Philippine Islands the names by which they are still known, although still unknown
to the native inhabitants, such as, Loson (Luson), Sebu (£ebu), Maingdano (Min-
dano), Solo (Sulu), Palaoan (Palawan). The surviving companions of Magellan
were certainly the first Europeans that discovered Borneo, which Pigafetta writes
correctly, Burnd. “ The island,” says he, “ is so large that it takes three months to
sail round it in a prau, which it certainly would, since half the voyage must of
necessity be performed against the monsoon. He gives their correct names to the
five Molucca Islands, and to Amboyna, Buru, Buton, and Banda; and passing through
the Archipelago in returning to Spain, he names Timur, Eude, Bali, Madura, and
Java, and in the last of these islands names such places as Magepaher (Majapait),
Dabadama (Damak), Cipara (Japara), Tuban, Cressi (Garsik), and Ciruba'ia (Surabaya).
Pigafetta’s knowledge of such of the Philippines as he had not visited, must have
been obtained from the Mahommedan merchants whom he met at Cebu; and he states
himself that his acquaintance with the Malayan islands was derived from the Mahommedan
pilot furnished to the squadron by the King of Tidor. From all the
facts now stated, there can be no question but that the Mahommedan merchants
and navigators of the Archipelago were the parties who furnished the European
nations with their earliest knowledge of its geography and history.
The Portuguese first entered the waters of the Archipelago in the year 1509, twelve
years after the arrival of Vasco de Gama in Calicut, and must be looked upon as
the real European discoverers of countries of which even the very names were
unknown to the Europeans of antiquity or the middle ages. “ The country and
land of Malacha,” says Barbosa, writing seven years only after the event, “ was
discovered by Lopez de Sequiera, a Portuguese gentleman.” In 1511, the Portuguese
reached Sumatra, conquered Malacca, and at length, in 1512, found their way
to the Moluccas, the chief object of the long search of themselves and the Spaniards,
and, in fact, the bait that led to the discovery of the Hew World. The great group
of the Philippines was discovered by Magellan in 1521; but their occupation
and conquest were not commenced until 1565. Down to Magellan’s discovery, they
had been unknown even by name to the western world, although the Malays and
Javanese seem for ages to have traded with them, and even communicated to them
a considerable portion of their languages. I t is remarkable that even the Portuguese,
after ten years’ possession of Malacca, scarcely suspected the existence of countries
that are hardly now five days’ voyage from that place, and still nearer to the
Moluccas. The Dutch, just freed from the yoke of Spain, made their first appearance
in the Archipelago, under Houtman, in 1596, eighty-five eventful years after its
discovery by the Portuguese. The English did not appear in it until 1602, six years
later than the Dutch. Of these four nations, which have all obtained possessions,
although of very unequal extent, by far the greatest benefit has been conferred
on the native inhabitants by the Spaniards, who have converted the greater number
of those they subdued to Christianity, and advanced the people thus converted
in civilisation far beyond what they found them. The dominion of the Portuguese
has been nearly extinguished for above two centuries, and has left little valuable
trace behind it. All the four nations, for three long centuries, acting on a false
and rapacious commercial theory, in so far as that theory is concerned, may safely
be said to have marred instead of promoting the industry and civilisation of the
native inhabitants; and it is only within the present century that a wiser and more
generous policy, not fully carried out by some of the parties even now, has been
adopted.
ARECA. The Areca catechu, a slender graceful palm, is an object of extensive
culture in all tropical India, and grows freely in all the islands, from Sumatra to
the Philippines, in which it seems to have as many distinct names as there are
languages. Thus in Malay it is called Pinang, in Javanese Jambi, in Bali Banda,
in Bugis Rapo, and in Tagala and Bisaya Bongo. Judging by this, the probability
is that the tree is indigenous in each country. With a tolerably attentive culture,
and in a suitable soil, it bears in about six years, and yields about a hundred nuts.
Thus prolific and easily reared, the produce is cheap. Like tea, coffee, and tobacco,
the areca would seem to stimulate the nervous system, and hence, probably, its
general use. In the fresh or green state it iB an object of general domestic consumption,
and in the dry, of large exportation to China and India. The most
productive countries in this article are the northern and southern coasts of Sumatra,
towards its western extremity.
ARJUNA. The name of one of the heroes of the Hindoo poem of the Mahabarat,
one of the five sons of Pandu, a personage familiar in the legends of the Malays and
Javanese.
■ARJUNA (GUNUNG). The name of one of the highest mountains of Java,
K reckoned to be 11,500 feet above the level of the sea, with an active volcano. I t
I lies between the provinces of Surubaya to the north, Pasuruhan and Malang to the
1 east Rawa to the south, and Kadiri to the west. South latitude 7° 48', and east
1 longitude 112° 35'.
» ARMS • in Malay and Javanese, Sanjata, a word found in the language of all
the civilised nations as far as the Philippines. The earliest weapons of the Indian
i islanders, after clubs, were most likely spears, for which j* their almost universal
I forests would yield a ready Bupply. The inhabitants of the island of Matan, scarcely
I exceeding an area of two leagues and a half, who defeated and slew the first circumnavigator
of the globe, with his band of sixty Spanish cavaliers, were armed with
hardly any other weapons than wooden or cane spears sharpened and hardened in
I the fire, with wooden bucklers. The spear is still a favourite weapon with all the
[ tribes of the Archipelago. The Javanese use spears from twelve to fourteen feet
f long, but shorter ones, or javelins, for throwing, are occasionally employed. The
I common name for the first is tumbak, and for the last lambing; but these names do
| not extend to the Philippine Islands.—The sling, in Malay ali-ali, and in Japanese
I bandring, although well known, seems never to have been much used. The chief
■ missile in use before the introduction of fire-arms, was a small arrow ejected from a
i blow-pipe by the breath, called a Sumpitan, meaning the object blown through.
■ This instrument is at present in general use by most of the wild tribes of Sumatra,
I Borneo, and Celebes.—The bow for discharging arrows is well known to all the
I more advanced nations of the Archipelago, but does not seem, at any time, to have
I been generally employed, the blow-pipe probably superseding its use, although a far
■ less effectual weapon. It is found represented on the sculptures of some of the
f ancient monuments of Java, of the 12th and 13th centuries. The common name for
r it, panah, extends over the whole of the islands; and, it is remarkable, is found in
the language of the Tonga Islands, but in no other dialect of the Polynesian tongue,
i But of all weapons, the greatest favourite of the Malayan nations is the kris, the
native word for a dagger or poniard. Men of all ranks wear one, and men of rank
two, and even three and four when full dressed, the quality of the party being
shown by the richness of the hilt, scabbard, and belt. The preference given to the
kris over the more effectual sword had most probably its origin in the high price of
iron in early times, and when there was no supply from abroad. In such times, a
kris manufacturer, called a pande, cutler or blacksmith, was in Java a person of distinction,
as the same artificer is represented to have been in the Ossianic poems, and
the names of several have been handed down by tradition. The word kris belongs
equally to the Malay and Javanese, and is to be found in the languages of all the
more advanced nations, expressing the same object, with the exception of those of
the Philippines, in which it means “ a sword,” in the corrupted form of kalis. In
some of the languages, however, as the Javanese, there are other names for it, and
especially names to designate the different forms which it takes. It is not found
represented on the more ancient and better temples of Java, but is seen in the ruder
ones of the 14th century. The sword is said to have been introduced about the year
1580, which is near 70 years after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca. I t is found,
whenever represented, on the best and most ancient monuments of Java; but as
the sculptures of these represent only the legends of a foreign mythology, the fact
cannot be adduced as evidence of its use as a weapon. Yet on the first arrival of
Europeans, the Malayan nations had a tolerably active intercourse with the more
advanced nations of the west, and even with the Chinese and Japanese, who would
not have failed to introduce, the sword had there been any demand for it. (See
Sword.) Bucklers were largely used by the Malayan nations before the introduction
i of fire-arms, and in the Malay language there are no fewer than eight names for
them, sometimes synonymes, and sometimes expressing their different forms.
De Barros enumerates the different weapons generally used by the Malays of Malacca
when it was attacked by Alboquerque. “ They consisted,” he says, “ of daggers of
from two spans and a half to three spans long, straight in the blade and two-edged (the
kris), bows and arrows, blow-pipes, which discharged very small arrows, barbed and
poisoned, with short spears for throwing, and bucklers of two kinds, the one short,
‘Y' other long enough to protect the whole body of the wearer.” Barbosa says
that the Malays of Malacca obtained arms from Java. “ They ” (the Javanese), says he,