SUNDARA 422 SUNDARA
district of Bogor (the mat or carpet) and near the present country-residence of the
governor-general of Netherland India and about 40 miles from Batavia.
It is alleged to have been founded in the year of Saka 1084, and to have been overthrown
or abandoned in 1221 of the same era, years which correspond with 1162 and
1299 of Christ, the last date being some nine years later than the time when Marco
Polo passed through the Archipelago, and made known to the European world by its
proper name that such an island as Java existed in the world.
The Hindu religion was certainly established in the country of the Sundas, as
well as in that of the Javanese, but it contains no ruins of temples. Even the
images which have been discovered are few in number, and of small size, yet sufficient
to prove that the sect of Hinduism which prevailed was that of Siwa, or the power
of destruction. The earliest attempt to convert the Sundas to the Mahommedan
religion was made in the year of Saka 1250, corresponding with that of Christ 1328.
But the real conversion did not begin until the year of our time 1480. According
to De Barros many of the people were still Hindus when in 1522, Henrique Lem A
deputed by Jorge Alboquerque from Malacca, first visited Sunda Kalapa or Jacatra (the
modern Batavia) and Bantam. This is the account of the state of the people given by
De Barros, writing only thirty years after the mission of LemA “ The people are not
very warlike, but much addicted to their own idolatries, on which account they have
many temples. They wish ill to the Moors, and the more so since one Sanque de Pate
of Dama (Sang Adipati of Damak ?) conquered them. There can be bought here four
or five thousand slaves on account of the poverty of the people, for the law allows of
fothers selling their children for any trifling necessity. The women have a goodly
appearance, and the nobility are very chaste, but not so the common people. They
have convents for women who preserve a perpetual virginity, and this more out of
vanity than devotion. The nobles, when they cannot marry their daughters to their
liking, place them in the convents against their wish. As to the married women,
when their husbands die they have to die with them, as a point of honour. But if
they fear to die, then they must repair to the convents and pass their lives as nuns.”
—Decade in. book i. chapter 12. .
De Barros’ account of the country of the Sundas is a curious mixture of fact and
error, and shows how little the Portuguese knew of Java, the most important island
of the Archipelago, even forty years after their arrival at Malacca. “ A third part of
the island of Java, embracing its western portion, is called Sunda,” says he, “ and its
inhabitants hold it to be an island separated from Java by a river little known to
our navigators, which they call Chiamo or Chenano (Chi-manuk, literally, ‘ bird-
river,’ which is the river of Indramaya). This intersects the whole island from sea to
sea in such a way that when the people of Java describe their own country, they say
that it is bounded to the west by the island of Sunda, the aforesaid river Chiamo
parting the two countries. The people hold that whoever passes this strait (the
river Chiamo) into the South Sea is carried off by violent currents and unable to
return. For this reason they do not navigate the South Sea, in like manner as the
Moors from Caffraria to Sofala never pass the Cape on account of the great currents
which there prevail. The inhabitants of Sunda, in praise of their own country, and
boasting of its superiority over Java, say that God established the aforesaid division
of the river Chiamo between the two countries. The island of Sunda is more
mountainous in the interior than Java, and has six notable sea-ports, namely Chiamo,
at the extremity of the island, Eacatra (Jacatra, that is, Jayakarta, ‘ work of victory ’)
called also Caravam (Krawang, a different place), Cheguidd (Chaig&de, literally, ‘great
river,’ but probably meant for Chitarum, ‘indigo or blue river’), Pondang (Pontang),
and Bintam (Bantam, properly Bantftn). These are places of great trafilc on account
of the trade of Java as well as of Malacca and Sumatra. The principal town of Sunda
is Daio, situated a little in the interior, and which, when Henrique Lemd was in the
country, was thought to have 50,000 inhabitants, while in the whole kingdom there
were 100,000 men capable of bearing arms.” Decade m. book i. chapter 12. What
place Daio was, if such a place existed at all, it is impossible to conjecture, as no
place resembling it occurs in Javanese topography. The locality would point to the
ancient capital of Pajajaran, although that is described as having been abandoned
long before the first visit of the Portuguese.
SUNDARA. The name of one of the highest mountains of Java, and an active
volcano, lying between the provinces of Kffdu and Banuwangi, and rising to the
height of 10,500 feet above the level of the sea. With the neighbouring mountain
Sumbing, it forms one of the two called by European mariners “ The Brothers.”
4.oq SWORD
SUNGAI 423 _________ PYV
q ttn g aT in Malav a river, and equivalent to the Javanese Kali, or the Sunda
r i v e r s nearly throughout the Malay Archipelago, have no specific names,
Chai. As r , places through which they pass, and as the Malayan
n a t i o n s dweuTlmost always on rivers, the word is of very frequent occurrence in the
SITNGORA is the name of the most southerly province of Siam, and consequenty
rtat wHch borders on the Malayan states of the Peninsula, and it is to it that the
government of Siam entrusts the charge of its four Malayan tributaries.
KTTRABAYA. This is the name of a large province of the Netherland Government
of Java, and of its chief town. The province includes also the island of Madura.
The first part of the name Sura is Sanscrit, meaning brave or valiant, and the last,
Baya, Javanese, danger or difficulty. Its area in Java is 20| 9 s^ 8ar® T lefS’t^ ^ “
Madura 1557, the population of the first being computed at 936,868, and ol the last
295,748 making the total 1,232,616 inhabitants. Thus we have a denwtyforthe
Javanese portion of 460, and for the Madurese of onlyA 89 to t te square mile This
is accounted for by the great fertility of that part which is in Java, and the very
inferior one of that in Madura. By the census taken in 1850 the population of the
Javanese portion of the province had risen to 967,889, or in five years sustained an
111 Th^rive^of Surabaya is, next to that of Solo, the largest in Java. I t has Kg soture
in the southern range of mountains, passes diagonally across the isl^d.^ecerv!ss in
its course many tributaries, runs through the fine provinces of Eawa.“ d Kedm,
falls into the sea in the Straits of Madura by five separate and distant branches, i t is
one of these branches that passes by the town of Surabaya, and disembogues in the
narrowest part of the channel which separates Java from Madura. Througlmut
great part of its course the river is navigable for large boats, but has nowhere sufficie t
B H K R ? the left bank of the river, about a mile from the sea I t was but
an inconsiderable place in 1815 when I had civil charge of the cens^
since, from its advantageous position, become of much importance, and by the census
of 1845 contained a population of 82,203 inhabitants. This, however, included surrounding
villages over an area of 45 square miles. The harbour is pr p v y
o n e in Java, the rest being mere r o a d s t e a d s , u n l e s s we except the httle frequented
one of CMlachap on the southern coast. I t is accessible both from the east and
west, the channel in the latter direction being however a very narrow one.
SURAKARTA. See Solo. _ .
SURIGAO. The name of the chief town of the Spanish province of Caraga in
the island of Mindano. I t lies in a plain on the banks of a river called the Tomun-
day, which falls into a beautiful bay, but on account of strong.currents d^ °ult^of
access to shipping. Surigao is situated at the most northern extremity of Mindano,
where it forms with the island of LeyW the Straits of Surigao, the passage for all
ships trading between the Philippines and the western coast of America. _ The town
consists of 1400 houses, chiefly native huts, and has a population of 7417 inhabitants,
of whom 1568 are subject to the capitation tax. Latitude 9 29 north, and longitude
125° 24/.
SURIGAP. The name of a group of islands, th irty in number, lyiug off the
north and north-east end of Mindano, and in the strait of Surigao, which separates
that island from that of LeytA The largest of them, which gives name to the rest, is
34 leagues in length, 2 in breadth, and inhabited.
SWORD. The usual common term for this weapon in Malay and Javanese is
pfidung, written with a palatal d, but for modifications of form there are other names
Is laming and klewang, which may be translated hanger and cutlass. All the mmes
for sword seem to be native and not foreign words. The most general, pad&ng,
extends to all the languages of the Malayan but not of the Philippme Aiuhipela^o,
for in the last the sword is called kalis, an obvious corruption of the Malayan karis,
a dagger. The spear and dagger, and not the sword, were, and indeed still are,
the favourite weapons of the Indian islanders. De Barros does not include the sword
at all among the weapons used by the Malays in defending Malacca when attacked
by the Portuguese in 1511. “ The arms,” says he, “ which they use are daggers,
of from two palms and a half to three palms long, straight and two-edged.. Along
with these they employ bows and arrows, javelines for throwing, and blow-pipes nom
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