468 a DICTIONARY SUNDANESE 



word, with the very common prefix Saha, and short sa, by means of.would easily 

 elide into into Sa-urat — Surat, what was engraved. Now at early periods of civili- 

 zation in the Archipelago, very likely before paper was known , the people wrote 

 generally upon slips of bambu with a style or pointed knife, which is the case, till 

 the present moment, with the Battas of Sumatra, and some Da}^aks on Borneo. The 

 lontar-leaï was then probably even lees known , than at later periodsh or only known 

 along the sea-board , where it grows best. To this moment sometlmes the Sunda 

 mountaineers scratch a bit of fresh green bambu with a sharp pointed knife and in 

 Arabic characters when better writing materials fail them. The word Surat, altered 

 to Suratra, also exist in the Malagasi of Madagascar, and means not only writing, 

 but also painting. This Crawfurd , in bis Dissertation , page 157 , considers as of 

 Arabic origin. The word Surat , when it assumes the verbal form becomes in Suncla 

 Nynrat, Nyuratan, when the intitial Sa is clropped. In Sunda also occurs the word 

 Serat, stripes, lines, as in a drawing, and this appears to be a diminutive form of 

 the word Surat. So also we have in Sunda the word Cherét , to write , or more pro- 

 perly to scribble , indicative of the rapid motion of any writing materials. The Arabs 

 however, have a word nearly resembling our Surat in Sirat, a written document, a 

 manuscript, examples of which are Sirat WacJadi, Sirat Tabari, and Sirat Uishami 

 different Arab manuscripts regarding Mahomet. See Calcutta Review, Marchl854, 

 page 75. 



Surat or A wi surat, the written bambu, from having longitudinal stripes between 

 the joints along the tube. It resembles the awi gedé. 



Surawung, an herb planted in the humahs and also in the gardens of the natives. 

 Bears a fine pin-head like seed. Called in Malay Kamangi. The leaves have a sweet- 

 scented smell when pressed between the fingers, something resembling pepper-mint; 

 used in native cookery. It is the Ocymum Monachorum of the family of Labiatae. 



Sur Sm, obscure, dark, dimmed, sullied. 



Surén, name of a forest-tree, Cedrela Febrifuga,- a substitute for Peruvian bark can be 

 prepared from it. The wood is much used for the panels of carriages, and the Manilla 

 segar-boxes are made also from its wood , which is red. 



Surga, Heaven , the abode of the blessed. Sioarga, C, 782, the paradise of In dra on the 

 top of Maha Méru , and the residence of deified mortals and the gods. 



Suri, a queen , a woman of high rank. See P er ma sur i. 



Suri, a variety of cucumber which is of rather a globular shape and called Bontêng Suri. 



Suri, the sisir of the native loom, so called about Buitenzorg. Vide Sisir. 



Surili, name of a variety of monkey wild in the Sunda forests and very shy. It is greyish 

 black , with a white mark under the chin on the breast. 



Surubuk, manure; any dung or other matter, as soot or ashes, laid on the ground to 

 improve it. 



Surud, the ebb, the ebbing of the tide of the sea, or the going down of a nood in the 

 rivers. Cha-ah na geus surud, the nood has gone down. 



