or less corrupted, although not universal, is very general, and this without regard
to race, from Sumatra to the Philippines and to Easter Island, and from Formosa
to New Zealand. I t has even reached to Madagascar. The origin of this widespread
system cannot, by any analysis of its terms, be traced to any particular nation;
but as it is most perfect and comprehensive among the Malays and Javanese, and
generally becomes less so as the distance from them increases, the presumption is in
favour of its having had its source with one of these two nations. All the more
civilised nations of the Malayan and Philippine Archipelagos adopt the whole system,
which reaches to 1000 ; while the ruder or remoter tribes, such as those of the Pacific
islands, have retained but a part of i t ; counting in it only as far as 100, and sometimes,
indeed, only as far as 10. Of the corruptions which have taken place, a
single example will be sufficient for illustration. In Malay and Javanese the numeral
six is an&m, abbreviated uam ; and we have it thus in the languages of Sumatra,
Java, Madura, Bali and Lomboc, but after this it assumes some strange shapes. In
the Bugis of Celebes the initial a is turned into a peculiar vowel resembling the
German S, and the final m is converted into ng, the only consonant with which
a word or syllable can end in that language. In the languages of Timur and its
adjacent islets, it becomes naen. In one language of Floris it is ana by the elision
of its final consonant; but in another it is lima-sa, which in Malay and Javanese
means “ five and one.” In the language of Sangir, one of a chain of islands lying
north-east of Celebes, the word becomes nong; and in Saparua, one of the Amboyna
group, it is noi'; so that in these two tongues all that remains of the original is a
single consonant. In one language of the Philippines the word is anim, in another
anum, and in a third unum; and these are written tongues, although in a very
imperfect alphabet, especially as regards the vowels. When we get into the Pacific,
we find the Malayan anftm converted by these languages in which no word can end in a
consonant into ono, as in the Sandwich Island, the Tonga, and Feejee; while in the
Maori, the medial consonant is turned from an n to an m. In the language of the
Marian or Ladrone islands, we have the strange corruption of gurum; and in the
Madagascar it becomes enind. Finally, in the language of the negros of Triton Bay,
on the southern coast of New Guinea, the term is rim-sa-mosi, which means “ five
and one; ” and is most probably equivalent to lima-suatu in Malay, and Sawatu in
Javanese, which signifies literally, “ five and one stone, or pebble.”
But there are tribes even of the Malayan Archipelago who had invented a decimal
system of their own, not superseded by the Malayan. Of this we have examples in
the language of Tambora, in the island of Sumbawa; of Ternate, one of the true
Moluccas; and in that of an inland tribe of negros, on the southern side of New
Guinea, quoted by Mr. Windsor Earl. In all these cases there is not a vestige of
the Malayan system: one example will be sufficient in proof. In all the languages
which have adopted the Malayan system, the numeral five is expressed by the word
lima, varied into lema, lim, rim, and nim. In the Tambora it is kutelon; in the
Ternate, nomatoa; and in the Papuan tongue, siworo. An equal disagreement exists
in the other nine digits.
Many of the ruder languages, appear only in part to have adopted the Malayan
numerals, retaining some of what appears to have been a native system. This is
shown especially in the first digit. In Malay and Javanese this, in its simplest form,
is asa, abbreviated sa, to which the Malay adds in an abbreviated form, batu a stone
or pebble, and the Javanese, also abbreviated, siji, a seed or corn, or tungll “ alone”
or “ only.” In the language of the Kayans of Borneo, the Malayan asa or sa is je ;
in the language of Kisa, one of the chain of islets extending from Timur towards
New Guinea, it is ida; in the Manatoto, a language of Timur, it is nee ; in the Ceram,
takura; in the language of the Aru islands, itu; in the Madagascar, trai; in the
Marquesa and New Zealand, tahi, and in the Caroline island tot. In all these cases
there is certainly not only no agreement with the Malayan word, but a very rude
divergence among the quoted tongues themselves. In some instances, the Malayan
digits seem to go no further than “ five,” some of the higher numbers being framed
by adding the lower ones to it. We have an example of this in the End 6, a language
of the western part of the island of Floris, in which the term for six and for seven,
are literally “ five and one,” and “ five and two.” Even here, however there is an
anomaly, for the term for “ four” is a native word, and the number “ eight” is framed
by adding to it the Malayan numeral two, so as literally to make the term “ two-
fours,” which would seem to indicate the remains of a native binal scale. We have
another example of this in the negro language of Triton Bay, already referred to.
Here all the units, up to five, are Malayan, although in a very corrupt form, while the
numbers above it are formed by combining the lower ones with them up to nine.
Among the digits of the Aru islands, close to New Guinea, “ two” and “ five” only are
Malay, the rest being native, and in all the Polynesian tongues, while the units are
Malayan, the tens, hundreds and thousands, are expressed by native words.
The languages of the negro races, equally with those of the fairer ones, have
frequently adopted, in part or wholly, the Malayan numerals. The S&mangs or
diminutive negros of the Malayan Peninsula have adopted the whole, with the
exception of the two first units, which are native, so that it is probable that before
their intercourse with the Malays, they counted, like the Australians, no further
than “ two,” The Papuans of the north and south coasts of the western peninsula
of New Guinea and its adjacent islands have also, in general, adopted the Malayan
numerals, for I find them in no fewer than five of their languages, which in all other
respects differ from each other. One tribe, an inland one of the southern coast,
has not done so, but has its own numerals up to five, the higher ones being formed
by combining these with the lower digits in the manner already mentioned as being
practised in some cases with the Malayan numerals. _ ;
I have supposed the wide-spread Malayan numerals to have originated with the
Malay or Javanese nations, but to decide with which of these two, is difficult. In
the languages of these two people, the terms for the numbers two, four, five, six,
ten, hundred and thousand, substantially agree, while for the numbers seven, eight,
and nine, they are wholly different. Now, in the cases in which these languages
disagree, it is the Javanese and not the Malay form of the words that has been
adopted by remote nations. This applies to the languages of Bali, Lomboc, Sam-
bawa, Celebes, Floris, Timur, the Philippines, and even of remote Madagascar.
The conclusion to be deduced from this is, that the Malayan system of numerals,
most probably, originated in Java. But with the single exception of lima 6( five,
which signifies also “ the hand,” (and even this, although it exists in some of the
neighbouring islands as Bali, is obsolete in Javanese), the etymology of the numeral
terms cannot be traced: the utmost that can be safely affirmed is, that the wide-spread
Malayan numerals had, in all likelihood, their origin with the Javanese, the most
cultivated people of the Archipelago. Certain it is that so complete a system never
originated with any people that had not attained a considerable measure of civilisation,
and that to ascribe the Malayan to a savage or rude people would, therefore, be
unreasonable.
The Malayan numeral system, in so far as it is native, extends only to a thousand,
the higher number being taken from the Sanscrit. The first step in this process
is a blunder, consisting in making the term for 100,000 to stand for 10,000 only,
and it is to be remarked, that the error has been copied by all those nations that
count as far as 10,000, which includes all the nations of the islands of Sumatra,
Bali, Lomboc, -Celebes, the Philippines, and even of Madagascar. The only people
of the Archipelago who have native characters to represent the numerals are the
Javanese, and ancient monuments, both in brass and stone, carry the existence of
these very satisfactorily as far back as the year of Salivana or Saka 1220, or of 1298
of Christ, that is to the last years of the 13th century, although it is probable that
they are of a far higher antiquity.
NUSA, o r NUSWA. In Javanese an island, the same as Pulo which equally
belongs to it and to the Malay language. Nusa, like Pulo, is prefixed to the names
of small but not of large islands, and by it we may trace the navigation of the
Javanese eastward and westward from their own island, as in such names as Nusa-
laut, “ sea-islandft Nusa-niva, correctly Nusa-niba, “ fallen island,” in the Amboyna
group; and Nusa-telo, correctly Nusa- tciluh, “ magic island,” near the Banda group.
Except on the coast of Java, however, the word is of rare occurrence.
NUSA-KAMBANGrAN, literally, “ Duck Island,” is the only island of considerable
extent to which the word nusa is always prefixed. I t is a narrow island,
about fifteen miles in length, and not exceeding three in breadth, lying on the south
> coast of Java, and separated from it by a very narrow strait, not navigable, except
for boats. It is of considerable elevation, covered with forest, and almost uninhabited.
It forms part of the province of Bahumas, the most westerly in this direction of the
proper country of the Javanese, its western limits bordering on that of the Sundas.
The western entrance of the strait which divides Nusa-kambangan from Java, called
Cali-pujang (Kali-bujang, “ bachelor’s river” ?) is a good harbour for vessels of burthen,
and the only one along the whole extent of the southern coast of Java. The
forced culture of coffee has of late years been introduced into the island by the Dutch.