then denominated proatins, which seems to be a native word, and not Malay or
Javanese. Over this assembly presides a chief, with the Javanese title of pangeran or
prince. It is from this people that Mr. Marsden has drawn his general character of
the natives of Sumatra. “ The Sumatran of the interior country,” says he, “ though
partaking in some degree of the Malayan vices, and this partly from the contagion of
example, possesses many exclusive virtues; but they are more properly of the negative
than the positive kind. He is mild, peaceable, and forbearing, unless his anger
be roused by violent provocation, when he is implacable in his resentments. He is
temperate and sober, being equally abstemious in meat and drink. The diet of the
natives is mostly vegetable. Water is their only beverage, and although they kill a fowl or
a goat for a stranger whom, perhaps, they have never seen before, nor ever expect to see
again, they are rarely guilty of that extravagance for themselves ; not even at their
festivals (bimbang), where there is plenty of meat, do they eat much of anything but
rice. Their hospitality is extreme, and bounded by their ability alone. Their manners
are simple j they are generally, except among the chiefs, devoid of the Malay
cunning and chicane, yet endued with a quickness of apprehension, and on many
occasions discovering a considerable degree of penetration and sagacity. In respect
to women, they are remarkably continent, without any share of insensibility. They
are modest, particularly guarded in their expressions, courteous in their behaviour
grave in their deportment, being seldom or never excited to laughter, and patient to
a great degree. On the other hand they are litigious, indolent, addicted to gaming
dishonest in their dealings with strangers, which they esteem no moral defect, suspicious,
regardless of truth, mean in their transactions, and servile. Although cleanly
in their persons, they are dirty in their apparel, which they never wash. They are
careless and improvident of the future, because their wants are few, for though poor,
they are not necessitous, nature supplying, with extraordinary facility, whatever she
has made necessary for their existence.”—History of Sumatra, p. 208.
I t was among the Rejangs that the English established themselves in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, persevering for 140 years in the attempt to create
wealth by the forced culture and monopoly of black pepper. Their chief station
here was Bencoolen, in south latitude 3° 47' 30”, and east longitude 102° 18'. This
place, with the territory annexed to it, now forms a district of the Motherland
territory of Sumatra, having been exchanged for Malacca in 1824. See Bjsn-
ooolen.
REMBANG. The name of a province of Java, situated on the northern side of
the island, its principal town, of the same name, lying in south latitude 6° 40' 30", and
east longitude, 111° 16'40". I t contains an area of 1983 square miles, and in 1850 had
a population of 536,478 souls, equal to 270 inhabitants to the square mile. Rembang
contains some of the principal teak forests of Java, said to embrace one half its surface.
Its staple products are rice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. The fisheries on its coasts are
considerable, and it produces bay salt to the yearly amount of about 10,000 tons.
In 1845 its homed cattle were reckoned to amount to 116,000, and its horses
to 16,800.
RESIN and Gum, in Malay and Javanese, damar. See Damab.
RETTEH, correctly RATEH. This is the name of a place situated on the left
bank of a river on the eastern side of Sumatra, which falls into a bay opposite to
the tin-producing island of Singkep, the most southerly of the numerous group which
almost chokes up the eastern end of the Straits of Malacca. Retteh was, at one time,
in the occupation of the Lanuns of Mindano, and prior to the establishment of the
British settlement of Singapore and the Netherland one of Rhio, a noted haunt of
pirates.
RHIO in the English, and RIOUW in the Dutch orthography, but correctly
RIYAU, is the name of the Dutch settlement established by the government of the
Netherlands shortly after that of Singapore by the English, and like it, and in
imitation of it, a free port. I t lies south of Singapore, and distant from’it about
50 miles. I t is situated on a strait formed by several small islands with the main
land of the island of Bintang. The town lies on the northern shore of a promontory of
Bintang called Tanjung Pinang, or Areca Point, but. which, however, is almost insulated
by a shallow strait. North of this promontory is the island of Singarang, and west of it
that of Paningat. The harbour of Rhio consists of an outer with a depth of four and
five fathoms, and an inner one, not exceeding two fathoms. These are sheltered
by the larger island of Bintang from the north-eastern monsoon, the only one that is
felt heavily in this part of the Straits of Malacca. The small town is neat and clean,
with a church and a small fort. The staple articles exported from Rhio are the
black pepper and gambir of the large islands of Bintang and Batam, cultivated by
the Chinese who are settled in great numbers on both. The soil of these two islands
consisting, like that of the Peninsula, of decomposed laterite or cellular clay iron ore
and granite, seems peculiarly favourable to the growth of the two plants in question,
although ill adapted to that of corn or similar products. The establishment of Rhio,
instead of proving unfavourable to that of the neighbouring one of Singapore, has
contributed much to its prosperity, while it has itself gained largely by its supposed
rival, with which, after Java, it conducts its principal trade. The port lies in latitude
54' 40'' north, and east longitude 104° 23'.
RHIO-LINGGA ARCHIPELAGO. This is the name which has been lately
given by Dutch geographers to the numerous group of islands, islets, rocks, and shoals
which lie between Sumatra and the Peninsula towards the eastern end of the Straits
of Malacca. When the Malays refer to it they usually call it Tanah-sálat, that is the
“ land of straits.” The equator runs through i t : to the east it is washed by the China
Sea, and to the south-east bounded by the island of Banca.
Dutch writers have divided this Archipelago into two parts, a northern and a
southern, distinguishing each by the name of its largest island, namely, Bintang for
the first, and Lingga for the last. The Bintang group comprises the following considerable
islands, namely, the island of this name, Batam or Batang, Galang or Gall at,
Bulang, Chumbul, Sugi, Durian, Krimun and Sagupong. Singapore also naturally
belongs to it, but is not included by Dutch writers. The southern group comprises
only two considerable islands, namely, Lingga, which gives it its name, and Singkep.
Besides small straits, practicable only for boats, no fewer than nine navigable
ones afford routes through this Archipelago. Of these, the most important and
frequented are the Straits of Rhio, which lie between Bintang on the one side, and
Galang and Batam on the other, and that of Singapore, having the island of this name
and the Malay Peninsula to the north, with Batam and Bintang to the south.
The monsoons and seasons of rain are much more irregular and uncertain in this
Archipelago than in places at a greater distance from the equator. The north-east
monsoon prevails from November to April inclusive, and the south-west in the
opposite half of the year. The influence of the monsoons which belong to the
southern hemisphere are not felt. The greatest quantity of rain falls in the months
of November and December, and in those of July and August. There is, in fact, no
regular period of continuous rain, showers, seldom excessive, falling throughout the
year.
The geological formation of all the islands of this Archipelago is the same as that
of the Malay Peninsula, and consists of granite and sandstone, with laterite or clay
iron ore. The metals found are iron and tin. The land usually rises from 100 to
200 feet above the level of the sea, and is generally hilly, the hills being round or
table-topped. At a few points, however, it rises to the elevation of mountains.
Thus the peak of Lingga is 3755 English feet above the level of the sea; the
mountain called Lanjut in the island of Sinkep, 1597, and the Saddle-mount on
Bintang, 1368 feet.
All the islands are with the exception of a very few rare spots in a state of
nature, covered with a tall forest, impenetrable wherever the land is low and marshy,
and not easily penetrated anywhere. The soil, usually a stiff clay, is unproductive
of plants useful to man, with the exception of a few articles peculiarly congenial to
it, the coco-palm, the black pepper vine, the gambir plant, and some fruits
native or long acclimated. Of the gambir, now so useful in the arts, this Archipelago
is the principal place of production. The forests yield the usual products,
honey and wax, with some dyeing and aromatic plants. Mr. Kops, an officer of the
Dutch Royal Navy, who has rendered the best account of the Archipelago,
enumerates about 80 different forest trees either yielding timber of fair quality, or
some other useful product. Among these are the trees which yield gutta-percha,
India rubber, damar, and wood oil.
The aboriginal population of this Archipelago is the Malay nation, that is a people
speaking the Malay language. This is divided into three classes, according to social
condition, namely, men of the shore or dry land, having their dwellings on land and
to a greater or less extent cultivating the soil; men of the sea, living exclusively in their
boats, and subsisting by fishing, and men of the forests, or wild men, leading a
wandering life in the woods, and subsisting on their spontaneous products. The