Tanah or&ng Puwah-puwah, that is “ the land of frizzly or woolly-haired men.” The
name is applied by the western nations of the Archipelago, not only to New Guinea, but
to all the islands near it inhabited by the negro race. Some recent geographers have
thought proper to give the great island the name of Papua, but an innovation which
is correct neither in sound, sense, or orthography, seems to possess no advantage
over one which it has borne for now nearly three centuries and a half. No
European nation had ever attempted to form a settlement in New Guinea until the
Dutch did so on its southern coast in 1828, in the bay of Oetenata, in the 5° of
south latitude, and 138° 30' of east longitude; and this ended in a total failure.
I t required seven weeks time to clear a spot for a small redoubt, and when this
was effected the insalubrity of the place was at once developed, and continued for
several years until necessity compelled its abandonment. A country, indeed, without
any other inhabitants than a few scattered savages, and in so far as concerns
Europeans, having neither aptitude for pastoral or agricultural husbandry, no known
native products of much value for exchange, and no near and convenient market,
holds out no conceivable advantage for an European establishment. The future
discovery of mines of gold, silver, copper, or tin, might tempt the settlement of
Chinese, but not of Europeans in tropical and forest-clad New Guinea.
NIAS, or in Malay Nia, is the name of an island on the western side of Sumatra,
and of the people inhabiting it, as well as of some others of the group called the
Batu, or “ Rock Islands.” The principal part of the island of Nias is in north latitude
1° 22', and east longitude 97° 31', and the island itself is distant from the shore of
Sumatra about 30 geographical miles. Its length is about 65 miles, its greatest
breadth about 17 ; and it is computed to have an area of about 1200 square geographical
miles. Its surface consists of mountain chains, nowhere rising above 800
feet, and of plains and valleys about 80 feet above the level of the sea. The rock
formation is slate with sand and lime-stone, the decomposition of which with a
considerable admixture of mould forms a soil of great fertility. Nias exhibits no
evidence of volcanic formation, but is yet subject to violent earthquakes. One of
these was experienced in 1843, which swallowed up a hill and a Village, driving
boats at anchor to the distance of 160 feet over the beach. This consisted of a
single shock which lasted nine minutes, and is not stated to have been connected
with any eruption of the volcanos of Sumatra. The botany and zoology of Nias have
not been explored; but with respect to the latter, it is ascertained to have none of
the larger ferocious quadrupeds. It wants also the elephant, rhinoceros, and tapir of
Sumatra, its larger wild mammalia being confined to some deer, hogs, and monkeys.
The aboriginal inhabitants of Nias are of the Malayan race, and said to be a shade
fairer than the nations of Sumatra, a circumstance from which some writers have very
absurdly supposed them to be descended from Chinese, an hypothesis contradicted
by their stature, which is the same with that of the Malays; by their manners, as well
as by their language, which has nothing Chinese in it as to words or structure. In the
“ Malayan Miscellany,” published at Bencoolen in 1822, there is a short vocabulary of
the Nias, consisting of sixty-eight words, of which thirty-four are common to the Malay
and Javanese, and six exclusively of that of the latter language, so that the native
words amount to no more than eighteen. All the Malay and Javanese words are so
altered and corrupted sis to be very difficult of recognition. The inhabitants of Nias
are a simple, mild, and primitive agricultural people. They have domesticated the
ox, the buffalo, the hog,, the dog, and common poultry, and in their husbandry use
the plough and harrow. They practise a skilful irrigation, and raise rice, cotton, and
other useful products. Their religion, without temples or images, consists in a
belief in good and evil spirits, and it is remarkable of them that, although for
centuries, in the neighbourhood of Mohammedans and even ruled by them, they
have resisted the adoption of their faith. They live in villages in the interior of
the island, these being surrounded by earthen walls and quickset hedges which, as
their localities are well chosen, gives them a very picturesque appearance. While
the other islands along the western side of Sumatra are inhabited by half savages,
without skill or industry, the inhabitants of Nias are, in fact, a civilised people, an
advantage for which they seem to be chiefly indebted to fertility of soil and facility of
irrigation, the same conditions, although in a lesser degree, to which the islands of
Bali and Lomboc owe their advancement. The result is shown in the extraordinary
amount of the population, the total number of which has been computed at 169,500,
which would give a relative one of better than 140 to the square mile, which far
exceeds that of any island of the Malay or Philippine Archipelagos, except Java,
Bali, Lomboc, Luzon, and Panay. In the number of the population now named is
included 350 natives of Achin, and about 3000 Malays inhabiting the coast, and living
by trade and fishing. The Malays, notwithstanding their small number, are the
dominant race, their chief town or village being on a bay on the northern shore of
the island facing Sumatra. The island is claimed as part of the Dutch possessions.
NIBUNG- and NIPA. These are the names of two littoral palms, the Caryota
urens, and Nipa frutescens, which are common to most of the islands of the Malay
and Philippine Archipelago, and much used by the natives. The first forms the posts
of houses and palings, and when hollowed out, water-pipes; and the leaf of the Nipa
is the chief material of thatch with the inhabitants of the coasts. In the Philippines,
but not that I am aware of anywhere else, the sap of the Nipa, a lowly plant, is used
as a beverage, and for the manufacture of vinegar, and the distillation of spirits. On
this account it yields a considerable part of the revenue of the Spanish government.
Although a wild plant, for it is so abundant that its culture is not necessary, it is
remarkable that its name should be the same in all the languages from Sumatra to
the Philippines.
NITRE oe SALTPETRE. The only name for this salt in Malay and Javanese
is sandawa; and it appears to be a purely native one, which has spread to all the
languages of all the nations with whom the Malays and Javanese have held intercourse,
although in some of them it be corrupted, as in the languages of Celebes,
where it is sunrawa, and in those of the Philippines, in which we have it as sanyava.
Saltpetre, in the Indian islands, is prepared from the decomposed dung of bats and
swallows, accumulated in caves or old buildings; and is not, as in Hindostan, the
almost spontaneous produce of certain soils. That it was known to the people of
the Archipelago before they were acquainted with gunpowder, we may believe from
their having a native name for a commodity which they only produced by art. But
to what use they applied it, unless to the preparation of fire-works, for which also they
have a native name, m&rchun, it is hard to say. It is, at present, chiefly used in the
manufacture of gunpowder, to which, in Javanese, it gives its name.
NUEYA ECIJA, or NEW ECIJA. This is the name of one of the provinces of
the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, which had previously formed part of the
large one of Cagayan. It consists of a portion of the eastern side of the island, or
that called by the Spaniards the Contracosta. I t is an extensive territory, which,
with the exception of a few sheltered valleys, is for the greater part of the year,
exposed to all the severity of the north-eastern monsoon. I t extends in length to
240 miles ; its greatest breadth being 48, and its area 5600 square geographical
miles. The exposed mountains are either naked or have stunted trees, but the
valleys are covered with forest.. The climate, notwithstanding its tempestuousness,
is considered salubrious. The land, although mountainous and generally sterile, contains
some fertile and well-watered valleys. In 1850 the whole province, consisting
of eighteen townships, contained a population, besides several wild races not brought
under the Spanish rule, of 32,704, which gives the poor relative population of 5 8
inhabitants to the square mile, making it, therefore, the least populous and poorest
province of Luzon.
NUEYA GUIPUSCOA. This is the name of a Spanish province of the great
island of Mindano, created in 1850 out of the southern portion of that of Caraga,
including the large but seemingly barren island of San Juan. No limits are stated
by my authorities, but it seems to embrace all the eastern coast of Mindano between
the latitudes of 7° and 9°. Neither is its population named; but it consists of eight
townships, the most considerable being Davao, situated on a bay of the same name
and the seat of the local administration. Here there is a small fort, the main object
of which is, to afford protection against the pirates of Sulu and the southern coast
of Mindano, the immemorial scourges of the Philippine islands.
NUEYA YISCAYA, or NEW BISCAY. This is the name of an under-peopled
province in the centre of the island of Luzon, the chief of the Philippines. It was
erected into a separate province in 1839, out of the southern portion of the extensive
province of Cagayan. In 1850 it had sixteen townships; with a population, independent
of several wild mountain tribes, of 22,192, of whom 5410 paid tribute. Its
area may be taken at 2500, and hence its relative population will be no more than
8'8 inhabitants to the square mile, showing it to be one of the least populous and
poorest of the great island to which it belongs.
NUMERATION. The Malayan decimal system of numeration with its terms more