Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 2/Report of the Council for 1878

The Council's Annual Report for 1878.

Read at the Annual Meeting held on the 13th January, 1879.

In presenting to the Straits Asiatic Society their first Annual Report, the Council are glad of the opportunity to review briefly the steps which have been made to consolidate and extend the work of the Society, since the first General Meeting of January 21st.

It is satisfactory to record that the accession of new members has steadily continued, and at the present time the Society may congratulate itself upon numbering in all 158 Members, viz:—

The Patron (an office H. E. the Governor was pleased to accept last August.)

4 Honorary Members (the Raja of Sarawak, Messrs. Maclay, Favre and J. Perham.)

153 Ordinary Members (including the Officers and Councillors.)

In March, the Royal Asiatic Society, the parent of many branches, communicated its willingness to allow the Society to be affiliated to it in the usual manner.

Thanks to the permission accorded by the Committee of Raffles Library and Museum to make use of the Library reading-room, no difficulty has been experienced with regard to the place of meeting. Nine "General Meetings" have taken place, and 22 Papers have been read; comprising, amongst others, original accounts of:—

“Breeding Pearls." "The Chinese in Singapore, their Triad Societies, and their Immigration to the Straits," "The Wild Tribes in the Peniusula and their Dialects," "The Proverbs of the Malays," "The Snake-eating Serpent," "The Dyak Mengap," "A Malay Nautch at Pahang," "Agriculture in the Straits," "The Metalliferous Formation of the Peniusula," "Rambau," "Pidgin English," and "Suggestions regarding a new Malay Dictionary."

The first number of the Journal (nominally for July) was actually published in September, owing to delay in the printing; and the 500 bound copies delivered have been dealt with as follows:—

Distributed	to Members	...	160
DistributedDo.	to Councillors (extra)	...	12
DistributedDo.	to Contributors	...	12
DistributedDo.	to the Press	...	8
DistributedDo.	to Learned Societies	...	12
On sale at Singapore, Bangkok, Hongkong, and Penang			95

About 200 copies remain on hand, as well as about 100 copies of each paper unbound.

The numbers actually sold are not accurately known yet. It is believed they are not large. In the meantime, the Society has escaped from any difficulty with regard to funds through the cordial support it has met with from all classes of the community.

As yet only slight progress has been made towards the formation of a library, and none whatever towards the collection of Malay Books and MSS.; but there is at any rate some prospect of a steady growth in the number of journals and records exchanged for our own journal with kindred Societies elsewhere. For example, a complete set of the Records of the Indian Geographical Survey bas been furnished to us from India (12 vols.) and a communication has been received from the President of the Ecole des Langues Vivantes, accompanied with three rare publications regarding the Malay and Javanese languages. The Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences has also offered its hearty support; and in all these cases our correspondents have volunteered their assistance. It is our Society which has been sought; and this may be regarded as a recognition of the useful position it is calculated to fill in relation to other Scientific Associations.

The Council would here more particularly acknowledge the co-operation they have met with from the Foreign Consuls in Singapore, through whose aid they look to obtain a wider basis for their proceedings, and the great advantage of exchanging publications with Foreign as well as with English "learned Societies."

In addition to the General Meetings, the publication of the Society's Journals, and the formation of the Society's Library, the Council has addressed itself to certain questions of a more practical character, such as the preparation of a new map of the Peninsula, the recommendation to Government to purchase the late Mr. Logan's Philological Library, the indexing of the 12 vols. of that distinguished man's Journals of the Archipelago, the publication of a new Dictionary, and the preparation and distribution of a serviceable Vocabulary to assist in collecting the Dialects of Wild Tribes.

With regard to the new Map, and to the purchase of Mr. Logan's Philological Collection, though neither of these matters has yet been definitely settled, the Council wishes here to acknowledge the powerful support afforded by Government to the objects which this Society has been formed to promote; and it may be mentioned that one of the difficulties in the way of publishing an improved map the want of funds has been to a great extent removed by the Government's undertaking to distribute among the Native States 200 copies at the price of $2 each.

As to the still more serious difficulty, the want of exact information regarding the countries that form the Peninsula—most of which is still unexplored—something has already has done by the Society. The River Triang, connecting Jĕlĕbu with the main stream of the River Pahang, was descended by a traveller from S. Ujong last June, thus clearing up a large portion of the water-system of the Pahang, and incidentally explaining the hitherto mysterious connection between Jělei and the Nĕgri Sĕmbilan. The prosecution of this journey was, it is believed, entirely due to the Society. Other explorations of equal consequence have been made in the interior of the Kinta District (Pêrak) by Mr. Leech, and across the watershed that separates Pahang and Kělantan by Mr. M. Maclay. These journeys, though executed under other influences, have been made more generally useful, and have been brought to serve our purpose, by obtaining compass bearings and itineraries of the newly explored districts for publication and record.

With regard to the question of publishing either a new or a supplementary Dictionary, a paper has recently been read before the Society, which will be found in the ensuing number of the Journal. Other communications on the subject have also been under the Council's consideration from two independent sources.

As to the forthcoming number of the Society's Journal (December 1878), the material is already in the printer's hands, and the printing of it is well advanced. and should be completed in a few weeks.

It only remains for the Council to take this opportunity of thanking the numerous contributors who have responded to their invitation; and to express their acknowledgements to the local and other journals for their ready co-operation in bringing the Society's proceedings to the notice of the public.