things, would afford to the lumber of the Indian
Islands the same advantageous market which Europe
has afforded to that of America.
The animal products of the Archipelago, which
afford materials of commercial export, though less
valuable than the vegetable, are important and in-
teiesting. Land animals afford hides, horns, ivory,
feathers, birds nests, stick and shell lac, bees* wax,
jerk-beef, and animal sinews. The fisheries supply
dry fish, fish maws and roes, sharks’ fins, tripang or
sea-slug, tortoise-shell, pearls, mother-of-pearl, and
cowries, with ambergris. I shall give a very rapid
sketch of these, confining myself generally to what
relates to their commercial character.
From the great size of all the buffaloes, and of
the greater number of the oxen of the Indian
Islands, their hides and horns are peculiarly valuable.
The immense horns of the Java buffalo
have been long sent to Europe as an article of
trade, and the hides both of the ox and buffalo are
sent to China.always in the hair, and not tanned.'
Bali and Lombok are the countries which have afforded
the greater number of ox hides, and the
cost may be judged of from the price of the whole
animal, which seldom exceeds ten or twelve shillings.
In Java, where there is the greatest abun-
Beècktrian, speaking of Bali, - toys, M Thb country affords
plenty of oxen, thè largest artd best I ever saw out'©f
dance of cattle, the number of hides available for
exportation is diminished by the singular practice
among the inhabitants of that island, of using the
fresh hide as an article of food,—nay, even esteeming
it a dainty beyond any other part of the animal.^
A steady demand for hides as an article of
commerce would probably put an end to this taste.
In Java, from the low price of salt, it may be suggested,
that pickling the hides, a practice never
yet resorted to in that part of the world, might answer.
Hides and horns, from their bulky nature,
will probably be always a fitter article for the neighbouring
market of China than for the more distant
one of Europe.
The Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, the only
countries of the Archipelago where the elephant is
found, are also, of course, the.only countries that
afford much ivory. From these two countries, and
more especially from the neighbouring country of
Siam, ivory forms a considerable article of exportation,
principally, of course, to China, where the
manufacture of this beautiful commodity is better
understood than any where else.
The birds of the Indian Islands, like those of
other warm countries, are more remarkable for the
gay and brilliant tints of their plumage than for
England.”,— Voyage to Borneo, p. 168,--From my own experience
I can speak, to the same, effect,.