ABRA; or, a t full length, Centro del Abra, one of the thirty-four provinces
into which the government of the Philippines is divided, and one of the twenty of
these contained in the main island of Luson. The name is taken from the river
which runs through it. It extends between north latitude 16° 6' and 17° 50', and is
divided from the neighbouring provinces by high ranges of mountains, to the north
from Iloeos-norte; to the east from Cagayan and Nueva Yiscaya; to the south from
Pangasinan, and to the west from Ilocos-sur. The whole province is mountainous
and rugged, a branch of the great Cordillera of Caraballos passing through the centre
of it. I t has, however, a few fertile valleys. In the mountains, metallic ores, gypsum,
and coal are said to exist. Deep forests of tall trees cover most of the province,
some of which yield strong and durable timber. Game abounds, the most remarkable
of which are the buffalo, the hog, deer, and the common fowl. In 1849, the
total population subject to the Spanish rule was 28,971, of which 42 only were
Spanish, and 122 mestizo Chinese. Of these no more than 3763 were assessed to the
poll-tax, which yielded only 37,633 reals of plate. The mountains of Abra are
inhabited by the following wild and generally unconverted and unsubdued tribes—
the Ibalaos, the Guimanes, the Busaos, the Igorrotes, and the Tinguianes. These are
all distinct from each other in language and manners, and are supposed by some
Spanish writers, although doubtless erroneously, to be various crosses of the brown
and negro races. _ .
The first Catholic mission was established in Abra in 1698, twenty-eight years
after the arrival of the Spaniards in Luzon, but it was not until 1720, or a century
and a half after that event, that the conversion and subjugation of the inhabitants
began in earnest ; and, as elsewhere in the Philippines, the merit of both works
belongs chiefly to the priesthood. It was only in 1846 that Abra was erected into
a distinct and independent province, previous to which it had formed a part of
Ilocos-sur.
ABRA. The river which gives name to the province ju s t described. I t has its
source in the highest part of the western branch of the Cordillera of Caraballos,
which terminates on the west coast in the promontory of Namagpacan. After passing
through the province of Abra, it enters that of Ilocos-sur, receiving in its passage
through both, several affluents. In the last-named province it divides into three
branches, and thus disembogues on the western coast. In its course it irrigates
much land, and is navigable for the light boats of the natives up to the
elevated tracts.
ACHIN. The name of an independent state, occupying a small part of the northwestern
end of Sumatra, being the nearest portion of the Archipelago to continental
India and Western Asia. The native name is. correctly Acheh, but this word, which
means “ a wood-leeeh,” does not, although naturalised, belong to any of the Malayan
languages, but to the Telinga or Telugu of the Coromandel coast. The Portuguese, to
whom the country was first known, corrupted the native term into Achem, and
hence the Dutch Atsjin, and our own Achen, Acheen, and Achin, Europeans invariably
laying the accent on the last instead of the first syllable. The town of Achm,
which, with the valley in which it is situated, is the chief seat of the Achinese
population, lies in north latitude 5° 56', and east longitude 95° 26'. The
boundaries of the state have oscillated with its power, but its nominal ones are
Barus on the western coast, and Batubara on the eastern. Its real dominion is at
present confined to the narrow valley just mentioned. When the most extensive,
indeed, it never comprised more than a small portion of the great island in which it
is situated. The valley of Achin is bounded by mountainous land; and one mountain,
called by Europeans “ Golden Mount,” but by the natives Ya Murah (the generous or
bountiful), rises to the height of 5000 feet, being visible at sea in clear weather at
the distance of 92 miles. It bounds the valley to the north-east, its base reaching to
within five or six miles of the town. The valley itself is narrow, and so low as to be
partially inundated in the season of the rains. A small river runs through it, which
falls into the sea by several mouths. The mountains are as usual in these latitudes
covered with forests of tall trees, in which are found the usual wild animals of
S u. 133.
The roadstead of Achin, formed by the main land and several islands, is safe for
shipping at all seasons, by changing their berths according to the winds. The town,
now a poor place, is situated on both banks of the river, about two miles from the
sea, and is accessible by the main branch for small native vessels. The Achinese are
distinguished from the other Sumatrans by their taller persons and darker complexions,
ascribed to a large intermixture with the natives of continental India.
Although generally speaking the Malay language, their own is a peculiar tongue.
The animals domesticated by them are the elephant, the buffalo, the ox, and goat,
with a few sheep brought from India, as their Sanscrit name, “ biri,” implies. Their
poultry are confined to the common fowl and duck. All the fruits common to the
western Malayan countries are cultivated in abundance.
That the soil, however, is not fertile, in so far as concerns the most important part
of human food—corn—is sufficiently testified by the fact that it has at all times been
an article of importation. The celebrated Dampier, who visited Achin in 1688 and
whose account of it continues even now to be the most full and accurate we possess
observes that the Achinese had of late, encouraged by the example of the Indians’
who in consequence of a great famine on the Coromandel coast had been largely
imported as slaves, commenced the cultivation of rice, but that the consumption was
chiefly furnished by importation. He quotes the prices of this grain as fluctuating
between 12s. and 70s. a quarter, a range of prices affording sure evidence of a sterile
soil and a rude agriculture and commerce.
The population of Achin, confining this to the proper Achinese race, can only be
guessed at. Mr. Logan, in his excellent account of Sumatra, makes the rate of population
to the square mile no more than twenty, and estimating the area of the
territory at 2260 miles, the whole population in round numbers not more than 45 200
which is probably its utmost amount. ’ ’
Achin being the nearest part of the Malayan Islands to the continent of Western
India, the distance from shore to shore at the narrowest point not exceeding
750 miles, and possessing a safe harbour, the probability is that it formed for many
ages one of the chief marts at which the maritime nations of Hindustan obtained
pepper, fine spices, gold, tin, and other commodities, in exchange for their cotton
fabrics and salt. Such a commerce existed on the first appearance of the Portugese
m th e waters of the Archipelago, and still exists, although in greatly diminished
amount. In their own annals the Achinese are stated to have been converted to the
Mahommedan religion in the year of the Hegira 601, corresponding to the year 1204
of our time, and this seems to have been the earliest conversion of any of the
Malayan nations There can be little doubt but that the Arabs and Persians with
the Mahommedans of Hindustan who had been settled in that country for two
centuries before this event, must have traded with the Achinese and other people of
the Archipelago much earlier. On the arrival of the Portuguese, Achin was tributary
to the conterminous Malay state of Pedir, and De Barros (decade 3 bk v c l )
enumerates it only as one of the twenty-nine little kingdoms of the coast of Sumatra
exclusive of those of the interior of the island. Its rise to commercial importance is
cunous, and worth describing as an illustration of the manners and state of civilisation
of the Malayan race. The King of Pedir had appointed a favourite slave to the
government of Achin, and in succession to him his son. The last was a man of
talent and ambition, and the founder of the state as it existed in the 16th and
17th centuries. The slaves son assumed the title of Saleh Udin, the same which
is familiar to us as Saladm m the history of the Crusades. His reign began in 1521
ten years subsequent to the conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese, and in the course
of eighteen years he conquered Pedir and all the neighbouring states, and made
Achm the chief emporium of the commerce of the western portion of the Archipelago
the country speedily attaining an amount of prosperity and power remarkable for so
small a country and so rude a people. This seems to have lasted for at least a
century and a half, but to have attained its greatest height in the reign of a prince
who took the name of Sekander muda, a title half-Arabic and half-Malay, which may
be translated _ Alexander the Younger.” This person ascended the throne in 16 o /
n f tr 4 ?natr gn yearS died in 1641> having in that year assisted thé
hàd fittéd Înf? conquest of Malacca, against which he himself and his predecessors
I y ^Ut frultless expeditions. One of these, as described by
at t J f ° UZa' ? qu0 as an example of the resources of the state of Achin
at the time. The fleet consisted of five hundred sail, a huudred of which were of
greater size than any then constructed in Europe, and the warriors or mariners which
it bore amounted to 60,000, commanded in person by the king. This great exoe
Portuguese Id* C?nqu? Î °f Malacoa< waa encountered and defeated by a
quadron’ losmS 60 vessels and 20,000 men in a combat which
disabled in thSTcRon to. But the Portuguese themselves aisaoiea in this action with a native armament which a single stout stewamer es lgornena tolfy.
war would, m our times, have more effectually defeated. P
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