REMBAU. 



As little has been recorded ou 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 coun- 

 try 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 Negri 

 or Nine States, formerly under a Yam Tiian (in full, Yang-di-per- 

 tuan) Besar and a Yam Tiian Muda, each, however, with its own 

 chief or Dato' Penghulu. 



In Eembau, as in Naning and others of the " Nine States," a Mgnangka- 

 considerable portion of the population are Menangkabau by descent, au 011§,m ' 

 and Menangkabau people still come over, as they do to Malacca. 



Its name is said to derive from an enormous Merbau tree which Supposed de- 

 used to grow in the plain near the foot of Giinong Dato' ; there ^^^° n ° 

 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 des- 

 cri ption of the noise of the fall as the colossal stem thundered down 

 the steeps — "merbau, rembau."^ 1 ) 



It is further related that so vast was the size of this giant of the 

 jungle that its head reached to the Sungei £Tjong( 2 ) stream, to which 

 it gave its name (i.e., Sungei tTjong Kayu Merbau) ; while its 

 branches extended to the Moar, and it has been pretended that from 



(1) Probably a case of metathesis. This is likely enough to be the origin 

 of the name ; the other accounts are, of course, later embellishments. 



(2) This is the recognised official spelling, or I should spell it " Hujong " 

 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 Malays still sound the " h " in " hitam " and 

 "hayam," though the latter is more commonly sounded now without it. 



