152 HOG
western nations; but does not preclude their having been used in the first century
as condiments by the Hindus, although their presence even for this purpose is
doubtful.
The annals of the Malay nation are still more barren than those of the Javanese.
The very names by which their histories are known proclaim their character, and
indicate the light in which the people th emselves view them. These are, either the
Sanscrit word, charitra, or the Arabic, hakayat, both of which signify stoiy, tale, or
romance. Until they adopted the Maliommedan religion, the Malays had no era, and
reckoned time only by the duration of the reigns of their very obscure princes, not
one of whom has left a name deserving of remembrance by posterity. Respecting
their intercourse with the Hindus, we possess no recorded fact whatever. The
earliest date that can be quoted for their intercourse, even with the Arabs, is the
period of the conversion of the Achinese of Sumatra, and this corresponds to the year
1204 of our time. No doubt, however, their mere commercial intercourse was far
earlier, and will probably go as far back as the first establishment of the Arabs in
■h'iypt, and the coasts of the Arabian and Persian Gulf, which would correspond with
the seventh and eighth centuries.
HOG. One or more species of hog exists, in the wild state, in every great island
of the Asiatic Archipelago, from Sumatra and the peninsula to New Guinea and
Luzon, and in many, also, of the smaller. Thus, there are abundance of hogs, even
in so inconsiderable an island as Singapore. There is, at least, one species in great
plenty in the Malay peninsula, three in Sumatra, two in Java, two in Celebes and in
some of the smaller islands east of it, including the Babirusa, literally, the “ hog-
deer.” In Java and Sumatra there exist the Sus vittatus and the Sus verrucosus, and
in the last of these a third species, not yet named by naturalists. In Borneo, there
is a fourth species, the Sus barbatus. AU the Philippine islands, also, abound in wild
hogs, although the particular species has not been described. The hog, too, exists
in the domestic state in the Philippine islands, and in the Hindu islands of Bali and
Lamboc, where they are used for food, and in the islands of which the inhabitants
have embraced Mahommedanism, they are found, like the dog, in the semi-domestic
state, acting as scavengera.
All the wild hogs that I have seen are small animals, compared with the wild boar
of Europe, or even with that of continental India. The Sus verrucosus, so called
from the fleshy excrescence on the sides of the cheeks, has a grotesque and a formidable
appearance, but is in reality a timid animal. The number of them in Java is
immense, and in passing along the highway, in particular districts, scores of them
are to be seen. I lately read in a Java newspaper an account of a two days’ hunt,
and the number killed was 1760, chiefly, I believe, taken in nets or destroyed by
poison. At particular seasons the crops of rice and sugar-cane have to be watched
all night against their depredations. Their habits appear to differ in some respects
from those of the European and Indian wild hog, for they come frequently to the
sea-shore to feed on crabs, and they will greedily devour carrion.
Whether any of the wild species be the origin of the domesticated hog of the
Archipelago is a question not easily solved. The popular names for the hog are all
native words. The most frequent of them is babi, which, with slight modifications,
is found in many languages from the peninsula and Sumatra to Timur and the
Philippines. This name, I have no doubt, belongs to the Malay language, which has
no other. It is not, however, the only name in other languages of the Archipelago.
The Javanese have a popular name of their own, cheleng, besides five synonyms,
namely, the Malay name, two belonging to the polite dialect, and three to the recondite
one. The three last are Sanscrit, d&rwila, wijung, and sukara. Those for the polite
dialect have evidently been framed after the adoption of the Mahommedan religion.
They are ch&mftngan and andapan, “ the black object,” and “ the low or mean object.”
The Sundas of Java have also a name for the hog distinct from the Malay one, badil,
and in the language of Endd in Flores, there is also a native name, la. Indeed, the
great probability is, that all the languages had originally a native name for an animal
so widely diffused, and so useful, until superseded by the Malay one. In most of the
languages the name of the domestic and wild hogs is the same, the first only having
such words as utan and alas annexed, making “hog of the forest.’’ The languages of
the Philippines, however, are an exception, for in these the wild hog has a distinct
name from the tame. Thus in the Tagala, while the domestic has the Malay name, the
wild is called pagil, a native word. From the prevalence of the Malay name, it may
fairly be inferred, that the domestic hog was disseminated by the Malays over the
HONEY 153
islands remote from their own parent country Sumatra. This name, t°wever will
not account for the existence of the domestic hog beyond the limits of tlie Archl
pelago, and in countries to which the Malayan languages have reached for it is not to
be found in the Polynesian or Madagascar languages It should be noticed that the
flesh of the hog must have formed a principal part of the animal food of the nations
nnd tribes of the Archipelago before the conversion to Mahommedanism. It did so
with the people of the Philippine islands on the arrival of the Spaniards, and it does
so still with all the rude tribes, and even with the Hindus of Bah and Lomboc.
HONEY and WAX. Honey is found in every country of the Archipelago, the
produce of wild bees, which make their hives in the crevices of trees, but no species
of bee has ever been domesticated, which would probably be difficult or impracticable
in countries which have no distinction of summer and winter,—'where every season
produces flowers, and where, consequently, there is no necessity for laying up a large
store of food. The honey of the Archipelago is a thin syrup, very inferior in flavour
to that of temperate climates. It is chiefly sought on account of the wax which
forms a large article of exportation to Europe, India, and China. In Malay, the
honey-bee has a specific name, labah: so has the wax, lilin, and the hive tuwalan.
The native name for honey is manisan-Mbah, “ the sweet of the honey-bee, but the
Sanscrit name madu is of more frequent use.
HONGOTES. The name of a wild tribe of the island of Luzon, inhabiting the
Cordillera, chiefly within the province of Nueva Ecija. They are of the browu-
complexioned, lank-haired race, like the majority of the Philippine islanders, but
described physically, as short of stature and w e a k l y , — mischievous and predatory
in their manners, and using their poisoned arrows with a skill only inferior to that
of the Negritos.
HORSE. The horse has been immemoriaUy domesticated by most of the more
advanced nations of the Malay Archipelago, wherever it could be made use of. The
chief exceptions are the Malay peninsula, the eastern sea-board of Sumatra, and nearly
the whole of Borneo, countries in which the people dwell on the marshy banks of
rivers, in which there is not even a bridle-path, and fit, therefore, only for the boat
and the buffalo. The native horse is always a mere pony, seldom reaching 13 hands
high, and more generally of about 12 hands. There are many different breeds, every
island having at least one peculiar to itself, and the large islands, several. Beginning
with Sumatra, we have here at least two distinct races,—the Achin and Batubara, both
small and spirited, but better adapted to draught than the saddle. Of all the countries
of the Archipelago, Java is that in which the horse most abounds, and here we
find several different breeds, as those of the hill countries, and those of the plains.
Generally, the Java horse is larger than that of Sumatra, but in the language of the
turf has less blood and bottom. The lowland horses, the great majority, are somewhat
coarse and sluggish, but the upland spirited, smaller, and handsomer. According to
the statistics of the Netherland government, the total number of horses in the island
in 1842 was 291,578, and at present probably exceed 300,000. The horse, although
of a very inferior breed, is found in the islands of Bali and Lomboc, but the next
island to these eastward, Sumbawa, produces the handsomest breeds of the whole
Archipelago. They are the Arab of the Archipelago, yet the blood is not the same
as the Arab, for the small horse of Sumbawa, although very handsome, wants the fine
coat and the blood head of the Arabian. There are in this island, and adjacent islets,
three different races, that of Tambora, of Bima, and of Gunung-api, the last being most
esteemed. Next to Java, horses are most abundant in Celebes. These are inferior in
beauty to those of Sumbawa, but excel all others of the Malayan portion of the Archipelago,
in combining the qualities of size, strength, speed, and bottom. A very
good breed is produced in Sumba, called in our maps Sandalwood Island. But
perhaps the best breed of the whole Archipelago, although still but a pony, is that
of the Philippines. I t is superior in size to any of the breeds of the western
islands, which it may owe to the superior pastures of the Philippines, and, possibly,
to a small admixture of the Spanish horses of America, although this last is, by
no means, an ascertained point.
In the Archipelago, as in other parts of the world, the colour of the horse is
singularly connected with quality, temper, and locality. The prevailing colour with
the horse of Achin is pye-ball, which becomes more and more rare as we proceed
eastward. The most frequent colours of the Batak or Batubara horse are bay and
mouse. In Java, the best and the most prevailing colours are grey, bay, and mouse,