sea. The most recent account of the population of this principality makes it 85,000.
About the beginning of the present century this state effected the conquest of the
island of Lomboc, which still continues to be ruled by a prince of the family 01 the
conqueror. The name probably signifies, literally, (< ornamented with tamarmd-trees,
from karang, “ to arrange o rnamentallyand asam, “ the tamarind. See Bali.
KARIMON, correctly KRIMUN. There are two groups of islands of this name,
one at the eastern end of the Straits of Malacca, and another on the northern coast
of Java. See Carimon.
KAR.TASUBA. The name of the ruins of a place in the province of Pajang,
in Java, once the seat of government of the dynasty of Mataram. Mataram having
been destroyed by a rebellion two years before, the seat of government was removed
to Kartusura in 1680 ; but in the course of two-and-sixty years, was again changed
for its present site in 1742. The name is Sanscrit, and signifies Klabour of valour;
the same words reversed in their order being given to the present capital, Surakarta.
The ruins of a kraton, or palace, are still seen; and near to them a small but hand-
some lake.
KASUMBA; the Javanese and Malay name for Safflower, the Canthamus tinc-
torius of botanists. The name is from the Sanscrit, and as it has none in the native
languages, it is probable that it was introduced into Java, the only country of the
Archipelago in which it is cultivated, by the Hindus. The epithet “ Javanese,” is
commonly added by the Malays in order to distinguish it from arnotto, the Biss a
orellana, which is called Kasumbarkling, or the Telinga kasumba, although this last
be an American plant.
KATI, frequently written by us Catty, a weight of l j pound avoirdupois; ^whieh
contains 16 tai'ls, and 100 of which make a pikul, or picul, literally “ a load.” The
tall, the kati, and the pikul are native words, but the weights they express Chinese.
KAWI, In Java and Bali, b u t there only, there exists, as in northern and
southern India, in Ceylon, in Birma, and in Siam, an ancient recondite language ; and
in Bali it is still the language of law and religion, as it was in Java before the adoption
of the Mahommedan religion in the 15th century. This tongue is known by
the name of kawi, a word which literally signifies “ tale, or narrative; ” and is not
the name of any national tongue, but seems a corruption of the Sanscrit word, kavya.
In Java there are found many ancient inscriptions in this language, both on stone
and brass : a n d even two ancient manuscripts in it are still preserved. Such of the
inscriptions as are not in the Devanagri, and these are but few, have been found to
c o n s i s t o f v a r i o u s m o d i f i c a t i o n s o f t h e p r e s e n t , m o d e r n c h a r a c t e r . T h e c o n s o n a n t s ,
vowels, and orthographic marks are essentially the same. in number, power, and
form, being only ruder in shape and less connected with one another. The ancient
character is, at present, never used in Java, or even in Bali ; neither is the modern
ever seen on an ancient inscription. Such is the case in Birma and Pagu, with^the
Pali character of the Buddhist nations, which is confined to inscriptions and religious
works, in which the modern character is never used. This leads to the conclusion
that the Kawi, or ancient character of Java and Bali, was restricted to inscriptions, all
of which are of a mythological character, and confined to religious uses. The
modem character was, probably, used at the same sime for temporal purposes, as
is at present the modern Burmese; and it may, therefore, be of great antiquity,
although we have no positive evidence of it. I t is certain, however, that it is
written in Palembang and Bali at the present day, exactly as it is in Java, after a
known virtual separation of near four centuries. 'fa f. '
Some writers have supposed the Kawi to be a foreign tongue, introduced into Java
at some unknown epoch; but there is, assuredly, no ground for this notion, as is
sufficiently proved by its general accordance with the modern Javanese. Independent
of its being the language of ancient inscriptions, it is that of the most remarkable
literary productions of the Javanese. These consist of epitomes, or paraphrases of
the celebrated epics of the Hindus,—the Mahabarat and Ramayana. The last of
these appears in several different romances; but the first, which is the best, m a
single poem, under the Sanscrit name of the Bratayuda, or the war of Barata, that
is, of the descendants of Barat. In the text of this work we have the name of the
author, and a date, an unique instance of authenticity in the literature of the Archipelago.
The author’s name is Ampus&dah, abbreviated Pus&dah; and he tells us
that he lived at the court of Jayabaya, king of Daa, in the province of Kadiri, in
Java; and that he composed his work at the desire of the king, who was a great
admirer of the character of Salya, the leader of the Kurawa, But the date is, unfortunately,
not in numeral figures, or in ordinary writing, but in the mystic words
representing numerals, in which dates are most usually given, and hence it is liable
to several different interpretations. Among these, the latest gives the year of Saka
or Salivana, 1117, corresponding with that of Christ 1195. A careful analysis of
some stanzas of the Bratayuda, shows that about 80 in 100 of its words are modem
Javanese; and of these about one-half, excluding proper names, is Sanscrit. In the
Kawi, words common to the Malay and Javanese languages are found just as they are
in the modern Javanese, the proportion only being fewer. Among the words common
to the Kawi and modern Javanese are those essential to grammatical structure, as
the prepositions and the particles employed in the formation of transitive, intransitive,
and passive verbs, with the auxiliaries used in those of tenses. The names of
plants, animals, metals, winds, and seasons are also the same in the ancient and
modern tongues; and these, for the most part, are native and not foreign words.
All this leaves little doubt that the Kawi is nothing more, both as to language and
character, than an antique form of the vernacular language of Java.
The Kawi abounds more in consonants than the modern language. Thus, nusa,
“ an island,” in Javanese, is nuswa or nusya in Kawi; dad’i, “ to become,” is dadiya ;
kadaton, “ a palace,” iskadatyan; manusa, “man,” is manuswa; and aja, “ do not,’’
is ajuwa. Many words in Kawi, although obsolete in the modem language, are sufficiently
known to Javanese scholars, which is exactly analogous to what is the case
in our own language. But the most satisfactory proof that Kawi is nothing more
than an antiquated form of Javanese is, that whole passages of the Bratayuda now
and then occur, which are easily understood by ordinary Javanese scholars. See
Language.
KAWI (GrTJNTJTTG). The name of a mountain of Java, in the provinces of Malang
and Kadiri, the summit of which is 8820 feet above the level of the sea. It has no
active volcano.
KAYAK; the name of the most numerous, civilised, and powerful of the wild
inhabitants of Borneo, called by the Malays, Dayak. The territory occupied by this
nation extends, diagonally, across the island from the equator to the 5° of north
latitude. See D y a k .
KEMA. The name of a port and district of the northern peninsula of Celebes,
on its southern side, and northern coast of the Gulf of Gorongtalo. The port, which
is an open road, is in north latitude 1° 22/, and east longitude 125° 19'; the volcanic
mountain, Klobat, forming a conspicuous land-mark. Kema, and Menado on the
opposite side of the same Peninsula, have, within the last few years, been declared
free ports by the government of the Netherlands, to which the sovereignty of the
whole Peninsula belongs.
KEI ISLANDS. The name of a group of islands lying west of New Guinea and
the Aroe Islands, and estimated to contain an area of 960 square geographical miles.
They consist of three large islands and many islets. The inhabitants are of the
Malayan race, an industrious, peaceable, seafaring people.
KIDUL. “ The South,” in Javanese. I t is applied as an epithet to the sea south
of Java, Lant kidul, or Sagara kidul, that is, “ the South Sea,” and to a range of
mountains extending along the southern shore of the island the Gunung-Kidul,
called also Kan dang, a range distinct from the great central volcanic one, and seldom
exceeding one-third of its height.
KINABALAO. The name of the highest mountain of Borneo, situated towards its
northern extremity, on the peninsula lying between the China sea and the bay of
Maludu. By trigonometrical measurement its height has been made between 13,000
and 14,000 feet. This would make it the highest mountain of the Archipelago; but
an English traveller, Mr. Lowe, who ascended it nearly to its summit, in 1851, did
not make its height by barometer more than 9,500 feet. The mountain, in its lower
parts, is composed of sandstone, and in its upper of sienitic granite. At the top it
consists of bare rock, but the rest is covered with a tall forest, the character of the
plants varying with the altitude. In the neighbourhood of Kinabalo there are other
mountains, seemingly of the same formation, and some of them estimated at 6,000
feet high. Many new plants were discovered by Mr. Lowe on the mountain, such as
orchises, rhododendrons, and myrtaceous plants. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood
consist of four tribes of the Dayaks, or wild aborigines, each, as elsewhere,
speaking a distinct language. These are the Murut, called also Idaan, the Murung, the