gardens were formed. His slender frame and weakly constitution contrasted with the
energy and activity of his mind. His health had never been good, and in 1826 he died
suddenly, from the effect of an abscess on the brain. Activity, industry, and political
courage were the most remarkable endowments of his character. In the transaction of
public business he was ready, rapid, and expert,—partly the result of early training,
but far more of innate energy and ability. He was not, perhaps, an original thinker, but
readily adopted the notions of others,—not always with adequate discrimination. Thus,
without much time for examination, seemg it lauded by its partisans, he adopted, and
at once carried into execution among the then five millions of inhabitants of Java, the
fanciful and pernicious Indian revenue system called the Ryotwarry, and saw it
break down even before he had himself quitted the administration of the island.
RAJA. This Sanscrit name for a king or sovereign prince is ourrent nearly
throughout the whole Malay Archipelago, usually as a synonym with a native word,
or with the well known Arabic one of Sultan.
RAJANG. The name of a river of the north-western coast of Borneo, and
described by Mr. Robert Burns, who had ascended it, as the finest and, perhaps,
the largest of the island. It falls into the sea by six different mouths, the largest of
which is in latitude 4° 40' north. This is easy of entrance for ships of considerable
burtben, having, on its bar at low water, a depth of three fathoms, and a rise and fall
of tide of ten feet. Within the bar the depth increases to eight and ten fathoms, and
it is navigable for large vessels as far as the tide reaches, which is up to the great
rapids, or from 90 to 100 miles. The rapids are fully two miles in length, and are
formed by the river in breaking through a range of hills. Their ascent is difficult
and dangerous, from the many rocks and islets which intervene, around which the
river rushes with fearful rapidity. These, unfortunately, offer, at present, an almost
unsurmountable obstacle to the development of the extensive coal fields and deposits
of iron ore which characterises the country above them. The country traversed by
the Rajang is in the occupation of the Kayan nation, the most numerous, powerful,
and civilised of the wild tribes of Borneo, but, with the exception of rare patches of
cultivation, it is a continuous jungle.
R A K A N , frequently written in our charts, Reccan, is the name of a river of the
north-eastern side of Sumatra. The mouth of the Rftkan is, at its widest part, about
fifteen miles broad. Within are two islets, the largest of which is, in north latitude,
2° io ' and east longitude 100° 36' 50". The channel between them, shallow, and
never three miles wide, forms the entrance to the river. After ascending the Rftkan
for about eight or nine miles, its breadth contracts to four, and afterwards to two
miles when it is joined by a tributary to its right, and another to its left bank.
Towards its debouehement, the Rftkan, which seems here to be but an estuary, is
almost a dry bed at low water spring tides. The navigation is extremely dangerous,
owing to the excessive rapidity of the tides, which, at springs, run at the rate of seven
miles an hour, the rise and fall of water amounting to thirty feet. The river moreover
like others in its neighbourhood, is subject to a bore or tidal wave which adds
to the danger of its navigation. The country, on the lower portion of the Rftkan, is in
the possession of scattered Malay settlers, and the upper inhabited by the Batak
nation.
RAMA. This H indu demi-god, and all the personages of the Sanscrit poem which
takes its name from him, with his own adventures in search of his stolen wife Sita, are
nearly as to the Malays, and more especially to the Javanese, as they are to
the Hindus themselves. The Javanese have poems, both in the ancient and modem
tongue, narrating the adventures of Rama, and from these have been formed romances
in prose by the Malays. These adventures, too, form the most frequent subject of
the drama of both people.
RAMBTJTAN. The name of an esculent fruit, the produce of a tree of moderate
size (Nephelium lappaceum). Like the durian and mangostin, it is peculiar to the
Malayan Archipelago. The semi-transparent, subacid pulp which envelopes the seed
is of grateful taste, but the quantity is too small to make the fruit be much valued.
The native name is derived from the word rambut, the human hair of the head,
taken from the shaggy rind of the fruit
RAMI. This is the name of a species of nettle,—Urtica estuans, the fibre of
which is of extraordinary tenacity, and used by the natives of the Archipelago in the
fabrication of cordage, fishing lines, and fishing nets. It is supposed to be the same
plant, or a species of the same genus which is used in severa parts of continental
India, for similar purposes, as well as that which is the material of the grass-cloth ot
China. I t is not cultivated by the Malays or Javanese, but is abundant in the wild
state. T - , L. .«
RANUM is the name of a mountain of the eastern end of Java, and within the
province of Besuki, 8500 feet high, but without an active volcano.
RANT ATT in Malay, signifies, literally, the reach of a river or of a narrow strait, and
from thence a district of country. I t is the specific name of one of four low islands
close to the eastern coast of Sumatra, opposite to that portion of the Malay peninsula
which lies between Malacca and Singapore. The island is about forty-five miles long
and fifteen broad, in its widest part. The few inhabitants consist of Malays, and the
chief, if not only produce for exportation is crude sago, sent to Singapore to be there
manufactured by the Chinese.
RAPURAPU. The name of an uninhabited islet, one of several, a t the entrance
of the great bay of Albay, on the eastern side of Luzon, in the Philippine Archipelago.
Latitude 13° 22'.
RAT. The common brown ra t is frequent all over the Malay and Philippine
Archipelagos,—wherever there is a considerable population. In Singapore, until the
formation of the British Settlement, there were very few, but immediately afterjthey
appeared in vast numbers, and I have nowhere seen them so numerous. The Malay
and Javanese name for the rat is tikus, and it is the same for the mouse, for there is
no distiction between them, except as large and small. The word is purely native,
and there is no other, except in the recondite Javanese, the Sanscrit one musika.
There is a name in Javanese, even for the young mouse, chindil. I t seems
probable that the word tikus belonged, originally, to the mouse only, as being indigenous
and that the brown rat was brought to the islands, as to other countries,
from the continent of India, although there be no record of the time or manner of
its introduction.
RATAN (Calamus). In Malay, rotan, an abbreviation of raotan, from the verb
raot, to pare or trim, that is, the object pared or trimmed. Of this universal product
of the forests of the islands, the name, as might be expected, is different m all the
different languages. Thus, in Javanese, it is pftnjalin, and in Sunda kowe. The plants
which yield ratans are considered by botanists as a genus of the family of palms,
which consists of many species, from the girth of a goose-quill to that of a stout
walking-stick. They are abundant in all the forests of the Malay and Philippine
Archipelagos, and are every where extensively used as cordage or ligatures, or in the
manufacture of mats and basket-work. These singular plants creep along the ground
or climb trees, and, according to the species, to the length of from 100 to 1200 feet.
The principal places of production for the general market are Sumatra, Borneo, and
the Peninsula. By far the most valuable, probably a distinct species, is brought from
Banjarmassin on the southern coast of Borneo, for in the market they are worth about
150 per cent, more than any others. Avast quantity of ratans are exported from the
Malay Archipelago to Europe, Hindustan, and China.
RAW A, literally, in Malay and Javanese, a morass or lake. I t is the specific
name of an inland country of Sumatra, drained by the great river RAkan, which
disembogues in the Straits of Malacca. Its population is of the Malay nation, and Mr.
Logan has estimated it at 25,000, occupying an area of 1600 miles, which gives from
fifteen to sixteen inhabitants to the square mile, a poor rate for a people who have
had for ages a knowledge of the common arts, and possessed the art of phonetie
writing.
REJANG. This is the name of one of the most civilised nations of Sumatra,
having a peculiar language in an original written character. The country of this
people is bounded to the north-east by the territory of Paiembang, to the south-east
by that of the Lampung nation, to the north-east by the Malays of Anak-Sungai, and
to the south-west by the sea. Mr. Logan has estimated the area of the country at
4500 miles square, and its population at 72,000, or at the rate of sixteen inhabitants
to a square mile.
The Rejangs, like the Malays, are divided into tribes (suku), and every village is
ruled by a head-man, called a Dupati, which, however, seems only a corruption of the
Sanskrit Adipati, taken most likely from the Javanese. For the transaction of public
affairs, all the chiefs of villages situated on the same river meet in council, and are