ISINAYES 160 ITANEGS
edge of the mandao. This favourite weapon he presented to me as the greatest and
most acceptable present he could bestow, and I gave it to the governor of Macassar
who, I believe, sent it to his excellency the Commissioner of Java. I may here
mention another proof of their power. In the Sultan of Coti’s house I have myself
seen three muskets belonging to Major Muller’s detachment, which were each cut
half through in several places by the mandaos of the party which destroyed them.
I once mentioned this circumstance to Seiji: he laughed and assured me the mandaos
used on that occasion were not made of his iron, otherwise the barrels would have
been cut through at every stroke.” Moor’s Notices of the Indian Archipelago, p. 51.
A similar iron ore and manufacture exist on the western side of the island in the
neighbourhood of the equator, and in about the 110° of east longitude, being 7° west of
that described in the last paragraph, is described by an anonymous but very judicious
traveller, whose account is to be found in the compilation above quoted. “ Iron,”
says he, “ is principally procured from Jell6 in the interior of Matan (a Malay principality)
in sufficient quantities to form an article of export, when it is known by the
name of b&si-ikat (faggot iron) from the manner in which it is made up. The pieces,
each about 8 or 9 inches long, 1J broad, and half an inch thick, form a small bundle,
and five of these a large one, which weighs about 19 or 20 catties, and sells at Matan
for about three Spanish dollars. I t is collected by the Dyaks, and is of superior
quality, as tools made of it are not steeled. It is in great demand among the
natives, and is imported advantageously at Pontianak, both from Matan and from
Banjarmasin, at which places it is known by the name of b&si-desa (country iron) ”
page 8.
The price of the native iron, as quoted in the last paragraph, is about 501, a ton,
and that given for the best quality of that of Banjarmasin, previously mentioned,
about one-half that amount, both being of course retail prices. We have here, then,
the testimony of four independent witnesses to prove a very wide dissemination of
rich iron ore over Borneo, and that superior iron and steel are made from it by
different rude races, and by processes exceedingly simple. To judge by the rude
methods by which the ore is picked up, rather than mined, it seems also to be
abundant, and if we believe one of the travellers, it is rich in metal. Considering the
rude nature of the process of manufacture, it is more than probable that the good
quality of the metal produced depends chiefly on the superiority of the ore, and that
it will be found, when subjected to scientific analysis, a magnetic oxide, such as
yields the best iron and steel of Sweden, and the wotz steel of Southern India.
Most of the iron and steel manufactured in other Asiatic countries by civilised nations,
including even that of the ingenious Chinese, is not above one-half the value of
English iron and steel, while that of the wild Dyaks is by from near 20 to 25 per
cent, superior to them.
If the ore should turn out of the quality described, it might perhaps be imported
to advantage for the use of our English foundries. The most eligible quarter for
obtaining it, would probably be the north-western side of Borneo, which is penetrated
by several rivers, navigable to a considerable distance for coasting craft, such as the
Baram, the Bintulu, and the Rajang. If found near the banks of any of these, it
might be conveyed to Labuan or Singapore, as dead weight for ships returning to
England. With any tolerable security for life and property, the mining would be
effectually conducted by the Chinese. Coal and antimony are found in the same
localities as the iron ore. The whole subject deserves inquiry, and the first point
ought to be a scientific analysis of the iron ore.
ISINAYES. A wild tribe of the island of Luzon, resembling in physical form
the Igorrotes, but by the exertions of the Spanish clergy converted to Christianity
They inhabit the mountains lying east of the province of Ilocos-sur.
ISLAM. An Arabic word adopted by all the nations converted to Mahom-
medanism, and signifying that religion. Although properly a noun, it is much
more frequently employed, conformably to the practice of the insular languages in all
such cases, as an adjective, as in the examples, “ orang-islam,” a Moslemman, and
“ agama-islam,” the Mahommedan religion, being united in the first instance with a
native, and in the last with a Sanscrit word.
ITANEGS, called also, Tinguianes, one of the unconverted wild tribes of the
island of Luzon, of the Malayan race, inhabiting the mountains between the provinces
of Ilocos-sur and Abra. This is the most civilised of all the wild tribes of the Philippines,
practising a husbandry of considerable skill, carrying on some ingenious
ITAPANES 161
manufactures, trading with the inhabitants of the coast, d w e l l i n g in villages and being
decently clad. From their fairer complexions, and more industrious habits, the
Spaniards imagine them to be derived from Chinese settlers from the province of
Fokien, but this notion is probably without any foundation.
ITAPANES, the name of one of the wild tribes of the island of Luzon, inhabiting
the recesses of the mountains of the northern portion of the island. They are described
as short of stature, but well-made, and with darker complexions than their neighbours,
the Igorrotes, the Guimanes, the Busayas, and the Gaddanes—haying large flat noses,
and round eyes. In stature, complexion, and shape of the nose, they are described as
resembling the Aetas or negritos, but in texture of hair and form of the eyes, the
Tagalas and other civilised inhabitants. From this seeming union, the Spaniards
infer that the Itapanes are a mixture of the negrito and Malay races, a notion, however
for which there is, probably, no substantial foundation. They have been equally
difficult to civilise as the Negritos themselves, with whom they have many customs
in common.
ITAS, or AETAS, the native name by which the diminutive negros of the Philip-
J.
JACATRA. An European corruption of the compounded Sanscrit word, Jaya-
karta, signifying * work of victory,” and the name of a town of the Sunda nation of
Java/on the site of which now stands the Dutch city of Batavia, founded in 1619.
JACK-FRUIT. See Aetocabpus.
JAKTTN. This is a name of unknown origin and meaning, which the Malays
apply, seemingly as a generic term, to the wild tribes of the interior of the peninsula,
from Malacca, southward to Johor. All the men that go under this name have the
same physical form as the Malays, speak the same language in a ruder form, and
seem, in short, to be Malays, without the Mahommedan religion, and in a much lower
state of civilisation. The notion of some writers, founded on certain resemblances
of physical form, that the Jakuns are of Tartar origin, is, in the absence of all
historical or philological evidence, and when the two parties, supposed to be the same
people, are separated from each other by at least forty degrees of latitude, too
whimsical for serious consideration. The Malays of Sumatra continue, down to the
present day, to emigrate to and settle in the interior of the peninsula, and the great
probability seems to be, that in remote times, the peninsula was without any ^ other
inhabitants than the negros of the mountains, and that all its brown-complexioned,
lank-haired people, whether of the sea-board or the interior, were emigrants from
Sumatra, or the islands lying between it and the peninsula.
JAMBI. The name of a Malay state on the north-eastern side of Sumatra, and
entirely within the great alluvial plain, which extends from the central chain of
mountains to the Straits of Malacca. This state was visited in 1820 by my friend,
the late Captain Crooke, a skilful surveyor, and a most careful and judicious observer,
and we possess, consequently, more correct knowledge of it than of any other portion
of the same side of Sumatra. To the north-east, Jambi is bounded by the sea,
having in front the great group of islands which nearly blocks up the strait between
Sumatra and the continent,—to the north-west by the Malay state of Indragiri,—
to the east by the inland Malay states of Korinchi and Menangkabo, and to the
south-east by forests thinly peopled by the wild race of the Kubu, lying between
Jambi and Palembang. One large river of the same name as the state, and having
several considerable affluents, runs through the whole country, having its origin in
the mountains. I t bifurcates at 50 miles from the sea, and falls into it by two
mouths. The most easterly of these, shallow at its entrance, is in south latitude
1° 2' 30", and is called in the Malay language kwala-s&du, literally, “ embouchure of
sobs.” The most westerly, in Malay, kwala-fiur, or “ coco-palm mouth,” is in 1° south,
and, although the smallest, is the most navigable. The face of the country is flat and
even, being nowhere diversified by mountains or hills. Towards the sea-coast it is
low, swampy, and subject to inundation, but, as it recedes from the shore, it becomes
proportionally elevated and dry. The land rises in an inclined plain from the sea
towards the great central chain of mountains, and at the town of Jambi, 60 miles
m