76 NAMES OF PLACES IN SINGAPORE. 
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) ‘‘ Tan- 
jong Raménia,” 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 ona misconception. There is an island called Pulau 
Ruménia about two miles West of Tanjong Penyusok and 
opposite to it on the mainland is a large kampong called 
Kampong Ruménia. The name applied to the point—Ramu- 
nia, Koumania or Rumania—is evidently a corruption of Rumé- 
nia, and the name has been applied to a place to which it 
never belonged. Kuménia is the well known fruit-bearing 
tree Bonea microphylla. 
Ayer Gémuruh=“ babbling waters.’’ Gémuruh is from 
J 
TA SAU OO 
Ayer Sdmak. ‘‘Samak” (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 Tékorg. 
“ Koyok”’ or “kuyu” is “a pariah dog.” 
Bédok or Sa-bédok=“ the drum of a mosque.”’ 
Berhila Képing. A curiously shaped rock at the entrance 
to Sélat Singki. ‘ Berhdla”* (pronounced Berdla) is 
‘(an idol,” and Iam informed that “ Keeping aiceeme 
Orang Laut pronunciation of “ Képing,’’ 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. 
Béting Kusah=‘ the dangerous sand-bank.” “ Kusah”’ is 
a variant of “ Susah.”’ 
* NoTE.—‘‘ Berndia’’ is invariably corrupted on the charts into “ Varella,” 
e.g., Varella Straits, to the South of Singapore, and Varella Island, off the 
Pahang Coast. 
