A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya

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"London and China Telegraph" Office, 1894 - 423 pages
 

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Page 154 - Siam shall not go and obstruct or interrupt commerce in the states of Tringano and Calantan. English merchants and subjects shall have trade and intercourse in future with the same facility and freedom as they have heretofore had, and the English shall not go and molest, attack, or disturb those states upon any pretence whatever.
Page 193 - would seem to have been even the founders of Malacca. Monuments, which prove the presence of this people in the country of the Malays, have even been discovered. Thus, Sir Stamford Raffles, when he visited Menangkabo, found there inscriptions on stone in the ancient character of Java, such as are frequent in that island ; and he was supported in his conclusion that they were so by the learned natives of Java who accompanied him in his journej7.
Page 87 - Durian strikes a man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound, the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy ; but from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. A Dyak chief informed me that he had been struck down by a Durian falling on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet he recovered in a very short time.
Page 83 - Malays, furu lias been described; another called Sopa resembles leprosy and is probably a species of that disease, it seldom spreads over the body but is confined to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, it is not considered contagious. A loathsome disease called Korap is very prevalent among fishermen, it spreads over the whole body and presents a scaly appearance, it appears of an irritating nature for those afflicted incessantly scratch themselves; when the scsiies fall off the disease...
Page 250 - At this crisis it is necessary not to betray the slightest symptom of alarm, but to cast with a bold heart and firm hand the incense on the fire; the seeming tiger will then disappear. The spectres of two beautiful women will next present themselves, and the novice will be cast into a deep trance, during which the initiation is presumed to be perfected. These aerial ladies thenceforward become his familiar spirits," the slaves of the ring," by whose invisible agency the secrets of nature, the hidden...
Page 308 - ... bushels. It may give some idea of the enormous rate of this produce if it be considered that three trees yield more nutritive matter than an acre of wheat, and six trees more than an acre of potatoes. An acre of sago, if cut down at one...
Page 325 - We find that the average number of days in the year in which rain falls in the wettest districts of Cumberland is 210, and at Castle Hill, in Devonshire, 191...
Page 308 - ... because the natural mode of growth secures a continual succession of new plants from the time those first planted have begun to extend their roots, and this succession can be regulated by the knife in any way the planter desires. The sago tree when cut down and the top severed from it, is a cylinder about 20 inches in diameter and 15 to 20 feet in height If we assume 20 in.
Page 86 - When unripe, it makes a very good vegetable if cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw. In a good fruit season large quantities are preserved salted, in jars and bamboos, and kept the year round, when it acquires a most disgusting odour to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate it highly as a relish with their rice.
Page 250 - Poyang after death is supposed to enter cc 2 into the body of a tiger.* This metempsychosis is presumed to take place after the following fashion. The corpse of the Poyang is placed erect against the projection near the root of a large tree in the depth of the forest, and carefully watched and supplied with rice and water for seven days and nights by the friends and relatives. During this period the transmigration (believed to be the result of an ancient compact made in olden times by the Poyang's...

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