PALEMDAXG. 



681 



leiii'ba'ng is l:>uiU on tlie left hank. There are a lai^ge 

 and well-constmcted fort, and the honaes of the Kesi- 

 dent, assistant Resident, and other officials. The 

 Resident and the colonel commanding the fort are 

 now in the Pasmna comitiy. On the left hank is the 

 Chinese quarter, and very fine imitations of the more 

 common tropical fruits are made there in lacquer- 

 wai-e by those people. Below the fort, on the right 

 hank, is the large market, where we saw a magnifi- 

 cent display of krises, and enormous quantities of 

 frait. The name Palembang, or, more correctly. Pa- 

 limbangau, is of Javanese origin, and signifies " the 

 place where the draining off was done." The " drain- 

 ing off" is the same phrase as that used to describe 

 water running out of the open-work ba-skets, in which 

 gold is washed, and the word Palembang is regarded 

 generaEy as equivalent to gold-washing" in our 

 language. Tlie Javanese origin of the first settlers in 

 this region is further shown by the title of the native 

 officials and the names of various localities in the vi- 

 cinity. The natives have a tradition that Palembang 

 was founded by the Javanese govermnent of Majapa- 

 hit, but the Portuguese state that it was founded two 

 hundred and fifty years before their arrival, or about 

 A. jy. 1250. 



Back of the Resident's house is a mosque with.: 

 pilasters and a dome, and near by a raiuaret, about^ 

 fifty feet high, with a winding external staircase. It 

 is by far the finest piece of native architecture that I 

 have seen in these islands, and is said to be decidedly 

 superior to any of the old temples in Java. Its his- 

 tory appears to be lost, but I judge it w^ built not 



