native terms for these classes are orang-darat, orang-laut, and orang-utan, literally
“ men of the dry land,” “ men of the sea," and “ men of the forest.” The Chinese
are, probably, at present not less numerous in this Archipelago than the native inhabitants,
attracted to it chiefly by the suitableness of the soil for the growth of
gambir and black pepper, of both which they are the chief cultivators. No
estimate either of their number or of that of the native inhabitants has been given,
but in proportion to the area of the land, it is certain that the amount of both is
very inconsiderable.
RICE (Oryza sativa). This is the universal bread-corn of all the nations of both
the Malay and Philippine Archipelagos that have attained any considerable amount
of civilisation, and the existence of its culture among the wild tribes may be looked
upon as the beginning of their social advancement. Rice bears the same relation
to other corns among the natives of these islands as indeed it does with all the intertropical
people of Asia, that wheat does to other corns among the nations of the
temperate regions of Europe and Asia. As food, it is more esteemed than any other
grain, and its cultivation demands more skill and labour than any other product of
husbandry. I t is only in the most fertile parts of both Archipelagos that more of
it is grown than suffices for local consumption. The principal of these are Java,
Bali, Lomboc, Luzon, and Panay, all of them countries of volcanic formation, of
great fertility of soil, and supplied with easy means of irrigation. Many parts of the
Archipelagos, indeed, do not produce rice enough for their own consumption, and a
few, such as the Spice Islands, none at all. This com, therefore, must have been
from the earliest times the chief staple of the internal commerce of the islands.
Thus, we find Malacca to have been wholly supplied from Java at the first appearance
of the Portuguese. Such also was the case with the Spice Islands, and, indeed,
continues to be so to the present day. Even now the European settlements within
the Straits of Malacca, and in Borneo and Sumatra are in a great measure fed from
Java, Bali, and Lomboc.
There is no evidence to show that rice is other than an indigenous product of the
Malayan Archipelago, and I am disposed to think that its first culture is traceable
to Java. Its own name in its different forms and all the terms connected with
its culture are native and not foreign. Thus the name of the com in the husk,
the usual form in which it is presented, is universally native in every tongue, the only
exception being the Sanscrit word, dahna, which belongs to the recondite language
of Java. A few examples may he given. In Javanese the word is pari, and so it
is in Sunda and Lampung, while in Malay, Bali, and Madurese, by turning the
liquid r into a palatal d a frequent practice in the Malayan languages, it becomes
padi, now almost naturalised in our own language. In the Philippine tongues the
letter r not existing, an 1 or an s is substituted for it, as is the case in several other
instances, and the Javanese pari thus becomes pali, or pasi. In the languages of
remote Timur the initial letter is elided, and we have the word as ari. The
Javanese name has extended even to far Madagascar, and here, by substituting one
labial for another, we find it as vari. The name for husked or clean rice has also
had a large, although not so wide a diffusion, being confined to the languages
of the Malayan Archipelago. The Javanese name is baras, and this, with various
corruptions, is to he found in at least twenty different languages. In Malay it is
bras, in Sunda bias, in the Bugis of Celebes warasa and barasa. The term for
artificially irrigated land is also very widely spread over the Malayan Archipelago,
but confined to it, for the practice itself has not extended to the Philippines. In
Javanese it is sawah, and so it is in Malay, while the sole variation I see in it is in
the Lampung, where the labial w becomes the labial b. The name for the rice mortar,
lásung, extends over the whole Malayan Archipelago, and with the slight corruption
of losong, is found also over the Philippine. No word whatever belonging to rice
exists in any language of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, although in them are
found the Malayan names for the coco-palm, the sugar-cane, and the yam. Such
could not have existed, since the culture of this corn was unknown to their inhabitants
when they were discovered by Europeans. Had it reached them, there
certainly would have been no cannibalism, and they would have been in a much
higher state of civilisation than that which they had attained when discovered.
The numerous varieties of rice in cultivation are proof that this com has been for
many ages in cultivation. Such varieties exist with all corns that have been for ages
under culture, but probably they are more multifarious in the case of rice than of
any other, for the Javanese reckon no fewer than forty-six, and the people of the
Philippines, who have a greater variety of climate, carry the number up to ninety.
The only material distinctions in these consist in the sorts grown respectively in dry
and in irrigated land, and those whieh take a longer or a shorter time to ripen.
The dry and wet land corns differ only in the habit of growing with or without the
help of irrigation, very much like the difference between our European corns which
are sown as autumn or spring crops. In Java, when a single annual crop only is
taken, the grain chosen is that which takes about seven months to come to maturity,
but when two crops are taken from the same land within the year, the corn of more
rapid growth, although less productive, is preferred. In all warm countries a
broad distinction is drawn between irrigated and unirrigated land, and this distinction
is widest when the object of cultivation is rice,-to which a copious irrigation is more
congenial than to any other crop. As a general rule, regularly irrigated land, as tested
by the amount of rent, is from five to ten-fold more valuable than dry land of the same
natural fertility. In Java the land is permanently laid out into small chequered
fields of a perch or^ two each, surrounded by a dyke, not exceeding a foot high, to
^ tain the water, which is frequently supplied by brooks and rivers. This is the kind
v-iTl knoYa properly by the word “ sawah,” already mentioned. I t is the most
skilful exercise of Javanese husbandry, and is not known in the Philippines, where
the copious periodical rains alone are relied on. Spanish writers quote this as
evidence of the superior fertility of the Philippines, whereas it is, in fact, only proof
of a ruder husbandry. The Javanese pursue the culture of their favourite crop
with pleasure, and consider it more an enjoyment than a task. Such, also, is the
case with the Philippine islanders. “ I t costs the Indian,” says a Spanish’ writer,
“ no trouble. On the contrary, it is to him a source of pleasure, for he loves
the water and the mud as much as the buffalo, the companion of his labour.”
RICINUS COMMUNIS, the castor-oil plant, is cultivated throughout the Malayan
Archipelago, but more especially in Java, and in so far as the natives are concerned,
only tor lamp-oil, its medicinal use being unknown to them. It is a hardy, prolific
plant, growing in veiy indifferent dry lands, and with small care. The most frequent
na?1?T j lfc is Jarab, and such we find it in the Malay and Javanese, but in the Sunda
and Madurese languages it is called kaliki. Both are purely native words, and there
is no ground for believing that it was introduced from any foreign country. I t is
frequently found wild, but with a plant so easily propagated and so hardy, this is no
sufficient proof of its being indigenous. As the oil is known to mix well with the
alkalis, it is probable that, economically produced, it might be used in the manufacture
of soap.
RINCHI. This is the most usual name by which the sect of purest Mahommedans,
which sprung up in Sumatra about the beginning of the present century, is known!
1 hey are the same that are also calledPadri and Orang-putih, “ white men,” that is
men dressed in white. I am unacquainted with the literal meaning of the word
L “ 13 probably, however, an abbreviation of kormchi. See Menangkabo.
RINGGIT. This is the name of a mountain of Java, situated towards its eastern
end, and in the district of Panarukuan, celebrated for the great and destructive
volcanic eruption which took place from it in the year 1586, the last on a large scale
AOno w 3 100™!! ,m ,Jar \ The mountain is of no great height, rising only to
00 feet above the level of the sea. The name in Javanese signifies a scenic figure
or puppet. See Yolcaho. 5
ROMA. This is the name of the largest of a cluster of islets lying east of W etter
and north-east of Timur, in south latitude 7° 30'. I t is about six leagues in
b r o Z 1^ 11!6’ and, consista high land. The inhabitants are of the Malayan or
tn Phriof P,exl0I)®d race> inoffensive, industrious fishermen, and have been converted
shell for «po^tatbnma pr°duCeS S°°d timber> and furnishes bees’-wax, and tortoisem
7 ' tP ^ S is, the name given 111 our maPs to the most southerly
north latitud f r w consequently, of the Continent of Asia. I t is in
tuguese In Mai» f • ' Ti ®, of the name is unknown, but probably Porwhole
c!o.,ntr^nI 2 . “ , Tanjung-panusu, literally “ wet-nurse cape.” The
» c m I thl8 384 J°int °f ‘he tail of Asia, the fertile mother of so
of the tig ^ a n dw ild ^ W i tW hwaaa -habitants, and the abode
B B