the year into seasons of two months, ( r i tu , ) and of
the months into fortnights, ( pacsha,) I can dis-
cover no relics among the Indian islanders.
In all the Mahomedan countries of the Archipelago
except Java, the era of the flight of the
prophet has been universally introduced, and every
where the lunar time, and all its inconveniencies,
with the Arabian names of the months and days
of the week.
With respect to the cycles and periods of the
Javanese and Balinese I have not much information
to supply* The native term TVindu expresses
a cycle in the Javanese language. The first which
I shall mention is a period of seven years, each
year of which is distinguished, as by the Siamese,
the Tibetians, and others, by the names of animals.
These names are as follow :
Manglcara, the prawn.
Menda, the goat.
Kalabang, the centipied.
Wichitra, the worm.
Miniunat the fish.
Was, the scorpion.
Maisha, the buffalo.
Most of these names are Sanskrit ; but, independent
of this evidence* we may infer from the number
seven the continental origin of this cycle, for
we no where discover among the natives of the Im
7
dian islands a predilection for that number. This
Hindu period is now current under an Arabian
form, each year being recognized by a letter of the
Arabic alphabet. This, then, in its present form,
is the Arabic week o f years.
The next cycle is one of twelve years, taking its
name from the twelve signs of the zodiac. The
Javanese and people of Bali received this division
of the eclyptic from the Hindus; but the only use
they appear to have made Qf it is to give name to
the years of this cycle of twelve years, which are
as follows : Mesa, Mrisa, Mituna, Karkata,
Singha, Kanya, Jula, Wrichika, Danu, Makara,
Kumba, Mina. These, with no extraordinary
deviation of orthography, are Sanskrit, and as their
names in that language import, are represented by
a ram, a bull, a crab, a lion, a virgin, a balance, a
scorpion, a bow and arrow, a prawn, a water-pot,
and a fish. The only anomaly regards the sign
gemini or the twins, which is- represented in the
Javanese signs by a butterfly. In 1813, I discovered
an ancient manuscript in Cheribon, containing
representations of these signs, and a great
number of copper cups, having figures of them in
relief, have been found in the central and eastern
provinces of Java. Besides the. signs of the zodiac,
we fintl represented upon these a variety of symbolical
figures which cannot; be decyphered,, some
of men and some of animals. & - #