native districts, of which the Netherland province of Japara, on the northern side of
culrivateH0mP0St is the largest’ and is a Populous,cultivated country, containing no fewer than 519 villages, fertile, and well-
PATIJWA, (literally, “ ancient father,” ) is the name of a mountain of Java,
without an active volcano, situated in the district of Bandong and country of the
xfcnuen sdeaas., and ot which the summit has been computed to be 8000 feet above the level
Malay and Javanese, and Songsong in Javanese only, an umbrella,
s is the universal badge of rank from the prince to the humblest office-bearer
among the civilised nations of the Malayan Archipelago, and stands instead of the
crowns, coronets, stars and ribbons of the nations of Europe. The quality of the
party is expressed by its size, colour, or material.
PEACOCK, in Malay and Javanese Marak, and in the polite dialect of the latter
Manura, which is Sanscrit. The bird known by this name is the Pavo muticus
ot ornithologists, and a distinct species from the Indian one which is that of
our poultry-yards. I t appears to be confined to Java, Sumatra, and the Malay
Peninsula, and has never been domesticated by the natives of the Archipelago.
PEAKLandMOTHER-OF-PEARL. Pearls worth fishing are found in the seas
about the Arrow Islands, and in those of the Sulu Archipelago, but none in size or
quality to be compared with those of the Menar or Persian gulfs. Mother-of-pearl
oysters are found in the same situations and on the coasts of several of the Bisaya
islands of the Philippines much more abundantly. Prom Manilla there are yearly
exported about 200,000 pounds weight of them. Mr. Windsor Earl has given the
following very satisfactory account of the fishing of the Arrow Islands on the coast of
IN ew Guinea. But the great sources of wealth are the pearl and tripang banks which
lie on the eastern side of the group, and are often several miles in width, being
intersected by deep channels, some of which will admit vessels of burden. The
pearl oysters are of several varieties; first, the large oyster with its strong thick
shell from six to eight inches m diameter which furnishes the mother-of-pearl shell
of commerce. These are obtained by diving and are highly prized, being nearly
always in demand at Singapore for the European and Chinese markets. This oyster
produces few real pearls, but gnarled semitransparent excrescences are occasionally
?Aurfa<je 0f the inner shell, which are so highly esteemed by the Chinese
that they often fetch enormous prices. The other description is the small semitransparent
pearl oyster, having the inner surface of the shell of a bluish tint. The
shell is of smaU value as an article of commerce, but the oyster itself often contains
pearls which although individually of no great value, are so numerous, as amply to
repay the labour of collection. Pearls of sufficient size to undergo the process of
boring are sometimes found, but the greater portion are what go by the name of
seed-pearls, and are only marketable in China, where they are much valued as a
medicine when pounded and mixed with some liquid.” Journal of the Indian
Archipelago, vol. iv . p . 490. The names for the pearl in Malay and Javanese, muti
mutya, and mutyara, are all Sanscrit, and I am not aware that in any of the Malayan
languages, there are native names for it. Occasionally the Persian word lulu is used.
name for the mother-of-pearl oyster, indung-mutyara, is exactly equivalent to
our own, for the Malay word indung signifies mother or matrix. From this we may
suppose that both the pearl and mother-of-pearl were most probably made known
to the Malayan nations by the Hindus. I t may be remarked, that the pearl-fishing
or the Sulu Islands was certainly carried on before the arrival of Europeans, for thev
are mentioned by the indefatigable Barbosa. “ Going on,” says he, “ in a northerly
direction towards China, there is another island abounding in the necessaries of life
called Solar (Sulu), inhabited by a gentile people, almost white, and in person well
made, i hey have their own proper king and language. In this island is found much
gold by washing the soil and over against it, the people go to fish small pearls, and
even find occasionally larger ones, fine as to colour and roundness.” Bamusio,
PEDIR is the name of a Malay state on the eastern side of Sumatra, and comprising
that portion of the sea-board of the island which extends from Diamond Point
the Tanjung-parlak of the Malays, to Achin. This portion of the Sumatran coast is
known to European traders under the name of the “ Coast of Pedir,” and is noted for
its large produce and export of thearecanut. In the beginning of the 16th century,
Pedir was an independent state, one of the twenty-nine of the sea-board of
Sumatra, and De Barros enumerates it as such, in the orthography which it has ever
since borne. It was the first spot in the Archipelago at which the Portuguese touched,
and they found it carrying on some foreign trade, being frequented by ships from
different parts of the continent of India. At present it is a place of no moment,
except for its export of the areca-nut and a little pepper, which is carried to the British
settlement of Penang. The principal town hearing the same name, is situated on a
small river, a little east of a headland which is in north latitude 5° 29' and east
longitude 96°.
PEDRA-BRANCA, or the “ White Rock” of the Portuguese navigators, a well-
known land-mark 32 miles distant from Singapore, is thus well described by Mr. Windsor
Earl. “ Pedra-branca is a detached rock 24 feet in height above the level of the sea,
situated nearly in the centre of the eastern entrance of the Straits of Malacca, which
has been the leading mark for vessels entering or leaving the strait for ages past.
The main channel which lies immediately to the north of the rock, is four miles wide
( in the narrowest part. A light-house of dressed granite 75 feet in height has
recently been erected on the summit of the rock, which is probably the most perfect
of the kind that has ever been constructed to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope.
The light which is regularly illuminated is on the revolving principle, attaining its
greatest brilliancy once in a minute as the concentrated rays strike the eye of the
spectator. It is visible from the deck of a ship at the distance of 15 miles, when it
disappears below the horizon, but it may be seen much further from the masthead,
as its brilliancy is so great that the horizon is the only limit to its range. The
reefs and dangers which beset the eastern entrance of the Straits of Malacca are
all within the influence of the light as visible from a ship’s deck.”
PENANG, Pulo-'Pinang, th a t is “ Areea palm island” in Malay. This is the
island to which we gave the clumsy and unmeaning name of Prince of Wales
Island, but which is fortunately becoming obsolete. This British settlement is
situated towards the western end of the Straits of Malacca, separated from the main
land of the Peninsula by a channel, about two miles broad, forming a safe and
spacious harbour and distant from the nearest point of Sumatra about 150 miles.
The insular shore of the harbour, the site of the fort and town, lies in north latitude
5° 25' and east longitude 100° 21'. The island is about 15 miles long and from 7
to 8 broad, and is computed to contain an area of 139 geographical or 160 statute
square miles, so that it is by 30 square miles less than the Isle of Wight. Annexed
to it, however, is a territory on the opposite main of the Peninsula which goes under
the name of Province Wellesley, and which has an area of 121 geographical or 140
statute square miles, so that the entire territory of the settlement amounts to 260
geographical or 300 statute square miles. With the exception of a plain of about
three miles in depth fronting the mainland, the island is a mass of granite with
narrow valleys. The highest peak is above 3000 feet above the level of the sea
(2922). The territory on the main is, generally, an alluvial fiat, but a few feet above
the level of the sea.
The influence of the regular monsoons is more distinctly felt at Penang than in
the more easterly part of the Straits of Malacca owing to the wideness of the latter
to the west, and vicinity to the Bay of Bengal. During the north-easterly monsoon,
from November to March inclusive, clear settled weather prevails, and in the
south-westerly from April and October the rains take place. But neither rain nor
drought are of long continuance. The average heat of the year at the level of the
sea is 80° and at the height of 2410 feet, the highest inhabited point 70°, the annual
range being about 20°. Wherever there is a free ventilation, the climate is equal
in salubrity to that of any other tropical one, but in a few close valleys wanting this
advantage the malaria is poisonous, and such localities, few in number, are not
habitable by Europeans. Much of the island is still covered with its primeval forest
of heavy timber trees, and even the cultivation, consisting as it does, for the most
part, of tall evergreen plants, such as palms, bamboos, bananas, fruit trees, the clove
and the nutmeg, has from its luxuriance much the aspect of a forest. There are
plenty of brooks, a beautiful waterfall, an abundant supply of potable water, but no
stream that deserves the name of a river.
Penang was taken possession of as a British settlement on the 17th day of July,
1786. The British government of India had been long desirous of possessing a
commercial emporium, but above all a naval station at the eastern side of the Bay
of Bengal, and the chief instrument it employed in carrying this object into effect
was Francis Light, the master of a merchant vessel and a man of the same