"A chain of very high mountains runs along the whole length of Java. Their distance from the northern coast is about twenty-five leagues. How far they are from the southern shore is not certainly known, though the natives say about as far as from the northern.
"Sunda, of which we are now to treat, is situated at about one-third of the total length of Java from the west end. The natives of Sunda consider themselves as separated from Java by a river, called _Chiamo_ or _Chenan_, little known to our navigators; so that the natives, in dissecting Java, speak of it as separated by this river _Chiamo_ from the island of Sunda on the west, and on the east by a strait from the island of Báli; as having Madura on the north, and on the south an undiscovered sea; and they think that whoever shall proceed beyond those straits, will be hurried away by strong currents, so as never to be able to return, and for this reason they never attempt to navigate it, in the same manner as the Moors on the eastern coast of Africa do not venture to pass the Cape of Currents."
The following is the substance of a note inserted in Jono de Barros, Decadas, p. 76-77, vol. 4, part 1st, 8vo. Lisbon 1777.
"The island of Java is divided into many kingdoms along the northern coast; and beginning to the eastward, those of which we have any account are--_Paneruca_, _Ovalle_, _Agasai_, _Paniao_ (whose king resides in the interior, and has a supremacy over those just mentioned), _Beredam_, _Sodaio_, _Tubam_, _Cajoam_, _Japara_ (the capital of this kingdom is called _Cheronhama_, three leagues from the sea coast, near to which _Japara_ is situated), _Damo_, _Margam_, and _Matarem_.
"In the mountainous interior live a numerous class of chiefs, called Gunos: they are a savage race, and eat human flesh. The first inhabitants were Siamese, who about the year 800 of the Christian era, on their passage from Siam to Macassar were driven by a great storm on the island of _Báli_. Their junk being wrecked they escaped in their boat, and arrived at Java, until that period undiscovered; but which, on account of its size and fertility was immediately peopled by _Passara_, son of the king of Siam: and the city of _Passaraan_, called after his own name, was founded at a very good seaport, and this was the first settlement on the island.