400,057. I was myself in civil charge of this fine province, when it was delivered over
to the British government in 1812, and although down to that time it had never
been subject to any other than native rule, I can safely say that I have never since
seen, although I have visited the plains of Belgium and Lombardy, so luxuriant a
scene of cultivation—the result of a soil of wonderful fertility, of an easily practised
irrigation at all seasons, and of near 60 years of uninterrupted peace. The number
of its horned cattle haB been reckoned at 126,000, and of its horses at 15,000. Its
chief productions are rice and tobacco, both large articles of export. The Dutch in
recent years have added coffee, indigo, and tea, produced as elsewhere on account of
the government. Kadu contains the largest and most perfect of the Hindu monuments
of Java, the Buddhist or Jain temple of Borobudor with itB 400 images.
KiEMPFER (Engelbert), the well-known author of the History of Japan, was
a native of Lemgo, in the county of Lippe in Westfalia. He was born on the 16th of
September, 1651, and highly educated for the medical profession. After some stay
in Sweden he proceeded as Secretary of Legation to a Swedish mission to the court
of Persia, in the year 1683, the ambassador being Fabricius. This mission, in its
way to Ispahan, the then Persian capital, proceeded through Russia by the route of
Moscow and the Caspian. Instead of returning to Europe with the ambassador,
Ksempfer resolved on continuing hi3 stay in the East, and with this view accepted
employment as chief surgeon to the Dutch fleet, which was at the time cruising in
the Persian Gulf, and of which the chief station was Gomroon. After quitting this
employment he proceeded to Batavia, which he reached in 1689, touching at various
ports of Arabia and Western India on his way. In the following year, touching at
Siam on his route, he went as surgeon to the Dutch mission to Japan, and in each of
the two subsequent years visited the Court of Jeddo. In the year 1693 he returned
to Europe, and passed the remainder of his life practising as a physician in his native
town, dying in 1716 at the age of 65. I t appears from this that Ksempfer’s whole
residence in India did not exceed four years, three of which were passed in Japan.
Of the Indian Islands he seems to have seen nothing beyond Batavia and the islets
on the route between it and Siam. He does not appear to have acquired a knowledge
of any oriental language, his whole information having been obtained through
interpreters, and these not always competent ones. Of this a curious and amusing
example is afforded in what he says of some of the Malay Islands in the China Sea.
“ Orang Kay,” says he, “ in the Malay language, signifies woodman, or a man
entrusted with the care and inspection of woods and forests.” The correct title is
orang-kaya, which literally means “ rich man,” but properly a noble or person of
rank. The author had mistaken the adjective kava, “ rich,” for the noun kayu,
“ wood ” or “ timber,” and he might have reflected that a conservator of forests was
a needless office in countries covered with forest, and in which the great object is to
get rid of it. .
In 1711 Ksempfer published his Amoenitates Exotic*, but the History of Japan
was not published until 1727, eleven years after his death. Sir Hans Sloane had
purchased the manuscript from his heirs, and had it translated from the German
into English, so that it was in this language that it first appeared, translations from
it into French and Dutch having afterwards been made from the English version.
Ksempfer has contributed little or nothing to our knowledge respecting the Indian
Archipelago, but for Japan he has been the principal source of our information for
130 years. He is a laborious, shrewd, and generally reliable observer.
KAILI, or KYELI. The name of a country of Celebes, situated on the main
body of this winged island, and towards that side of it which lies on the Strait which
separates Celebes from Borneo. The territory of Kaili consists of four separate and
independent principalities—Dongala, Tuwaini, Sero, and Palu—the last of these
being the most considerable. The country is generally mountainous, and most
probably of granitic formation, for gold obtained by washing forms one of the staple
exports. The ruling people are the Bugis of Tuwaju, but the interior contains many
wild tribes, of whom nothing but their existence is known to Europeans. The principal
port is Dongala, from which a number of praus trade with Java, Singapore, and
other countries of the west. The exports, besides gold and the other commodities
usually dealt in by the Bugis, have of late years included coffee of native growth.
KALANTAN. One of the four Malay states on the eastern side of the Malay
Peninsula, being the fourth, counting from the south. I t is bounded to the north
by the Malay state of Patani, and to the south by that of Tringgano, the river Banara
dividing it from the first, and the B&sut from the last. I t has the Malay state of
Queda to the west, the great central chain of the peninsula being the boundary. The
inhabitants are Malays, with a few tribes of Negritos in the mountains, and a considerable
number of Chinese engaged in washing gold and in mining and smelting tin. The
total population was estimated to me by some intelligent merchants of the country
at 10,000 families or 50,000 inhabitants, which taking the area of the country at
7000 square miles, would give about seven inhabitants to the square mile. Mr. New-
bold in his account of the Peninsula and its islands gives the same estimate, but, to
judge from the natural sterility of the country and the barbarism of its government,
I make no doubt but that it is much exaggerated. The staple exports are tin, gold,
and black pepper, for the most part the products of Chinese industry. The chief
town or residence of the raja, of the same name, is on a small bar river navigable
only for boats, in north latitude 6° 16'. The principal trade is with Singapore, and
chiefly conducted by the Chinese during the south-western monsoon, the coast of
Kalantan being a lee shore in the opposite one. Kalantan existed as a state at the
close of the fifteenth century and before the arrival of the Portuguese, but of the
time or the manner in which it was founded nothing is known, or probably know-
able. It is one of the five Malay states of the Peninsula, immemorially tributary to
Siam, and which make a yearly acknowledgment of dependence by a small tribute
called the “ bunga-mas ” or “ gold flower.”
K A L I; in Javanese, a river. I t frequently occurs in the names of places, and is
equivalent to Sungai, in Malay; and Chai, in Sunda.
KAMBING (PULO), literally “ goat-island,” but the name is said to he given
to it on account of the number of a small species of deer (Cervus Moluccensis), which
are found in it. I t lies off the northern coast of Timur, and opposite to the Portuguese
settlement of Dili, between the islands of Ombai and Wetter. Its
southern extremity is in south latitude 8° 21', and east longitude 125° 39'. Its surface
is hilly, with a peaked mountain; and the island is chiefly remarkable for a mud
volcano on the top of this peak. This proceeds from pyramidal hillocks, twelve in
number, united at the bottom, and at the apex of each of which there is a vent,
from which, at regular intervals, there is a discharge of gas and liquid mud. The
earth of this mud contributes to maintain the form of the cones, and the saline water
trickling down their sides is licked by the deer, which resort to the place for the
purpose.
KAMPAR. The name of a Malay state on the north-eastern side of Sumatra,
and nearly opposite to the eastern extremity of the Peninsula and the British island
of Singapore, I t has Indragiri to the south-east; and Siak, to which it is tributary,
to the north-west. The principal river of the country extends inland all the
way to the territory of Menangkabo, which bounds Kampar to the west; but it is
shallow, full of sandbanks—has a bar at its entrance, with a dangerous bore or
tidal wave. The low island of Rantao, which is opposite to the mouth of the river,
belongs to Kampar, and is famed for the quantity of raw sago which it produces for
the manufactories of Singapore. The ruling people are Malays, all the way to the
frontier of Menangkabo. There is, however, a wild people, in some respects distinct
from them, who speak a jargon of their language, but have not embraced the
Mahommedan religion. These are known to the Malays under the common name of
Orang-utan, that^ is, literally, “ men of the woods,” but which, as they intend it,
means “ savages,’’ or uncivilised men. These are represented as simple and peaceable
: their chief employment is the cultivation of the sago palm. Kampar is
said to produce a small quantity of tin and gold. No attempt has been made to
estimate the_ number of its inhabitants; and little is known of its history. De Barros
enumerates it as one of the twenty-nine states which existed on the sea-board of
Sumatra on the first arrival of the Portuguese; and Castaghneda mentions it3
sovereign as the king of “ a small country in Sumatra that consisted of nothing but
forest, a description which equally applies to the principality at the present day.
KANGEAN. The name of a group of islands, consisting of one considerable one
surrounded by many islets; lying north of Bali, and east of Madura, from which last
it is distant about fifty miles.
KARANG-ASAM. The name of a principality of the island of Bali, occupying
its north-eastern portion fronting Lomboc. Within it is the highest mountain of
the island, the Gunung-agong, or “ great mountain” of the natives, and the Peak of
Bali of our manners, which is of the height of 11,326 feet above the level of the
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