154 HOUSE
and the worst black and chestnut. To the last colour, indeed, the Javanese have
such an antipathy, that a chestnut horse is expressly forbidden to enter the precincts
of the royal courts, or to join in the public tournaments. In the Bima and other
ponies of Sumbawa, bays, greys, and duns, are the most frequent and most approved.
Blacks and chestnuts are rare, and a pye-ball is as rare as a black among Arabs.
Among the Malays, the highest breed of horses is designated by the name of S&m-
brani, but what that means no one can tell, and it must be concluded that it is a
purely mythical name.
Generally, the horses of the Archipelago are hardy, surefooted, and docile. The
horses are all entire, and the mares used only to breed and as beasts of burden. By the
natives of the Archipelago the horse is only used for the saddle or to carry burdens,
and never for draught, either for plough, or wheel-carriage. To see horses drawing
a native carriage, except in imitation of Europeans, we must go to the sculptures on
ancient temples in Java, where they are thus represented. The Javanese have used
them in war, and where there were no real horses, they might have been formidable,
but against a cavalry mounted on the latter, they are of course worthless. On the
invasion of Java in 1811, the French government of the island had a corps mounted
on native horses, but it never thought of meeting the charge of a squadron of British
dragoons, mounted on the large and active horses of southern India.
The origin of the horse of the Malay Archipelago is as obscure as that of the same
animal in other parts of the world, America, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific
excepted. Its name in Malay, and the only one it has in that language, kuda, is a
corruption of the Sanscrit ghura, and this might lead to the belief that it was brought
originally from some Hindu country. In this case, however, we must suppose that
no other horses were brought than ponies, which is improbable,—or that the race has
degenerated as to size, which is not likely, since it has not degenerated either in spirit
or symmetry, but on the contrary is in fact superior in these respects to the continental
horse. This hypothesis is made still more improbable when we find that, in
the Javanese language, the popular name for the horse, jaran, is a native word. It is
true that the Javanese has also four synonyms, but these are all foreign words. Thus,
in the polite dialect the name is kapal, which, in the Talinga language, is the name for
a ship, here probably used in a similar figurative sense to that by which the Arabs
designate the camel the “ ship of the desert.” The three other synonyms are all
Sanscrit, and belong to the obsolete and recondite language, namely, turongga, waji,
and kuda, the last being the same which has become the popular name in Malay,
having, most probably, superseded a native one. The popular Javanese name has
extended, unchanged, to the language of the Lampungs of Sumatra, and it is found
in the Bugis of Celebes in the corrupt form of afiarang, and in the Rotti the
language of a small island adjacent to Timur-, as dalan. In the other languages of
countries in which the horse is found, the Sanscrit name kuda prevails, and from its
form evidently derived through the Malays.
In two islands only of the Archipelago is the horse found in the wild state—
Celebes and Luzon—the only ones that are known to have extensive grassy plains fit
for its pasture, and in these it is caught by the lasso and broke in as in the Llanos of
America. In such situations it is certainly far more likely to have become wild from
the domestic state than to be indigenous. In so far as Celebes is concerned this
view is rendered probable by the name being a corruption of the Javanese in one
language of that island, the Wugi, while in another, the Macassar, the horse is called
“ the buffalo of Java.” In the Philippines it is not even alleged that the wild horses are
anything else than domesticated ones become so. In Pigafetta’s enumeration of the
domestic animals of (jebu, he makes no mention of the horse, nor do the Spaniards
who followed Magellan allege that they found the horse in Luzon or any of the
other islands. In none of the languages of the Philippines, in fact, does there exist
any native or any Asiatic name for it, the only one throughout being the Spanish
one, cavallo. The horse, then, is neither indigenous in the Philippines, nor was it
introduced like the buffalo by the Malayan nations before the arrival of the Spaniards.
But from what quarter it was brought, or at what time, it is not easy to say. Most
probably it was early introduced, and the countries from which it could be most
easily brought would be Celebes, Mindano, and the Sulu Islands. I t seems probable
that the horse so introduced might have been improved by a few Spanish horses
brought from America, but even this supposition is not necessary to account for the
superiority of the Philippine horses over those of the western and southern islands,
for the better pastures of the Philippines would be quite sufficient to do so. Some
Spanish writers have fancied that the horse introduced into the Philippines was
IJEN 155 ILOCOS-NOETE
Spanish, degenerated in time by the soil and climate. This hypothesis, however,
is not tenable; for the Spanish horse, although neglected has not degenerated at
least in size in similar latitudes and even worse soils in America. The theory ot
degeneration as to size must, indeed, be given up, when we find that since the time
of the English occupation of Java very good full-sized horses have been bred m that
island, a much less favourable situation than Luzon. . , , . ,
It mieht at first sight be supposed that the horse may have been introduced into
the countries of the Archipelago from those parts of the continent nearest to them—
Siam and Cambodia—in which, as with themselves, small horses or ponies only are
found This hypothesis, however, is only plausible. Between the countries in
question and the islands of the Archipelago not much intercourse has existed at any
time and in the peninsula, the nearest part to them, the horse does not exist at all.
Even in the parts of Siam and Cambodia, nearest the islands, the horse is not used,
and its monosyllabic names in the languages of these countries bear no resemblance
to any of those of the insular tongues. We must come then to the conclusion that
the horse of the Asiatic Archipelago cannot be traced to any foreign stock, nor to
any native wild one now in existence. All that can safely be asserted is, that it seems
to have been tamed for many ages, and that its first domestication belongs to a time
beyond the reach of history or reasonable conjecture.
In the city of Manilla a pair of good riding horBes costs from 100 to 120 dollars,
and a pair of carriage horses from 20 to 30. Of course they are much cheaper in the
provinces where they are reared. The horses of Sambawa, Celebes, and Sumba, are
largely exported to Java, to the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca, and
even as far as the Mauritius. In Batavia a good Bima or Batak horse is worth from
10?. to 15?.
IJEN. The name of one of the highest mountains of Java, rising to the height of
10,000 feet above the level of the sea. I t is situated in the province of Bunuwangi,
directly opposite to the island of Bali, where the strait is narrowest. I t is the last
mountain of Java in an eastern direction that has an active volcano. The name
seems to signify “ sole ” or “ unique.”
ILIM. The name of an island lying off the south-western end of the large
island of Mindano, in the Philippines, and parted from it by a strait about a quarter
of a league broad. It is about 9-4 geographical miles in length, and 3'4 in breadth,
with an area of 29 square geographical miles, mountainous, and naked of timber. It
forms a part of the province of Mindoro, and on its western coast it has a small town
or village of the same name.
ILOC. The name of one of the islands of the Calamianes group in the Philippines,
lying south of that of Linacapan, and north-east of Paragua, or the northern
portion of the great island of Palawan. It is 10 miles in length and 5 in breadth,
with a superficies of 35 square geographical miles. Iloe is mountainous, covered
with forest, and the fisheries of its coast are very productive, but that coast is surrounded,
especially on the western side, by many rocks and islets, which make
access to it difficult and dangerous, and hence it is little frequented.
TLOCOS (from the Tagala word Iloc, a river). The name of an old province of
the island of Luzon, forming a considerable portion of its north-western end. I t is
bounded by the sea to the west, by the great Cordillera of Caraballos to the east, and
extends from north latitude 16° 39' to 18° -30'. This great province, conquered by
Juan Salcedo, the brother-in-law of Legaspi, the discoverer and first governor of
Luzon, was divided in 1818 into two provinces—a north and a south.
ILOCOS-NOBTE, or northern Iloeos, is bounded to the east by the province
of Cagayan, to the south by Ilocos-sur, and to the west by the Chinese Sea. On the
land side it has a boundary of 83 7, and by the coast, one of 88'9 geographical miles.
I t is computed to have an area of 1388 square, geographical miles. Two mountain
chains pass through it, and its surface is generally broken and uneven. Its mountains
are covered with forest, producing valuable timber and dye-woods, among which the
sappan wood or Caesalpinia sappan is abundant. Its principal agricultural products
are rice, wheat, cotton, sesame, sugar-cane, coffee, and cacoa. Horses are largely bred
in it. The climate is moist, cloudy, and for the Philippines cold, for Reaumur’s
thermometer frequently falls to 8° in winter, and hail is occasionally experienced.