From the year 1621 to the present time no fewer than four-and-twenty princes have
reigned, which gives an average duration for each reign of less than ten years. Of
these, one half were either deposed or assassinated. Four of the Achínese sovereigns
in succession, over a period of sixty years, were women, the puppets of an oligarchy
of the nobles.
AD AND. A wild tribe of the island of Luzon, of the brown-complexioned race,
with peculiar manners and a peculiar language, inhabiting the craggy recesses of the
Cordillera of Caraballos, in about the latitude of 18° 30' north, and within the province
of Ilocos-norte. The tribe is also known to the Spaniards under the different
names of Adangino, Adane, Adanite, and Adangta. “ The blind love of all the
Philippine islanders,” say the authors of the Geographical Dictionary, “ for their
savage independence, aided by the nature of the country in which the Adantas hold
their miserable abode, has prevented religious zeal, the civiliser of the Philippines,
from reaching them, and kept them long in their stupid ignorance, and physical and
moral destitution.”
ADEN AHA. The name of one of the five small islands lying between Floris and
Timur, and the nearest to the first of these. - Its area is computed at 144 square
geographical miles.
AETA, and also ITA. This is the name by which the negro race of the Philippine
Islands is most commonly known. They are a short, small, but well-made and
active people, with the nose a little flattened, soft frizzled hair, a complexion less
dark, and features more regular than those of the African negro. The Spanish
expression is, “ less black and less ugly.” From their diminutive stature, their
average height not exceeding four feet eight inches, and resemblance to the Africans,
the Spaniards call them negritos, or “ little negroes.” The Aetas are described as
being in the rudest state of social existence; without other covering than a strip of
bark to hide their nakedness; and without fixed dwellings, but wandering over the
forest in quest of the wild roots, fruits, and game, on which they subsist. The bow
is their only weapon, but they use it with much dexterity. With the brown-com-
plexioned race they live in a state of constant hostility. They are usually seen only
in the sequestered recesses of the mountains, and have been found by the Spaniards
far less amenable to civilisation than the wildest of the brown-complexioned race.
According to the Spanish statements, the negritos are found only in the five islands
of Luzon, Negros, Panay, Mindoro, and Mindano ; and in these, those subjected to
the Spanish rule, or to some extent tamed, amount, for Luzon to 8309; for
Negros to 3475; and for Panay to 4903, making the total number, in the three
islands, 16,887 ; no account existing of those of Mindoro and Mindano. Throughout
the whole Philippines, the total number of the negritos has been estimated not to
exceed 25,000. No adequate specimens of the languages of the Philippine negroes
has been published, but each tribe is supposed to have its own peculiar idiom, and
all of them to be different from, although in many cases mixed with, the languages of
the brown-complexioned race.
AGAR-AGAR. The Malay name for a species of marine alga, the Fucus sac-
charinus of botanists ; growing on the rocky shores of many of the Malayan islands,
and forming a considerable article of export to China by junks. I t is esculent when
boiled to a jelly, and is also used by the Chinese as a vegetable glue.
AGILA, the Eagle-wood of commerce. Its name in Malay and Javanese is
kalambak or kalambah, but it is also known in these languages by that of gahru,
or kayu-gahru, gahru-wood, a corruption of the Sanscrit Agharu. The perfumed
wood thus named has been immemorially used as an incense throughout all the
civilised countries of the E ast; and at least from the first appearance of the Portuguese
in India, by the nations of Europe. In 1516, Barbosa (Ramusio, vol. i. p..317)
mentions it under the two names, of Aloe-wood and Agila.; quoting the price of the
first, which he characterises as '“ fine black,” at 1000 fanams the farasuola, and the
last at 300 only. There can be no doubt but that the perfumed wood is the result
of disease in the tree that yields it, produced by the thickening of its sap into a
gum or resin. In the mission to Siam and Cochin-China in 1821 and 1822, I saw
myself the wood in both states as it was freshly brought from the forest, and preparing
for the market in the island of Kodud, on the coast of Camboja, between
the latitudes of nine and ten degrees north. The tree yielding the genuine agila
has not been ascertained by botanists, but it probably belongs to the natural order
of Leguminosa, in which it has been placed by the celebrated botanist Decandolle.
The perfumed wood is found in greatest perfection in the mountainous country to
the east of the gulf of Siam, including Camboja and Cochin-China, between the 8th
and 14th degrees of N. lat. It is found, however, although of inferior quality, as
far north as Sylhet, in Bengal, and as far south as the Malay peninsula and Sumatra;
and in all this wide extent the tree, a tall forest one, is probably either the same or of
the same natural family. Castanheda mentions its existence in Campar, on the eastern
side of Sumatra, and opposite to Malacca. “ It (Campar),” says he, “ has nothing but
forests which yield aloes-wood, called in India Calambuco (kalambak). The trees
which produce it are large, and when they are old they are cut down and the aloes-
wood taken from them, which is the heart of the tree, and the outer part is agila.
Both these woods are of great price, but especially the Calambuco, which is rubbed
in the hands, yielding an agreeable fragrance; the agila does so when burned.”
AGNO-GRANDE, one of the largest of the rivers of the island of Luzon. I t has
its source in the province of Abra, near its confines with that of Nueva Yiscaya,
and in the highest valley of the Cordillera of Caraballos, in lat. 16° 49', and long.
121° 50'. After receiving some twenty affluents, and pursuing a tortuous course
through a mountainous country, it passes through the province of Pangasinan, and
disembogues in the deep gulf of Lingayen, on the western coast. In its course the
Agno-Grande expands into the formation of several lakes. The most remarkable
of these is that of Ladiavin, in the district of San Carlos, which abounds in fish,
especially in that called the dalag, a large article of trade in the Philippines. During
the season of the rains, another lake of great extent is formed by the overflowing of
the Agno-Grande at its confluence with three other streams in the low plain of
Mangabol. When the water recedes, small lagoons remain, and in these also the
fishery of the dalag is carried on; while in other parts of the land which had been
inundated grasses spring up, on which are fed many oxen for the market of Manilla.
The banks of the Agno-Grande abound in useful timber, bamboos, and ratans, which
are transported by it directly to the Spanish dock-yards. In the plain of Asingan
the sands of the Agno-Grande are washed for gold, an employment which affords
the natives occupation for several months of the year. The soapy juice of a tree
called the gogo is used to precipitate the gold from the earth and clay, every
hundred pounds’ weight of which are said yield thirty grains weight of gold.
AGUNG (GUNUNG); th a t is, in the Malay and Javanese languages, “ great
or chief mountain.” A mountain of the island of Bali, with an active volcano,
reckoned by the Baron Melvil de Camabee at 11,600 English feet above the level of
the sea.—A mountain of the country of the Sundas, in Java, bears the same name,
but seems hardly entitled to it, since it is but 7000 feet high, while some of those
in its neighbourhood rise to 8000 and 9000 feet.
AGUTAYA. A small island of the Philippines, in the Sea of Mindoro, forming
one of the group called the Cuyos, which belongs to the province of Calamianes. It
lies in north latitude 11°, and east longitude 121°; and is about 72 leagues distant
from Manilla. It is about two leagues in length by one in breadth, with a rocky surface,
of which very little is fit for cultivation. In 1849, the whole population was 2011.
The inhabitants are remarkable for their industry, which chiefly consists in rearing
the coco-nut, in fishing the tripang or holothurion, called in the Philippine languages,
balatd, for the Chinese market; in breeding oxen, and what is more
remarkable, considering their climate, sheep. The different objects of their industry
are exchanged by them in Manilla, and in the fertile island of Panay, for rice and
other necessaries.
ALABAT, an island lying in 7° north latitude, on the eastern coast of Luzon,
within the deep bay of Lamon, and fronting the isthmus which divides the main
body of that island from the peninsula of Camarines. I t has an area of about eight
square leagues, but on account of the barrenness of its soil, and the dangerous navigation
of its coasts, it remains uninhabited. Spanish writers describe it as looking
like a bit cut out of the main island.
ALAS. Name of a village on the shore of th e island of Sumbawa, fronting the
island of Lomboc, and which gives name among European navigators to the Strait,
that forms the safest passage for shipping, between the Indian Ocean and China Sea
on one side, and the Pacific on the other. The name in Javanese, with the accent
on the first syllable, means “ forest or wilderness,” and alludes, no doubt, to the
position of the village.