RĔMBAU.
As little has been recorded on the subject of this State, except in works not very accessible, and as I have visited it officially on several occasions. I have thought that a short account of the country may not be without some interest for the readers of this Journal.
This State is one of the countries known as the "Negri Sembilan,"One of Nĕgri Sĕmbilan. or Nine States, formerly under a Yam Tûan (in full, Yang-di-pĕrtûan) Bĕsar and a Yam Tûan Mûda, each, however, with its own chief or Dato' Pĕnghûlu.
In Remban, as in Nâning and others of the "Nine States," aMěnangkâbau origin. considerable portion of the population are Měnangkâbau by descent, and Měnangkâbau people still come over, as they do to Malacca.
Its name is said to derive from an enormous Mĕrbau tree whichSupposed derivation of name. used to grow in the plain near the foot of Gûnong Dato'; there are said to be some traces left of it still.
Another account states that the great tree fell down from the mountain, and that the name of the country arose from the description of the noise of the fall as the colossal stem thundered down the steeps—"měrbau rĕmbau."[1]
It is further related that so vast was the size of this giant of the jungle that its head reached to the Sungei Ûjong[2] stream, to which it gave its name (i.e., Sungei Ûjong Kâyu Mĕrbau); while its branches extended to the Moar, and it has been pretended that from
- ↑ Probably a case of metathesis. This is likely enough to be the origin of the name; the other accounts are, of course, later embellishments.
- ↑ This is the recognized official spelling, or I should spell it "Hûjong" in accordance with the proper Malay spelling, though Malays have begun to drop the "h" in this word, as in other similar ones, but I see no reason to drop it because it is mute. Many Malaya still sound the "h" in "hitam " and "hâyam," though the latter is more commonly sounded now without it.
