the gomuti palms explained this mystery, while it prolonged the powerful swell.
As we went on our way the sounds decreased in strength, and gradually became
faint, but it was not until we had left ‘the bamboo of the wind* far behind us, and
long hidden by intervening trees and cottages that we ceased to hear it.” The
instrument which produced these fine effects was a bamboo cane, ‘ ‘ rough from the
jungle,” from thirty to forty feet long, perforated with holes and stuck in the ground.
This is certainly a very simple contrivance, but would not have occurred to any people
who had not a natural taste for music. Certainly the Hindus and Chinese have, as
well as the Malays, been living for ages among forests of bamboo without making
such an invention.
But it is in the fabrication and use of certain instruments of percussion that the
people of the Archipelago, or more correctly the most advanced of them, the Javanese,
especially excel. These consist of the well-known gongs, a native word, and of bars
of wood or of brass laid over wooden troughs, or suspended over them by cords.
The gongs are used separately in the manner of drums; but smaller ones are also
suspended over troughs, in the same manner as the bars. Both these form so many
keys, in the manner of an harmonicon; and are struck by the musician sitting down,
with a small stick armed with elastic gum. A competent judge, the late Dr. Crotch,
after seeing the fine collection of Sir Stamford Baffles, said of these instruments,
that he “ was astonished and delighted with their ingenious fabrication, splendour,
beauty, and accurate intonation.” A full band of such instruments used to cost in-
Java up to 5001.
A band of music goes in Javanese under the name of gam&lan, a word of unascertained
derivation; and from the Javanese it has passed into several other languages
of the Archipelago. For every instrument of the band there is a specific name; and
of the bands themselves there are no fewer than seven different sorts, each with its
proper name. But there is no native name for a musician, except that which is
formed by placing the word “ artist,” (tukang), before the band or instrument played
on, the same idiom that is followed in forming the term for carpenter or blacksmith.
Sometimes the word nivaga, which signifies musician in Sanscrit, is used. The native
word, baduwan, means, not a musician generally, but a public singer, which always
supposes also a public dancer.
MYSOL. See Misol.
MYSORY. This is the Schouten Island of European geographers, and lies at the
entrance of the great bay of GeelviDk, on the northern side of New Guinea, penetrating
the island so deeply as to convert it into two peninsulas. All we know about
Mysory is, that it is about 60 miles in length, and 12 in its greatest breadth, that its
western end is but 25 miles south of the equator, that it consists of high land, and
that it is inhabited by negros, who have acquired sufficient skill in navigation to
have, at one time, proved dangerous pirates to the Dutch possessions in the Spice
Islands.
K
NAG A. This word, in Sanscrit the name of a fabulous snake or dragon, is of
frequent occurrence, singly or combined with other words, in all the cultivated
languages of the Archipelago, and in those of the Philippines we see it in the
names of places in composition, while standing alone it is the term for the prow or
figure-head of a vessel.
NANING. This is the name of a small Malay State, lying inland from Malacca,
and subject to it. I t has a mean length of 40 and a mean breadth of 10 miles, and
consequently an area of 400 square miles. In 1836 its population, consisting almost
wholly of Malays, divided into ten tribes, or in the native language suku, amounted
to 5881, but was increasing. Naning formed a portion of the territory of the
ancient kings of Malacca, and from 1511 has been dependent successively on the
Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English. It is a poor unprofitable possession, for
the most part covered with jungle, and containing only from fourteen to fifteen
inhabitants to the square mile.
NARANJOS (Islas de los), literally, “ the Orange Islands.” These are six small
islands, lying between the extreme southern point of Luzon and the islands of Ticao
and Samar. Their names are San Andres, the most northerly and the largest, Medio,
Easo, Darsena, Escarpada and Agnada. San Andres is three leagues in leDgth, by
half a league in breadth, and its centre is north latitude 12° 23'. The Naranjos
forms part of the province of Albay in Luzon.
NATAL, correctly NATAR, meaning ground, surface or foundation, is the name
of a place on the western coast of Sumatra. The inhabitants are Malays of Menang-
kabo mixed with Achinese, but those of the interior are of the Batak nation. The town
is on the shore of an unsafe roadstead, not far from a small rivulet. It is an emporium
for the gold, camphor, and benzoin of the inland country, and for the iron, cotton
fabrics, and opium given in exchange for them. North of Natal, and distant about
30 miles from it, is the mountain Siduwa-duwa (double mount), 7000 feet high, and
east of it, at the distance of 75 miles, the volcanic mountain of Seret-b&rapi (“ fiery
flounce ”), estimated to be of the height of 5200. The settlement of Natal formed by
the English in 1762, is now a Dutch possession. Latitude north, 32' 30”, and
longitude east 99° 5'.
NATUNA. This is the name given by navigators to three groups of islets in the
China Sea, and lying between Borneo and the Malay peninsula, extending from north
latitude 2° 28' to 4° 56', and from east longitude 107° 57' to 108° 15'. The names
given to them in our maps are the Grand, the Northern, and the Southern Natuna,
which in the Malay language are respectively Bungoran, Sarasan, and Pulo-lant. The
origin or meaning of the name Natuna is unknown, but was probably imposed by the
Portuguese. All these islands consist of mountainous land, and the highest part of
the Grand Natuna, which is visible from a ship at 15 leagues distant, must be from
2500 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea. This island is the only one of the three
groups which is of considerable extent. Its form is round, and 15 miles in breadth,
probably, therefore, containing an area of about 460 geographical square miles. The
South Natuna, or Sarasan of the Malays, has an area of no more than 64 geographical
miles. The larger of the Natuna Islands have the following wild quadrupeds, pigmy
deer, but none of the larger species, hogs, and buffaloes; and all the islands, monkeys,
squirrels, and the musang (Viverra musanga). The larger islands have also a few
domestic oxen and goats, with poultry, consisting of the common fowl and a few
ducks. All the islands are deeply forest-clad, their soil is sterile, and their cultivation
consisting only of a few patches of rice without irrigation, maiz, the coco and sago
palms. The larger islands only are inhabited, and by a population entirely Malay.
According to native information supplied to me in 1824, the Grand Natuna had then
a population of 600, the Northern group 300, and the Southern 400, making a total of
1300. The Natunas, in common with the Anambas, form part of the territory of
Jehor, owning allegiance to the prince who lives under British protection in Singapore.
The people of these islands exchange their fish, raw sago, and coco-nut oil at
the European settlements in the Straits of Malacca for rice, clothing, and iron.
NAVIGATION. The name for this in Malay, layaran, or palayaran, taken from
layar, a sail, is a literal translation of our own Anglo-Saxon word *• sailing.” Most of
the inhabitants of the thousands of islands of the Archipelago are eminently maritime
in their habits,—areal seafaring people. The Malays are more especially so,
and this character is strongly impressed on their language. A few examples of
this may be given in illustration. The words mudik and ilir, two peculiar verbs, not
I believe found in any other language, respectively signify, to ascend and to descend a
river, or to go against, and with the stream or tide. The same words employed as
nouns signify the interior and the sea-board. Kuwala and muwara are terms which
signify the embouchure of a river, either at its disemboguement in the sea or at its
junction with another river, and such places will be found often, the residence of
the Malays. Anak-sungai means, literally, “ child or offspring of the river; ” t&luk,
is a bight or cove, and rantau, the reach of a river; but these words also, from their
being the frequent localities of Malay settlements, signify a district of country.
The very structure of the Malay houses has reference to the accustomed localities
of this people. They are all built on posts of 10 or 12 feet high, often balf-
submerged at flood tides, whereas the habitations of the agricultural nations, such as
the Javanese, have their foundations on the ground. S&brang is a preposition which
means across the water, and when turned into a verb, to cross the water, and into a
noun, the opposite side. The Malay compass is subdivided into sixteen points, each
of which has a specific name, all but one, and this Sanscrit, being native terms. The
monsoons, or periodical winds, are distinguished by specific names by the Malays,
and by them only of all the nations of the Archipelago. For every part of a vessel
and her equipment, the Malay language has a specific name, and the names of the