when Singapore was established by ourselves specimens were found alone with
ancient Chinese coins of the 10th and 11th centuries. It seems probable, too, that
the sacred jars of the Dayaks of Borneo, known to these people under the name of
p&naga, and undoubtedly Chinese, are of considerable antiquity, since none of the
same description are at present manufactured.
PORCUPINE (Histrix). The porcupine of the Malayan islands, is found in
most of the large islands, and differs but little from the African porcupine lone
naturalised m Italy. It is the landak of the Malays and Javanese. The Malays,
however assert the existence m the Peninsula and Sumatra of two species which
they distinguish by the epithets of great and small.
PORTUGAL, PORTUGUESE. The Portuguese made their first appearance in
the waters of the Archipelago under Sequiera in 1509, twelve years after their arrival
m Calicut. The insults which they then received and undoubtedly provoked, led
two years after, to the conquest of Malacca, and from that event is to be dated the
commencement of their domination, which virtually terminated with the loss of the
same plane in 1641. Thus the supremacy of the Portuguese lasted in all but 130
™ emt,° " possessions comprehended only the principality of Malacca
and the Clove and Nutmeg Islands, but even in these, their sovereignty was never
peaceably established, for throughout, they were involved in hostilities with their
nominal subjects, or with neighbouring native states. Notwithstanding, however
their short and disputed power, it must be observed that they have left behind them
more marks of their dommion than either the Dutch or English. The facts which
attest this, are the number of words of their language which" have been n a t u i ^ d
m the languages of the Archipelago, and the number of converts to Christianity which
they have left. These results are most probably attributable to the greater congeniality
of their manners and language with those of the Archipelago, and to the spirit
powerPaga m g m°re 30tiVe Whh them tban witb their successors in
POmAiT° ' Th i A^ erii an ?0bat0,’ Solanum tuberosum, the Ubi yuropa of the
Malays, and the Kantang holanda of the Javanese, names equivalent to European
and Dutch yam, was first introduced into Java by the Dutch, and in comparatively very
?OOoTeiTnve tk T P f P I S P tub6rS °n,y at an elevation of not less than
t I i T a? \ an£ c°nse(lueutly its production must always be
confined to a few localities. In all the higher mountain valleys of Java, it is produced
easily and of very good quality, chiefly for the consumption of Europeans, for with the
natives it never can become a general article of food, as long as they have cheaper
farinaceous roots m the yam and batata. I t is also grown in some of the mountains
of Celebes, and far more readily and abundantly in those of the Philippines.
PRAMBANAN This is the native pronunciation of the celebrated Hindu ruins
m Java, which Europeans, rig h tly or otherwise, write Brambanan. See Brambanan
PRANARAGA, or, as pronounced by the Javanese, Pronorogo, is the name of a
native province of Java, situated south-west of the volcanic mountain Wilis and
towards the southern side of the island, in the proper country of the Javanese nation
This fine province abounds in relics of Hinduism, consisting of temples and images.
In it was situated the kingdom of Daa, which appears to have flourished in the 12th
century, and at which, in the reign of Jayabaya, was composed by a Bramin of the
name of AmpuaAdah, the paraphrase of the Hindu epic, the Mahabarat, called the
Bratayuda. The name, Pranaraga, is Sanscrit, and signifies “ the desire of life."
PRAU, is in Malay and Javanese the generic name for any vessel, whether rowing
or sailing. The different sorts are distinguished by specific names, according to form
size, use, and nationality. B ’
PRAU (Gunung) th a t is “ boat or ship mountain,” from its form, is the name
of a mountain of Java with an active volcano, lying between the provinces of Kadoe
and Pakalongan. I t rises to the height of 6500 feet above the level of the sea and
its table-lands and valleys contain the rums of many Hindu temples of hewn trachyte
were built e’ but tbere exlst no inscriptions to tell when or by whom they
PRATANGAN This is a name given by the proper Javanese to certain of the
Sunda districts of Java. It has been adopted by the Dutch with the corrupt ortho-
^ V / nT | er' Prayani?’ m ¿ ™ 8e signifies a ghost, of the dead, and Prayangan is country of ghosts. ’ The districtosr iwn aqnudeesrtiinogn shpairviet
been constituted a province by the Dutch, under the name of the Preanger Regencies.
This embraces an area of 6077 square miles, and in 1850 had a population of 737,466,
which gives little more than 104 inhabitants to the square mile, or not more than one-
fourth part the density of some of the most fertile provinces of Java. The country,
indeed, although in picturesque beauty equal to any in the world, is very mountainous,
and relatively to other portions of the island, not fertile. The Preanger Regencies have
been since the first introduction of coffee, the chief locality for its forced cultivation.
PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. This is the name which is given to Penang, or
Pulo Pinang, by its English founders, an unmeaning piece of flattery to the Prince of
Wales of the day, the future George the Fourth. See Penang.
PROBOLINGO, or, as a Malay would pronounce it, Prabalinga, called also
Bangin', or “ the Fetid,” on what ground I do not know, is the name of a native
district of Java, which now forms part of the Dutch province of Besoekie. The soil
of the lower lands of this district, lying between the sea and the slopes of the mountains
Tengger, Lamongan, and Iyang, all active volcanos, is of eminent fertility, and
the best suited of any of the island for the growth of the sugar-cane, which is
extensively cultivated. The great maj'ority of the inhabitants are emigrants from
Madura, who began to settle in this part of Java about the middle of the last century,
and still continue to migrate to it. They have brought with them from their native
island, whose language they continue to speak, that private hereditary right of
property which has been nearly obliterated among the proper Javanese, although it
exists among the Sundas. The name is, most probably, Sanscrit, the first part of it prabo
or prabu, signifying “ a lord,” and the last linga, the Hindu priapus, an emblem of the
worship of Siva, and the whole signifying a place where such an emblem was erected.
PULO, or in the pronunciaation of the Malays,1 pulao, is equivalent to the nusa of
the Javanese, and signifies an island, or more correctly, an islet, for it is rarely
applied to any of the larger islands, the idea of insularity in regard, to which, is
scarcely consistent with the state of knowledge, even of the more cultivated nations
of the Archipelago. It is of very frequent occurrence from one end of the Malayan
Archipelago to the other, and even where the Malay language is not vernacular,
and points, of course, to the extent of the navigation that was familiar to the Malays.
The name, however, does not extend to the Philippine Islands, nor to those of the
Northern and Southern Pacific oceans.
PULOSARI is the name of a mountain of Bantam in Java, rising to the height of
4000 feet above the level of the sea, and an active volcano.
PULSES. The generic name in Malay and Javanese for all leguminous plants, is
kachang, by adding an epithet to which we have the name of the species. Several
species are regular objects of cultivation, as Phaseolus max, lunatus and radiatus;
Dolichos kachang; "Lablab vulgaris; Soja hispida; Cytisus cajan, and Arachis
hypogeea. In Java, the greater number of these are cultivated in the dry season
from irrigated land, which during the wet had yielded a crop of rice; that is, they
form one of the two crops from the same land within the year. The last-named
plant, the ground nut, is raised in inferior dry lands, and is the chief source of the
lamp-oil consumed by the natives. Most of the cultivated leguminous plants may be
judged by the epithets annexed to them to be exotics; thus, Phaseolus lunatus, is
called Kachang-China, or Chinese pulse; and Soja hispida, the soy-bean, Kachang-
Japun, or Japanese pulse; Phaseolus max has a Talugu or Telinga name annexed to
it, kAdfild.
Q.
QUEDA. The name of the most northerly of the Malay states on the western
side of the Peninsula of Malacca. This is the Portuguese orthography of the
name, correctly written KAdah, and which, following the Portuguese, has been continued
by other European nations. The word signifies in Malay “ an elephant
trap.” Queda is bounded to the north by the Siamese territory of Ligor, to the east
by the Malay state of Patani, to the south by the state of Perak, and to the
west by the sea, and partially by the continental portion of the British territory
annexed to Penang. Its length is about 150 miles, and its average breadth
about 30, so that it is computed to have an area of 4500 miles. Besides this
territory, a chain of many islands, including Lancavy, correctly Langkawi, and
Trutao, of considerable size, run along its coasts and form part of it, so that its actual