BATO. The name of one of several lakes in the province of South Camarines in
the Island of Luzon. This lake is about 3J miles in length, and 3 in breadth, deep, and
abounding in esculent fish. The volcanic country which surrounds it is fertile and
populous. On the borders of the lake, and at the mouth of a river which falls into
it, there is a town of the same name, with a population of 2167, latitude N. 13° 20'.
and longitude E. 123° 16'.
BATTJ in Malay, and Watu in Javanese, (a stone or a rock,) is a word frequently
found throughout the Archipelago in the names of places, as Batu-gade, “ pawn” or
“ pledgerock, Batu-titi, “ bridge rocks,” Batu-bara, “ live-coal rock,” andBatu-mandi,
“ bathing rock. To complete the sense the words pulo, islet, or tanah, land, must
generally be prefixed.
BATU (PULO), “ stone or rock islands,” in Malay, compose a group of four
considerable islands, with many islets of the 300 lying off the western coast of
Sumatra, and running in a direction parallel with it. The equator runs through the
Batu Islands, leaving the larger part of the group south of it. They are stated to
contain an area of 30 square geographical leagues, with a reputed population of 3000.
The names of the larger islands have evidently been given to them by the
Malays, for they all belong to the language of that people. They are Pingi, Taluk,
Masa, and Bala, meaning respectively, “ fair,” “ cove,” “ time” or “ season,” and “ ho st”
or “ army ” island. The inhabitants are of the Malayan race, and as a friendly intercourse
is kept up between them and those of the Nias Islands, the latter frequently
settling among them, it is supposed they are one and the same people. The inhabitants
of the Batu Islands are in a much more advanced state than those of Engano,
cultivating rice, understanding the use of iron, and domesticating some animals for
food. On the largest island, Masa, there are settled 170 Malays, 50 Bugis, and as
many Chinese, the two first being engaged chiefly in the fishery of the tripang and
shell turtle, and the last having the whole trade in their hands.
BATUBARA. A river and district of the eastern side of Sumatra, subject to the
Malay state of Siak. The mouth of the river, about 300 yards wide, has a bar dry at
low water, and an extensive mud-bank before it. I t is in N. latitude 3° 13' 15", and
E. longitude 99° 36' 45". The coast of Batubara is occupied by the Malays, the
ruling nation, but the interior by the Bataks. The principal town is about two miles
up the river. The sea abounds in fish, and the people are, for the most part,
fishermen.
BATU-GAPIT, or, a t full length, Gunung-batu-gapit, literally “ mountain of the
gapped rock,” the name of a mountain of the interior of Sumatra, in the territory of
Achin.
BATUR (GUNUNG). A mountain in the centre of the island of Bali, 6000 feet
high, and an active volcano. The word in Javanese, and most probably also in the
language of Bali, means “ a servant,” possibly in reference to its small height in comparison
with the mountains which surround it.
BAWiAN, in Javanese, “ place of swine,” is an island lying off the northern coast
of Java, at the distance of about 50 miles from the western end of the strait which
divides that island from Madura. Bawian contains an area of 850 geographical square
miles, and the middle of the island is in S. latitude 5° 49', and E. longitude 112° 44'.
I t is surrounded by reefs and rocks; and has no harbour, its best roadstead, Sang-
kapura, being on its southern coast and taking its Sanscrit name, meaning, “ city of
imagination,” from the principal village, the seat of administration, lying on its shore.
The geological formation, like that of Java and Madura, is volcanic, the rocks being
composed of trachite and limestone. Hot springs are found all over the island, of
which the temperature rises to 125° Fabr., and there is a fine waterfall of 70 feet, and
a magnificent cave in the limestone, 200 fathoms long. The island is generally mountainous,
but its highest peaks do not exceed 2000 feet. About the middle of the
island, and at an elevation of 1000 feet above the level of the sea, there is a lake
2 i miles in circumference, and 30 fathoms in depth, having all the appearance of the
extinct crater of a volcano. I t is remarked that this considerable collection of potable
water contains, with the exception of shrimps, no fish.
The plants of Bawian are, generally, the same as those of Java and Madura, and
even the teak-tree once existed, although now exhausted by the extent to which boatbuilding
has been carried on of late years. Among wild mammals the whole feline
family is wanting, and the only carnivorous quadruped is the civet cat. There is one
BENCOOLEN
aTbuTnda nIt bbuTt ^ ehtehTe r ethS ^ B T Slatiojl) taken in 1845j the number of inhabitants
certain. y whom 38 were Europeans or their descendants, 50 Chinese
w a s found to be 29 12 , ^ of Madura 0r Celebes, and the remaining 27,224,
or theirs, 426 Malays, lay the square mile, an immense
native Th^e agriculture of Bawian
earnings. Upon the ¿hole, theyseem ajeaceable^and
exchan with stongersto" Ron and clothing, consist of mats made from the leaf of
D ^ l - t h T t i e f ^ o u l d dw e rtth *
M £ m hth £ r prehs6enURes of industry to the cnlUvation of
complain, especially, of th e ir ^ ^ ¿ h b o u r R g ones, is sterile, ’and
obviously a m i s t a k e . The land com p a ^ ^ ^ obBtain food and clothing more
cheaply1and abundantly by trade and fishing, than by struggling with an ungrateful
SOiU the exception of one wllage, K 5 K * S 2 S ^
inferred that they are a colony from tMs
island, and that the period of their settlement cannot be a remote one, or the
difference of language must have been greater than it is found to be.
BAY (LAGO DE). The lake of Bay in the Island of Luzon, the largest collection
of fresh waiter in the Asiatic Archipelago. I t extends from north latitude 14 9
11° ¡Pli and has a circumference of 36 leagues. Two projections of - ^
nto it one at hs n o rtto n eu ^ and one at its western side, between which are
into it , one at its > several islets, and one considerable one,
formed two deep W . Ih e Mke the Malay and Javanese talam, a
named Talim, which is y y of Manllla. No fewer
than T ^ str^m s discharge their watera into it, while it is emptied by one, the Pasig,
whRh afterTshort couise, disembogues in the great b a y , passing through the town
of Manilla. T1 hhee fnissnh er7y of the Lag6 o de Bay is of greatp avgail uea,r 0an sde vfeurranli srheeeds yth lesl amnadms,
“ jsi “ inteTmarrv with the rest of the native inhabitants, a prodigious number of ducks.
T“ r iU l f is frequented by several varieties of wild ducks and other water-fowl.
BAY The name of a town and township a t the southern end of the great Lake
of Luzon, and which gives it its name. I t is situated in .t^ e , ^ “ ces°f l I I una
in north latitude 14° 8', and contains a population of 2195 inhabitants. See Laguna
de Bat.
BENCOOLEN. The Bángkaülu of the Malays, once a British and now a Dutch