white. Tobacco and betel, articles in such general use in all Malay countries and
considered so essential to comfort, are not permitted. Every man is obliged to shave
his head and wear a little skull-cap. No man is permitted to converse with another’s
wife, and the women are obliged to cover their faces with a white cloth having
only two small holes for their eyes.” Mission to the East Coast of Sumatra, 1826,
p. 343. The reformers, in time, became conquerors,—subdued a large portion of
the interior of Sumatra, and had they not come into collision with the Dutch at
Padang would most probably have succeeded in mastering a large portion of the
island. In 1837 they were attacked by the Netherland troops, made a brave and
fanatical resistance, t>ut after a war of three years’ continuance were wholly subdued
in 1840. The religion of these Moslem puritans was far too rigorous in its exactions
for the easy and lax Malays, and consequently, the Padris were very unpopular with
them. See Pagar-rtjyung.
METALS. There is no word for this general term in Malay, Javanese, or any
other language of the Archipelago. Sometimes the word L&buran signifying the
“melted object” is used by the Malays. The metals immemorially known to the natives
of the Archipelago are gold, (uaas), iron (basi), tin (tima), silver (perak and salaka)
and copper (tambaga). The only alloys known to them are those of gold with copper
(suwasa), and those of copper with tin (loyang and kuningan). The three first-named
metals only are native products and have native names. Silver has also native names,
the origin of which cannot be traced, but the metal is certainly a foreign one, and De
Barros informs us that before the arrival of the Potuguese, the Malays of Malacca
received their supply of it from Siam, to which De Barros tells us, it had been brought
from Lao. The probability, however, is that most of it must have come from China.
The name for copper is the corruption of a Sanscrit one, and the knowledge of this
metal was probably made known by the Hindus, but at the arrival of of the Portuguese,
the market of Malacca was supplied from China. Quicksilver was probably,
like copper made known to the Malays and Javanese by the Hindus, for the only
name for it, rasa, is Sanscrit. Lead is known by a name which signifies “ black tin,”
and is probably of Chinese introduction. The inhabitants of the Philippines know it
only by the Spanish name of plomo. Down to the year 1824, when it was first made
known to them by Europeans, the natives of the Archipelago were as ignorant of
antimony which abounds in their country, as were the natives of Europe four centuries
before. I was present when the first button of the regulus was obtained from
the ore of Borneo, a result which surprised the Chinese and Malays who witnessed
the operation, some of whom pronounced the metal to be tin and others silver.
MTNAHASA.—This is the name of a province or district of the island of Celebes,
embracing the extreme end of its northern peninsula, between the first and second
degrees of north latitude. It appears to be about 60 miles in length by 20 in average
breadth, and thus to have an area of about 1200 square miles. The whole is°a
volcanic region, the great volcanic band embracing this small portion of the Celebes
only. Minahasa is a romantic region of volcanic mountains, several of them in a
state of activity, of valleys, table-lands, and lakes. Several of the mountains rise to
the height of 4000 and 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and the highest of them,
Klobat, to that of 6133 feet, so that the mountains of Minahasa are little more than
one-half the height of those of Java. One of these, the active volcano of Sempo, is well
described by a Dutch traveller who ascended it, and whose narrative is contained in
the Journal of Netherland India, published at Batavia. “ To keep ourselves warm,”
says he, “ we walked to the right and left on a dry flat, while the dense mist prevented
us from seeing to any distance. But what an image of desolation and violence met the
eye when the mist cleared up ! As far as the eye could reach, nothing was visible
but a dry sandy desert, the ground being formed of lava, and having much resemblance
to the cinders of burnt coal, and on which only small tufts of grass grew here
and there. This is the crater Ranu-as&m (in Javanese “ the sour-water or meer ”).
I t is all a congeries of valleys, or basin-formed hollows, probably formed, as the
volcanic action has consumed and heaved up the ground under the surface of the
earth. We find here no sign of living things, except wild oxen, whose tracks are so
abundant that at one place we lost the direction of the proper path through them.
Shuddering, we approached this chaos of desolation. At some distance from the
margin of the crater, we began to creep, so that we might in safety receive the full
impression of all the terrible but grotesque features of-this work of nature. A noise
struck our ears, much resembling that produced by opening the valve of a steam
engine. This is audible at a great distance. I t came from the sulphur-pool at the
bottom of the crater. At first the sulphurous vapour hindered us from distinguishing
objects, but after half-an-hour it was driven off by the wmd, and the whole basin was
exnosed to view before us. The first impression was fearful. A boilmg pool, about
500 feet in diameter, is surrounded by a steep rocky wall. We endeavoured to cast
stones into the middle of the crater : for this purpose we fastened a tolerably heavy
s one to the end of^ a rope of about 110 fathoms long, and threw it forward, but it
ran out 100 fathoms without the stone reaching the pool We saw no living beings
save some swallows which wheeled above the pool. We observed, also, traces of wild
oxen which had descended into the crater. What they seek there is a mystery, for
neither in the crater nor in its immediate vicinity is a single blade of grass to be louna.
The table-lands of Minahasa are generally from 2000 to 2500 feet above the level
of the sea, and on them are many lakes, seemingly the craters of former volcanos.
The largest of these is that of Tondano, which is three leagues long, and from a mile
to a league broad, with a depth of from 90 to 100 feet. On this an Englishman o
the name of DaviB, has constructed some small sloops with which he navigates it.
The lakes abound in fish of six different species, and their fisheries furnish a considerable
part of the subsistence of the native inhabitants. The discharge ot t-heir
waters gives rise to several magnificent cascades, and that of Tondano is especially
remarkable for its picturesque beauty. The rivers of Minahasa are all small, and
none of them navigable. . .
The cultivated productions of the country are nee, maiz, the American potato
in the high lands, ground pulse (Arachis hypogasa), the Gomuti and sago-palms,
tobacco, coffee, and the cacoa (theobroma). This last is produced to the extent
of about 250,000 pounds yearly; and Minahasa is the only country of the
Malay Archipelago, in which this rather delicate plant has been successfully cultivated.
The coffee is of a very fine quality, and considered superior to the best
of Java. The annual produce is about 1,500,000 pounds, but it is rather falling
off than increasing, which is not to be wondered at, since it is a monopoly of the
government, which requires the delivery to it of all that is produced a,t the price of
15«. a cwt., payable in a depreciated small copper change. The fertility of the soil
is remarkable, as is the case generally in the volcanic formation, and water available
for irrigation to develop it seems not to be wanting. Notwithstanding the absence
of the plough, the harrow, and the buffalo, and that the labours of husbandry are
performed by human hands only, the country produces more rice than it consumes,
and exports about 40,000 cwts. The usual fruits of the western islands of the
Archipelago, including the durian and mangostin, are produced, but little attention
is given to them by the rude and careless natives.
None of the larger ferocious animals exist in Minahasa; and, indeed, no large
animals in the wild state at all, except oxen become so, most probably, from the
domesticated state. The domesticated are the ox, the hog, the goat, and the horse.
The buffalo has not been introduced. The ox is abundant, the pastures of the high
lands being well suited to it. The hog forms the principal flesh used by the native
inhabitants. The horse is evidently a stranger, for it is known only by a corruption
of its Portuguese name (cavayo), and has none in the native language.
The native inhabitants of Minahasa are of the same Malayan race as all the other
inhabitants of Celebes, but they speak a distinct and peculiar language, and iu
civilisation, are far below the Bugis and Macassar nations. They are a simple,
inoffensive, but indolent, dirty and poor people. Their chief subsistence is sago,
always evidence of poverty. The total population of the province is reckoned to be
96,218 souls, of whom 92,332 are aborigines, 3375 Malays or Bugis, and 510 Chinese.
This gives about 80 inhabitants to the square mile, a denser population than that of
any other part of Celebes, a result which must be ascribed to the salubrity of the
climate and the fertility of the soil.
On the arrival of the Portuguese, the country was subject to the little island of
Ternate, one of the Moluccas, and the people had not then, nor have they since,
adopted the Mahommedan religion. The Portuguese occupied it, in virtue of their
conquest of the Moluccas, and they were expelled by the Dutch in 1677. The
country is now a province of Netherland India, and is divided into 26 districts,
containing 286 villages.
MINDANO. This is the most southerly of the Philippine islands, and next to
Luzon, the largest of them, I t lies between north latitudes 5° 31' and 9° 49' 30",
and east longitudes 121° 44' and 125° 44'. Its general form is an irregular triangle,
having one side to the north-west, one to the east and one to the south. The whole