T. J. Newbold — also cited simply as Newbold — was a British colonial officer and the author of Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, a two-volume work first published in London in 1839 and a standard reference for the early colonial administration of Penang, Malacca, Singapore and the other Straits Settlements. He is one of the comparative sources cited repeatedly by Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese whenever Achehnese institutions, vocabulary, calendar, or material culture have close parallels among the Malays of the Straits. He is one of a number of European writers on the Malay world whose works Snouck Hurgronje draws upon, qualifies, or corrects in the course of the work.
The Mukim Citation
In the chapters on territorial organisation and on mosque officials, Newbold is invoked for his description of the Malay term mukim. Snouck observes that the word has “the same modified meaning” in Kedah as in Acheh — that is to say, it denotes a territorial subdivision centred on a mosque rather than simply the body of resident worshippers contemplated by Islamic law. Newbold’s further note, that in Kedah each mukim originally consisted of at least forty-four families, is treated by Snouck as a “clear indication of the original intent of this territorial subdivision” throughout the Malay world.
The Bilal Citation
In the chapter on the personnel of the mosque, Newbold is again cited with respect to the office of the bilal, the muezzin who intones the call to prayer. Newbold had described the bilal’s duties as “mainly sacrificial”; the translator’s footnote to The Achehnese corrects this, observing that in fact the bilal only intones the call to prayer, while it is the imam who recites the talkin or funeral service over the grave, and that the bilal often washes and shrouds the dead “only as an eligible elder”.
The Fishing-Appliance Citation
A third, more material citation occurs in the section on fishing appliances, where Snouck quotes Newbold’s description of the conical basket used for catching fish in shallows and marshes: “Fish are often taken in shallows and marshes by means of a conical basket open at the top and bottom. The broad end is placed suddenly on the mud where they are supposed to lie; the hand introduced at the narrow upper part of the cone and the ensnared fish taken out.” The Achehnese geuncugón trap is identified as identical with this Malay appliance, the same in form and use.
The Eight-Year Cycle Citation
In his account of the eight-year cycle by which the Achehnese compute the day of the week on which each month begins, Snouck Hurgronje notes that the Achehnese year-letters correspond with those “found in some Arabic handbooks, which Newbold cursorily refers to as in use among the Malays (British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, II p. 336)”. Snouck Hurgronje had earlier encountered the same year-letters in an almanac described by Dr. A. B. Cohen Stuart in a Sumatran publication. None of the calendars given in that article, however, entirely agrees with the Malay-Achehnese calendars; such an agreement may be presumed to be probable “in the case of that mentioned by Newbold, for the Achehnese derive their Malay lore principally from the Straits. Newbold, however, gives no particular whence this might be decided.”
Methodological Significance
The references are characteristic of Snouck Hurgronje’s method: he acknowledges the pioneering work of earlier writers on the Malay world, while at the same time noting the limitations of their accounts. Newbold’s work remains a valuable early nineteenth-century source for the Malay Peninsula and the Straits Settlements, but in the calendar citation he is invoked only for his passing mention of a calendar whose details he does not give. The pattern of citation — drawing on Newbold for parallel Malay material, but qualifying or correcting his account where necessary — places Newbold among that earlier generation of European compilers whose works Snouck Hurgronje used as comparative material while reserving analytical authority for himself.
See Also
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- The Achehnese
- Dr. A. B. Cohen Stuart
- Eight-year cycle (Achehnese calendar)
- Straits Settlements
- Penang
- Malacca
- Singapore
- Kedah
- Malay Peninsula
- Acheh
- Mukim
- Bilal
- Geuncugón
- 1839
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.