Note 9 — Chapter I · Nature
Reading edition
To this I would add that some Malays, at least, whom I questioned on the subject (as well as some Sakais9 under Malay influence), imagined the firmament to consist of a sort of stone or rock which they called Batu hampar, or “Bed rock,” the appearance of stars being caused (as they supposed) by the light which streams through its perforations.