now l ik e a huge wa l l s tandingapart from the res t ; now l ike a martello tower ; and sometimesl ike a piece of H indu sculp ture from Mahaba l ipuram

,or the caves

of E lora . I t i s en tirely composed of coarse grey gran ite,with a

large proportion of m ica (N O .

IV. S addle I sland, or Pulo Kundit,about two m iles distant

from the south—wes t poin t of Pinang, i s abou t two m i le s in circumference

,being three - fourths of a mile long and one- fourth broad .

Like all the other i slets we v isited , i t i s th ickly covered wi thj ungle and a few fores t trees . On i ts north s ide these approachwi thin a few feet of the water. T he sou th and wes t s ides are

bold and rocky , the rock in some places being n early perpendicular, and on the wes t side there i s a deep bay where severalprows might lurk in safety . All round are numerous caves andcave—l ike fissures into which the sea rush es wi th a hollow sound .

T he constan t action of the water has so much worn the rocksclos e to the edge

,tha t they presen t at firs t s ight the appearance of

lava . At low- wa ter mark a grea t quan ti ty of coarse cora l i s to b efound , which i s coll ected and removed by the l ime - burn ers inl ieu of l imeston e . T he geological s tructure of th e is land resemblestha t of Pulo S onsong, formerly described . I t i s a mas s of argi llaceous schis t of variou s colours , according to the grea ter or les saction of the wea ther, bu t principal ly grey, bluish , and red ;amorphou s in many places

,bu t presen t ing a laminar and even

fi ssil e slaty texture in some,especially on th e eas t side . I t i s

distinctly stra t ified throughout,the s trata runn ing north - west and

south - ea s t at an angle of abou t s ixty degrees . N ear the beach onthe east s ide the ou t ~croppings of the s trata, as 011 Pulo S onsong,form sharp ridges ; the rock i s soft and of a reddish colour

(N o . traversed by veins of quartz and of a metal l ic matterIn some places the veins appear to be of quartz, mica , and

chlorite blended toge ther (N o . T he body of the rock on

thi s s ide,above the red materia l

,i s an amorphous greywacke

looking subs tance,resembl ing old sandstone (N o . Above

thi s aga in i s the more slaty - looking rock (N o . resemblingc laj s

- la te . O n th e sou th eas t side i t seems en tirely composed o fthe red argillaceous rock above men tioned (N os. 10 and 1 On

the south wes t and west sides of the is land , from the precipi tousna ture of the coas t , the s tructure i s easil y noticed . T he rock i sen tirely l ike clay- sla te (N O . presen t ing more or l ess of th elaminar s tructure, slaty in some places , as marked in N o . 1 5. I nsome parts there is a bending in the stra ta similar to that some

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2 10 T H E GE OLOG Y OF P U LO PIN AN G

a crust,apparen tly of metal l ic matter, runn ing down in long black

perpendicular l ines a long the face of the rock,occasional ly

crossing each other in a n etwork fa shion . I t i s of variou scolours and consis tency

,probably as i t has been more or les s

subj ected to the action of the weather . I t i s sometimes greyishwhite (N os . 27, 28 and sometimes reddish (N o . sometimesblue

,more or less deep (N os . 26 and E verywhere i t

presen ts the laminar s tructure , and splits in to tables when struckwi th the hammer. T he veins vary from hal f an inch to one and

a hal f inch in thickness , and the quartz in them seems to b ebroken in pieces , between which i s observed a metal l ic (P) crust

(N 05 . 32 and T he beach is s tony and clayey, different fromthat of the gran i te i sland, which we invariably found either rocky ,sandy

,or gravelly . At low-water mark the quartz veins form a

curiou s cancella ted appearance . T he softer rock between themhaving been destroyed by the action of the wa ter

,they rise in

sharp l ines con s iderably above the level of the clay,and are in

some places scarcely passable withou t danger of having the feetcu t or bruised . Beds and rolled masses o f ironston e were seena long the coast, n ear the north- west corner more especial ly ; theformer dipping at an angle of about T he rolled ma sses areof cons iderable s ize , some being twelve or fourteen feet high and

as many in breadth , looking at firs t sight l ike volcanic rocks fromtheir burn t and cancella ted appearance . T hey are formed of akind of j aspery iron ore con ta ining numerous drusy caviti es

,

coa t ed with sem i globular crus ts of cha l cedony and yellow ochre,some of the specimens of which are very beautiful (N o . T he

specific gravi ty of i t i s It strongly resembles in all i t scharacters the minera l subs tance described and figured by MI .

S owerby in the fifth volume of h is “Briti sh Minera logy,page

1 73 , tab . 4 94 , under the name of Burn t R ock .

”N o. 35 repre

sen t s another ore of i ron of specific gravity found a l so i nrolled masses on the coas t , from which tha t va luable meta l mightb e obtained in abundance . In some places

,by the action of the

wa ter , the softer irons ton e has been converted into a fine yellowochre

,which might be used in pain ting . T he whole of the wes t

s ide of n orth Pulo Kra i s rather bold and rocky, in some places

even precip itou s ; and here and there are deep caves . Along th eshore are found numerous sea slugs

,or H olo thuriae, and the

beau tifully pol ished and variega ted Cypraea shell,besides cora l

and sponges of variou s kinds . N ea r the cen tre of this side,

about one hundred yards from the shore,i s a smal l detached

rock,resembling a t a distance the ruins of an Indian pagoda

,

ent irely composed of a soft red clay impregnated with iron

(N o s imilar to wha t 15 cal led Gert’

t by the natives of India,

and which , l ike i t, might be u sed as a coars e pa in t . T he lowes ts tratum of the southernmost Pulo Kra i s a very hard compound

A[VD T H E N E IGH E O U R IrVG I S LAN D S 2 1 1

rock , which for wan t of a better appellation I have cal led greywacke

,composed seem ingly of quartz and felspar, very compact

and of a blacki sh - blue colour,traversed by numerou s vein s of

q uartz , large and smal l,in every direction (N o . T he upper

rock is the same argi llaceous schis t as tha t composing th e northernmost . T his structure i s wel l seen a t the south - wes t poin t of theisland .

Ba tta Kawang,on the ma inland

,l ess than a mile across from

Pulo Kra , i s composed en tirely of gran i te. I t i s a hil l abou t twohundred and fifty or three hundred fee t high . Behind it areexten s ive sugar plan ta t ion s . T he soil i s a fine rich clay m ixedwith sand . On the east side of the hil l beds of potter ’ s clayo ccur

,from which the coarse con ical pots used in the manufacture

o f sugar are made . T he sma l l h ill s a long the coa st of the ma inland opposite Pinang are

,I understand

,en t irely composed of

gran i te . On thi s subj ect , however , I sha l l not en large, as Capta inLow has a lready publi shed an accoun t of their structure in th efirs t volume of the “ T ran saction s of the Physica l C la ss . For

the mos t part the ground is alluvial,and, as s ta ted by Mr . Fin

layson in hi s accoun t of the Miss ion to S iam ,in some places

resembles pea t -moss.S uch were the observation s which I made ou -

two tours roundthis i sland

,in which every part described was carefully and

minu tely exam ined . S pecimens of the rocks accompany, whichspeak for themselves . I am unwill ing to obtrude my cruderemark s on the S ociety , but I think the formation round Pinangwil l be found en t irely prim i t ive

,though some of the rocks have

very l i ttl e of the appearance of tha t clas s . T he tota l absence ofo rgan ic rema in s of any kind , the grea t :incl inat ion of th e stra ta ,a nd their immedia te connection wi th gran i te

,I think

,l ed to this

conclus ion . T he accompanying geologica l s ection s wil l exh ibi ta t one view the succession and arrangemen t of the s trata . In

the direction south and north from Pulo R imau to Pulo B oonting,a distance of thirty - five miles , we first find gran i te, then l imeston eres ting on argil laceous rock

,then argillaceous schis t , and aga in

g ran i te. In the direction from west to eas t,from S addle I sland

to Ba tta Kawang , a dis tance of fourteen m i les , we find argillaceouss chist

,then gran i te

,then argillaceous schist , and aga in gran i te .

S hould the investigat ion not prove valuabl e in a geologica lpoin t of view

,i t has at leas t extended our knowledge of the

resources of Pinang by the discovery of th e existence of twovaluable m inera l substances— limes tone

,including marbl e and

i ron ore,which

,should th i s station ever recover i t s former

importance in commerce,may be of con s iderable util ity.

P IN AN G , Od ober 18, 1831.

to

t N GE OLOGY OF T H E E LE PHAN T R OCK ,

S U PPLE M E N T AR Y N O T E O N T H E G E OLOGY OF T H E

E LE PHAN T R OCK,IN T H E QU E DAH CO U N T R Y .

D uring a visi t which I made in N ovember last to the capita l o fQuedah I had an opportun i ty of examin ing a remarkable rock ,cal led by the na tives Gunong G iriyan ,

but better known by th ename of “ the E lephan t

,

” given to i t by naviga tors,by whom i t i s

reckoned an excellen t landmark . As i t has not been hi thertodescribed

,and as i t i s in some mea sure connected with my former

paper,I hope the following brief description of i t may not be

un in teresting to the S ociety .

1

T he country north of Quedah peak i s an immen se pla in n earlylevel wi th the sea , covered n ear the coast with ri s ing mangrove ,“i th a very gen tle eleva tion , and bounded to the ea s t by a smallcha in of hills

'

about from s ixteen to twen ty miles inland . T he

breadth of the bel t of mangrove a long the coas t var ies from hal fa m i l e to a m i le . T his i s succeeded by a narrower one of a taps ,behind which the coun try is richly cultiva ted , la id ou t in ricegrounds

,broken every two or three miles by na tura l bounda rie s

of forest left most probably when i t was originally cl eared . T he

soil i s a rich whitish clay mixed with sand . From the abovedescribed pla in

,a t a distance of abou t s ix miles from the sea ,

and about twen ty - four in a northerly direction from the northernmost Pulo B oon ting, rises abruptly the E lephan t rock ; no hill orother el eva ted spot being with in several m i les of i t . I t is of anoblong shape

,apparen tly about a mile in length

'

from north - wes tto south - eas t

,and ha l f a m il e in breadth

,presen ting 011 every sid e

bold and craggy precipices between three and four hundred feetin height ; lofty columnar and n eedle—l ike masses being here and

there detached from the ma in body and shooting up l ike th espire s or turrets of a ca thedra l . T he top is closely covered withwood

,which al so ri ses in some places ha lf- way up the precipice ,

showing the grey or purplish rocks in con trast with the foliage ,and adding much to i ts beautiful and romantic appearance . T he

ground in i ts immedia te ne ighbourhood i s a complete swamp , inwhich grow a variety of marsh plan ts which were a t thi s time inflower . A bel t of cocoanuts

,plan ta in , betel - nut, and fru it tree s

of variou s k inds extends all round it,and conceal s the huts of

th e Malays,which appear to be numerous. A deep ditch , ei ther

a rtificial or natural , surrounds the whole, and renders the approachto the rock extremely difficul t even to elephan ts

,with which th e

R ajah of Ligore has kindly furn ished us .I t was the obj ect of our guides to show us the caves with

which the rock abounds,and which when Quedah was of grea ter

1[Newbold, l . 1. vol. i . p.

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2 14 G E OLOGY OF T H E E LE PHAIVT R OCK .

were obl iged to gues s in wha t direct ion we went, and on tha taccoun t I cannot be so correct as I could have wished to be . I nour way to i t , at the foot of a detached l imes tone rock at an

elevation of from eight to ten feet above the level of the surrounding pla in

,we found a mass of shell s

,principal ly cock les ,

oysters, and a larger kind of mussel , conn ected together by

calcareou s ma tter,the in ters tices being fi l led with soft earth con

ta in ing numerous smaller shel l s (specimen s 8 and T he ma s swas of irregular shape

,between three and four feet square

,and

about the same i n th ickness , perfectly superficia l , and no t conn ected in any way with the rocks n ear i t . N o appearance of s trataof shel l s was discovered in the n eighbourhood . I t wil l res t withbetter geologists than myself to determin e whether thes e are tobe cons idered of a fossi l n ature , and in this inquiry the na ture ofth e sma l l shell s embedded in the soft earth may be of ma terialuse . Leaving the shells

,we a scended about thirty feet among

large loose fragmen ts of l imestone of the same na ture as N o .

'

1,

and by a smal l open ing in the rock en tered a dark and spaciouscave

,which as the eye became gradua lly accus tomed to the change

from the previous glare of sun shine,and dis tinguished the sur

rounding obj ects,appeared to us l ike a splendid G othic ca thedral

in ru in s . T he wal ls are worn smooth as if by the action of wa ter ,and covered with a white cha lky coa ting . T he roof i s dome- l ike .

T he stalactitic masses form numerous fretworks,with arched

window - l ike apertures . T here are numerous chambers too,and

lofty perpendicular passages , some of them admitting light at top,

commun icating with each other and producing a pleasan t effectwhen il lumina ted from within by torches . In places wa ter i sdripping con stan tly from the roof

,but few sta lagm i te s are formed .

T he floor i s n early level , covered with a brown calcareous earthand with portions of calc—tuff (N o . N o . 1 1 i s a specimen ofthe calcareous sin ter from some of the stalactitic masses .N o sculpture or in scrip tion of any kind was found in the caves .

A tradition exis ts among the nat ives of the coun try tha t i t was a tone time surrounded by the sea , and from i ts general appearance ,from the exis tence of fos sil shell s in th e breccia

, and the lownature of the surrounding coun try

,I am inclin ed to bel ieve that

such was the case,and tha t at no very d i stan t period . I t may

be remarked a l so tha t i t s trongly resembles th e descrip tion ofthe l imes tone rocks on the T enasserim coas t given by Capta inLow .

D uring th e same tour I had an opportuni ty al so of vis i ting theneares t range of sma l l hill s before men t ioned as runn ing parallelwith the coast , abou t sixteen miles in land and abou t three milesto the eastward of Alu Ganub , the then res idence of the R ajahof Ligot e . T hey are so thickly covered with wood tha t i t i sscarcely poss ibl e to exam ine their geolog ica l s tructure . In a few

CLIMA T E OF S IN GAP OR E . 2 15

places, however, portions of rock j utted out above the surface ,and were found to be formed of a fine kind of sandstone

,of which

probably the whole range i s composed .

XVI .

CLIMAT E OF S INGAPORE .

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal , vol. 11. pp. 4 28

T H E following abstract tables of th e therrn ometrical and barome

trical range for s ix years at S ingapore were drawn up by Capta inC . E . D avi s from his own da i ly observa tion s

,and were presen ted

to th e Asia t ic S oci ety in th e year 18 27. T he barom eter i s notcorrected to th e freezing - poin t, n either are the hours selectedcapable of showing th e d iurna l oscilla t ion s of the pressure ; bu tin all oth er respects th e tables are very regular, and form a va luable addition to our meteorological information .

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220 IN S CR IP T I ON A T S IN GAP OR E .

tha t the greater par t of them are i l l egibl e . S t ill,there are many

l eft which are plain enough,more particularly those at the lower

right - hand corner, where the ra i sed edge of the stone has in somemea sure protected them .

Having frequen tly made pilgrimages to th i s rock,and as often

regretted that i ts presen t weather - worn condition h id from us a

ta le of ‘the days of o ther years,

’ I determined,if i t were poss ible ,

to save a few l etters,could they be sa tisfactorily made ou t, to tel l

us something,however sma l l

,of the language or the people who

in scribed it,and hence eke out our l imited and obscure know

l edge o f the Malayan Pen in sula .

“ T hese considera t ion s,however strong

,were very apt to give

way when i t wa s a lmost un iversa l ly known that many had attemptedto decipher the writing in quest ion

,and had fa iled to make any

thing of i t , among whom was one of grea t eminence and perseverance , the la te S ir S . R affles . Courage was nevertheles s taken ,and with the a ss i stance of a clever na tive wri ter, to work we wen t ,and the following method was adopted to insure correctness .

A l earn ed friend of m ine suggested tha t wel l—made and softdough ought to be tri ed

,for even schoolboys u sed i t for taking

impress ion s from sea l s ; i t was tried accordingly , and found toan swer wel l and when the impress ion of one character was takenand copied

,the let ter i ts el f in the stone was pa in ted exactly over

with white lead,as far as the eye could make i t ou t, when th e

character was copi ed a second t ime,and i f the two agreed, i t was

cons idered as n early correct as possible, and a l th ough this wasdone to all the characters

,i t was more part icularly a t tended to in

th e more obscure ones,for th e l etters marked in the facsimile with

more strength could readily be copied by the eye .

“ T here i s another th ing worthy of being noticed, which is , tha tafter a few days ’ work we discovered tha t when the sun was descending in the west, a pa lpable shadow was thrown in to the letter,from which grea t a ss istance was derived . N o doubtful letter hasbeen admi tted in the facsimile s ent for your supervi sion ,

and i tmay be fa irly doubted whether you will ever get a better or morehon est copy .

As to the chara cter in which the in scription i s written,speaking

from a very lim i ted knowl edge of the subj ect,my opin ion the

very firs t day was, tha t i t i s in the ancien t Ceylones e, or Pal i bu tas you have la te ly , with grea t pers everance and deserved succe s s ,made pla in in script ion s hi therto perfectly a dead lett er, I havegrea t hopes you will be able to make someth ing out of th is cel ebrated s tone of S ingapore .

I may as wel l men tion that tradi tion among the Malays poin tsto T el inga and C eylon as i t s origin ,

which may be seen more at1, ength in Leyden

’ s Malayan Anna l s . ’

W . BLAND .

XVI I I .

EXT RACT OF A LET T ER FROM COL. J. LOW .

Journal of the Asia t ic S ociety of Bengal, vol. x vn . pp. 232—34 ]

P E N AN G, 75m . 10, 184 8 .

I MAY men t ion that on a cursory glance at the a lphabet whichyou have kindly copied for me , I find severa l l et ters which Ithink I sha l l be able to iden tify with o thers in the in scription shere. I could not manage with ink, and at las t took the ra t hertedious and to il some process of copying by rule and compas s .T he firs t in scrip tion which I found wa s so copied and forwardedto the la te Mr. J . Prin sep shortly before hi s lamen ted dea th , s otha t i t i s probably amongst other inscription s (unpublished) lying myour library . H e replied , saying he should l ike to have a facsimile ,but I don ’ t think any one could have been more correct than theone I sen t . H e

,however , l i thographed the in scrip tion with the

Khulsa, which is in the face of the stone, which was apparen tlyformerly the top of a pillar. H e sa id i t was in the S anskri t

, not

Pa l i the style of the le tter n early tha t of the Al lahabad N o . 2 .

I s not tha t a trans i tion PaliP I have on the other s ide of thewa ter a copy of the “ Journa l conta in ing two Al lahabad inscript ions but the las t in scrip tion which I discovered and copied

,

abou t a year ago, i s in a character somewha t older , I presume .

H owever, I have been floundering in the dark for wan t of the“ Journa l s con tain ing th e labours of Prinsep, W a then

, &c . Iwi l l s end you copies of both of these in scriptions, and

,i f I can

manage i t, of one upon a coin which I found a few months ago ,but which our chief Brahman of th e t empl e cannot decipher . Ihave proved beyond doubt tha t there was a H indu colony settledin Province W ellesley and Keddah

,and I think i t had been pre

ceded by a Buddhis t popula t ion . But I have not yet closed myresearches , which have here to be conducted under many disadvan tages (beyond our boundary), su ch a s a lmost imperviou sj ungles , a population who will afford no a ssi stance whatever

,and

S iamese j ea lousy . I am engaged on,and have n early fin i shed

, a

paper for the “ J ournal ” of the Indian Archipelago, on subj ects

relating more to our s ection of the globe than to India . But Ihave MS S . on my shelves which I hope to be able to s end

,I

W e fear not. W e have searched diligen t ly and found none but such as

have been published .- E Ds.

222 IN S CR IP T ION A T S IN GAP OR E .

will not promise very soon , to your J ournal . I have been trying to get some Pa l i scholar among the Buddhis t pries ts to ass is tme in expla in ing some MS S . in that language ; but they are a

sadly ignoran t set,and

,even as regards their own D ei ty and hi s

holy places,they are obl iged to con fes s tha t I know more than

they do, and tha t i s not a great dea l e ither.I have l i ttl e hope that the archaeologica l field of S umatra wil l

soon be la id open . I t i s a sealed book . W e only now wan t tohave a collection of all th e ancien t inscriptions extant to th e eas tward , to decide, on Prinsep

’

s system,the variou s periods when

Buddhist s and H indus m igrated there . I t seems to me at presentthat most i f not all of these came from O ris sa or Kal inga . I cannot get Mr. S t irl ing ’ s “O ri ssa .

”T hese and the defici ent pages

of the Journa l ” will be highly acceptable when procurabl e .

XIX .

IN S CRIPT ION AT S INGAPORE .

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal , vol. xvn . pp. 154 f.]

IN th e sixth volume of th e “ Journal, p . 680,there i s an in teres t

ing accoun t of an ancien t and much weather - worn in scrip tion on

a rock at th e j etty of S ingapore . A facsimi le was prepared byD r. Bland

,of H .M . S . Wolf , and forwarded by him to James

Prinsep, who pronounced the character to be Pa l i , and thoughunabl e to connect sen tences or even words , eas i ly recogn izedmany of the letters , and conj ectured the inscription to record theextension of Buddhism to th e Malayan promontory . O 11 l earn ingfrom Dr. Montgomerie tha t th is rock had been blas ted someyears ago , I ven tured to sol ici t the present governor, the Hon .

Colonel Butterworth , C . B ., to secure any l egible fragmen t s tha t

might ye t exis t , and have s ince received h is k ind promise to forward such to the museum of the S ociety

,where I trust the prae

tised eyes of our an tiquarian s may yet deciphe r enough of thel egend to determ in e i ts purport . Colonel Butterworth observesT he only rema ining portion of the s tone you men t ion

,excep t

wha t Colonel Low may have, I found lying i n the verandah ofthe T reasury at S ingapore , where i t was u sed as a sea t by theS epoys of the guard and persons in wa i t ing to transact business .

I los t no t ime in sending i t to my house , but a las ! not beforethe inscription was nearly erased . S uch as the fragment was

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224 ACCO U N T OF S E VE R AL IN S CR IP T ION S

j ungle - wood and pa lm l eaves,and after a ssuring myself of the

va lu e of the inscription s , men were set to clear away the j ungleand to dig up the ground to some di s tance around the rock . Bu tI was disappoin ted in my expectation of find ing ruin s and othermarks of temples and an ancien t populat ion .

T he in scriptions were copied by me with the u tmost care,the

task having occupied the grea tes t portion of the mornings andeven ings of three days .I did not a t tempt to make a facs im ile

,a s I had no proper mate

rial s , and had not succeeded with Capt . Kittoe’

s plan but I cansafely say tha t the approach to a facsimile i s perhaps as n ear as i twould be possible to make i t . T he l etters are very, indeedunusual ly

,large and thick for ancien t inscription s

,but thi s peen

liarity rendered the task compara t ively ea sy . Finely powderedand very dry chalk was ca s t l oosely over the in scrip tion un t i l allthe l e tters were fill ed . T he chalk was then brushed off the surfaceof the stone with a bunch of feathers

,and thus the l in es of words

became clear and legibl e .T he l ength of the largest in script ion i s tha t of the paper on

which i t has been copied , and as now forwarded (abou t ten feet).T ha t the style of let ter i s of Indian origin seems to me qui te

obviou s,but i t con tras ts a good deal with the in scription B . (fig.

Our Brahman and Buddhis t priests here are so s tupid tha t I havenot been abl e to derive any a ss istance from them

,and a l though I

can trace some of the le tters . I th ink , to in scription s published inthe J ournal of the Asia tic S ociety of Benga l , I have not ven turedto a ttempt the deciphering of them .

(E ) I discovered this inscription while engaged in excava tingsome old ruins 011 a sandy side in the northern district of th i sprovince . I t has been engraved on a sort of sla te , and seem s toform part on ly of a much larger inscription , for tha t portion of thestone which I have go t appears to have been the upper portion ofone of those pillars which are se t up in the areas of Buddhis ttemples . I have the plea sure of forwarding a facsimil e of thi srecord made with d ay , which i s perhaps a novel mode . T he claywas fine potters ’ earth and sand well bea ten up a long with chopped

gunnee bag- cloth . T he s tone was oiled, and the clay was pressed

on i t,and atterwards dried in the shade .

T he copy was made by me in the following manner z— Finelypulverized and dry brick - dus t was (as the chalk was in the formerinstance

,the stone being then blackish), thrown over the face of

the stone , and then l ightly brushed off with fea thers . T he l ettersnow appeared sharp and d i st inct ; over these were pasted (withwafers at the edges ) a sheet or sl ips of the stylographic man ifoldwriter paper , and the le tters were l ightly impressed on thi s paperwith a soft penci l , and when the sheet was removed any s lightomissions were fil led in .

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6 I ./V PR O VI N CE WE LLE S LE Y.

attracted by quantit ies of broken pottery there,and after my

people,about twen ty in number

,had laboured for several days in

sifting and searching,I picked two or three coin s myself out of one

of the baskets,a circumstance wh ich I am induced to men tion in

ord er to obvia te any doubt which migh t a ri s e regarding theirgenuineness . I vis ited the place a few

ci

months ago for a secondsearch

,but found no more coins .

T he second coin was found by me under the founda t ion of th eru ins of a smal l brick build ing ; th i s la st no t, however, appearingabove the surface of th e ground . T he spot i s in th e northernpart of the province . T here were severa l hundreds of thes e coin sin a metall ic cup . From the emblems on them I consider themBuddhis t coin s .T he figure on the coin I have conj ectured to b e that of some

H indu deity. But th e chief pries t of the H indu temple atPenang in sists tha t i t represents a king. I cannot make ou t theobverse .

W hile abou t to close these notes th e Journal of the S ociety forFebruary las t has reached me . In thi s number I observe " tha tinquiries have been made regarding the inscription a t S ingaporedescribed in the Journal

,vol . vi. p . 680

,and tha t the H on . Colonel

Butterworth, C . B .

,supposes tha t I may have some portions of

the ston e on which i t was engraved .

I was an unwill ing and pained wi tness to th e demol it ion of thatmemoria l of long pa s t ages

,my petition to have i t spared being

met by the reply tha t i t was in the way of some proj ected bungal ow . On the explosion taking place I crossed the river from myoffice and s elected such fragmen ts as had l etters 011 them . T he

Hon . the Governor, Mr . Bonham,sen t to askme to preserve a piece

for him ,and this i s the portion a lluded to by CO1. Butterworth .

As the fragmen ts were very bulky,I had them ,

at considerablecost , gradua l ly chisel led by a Chinese in to the shape of slabs bu tth ey are s til l ponderou s . I t happens

,however

,tha t the sma l ler

fragmen ts only conta in th e most legible (if the term i s even hererea lly applicable) parts of the inscription ,

th e res t being nearlyqui te obliterated , and I have therefore selected them to be presented to the S ociety. I t seem s to me tha t th i s S ingapore inscript ion (to which I have alluded in a paper presen tly to appear inthe Journa l o f the E as tern Archipelago) may probably da te froman early cen tury of our era

,and I would merely here sugges t tha t

any one who may se t abou t d eciphering i t may derive a ss istance byadverting to inscriptions which may have been discovered at theancient B ijanagara in O rissa , or Cu ttack , or, wider s till, along thecoast of central Kal inga.

Page 222.

NOT E O N T H E IN S CRIPT ION S FROM S INGA «

PORE A N D PROVINCE W ELLE S LE Y.

FO R WA R D E D B Y T H E HO N . COL. B UT T E R WO R T H, C. B .,AN D

COL. Jo I40W .

B y J . W . LAIDLAY.

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety o f Bengal , vol. xvii. part 11.pp 66 72 ]

T H E grea t in terest expressed by the late James Prinsepand otherant1qua11ans in the remarkable inscription at S ingapore induced me

,

a s men t ioned in a former number of this Journa l , to apply tothe presen t esteemed Governor of the S tra i ts S ettl emen ts , theH on . Col. Butterworth , C . B . , to secure for the S ociety

’ s Museumany fragmen ts tha t might rema in after the G othic explo i t a l ludedto by - Col. Low ; a request he was pleased very kindly and

promptly to comply with . S ince then Col. Low has forwardedsevera l other pieces, and though in possession of but a smal l portion of the origina l in scription , and tha t eviden tly not the mos tl egible

,I fel t bound , in j us tice to the obl iging donors, to bestow

some labour in attempting to decipher at leas t i ts character .In hi s brief notice of thi s inscription (J . A . S . vol . vi. p . 680)Mr . Prinsep remarks N umerou s have been the enquiries abou tth i s in scription ; numerous have been th e a t tempts to procure a

copy of i t from some of the con stan t v is itors to th e S tra i ts foramusemen t or the benefi t of their heal th . By some I was a ssuredtha t the letters were evidently E uropean

,and the in scription

merely a D utch record . O thers insisted tha t the cha racter waspreci sely tha t of the D elh i p illar, or tha t of T ibet whil e the las tfriend

,Lieu t . C . Mackenzie

,who kindly undertook the commis

s ion,gave it up in despa ir at i ts very decayed sta te

,which seemed

utterly beyond the power of the an t iquarian and in thi s he wasquite right . N evertheless

,a few letters s til l remain

,enough to aid

in determin ing at leas t the type and the language,and therefore

the learned will be glad to learn tha t Dr. W ill iam Bland , of H .M.S .

Wolf , has at length conquered all the discouraging difficulties ofthe task , and has enabled me now to presen t a very accurate facs imile of all that rema in s any way perceptible on the surface ofthe rocky fragment at S ingapore. T he following note fully expla in s

Q 2

2 28 T H E IN S CR IP T IOIVS PR O/ll S IN GAP OR E

th e care and th e method adopted for taking off the letters,and I

have nothing to add to i t bu t my concurrence in his opin ion tha tthe character i s the Pal i

,and tha t th e purport therefore i s most

probably to record the extens ion of the Buddhis t fa i th to tha tremarkable poin t of the Ma layan Pen in su la . I cannot ven tureto put together any connected sen tences or even wo rds , but some

of the let ters— theg’

,I,

s , y , &c .

— can be readily recogn ized,

as wel l as many of the vowel marks .”

T he condition of the inscript ion was indeed far worse than Isupposed

,and seemed to preclude all hope of deciphering th e

characters . By a fortuna te expedien t , however, and by verypa t ien t study

,I have been able to make out sufficien t to de term ine

i ts language and probable da te with tolerable certa in ty. T he

method I adopted , and which may be usefu l in s im i lar cases too thers

,was to s trew finely powdered charcoal’x‘ over th e su rface of

th e ston e,and sweep i t gen tly to and fro wi th a fea ther, so as to

fi l l up all the depressions,the very sl ightes t of which wa s thu s

rendered remarkably dis tinct by the powerful con tra s t of colour.By this mean s , and by studying the characters in differen t l ights ,I have succeeded in deciphering so much of three of the fragmen t s as i s depicted in Plate I I I .

I t will be seen from the pla te tha t though many of the characters resemble the square Pa l i in form

,and hence misled Prin sep

t o conclude tha t the in scription was in the Pali language, yet

others,and these amongst the mos t distinct, bear no resemblance

wha tever to that type . W e may safely infer, therefore that th elanguage i s no t Pal i ; an inference in which I am borne out by Mr .R a tna Pa la , whose knowledge of tha t language renders h is opin i onconclusive . As the character could not be identified with tha t ofany of the publ ished S ingal e se in scriptions , I was induced to compa re i t with th e a lphabets of the Archipelago

,and I find i t to be

iden tica l with the Kawi,or ancien t sacred and class ica l language

of the Javanese, specimens of which may be found in W i lhelmvon H umbold t ’s U eber die Kawi S prache

,

”vol. i i .

,and in S ir S .

R affles’ “H i story of Java . W e have a l so in our museum a veryfine inscription in tha t character

,which has been taken by many

for a peculiar form of S anskrita . W i th the alphabet of this language

, as ga thered from similar inscriptions , I can iden t ify all , orn early all

,of the characters ; but of course no clue to the purport

of the inscription can be ob tained withou t some knowledge of th elanguage i tself.Fig. 1 seems to have been from the upper part of the inscrip

t ion,and i s en tirely om i tted in Prin sep

’

s l ithograph as cjfacm’

.

Figs . 2 and 3 I cannot identify wi th any portion of Prinsep’

s

plate, much 011 the right hand side of which seems to have been

Animal charcoal is bet ter than vegetable, as being specifically heavier.

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AN D P R OVIN CE WE LLE S LE Y. 229

s o dis tinct tha t I make no doub t, had tha t portion been available ,we m igh t have ea s ily tran scribed con tinuous sen tences .T he much larger fragmen t forwarded by C01. Butterwor th still

remains to be deciphered , but I confess I feel l i ttle inclin at ion forthat barren labour un ti l there appears some probabil i ty of the lan

guage being transla ted . Meanwhile we may conj ecture wi thprobabil i ty tha t the inscription i s a record of some Javanesetriumph a t a period an terior to the convers ion of the Malays toMuhammadan i sm

,and the fol lowing n otice of this monumen t in

a work enti tl ed “ T he Malayan Pen in sula,by Capt . Begbie ,

Madras Artil lery,may assis t u s in approximat ing its era

“ T he principa l curiosi ty of S ingapore i s a large ston e at thepoin t of the river, the one face of which has been sloped and

smoothed,and upon which severa l l ines of engraven characters

are stil l vi sibl e . T he rock being , however, of a sch istose andporous na ture

,the in scription i s i llegibl e . I t i s sa id tha t S ir

S tamford R affles endeavoured,by the applica tion of powerful

a cids,

* to bring out the characters with the view of decipheringthem

,but the resul t was unsuccessful . W here such an em inent

person has fa i led,i t may be thought presumptuous in me to hazard

a conj ecture 011 the subj ect of the language in which the inscription was penn ed

,but I may perhaps be permitted to make an

a ttempt to throw some light upon a subj ect so confessedly obscure.R esorting to the Malayan annals

,which

,clouded as they un

d oubtedly are by fable arid a llegory, yet con ta in many a valuabl epiece of informa tion

,we find therein men t ion made of three re

markable s tones at S inghapura . (I omi t the legends a ttached tothe first two as a l together inapplicable here .) T he third

,though

firs t in order of record,I have reserved for the las t to be brough t

forward,because I am incl ined to think that the evidence is fully

presumptive in favour of its being the stone now vis ibl e at S ingapore i t i s to be met with at pages 62 and 63 of the Annal s .

T he preceding pages inform us tha t in the reign of S ri R aj aVicrama there was a redoubtable champion of the name of Badang .

S evera l remarkabl e fea ts of strength are recorded of him , bu t Iwil l merely sel ect the one in poin t . T he fame of Badang havingreached th e land of K l ing

,the rajah of tha t coun try despa tched

a champion named N adi Vijaya Vikrama to try his strength withhim , staking seven ships on the i ssue of the con tes t. After a fewtrial s of their rela tive powers , Badang poin ted to a huge ston elying before the rajah ’ s hall

,and a sked his opponen t to l ift i t

,and

to allow their cla ims to he decided by the grea tes t strength displayed in this fea t . T he K l ing champion a ssen ted , and aftersevera l fa ilures, succeeded in ra is ing i t as high as his knee , afterwhich he immedia tely let i t fa l l . T he s tory then says tha t Badang

T he stone is a ha rd siliceous sandstone, upon which this process , if evera dopted , would have no effect .

230 T H E IN S CR IP T ION S PR O/II S IIVGAP OR E

having taken up the s tone , poised it ea sily s everal t imes , and thenthrew i t ou t in to the mouth of the river and this is the rock whichi s at this day vis ibl e at the poin t of S inghapura , or T anj ongS inghapura .

“After some other recital s , the annal s s tate tha t after a longt ime

,Badang al so died , and was buried at the poin t of the S tra i ts

of S inghapura , and when the t idings of his death reached th e landof K l ing , the raj ah sent two s tone pi llars to be ra i sed over hisgrave as a m onument, and these are the pil lars which are still atthe point of the bay.

N ow,the firs t two instances are tota l ly desti tute of presump

t ive evidence ; the las t i s , on the con trary, full of i t . A t th emouth of the river there i s a large rock which is conceal ed at highwa ter

,and on which a post wa s erected four or five years ago by,

I beli eve, Capta in Jackson , of the Bengal Artil lery , to warn boats

of the danger ; thi s i s the'

rock fabled to have been hurl ed byBadang . H e i s said to have been buried at the poin t of the S tra i t sof S inghapura , the scene of this wonderful exploi t and there , thevery spot where this record is to be s til l seen

, the rajah of K l ing,who had been so serious a loser by i t

,ordered h is monumen t to

be erected .

”(S ee pages 355

I n th is idl e legend i t i s by no mean s improbable that the nameof the reign ing prince is preserved

,a l though the a t tendan t cir

cumstances are altogether fabulous . '

l he kingdom of S inghapurawas founded

,according to Malayan accoun ts

,in A .D . 1 160

,and

from tha t t ime up to 1 250, when the whole of the p en insula wasconverted to Muhammadan ism

,was subj ect to frequen t inva s ions

from the Javanese . T he R aj ah Vikrama ment ioned in the foregoing extract reigned from A .D . 1 223 to 1 236, and his era i s veryl ikely tha t a lso of the inscrip tion . At all events

,we may be cer

tain that the presen t in scription i s not l ess,and cannot be much

more,than 600 yea rs old . I ts preserva t ion for so long a period

may be ascribed in a grea t m easure to i ts protection from th eaction of the wea ther by the tropica l vegeta tion which conceal edit , perhaps for cen turies . You remember

,

” wri tes Dr. Mon t

gomerie,“the si tua tion of i t 011 the rocky poin t on the south s ide

of the en trance of the S ingapore Creek . T ha t poin t was coveredwith fores t trees and j ungle in 18 19, and the s tone was broughtto n otice by some Bengal clashees who were employed by Capt.Fl in t , I\ . N . (the firs t Mas ter Attendan t) , the men on discoveringthe inscrip tion were very much frightened

,and could not be in

duced to go on with the clearing, which , if I recollect right , wascompleted by Chinese under the s timulus of high wages . W ha ta pity i t i s tha t those who authorized the destruct ion of the ancien trel ic were no t prevented by some such wholesome supers ti tionO f the rema in ing in scriptions furn ished by C01. Low , the firs t

s et (A .) are in Pa l i , and are represen ted in figs . 1 to 7 of Plate IV.

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AN D PR O VIN CE W E LLE S LE Y. 23 1

Figs . 1 and 2 seem to form a con t inuous sen tence, (rs

—a? agar

-

mg r

fa gs 113 a 21 fi t v hfmr (s t) T lftfi'

? a (P) 3 11 (P) fa x (P)of which Babu R ajendralal Mittra has been good enough to supplythe following S anscri t and E nglish vers ion

(1661warmer fry wa a frr fr fifi 1 11117 1111231 ( 131: R a fi-

arri

T ransla tion .

I acknowl edge the enemies of the con ten ted king R amaunibhaand the wicked are ever affl icted .

T he in scription s marked (E .) were publ ished by Prinsep in th efourth volume of the Journa l from Col. Low’ s own facsimiles , butwithout any a t tempt to tran sla te them . T he drawings , and especially the admirable clay impression s sen t

,enable u s to decipher

the character without any difficulty, and to supply a correc t facsimile of th e origina l . T his method of taking impression s has, Ibelieve , been employed by Capt . Kittoe a lso . I t an swers admirably,and though i t represen t s the characters inverted

,thi s inconve

n ience i s met by observing their reflect ion in a l ooking - glass .T he subj o ined version s are l ikewise suppl ied by Babu R aj endralal :

Fig. 8

fi rwfiawgs gttw wwmfa a am l

“ T /zz'

s is said by Mannikatha,the protector of al l grea t

Buddhas .Fig. 9

Hé‘

mg arfi rt s a fwrs sas

ur s saifs s firw a rd : 1

I n every form of l ife knowledge becomes man ifes t everywhereand in every way.

”

Fig. 10

t a‘

m'

aitrfvrami a mwzars ia rwr'

1

(T hat) Karma (religiou s action originating in the hope of recompen se) which sports wi th pa ss ion , i s the cause of tran smigra tion .

Fig. 1 1 i s mutilated and un in tell igibl e .

O f the monograms upon th e T okoon rock and upon bricks wecan make nothing, but we give facsim il e s of them in the plate.T he S anscrit l ines (C.) on the bras s ornamented dish are as

followsear

-

eruse

W W I

S amva t,1399 .

Maha S ramana (repeated four t imes on the sides of th edish).

IO(

N 2 AN IN S CR IP T ION PR OM KE DD AII .

S ri Maha S ramana i s acknowledged to b e the mighties t of th emighty sect o f S ri Dasavala

”(a name of Buddha).

T he copper coin i s much corroded,but i s easily recognized as

ancien t Ceylon es e . T he in scription W H E R E , S rimat S ahasa

Malla, i s l egible enough , and enables us to identify the coin withone published by Prinsep in pl . xx . vol. vi . of the Journal .T his prince reigned

,according to the late Mr . T urnour

,from

A.D . 1 200 to 1 230, and his co ins are , I believe, pretty numerous .

XXI I .

O N AN IN S CRIPT ION FROM KEDDAH .

B y Lieu t . - Col. Low.

Journal of the Asiatic S ociety of Bengal, vol. xviii. par t i.pp. 247—249 -J

I HAV E the pleasure to forward to you,to be presented to the

Asia ti c S ociety, a facsimile of another inscrip tion,in the same

character apparen tly as that in which one of the in scription s latelytran smitted to you by me was couched

,and which I found very

lately,and after tha t las t had been forwarded .

I t may not, however, be of much importance , and I apprehendmay prove but some religiou s text of the Buddhis ts or some o thersects . I t was lying under the cen tre of the founda t ion of a ruinof an ancient brick building in Keddah

,n ear Buki t Murriam .

T his building had been very small,not more than 10 or 1 2 fee t

square . W hen I ra i sed the slab of s tone i t was coa ted with atenacious film of carbona te of l ime, produced by the cora l s tonesof the founda tion having decomposed . T he s tone being a sort ofslate , this has enabled me to bring out al l the l etters (a few onlybeing at first vi sible) by the application of n i tric acid . T he in

scription i s in perfect preserva t ion .

I have the pleasure a l so to send another p iece of the S ingapore

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AN IN S CR IP T ION PR OM KE D DAH . 233

s tone ; there are s evera l ponderous masse s rema in ing, but tha tpart of the inscription which i s on them i s the most defaced . Iwil l try

,however

,when I have leisure , to copy such parts as are

a t all capable of being taken off, but the ston e i s so rough thatthis wil l be difficult to accompli sh .

N OT E O N T H E FO R E GOING .

Col. Low ’ s inscript ion possesses , I th ink , sufficient in teres t towarran t the insertion of a reduced facsimile in the Journa l, and Igive it accordingly in Plate X . T here is no difficulty in recogn i s ingin the firs t two l ines the well - known formula Ye d/zarmmc

’

l Izetu

pm éhavd, &c . but,i f I am not mistaken ,

i t i s i n a form of theS an skri t a lphabet much O lder than any in which i t has been discovered elsewhere . W e have in the Museum— thanks to the zealOf Capt . Kittoe— a goodly a ssortmen t of Buddhis t sculptures fromBehar

,con ta in ing these verses , mostly in the Kutila modification

of the S an skri t character, which belongs to th e ten th cen tury Ofthe Christian era ; whil e tha t of Col. Low

’ s inscription correspondsvery closely with the a lphabet ass ign ed to the fifth cen tury inPrinsep

’

s palaeographic table (J . A . S . vol. vii . pl . xiii ).Another poin t of in teres t in Col. Low ’ s inscrip tion i s the sub

stitution of a differen t couplet for that which usua l ly follows thel ines above al luded to . Mr. H odgson long ago remarked tha tthere i s no n ecessary connection between the two couplets ; andPrinsep stated

,T on the au thority of R atna Pala , tha t another seriesOf verses follows the Ye O

’fia rmmd

, &c .

,in the da ily service Of the

temples in C eylon . In the expecta tion tha t the l ines in Col. Low’ sinscrip tion would prove to be those of the C eylon ri tual , I sen t forR a tna Pala and showed him my transcription ; but he seemed tohave forgotten all about the ma t ter, aud was unable to supply mefrom memory with the verses referred to

,or to recogmse their

iden t i ty with those Of the inscription .

T he subj oined is a tran scrip t of th e verses in the D eva- nagaricharacter

i’rEmir 70511 3 3 H arm-

err

”Prat“

i t 2h fwfi at 113°

“

611g? W T’HH‘E

vma’

rfi afi arai erra nt arai a rt ist

3 17117: fare—Pram)waist

-

q”71 sha ft

W ha tever moral action s aris e from cause , the cause of themhas been expla ined by T a thaga ta . W ha t i s the check to theseact ion s i s thu s set forth by the grea t S ramana . Vice promotesaction ,

and action is the cause of tran smigra tion . H e who,through

knowledge,performs no action , i s not subj ect to i ts effects .

at J . A . S . vol. iv. p. 211. 1” Mid. p. 138 .

234r

AN IN S CR IP T ION FR OM KE D DAII .

0

I t wil l be observed that th e firs t l in e of the'

latter couplet i s1den t1cal wi th one in an in scription from the same neighbourhoodpubl ished in the J uly number of the las t volume of the Journal .On the subj ect of the doctrine here propounded R ajendralal

hands m e the following noteT his i s bu t another version of the maxim inculcated by Kri shna

and o therVedan tic preachers on th e usel es sn es s of Karma (religious action originat ing in the hope of recompense) as a mean s ofsalvation . T he H indu sages , however , ma inta in raj oguna ”

(thequal ity of passion) and not tamas (darkness or vice) to be th ecause of tran smigra tion but as the con sequences of both rajasand tamas are borne in in ferior sta tes of exi stence , which ne

cessarily imply repea ted birth , the disagreement i s no t Of anygreat importance .

J. w. L .

[Professor Kern ,of Leiden , who has made the S an sk rit inscript ions found

in the peni nsula ofMalacca the subjec t o f a sea rching invest iga tion ,in a paper

prin ted in the Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Kon inklijke Akademie van

\Vetenschappen , Afdeeling Letterkunde, 3de R eeks , D eel I restoresthe Keddah inscription as follows

Ye dharmmii hetuprabhava tesha(m) hetu(m) T a thfigato (hy avadatP)

yesha(m) ca yo n irodho eva(m)vfidi Mahdcramana(h)ajfianac ciyate karma janmanah ka rma karanam

jfianan na kriyate karmma karma’

ibhavam) i1a jayate.

O f the second couplet— the fi rs t being the well - known Buddhistic fo rmulahe proposes the following t ran sla tion T hrough ignorance, [ear/m2 the

sum of good and bad act ions which is the cause of a man’ s being subject to

constan t t ran smigra tion) is accumula ted E a r/1m is the cause tha t man is bornagain . From knowledge it arises tha t man 110 longer produces lea fy/m,

and it

follows from the absence of lemm a that man is not born again .

”

T he fi rs t par t of the second couplet appears also in the inscription in Province\Vellesley, which, besides , contains the words , Mahfinfivika B uddhaguptasya

R aktamrittikavasa (sya (the gift o f) the grea t ship- owner Buddhagupta, an inhabitan t at R aktamrithka, or R ed - ear th

,which place Kern iden tic

fies with a seapor t of tha t name 011 the S iamese coast , men t ioned by

G roeneveldt in Verhandelingen van het B at. G en .

”vol. xxxix . pt. i. pp. 82,

101,122. T hough bo th inscriptions differ from one ano ther in their type, he

is inclined to assign bo th of them to about the year 400 A . D . T he o ther ihscriptions are too fragmen tary to yield any palpable resul t . Kern sees 110

objec t ion to the est ima te \1 In ch Capt . Begb ie has above g iven concerning theircompara t ively la te da te.

T hese in script ions confirm in a rema ikable manner the conclusions to whichthe recen t deciphermen t s , by Ba rth, B erga igne , S enart , and Kern ,

of the Cam

bodian inscriptions, inev itably tend— viz,tha t Buddhism came to the pen insula

and Camboj a , not from Ceylon , but from regions 011 the coast s Of India wherethe so - called nor thern type of that rel igion was curren t . ]

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XXII I .

A NO T ICE OF T H E ALPHABET S OF T H E

PHILIPP INE IS LAND S .

D ’

ansla tm’

f rom t/ze “Informe 5057 8 e] E m a’o de las Islas E

'

Zzpz'

nas,

Of Don S INIB ALDO D E MAs (Madrid, f rmzmry 184 3 . Vol. I .

p . 25) Oy H E NR Y PIDDIN O T O N ,S uO- S ecrefary ,

Asz’

az‘z

’

c S ocz'

ely .

WIT H A PLAT E .

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal , vol. x iv. p.

T H E Indian s were not s trangers to th e art of reading and writing .

I give (fig. 1 of the ann exed plate) some alphabets of differen tprovinces which I have procured . I t wil l be seen at once tha tthey have all a common origin

,or ra ther tha t they are one and

the same . T he l i t tle commun ica tion amongst thes e people formany years or ages

,in troduced a l teration s in their cal igraphy as in

their language,which was al so probably at first but one s tock .

Father Juan Francisco de S an An ton io says tha t they write l ik ethe Chinese, in perpendicular l in es , and thi s error was copied byFa ther Martinez Zun iga

,M . Le G en til , and others who have

written on the Phil ippines . N evertheless , by documen ts which Ihave had in my possession ,

part icularly from the archives of theconven t of S t . Augustin in Manilla

,I have ascertained tha t i t i s

read from left to right,l ik e our own . I n fig . 2 i s represen ted a

fragmen t of a transfer of landed property , wri tten in Bulacan in1652 , on Chinese writing - paper .And in fig. 3 , two signa tures, with thei r equival en t renderings of

the names,in our characters . T O thi s same family of written

characters would appear to belong (fig. 4 ) an inscription cut on aplank , which was found in 1837, by a detachmen t of troops , inth e moun ta ins inhabited by the savage tribes ca l led Igorrotes .

But withal,no books nor any kind of l i tera ture in thi s character

are to be met with,except a few amatory verses writ ten in a highly

hyperbolica l s tyle,and hardly in telligibl e . I t would appear tha t

their let ters partook Of thi s O rien ta l redundancy .

1

1[S ee above, p. 117, note

ls)

36 OB S E R VA T ION S OF T H E T ID E S

XXIV.

S UCCINCT REVI EW OF T H E OB S ERVAT ION S

OF T H E T IDE S IN T H E IND IAN A R CH I

PELAGO .

MAD E DU R ING T H E Y E AR 1839 B Y O R D E R OF 1113 E X CE LLE NCYT H E GOV E R NO R - G E N E R AL or H IS N E T H E R LAND IS H MAj E srv

’

s

POS S E S S IONS,201 11 OCT O B E R 1838 . N O . 3 .

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal, vol. x . pp. 302

[T H IS interesting report was transmitted to the As iat ic S ocietyby the S ociety of Art s at Ba tavia . I t has been tran slated forthe J ourna l from the origina l Dutch by my friend Dr. R Oer.]

T he t ides have been Observed at Pulo Ch inco , on the wes t coas tof S umatra

,to the sou thward of Padang , from February 10

,1839 , to

January 1,1 840, being ten mon ths and three -

quarters , by the nava ll ieu tenan ts of the second class , G . J . Fabri ciu s and J . de H oon .

At Mun tok , on Borneo , from January 15 , 1 839, to January 1,

184 0, being eleven mon ths and a half, by the naval l ieutenan t ofthe second class

,P . C . Keuchenius .

On the i sland Onrust, near Ba tavia , from January 1 , 1839, toJanuary 1

,184 0, being twelve mon ths , by the naval l ieu tenan t of

the firs t class,D irector of Onrust, J . S igtorel.

At T agal,on the north coa s t of Java , from January 1

,1839, to

January 1,1840, being twelve mon ths , by the naval l ieu tenant of

the second class,F. J . E . Van Gorcum .

At Klampies, on the north coas t of Madura,from February 10

,

1 839 , to January 1,184 0, being eleven months and three - quarters ,

by the nava l l ieutenant s of the second class, J . A . K . Van Hasfelt

and J . Van 6 001.

At Chilichap, 011 the south coas t of Java , from January 1,1839 ,

to January I,18 4 0, being twelve mon ths, by the nava l l ieutenan t

of the second class, J . A . G . R ietoeld.

T o these have been added some l ess complete Observa tion s 011Amboyna

,from March 23 , 1839 , to January 1

,1840, being n in e

mon ths and a quarter,by the mas ter

, J . Keeutebol, and the navall i eu tenan ts o f the second cla ss

, J . A . K i effer and J . A . W . H igh .

At Japara,from the commencemen t of May 1835 to the clo se

of D ecember 1839, by the assistan t res ident Of Japara ,W inkelman .

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238 OB S E R VA T I ON S OP T H E T ID E S

T he difference in the eleva t ion of the succeeding t ides i s re

markable— viz,a grea ter rise and a smal ler one were perceived to

take place al ternately,and in the same manner a l so the ebb tides .*

T his a l terna tion of flow and ebb,which is very regular

,may here ,

after be shown to be in connection with the moon ’ s decrea se ,though perhaps more so at th is place than at the other s tation s o fth e archipelago .

T he greatest difference be tween high and low water, as well asthe highest rise

,occurred in O ctober and N ovember, and generally

in the months when the west mon soon prevails .

Af sour/z eeasi Of j aw .

On th e south coas t Of Java the tides were most regular in allrespects con sequen tly the observation s made upon th em are bes tadapted to furnish a gen eral rule .T he course of the flood tide was to the wes t in to th e ou tl e t

, and

fol lowed the d irection of its shore . T he ebb tide ran in an Opposit e course . I n the western ly passage or creek of S egara Anakonthe t ides had a cours e qui te the reverse ; here the s treams m et

,

consequently the ris e and fa l l took place withou t s tream . In

genera l the stream appears to run,at leas t in the eas t mon soon

,

along the coast to th e eas t, at the ra te of hal f a mile in four hours .In the stra i ts of Chilichap, in the west monsoon , the ebb and floodt ides ran at the rate of two and three miles, and in the east monsoon at five and five and a half miles . T he t ides eviden tlyfol low here , as wel l as at Pulo Chinco , the common rule . T he

mean dura tion of rise and fa l l was abou t s ix hours and a hal f,

and thi s took place with much regularity , two tides in one daybu t a l so smal ler rises and fal ls between the u sua l ones have beensometimes noticed , amoun t ing to 02 0 ebb . T he duration of sti l lwa ter i s here very regular for ten or fifteen minutes after h igh andl ow water . T he ebbs and floods are abou t equal in force and

duration . At new and ful l moon th e mean time of the flood tidewas between eight and nin e hours— viz

At new moon a t 9h. 18111. R M .

and at 8 53 A .M .

At ful l moon at 8 4 5 R M.

and at 8 19 A .M .

Average of the time 8 4 8

and therefore , as the time of flood tide i s noticed to the momentwhen the wa ter aga in commences to decrease

,we may fix here , as

mean number,8h. 30m .

, considering tha t here al so the period ofthe flood tid e during the fortn igh t passed the space of 1 211.

it A naut ical friend has pointed out that night t ides are generally the highes t,thus giving an alternat ion .

IN T H E IN D IAIV AR CH IPE LAGO . 239

At thi s sta t ion was observed the same remarkable fact as a t

Pulo Chinco , tha t at n ew moon i t was high wa ter an hour laterthan at ful l moon .

T he mean ris e and fa l l of the wa ter was 5 ebb.

the greatestthe sma l les t

T he grea tes t difference in the ri se and fal l of the t ide took placesome days after the new and ful l moon ,

not,however, exceeding

2 6 3 ebb . T he highest wa ter mark was observed in the eas tmon soon .

T he difference of th e ris e and fa l l of the succeeding tides i shere very notable , and appears more than elsewhere to be in connection with the decrease of the moon . T he morning and

even ing tides are differen t , especially at the decreas e of th e moon ,while they were about equa l at the t ime of th e moon ’ s pass ing theequator.

AZAmlzoyfla .

Al though the streams in the bay are not s trong,and sometimes

only run from two miles to two and a ha lf,and th e turns of the

t ide very irregularly take place,we may sta te tha t the s tream of

th e flood tide in the eas t mon soon run s in to the bay along thenorthern coas t to the E .

, and runs out a long the southern coas t toth e S W . T he opposite course takes place in the west mon soon

,

while in the middle of the bay l i ttl e or no s tream is observed .

T he dura t ion Of the ris e and fal l of the wa ter i s here veryregular— abou t s ix hours and a quarter ; so tha t the flood occursabou t twice a day , and in a fortn ight loses abou t twelve hours .At new moon the mean time of high wa ter was about

A.M . oh . 34m.

R M. 0 4 6

At ful l moon,

A .M . 0 06

R M. 0 38

Average of time 0 30 or 33m.

T he month of D ecember makes an excep tion to thi s,and might

encourage the supposit ion of another m ean number during th ewes t mon soon , un les s the Observa t ion s made in tha t mon th exhibited a wan t of accuracy , on accoun t of which they are not tobe rel ied on .

At new moon here a l so , as well as at Chilichap and P1110 Chinco ,the flood tide appears to come in always la ter than at ful l moon .

T he mean rise and fal l was about ebb .

T he greates t di tto ditto ebb .

T he smalles t ris e observed at s evera l places was scarcely perceptible. A smal l ris e was alternately taking place with a grea t

240 OB S E R VA T IOIVS OF T H E T ID E S

one, and the same occurred with the fa l l . T he difference of thesucceeding ri ses and fa l l s i s here l ikewi se deserving notice . T he

greates t difference between high and low wa ter took place in Apri land July .

T he highest water mark was in April,N ovember

,and D ecember .

T hese remarks are made 011 observa t ion s taken during the periodfrom April to D ecember

,and especially during the eas t mon soon .

Al Klampz’

es,Oil t/ze wort/tern coast of Madura .

I t appears from the Observation s tha t were made tha t there wasno flood or ebb stream perceptibl e during the ea st monsoon

, and

in the mon th of May th e s tream had a lways during the day awesterly direction , with the velocity from two mi le s to two and ahalf, whi le at n ight l it tl e or no stream was observed it sometimesl ikewise ran to the east ; the mon th o f July form ing the on lyexception to this , when in the n igh t a l so th e stream ran to thewes t

,with a force of about two to three miles . In this mon soon

the wa ter i s gen eral ly fal ling during the day, and the stream thens tronges t

,while during the n igh t the water i s generally ris ing th e

stream ,however

,has l ittl e force .

T hese facts sugges t the inference , that i f ebb and flood tide sh ere actually exist, the ebb t ide has a westerly direction ,

while th eflood runs to the eas t ; this latter, however, i s almost annihilatedby ea sterly winds . In the wes t monsoon the stream runs to th eea st with l ittl e force , and the wa ter rises during the day the floods tream s hould accordingly run in this sea son to th e cast ; but thena t n igh t scarcely any s tream i s perceived , and the ebb tide whichthen runs was observed to be ann ihilated by the westerly winds .

E ast Illam omz. West Illa/130071.

“7ind E . \Vind W .

S t ream during S tream duringDuring the day fallg. the day or ebb . During day the dayflood.

S t ream during S t ream duringN ight rising thenightorflood . N ight fallg . the nightebb .

T he mean duration of the ri se and fal l of the wa ter i s duringthe whole year eleven and a hal f to twelve and a hal f, so tha t hereebb and flood occur only once in the same day ; neverthel ess , i tappears tha t here often l ittl e rises and fa l l s

,or those call ed short

tides , have obta ined a lternately with them . I t i s worth noticingtha t during a certain period the flood tide a lways took placebefore noon , and during the rema inder of the year in the evening— namely , in May, June and July the t ime of flood tide was dailyin the morn ing about n ine O ’ clock and one O

’clock in the afternoon , withou t regular yet constan t retardation ; this period from

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24 2 OB S E R VA T I ON S OF T H E T ID E S

T he mean rise and fa l l o f th e water was ebb .

T he grea tes tT he smal l es t

T he grea tes t difference between high and low water occurred in\Iay, June , and D ecember , after new and full moon

,though this

by no m eans was a lways the ca se .T he highes t water mark was l ikewi se observed abou t thi speriod .

At T agal, on f/ze norl/zwas! of j aw .

I t appears that here also,as at Klampies, no streams of ebb and

flood , s trictly sp eaking , are to be found , the t ides gen era l ly beingvery irregular

,and the streams

,which seem to be dependent on

the wind,at most amoun t ing to a quarter or ha lf a mile .

T he duration of the rise and fall has a s ingular cours e . InJanuary i t i s sometimes six hours

,so tha t there accordingly flood

and ebb tides occur gen eral ly twice in a day 5 and only one ri seand fa l l of much longer dura t ion than ordinarily i s perceived at

new and ful l moon . In the succeeding mon ths these longer t idesrepea tedly occur after new and ful l moon , so that at thi s period,for severa l succeeding days

,the flood tide comes in bu t once a

day, and thus a l so the ebb , and the dura tion of the ri se and fa l lo f the wa ter , i s respectively twelve hours . I n May, about newand ful l moon

,they con tinue for eigh t days

,and l ikewis e the

whole mon th of Jun e the dura tion of the ebb and flood t ide i srespectively twelve hours 5 so that there i s but one flood and ebbtide during the day.

T hen , aga in,in July

,at new and full moon

,there are t ides of

abou t six hours’ dura tion , so tha t two t ides aga in occur in a day.

In August and S eptember the number of days when short tidesare perceived is increa sing . In O ctober the dura tion of all t idesi s about s ix hours , and in N ovember and D ecember , a t new andfull moon

,they aga in come in some long rises and fa l ls .

At the period of the change from these common or short t ides

(ot about six hours) to the long ones (of about twelve), a grea tr is e and fal l generally i s al ternate with a smal l on e

,and i t i s a

remarkabl e fact tha t these smal ler rises and fa l l s gradua lly decreas eun t i l they en tirely disappear, and only one ri se and fall takes placein the twenty- four hours .T he reverse was the case on the change from long tides to thecommon or shorter ones .T he same a l so appears to happen as regards the t ime of ris e

and fal l , though in a l ess striking degree .

T he time of flood and ebb tide i s h ere l ikewise very uncertain .

I t may, however , be stated , tha t a t new and ful l moon the ebbtide comes in about three o ’clock in the morning , while i t i s more

[ IV T H E IzVD IAN AR CH IPE LAG O. 24 3

regular with regard to the flood tide,and i t i s therefore impossibl e

to ca lcula te with exactness th e other days ’ re - appearance of ebband flood tide at T agal .

T he mean ri se and fa l l during the year was .

T he grea tes tT he smal l est

T he grea tes t d ifference between high and lowwa ter was observedin the west mon soon

,and scarcely ever at new or full moon so

tha t there accordingly existed no rea l spring tide : i t never exceeded the fa l l by ebb .

T he highes t wa ter-mark,on the other hand

,was in the eas t mon

soon , especially in the months of May and Jun e .T he difference in the rise and fal l of th e succeding t ides i s here

as well as at the o ther s ta t ion s, deserving notice and though theequal i ty of the succeeding rise and fa l l s eviden tly depends uponcerta in rul es , yet i t i s not to be traced, at the firs t glance at l east

,

to the decrea se of the moon .

T he monsoons , and l ikewise the stand of the sun’ s sols t ice pro

bably exercise a more than common influence on these t ides a tOn rus t, n ear Batavia . N o stream of ebb and flood

,properly

speaking, was observed any more than at T aga l or Klampies thes tream which runs cannot be subj ected to any certa in ru le, nordoes the ris e and fal l of the wa ter proceed with regulari ty . T he

s tream in all d irect ion s i s much influenced by the wind,and i s

very trifl ing,seldom exceeding one mile to one m i le and a ha lf.

According to the observa t ion s tha t have been made,the dura

t ion of the rise and fa l l of the wa ter in D ecember,January

,and

February was about twelve hours,so that there 15 in one day on ly

once high wa ter and once low,sometimes

,however

,the wa ter is

longer flowing than ebbing .

In March , for some succeeding days , sma l l er tides were observedbetween them

,which being of very unequa l duration ord inarily

,

were a l terna ting in a short rise succeeding a l ong one, and vice

T he recurrence of these smal l t ides,which firs t appeared

twice or thrice in the mon th,may perhaps be brought in to con

nection with the age of the moon the n umber of days theycon tinued decreased abou t July and August, though somet imes ashort tide o f one or two hours occurred with these exception s

,

there was high and low wa ter on ly once in twen ty—four hours .In th e la tter days of August

,th e number of days when the

short t ide comes in,i t increases so that a lmost the whole mon th

,

as well as in S eptember, two tides took place in the same day,though of a very irregular dura t ion 5 then the number of dayswhen th e short t ides were observed aga in decreased

,occurring

on ly twice or thrice in th e month ; t i l l in D ecember long tidesR

2 4 4 OB S E R VA T ION S OF T H E T ID E S

almost always return,so that in this mon th there i s on ly ebb tide

each day .

H owever, supposing in January and February th e short t ide shave been overlooked

,which i s not impossible , as the character

of these was not known at the commencemen t of the observation s ,or we should be able to assign a rea son that in J uly and D ecember long t ides

,and in S eptember and February short t ides take

place,as well as between thes e mon ths , the number of days when

short t ides obta in decreases and increases ; something similar tothi s has been observed a t T aga l bu t the period of long and shortt ides does not correspond .

T here i s no peculiarity concern ing the difference of the succeeding t ides ; bu t we must not om i t to notice tha t there , as wellas at Klampies, in D ecember, January, and February , flood tidea lways comes in before noon , and this period is success ivelyretarded ; the flood t ide being observed during May in the n ight ;duringJiine in the even ing ,

during July and Augus t in the aftern oon ; in S eptember before and aftei noon ; in O ctober and

N ovember in those days where only one tide 1n one day took placebefore noon . I t i s eviden t from these fact s tha t during the eas tmon soon the flood tide comes in the afternoon and in the even ingwhile during th e wes t monsoon i t was before noon

,and in the

morning j ust the reverse of wha t has been observed at Klampies .

T hec>

period of the flood tide a t new and ful l moon , howeveri rregular i t may be in th e in terval between them , i s always abou tten o ’clock (or between 9h. 30m . and 1oh. 4 5m . ) P .M . , from Marchto D ecember— tha t i s, in the ea s t mon soon ; and at A .M . fromS ep tember to Mai ch in the west monsoon

,a s ingular corre

spondence with the observa tion s at Klampies . I t i s eviden t tha ton accoun t of th e regularity of th e t ides this period cannot beused as a mean number to cal cula t e the period of the flood tidefor other days .

T he mean ris e and fal l wasT he greates tT he smal l es t

T he greates t difference between high and low water took placei n the west monsoon

,and then especially at new and ful l moon in

the other parts of the year. T he position of the moon was notobserved having any reference to the wa ter - mark . T he h ighes twater - mark was also in the west mon soon

,and especially in

D ecember .

AZ‘Illzm to/c

,in 1756 S tra ffs (f B orneo.

At th i s place a decided stream of ebb and flood took place ,and the observa t ions s eem therefore mos t fi t to es tabl ish on thema general rule for the t ides within the archipelago, and the short

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24 6 OB S E R VA T IOJVS OF TH E T ID E S

were in their full force . Bes ides , i t deserves n otice that duringthe period when flood and ebb tide came in on ly once a day— thati s , during the common long t ides— the rises and fal l s following eachother successively increase and decreas e ; while when two t idesor middle t ides occur in a day, the succeeding rises are a l terna telygrea t and smal l

,and thus a lso the fal ls , while the difference in

the quan tum of two succeeding rises probably depends on thedecrease of the moon .

At Cori/11071, j dz

'

a .

An ebb and flood tide is here even l ess perceptible than ato ther s tation s . I t appears

,however

,from the observa tion s tha t

were made , that here, as at Klampies, on the north coas t ofMadura the stream runs especia lly with the ri sing wa ter to th eeas t , and with the fa l l ing wa ter to the west ; in the east mon soonin the n igh t

,in the wes t mon soon in the day t ime.

T he t ides are very irregula r, there being on ly once in a dayflood and ebb tide

,and sometimes of the dura tion of from n in e to

fifteen hours .T he period of the flood tide has here , as at Klampies and

Onrus t , a gen era l though regular retarda t ion— viz .

,in the eas t

mon soon,as at Klampies, the high wa ter comes in before n oon

and in the morn ing ; in S eptember early in the morn ing ; in O ctober

,N ovember

,and D ecember

,in th e n ight ; during the wes t

mon soon in the n igh t and in th e even ing ; in Apri l in the afternoon ; while th i s period i s most irregular during the turn ingmonth s .

T he mean rise and fall was ebb .

T he grea tes t 20 3

T he highest wat er - mark i s in April , and generally the e rs t and"2nd of the month .

A{f apmn

N o ebb and flood stream properly speaking , and the wholecourse of the tides very irregular . W i th the ris ing wa ter a s treamwas genera l ly observed having an ea sterly d irection ; high wa teron ly once in the same day . H ere a lso the peri od of the floodt ide appears to undergo a genera l though indefin i te annua l retarda tion— viz .

,the flood t ides during the mon ths of May and J une

take place after noon and at noon ; the ebb tide in the morn ingand abou t midn ight .In July

,Augus t, and S eptember they take place success ively

earl ier , so tha t the high water comes in O ctober about hal f-pas tfive o ’clock in the morn ing ; in D ecember abou t hal f- past one in.the morning and during the west monsoon in the night and in

IN T H E IN D IAN AR CH IPE LAG O . 24 7

the even ing and con secu t ively the flood tides aga in occur in the

afternoon . T he period of ebb and flood tides at new and fullmoon i s very irregular.

T he mean rise and fal l i sT he greatest

T he highest water - marl; was observed in O ctober.

A Macassar.

According to some observat ions of a la ter da t e tran sm i t ted tous— viz .

,during th e three firs t mon ths of 1 84 o— the t ides are very

irregular,having a close correspondence wi th the tides on the

Javan ese sea .

T he flood t ide,though with l it tl e force

,run s to th e N . E . and

the ebb tide to the S W . and either s tream muchdependen t on the wind .

D uring the full strength of the monsoons there appears longtides to preva il

,being on ly one flood and one ebb tide in twen ty

four hours ; and as at Mun tok and Onrus t during the change ofthe monsoon s p eriodica lly

,return ing short tides took place twice

in a day ; and during this period they were all short t ides of abou ts ix hours . At new and ful l moon the flood tide comes in at about611 . zom. T here i s no da i ly retarda tion of the flood tide . I tappears

,as at Klampies, on the n orth coast of Madura , tha t

during the west monsoon the high wa ter takes place in the afternoon

,and most l ikely the converse during the east mon soon .

A mean number cannot be obta ined here .

T he highest ri se was during the 3 first mon th s of 184 0, ebb .

T he mean .

I f we then compare the cours e of the t ides a t the differen tstat ion s

,there i s eviden tly observed a sen s ible difference at the

t ides withou t the archipelago— viz ,of those on the wes t coa s t

of S umatra and 011 the south coas t of Java and of Amboyna ,

from those within the Javan ese sea . H ere we are able to fix a

certa in mean number,by mean s of which the time of high water

i s to be cal culated , total ly differen t from the course of the t ideswith in the Javanese sea .

T he former i t appears follow the well - known rules of th e tidesthere i s twice in the day ebb and twice flood t ide

, and two tidestake place in the space of somewha t more than twen ty—four hoursin the whole , depending on the moon

’ s passing the meridian .

H ere we are able to fix a certa in mean number,by means of

which the time of high wa ter i s to be ca lcula ted beforehand ,to tally differen t from the course of the tides within the Javanes esea, which cannot be traced to the common ru le s they ra ther are

24 8 OB S E R VA T ION S OF T H E T ID E S

G E N E R AL T ABLE OF T H E T IDE S IN T H E E AS T INDIAN

S t t' Flood T ide a t Full D ura tion of the R ise and Fa l l of the \Va ter,

a ’On ’

and Change . or of the E bb and F lood T ide .

T wo tides in 24 hours, tha t is twice flood - tidePulo Chmco . and twice ebb ; flood and ebb- t1de abou t oi l

hours .

Ch'

l' h T wo tides in 24 hours , tha t is twice flood - tide

1 1C aD '

a nd twice ebb flood and ebb abou t bi hours .

7 T wo t ides in 24 hours twice flood andFort V1ctor1a twice ebb t1de ; flood a nd ebb tide about 6}a tAmboyna .

hours

D uring the power of the monsoons genera llyone t1de in 24 hours - \ iz ,

the rise of the wa terAfter the monsoons 1 4h . 30m , and the fa ll roh ,

two tides 111 24 hoursMuntok S h. som in the mon ths durmg the months when the monsoons change ;

when the monsoons be tween both on the return o f certam pertods

change about 711. whether a t q uarter or a t full moons the opposrte

course took place , and especia lly a t the changefrom the long t ides to short ones, a nd vice versa.

D uring the full power of the monsoons genera lly one t1de in 24 hours— the rise and fa ll abou t12h. ; two t1des 111 24 hours in the mon ths whenthe monsoons change be tween both on the re

turn of certa in pertods ; whether a t new and fullor a t q uarter, the opposite course took place a t

the change from the long t1des to the short, andVICC versa.

In the ea st m onsoon ,abou t 10h P M

, or inO nrust . the evenmg ; in west

monsoon ,abou t 10h.

A .M . , or in the mormng .

Genera lly one t ide in 24 hours during the eastmonsoons txt o t1de s m 24 hours durmg the westmonsoons ; be tween bo th a t certa in periods ; a t

T a ga l . Very irregular. new and full moon the opposue course tookplace , especia lly a t the cha nge from the longt ides to the short ones

,and V1ee versa—tha t 15 , 111

the months when the monsoons change .

E ast monsoons 9h. to

10h. .M or in the O ne tide m 24 hours ; ebb and flood t ide fromKlampies . morn ing ; in the west 9 to 15 hours ; there were no exac t observa t ions

monsoons 9h. to loh. made concermng the emstence of short t1des .

P .M . , or in the evening .

O ne t ide in 24 hours— from 8h. to 16 hours ;a a ra . VC”Jp Y 1rregular short t1des were no t observed.

E ast monsoons 8h.

Lon monJava . ln the west monsoons , a bout 8h. A .M .

()no t ide in 24 hours—from 9h . to 15h. ; shortt1des were no t observed .

N . B .—T he mea n rise and fa ll a re here the averag e of the extremes

, and the g reatest rise and fa llmo nth be taken , it is somewha t less . If the average of the mean rise and fa ll of every mon th be

E . LUCAS,

f ea r -Adm i ra l Comma n der of t/wN a : '1' 111 E a s t lmz’m

,

a nd In spector of t/w Va r'y .

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2

50 T ID E S IrV T H E IN D IAN AR CH IPE LAGO .

governed by the local i ty,the posi tion of the sun ,

and the monsoon sdepend 011 i t.W e mav however

,stat e tha t in the Javanese s ea high water i s

only once a day, and tha t bes ides these, long tides , or ra ther rise sand fal l s , which of more or less dura t ion la st together somewha tmore than twen ty - four hours . S mal l or short t ides preva il

,whose

very regular re turn depends on severa l causes,especial ly on the

mon soons and the sun ’ s solst ice . T hey may perhaps be subj ectedto a certain rule, because the na t ives of this archipelago are abl eoften to foretel l wi th grea t exactness the return of the small t ides .Al though (notwithstanding the irregular re turn of the hour ofhigh wa ter) a t new and ful l moon a t the same place the t idesgenerally return a t the same hour

,ye t these cannot be fixed a

mean number for the differen t s ta t ions upon thi s sea .

In genera l,annual ly (a l though irregular) retarda t ion of the da i ly

period of th e high wa ter,which appears al so to depend on th e

sun ’ s sol stice l ike the short or middle tides,i s a s ingular character

of the Javanese sea , or perhaps of all seas s itua ted wi thin an

archipelago .

Besides , i t must be noticed tha t the streams are stil l morei rregular than the rise and fal l of the water, and much depends onthe prevailing winds .

Order .

E . LUCAS,

R ea r Admira l, Comma nder of 11. Ill . N avyin E a st India ,

and In spee/or of Me N avy .

B y order of Me R ea r—Admiral, Commander of ili:N or/y zn E as! India

,a nd Inspector of t/ze N avy .

W . D E CON S T AN T R E B E CQU E ,

Adj n/ant and Mwoi Lieuten an t.

XXV.

REPORT O N T H E T IN OF T H E PROVINCE OF

MERGU I .

B y Captain G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E,E xeentizre E ngineer,

T enasserim D ivision .

Journal of the Asia t ic S ociety of Bengal, vol. x . pp. 845

1 . T H E tin of th is province has not been sough t for s ince theBurmese took possession of the coun try from their S iamese n eighbours . U nder the rule of the la tter

,or during the period at

which T enasserim was an independen t S ta te, exten s ive works for tinwere carried on . I t occurs chiefly in the beds and banks of streamsi ssu ing from the primitive moun ta in s

,which form the principa l

fea ture of this pen in sula ; portion s of the banks of S treams inwhich i t i s found are in some in s tances r iveted wi th rough ston ework , to confin e the wa ter for wa shing opera tion s and th e groundon ei ther s ide , for many miles a long their cours e , i s penetra ted byinnumerable pi ts from eight to ten and twelve feet deep . T racesof the work of many thousands of men are eviden t in severa lplaces . T hese pits are not connected with one another

,but seem

to have been sunk by separate sma l l parties of men,to whom

probably defin it e tasks were a ssign ed,wi th a vi ew of tracing the

tin ground,and of extracting the gravel with which the tin i s

m ixed .

T heir variable depth and th e amoun t of labour expended onthem is a tolerable indication of the success wi th which this hasbeen pursued

,and of the places in which ground might be again

perhaps opened with advan tage .2 . T he s treams themselves are rich in tin ,

which may be collected from their beds in con s iderable quan t i ties . T he processby which i t has been deposi ted for long periods

,and for many

miles a long th e line of va l leys through which they flow,appears

to be in active opera tion a t the presen t day. C rysta ls of the peroxide of tin washed down by the rivers

,and deposited with sand

gravel in the ir beds , may, by changes of the river’ s course during

the freshes,be quickly covered with a few fee t of gravel and soil .

T he older deposits have, as far as my observa tion extends at

presen t,the same a lluvia l character

,and i t would be well in future

opera tion s to have regard to the level s in wh ich the streams mayhave formerly run .

252 R E P OR T ON TH E T IN OF

T he firs t of thes e loca l i ti es which a ttracted my attention wasthe T hengdon river, i ssuing from the primitive mounta ins in theimmedia te neighbourhood of the coa l mine on the Grea t T enasserim river . I vis ited this river in the course of my survey of thecoal bas in, and found pits in grea t number a long i ts banks, of theexistence ofwhich I had been previously informed

,though the obj ect

for which they had been dug was no t known to my informan t . Onwashing some of the gravel from the bottom of one of the pits , asmall quant ity of tin was found .

3 . A S han was subsequently sen t there,and collected

gra ins of tin of the na tive peroxide in th e course of an hour anda ha lf. S pecimen N o . 1

,which is equ ivalen t to 19 ounces and

198 grains of pure tin .

4 . After l eaving the vicin i ty of the coal mine , I proceededdown the river

,and was accompan ied by the S han , who had been

employed in tin - works in the S trai t s , and to whom severa l tins treams in the Mergu i province were known . T hese are si tua tedchiefly on the Little T enasserim river

,in to which they empty

themselves . T he firs t and most accessible i s the T habawlick,which un ites with the T hakiet three miles above the j unction ofthe la tter with the l ittle T enasserim . T he mouth of the T hakieti s el even m iles from the town of T enasserim .

5. T he access to this tin ground i s by land in the dry season .

Landing at the village of T hakiet,I proceeded on foot eight miles ,

and reached the T habawlick.

6. T he in terven ing ground i s for the most part flat. Afterpassing a marsh of some exten t there i s a low ridge of hill s, whichpresents, however, no obstacle to land carriage of any descrip tion .

T he face of the coun try i s,as u sua l

,except in marshy places ,

thickly covered with j ungle trees ; but the wild elephan ts’ tracks

are open and conven i en t . D in ing the monsoon ,boats carrying

roo bags of rice, can ascend the T habawlick to the place alluded

to in one day. T he t ide i s fel t abou t'

s ix m ile s from its mouth .

7. H aving arrived at the spot at a point known to my guide ,and at which he had the previous year s tationed himself for a fewmon ths for the purpose of collecting tin

,I found numerous p i ts

and old cuttings from which tin had been formerly obtained . I ti s found in layers o f gravel immediately beneath the soi l . T he

surface i s undula t ing,and during the wet season s treams of wa ter

could have been conven i ently conducted near the excavations forthe purpose of wa shing the gravel .8 . T he gu ide sta ted tha t crystal s of tin could be in this manners eparated by the hand without the u sual aid of the washing - trough .

T he ra ins not being ‘

a t tha t t ime sufficiently advanced for tha tpurpose

,I d id not succeed in obta ining any tin from the pi ts .

T he l ine of depos it of the riches t stanniferous gravel has beenprobably influenced by many causes

,and th e chances of finding

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254 R E P OR T 02V T H E T I _/V OF

1 1 . On th e morning after reaching the T habawlick I tracedthe tin ground for a m i le in a N . N . E . direct ion . T he pits arein some parts more abundant than in others

,and I was informed

that they occurred and were thickly scattered throughout the en t irecourse of the river between that poin t and the hill s from which i tis su ed , at the distance of an entire day

’ s j ourney,i f the windings

of the river are followed .

1 2 . T he pits have not been work ed since the Burmese tookpossession of the coun try . At the head of the stream there aresa id to be the rema ins of bunds constructed for distributing waterfor washing the tin

,and the po s ts of a house sti ll s tanding

,which

i s supposed to have been occupied by a S iamese superin tenden tof the work there carried on .

T he sea son was too far advanced to enable m e to prosecute myinquiries towards the hill s on thi s occas ion

,and my a tten t ion was

therefore confined to the spot from which I obta ined the resultsdeta iled above .

13 . Four o ther rivers emptying themselves into the l esserT ena sserim are said to produce tin

,but non e are so access ible as

the T habawlick.

T he following are th e names of these s treams,wi th their

distances from the T hakiet river :T he Khamoungtang r iver, one day by the l i ttl e T enasserim,

andone march inland .

E ngdaw river, no road through the j ungle .Kyeng river

,two days by the river, and two day s inland .

T hapyn river, three days by the river, and on e march in land .

From the Khamoungtang specimen N o . 9 , weighing gra in s,

was collected in ten wa shings , but I did not visi t the place myself.T he size of the tin i s larger than tha t collected in other places

,

though th e produce i s not equal in quan t ity .

14 . After return ing to T enasserim I vis ited Loundoungin r iver,where tin was sa id to exist , but i t turned out to be W olfran sand

,

which had been washed down from the adj oin ing slate moun ta ins ,and was lying 011 the surface of the sandy bed of the stream .

15 . In proceeding down the grea t T enasserim river towa rdsMergui

,I hal ted a t Moetong for th e purpose of vis i ting a tin

ground which was said to exis t near the range of hill s to the N . E .,

skirting the open plain in which thi s place is s i tuated . O n penetrating to the hill i ts elf I found it to cons is t exclus ively of gran i te,with not a trace of another rock of any description . T he drybeds of the wa ter - courses consi sted of gran i tic sand a lone.T here were many excavat ion s for tin on the face of the hi l l .

S evera l loads of gravel from the bottom of the pits and from thebeds of the wa ter- courses were carried to th e river and washed

,

but the out - turn of t in was very small . T here i s no water withinconvenien t reach .

T H E P R OVIN CE OF Ill E R G U I . 255

16. T he next spot visited was Kahan,a smal l h il l n ear the

Zedavoun Pagoda,on the right bank of the grea t T enasserim

river,eleven miles from Mergui . T he tin occurs here under c on

ditions.differing much from that of the local i ties above men tioned .

Kahan i tsel f i s the highes t portion of a low ridge of h ills , notmore than 200 feet above the l evel of the river ; i t i s composed ofa soft, friabl e, white sandstone rock , the upper portions of whichare decomposed and irregular . T he surface gravel does not conta in tin . I t i s found in the crys tal l ized form , in terspersed in decomposed gran i te

,form ing a vein abou t three feet wide , which is

enclosed by th e white sandston e rock,and dips down at a high

angl e wi th the horizon . S pecimen N o . I O, i f i ts form be pre

s erved,i l lu stra tes well the t in crystal s imbedded in th e decomposed

gran i te wh ich are eas ily detached from the matrix . T he specimenN o . 1 1

, from the same vein , of a yel low colour, i s con s idered thesures t indica tion of the presence of the m inera l

,and l i es below

the White,N o . 1o . Large

“

scal es of chlori te occur with i t,which

,

as they are gen erally found where the tin i s most abundant,i s

cal l ed by the na t ives th e mother of tin . T he face of th e hil l i s inone spot scattered over with thes e , which appear to have beenbrought down from the vein with o ther ma tter from which the t inhas been separated by the usual mode of wash ing. I t wil l b en oticed tha t the gran i te i s completely decomposed

,and tha t the

crystal s would be ea sily separa ted by wa sh ing. N o tin has beenra i sed here since the country came i nto our possess ion ,

but thelocal ity has been known . I t was worked during th e Burmese rule

,

and va lued as supplying the richest ore of tin . A Burmese res iding n ear the spot poin ted out the place where hi s opera tion sceased . H e had followed the direction of the vein a lluded to aswell as h e was able , and had driven a gal lery underground in an

i ncl ined direction upwards , t il l the bank above fell in,when th e

min e was abandoned . H e s tated tha t he had procured con siderable quan tit ies of tin daily

,and that he often found it in large

masses m ixed with the yel low ground above mentioned . Arrivingat the spot where his work had term ina ted

,I se t people to exca

vate, and find , i f possible , th e vein which had been described . I twas reached after about two hours ’ digging

,at the depth of five

feet from the surface of the cut in the hill in which we stood . In

about a quarter of an hour a few baskets o f the decompos edgran i te were removed down the hill

,from which 3 ,goo gra ins of

the crystal l ized peroxide of tin,equa l to gra in s of pure tin

,

specimen N o . 1 2, were collected and the next day 2 gra in s

,

equal to 2 lbs . 6 oz . and 100 gra in s of pure tin,were found in

the same manner by one man’ s labour in excava ting

,one carrying

down to the water,and a third washing.

1 7. T his local ity appears to be of very promising description,

and I have l i ttl e doubt that if the work were a ided by ordinary

256 R E P OR T 02V T H E T IN OE ME R G U I .

sk il l and mean s,that a t in mine here would be productive . A

vein of t in i s in fac t exposed to the day, and would only requ irefor a cons iderable period of work the precaution of well - supportedga l leries and shafts to a l low of i ts con ten ts being eas i ly extracted .

T he Kahan hill i s,I conceive

,an indication of a va luable

repos itory of tin . I t i s bu t a quarter of a mile from the creekcommun icat ing wi th the river, which i s access ibl e to any boa t s .I ts proximity to Mergui offers also great facil ity for the procuringof labour and suppl ies .

18 . T he loca l i t ies, therefore, which appear to hold ou t the bes tprospects for tin , are : firs t

,for s tream tin , the T habawlick river

and th e T hengdon river ; and for mine tin ,the Kohan hil l . T hey

all produce tin of the same nature and qual i ty— viz ,crysta l s of

th e nat ive perox ide,being a combination of oxygen and tin only.

19 . N o difficulty would be found in procuring labour fromMergu i for carrying on tin - works at e ither of these places .

2o . T he loca t ion of the coa l min e on the grea t T enasserimriver has given ris e to much additional cultivation a long the banksof tha t river

,where there are many Kareen villages , from which

parties on the T hengdon could be suppl ied . Fru i t trees,not

indigenou s to the place,and other traces of a con s iderable p0pu

la tion having once occupied i ts banks,are observable on this river.

T he banks of the l i ttl e T enasserim are th inly occupied byS iamese villages . T he coun try in thi s direction

,except near th e

banks of the river,i s u t terly unpeopled

,and appears always to

have been so .

2 1 . Commun ication by water from the T hakiet to th e T habawl ick tin ground i s not open in the dry season ,

but the distance byland i s short. T he produce of two l ines o f coun try , that o f th evicin i ty of the grea t and l i tt l e T enasserim rivers , passes the townof T enasserim at th e j unction of these rivers , only eleven mile sfrom the T hakiet

,and no difficul ty in procuring subsistence for

working parti es on the T habawlick need be apprehended.

(S igned) G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E,Capt ,

E xecutive E ngineer, T enasserim D ivision .

1

MO U LMAIN , August 31, 184 1.

1[S ee B rit ish Burma Gazet teer, vol. i . pp. 53.

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258 CAP T . T R E AIE JVH E E R E’

S R E P OR T

bed in one spot two and a ha lf m iles removed from two otherpoints at which i t occurs to the north and sou th

,at both of which

i t i s l ikewise discovered n ear the surface by the action of thes treams T huggoo and T herabuen ,

the probabil ity therefore i s,tha t

i t i s an horizontal deposit, covering many square m ile s . Bu t withou tindulging in conj ecture

,there i s sufficien t at the local i ti es referred

to,to indicate large quan ti tie s of manganese ore , which could be

collected by penetrating through the soi l lying above i t, and

immedia tely n ear the spots in which i t i s now exposed to the day.

I t occurs in the form of the black oxide, and i s the manganeseof commerce . I t i s largely consumed in E urope in th e preparation of bleaching compounds

,and when pure i s valuabl e to the

manufacturers of glass.T he soft black ore , N o . 1

,i s a hydrate of th e peroxide of

manganes e,known under the name of wad. I t con tains of water

two equiva len ts , or 9 per cen t .Iron

,19 6 gra in s by analysis .

I ts specific gravity i sT he specific gravity of the grey peroxide N o . 4 i s

(S igned) G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E , Capt.

E x ecutive E ngineer, T enosseriln D ivision .

\‘IO U LMAIN, S eptember 11, 184 1.

XXVI I .

PARAGRAPH S T O BE ADDED T O CAPT . G . B .

T R E ME N H E E R E ’

S REPORT O N T H E T IN

OF MERGUI.

COMMUNICAT E D T O T H E AS IAT IC S OCIE T Y T H R OUGH T H E S E CR E

T AR IAT O F T H E G E N E R AL D E PAR T M E NT .

Journal of the Asia t ic S ociety of Bengal, vol. xi . pp. 24 ,

O F th e exis tence of t in in considerable quantities in the provinceof Mergu i there cannot

,from the facts above sta ted

,be much

question and from the tria l o f the produce of one man ’ s labour,

in a given t ime , there appears to be sufficien t to j ustify everyexpectat ion of a profitable employmen t of labour on an extens ivescal e.

[“ B rit ish Burma Gazet teer, vol. i . p. 64 ; 11. p. 398 .

“Journal of theIndian Archipelago ,

”vol. lll. p.

ON T H E T IN OF M E R G U 1. 259

T he places at which the tria l s were made were not selected as

the best from previou s information,but were arrived at more by

acciden t than design, and the s tann iferou s gravel and sand col

lected where the bed was tolerably level , st ream slack , and wherethe grea tes t deposit appeared to have recen tly occurred .

N o part of the bed of the T habawlick which was examinedwas found wholly desti tute of tin , and i t i s reasonabl e to concludethat the ore exist s in numerous spots

,especia l ly in the vicin i ty of

the hil ls from which the streams arise,in far grea ter abundance

than i s shown above .T he resul ts

,therefore

,which are given in deta i l

,can on ly be

considered rough approxima t ions to the quan t ity of t in thes estreams would afford

,and to the probable ou t - turn with an esta

blishment properly superin tended . Much economy in labourmight be effected in collecting the sand and gravel for th ewashers, bu t no better mode could , I think , be adopted in s eparat ing the tin in the firs t in stance than by people accustomed towork wi th the flat

,con ica l - shaped troughs before described . T he

quan ti ty obtainable wou ld fully repay the employment of men inthis operat ion .

T he t in,as produced by the washers, should be placed on

mping boards,and water conducted over i t from a trough pierced

with holes for the purpose,in order to get rid of foreign particle s

and i t wou ld then,after being finely pounded , be ready for

smel ting . Of al l metal s, tin i s in thi s proces s the leas t trouble

some after the ore i s freed from the earthy and s il icious particleswith which in other coun tries i t i s often mixed .

T he crysta ll ized form in which it here occurs renders i ts s eparation extremely easy

,and the whole proces s o f stamping and

dress ing, which in E ngland are t edious and expensive , can thusb e dispen sed with . N o ars en ic or sulphur being mixed with theore, i t n eed not be roasted before i t i s placed in the smeltingfurnace .I t would thus appear that the t in of the Mergui province offers

no ordinary inducement to the outlay of capi tal,withou t much of

the risk , uncerta inty, and large previou s ou tlay usually attendingmining adventures .

G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E , Capt.

S upt. of Forests , T enasserinz P rovince.

260 S E CON D R E P OR T

XXVI I I .

S ECOND REPORT O N T H E T IN OF MERGU I .

B y Cap t . G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E ,E xecutive E ngineer,

T enasserim D ivision .

Journal of the Asiatic S ociety of Bengal, vol. x i. pp. 839

N O 3373 .

Franz t/zeMi/itc ny B oardi

T o Me Hon . W . W . BIR D, D eputy Governor of B engal.

FO R T W ILLIAM, I st Octooer 1842.

H ONOU R AB LE S IR ,— In continuation of our l etter N o . 3403 ,

dated th e roth O ctober 1 84 1 , we have the honour to s ubmit inorigina l Capta in T remenheere

’s l e tter, N o . 1 83 , dated the 27th

Augus t last , together with h is second report on the tin of Mergu i ,and t o recommend tha t a copy of th i s report, and a l so of the on efor warded with our letter above alluded to , with the specimen s o ft in

,may be transmitted to the au thorit ies in E ngland, or to Pro

fessor R oyle .2nd . T he S uperintending E ngineer has reported to u s that h e

has received from Capta in T remenheere three more boxes o fspecimens . T hese we have cal led for

,and when received in th i s

office they shall also be forwarded to Government .W e have, &c . ,

(S igned) J . H . PAT T O N , C/zief Magistrate.

J. CH E APE , Lieutenant- Colonel.

T . M . T AYLO R ,Lieutenant- Colonel.

A. I R VINE,Maj or.

N o . 183 .

T o Maj or R . FIT ZGE R ALD ,

S uperintending E ngineer, S out/i- eczst Provinces

,Fort I/Vi/iianz.

S IR , —I have the honour to forward by the H .C . s teamerE nterprise my second report on the tin of the Mergu i Province

,

and to advise you of the despatch by the same opportun i ty o fthree boxes of specimen s

,the contents of which are enumerated

in the report .

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262 S E CON D B E B OR T

information than I was able to give in my hurri ed commun icationof May las t, alluded to in the second paragraph of th i s letter .

(S igned) G . B . T R E M E N H E E R E , Capta in .

E eeez'

t'edfronz t/zeJililz'

ta zy B oara’oy Order of Government, for Me

[Museum of E eononzie Geology of Ind ia .

H aving in th e s ix teen th and seven teen th paragraph s Of my firs treport

, Of August 3 1 las t , directed a tten t ion to a rich deposi t oftin exis ting at Kahan

,on the T enasserim river, a few miles from

Mergu i,I have now to add the fol lowing informat ion which has

been since collected respecting this local i ty . E xperimen tal opera tion s have been in progress there s ince the end of Apri l las t,by order of th e commiss ioner and under th e direction of Mr.Corbin , assi s tant to the commissioner at Mergui , with a view toascerta in the valu e of th e spot for min ing purposes

,and I am

happy to have i t in my power to state that thes e have beenattended with compl ete success . More than eight hundredweight

(8 cwt .) of clean ore of the pure oxide Of t in ready for smel tinghas been collected by a gang of convicts

,and was despatched

from Mergu i on J uly 18 ; thi s has been received at Moulmain ,

together with some bulky specimens from the same hil l of macledcrystal s of tin or quartz, which in weigh t and i n s ize O f thecrystal s surpass anything I have seen in Cornwall or in cab inetselsewhere .

2 . In the early part of May I proceeded to Mergui ons teamer Ganges , and on the 10th of tha t month visitedin company with Mr . Blundell and Mr. Corbin . T he survey ofthe hill

,plan of which is forwarded h erewi th

,was made on the

following day. I t wil l be seen therein,and by the port ion of the

map on the same sheet,copied from Capta in Lloyd ’ s survey of

the coast,that Kahan is one O f severa l smal l detached hil ls upon

wha t may be termed the island of Mergui,formed by two branches

of the T enasserim ,one of which debouches a few miles to th e

north Of Mergu i and the O ther to the south , which is divided n earthe sea into numerous chann el s by flat mangrove ground . T he

genera l surface of the island i tsel f i s O f level a l luvial soil,from

which these smal l i solated hil l s ri s e abruptly unconnected witheach other

,and detached entirely from the high gran i te and slate

ranges which stretch a long the pen insula . E xcept a smal l connec ted group at the town of Mergui , thes e have all the same exterior character

,bu t Kahan i s the only one in which tin has

been found in situ. I t occurs here imbedded in decomposedgran ite

,con sis t ing of a large proport ion of fel spar completely

decomposed,termed kaol in or china - clay

,with quartz and mica

,

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z64 S E CON D R E P OR T

ascertained from them,that those. who understood th e work and

laboured ten hours a day collected one and a half viss of cl eanore per man but a very rich vein was not un frequently met withfrom which more than double that quan ti ty cou ld be Obta ined inthe same t ime . N o machinery was u sed, and the tin was procured by surface workings only. T he produce

,or cl ean peroxide

of tin was sold on the spot at the ra te of five or five and a hal ft ical s of s i lver for ten viss Of ore

,which yielded on an average

seven ty per cent . of metal . T he meta l was at that p eriod sellingin the bazaar at 100 t ical s of s ilver for 100 viss of tin . T hereare 100 t ical s in a viss

, and 100 viss 363 lbs . avoirdupois .5. On arriving a t Kahan we found that the working party had

reopened the bed Of ore at the spo t at which I found i t las t year,

on the ea st face of the h ill,marked A in the plan . At th is spo t

,

which is fifty- five feet above the level of the rice - fields and 600feet horizon ta l di s tance from the foot of the mpe, a pi t twelvefeet deep had been dug

,the lower part o f which was sufficien tly

roomy to a l low a man to work easily with a pickaxe . T he pi twas an irregular four - s ided figure of the following shape and

dimen s ions,the three short s ides being inner

mos t n ext the vein,and apparently compris

ing i ts total thickness at that poin t as far ascould then be ascertained . All the threesides and the en tire depth of the p i t consisted

of decomposed grani te full o f smal l bunches and s trings of t inore of varying length and thickness

,composed of crystal s of th e

pure Oxide of tin , aggrega ted loosely together, and easily separabl efrom the ma trix in which i t i s imbedded . T his is ex tremely softand friable

,and I was able , with the sharp edge of a Burman

daw,

” to cu t down the sides of a pit, and expose fresh bunchesof ore at every stroke . I t i s a l so remarkable for the large sca le sand crystal s of m ica i t con tain s, the plates of wh ich are readilyseparated

,and for the abundance and whitenes s of the kaol in

,or

decomposed fel spar,of which the mass i s chiefly composed

,and

to which the quartz appears to bear bu t a smal l proportion . R ed

sandston e touches thi s decomposed gran i te, and in the p i t alludedto looks l ike the enclosing rock of a vein which is only slightlyincl ined from the vertical . A good sample of the ore has beencollected here

,and some rich specimens showing i t in the matrix

as taken from the p i t.6 . T he convicts had a l so been employed sinking p its near thebase of the hill in other places

,and had succeeded in obta ining

at the north - eas t extremity, at th e poin t 0, some very rich specimen s of the ore

,embedded in ma teria l s imilar to that above men

tioned,angular as before , and apparently from another part o f

the vein , or very near i t . T his was afterwards placed beyondmuch ques tion , for at the poin t B at the south - wes t extremity of

2 feet

41 teen

ON T H E T IN OF .ME R G U ] . 265

the h il l,and 280 fee t from A , but on the reverse slope, the vein

was aga in exposed to the day by a few hours ’ digging , and tin

collected whil e we were there . T his poin t i s 4 3 feet abovethe level Of the new field s on the west

,at 550 fe et horizon ta l

d istance from them,and the Burmese had worked there abou t

twenty years ago , as was apparent by the washing tank , s i tua tedon the l evel ground near it. I t wil l be Observed on the plantha t the poin ts A, B , C, turn ou t to be in a direct l ine A and B

correspond very closely both in substance and in eleva t ion,and

are doubtless part of the same vein,or mas s of tin - bearing rock ;

and i t s eems probable that thi s wil l be found to extend n ear thesurface a long the whole length of the h ill , or 600 yards , access ibleby mere pit digging

,or by a s tra ight gal lery throughou t i ts whole

exten t . I t has been seen in thickness three and a - half feet , andin depth twelve feet 5 bu t it s entire breadth and depth i s

,in the

presen t stage of the workings , involved in some uncertain ty, andcan on ly be a scertained by min ing opera tions systematically conducted . T he upper decomposed portions of gran i te which havebeen exposed to view at the surface, appear but indication s of amost valuabl e repository Of tin . T he sandstone in contact withi t i s highly inclined to the horizon and holds no wa ter, bu t thi s i sprocurable with in three or four feet of the surface at the base ofthe hill

,and could be easily ra ised for washing the ore by mean s

of a'

Chinese Wheel , or by the cha in and rag pump,or by any

s imple proces s. T he hil l i tself is not ten minutes ’ wa lk from themain river

,and a tidal creek touches i ts south -wes t extremity near

B , and another the northe ast at c,by either of which the pro

duce of a mine can be carried away at high wa ter . T he northernmos t creek i s access ibl e by large boats to W i thin 300 yards of thebas e of the hil l .

7. On Jun e the 15th Mr. Corbin writes that two pits had beensunk to the depth of 18 feet on the ridge to the left of thesmal l pagoda

,between the poin ts B and A

,in which the stratum

was found to be very thick and rich in tin . A pi t near the pagodai tself has been sunk to n early the same depth

,and a very good

thick s tratum of tin soil found . Another on th e east face,

half- way down the s lope from A,where work had been formerly

carried 011, had also produced some very good ore ; bu t as theground had been much burrowed in former times

,the surface soil

was not very safe. Mr. Corbin , on the above da te , despatched toMoulmain 80 vis s of the clean ore

,which has been s ince received .

On the 18th Ju ly thi s gentleman informed me tha t,owing to

heavy and incessan t ra in for fifteen or twen ty days success ively,

the whol e of the p its,having no artificial support , had fal len in ,

before which , however, 1 70 viss more of clean ed ore had beencollected, as wel l as the large specimen s before al luded to . T heseare specimens of great weight and richness, consisting of large

266 S E CON D R E P OR T

macled crystal s of t in on quartz,and contain more tin in propor

t ion to their bulk than any specimen s I have before seen . T he

largest, which measured abou t 14 inches square by 12 deep,was

so heavy as to require some exertion to hold i t s teadily in bothhands . Mr. Corbin had directed the whole of the upper soil atthe pits on th e ridge between B and A to be removed

,and the

convicts are still engaged in collecting tin from them . T he stra tumof t in soil

,he says

,i s exceedingly thick here 3 he has ascerta ined

i t t o be upwards of 12 feet . I t i s found,Mr. Corbin s ta tes , im

mediately “ below the sandston e rock,and con s is ts principal ly of

quartz and mica,with apparently a sma l l proportion of the sand

ston e , giving i t a reddish colour. In some spots where the micapredomina tes i t appears dark yellow

,in thi s the ore i s found

scattered in masses,bu t lower down it a ssumes the general

form of whiti sh clay,where the ore i s very l ittle seen but in

washing . T he hill in this neighbourhood was in former days muchburrowed, a pit with short ga l leries being met wi thin a very fewfeet .T he following i s a l is t of specimen s accompanying thi s report,

which are i l lu s trative of the produce of the KahanN o . I .

—A box con tain ing abou t twenty- one vis s Of clean ore ofthe native peroxide of tin .

N O . 2 ,— S pecimen s of various s izes

,not selected for their rich

ness,bu t showing the mode of occurrence of the tin ore in small

s trings and bunches,imbedded in the matrix of decomposed

gran i te 3 some of these con si s t of n early pure kaolin or soft felspar

,in others mica and quartz predominate .

N o . 3.—S pecimens of pure kaolin

,from the upper part of the

excavations at A and B .

N o . 4 .— S pecimens of macl ed crystal s of peroxide of t in or

quartz taken from a p it D,between B and A. W i th this, several

s imilar and larger p ieces were found in the loose soil at the bottom of what was apparently an old Burmese shaft

,and though

Mr . Corbin writes , on the oth of Augus t, tha t no more had beenmet wi th

,i t appears from the extreme richness of the specimens

to b e a valuable indication of wha t may be found at greaterdepth s than have been h itherto penetrated . T hey existed probabl y in a cavi ty O f the gran i te ma ss

,before i t was dis integrated

by a tmospheric causes , and wherein the large crystal s of quartzand tin were deposi ted .

8 . Ore rich in tin has now been found at seven different partsof the hill

,chiefly in the l in e B A C, but near A,

at more than 100

feet to the east of thi s direction,and Mr. Blundell

,who has j us t

returned from Mergu i , informs me tha t Mr . Corbin i s pursu ingh is excavat ion s to th e westward of th is l ine

,towards th e highes t

par t of the hill , and tha t the farther they proceed in this direction ,the richer the ore becomes . T hi s i s scarcely

,therefore

,the

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268 S E CON D R E P OR T

landed,l eaving the nullah s dry at th i s s eason 5 their s ides are

muddy,but in the m iddl e i s a smal l clear gravelly space in which

t in ore i s found . T he Chinamen say th is ore i s precisely of thesame description as that of Kahan

,but from the accounts of the

native s i t always sold at ten per cent . l e ss .T his inferiori ty, which i s marked by it s sel l ing price , i s owing to

the mixture of W olfram sand before men tioned,which from being

very n early of the same specific gravity as t in,i s d ifficul t t o

s eparate . I t has l ikewise a strong sulphureous smell , and wouldrequire to be roasted before i t is put in the smel ting furnace . T he

presence of tungsta te of Iron with s tream tin in the Mergu i Province is very common

,i t has apparen tly an exten s ive dis tribu t ion

i n some of the m inor ranges n ear the sea,and becomes mixed

with the t in in the beds of s treams,after both are detached from

thei r original s i tes . N early all the specimen s of ore brough t byMr. Corbin las t year from the Malewan

,on the Packhan r iver,

con tain i t in such abundance as would most l ikely interfere materially with the profitable working of tin in many of those local ities .I t was not presen t wi th the stream tin procured las t year from theT habawlick

,the T hengdon ,

and other rivers eas t of the town ofT enasserim .

1 2 . T wo hundred viss of th e Yahmon t in - ore, in addition towhat has been a lready men t ioned

,i s expected by the next oppor

tunity from Mergui , as wel l as a sample from the T habawlickriver

,which I vis i ted and reported on las t year . S ome Malays

have been there collecting the ore , and have agreed to supply i tat half the selling price of smelted tin , or abou t forty - five rupee sper 100 viss .An analys is of the Yahmon ore gave per cent .

O f metal l ic irontungstic acidsulphur

E arthy residue andt in not examined

I O O'

OO

T he Kahan ore gave on analysi s per cen t . of meta l lic i rononly

,and i s bel ieved to be fre e from the tungsta te of iron and

sulphur.13 . N o accurate s tatemen t can be made of the probabl e cos t

of obtain ing the cl eaned ore at Kahan from the ou tlay which hasbeen la tely incurred . Convicts a l one, who were before quite unaccustomed to th e work , have been employed , and for thi s labourno cost appears . Chinese labourers , who understand the processof washing and smel ting , are to be procured in any numbers , andmany who have heard that enquiries have been la tely on foot concerning tin have come already from T acopah to Mergu i in search

ON T H E T IN OF ME R G U I . 269

of work . T hey arrive in poverty, and are glad to accept the wagesof common coolies in plan tation work

,&c .

, t i ll better employment i s to be had. Advances of mon ey for subsis tence , and toenable them to make the requis i te preparat ions for getting the ore ,both in tools

,wheelwork, troughs , &c . , are only necessary for com

mencing Operation s to any extent at Kahan , or at any of the mos tava ilabl e s ites of stream tin . T he wages of Chinese miners i n th epen in sula are said to be from five to eigh t dollars per month 5 butthey would be found ready to s tipulate for the payment of theirlabour by a certain fixed proportion of the produce. At the D utchmines I am told they are remunerated by forty per cen t . of th eactua l produce , the remain ing sixty being the clear profi t and property of G overnmen t, which has been found at Banca and in theS tra i ts to be the best mode of paying them . T hey are in min ingoperat ions

,as well as in common labour, more skil ful and indus

trions than any class In the E ast which I am acqua in ted with . Byrul e 4 th, concerning gran t s of was te forest and j ungle land, published at Moulmain on ro th May 184 1 a tax not exceedirig tenper cen t . i s l eviable on the par t of Governmen t on the gross produce of min es worked with in the l imits of any grant .T he freight of tin from Mergu i to Penang with the present craft

(China junks), plying between the two places , would be two rupeesfour annas per 100 viss of 365 lb s . Freight from Penang to Chinaby the Penang price current of April last was 55 to 65 cen ts perp icul . T o W hampoa about 50 cents more than to Lintin .

From Penang to Calcu tta , eight annas to one rupee per p icul .to Bombay

,ten annas to one rupee

to London , £ 1 per ton of 20 cwt .

T he freight of the metal from Mergu i to London,via Penang

,

may be taken at 2s . 6d. per cwt.14 . T he annual produce of the Banca mines was sta ted by S ir

S . R affles in 1827 to be picu l s , but owing to the substitut ion of late years of Chinese workmen throughout , to whom them ines are farmed , for the less productive labour of the nat ives, th eou t - turn has been since nearly doubled . Mr . O ’

R eilly informsme that in 18 4 1 the actua l produce was piculs

,but a con

siderable reduction in the amount obta ined from the Ma layanpen in sula, south or Junk Ceylon , has taken place within th i speriod

,chiefly owing to dissen sion s amongs t the petty chiefs on

the east coast . In 1835, picul s were assigned by E ns ignN ewbold as the annua l produce of these s tates , bu t the totalamoun t from thence may now

, I understand, be estimated atabou t piculs , and from Banca,

“

picu ls , or tons .

270 S E CON D R E P OR T

In th is most extensive t in region , compris ing the whol e of th eMalayan pen insula

,the mos t exten sive known reposi tory of this

metal,there i s sufficient evidence collected that many conven ien t

and valuable local i ties exis t within the l imits of our own terri tory .

T he northernmost poin t at which i t i s known in the T enasserimprovinces i s amongst the highes t range s near T avoy

,where in

the T ounq - byouk valley i t has been seen by th e R ev. Mr. Mason,

and traces of former works observed above Kaboung and on theT alinqguwa , twen ty mil es north of T avoy. A specimen of verysmall gra in ed tin from th is local i ty has been recently brought fromT avoy by Mr . Blundell . I t was washed ou t o f al luvial soil

,and

stated to occur more plen tiful ly and sometimes in p ieces at greaterdepths . T he local i ty i s said to be near granite h ill s

,and from

the occurrence of tin with th e al luvia l soil s, i t exi sts probably ingreat abundance in the hills themselves . T o the northward ofthis I have not heard of i t, but in Karrecnee

,the country of the

red Kareans,on th e Burmese s ide of the S alween river

,in 18

north lat itude, the meta l has been obtained by Captain W arwickfrom the na tives at the rate of abou t twenty - five rupees per 100

viss, who states that a cons iderable quantity of tin i s ob ta inabl e

there at that cost by indirect barter, for beads , broad cloth , andcoloured cottons . I t appears by a good specimen of rolled tin

s tone in the possess ion of a native at Mergui , which Mr . Blundel lhas shown me

,that near the head of th e Palouk river, abou t thirty

miles north of Mergui,t in ore exists, and the specimen exhibi ts

t in in terspersed in a rock very much resembl ing the ore of th eCornish mines . T he existence of t in in the Palouk river wasknown

,and th e la t e Dr. H elfer proceeded on one occasion to

examine it,but owing to indisposit ion was obliged to return with

ou t effecting his purpose . Between the n eighbourhood of Mergu iand the Pakchon river, our southern boundary, i t also occurs atB okpyeen ,

and in many streams n ear the coa s t , but has not beenmuch sought for

,as th is part of the province is an uninterrupted

jungle,with scarcely any inhabitants .

15. All the t in sites in the Mergu i province are bel ieved to behealthy . Kahan i s s i tuated on the bank of a large river

,where i t

i s more than a mile broad,and a few miles only from the sea 5

while the spot i tsel f i s open , and the level ground entirely freefrom j ungl e . T he coa l m ine la tely worked on the T enasserimr iver

,s ixty- four miles from Mergui , i s farther inland than any of

the tin local i tie s yet known ,and the country around i s clothed with

j ungle to the summits of the h ighes t hi ll s 5 the parties of convictsemployed there from D ecember 1840 to O ctober 184 1 were no tsubj ected to any remarkable degree of sickness , i f their daily employmen t at hard labour and con sequent exposure i s taken intocon sidera tion . T he E uropean overseers and mechan ics underLieu t . Hu tch inson were perfectly hea l thy, and th e fol lowing tabl e

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272 A N ALYS IS OF IR OIV OR E S

XXIX .

ANALY S IS OF I RON ORE S FROM T AVOY

A N D MERGU I , AN D OF LIME S T ONE FROM

MERGUI .

B y Dr. A. U R E,London .

Communica ted for t/ze .M'

nseunz E conomic Geology of India OyE . A. BLUND E LL

,E sq .

,Commissioner

,T enasseriin P rovinces .

Journa l o f the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal, vol. x11. pp. 236—239 ]

O N the right bank of the T avoy river,opposite the town of T avoy

,

run s a range of low hill s at a distance from the river varying fromone and a hal f to three miles

,formed apparen tly of magnet ic iron

ore . T he range extends a distance of five or six m iles . At abouti ts northern extremity, on the summit of a hil l about 1 50 feet inh eight

,i s found the large proj ecting rock mentioned in page 28 of

Dr. H elfer’ s second report . T his rock i s abou t one and a hal fm ile distant in a direct l ine to the bank of th e river

,to a spot

i tself dis tant about three miles north of the town of T avoy . T hi srock is highly magnetic on its northern s ide . (According to th eexpress ion of the natives

,i t i s al ive on i ts northern and dead on

i ts southern side . ) T he hil l appears entirely formed of this ore,

and at the bottom of i t are to be found the rolled masses of fromtwo to twen ty lbs . men tioned by Dr. H elfer. Between th e hil land the river are rice fields, through which runs a small nul lah , andhaving between the hill and the field s abou t a quarter of a mile ofh igh ground wel l adapted for bui ldings

,and on which high ground

are found the roll ed masses or boulders above alluded to . T he

nullah can convey boa ts of three to four ton s hal f- way throughthe rice fields . T he same descrip tion answers for the whole exten tof th e range of low iron hil l s , having h ere and there small nu llahscommun icat ing wi th the river . T h is ore was once worked by theBurmese during the t ime of an expedition agains t S iam ,

for ironto make swords , kn ives , spears , and other weapons . Peopl e weres ent from Ava to smelt i t , but the proces s appears unknown to th eT avoyers. T here are s til l to be seen the pi ts in which i t wassmelted

,with the scoriae around the edges . T he quan ti ty of the

ore appears inexhaustible .Limestone i s procurable in the province

,and no doubt many

locali t ie s of i t wil l be d iscovered . T he on ly one yet properlyascerta ined exist s abou t fifteen m il es to the eas tward of T avoy

,

acces sibl e by water to within a distance of two miles by smal lboats of half a ton burthen . Between the locali ty and the stream

PR O/ll T A VOY AN D ME R G U I . 2 73

the land is level and high , affording facili ty for a road . T he

quantity i s abundan t .Charcoa l may be made with ea se , owing to the abundance ofexcellen t wood in the coun try adapted to i t .N o. 1 .

— Pieces of ore knocked off the large rock mentioned byDr. H elfer in page 28 of his report .N o . 2.

—Pieces of ore dug up in the neighbourhood of the abovelarge rock .

N o . 3 .— R olled masses of iron ore p icked up on the high

ground , between the h il l and the rice field .

Mergui— About ten miles S W . of the town of Mergui i s an

i sland, comprising a hill about 200 feet in height , formed apparently of iron ore. T he i sland is perfectly access ibl e to boa ts ofevery description

,and you land on large masse s of rock, which

prove to be the iron ore from which the soi l has been washedaway . T he hill ris ing abruptly from the wa ter

,may be about a

mile in circumference,and i s wholly formed of the ore, having a

rich bed of soil. A s im ilar island,equal ly access ibl e , i s formed

about four m i les to the southward of the one above mentioned .

I t i s not known tha t this ore has ever been worked , and theprocess seems unknown to the people of Mergu i .Limestone i s found in severa l access ible local i tie s on the main

branch of the T ena sserim river,not far above the old town of that

name . S pecimen s accompany the iron ore .N o . I .

— Boulders of iron ore picked up at the landing - placesof the island above men tioned

,

N o . 2 .—Pieces knocked off large masses at landing—place .

N o. 3 .

— Pieces dug up on the hill .N o. 4 .

— S pecimen s of l imestone .

LON DO N , 13 CHAR LOT T E S T R E E T , B E DFOR D S Q U AR E ,

26t/z'

N ov. 184 2 .

I have now the pleasure of handing you the deta ils of my examination and analys is of the severa l ores of iron and the l imes tonesfrom T avoy and Mergui

,with which I have been almost con stantly

occupied during the last fortn ight .I st. Compact magnetic iron ore — T avoy N o . I .

Colour iron black with a meta l l ic glimmer 5 fracture fine grained 5possesses magnetic polari ty 5 specific gravi ty, 3

°

5 1 1 5 compared towa terI t yields in analysis the following consti tuent sPeroxide of iron 86 '

5 equivalent to 60°

55 metal .S ilica with a trace of phospha te of l ime 3 5

W ater

I OO'

O

2 74 .4a YS IS Of f 113ON OR E S

I t con ta ins no manganes e or titan ium .

zud. Compact magnetic iron ore— T avoy N O . 4 .

E xternal and magnetic characters as above .S pecific gravity, 3 4 62 .

I t yields in analysi s

Peroxide of iron equal to metal .S il ica , with a trace of phosphat e of l ime .

W ater

I O O'

O

I t contain s neither mangan ese nor t itan ium .

3rd . T avoy ore N o . 2 .— E xternal characters as above .

S pecific gravity , 4 3 694 th. T avoy ore N o . 3 .

—Characters as above , as to aspect andmagneti sm .

S pecific gravi ty , 4 1 00 .

T he two la tter samples are even richer than the former, as i sevinced by the specific gravity, but they are all quite rich enoughand pure enough for making the best qual i ty of bar- i ron and steel .I in stituted two elaborat e se ts of experimen ts in search of

t i tan ium,which

,when presen t in any notable quan ti ty in iron ores,

renders the iron made from them red - ho t , but I found none inthe above ores . In the first set of experiments I trea ted the oreas follows — I added to its solution in n i tro -muriat ic acid so muchtartaric acid as to render all the oxides unprecipitable by ammonia .

I n ext added ammon ia in excess , and afterwards hydro - sulphuretof ammon ia , which throws down al l the metal s except t i tan ium .

T he whole being thrown upon a fil ter, afforded a colourles s l iqu id ,which evapora ted to drynes s , and careful ly ign i ted in a pla tinumcup

,l eft no trace of titan ic acid , which i t would have done had

any of tha t meta l exi sted in the ore .

T he second set of experimen ts for t i tan ium cons isted in tran smi tting sulphuretted hydrogen in excess through the Intro -muriaticsolution of the ore , in then add ing ammon ia in excess

,the effect

of which i s to precipi tate both the iron and ti tan ium . But theprecipitate when diges ted with sulphurous acid

,has i ts iron dis

solved,while the ti tan ic acid wil l rema in undissolved as a wh ite

powder. By this mean s a l so no dis tinct evidence of titan iumcould be obtained .

sth. T he l imestone from T avoy has a specific gravity of 27 ,and

i s a perfectly pure, semi - crystal line carbona te of l ime , akin tostatuary marble . I t i s well adapted to act as a flux in the smeltingof iron .

T he three samples of i ron ores from Mergu i are brown hema

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276 VIS I T T O T IIE PAA’

CIIAIV R I VE R

fi rs t t en m il e s i t i s very slightly con tracted in breadth, and has

l i ttl e of the character of a river,but of a capaciou s inl e t of the

sea . T o th is distance we carried not l ess than four fathom water,

but for the mos t part six and seven . After proceeding thus far,

we turned in to the Malewan river,and anchored at about one

and a half m i le in a north - wes t direction ,for the purpose of com

municating wi th the British settlemen t of tha t name. T he n extday, proceeding eight miles higher up the ma in river, we anchoredin three fa thoms abrea s t the confluence of the grea t Kaman river

,

beyond wh ich,th e river being much con tracted by sandbanks

,

the steamer could not proceed . From thence we moved in boa ts,

and arrived at Pakchan in eigh t hours— the distance , as surveyedby Capta in R . R oss , commanding the H oogly ,

being thirty m iles .T he river narrows gradua lly

,and from th e great Kaman pa sses

through level coun try 5 approaching Pakchan ,hill s aga in appear

,

and i t becomes very tortuous,at which spot i t is about fifty yards

broad,wi th a ri se and fa l l of tide of eigh t feet at the springs .

3 . T he governor of Pakchan,a Chinaman ,

informed Mr . Blundel l that th e chief of Peechapooree, who had been deputed by theS iam Government to meet him ,

had arrived at Pakchan punctua llyon March 1 5 after wa i ting ten days

,he had retired to Chimpohun ,

on the pla in of the ea s t s ide of the pen insula . I t was thereforedetermined tha t Dr. R ichardson

,as sistan t to th e commissioner

,

should go to the ch ief and invi te h is return to the proj ected con

ference . Accordingly,Dr. R icha rdson and myself, wi th a few of

our own followers,commenced our j ourney on foo t a l i ttl e after

five A .M .

, the prospect of cross ing the pen insula being an obj ec tof pecul iar in terest .Following general ly th e cours e of a small s tream called the

K raa,which j oin s the ma in river at Pakchan

,we proceeded by a

good and clear road of ten to fifteen feet wide through the j ungletowards the Kraa Pa ss

,distan t three mil es in a north - ea s t d irce

t ion . T he road here turns to the south of eas t,and the pass

,

which i s not in trica te,leads for some distance a long the bed of

the rivule t , and termina tes to the south - ea s t a t six and five- s ixthm iles from Pakchan . H ere the grea tes t a l ti tude i s a ttainedbetween th e val ley of the Pakchan and the a l luvial pla ins on theeast s ide of the pen in sula

,for soon after

,at 8 . 7 A M , we came

upon the wa ters of the Chimpohun ,runn ing in an easterly

d irect ion towards the G ulf of S iam 5 the country then begins toslope gradually to the eas t . At A.M. we hal ted twohours for refreshmen t by the s ide of the Chimpohun , at a spotwhere there are three or four houses

,having the name of Banta

pakchan . W e here observed a canoe,which can be floa ted to

Chimpohun during the ra ins, and i f n ecessary to the gulf i tself.From thence the road con tinues good . I t crosses the Chimpohunvery frequently, besides many dry ravines which communicate

AN D S O U T II T E tVAS S E R I zl/ PR O VIN CE S . 2 77

with i t ; the banks of th ese , where crossed by the road , have not

more than thirty or thirty - five feet of abrup t declivi ty,the res t of

the ground being very regular , and partaking of the genera l slopeof the coun try . At 3 P .M .

, having walked seventeen and a hal fmiles

,we fell in with an elephan t, and inducing th e driver to take

u s on,were rel ieved from further persona l exertion . T he firs t

eight m i le s of the eastern s lope of the pass have the grea tes t fa l l,

after which the descen t i s easy til l we reach the a lluvia l pla in ofChimpohun . N earing this pla in

,at 5 R M. we observed the influ

ence of the tide in the river,and at reached Chimpohun .

T he pla in i s covered with rice - fields, bearing signs of abundan tcrops , as far as could be observed , on all s ides , and i s bounded bya range of hill s bending in a curved direction to the south - eas t .S ome of these , n ear the pla in , have much the same i sola ted and

abrupt character as the l imestone hil ls n ear Maulma in . Afterha lf an hour ’ s delay

,th e headman forwarded u s on fresh elephan ts

to the camp of the chief,which we found at T a sapaow,

three and

a half miles distan t further east,and reached i t at 8 P .M .

, the en tired is tance between Pakchan and T asapaow being n early twen ty—eigh tm iles .4 . W e were here hosp itably trea ted

,and vis i ted the chief early

the following morn ing. After a sl ight dinner,Dr. R ichardson

succeeded in inducing him to re turn and con fer with Mr . Blundell ,whom he expressed himself anxiou s to meet . H is encampmen twas on the right bank of the Chimpohun ,

where the river i s about180 yards broad , runn ing through a level coun try over a sandybed free from obstruction s

,and with a rise and fa ll of t ide of

about six fee t at the springs . T he depth of wa ter a t 8 A .M . on

Ma rch I 3 was six feet,with a ris ing tide . I t commun ica te s

directly W i th the G ulf of S iam ,from which

,by the bes t informa tion,

we were distan t five m iles . A sea—going boa t of about thirty ton swas under a shed at thi s spot 5 but j unks trading on the S iamcoas t do not pass beyond T ayang

,a town four m iles eas t of T asa

paow and within a mile of the sea . T ime would not admi t of ourgoing to the coas t

,as Mr. Blundel l and the res t of the party were

expecting our speedy return to Pakchan . T he distance of T asa

paow from the sea,as above given

,may I think be rel ied on

,

having been obta ined from one of our own people,who had for

merly res ided some t ime a t Chimpohun. T he protraction of myrou te a lso, with these five mi les added makes the ea s t coas t o fthe pen insula correspond

,W ithin one

“

m ile short,with i ts longitude

by H orsburgh’

s chart . T he dis tance therefore between Pakchanand the coa s t of the Gulf of S iam is thirty- two m il es

,and the

entire breadth of the pen insula a t this poin t from the B ay ofBengal to the Gulf is as n early as possible s ixty m i les .5. After receiving the chief’s return visi t

,elephant s were pro

vided to take u s back to Pakchan . W e s tarted at 1 1 A .M .

,and

278 VIS I T T O T IIE PAK CIIAN R I VE R

hal ted for the n igh t ori the Chimpohun river at a shed abou t hal fway, named T acumlae, and reached Pakchan the n ext day, March14 , at 2 P .M . O n the way back I pa id particular atten t ion to theinclina tion of the coun try , with a v iew of forming a probable est ima te of the eleva tion of the top of the Kraa Pass , where the headwa ters of the Kraa and the Chimpohun ri se , and I am of op in iontha t the d i fference of l evel between tha t point and the pla in s atChimpohun and Pakchan does not exceed 4 50 feet. Along th een t ire route between these two places

,or twen ty - three m iles , run

ning wa ter was crossed thirty - two times,besides which there are

numerous dry nullahs before men t ioned,which would b e occa

sionally unfordable during the ra in s .T he road is never more than 100 feet above the bed of

,

th eriver course 5 i t has an easy slope, and except at the cross ings ofthe s treams and nullahs is now passable by guns 5 but no part ofthe road would during the dry season presen t any difficulty to thepassage of an army .

6 . S om e specula tions having appeared la tely in the columnsof the M aulma in C/zronicle

,on the practicabil i ty o f carrying a

cana l acros s th e i sthmus of Kraa , whereby ships m igh t pass by ashort route to India and China , ins tead of round the Ma layanpen insula

,I am induced to offer some observa t ion s

,under the

idea that inquiries on the subj ect might probably be made at somefuture period .

From the t ida l waters of the Pakchan flowing westward to th eB ay of Bengal , to those of the Chimpohun runn ing eastward tothe Gulf of S iam

,I pa id as much a tten tion to the slopes and faci

lities for such a work as the nature of our j ourney a l lowed, andwhile no work of thi s description

,where the physica l d ifficulties

are not absolutely in surmoun table,ought perhaps to be pronounced

impracticable,I have no hesita tion in saying tha t the scheme

alluded to is not in my opin ion rea sonably practicable .

On a rough estima t e,I a ssume 4 50 fee t as the greates t ris e of

ground between the two seas,and i f we suppose the line of road

to be 100 feet above the level of the bed of the wa ter - courses ofthe pa ss as they n ow exis t

,and deduct tha t from the above , i t wil l

l eave 350 feet of excava t ion ,chiefly in solid rock , to b e effected

a t the head of the pass,to which the depth of the ship channe l

would rema in to be added .

As no sh ips come higher up than the second anchorage of theH ooghly

,or twen ty - five m iles in a direct l ine below Pakchan , the

l ength of the cana l would be increa sed by that dis tance , as well ,i n all probabil i ty

,by the five m i les beyond T asapaow,

as th erivers on tha t S ide of the pen insula are known to be genera llyobstructed by ba rs of sand . Both the Kraa and Chimpohun r iversare very sma l l s t ream s at this season , runn ing over rocky beds ,and no supply of fresh wa ter could , I think, be depended on from

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AN D S O U T H T E N AS S E R IIII PR OVI N CE S . 279

either,to feed such a cana l

,or tha t would be suflicient a t any

period of the year to supply the lo ss by absorption and evaporat ion . An approx imate section of the ground is given on theaccompanying plan

,by which i t will appear tha t the probable

cut ting for such a canal,supposing i t s width 100 fee t and of

rectangular form,would be on the lowes t ca lcula tion as follows

Leng t/c. B rea d t/z. D ept/c. Culzic Feet .From the Grea t Kawan

R iver to Pakchan 25 miles 100 feet 60 fee tFrom Pakchan to top of

Kraa Pass + 100 + 380 2 =

From top of pass to a springmarked i n the map 16

From the Spring to T asapaow 5From T asapaow to the gulf 5

l S olid feet o f640’00°

excava t ion

which,supposing that one man excava ted during the en t ire work

twen ty cubic feet per day, and placed it where i t was even tually torema in ,

and tha t one man ’ s labour i s there worth one rupee perday

,would cost eighteen m il l ion s sterl ing.

1

7. H aving rema in ed at Pakchan during the 1 5th for the purposeof the conference between the S iam chief and Mr. Blundel l

,which

took place on the morning of tha t day, we l eft the p lace the sam eeven ing

,and rej o ined the steamer again in eight hours . On th e

16th we dropped down to our firs t anchorage,and on the sam e

day V is i ted the settlemen t of Malewan,which is on a branch of

the Malewan about seven m i le s from i ts j unction w i th the Pak ~

chan . On the flood t ide j unks of twen ty or thirty ton s can

approach it bu t at low tide there i s n o water to floa t the sma l le s tcanoe.Malewan i s but a recen t settl emen t, and i s particularly in teres t

i ng as being the on ly spot in these provinces where people haveloca ted themselves for the purpose of collecting tin . Althoughinhabited on ly for three years , there are a lready abou t 100 Chinese,1 60 Ma lays

,and about as many S iamese on the spot ; more than

500 in a ll,including women and children . T he surface of th e

coun try is plea singly undulated,having a range of high hil ls

b etween i t and the sea . I t possesses a rich mois t soil, highlyfavourable to cultiva tion . T he sugar—can e shown to us was oflarge size , and the areca tree , which in other parts of T enasserimdoes not fru it t ill the seven th or eighth year

,was seen here in

flower after be ing three years in the ground . T wo heavy fall s ofrain occurred whil e we were in thi s n eighbourhood

,and i t would

1[W ith this opin ion as to the impract icability of a cana l across the isthmus

agrees also tha t of Commande r A . J . Lo ftus ; see his “ No tes o f a Journeyacross the Isthmus of Kra

”(S ingapore,

2[For a more recen t descript ion of Ma - lee-won , see

“B ritish BurmaGazet teer, ” vol. ii . pp. 350 f. ]

3 80 VIS I T T O T H E PAKCHAN R I VE R

appear that i ts cl ima te,more resembling that of Penang than any

other part of our coast,would be well adapted

,wi th the advan

tages of soi l before men t ioned,to the cul tiva tion of nutmegs ,

spices, &c .

8 . T he S iamese and Malays are occupied principal ly in clearingfor cul tivation

,and the Chinese are the principa l adven turers in

tin . T he head Chinaman has establ ished a s tore of provis ions ,consi sting of every description of supply sui ted to the wan t s o fthe people about him

,which he exchanges for tin ore to those

who may be industriou s enough to collect i t . O f this he hadthree or four ton s on hand

,from which sample A was taken . I t

i s precisely s imilar to specimens I have forwarded on other occas ions , and consists of pure peroxide of tin ,

collected by washingfrom the beds of s treams in that n eighbourhood .

On the 1 7th I proceeded to a spot which one of the Chinamenhad fixed on for a stream work

,and reached i t after walking

between four and five miles .T he s tream is one of the tributaries of the Malewan , marked

N o . 1 in the plan . T heir principal work was not on the ma ins tream

,the cours e of which we had followed to reach the place ,

but on a smal l branch,which then a fforded wa ter scarcely suffi

cien t to clean and exhibi t a sample of the ore dug ou t wi th i tssand and gravel s be fore me . T his t in soil consi sted of fine greysand , mixed with quartz and gran i te pebbles, and was taken fromnear the surface of the bed of the wa ter - cours e 5 i t was not heremore than eighteen inches deep

,for as soon as the iron p ick with

which i t was loosened penetrated to the clay,they seemed a ssured

there was no tin below. T he subsoi l all around i s sa id to con ta intin

, the deposit of former periods, and in some of their excavat ions I observed soil precisely s imilar to that from which tin waswashed on the lower l evel s . From its occurrence so n ear thesurface in existing wa ter- courses

,which from their s lope must

become rapids during the ra ins,I infer that tin must be washed

down from i ts source in con s iderabl e quantities every year .T he trough used for wash ing is circular

,abou t eighteen inches

in diameter and s ix inches deep , in which the sand and gravel i sp il ed and washed

,as before described

,by a rotary motion of the

hand . S pecimens of the soi l and of the produce of separa t ewashings are sen t

,numbered 1 . D uring the dry season l ittle or

nothing i s done in collecting tin,bu t prepara t ions only are made

by trenching for con s iderable dis tances along the brow or downthe slopes of the adj acen t h ill

,to obta in a fal l o f water during the

ra ins. U nder this the soil i s collected,when the sand and pebble s

are washed away, l eaving the tin behind . S ome of these trencheswere from ten to twelve feet deep

,and one of abou t three fee t

deep was n early two hundred yards in length . T he fal l s oobtained saves the laborious process of washing with the trough

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282 VIS I T T O T H E PAK CHAN R I VE R

local i t ie s ever attract the E uropean capi tal i s t,of whose notice I

believe them to be wel l worthy, the proper S phere for the scien tific

m iner should be in the hill s themselves . T here,i f a l i ttl e cautiou s

investigat ion were previously made by practised men in s earch ofa spot for m in ing opera tions

,the u se of the common horse whim,

or the most ordinary dra in ing appara tus , would in my opin ion ,in

the cours e of a very short time,discover vein s which i t would be

very profitable to follow ou t wi th more complete and expen s iveappara tus .

1 1 . After my return from th e tinworks we left Malewan ,and

proceeding next day down the river , anchored a t the mouth of theR henong river for the purpose of vis iting the S iamese t inworksand smelting establishmen t on the southern or S iamese s ide of thePakchan . T his t ida l creek i s n early dry at low wa ter, but smal lj unks come up with the flood ; i t narrows con siderably at threemiles from i ts entrance

,and i s very circu itous 5 after three hours

’

pul l in a boa t in a S . E . direction,we reached the settlemen t of

R henong.

T he l eading people here are Chines e , who have a high - fencedenclosure about eighty yards square

,one s ide of which is occupied

by the smel ting establ i shmen t . A few women were employed ins ifting tin ore ‘* through a fine s ieve . On ly one furnace or largecrucibl e abou t four feet high

,of con ica l form ,

and three fee tdiameter at top , formed of baked clay, appeared to be in u se 5this was well worn

,and a new one wa s there ready to replace i t .

One pounding or stamping machine,with a t il ting bar worked by

th e foot , the Chinese bellows , and heaps of charcoal , were all theappara tus vis ible . N o t in i s collected except during the ra in s , andthe village did not con ta in more than fifty fam i l ie s in all.

T he duty said to be pa id to S iam by the Chinaman i s six tonso f smel ted tin per annum

,for which he enj oys an en tire monopoly .

T he collectors of the ore are pa id a nom ina l price of two dollarsfor eighteen vis s of ore

,but a s th e paymen t i s made by small

ingots of tin,the on ly currency in use

,the actua l va lu e received by

workmen ,according to the pres en t sel ling price of the me tal , i s

e ight rupees per hundred vis s of ore,the same quan tity being at

Mergu i worth forty rupees . I t appeared from the informat ion wewere able to collec t of the reported arriva l s of j unks at R henongfor cargoes of tin

,tha t not more than from s ix ty to seven ty ton s

are produced per annum . T he spot i tself having a bold range ofgran i te hill s n ear

,with l evel rice ground between i t and the s tream ,

has a very pleas ing appearance . A few women were engaged incollecting tin ore in a clear s tream runn ing over gran i te boulders ,within a few minu t es ’ wa lk of the place

,and the produce of severa l

s eparate wa shings from the trough was taken and noted , the result

S pecimen B .

AN D S O U T H T E IVAS S E R IIPI P R OVIN CE S . 283

of which,compared to those of Malewan

,81

0,will be found

below.

* T heir principa l s tream works are a day ’ s j ourn ey distan ttowards the hills

,which we could not vis i t .

1 2 . W i th the fall ing tide we rej oined the s teamer,and soon

a fter stood between the islands to the northward towards B okpyen ,

1

one of our own settlemen ts,and visited som e of the islands on our

way . T he most remarkable of these are the bird ’ s n est rocks , ofwhich we inspected two , the T urrets and the E lephan ts 5 theyconsis t of fine picturesque masses of l imeston e rock

,which stand

boldly up, and presen t a perpendicular wa l l to the sea , with deepwa ter al l round them . T he edible n ests of the smal l martin , somuch prized in China as to sell sometimes for more than theirweigh t in s ilver

,are found on the sides of chimney - l ike cavities ,

which extend from the summit of the rock more than 200 feetabove the sea , having a smal l cavernous open ing

,with room

enough on ly to admit a boa t at l ow wa ter .13 . B okpyen , which is marked in Captain Lloyd

’ s chart , thoughnot included in the sketch herewi th

,i s a n ea t and flouri shing Vll

lage,con ta ining about 98 houses, or 4 00 inhabi tan ts in all: T hey

are chiefly of Ma lay extraction,and occupied in the cul tiva t ion of

rice,the collection of rattan s

,fishing

,& c . T he B okpyen river

produces tin,and during the S iamese rule large tinworks are sa id

to have existed . A channel for running wa ter, the remain s ofwhich are now traceable

,i s reported to have extended over a con

siderable dis tance by aqueducts and cuttings , which is presumpt iveevidence of the abundance of tin in the neighbouring hil ls .Little or none i s collected now. O ne man brought u s a very goodsample in a bamboo 5 from this he sa id he had s ifted the finegra ined tin

,which he had ei ther sold or smel ted

,and , not knowing

wha t to do wi th the large p ieces , had kep t themd” T hes e were

lumps of pure peroxide of tin , measuring from i to g of an inch ,withou t any quartz or earthy ma tter adhering , and this he cal ledrefuse tin

,

” which was no use to him— a fa ir sample of the ignorance with which tinworking is conducted in these loca l i ti es .

14 . T he following is a compara t ive s ta temen t of the produce ofsepara te washings from a troughful of tin - soil

,each wa sh ing

occupy ing five minu tes in fi l l ing from the bed of the s tream and

cleaning, as exhibited by the specimen s sen t and numbered

S pecimen N o . 5.

1[1 his is the place called B hootpyeng in the British Burma Gazet teer , ’

vol. ii. p. I 3 i . ]'l' S pecimen C .

3 84 VIS I T T O T H E PAKCHAN R I VE R .

of sepaLocality Malewan , N o . 1 . ra te \Va shing s in

G rams T roy .

Average of eachin G ra ins T roy .

Malewan ,

Malewan,

Malewan ,N o . 4

R ehnong, N o. 5

B okpyen , N O . 6

A good specimen collected at B okpyen ,by two men in abou t

twenty m inutes,weighed gra ins . T he specimen s marked

by an asterisk are sen t in dupl ica te wi th this report . 1

G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E , Capt.

E x ecutive E ngineer, Zenasscrizn D ivision .

MAU LMAIN , April 8 , 1843.

l Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. iii. pp. 376-

401, 724 - 743 ]

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286 R E P OR T OE A R O U T E FR OIII T H E

at low water over th e bar at th e mouth , though vessel s comingfrom the north

,in s ide the i sland , have to run some l ittl e way

southerly to avoid an exten s ive spi t of sand which runs partlyacross the en trance to the river.

3 . On the north s ide, the righ t or British bank of the stream ,

are the t in mines of Malewoon ,which are

,we believe

,workable to

any extent to which money and labour are procurable . On theother s ide are the tin m ines of R ahnong, worked by the S iameseGovernment .4 . Col lecting on the evening of the 3 rst March al l the instrumen ts n ecessary for a rough survey, a perambula tor, compass, andaneroid , we l eft the steamer in a nat ive boat with a flood tide

, and

proceeded up this river,which forms the boundary between the

British possess ion s in thes e provinces and the S iamese terri tories .A fog came on ,

and we were obliged to anchor for some t ime .

W e arrived , however, at Krau , by 4 R M . of th e I st April .

5. Krau i s a S han village of some fifty houses wi th a fewChin ese inhabi tants . T he civi l au thority was absen t a ttendinghi s superior at T soompeon , the chief place of the district, andwhere a W oondouk, a functionary equal in authority to our depu tycomm issioner, resided .

6. At Krau we rested th e n ight in a good zayat,which had

been prepared for the aforesa id chief civil au thority,who visi ts

periodically h i s dis trict on thi s the wes tern s ide of h is Maj esty o fB ankok

’s southern domin ions . W e had some difficul ty in pro

curing means of locomotion , in consequence of there being no onet o give orders upon our wishes , bu t j us t as we were s tarting thenext morn ing (2nd April), wi th some four or five cool ies we hadmanaged to procure , an el ephan t made its appearance

, and wewere enabled to proceed a l i t tle more comfortably than we hadanticipa ted .

7. W e commenced on the 2nd April a route survey across acoun try which we bel ieve i s quite unknown to and has n ever beent raversed by E uropeans . T here is a good l evel cleared road forthe firs t two miles , and to the th ird m ile i t rises and passes alongthe right bank of the Krau river. T he forest on each s ide con

tained bamboos and trees , as men tioned in the plan . U p to al i ttl e short of the eighth mil e the road follows the course of theK rau river, and i s difficult— we had to wade for a mile throughthe stream , which was not, however , more than ankle deep , butfal l ing every now and then over rocks

,wi th banks about twen ty

or th irty feet high , and forty feet apart . At thi s t ime the ra incommenced , and fel l with l ittl e intermiss ion t il l we returned toKrau .

8 . At the eighth mile we arrived at th e watershed of the country

,a smal l grassy plain . T he Krau river runs hence wes t to j oin

the Pakchan at Krau 5 and a quarter of a mile further on , a river

rlIO U T H OF T H E PAKCIIAN T O KR A U .

cal l ed the B ankren , j oining the T soompeon at T a san (I i, mile),flows to the Gulf of S iam on the east .

9 . At T asan i s another zayat s imila r to tha t at Krau , with a fewhouses and dry cultiva tion . W e con tinued to cross and recrossthe T soompeon river to the ten th mile . At miles

, aftercross ing tributaries of smal l breadth but wi th s teep banks

,we go t

aga in to the T soompeon , where i t was some 200 feet wide,but of

l ittl e depth . T he j ungle rema ined of the same character,and the

na ture of the coun try,as the pa th descended to the plains pa ss ing

through low bu t steep hills,was very similar to that in the a scent

from Krau to T asan .

10. At 1 7% miles we got to Apay, another zaya t, and were glad tores t for the n ight

,for

,in addi tion to the walking over very rough

ground and for m i les through the rivers, wet throughout, the ra inhad brought ou t the leeches , which a ttacked u s most unmercifully .

T he firs t indica t ion of their attacks was finding our trousers coveredwith blood . Our las t resource was to tie th e trousers round theankles so as to preven t them getting in side , but even then , unl esssome one was looking after u s while engaged in tak ing angles orreading the perambula tor, i f we s tood stil l for any t ime , we foundthem lodge in our necks . T he amoun t of blood these creaturestake from one before becoming aware of i t i s rea lly exhaus ting

, and

i t i s therefore desirable to wa rn others .1 1 . T he n ight was fine

,the ra in was reserved till daylight for

our special benefi t 5 crossed a tolerably s ized (80 feet) river j us tbeyond Apay, and another at the twen t ieth mile , a tributary of theT soompeon . W e came to the end of the hills at the twen tys econd m ile, and en tered upon a fine open coun try, with pa tcheso f j ungle and garden and paddy lands , capable of any amoun t ofcultivation .

At the twen ty - second m ile the hi ll s s tretched away to the southward

,and seemed to run east

,para l lel with our course about a

mile and a ha lf to the n orthward , and, as we fancied , a long thel eft bank of the T soompeon r iver .At the twen ty- th ird and twen ty—fifth miles , crossed anotherriver of 1 20 feet in breadth , the margin of which was much cultivated

,and we con t inued a long (about half a m il e from) the left

bank of th is river, which seem s to be th e Pah-K long, j oining theT soompeon near i ts mouth , to the twen ty - n inth mile

,a fter which

,

at a distance of thirty m ile s from Krau,we recrossed the T soom

peon where i t i s abou t 200 feet broad, and arrived at the res idenceof the chief civil authority of thi s district , who received us mostkindly at about noon of the 3rd April .

1 2 . T soompeon i s a large place of some four or five hundredhouses

,with a wa ter commun ica t ion of twenty miles with the G ulf

of S iam . W e thought of con tinuing our j ourn ey down the streamthe same day, bu t the heavy rain tha t fel l was even more persuas ive

288 R E P OR T OF A R O U T E FR OIII T H E

than th e k ind and pol i te old governor,who

,as soon as we had

made up our minds to remain till next morn ing,placed every

th ing tha t weary travellers could requ ire at our d isposal,and

ordered boa ts to be in readiness for u s at 2 A .M. (4 th April), whenthe ebb made . T here i s a rise and fall of tide here of abou t s ixfeet .

13 . S tarted at 2 A .M . of the 4 th of April , and proceeded downa very winding stream to the mouth of the river

,open ing into th e

G ulf of S iam , where we arrived at A .M ., or in about three and

a hal f hours , having the tide with us . H ere we landed and founda fine villa , in some disrepair 5 th is was said to be th e k ing

’ sres idence when he came to this part of h is domin ions . H is

s team ers were said to come in two days from Bankok , and fuel(billets of wood) in quan t i ties (abou t pieces)was collected .

T here was a schooner of abou t 150 ton s lying off the shore atabout fifty yards distance

,in five fa thoms of water, but there i s a

bar,above where the schooner lay, across the mouth of the river

T soompeon ,with on ly one and a ha l f fathom over i t at low wa ter .

T here would be no difficulty in making wharves for large ships,

and,so far as we could observe , there would be no d ifficulty in

making roads from T soompeon to thi s place . W e found storehouses here

,with a couple of 32 - pounder carronades

,belonging

,

as we supposed,to the k ing’ s s teamers , though we a sked no ques

t ions abou t them . From the genera l appearance of the bui ldings,

&c .,we think i t i s a place not open to severe s torms or heavy

sea . T hi s i s confirmed by an extract from Commander R ichards ’“ Gul f of S iam ,

" taken from the Bankok calendar, sta t ing thath eavy gal es are unknown in the gulf.” W i th a view of estab

lishing a commun ica tion across the Is thmu s of Krau , i t would ben eces sary accurately to determine several points which wouldrender such commun ica tion practicabl e with reference to the Gul fof S iam ,

as we had a scertained with regard to our own side ; th isthe t ime and commissaria t at our disposa l preven ted us doingsa tisfactori ly

,and we did not wish to exhibi t a curiosi ty by ask ing

too many questions,which might have proved offens ive to a friendly

power . W e made the distance from T soompeon to the seashore ,twenty- one m iles

,making the total d istance from Krau to the shore

of the gulf abou t fifty miles .14 . At 75 P .M.

, 4 ih April , we returned to T soompeon ,survey

ing the river roughly we passed T ayoung, abou t four miles fromthe mouth

,a short distance up a creek which here fal l s in to th e

T soompeon 5 we were told tha t two vessel s of some 200 ton s wereloading there . T ayoung i s large, said to consis t of some 200

hou ses . We had not t ime to land, as we wished to get back toApay thi s n ight .

15. W e arrived at T soompeon at me A.M ., and after much

c ivil i ty,which we hereby acknowledge, from Payar T eet, the

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290 R E P OR T OF A R O U T E FR OM TH E

into provinces which con ta in minera l weal th in known and nu

known quan ti ties 5 wealth which merely requ ires labour to developto any exten t

,and in search of which the Chinese even now find

their weary way, bu t who would then come in large numbers,especially as the new treaty a l lows them to emigrate with theirfam il i es . Much and valuable informa tion regarding the grea tmineral weal th of these pi ovinces may be found in some in teres ting papers by Colonel T remenheere, Benga l E ngineers , and Professors H elfer and O ldham .

17. T he T ables annexed,I . , I I . , and I I I . , show th e economy

of fuel,establ ishmen t

,and t ime which would be arrived at by

establ ishing easy commun ication acros s the i sthmus . A canal weconsider out of the question . A ra ilroad i s not on ly quite praeticable, but l ikely to cost les s per mile than any other in I ndia.

T able I . exhibi ts the co sts of th e present l ineof s teamers per mon th

,withou t taking in to con

s idera t ion the expenses of idle vessels, or anyinciden ta l expen ses wha tever

,merely the cost

o f fuel and establ ishmen t per trip for runn ingsteamers , as kep t up by the P . and O . Com

pany from Ceylon , via S ingapore to H ongKong R s.

T able I I . th e cos t of ditto (kept up, webelieve

,by Messrs . Apear 81 C0. direct from

Cal cutta to H ong- Kong Via S ingaporeT able I I I . the ditto of ditto

,kep t up

by C . and B . S . N . Company, from Calcutta toMaulmein viaAkyab and R angoon

T otal cos t of present arrangemen t p er month R s. 0 0

zud. T able I . shows aga in the cost of a l ine runn ing from Ceylon to K rau and from G ul f ofS iam (T ayoung) to H ong - Kong . R s .

T able I I . the cost of a l in e from Cal

cutta via Akyab, R angoon , Maulmein,T avoy

,

Mergu i , and S iam ,and thence per China line

to H ong- Kong .

T ota l cost of two l ines which wouldan swer allthe purposes of the presen t three l ines . R s .

3rd . T he saving therefore which would be derived by commerce and the travel ling world

,by establ ish ing a communicat ion

across the I s thmus of Krau (provided i t be qu ick and efficient), bythe mere calcula tion of saving of fuel and establ ishmen t of runn ingsteamers , will be represented by the sum of R s .

M O U T H OF T H E PAKCHAN T O K R A U .

x ) per mensem,or R s . per annum 5 which sum ,

a t 5 per cen t ., would give a capita l of 100 lakhs,or one mill ion

s terl ing .

4 th. T he tables do not show,however

,the vas t further saving

which would accrue by runn ing two l ines of s teamers,in s tead of

three , in the B ay of Benga l , and one l in e ins tead of two on theChina side of the S iamese and Ma lay Pen insula 5 the reduction ofthe number of steamers

,the saving thereby of s teamers lying idle

while not runn ing, the concen trat ion of coa l depOts, and manyother incidental expense s which of cours e increase according tothe number of l ines running .

5th. T he tables aga in do not show wha t a vastly more profitable undertaking i t would be to run one through l in e fromCalcutta viaAkyab

,and R angoon to the Pakchan and thence to

China , ins tead of one with a terminus in land atMaulmein , gettingno traffic as compared with tha t which would open up to thethrough l ine

,and another l in e direct from Calcutta to China ,

on ly touching at the S tra i ts S ettlemen ts .oth. T he twelve million s trade (if posi tive, bu t which i s probably only a transit trade) of S ingapore , Malacca

,and Penang ,

and the fourteen and a quarter mill ions of N etherlands - India,

could easi ly command a steamer of its own , to run a l terna tely one ither side of the Malayan Peninsula

,communicating with Krau on

th e one s ide for the B ay of Bengal , and T ayoung on th e Gul f ofS iam ,

on the other for China and E urope, as shown by dottedgreen l ines on the genera l sketch map. I t may occur to somethat the cost of thi s s teamer should be deducted from the savingcalcula ted in the third clause . W e think not

,but there is much

more than sufficien t for i t ; and we may place this cost again s tthat o f the other priva te s teamers between Ca lcutta and H ongKong via S ingapore, not included in our ! ca lcula t ions .

7th. From Poin t de Galle to the five- fa thom anchorage in th ePakchan river, and from T ayoung, in the Gulf of S iam ,

to H ongKong , T able I . shows to be 28 1 hours

’ s team (more or less doesnot ma tter for calcula t ion , as the same ra te of steaming is taken forall), while the route vifi. S ingapore i s shown to be 337 hours

’ s team .

W e calcula te , as hereafter shown , tha t the passage across theI s thmu s of Krau would not ordinarily occupy more than twelvehours , with a libera l al lowance of t ime .W e have therefore a difference of time in favour of the Krauroute [337 1 2 5 28 1 1 2] of 56 hours . T his is of much importancewhen we hold in view the costly nature of the produce and goodsconveyed . I t has also long been a desidera tum to have a weeklycommun ication with E ngland

,but the immense cost o f pu tting on

four s teamers per mon th from Calcu tta to Aden has hitherto,we

suppose,deterred the P . and O . CO.

,as they would thereby obta in

no extra trade.

292 R E P OR T OF A R O U T E FR OM T H E

But suppos ing the communication through Krau establ ished ,the extra trade that would be brought by th e exten s ion of the l ineof P . and O . Co .

’

s vessel s to K rau would pay for an extra steamerbetween Poin t de Galle and Aden

,by mean s of which

,by making

i t mee t the Bombay ma i l a t Aden by bi- monthly steamer s fromC eylon via K rau

,the commun ica t ion between E ngland and

Ca lcut ta would be weekly 5 twice per mon th by the P . and O . Co .

’

s

l ine vifi Poin t de Ga l l e and Madras,and twice by the ves sel s vizi

Krau to Ca l cu tta ; thu s providing for the whole of th e ea s terncoast of the B ay of Benga l via Krau, as th e P . and O . Co . doesfor i ts western coast via Madras . T he time from Ceylon to

Ca lcu tta via Krau (by the direct s teamer as hereafter mentioned)would be as follows

Ceylon t o KrauKrau to Calcu tta

Or 9% days

N early as quick as the rou te Via Madras .8 th . By T able including three hours ’ s toppage at Akyab

,

twelve a t R angoon,twelve a t Maulmein

,three at T avoy (Mamoo

gan), without going up the river, and three at Mergu i (the trade ofth e two latter places being about five lakhs), th e number of hoursbetween Calcutta and Krau by those places i s shown to b e

(14 3 33) 1 76 5whil e the further progres s to China from T ayoungwould be abou t 153 hours , or with twelve hours across the I s thmusof Krau

,a tota l d i s tance of (14 3 33 1 2 1 53) 34 1 hours . T he

d irect l ine of China s teamers touching at S ingapore wou ld probablydelay

,ordinarily , s ix hours at Penang and twelve at S ingapore ;

this added to the steam distance gives 360 hours, making a difference in poin t of t ime in favour of the Krau route vid Akyabof n ineteen hours , while th e latter p ick s up all the trade . T he

valuable goods (opium especially) and the ma i l from E nglandm igh t be sen t by a s ingle steamer runn ing twice a mon th to andfrom Calcutta to K rau . T he cost of thi s steamer i s shown inT able IV.

,and the capi tal for con struction of ra i lroad would b e

reduced to 75 5much more than sufficien t , however. T hisarrangemen t of runn ing a s teamer direct to Krau from Ca lcuttawould bea t the d irect l ine to China via S ingapore by n in ety - thre ehours

,a s fol lows

From Cal cutta to KrauKrau to T ayoungT ayoung to H ong - Kong

T otal 267

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294 R E P OR T OF A R O U T E FR O/II T H E

Krau , which shal l also beat al l presen t l ines in poin t of the th irdand most valuable i tem

,t ime

, we think i t unnecessary to examinein to the contingent saving which

,to any one who wil l give in telli

gen t cons idera tion to them,wi ll man ifestly appear enormous .

19 . In t he third claus e of the seventeenth paragraph we haveshown the saving in fuel and es tabl ishmen t of runn ing steamersto be five lakhs per annum

,represen ting a capita l of one million

s terling. Can the commun icat ion by Krau be establ ished withinthi s sum ? I f so

,all the con tingen t savings and ga in in t ime go

to the profi t of trade, as well as any difference between th e cost

of the said commun ica t ion and the keep ing of i t up . Our con

s ideration of the subj ect of the commun ica t ion across,the I s thmus

of Krau has brought us to the following conclusion sI st. T ha t there should be two or three tug steamers with long

flat- bottomed boats to carry goods and passengers from the fivefa thom anchorage of the large s teamers , twen ty - s ix miles up th eriver Pakchan

,as shown in the sketch map of the i s thmus by the

dotted green l ine,in which distance the river i s nowhere less than

one fathom at dead low water spring tides . T here i s a rise and

fal l of eight feet . T ime,three hours’ towing .

2nd. At thi s point (see plan) opposi te N amoy river, a railwayterminus and hotel whence a railway will proceed (l eaving Krau tothe north) by T asan to T soompeon on the shore of the Gulf o fS iam

,distance fifty mi l es . T ime, three hours .

3rd . Al low other six hours for discharging in th e Pakchan andloading at T ayoung on the S iam side (where there should beanother ra i lway terminus and hotel), total t ime twelve hours ,which i s more than that requ ired by the P . and 0. Co . a t S uez , onwhose arrangemen ts we will suggest further improvements .4 th. T here need be on ly one stat ion in th e cen tre of the l inewhere the rail should be double on either side for the distance ofabout one mile

,to a l low of tra in s pass ing 5 the remainder of the

l ine may be single , a s the S uez l ine .

5th. T he boa ts of eight or ten ton s for the river s erv ice shou ldform the bodies of th e carriages for th e ra ilroad service, pa ten tsl ips being formed at the K rau terminus

,and i f necessary also on

the Gulf of S iam shore,up which the loaded boa ts may be dragged

on their own wheels,which could form the slip cradles

,and the

boats could be tacked 011 to the engine and proceed to the others ide withou t any delay . T he arrangemen t of the boa ts for goodsand passengers i s a matter of deta i l easi ly managed . T here is

no reason why a carriage should not be in the form of a boa t,especia lly when t ime is saved in loading and expense in roll ings tock . T hese boa ts would be at the anchorage ready for th es teamers as they come in from the mouth , when loaded would betowed up to the ra i lway terminus , dragged up the sl ips , and takenoff at once per ra i l to T ayoung, where there should be a wharf

M O U T H Of f T H E PAKCHAN T O KR A U .

for the China steamers to l ie alongside i f there be wa ter enough 5i f not, the carriage should be launched a t once on to the sea and

sen t to the S teamers .oth. W e would here observe aga in tha t our survey was rough ,

tha t we merely passed along the nat ive l ine (which i s wel l defined ,but in many places in the beds of rivers) with perambula tor,compass

, and aneroid 5 tha t our aneroid showed no height abovethe sea of more than seven ty - five feet 5 and tha t our rou tepresen ted no obstacl e of engineering difficul ty beyond dips tonullahs

,ordinarily twen ty or thirty feet wide

,with some three or

four rivers from one to two hundred feet wide . A careful surveywould be n ecessary .

7th. W e would,however

,recommend very li ttl e masonry, though

lime and fuel for bricks are in abundance ; but the vas t and inexhaustible forests through which the lin e passes are ful l of timbersu i table for sleepers

,for bridges

,for s tat ion s and wharfs , and for

fuel for the locomotives 5 all that would be requ ired from E nglandwould be plan t

,permanen t way, and rol ling stock , th e labour for

the work being procurable from China to any amoun t .8th. W e wil l doubl e wha t , in our own somewha t experienced

minds,would be the cos t of such a ra i lroad across the i s thmus ,

and put down the amount at per m i le , including s tation s ,wharfs

,hotel s

,coal sheds

,&c . ,

and roll ing s tock for fifty miles ofrail 250 000. For the river service three tug

.

steamers , wi th al lthe advan tages of disconnecting engines

,towing with a s ingl e

hawser,&c .

,which the T hames tugs possess at each ,

equal toT welve coalbarges at£800 .

R olling stock, 50 miles

Con t ingencies at 50 per cen t . , includingbuoying river

T otal

01 say one- th ird of a mill ion sterl ing . But there i s the in teres t ona capital of one million of mon ey saved every year in fuel ande stabl ishmen t of runn ing steamers a lone . : S urely i t must be worthwhil e expending such a capita l in establi shing this communicat ion .

20. W e therefore think that, withou t reference to the dangerou snavigation

,the S tra i t s l ine should be abandoned as a commun i

cat ion between India and E urope and China , as the old Cap e ofG ood H ope l ine was abandoned for the S uez l ine . Con sidering,however

,the difficulties of the S traits naviga tion ,

and peculiari tyof the China S ea

,the s teamers would probably do all th e work

and beat sa il ing vessel s off the field,which they cannot do now

because the presen t charges upon s teamers are so heavy ; thi s wil lb e modified by adopting the Krau route .

296 R E P OR T OE A R O U T E FR OIII T H E

2 1 . T he extra service required to give a weekly ma i l to Calcut taby a single extra steamer runn ing twice a mon th between Adenand Poin t de Ga ll e might be wel l undertaken by the P . and O . Co .

,

as wel l as the whole service (by a lower class of steamers , however, on the China s ide than i s at presen t employed) betweenC eylon and Krau

, and Gulf of S iam and H ong -Kong . T he

compan ies runn ing the direct l ines of steamers between Ca l cu t taand H ong - Kong vié S ingapore

,and the l ine between Calcutta via

Akyab , &c .

, and Maulmein,migh t

,advan tageously to themselves

and to the public,amalgama te

,and run one steamer twice a mon th

d i rect to Krau to meet the China and E urope steamers returningdirect to Calcu tta 5 two from Calcu tta via Akyab , R angoon ,

and

Maulmein to Krau,return ing via those ports . T he ra ilway should

be a separa te company , and there should be a condition in theircon t ract which wou ld scarcely requ ire a guarantee to tha t effect .

22 . W i th these arrangemen ts carried out we may incidentallymen t ion tha t the tel egraph

,ins tead of being submarin e from

R angoon , should be carried a long the coas t from Maulmein , witha j unction with th e ra ilway telegraph at Krau , and also a j unct ionwi th the R angoon and T ongoo tel egraph at S i ttang 5 thus givinganother lin e of tel egraph commun i ca tion wi th Ca lcu tta, by whichE nglish news and China n ews may be tran smitted from Krau .

23 . T he arrangemen t which m ight be made with the G overnmen t of S iam , for the grant of land , 1810 ,

has not formed a subj ectfor our discu ss ion

, as with the presen t l iberal -minded and far- seeingmonarch on the throne of Bankok

,to whom the advan tages which

must resul t to himself and his peopl e by carrying ou t thi s proj ectwil l be a t once obviou s

,we see no difficulty on this poin t.

24 . W e have thus laboured to prove,and we think have don e

so sa tisfactorily, tha t as a mere specula tion the construction of arai lway across the I sthmus of Krau wil l b e profi table ; tha t th ecommunication may be establi shed for a th ird of the capita l thein teres t of which is now being expended yearly on mere fuel andestabl ishment of runn ing steamers

,and tha t a vast amoun t of t ime

wil l be saved over presen t routes . O f the politica l bearing of th esubj ect we have sa id nothing

,but

,holding in view tha t the l ine

from Ceylon to Cochin China i s n early s tra igh t,we are convinced

tha t, if G rea t Brita in does not take i t in hand , France must , withevery chance of a profitable opposition to the P . and 0. Co .

i n their l ine with E urope to Calcu tta via Madras .

ALE X . FR AS E R ,

Capta in ,B engal E ngineers .

J . G . FO R LONG ,

Capta in ,E x . E ngineer, T enasserim Provinces .

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298 R E P OR T OF CAP T . T R E ME IVH E E R E

XXXII .

REPORT &C . ,FROM CAPT . G . B . T R E ME N H E E R E ,

EXEC U T IVE ENG INEE R ,T ENA S S ERIM

D IVIS IO N ,T O T H E OFFICER IN CHARGE OF

T H E OFFICE OF S UPERINT ENDING ENG I

NEER, S OUT H - EAS T ERN PROVINCE S .

WIT H INFOR MAT ION CONCE R NING T H E P R ICE OF T IN O R E OF

M E R GU I, IN R E F E R E NCE T O E XT R ACT FR OM A D E S PAT CH F R OMT H E HO N . COU R T OF D IR E CT O R S , DAT E D 25T H OCT O B E R184 3, N O . 20.

Communica ted by tlze Government of India .

Journal of the Asia tic S ociety of Bengal, vol. xiv. pp. 329

S IR ,—Agreeably to ins truction s conveyed in your letter, N o .

30 18 , of 7th February las t,I have the honour to subj oin such

informat ion as I have been able to obtain concerning the probablecost of the tin ore of Mergu i .

2 . W i th th e view of ascerta in ing i ts value in th e home market ,I tran smitted

,abou t the period of my firs t report on the t in of this

province,a box of average samples of the ore to a smelting estab

lishmen t in Cornwal l (Messrs . Bolitho and having exten siveconn ect ion with the tin min es of that county . In April 184 3Mr. T homas Bol itho informed me that “ the samples of oncewashed ore produces abou t 70 per cen t . of tin , and the twicewashed yields nearly 75 per cen t. T he metal i s very good , beinga lmost free from a lloy 5 some of the samples which have beensen t to me from the Malayan Pen in sula con tain titan ium .

T he ore appears to separate from the matrix very eas ily.

T he consumption of tin throughou t the world increases s oslowly, and the supply a t presen t being more than equal to th edemand, there is l it tle inducemen t to specu la te in tin mines .

“ T he produce of Cornwa l l i s ton s per annum,and we

calculate tha t the quan tity produced at Java, together with whati s rai sed in the Malayan Pen insula , will ra ther exceed the produceof Cornwall . T he average price of tin in Cornwall has been abou t72s. per cwt . , but it is now as l ow as 56s . which i s the presentprice of the bes t S tra its tin

,and tin m ines are suffering greatly

from the depreciation 111 the value of their meta l .“ I t may serve for your guidance to know that at this moment

ON PR I CE OF ME R G U I T IN OR E . 299

t in ore of th e description of th e sample twice washed would fetchin E ngland about£ 4 6 per ton .

”

3 . T he following calcula tions of the probable resul t of a shipmentof tin ore

,and of the metal

,have been obligingly made for me by

two mercan tile gen tl emen of Maulma in . T hey are based on thel owest prices,which , according to Mr. Bolitho , were obtainable inthe market in April 184 3 , and show a probable profi t on tin oreO f 7s . 8d .

'

per cwt . ; bu t a loss on th e shipmen t of the metal of1 zs . 4d . per cwt. in one case, and 4 s . 9d . per cwt. in the other .Ju ly 184 3 .

— T in ore from Maulma in purcha sed at 4 5 rupeesper hundred vis s, equa l to 365 lbs .

R s . 4 5 viss per cwt. R s . 14 , orC/zarges .

D utyS tou t boxes and S hipping charges in Mau lmainFreight home £2 per tonIn surance

,2% on 4 os .

C ommission and London charges, 56

In terest commission, 5 on purchase 0

0

0

0

0

0

0 10 4

S ale price, per Mr. Bolitho

Leaves a profi t p er cwt . o 7 8

July 1 84 3 .— T in from Maulmain purchased at 77 rupees per

hundred viss.

R s . 77 7, viss R s . or per cwt.

D utyIn Maulmain shipping , &c .

,per cwt.

In surance,

‘

X, or 6 70London charges,viz .

— commiss ion,25 7°

wa rehouse and dock dues , 15 % 5 0 3 3other inciden ta l expen ses

,1 -

2

170

Interest on Purcltase

S ix mon ths at 5‘

Z,Freight at 3 per ton

S a l e price , per Mr. Boli tho

Leaving a loss of per cwt. o 1 2 4

300 R E P OR T OF CAP I I T R E ME N H E E R E

Another calculation of N ovember 184 4R . A . P

U sua l cos t of tin in Maulmain,R s. 77

—8 per365 lbs . on R s . per cwt. 23 5 2

Freight to E ngland at£ 1 i os . per tOn . 0 1 2 oDuty at 10s. 5 0 0

S hipping charges here and in London 0 8 0

Commission in London a t 2% 7° 0 I 3 0

30 6 2

Or

Assumed price in London

Leaving a los s p er cwt. of o 4 9

4 . T he a ssumed rate for the ore at Maulma in , 4 5 rupees per

365 lbs . , would be I think subj ect to a reduct ion ; bu t that for themetal i s probably the lowest average. I t wil l b e observed alsotha t the London price of 56s . per cwt . i s taken at a period ofgreatdepress ion in th e va lu e of the articl e , which had averaged 72s . percwt.

5but i t would n evertheless appear that to send i t to E ngland

in the s tate of clean ore would be by far the safes t investmen t .

5. Many loca l i tie s in th e Mergu i province , in which the oreexists abundan tly

,have been a l ready described and publicly made

known 5 but l ittle or no a tten t ion has been given to the subj ect bymerchan t s of Maulmain . T heir business consists principa lly intimber, piece goods , and hardware, and they have no inclinat ion toembark in min ing speculation s . A smal l shipmen t of ore , being

part of abou t 2% ton s col lected by convicts and others at theGovernmen t expen se

,was made to E ngland by Messrs . Bil ton

and Co . of Maulma in 5 but the q uantity was so sma l l that no

resul t has been made known by their home correspondent . At

Malewan, on the Pakchan R iver

,at the southern extremity of

T enas serim,between one and two hundred active Chinamen are

engaged in collecting the ore in the streams described in my thirdreport of Apri l (

“ Journa l As . S oc .

”vol. xi i . p . T hey

have been very succes sful,but there is so l it tl e commun ica tion

with that part of the coast tha t no accurate s tatement of the resul tof their annual labours can be obta ined . T hey convert i t in tometal , which comes with T acopah and other t in in to the Maulmainmarket .6 . O th er local i tie s equally productive and available to th e

priva te specula tor have been indicated in former reports, and

more are becoming know .n A specimen recen tly obtained byE . O

’

R iley, E sq ,from Henzai

,north of T avoy, i s forwarded . I t

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302 R E MA R KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

of S umatra and P . W U R MB II to that of Borneo , of cours e underthe impres sion that the grea t S uma tran O rang referred to wasident ica l with tha t described by Dr. Clarke Abel from S umatra, inAs . R es .

” xv . 4 89 .

A huge skull of an adul t mal e O rang , undoubtedly from Borneo ,i s figured in “ T ran s . 2001. S oc .

” i i . pl . xxxi . and xxxii . 5 and tha t o fan adul t femal e sa id to b e from S umatra

,in the same work

,

vol . i . pl . l i i i . and l iv. T he differences between these skull s arecon siderable ; and they are to some exten t borne out in a hugema le skull marked from S umatra

,and in an aged female skul l

marked from Borneo , in thi s S ociety’ s Museum .

* In both of th ela tter

,however

,the characters are throughout intermediate. T he

zygoma t ic su ture of th e S uma tran mal e begin s even anteriorly tothat of Prof. Owen ’ s Bornean male . T he symphysis menti in bothi s equally developed the supraorb ital ridges

,however

,are much

more promin en t in the nrale from S uma tra,as in Prof. Owen ’ s

S uma tran femal e 5 but in our aged Born ean femal e sku l l they areconsiderably more developed

,proportionally

,than in Mr . Owen

’ sBornean ma l e. In both of Mr. Owen ’ s specimen s the palate i srepresen ted as con tracted posteriorly

,between the last molars on

each side,to 15 in . (or ra ther more in the S umatran femal e). In

our S umatran male the dis tance i s fully hir in g and in the Borneanfema l e 1 5

9; in . I can come to no o ther conclus ion than tha t allrepresent individual vari eti es of one species

,having perhap s a

tendency to exhibi t the loca l variation which Prof. Owen hasindicated .

T he same na tura l i s t adds : T he Born ean Pongo,if we may

j udge from the few specimens undoubtedly from that local i tywhich exis t in the museums of th is coun try , i s clo thed with loose ,long ha ir of a deep fuscous colour, approaching in some part s toblack 5 the S umatran Pongo is covered with loose long ha i r of areddish - brown colour . T he adul t ma le of the Bornean species hasthe coun tenance d isfigured by large dermal ca l los i tie s upon thecheek - bones . T hese do not exist in e ither sex of the S uma transpecies .” I t i s worthy of note tha t the term species i s herebestowed

,probably from the remarkable difference implied by

the last—mentioned character. T he fully adul t S uma tran mal edescribed by Dr. C larke Abel , however, and the skin of which i ss ti ll in thi s S ociety’ s museum ,

possesses the cheek callosit ies,l ess

developed,however, than in th e Bornean mal e figured by Prof.

T emminck.

S ir J . Brooke , in h is h ighly in teres ting letter already referred to ,besides po in t ing ou t the distinctions of two of h is three species o fBornean O rangs from personal observation of the l iving or freshly

Presented by Major G rego ry in 1838 (vide“J . A . S . vii. the

S uma tran male skull, however, having been for some years reserved.

S PE CIE S OF O R AN G U T AIV. 303

ki ll ed animal s,wild and tame , remarks tha t the skulls also

examined by him may be divided in to three distinct sorts .“ T he firs t presen ts two r idges

,one ris ing from each frontal

bon e,which

,j oin ing on the top of the head , form an el eva ted

crest , which runs backward to th e cerebra l portion of the skull .T o this may accordingly be referred the P . VVU R MB II and the P .

AB E LII of Owen , and , i t would seem ,all th e . adul t skeleton s at

present in E urope without described exception .

% I t would appearthat

_

neither sex has the cheek cal los ities at any age 5 and the

colour of the ha ir i s sa id to be darker than in others . T hi sdescription corresponds with the appearance of an enormou sfema l e O rang—utan that was exhibited some years ago in Ca l cutta

(vide“J . A. S .

” xvi . note to p . and the an imal i s theIll ias R ambi of S ir J . Brooke .T he same observer con tinues “T he second variety [of skull] i sthe S IM IA MO R IO , and nothing n eed b e added to Mr . Owen

’ s accoun t,

save tha t i t presen ts n o r idge wha tever beyond the fron ta l part ofthe head . N o . 9 in the collection i s tha t of an adul t ma l e .T here are many other skulls of the S IM IA MO R IO which n earlycoincide with this su i te

,and this su ite so en tirely coincides through

the differen t s tages of age, one with another,tha t no doub t can

exist of the S IMIA MO R IO being a dist inct species . T he differen tcharacter of th e skull

,i ts sma l l s ize and smal l teeth , pu t the matter

beyond doubt,and completely establi sh Mr. Owen

’ s acute andtriumphan t argumen t

,drawn from a s ingle specimen .

”

O f PIT H E CUS MO R IO our museum con ta ins a skeleton (minus mostof th e bones of the hands and feet)of an aged female, presen ted byR . W . G . Frith

,E sq .

,in 1836.T I t had died in Cal cu tta, and the

skin con ta in ing the bones of the hands and feet had been unfor

tunately thrown away when Mr. Fritli secured the body for theS ociety ’ s museum : A few of the digita l bon es , however , wererecovered . Comparing the skull of this specimen with tha tfigured by Prof. Owen (

“T ran s . Zool . S oc . i i . pl . xxxi i i . andI incline to infer tha t Mr. Owen ’ s specimen i s the skull of a mal ean imal

,chiefly from the grea ter depth of the a lveol i : th e longitu

dinal exten t of grinding surface of the series of upper molars

(bicuspids included) i s exactly 2 in .,as a lso in another skull of

an adul t female to be presen tly n oticed , and 2 in . 2 1. in tha tfigured by Prof. Owen . Las tly

,the zygomat ic arch of our aged

female skull i s much more slender than tha t of e ither of the others .

Unless, perhaps , tha t of an adolescen t female in the Museum of the R oyalCollege of S urgeon s, London .

’l‘ Vide “ J . A . S . v . 833, where men tioned as

“the S uma tran O rang

utan . S he was on e , however, of a pair purchased by our jo in t - secretary,Mr. G rote, at S ingapo re ; and this gen tleman info rms me T hey were not

from S uma tra , but from Bo rneo . At leas t I am pret ty sure tha t my memorydoes not deceive me on this poin t .

304 R E MAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

W e have a l so another and complete skeleton of an adolescen tfemal e

,which l ived twelve years in Ca lcutta in the possess ion of

J . Apear, E sq ,and was very young when he received it . T he

last molars above and below had j us t p ierced the gum s . T he skinof this individua l i s moun ted in our museum

,possess ing ha i r of a

very dark colour on the crown , back , and arms . H aving passedi ts l ife in clos e captivity

,wi th nough t to ca l l forth the vigorou s

action of its muscl es , their developmen t with that o f the osseou ssys tem general ly would seem to have been cons iderably affected

,

and the skul l reta in s a remarkably j uven il e (which in thi s casemeans ant/tropoid) expression

,con trasting grea tly with tha t of our

other and aged fema l e skul l a lready noticed . But making everya l lowance for difference of age and a l ife of close imprisonmen t

,

and th e other specimen had in all probabili ty been captured whenfully adul t

,there rema in some extraordinary discrepancies

,which

probably indica te a further specifical distinctness . All the bon esof the aged an ima l are more robu st than those of the other 5 bu twhile the leg - bones and th e humeri of the two are of the samelength

,or at all even t s the humerus of the aged an imal does not

exceed by i in . tha t of the adolescen t,the rad ius of the aged

specimen is 2 in . longer than tha t of the other .T he differences in the form of the skull are very considerable .

T he younger individua l has the face con spicuously shorter andbroader

,with circular orbital cavities

,while those of the aged

an ima l are perpendicularly oblong. T he vertical span of theorbita l cavity i s 15 in . in the aged specimen

,15 in . in the other 5

horizonta l span of the same,I }, in . in the former, 15 in . in th e

latter . In the younger individua l the orbita l proces s of the frontaland tha t of the ma lar bones form together a proj ecting angle whereun i ted by the suture 5 in the other they do not angula te at all.

E xtreme breadth of bony orbit s in the adolescent specimen, 4 in . 5

in the other , 312in . T he zygoma of the aged individual,as before

remarked,i s much more sl ender than in the skul l figured by Prof.

Owen ; in the younger the ma lar portion of the zygoma i s evenbroader than in Mr . Owen ’ s specimen . T he na sal orifice of th eaged sku l l is much larger than tha t of the other . T he developmen t of the a lveolar portion of the j aws i s a lso much grea ter inthe aged an imal 5 whence the chin slopes but l ittl e, whils t in th eo ther i t slopes excess ively . I n the aged specimen the ramus ora scend ing portion of the lower j aw turns abruptly at a right angl ewi th the a lveolar portion

,and th e coronoid process i s l ittl e

developed , and does not rise to a l evel with the zygomatic arch 5in th e young specimen the form is more as in Mr. Owen ’ s figure

,

though les s angulated . In this adolescent skul l the in termaxillarybones continue strongly demarca ted .

I t rema ins for fu ture observa t ion of additional specimen s tode termine whether th e differences here indicated denote a

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306 R E JIIAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

by Capt . Cornfoot in S umatra,and described by Dr. C larke Abel

in the “As iatic R esearches,

” vol . xv . p . 4 89 , we stil l possessthe skin minus the righ t hand and right foot , and of i ts osteologyon ly the lower jaw and th e bones con ta ined in the dried left handand l eft foot. I t i s by no mean s a specimen of the largest s ize ,as long ago shown by D r. H arwood in “Lin . T ran s .” xv . 4 72 5

*

b irt the teeth and appearance of the j aw prove i t to be fully grown ,and the third inferior true molar i s scarcely less abraded than thepenul tima te . T his lower jaw i s remarkable (especia l ly as beingtha t of a mature ma l e animal) for the smal l antero - posteriordiameter of i ts ramus or ascending portion

,as distinguished from

the a lveolar portion , and a l so for the smal l s ize of the condyle .Vide figures in “As . R es .

” xv . pl . i v .,and (ha lf- s ize) in J . A. S .

”

vi . pl . xvi i i . 5 and compare these with the represen ta tions now

given of the lower j aws of other O rangs , and especial ly wi th thatof the grea t S umatran skull of a femal e M'

ias R ambi figured byProf. Owen in “ T rans . Zool . S oc .

” i . pl . l ii i . I ts greates t anteroposterior diameter (on a plan e with th e molars) i s 2% in . only,tha t of a femal e Pappa n from Borneo i s 2% in .

,of a Bornean

femal e R ambi 25 ih .

,of a S uma tran mal e R ambi 2% ih . ,

and ofProf. Owen ’ s Bornean mal e the same, and of his S uma tran female2% in . Yet all the teeth are somewha t larger than in the Borneanfemal e P appan

,and equal those of our grea t S umatran mal e

R ambi. T he hands and fee t a l so are larger than those of ourfema le (P)Pappan from Borneo . T here are no ma terial s forextending th e comparison 5 but i t may be remarked of Dr. C lark eAbel ’ s specimen that (as before asserted) i t has dis tinct cheekcal losities , though seemingly less developed than in Dr. S . Mull er ’ sfigure . T he beard

,however

,i s scarcely l ess grown 5 but the

general colour of the ha ir i s much darker, and more of a maronnered , incl in ing to ferruginous upon the crown

,and the beard i s

bright ferruginous,con tra sting strongly with the rest T I incl in e

to con sider i t iden tica l with the M ias P appan of Borneo,notwith

s tanding the compara tive feeblenes s of the ramus of the lower jawin th i s particular specimen 5 and I sugges t tha t the old nameP IT H E CU S S AT YR U S be now restricted to thi s species , and j u s tly orwith pecul iar j us tice

,as S ir J . Brooke remarks in his letter

,

“ fromthe ugly face and disgusting callosi ties ”

:

D r. Harwood gives the length of the feet of a Bornean O rang describedby him as I52, inches : the dried foo t of D r. Abel ’ s specimen (con taining the

bones) measures 13 inches .T T his specimen is rema rkable forhaving a well - developed unguinal phalanx

and nail to the hallux 5 a charac ter of rare occurrence in the genus, and exhib itedby no o ther specimen in the S ociety

’ s collect ion .

I As the R ambi is neither W urmb’

s nor Abel ’s animal, the namesVV

U R MB II

and A B E LII are unsuitable for i t , and had bet ter be disused ; while, as R ajaBrooke was the fi rs t to d iscrimina te i t from the Pappan , I would suggest tha ti t now bear the designa tion of PIT H E CU S B R OOKE I. S hould the second small

S PE CIE S OF OR AN G U T AIV. 307

T he nearly perfect skeleton now presen ted to the S ociety byMr . N icholls i s tha t of a fully ma ture Bornean femal e of theAl ias P appan in which the s trongly developed lamdoidal ridgesof the skull do not un i te upon the vertex to form a s ingle sagi ttalcrest

,but con tinue an inch apart where most approxima ted . T he

s ize of the skul l i s fully equa l , or even somewha t superior, to tha tof our aged female skul l of a M ias R ambi from Born eo ; but i sinferior to tha t of our S uma tran ma le of the Al ias R ambi. T he

skull i s perfect,except tha t part of the face appears to have been

sho t away— viz . , the uppermost portion of the right superiormaxillary from the orbi t to the nasa l orifice , with parts of theadjacen t ma la r , lachrymal , and nasal bones of the same side 5 andthe supra - orbital ridge of the left fron ta l i s diseased

,with portion s of

b one exfoliating away. T he vertebra l column i s complete,except

ing the two las t smal l coccygea l bones . T he r ibs and sternals eries are also complete

,and the grea t bones of the l imbs 5 bu t

many of the smal ler bones of th e latter are unfortuna tely miss ing .

T hus,of the right hand there are wan ting the scaphoid and the

five unguinal phalanges . O f the left hand there a l so are wan tingthe five unguinal phalanges

,the media l thumb - pha lanx

,and the

cuneiform bon e of the wris t . O f the right foot are wanting theos calcis a stragal us and navicular bone

,four unguinal phalanges

(the terminal pha lanx of the hal lux remain ing), the penul timate

phalanx of the finger—toe n ext to the hal lux , and th e penultima t e

and an te- penultimate phalanges of tha t farthest from the ha llux,

c orresponding to the human l i ttl e toe . And of the left foot thereare on ly the a s tragalus

,and the digi ta l bon es

,excepting the meta

tarsa l of the digit next to the ha llux , and the ungu ina l phalangeso f the ou ter three toes .* T he pa tellae are a lso los t .T his valuable skeleton affords us the mean s of demonstra t ing

,

from adul t specimens in our museum , the existence of the threespecies of Bornean O rang - utan indica ted by S ir J . Brooke 5 and

most probably we possess a fourth in the moun ted skin and

complete sk eleton of the adolescen t female,resembling PIT H E CUS

MO R IO in s ize,but having a much shorter fore- arm and more

an thropoid conforma tion of skull . W e have a l so (provis iona l ly)identified Dr. C larke Abel ’ s S uma tran O rang - utan with the Al iasPappan of Borneo, to which the specific name S AT YR U S i s here

proposed to be restricted 5 and we have referred Prof. Owen’ s

O rang also prove a good species, the name OW E N II bestowed on i t would bea fi t ting complimen t to the eminen t zoologist who has devo ted so much a t tention to the study of the grea t an thropoid apes .

Accordingly, but one unguinal pha lanx remains , which articula tes withthe digit next to the hallux of the left foot . T he terminal phalanx of each

hallux exhibit s a peculiar s truc ture , and represen ts the o rdinary penul tima te(and not the unguinal) phalanx

'

; so tha t this Bornean P appan differs hereinfrom Abel’ s S uma tran Pappan ,

W t ll possessed a well- developed unguinalphalanx and nail to the opposable hallux or grea t toe .

308 R E MAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

P .W U R MB II and P . AB E LII to th eAl ias R ambi of Borneo , which alsoshould therefore be common to the two i s lands . T he small P .

MO R IO,so far as hi therto known

,i s pecul iar to Borneo ; and i t now

rema ins to a scerta in whether there be not two small species confounded under this

, two smal l as wel l as two large species of thes ean imal s . I t i s on ly recen tly tha t a grea t and a smal l species ofChimpanzee have likewise been discrimina ted and completelyestablished by Prof. Owen and Dr. Kneelandfif

T he three Bornean species of O rang of S ir J . Brooke (at l eas ttwo of which would appear l ikewise to inhabi t S uma tra) are moredifferen t from each other in the appearance of the adul t skull thanthe lion

,tiger, and l eopard are among cats 5 yet with the ‘excep

t ion of the bony ridges,which in the MO R IO are merely indica ted

(exhibi ting the d irection which they a ssume in the Alias P appan),I have been unable to detect any difference of s tructure betweenthe skull s of the two great species which may denote other thanS l ight individua l varia t ion . In general

,the form and s ize of our

Al ias P appan skull are in termedia te to those of our (S umatran)mal e and (Bornean) female Al ias R ambi skul ls ; and the nasalorifice of the former i s comparat ively sma ll . B ut how slight i s th edifference between the skulls even of the l ion and t iger amongca ts— confined to a stra ighter profile on the pa rt of th e l ion

,and

t o the fact tha t th e nasal s extend back beyond the suture of themaxillaries in the tiger S kull, while they fal l S hort of that suturein the l ion sku ll !Jr

Vide “T ran s . Zool . S oc. iii. 38 1, and

“ Ann . Mag. N . H . , July 1852,p. 23 et seq .

'

i‘ An analogous d iversity perhaps exist s in the skulls of the Al ias R ambi and

Al ias Pappan ,which, if it prove constan t , will be o f service in enabling us to

de termine to which of these species imma ture skulls showing la rge permanen tmola rs should be referred . In our adult male a nd female Alias R ambi heads ,and also in one juvenile skull taken from a stuffed specnn en of a half-

grow n

male wi thout a sign o f cheek callosi ties in ourmuseum, the united nasal bonesextend upwa rd to the summ i t o f the glabella be tween the supraorbi ta l ridges 5whe rea s in ourAlia s Pappan skull, and also in bo th (species ?) of our Al ias

K assar,the united nasal bones extend upwa rd but li t tle bey ond the maxilla ry

suture,and the same in three immature skulls w ith la rge permanen t molars in

course of developmen t , which should the refore represen t the young of the

Alias Pappan .

It rema ins,however, to a scerta in how far this dis tinct ion may proveconstan t .

\Ve have in all five stuffed specimens of O rangs, Viz — 1. Dr. C larke Abel’ sS uma t ran male Pappan ; 2 . Mr. Apcar

’

s adolescen t female Kassa r (U wi thsho rt fore - arm 5 3. A young female li

’

assa r (l) wi th small permanen t grindersappearing, and similar propo rt ion o f arm and fo re - arm to last 5 4 . A very youngM ia s (r) ; and 5 . T he young male Alias R ambi l?) befo re referred to .

Colour o f N o . 5, a darkish ferruginous, deepes t on the c rown, paler and more

rufous on the shoulders and back , and also the whiskers ; hands and feet small,

a s in the Al ia s Ka ssar. Colour of N o . 3, a light ish ferruginous, deepening on

the a rms , and darkest on the crown and be tween the shoulde rs . It would seemtha t the va rious species , however d istinc t in fo rm of skull, are not to be veryreadily dist inguished when prepared as s tuffed specimen s , un less , indeed, wehad adults of each for comparison .

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3 10 R E MAR KS ON TH E D IFFE R E N T

by the new name M C/iapm ,which is also that of an old femal e

an ima l,remarkabl e for i ts extraordinarily large and vertical ly

elongated orbi ts . I t is probable that thi s a l leged C/zapm merelyrepresents an individua l varia tion ; and S ir J . Brooke states , inh is let ter announcing the presen tation

,that some of these skeleton s

had been labelled by him with the names specified by na t ives,

who accordingly (as may be supposed in such a case) are not

particularly conversant wi th the osteological di s tinction s of thedifferen t species .T he s ixth skele ton i s tha t of an old female of the Al ias Pappan ,

with double - crested skull l ike tha t of the male figured in i llustrat ion of my former memoir . I t even exceeds that male in s ize , bu tthe skul l i s smaller 5 and the sexua l distinction s of the two are

unmistakable . In this femal e the epiphyses of the l imb - bones,

scapulae,il ia

, &c . , are thoroughly anchylosed , denoting completionof growth 5 even the symphyses pubis i s un i ted (with much irregulardeposition of bone externally), and the sacro - i liac symphysis 011the right s ide on ly

.In no other of our O rang skele ton s are the

two la t ter symphyses un i ted . Ourma l e Pappan had not quite com

pleted his growth , for some of the epiphyses are loose, and othersare but partially soldered ; those of the humeri are fixed and semianchylosed as are a l so those of the left radiu s and ulna ; but th eepiphyses of the right radius and ulna are detached 5 those of thescaphlae and il ia are fixed bu t slightly, and those of the ischia moreexten s ively . T hi s animal had therefore (as wil l be a ttempted tobe shown presen tly) not completed i ts full growth, the fema l ebeing much more advanced in age, with its teeth proportional lyworn down . On comparison of the skulls of the two sexes , tha tof the female i s s een to be smal ler

,with the maxil lae less pro

truded , increa sing the facia l angle from 3 2° to 35

°

5 the zygomaticarch is much less robus t 5 and the longitudinal grinding surface ofthe upper molars less by

13

3 ih .,while tha t of the lower molars i s

l ess by 9; in . than in the youthful male presented by Mr. N icholls,and by T

7

? in . than in Dr. C larke Abel ’ s S umatran male . In theform of the a scending ramus of the lower jaw thi s femal e specimen more nearly resembles the S umatran ma le referred to thanany other of our numerous specimen s 5 but th e condyle i s considerably larger ; and , as compared with Mr . N icholl s

’ Borneanmale

,the an tero—posterior diameter of the a scending angle i s much

16 53 ‘ being in the Bornean male (on a l evel wi th the surface ofthe grinders), 23 ln .

,in Abel ’ s S uma tran mal e but 241 ih .

,and i n

S ir J . Brooke ’ s Bornean femal e 2% in . Last ly , thi s Borneanfemal e presen ts the very extraordinary anomaly (throughou t thes eries of placen tal mammal ia) of a fourth true molar above and

below, though on the left s ide on ly,that of the upper j aw being of

sma l l s ize and round form,i t s crown scarcely exceeding that of an

upper fa l se molar of Alacacas flaw s,and i t i s placed posteriorly

S PE CIE S OF OR AN G—U T AZV. 3 1 1

to the ordinary last true molar on a l ine with i ts outer surface,

that tooth having been pressed a l i ttle inward ; in the lower jawthe accessory fourth true molar i s very li ttle smaller than thenormal molars 5 and i t proj ects from the in terna l margin of thean terior surface of the ascending angle of the jaw,

i ts crown beingdirected obl iquely inwa rds much more than forwards or upwards ;as a functiona l tooth it must therefore have been almost useless ,though the outer or upper margin of its crown i s a l i t t le worndown by a ttri tion

,as i s a l so the outer cusp of the sma l l accessory

molar above. T his old female Pappan had been badly woundedin i ts day, having had i t s l eft humerus severely fractured , and thefibula of tha t s ide a l so broken

,the fractured bones having heal ed 5

the un se t humerus,however , in an extraordina ry manner exhibi ting

two large and deep perforat ion s in the grea t lumpy mass of un i tedbone where suppura tion had ensued , and large shot had probablybeen ul timately discharged from the orifices .T he seven th skeleton is that of a species a l together di stinct and

new. Al though tha t of a large old mal e,with the cran ial su ture s

much obl iterated , and the anchylosi s of the epiphyses of i ts l imbbones complete

,i t i s very remarkable for the compara tively sl igh t

protrusion of the jaws,and the consequently increa sed facia l angle 5

apparently,however

,to a greater exten t than real ly

,from the flat'

n ess of the face,the unusually sl igh t protrusion of the sockets of

the upper incisors , and, above all, the eleva t ion of the condyle ofthe lower jaw ra i s ing so considerably th e occipita l portion of theskul l and consequen tly the aud itory orifice . T he facia l angle doesnot actually exceed 5 Whil e in the two R améis (ma le and

femal e)figured in my former memoir i t i s as low as 30°

(thi s b eingalso Professor Owen ’ s estimate of his adul t skulls of the R améi).

T he zygomata (or cheek - bones) are unusua l ly prom in ent . T he

can ines,incisors

,and the firs t three upper molars on each side are

exceedingly much worn down by a ttri tion,the can ines even to a

l evel with the other teeth 5 but the circumference of these can ines ,especia lly in the lower jaw,

i s con sp icuously less than in male s andeven large femal es of the R amlii and Pappan , though they are proportional ly larger than in theKassar. I t i s fur ther remarkable thatthe fron tal r idges of the skull , in stead of un i ting upon the vertex toform a s ingle sagittal crest (as in the R améi), or con tinuing separa teand well apart throughou t (as in the Pappan), approach to contactupon the vertex

,but withou t un i t ing , which is very likely to prove

a constant and specifical dis tinct ion ,a s the presen t old mal e shows

much irregular deposition of bon e externa lly to i t s con tiguouslydouble sagittal crest . T he long bones of the l imbs , though ful lyas s tout as in the R ambi and P appan ,

and about twice as s tout asthose of our old female Kassar

,yet probably do not exceed th e

corresponding bones of the full - grown ma l e Kassar in l ength ,being very much shorter than those of the adul t R ambi and

3 1 2 R E MAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

P appan , and this remarkabl e brevity of l imb, combined with th econspicuous differences in the skull and sundry other distinction s ,can scarcely be con s idered otherwise than as indica t ive of specifical peculiari ty.

O f the five R a zzibis sen t , there i s unfortunately no specimen ofa ma l e of the largest s ize comparable to tha t of wh ich the sku l l i sdescribed in my former memoir 5 but there are two large full - grownfemale s (including tha t t icketed M ias Cfiapia ), and al so a fullgrown femal e of smal ler dimensions (which was labelled Al .

Pappan); with a mal e o f superior age and s ta ture to the ma l ePappan presen ted formerly by Mr . N icholl s ; and a lso a youngma le wi th the las t molars brought in to wear

,but which

,neverthe

l ess,had not nearly atta ined i ts full growth

,which bade fa ir to riva l

tha t of the gigan t ic S uma tran mal e a lready noticed .

T he specimen to which the name Al ias C/zapiiz was a ttached ,appears (as a lready men tioned) to be a large old female R ambi,very remarkabl e for the enormous size and vertica l ly elongatedform of i ts orbi tal cavities

,which measure 2 in . by n early 1% in .

across . I ts skul l i s larger,though less mass ive

,than that of the

female R ambi figured in my former memoir : the muzzl e i s conspicuously more slender, measuring bu t 23 in . in grea tes t width

(outside the can ines), in stead of 25 in . 5 and whereas the coronoidprocess of the lower j aw in the former specimen i s smal ler andabout on a l evel wi th the condyle

,in the presen t example (labelled

C/zapia ) the pos terior or condyle process i s unu sually prolonged ,and ra is es th e skull (with lower jaw in sita) so remarkably that,placing i t on a level surface together wi th the other skul l noticed ,the zygoma of the so - ca l led Cfiapiiz not on ly overlaps that of th eo ther, but its lower edge i s about 1

in . higher than the upperedge of the zygoma of the other specimen ;

* the nasa l bones ,which in the other are un ited and a scend to the very summit o fthe glabella , in this skull con tinue separate, and reach on ly to thelower portion of the glabel la. T his skel eton i s very deficien t,wan t ing the sacrum and most of the bones of the hands and feet 5but all of the long bones are presen t

,with the shoulder- blades and

res t of the pelvis ; the epiphyses being completely soldered . T he

l imb—bones are even rather longer than in the grea t femal e Pappan ,

and in fact exceed in length those of any other of our full - grownspecimens ; the humerus mea suring 15 in .

,the ulna (to tip of

s tyloid process) 15gin .

,femur 1 1% in .

, and t ibia l og; in .

, circumference of middle of trunk of humerus 344 in .

,and of femur 2 -5 in .

T he few digi ta l bones seem to accord in dimen sions wi th th ecorresponding bones of our male P appan . T he extreme l engthof the scapula i s 8% in .

,and of pelvis l ogin .

,clavicle 8 in . T hi s

In Prof. Owen ’s figui e of a female R ambi skull Zool. T rans , i .pl. the condyle process is similarly elonga ted.

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3 14 R E AlAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

2 3 in .

,metacarpal bone of s econd or middle finger 4 T

5

T in .

,firs t

phalanx of ditto 3T T in .

,second pha lanx 11

TT in . 5 metacarpal

bone of thumb 2s in . ,firs t phalanx of dit to Ifi ; in .

,metartarsal

bon e of middle toe 3T T3

.,

in firs t phalanx of d itto 3T in . secondpha lanx 1 3 in . m

,etatarsa l bone of hallux 2

T1

T in ., firs t phalanx

of ditto I T3

T in ., and unguina l (i) jll T ih . ; to ta l l ength of scapu la

9T in .

,clavicl e 73 in .

, extreme left of pelvi s 1 15 in .

,and ex

treme breadth of il ia 12 in .

T he two remain ing R ambz’

s are males, and the firs t to benoticed is a young animal

,whose skul l had obviously not attained

i t s fu l l dimensions,though the las t true molars had been brought

into wear 5 but the general mass iven ess of this sku ll indicates thatthe an imal would probably have become a mal e of the larges ts ize . T he sagittal cres t had begun to ris e on a grand scal e , andthe fron tal ridges converge directly to i t, although these are

scarcely indicat ed for g in . before their j unction . T he teeth aremore crowded than in th e ful l - grown an ima l ; the interspacebe t ween the upper can in e and ou ter incisor

,which in our large

S umatran mal e i s T ih . , being scarcely T in . ; and the firs t fa l s emolar

,ins tead of being completely posterior to the can ine

,

advances con siderably on its outer surface posteriorly 5 in thelower jaw,

also there i s a bony in terspace between the can in e andfirs t fals e molar in the large mature mal e

,but not in the adolescen t

male 5 nasals partia l ly anchylosed, and con t inued upward to thelower part of the glabella 5 epiphyses of the humeri con siderablyanchylosed

,and also those of the t ibiae and fibulae

,but not of the

radii and ulnae . T his skeleton also i s tolerably complete .Length of humerus 14

-2 in .

,of u lna 133 ln .

, of femur 10 in . ,

and of tibia 9 in . 5 circumference of middle of trunk of humerus2T T in . , and of femur 2

T‘T

i n .,metacarpa l bone of middle finger

(the epiphyses beginning to anc7

hylose) 3g in .,

firs t phalanx ofditto 25 in .

,second pha lanx I

T7T in .

,metacarpa l of thumb I T

in . 5 metatarsa l of.

middle toe 3 T3

T in .

,firs t phalanx of di tto 23

in . ,second I T in . metatarsal of hal lux 1 1 in .

,clavicle 6T 1n .

extreme length of scapula (minus epiphysi s) 7-

2

1 in .

,of pelvi s

(with ischial but not il iar epiphysis) 92in . 5 and extreme breadthat the hips

, l ogin .

T he n ext i s a mature male,but certa inly not of the larges t

dimen s ion s,being abou t th e s ize of the grea t femal e s already

described,and not o therwis e recogn izable from them than by the

general massiveness of the skull (which is remarked at the firs tglance), and less conspicuously than usual in the present instance ,by the form of th e pelvis . T he supercil iary ridges are muchbroader than in any femal e skul l , and the zygomata equally robus t ;the sagitta l crest i s a l so broad and well developed , nasa ls distinctand reaching up to th e lower part of the glabella . S keletontolerably complete

,wan t ing most of the ungu inal phalanges and

S PE CIE S OF OR AN G - U T AN . 3 15

some other smal l bones . Length of humerus 143 in .,of ulna

(wi th loose epiphysi s) 153gin .

,of femur 1 13 in .

,tibia 93 in . ;

C ircumference of middle of trunk of humerus 33 in . ,and of

femur 23 in . ; metacarpal bone of m iddle finger i11 .

,firs t

pha lanx of ditto 3T’

T in .,second phalanx ITT in . 5 metacarpal of

thumb IT3

T in ., firs t phalanx 133 in . 5 metatarsal of m iddle toe

4 5 in ., firs t phalanx of ditto 2T3 in . , second phalanx IT} in . ;

metatarsa l of hal lux 2T1

T in . , clavicle 73 in . ,scapula 83 in . ;

pelvis, 103 in . in extreme length,and 1 13 in . broad at the hips .

T his specimen was marked Al ias R a f/ii i by S ir J . Brooke, and i salso from S adong, in Borneo, the three skeleton s received fromS adong having un fortunately been prepared by in termen t in theground , and the present being the most complete of them ,

andotherwise the leas t injured .

W e now come to the fema l e P appan already noticed,which

though of greater size than the mal e described on a former occasion , with considerably longer and broader pelvis , has n evertheles sa sma l ler skull

,less prominen tly developed j aws

,and conspicu

ously smal ler teeth ; the zygoma t ic arch i s shorter and a l i ttl eweaker than in the mal e 5 but th e supercil iary ridges and widthof the bony orbits are much th e same

,and in fact there i s l ittl e

further difference between the two skulls 5 the bony crests on thevertex are l ess prominent in the fema l e

,and they approach to

within 3m. of each other 5 whereas in the mal e they remain 1 in .

apart where most approxima ted 5 l ength of base of skull, frombetween the middle incisors to the an terior margin of the occipital foramen

,63 in . in the mal e , and 63, in . in the femal e 5 breadth

of zygomata apart 63in . in both . T hi s skeleton i s al so nearlyperfect . Length of humerus 15 in .

,of ulna 153 in . , femur 1 1 5

1

,

in .

, t ibia 103 in .,circumference of middle of trunk of humerus

33m.,of femur 3 in .

,metacarpa l bon e of middle finger 4 3

1; in . ,

first phalanx 33 in .,second 133 in .

,metacarpa l bone of one

thumb 2 in .

,of the other somewha t l ess , and bearing a very short

firs t phalanx,on ly 3 in . ; meta tarsal bon e of m iddle toe 4 in .

,

firs t phalanx 3 in .,second 13 in . 5 metatarsa l of ha l lux 23 in .

clavicle 73 in .,scapula 83 in . in extreme length , and pelvis 10

in . long, and 1 13 in . broad at the hips .La stly , we arrive at the new species wh ich may be designa ted

PIT H E CU S CU R T U S . I t i s p erhaps the genuine Al ias C/zapz’

a ofthe D yaks . T he specimen i s decidedly mal e, and well advancedin years ; and the skul l has a more an thropoid appearance thantha t of any other O rang known . T hi s chiefly results from themuch reduced prolonga tion of the muzzle

,whil e the cheek—bones

proj ect remarkably , giving a sort of Kalmuk expression to th eskull ! T he absolu te proj ection of the maxi lla , in a horizon ta ll ine carried from the lower margin of the orbita l r ing, i s in ourlarge S umatran male R amizi skull ful ly 3 in . 5 in the ma le Pappan

3 16 R E MAR KS ON T H E D IFFE R E N T

i t i s abou t th e same ; in th e femal e Pappan 23 in . ; in the oldfemal e Kassar (a much smalle r an ima l) abou t 23 in . 5 and in thegrea t ma l e CU R T U S barely 2 in . ! E xtreme breadth of zygoma ta

7 in . 5 height of the skull, with lower jaw in siia , 1 1 in . 5 l ength , ina straigh t l in e

,from the summ i t of orbital cavity to between th e

incisors, 4 3 in . (the same measuremen t being in the male R ambi

53 ih ., and in th e ma l e Pappan 4 3 in ) ; l ength from occipi ta l

foramen to ba se of upper incisors 6 in . (in the male R ambi 73 in .

,

and mal e P appan 63in .) 5 length of bony palate 3 in . (in the o thers

33 in . and 33 in ) ; orbita l cavities 13 by 13 in . across 5 extremewidth of bony orbits apart externa lly 5 in . ; extreme breadth ofa scending ramus of lower jaw 33 in . 5 height of the condyle 43 in . 5

l ength of grinding surface o f the upper molars 2T1

Tin . T he skele

ton i s fortuna tely nearly perfect . E xtreme length of humerus 133in .

,ulna I 4 T

3

T in .

,femur 10

T3

Tin .

,t ibia 93 in . 5 circumference of

m iddle of trunk of humerus 33in 5

of femur 23in . (l ength and circumference of humerus of old femal e Ka ssar 123 and 23 in . 5ditto of femur 93 in . and 23 in .)5 l ength of metacarpal bon e ofm iddle finger 33in .

,first pha lanx of ditto 233in .

,second 133 in. ;

metacarpal bon e of thumb 2T

1

Tin .

,firs t pha lanx 13in . 5 meta tarsal

bon e of middle toe 333 in .

,first phalanx 23 in .

,second 13 in . ;

meta tarsa l bone of ha l lux 2 in . ; clavicle 63 in . ; extreme l engthof scapula 83 in . , of pelvi s 103in . 5 and breadth at the hips 1 1 in .

Length of the vertebra l column , from a tlas to sacrum , measuredinterna lly

,163 in . 5 in the scarcely full - grown mal e Pappan 173in . ,

and in the - old femal e Kassar 153 in . 5 axis - vertebra soldered toth e next . As compared with the R améi and Pappan

,the meta

carpa l s and meta tarsal s are shorter,and the firs t phalanges of the

fingers and toes areW i th the grand series of skulls and skeletons of adul t O rang

u tan s now subj ected to exam ina tion,amounting to twelve in all

(viz.

,three ma les and four fema les of PIT H E CU S B R OOKE I or Al ias

R améi,one male and one old fema l e of P . S AT YR U S or Al . Pappan ,

one old ma le of P . CU R T U S or Al . C/zapiiz (P), an old fema l e of theP . 11101210 or A] . Kassar

,and the adolescen t fema le with short fore

a rms , provis ionally designated P . OW E N II, in addition to Professor

A friend who has resided long in Borneo , and has examined numerousskulls of O rang - utan s (including those which have passed through the hands ofS ir J Brooke), inform s me tha t he has rema rked tha t , in the adul t and aged

specimens of the R ambi and P appa n , the can ines are a lways perfec t 5 wherea sin those o f the small Ka ssar they are as regularly b roken or worn down toabout a level with the inciso rs . T his rema rk is borne out by the series of skullsnow under examina tion . T he can ines are long and unb roken in all the specimens of the R ambi a nd Pappa n ,

and are ground down in the old female

l i’

a ssar, and also in the old male P . C U R T U S ; denot ing probably a difference

o f food . Moreover, the same gen t leman info rms me tha t differen t species ofthese animals do not appea r to inhab it the same dist ric t , and he thinks tha tthe P . O W E N ” represen t s in the southern pa r t of the grea t island the P . MO R IOof the northern part .

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318 D IFFE R E N T S PE CIE S OF OR AN G - U T AN

the male 5 and in the skel eton the larger and broader pelvis ofcourse denotes the fema l e an ima l

,combined with a proportional ly

sma l ler and l es s robu st skul l than in the o ther s ex . T here i s noreason to doubt the correct determination of sex in any one of thespecimen s here noticed .

T he occasional bu t rare occurrence of the ungu ina l phalanx tothe hal lux or great toe wou ld seem to be proper to no particularsex or species 5 for i t exists in our ma l e Pappan from S umatra, andin our female R ambi from Borneo .

I t now remain s to connect th e osteologica l with the externalcharacters of the differen t species 5 to determine th e sta turea tta ined by the largest mal es of the R ambi

,Pappan , and also

Kassa r,to obtain further information of the PIT H E CU S CU R T U S ,

and to verify or otherwise the P . OW E N II. W i th the powerful aidof the accomplished R aj a of S arawak, we tr us t to be enabled erelong to resolve these various problems .

E N D OF VOL. I.

T R IN T E D B Y B ALLAN’

I‘VN E , H AN S O N AN D CO.

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