Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalof192018871889roya).pdf/338

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Tanjong Penyusok, and to us from our school geographies as Point Roumania. In Keane's Eastern Geography it is called "Romania," in the map of the Malay Peninsula (1887) "Tanjong Raměnia," and in the charts and Sailing Directions it is written indifferently as "Ramunia" and "Rumania." There are dangerous shoals to the seaward of the point called by the same name, but the spelling varies in every instance. The fact of the matter is the name of Roumania, or whatever it is, is based on a misconception. There is an island called Pulau Ruměnía about two miles West of Tanjong Penyusok and opposite to it on the mainland is a large kampong called Kampong Ruměnía. The name applied to the point—Ramunia, Roumania or Rumania—is evidently a corruption of Ruměnía, and the name has been applied to a place to which it never belonged. Ruměnía is the well known fruit-bearing tree Bonea microphylla.

  • Ayer Gěmúruh="babbling waters." Gěmúruh is from "gúroh."
  • Ayer Samak. "Sámak" (or samar) is a kind of tree, the bark of which is used in dyeing and tanning.
  • Bajau="a pirate." (From Battak "Bajo" an attack?)
  • Batu Koyok. A patch of rocks near Pulau Těkong. "Koyok" or "kuyu" is" a pariah dog."
  • Bědok or Sa-bědok="the drum of a mosque."
  • Berhála Képing. A curiously shaped rock at the entrance to Sělat Singki. "Berhála" [1] (pronounced Berála) is "an idol," and I am informed that "Képing" is the Orang Laut pronunciation of "Keping," the numeral affix. This appendix of Képing, however, is not very satisfactory, and it has been suggested to me by Mr. D. F. A. Hervey that it is probably "Képing," to guard, hence the name, the idol being supposed to watch the entrance to the strait.
  • Běting Kúsah="the dangerous sand-bank." "Kusah" is a variant of "Susah."
  1. NOTE." Bernára is invariably corrupted on the charts into "Varella," e.g., Varella Straits, to the South of Singapore, and Varella Island, off the Pahang Coast.