Netherlands began to pursue a course of territorial conquest in Sumatra, through
which they have become masters, at least nominally, of the whole of its coasts and
islands, from Kampar on the Straits of Malacca to Singkel on the western coast,
bordering on the territory of Achin, with much also of the interior of the island.
The territory thus acquired, exclusive of the islands in the Straits of Malacca, and of
Banea and Billiton, amounts to 6939 geographical leagues, or 3642 myriametres, which
is little short of three times the extent of Java. The value of this acquisition to its
masters may be easily judged. In 1843, the expense of maintaining it amounted to
290,000/., and the revenue which it yielded was 165,000/., which was about one-
twentieth part of the revenue of Java, of one-third its size. No better result could
reasonably have been anticipated from a country, generally unfertile, thinly inhabited
by savages or by’turbulent semi-barbarians, and without any true rent to yield a land-
tax. The Netherland conquests in Sumatra, then, may be quoted as a flagrant
example of the ambition of territorial extension run wild.
SUMBA, the proper name of Sandalwood Island, lying south of Sumbawa and
Floris, out of the line of the Sunda chain, and in the same parallels as Timur. See
Sandalwood Island.
SUMBAWA. The name given hy strangers, and taken from th a t of its principal
nation, to the fifth island of the Sunda chain, reckoning from Sumatra inclusive. It
lies between Lomboc to the west and Floris to the east, being about a degree further
south than Java. Among the islands of the Malay Archipelago, it ranks in magnitude
with Gilolo and Ceram, but in real importance, is far below Bali and Lomboc, which
are not much more than one-third part of its size. The form of the island is oblong,
its southern or exposed coast forming an unbroken line, while its northern or sheltered
is broken by several bays, two of them of great extent, and one of them but penetrating
the island to the extent of 20 miles, so as to make its eastern end a peninsula.
Its length is 140 miles, its greatest breadth 50, and its computed area 278 square
geographical leagues, or 152 5 myriameters, so that it is somewhat larger than
Jamaica.
The geological formation of Sumbawa is eminently volcanic, and it contains both
active and quiescent volcanos. Generally the height of its mountains is inferior to
those of Java, Bali, and Lomboc, usually not exceeding 5500 feet, but the mountain
of Tomboro is computed to rise to the height of 9250 feet above the level of the sea.
I t was from it, that took place in 1815, the greatest eruption recorded in history, and
which is supposed to have caused, directly or indirectly, the death of 12,000 of the
inhabitants of the island.
Sumbawa contains a good many small valleys of considerable fertility, but compared
with the three islands to the west of it, it must be deemed a very unproductive
land, less most probably from want of fertility of soil than the absence of what is
even more necessary in a hot climate, an abundant perennial supply of water for
irrigation, which so eminently distinguish Java, Bali, and Lomboc. The following
account of the physical character of the neighbourhood of Bima by Mr. Zollinger is
probably applicable to a large portion of the island. “ Like every country of the
Indian Archipelago,” says he, “ which occupies the sides of an old volcanic mountain,
this country consists of a great number of trachytic ridges, which descend divergently
to the Bay of Bima, and which are separated by ravines often very deep, and of which
the sides are frequently perpendicular. In these ravines, run streams very impetuous
in the rainy season, while their beds are nearly empty in the dry.” Such is the case
in a country which the Dutch have been masters of for a period approaching two
centuries. The water is abundant, and it is seems only necessary that it should be
husbanded and stored for use in reservoirs. Nature does this, with very little care
on their own part, for the people of Java, Bali, and Lomboc, but it does not do so for
those of Bima, and they are too weak and rude themselves to supply the want.
The only remarkable forest products of Sumbawa for economic use are sandal and
sappan wood. The teak, it is singular, is a product of this island, after ceasing to be
so in the intermediate islands of Bali and Lomboc, but it is either scarce or not
accessible. The elephant, the tiger, and all the larger animals are wanting, and there
are no considerable mammalia except deer and the hogs, but the island is remarkable
for the number and beauty of its small horses, the most esteemed of all those of the
Archipelago, and largely exported to Java, the native breed of which island is very
inferior to it.
Before the great volcanic eruption of 1815, Sumbawa is thought to have had a
population of better than 170,000, distributed among six different states, as follows,
BiTng 90 000 . gumbawa, 60,000; Dompo, 10,000; Tombora, 6000; Sangar, 2200, and
Pooekat 200o’ By an estimate made in 1847 this population would seem to have
decreased in the course of 32 years to 74,500, two of the smaller states seeming to
have disappeared altogether, according to the following statement—Bima, 45,000;
Sumbawa 26,000; Dompo, 3000; and Sangar, 500. In this last enumeration, the total
number of Europeans, exclusive of the military, was 70, and of Chinese but 6, while
of Malays and Balinese there were 2000, of settlers from Celebes 8000, and of those
from Floris, Timur, and Sumba 1000.
In manners and language, the inhabitants of Sumbawa bear a nearer resemblance
to those of Celebes than of Java and Sumatra, but are inferior to them in energy and
enterprise. The more advanced of them are composed of six different nations,
speaking as many languages and forming separate states, of which the two most
considerable, as will be seen from the estimates of population, are Sumbawa, which
gives name to the island, and Bima, where the Dutch establishment exists;—for the
whole island is subject to the government of the Netherlands and has been so since
the year 1676. All the more civilised inhabitants have adopted the Mahommedan
religion, and probably did so about the same time as those of Celebes, which was
about the epoch of the first arrival of the Portuguese. Many of the mountaineers, a
rude and simple people, are still unconverted. Attempts at their conversion are however
in progress, and, according to the statements of Mr. Zollinger, a very intelligent
traveller, these are of rather a singular description. “ For some time past,” says he,
“ Hajis (pilgrims) and fanatic Arabs have endeavoured to convert the Orang Dongo
(mountaineers) to Mahommedanism, but they have not had much success. They do
not adopt a very attractive method. They traverse the villages of the mountaineers,
rod in hand, and crying, ‘Dogs, do you wish to pray, or not?’ The converts, for there
are some, continue as they were before, except that they wear a scrap of cotton handkerchief
on the head, do not eat pork any more, unless in secret, and construct their
houses like the people of the plain. They call the stones which they worshipped
before Nabi-Mahomed, or Dewa, a god in Sanscrit, putting their confidence in them
as they have always done.”
SUMBINGr. The name of one of the highest mountains of Java situated in the
provinces of Kadu and Banumas, and in the most fertile and cultivated part of the
island. I t rises to the height of 11,250 feet above the level of the sea, forming with
Sundara the mountains called by mariners “ the Brothers.”
SUMERU. The name of the highest mountain in Java, for its height is 12,500
feet above the level of the sea. I t is situated in the western part of that narrow
portion of the island which fronts Madura, and within the districts of Malang and
Besuki. The name is Sanscrit, Su signifying good or excellent, and Meru, the Olympus
of the Hindus.
SUNDA. This is the name of the people who occupy the western portion of
Ja-va, and who differ in language, and to a considerable extent in manners, from the
Javanese, who occupy the centre and eastern end of the island. The proper Javanese
call the country in contradistinction to their own, which alone they denominate Java,
or more correctly the land of the Javanese, Pasundan, signifying the place or country
of the Sundas. It is reckoned to count from the extreme western portion of the
island up to Cheribon, which is itself partly Sunda and partly Javanese. I t consists of
what, before the arrival of Europeans, constituted the kingdoms of Bantam and Jacatra.
Among the European nations, the name was first made known by the Portuguese,
and it has been since applied by geographers to the Strait which divides Java from
Sumatra, and to the whole chain of islands from Sumatra up to Timur. ^ The entire
country occupied by the Sunda nation embraces about 12,000 square miles, or about
30 parts in 100 of the whole island of Java, and has been computed to contain a
population of 2,389,475. This is exclusive of some part of Cheribon, but includes
the city of Batavia and its environs, containing a large population of foreign origin.
The rate of population therefore is barely 200 to the square mile, while that of the
country of the Javanese is about 270. The country of the Sundas is, in fact, of
inferior fertility to that of Java, and although it contains some rich valleys and fine
plains is more mountainous than that of the Javanese. It may be said to bear the
same relation to Java proper that Wales does to England, or the Highlands to the
Lowlands of Scotland, or the Basque provinces to the rest of Spain.
The only native state of any importance ever established in the country of the
Sundas was Pajajaran, literally “ place arranged or put in order.” This stands in the