in Bali, divided from it by a strait only two miles broad. The leopard, called in
Javanese machan-tutul, that is, the “ spotted tiger,” is also common, the same litter
sometimes producing a black variety of it, in which the spots can only be distinguished
in a strong light,—the machan kumbang, or black-bee tiger of the Javanese.I Two
small species of leopard are also found, Felis minuta, and the Lmsang gracilis, the
last an anomalous animal with some of the habits of a weasel. Of the weasel family,
Java has five species, two of which yield musk, and a third is the luwak of the
Javanese, and the musang of the Malays—Viverra musanga-an animal of the size, of
an ordinary cat, and of very wide distribution, for it is found also m the Philipp
islands. Of the dog, besides the half-domesticated race, there are two wild species,
but the fox, the jackal, the wolf, and the hyena of the contment of India are
unknown. There is one otter, Aonyx leptonyx, the w&lingsang of the Javanese, ana
the wargul of the Sundas. . .
The elephant is not found in Java, nor does there exist any evidence for its ever
having been indigenous, and this is the more remarkable since it is abundant in
Sumatra, even in those parts of it which are but a few miles distant. Theammal, however,
was sufficiently known to the Javanese for ages, and was probably imported
occasionally for the use of its princes, for in the various dialects of their languages
it has no fewer than seven different names, all of which however are borrowed from
Sanscrit? Java has one rhinoceros peculiar to itself, and differing even from those of
Sumatra, the warak and garnata of the Javanese, an animal easily tamed and when
so gentle in its habits. Besides the domesticated hog, Java has two wild species
the Sus verrucosus and Sus vittatus. Both are more numerous than I have ever seen
the wild hog in any other country, and their depredations are a serious impediment
t0AgwMraTis found in the forests of Java, the same which is found in the peninsula
and Borneo, but which is wanting in Sumatra. This is the banteng of the Javanese
and the Bos sondaicus of naturalists. The Dutch naturalists mform us that ail
attempts to tame it have been vain, as m the case of the buffalo of the American
prairies. According to the Javanese, however, it will pair with the domesticated
cattle, producing a fertile offspring, to which they attribute thelargest breed of^then
oxen The buffalo, Bos bubalus, is found wild m many of the forests of Java, but
considered by naturalists to be derived from individuals in the domestic state that
had escaped from servitude. The horse nowhere exists in Java, M W
as it does in Celebes, but the numbers of this animal and of horned cattle m the
domestic state throughout the island is very large, the Dutch returns reckoning
the first at 320,000, and the last at about 2,000,000. HH H
No wild goat exists in Java, but the domestic, the mendd and w&dus of the
Javanese language, has been immemorially known, although of small importance in
its rural industry. The sheep, usually known by its Sanscrit name bin, but sometimes
called 1 the European goat,” is very little known to the natives. Six different species
of deer exist, the most numerous of which are the kidang, Cervus mantjac, and the
inairiangan, Cervus rufa. These two will live and multiply m parks and. paddocks,
like our fallow and red deer, and are occasionally so kept. One speciesonly of P1Smy
deer exists, the kanchil of the Malays and Javanese, and- the Moschus kanchil of
naturalists One species of hare is found in the neighbourhood of Batavia, and to
the^Starme of about 50 miles east of it, but in no other part of the island. It is a
small animal, not exceeding a rabbit m size, and even of less speed, for a terrier will
overtake it. I t had been generally believed that it was originally imported fiom the
continent of India, but the Dutch naturalists have lately described it as a distinct
species, under the name of Lepus melanancha, from being black over the nape
instead’ of red, as the European hare. . I
Among birds it may be noticed that the number of species islarge, but that
of individuals generally small.. Dr. Horsfield, to whom I am indebted for most of
this outline of the zoology of Java, has enumerated no fewer than 176 .species. I
shall notice a very few of them only. Of gallinaceous birds there is one species of
peacock equally handsome with the Indian, but differing from it, thei Pavo spicifer,
but the small and beautiful double-spurred peacock of Sumatra and the peninsula
does not exist in Java, nor does the Argus or any other of the pheasants of these two
countries. Two species of Gallus, or cock, are found m the woods of Java, the ayarn
alas or “ fowl of the forest,” the Gallus Bankivaof naturalists, probably the source m
the Archipelago of the domestic poultry, and very widely diffused overit, and the Gallus
furcatus or Javanicus, theB&kekuk of the Javanese, a very beautiful bird and peculiar
to Java This will pair with the common poultry, but the progeny is a hybrid, which
for its beauty is sometimes kept by the natives, and often named in their poetry
under the appellation of pakiser. Two species of partridge are found in Java, the
Perdrix Sinensis and Perdrix Javamea, and two small species of quail, the
nusnacious propensities of the females of which, in the season of incubation, are
availed of to produce a combat after the manner of fighting cocks. Of the pigeon
tribe there a r e in J a v a no f e w e r t h a n t e n d i f f e r e n t s p e c i e s W '
The family of birds which is most deficient is that of web-footed water fowl
There is but one species of duck, a teal, the Dendrocygnaarcuata of naturalists, and
no species of goose” nor of either kind, any migratory bird. There are however two
indigenous splcies of pelican. The species of waders are numerous. The common
snipe the burchet of the Javanese, is more abundant, and at the same time of better
quality than I have ever seen it in any other country, and unless we except hogs
and deer, the best game of the island. Among the waders there are eleven species of
stork or heron. Among smaller birds there are two species of cuckoo, one of which,
the k&dasek of the Javanese, has a wild plaintive and monotonous note, not un-
PlwTth\h°e Javm^e, however, the last is a bird of ill-omen, and whenever its note is
heard attempts are made to drive it away. The mancho or Gracula religiosa the
soeakin* minor, is common. The Java sparrow, a great enemy of the rice crop, is but too
frequent. It is the glatek of the Javanese, the Fringilla oryzivora, or nce-devounng
finch of naturalists. The house sparrow is a stranger introduced seemingly by
Europeans. It is still, for the most part, confined to the European towns on the
northern coast, and called by the natives manuk greja that is, the « church bird,
from its partiality for breeding under the eaves of churches. Birds of prey are
very numerous, but none of them of great size. There are eight species of eagle or
falcon and seven of owls, but no vulture. One species of black crow is abundant.
Fisli are plentiful along the whole northern coast of Java, and a few species are or
excellent quality, but, upon the whole, the abundance and the quality are not equal
to those of the shores of the Straits of Malacca. The fresh water fish is all of very
inferior quality, and no migratory species frequent the rivers for spawning as they
do on the rivers of the eastern side of Sumatra. Crustaoeous fish are very abundant
on the northern coast, especially oysters, of excellent quality, and prawns, the last
contributing largely to the subsistence of the people in the shape of the condiment
called by the Javanese trasi. The fisheries of the exposed southern coast of the
island are unimportant. Whales never frequent either coast of Java, and are known
to both Malays and Javanese generally by the Sanscrit name of gajah-mina, signifying
Java Whether the inhabitants be of the Javanese or Sunda nation, is peopled
by the same race, the Malayan. This is characterised by a short and squat person,
the stature being about two inches short of that of the European, the Chinese, the
Hindu the Persian, or Arabian. The face is round, the mouth wide, the cheek-bones
high the nose short, small, never prominent as with the European', and never flat as
with the African negro. ■ The eyes are always black, small, and deep-seated. The
complexion is brown, with a shade of yellow, not so dark as with the majority of
Hindus and never black as with some of them. Fairness is, indeed, in estimation
with the Javanese and others of the same race. The hair of the head is abundant,
always black, lank, and harsh, or at least never soft or silky. The hair on other
parts of the body is either scanty or altogether wanting. The beard consists only of
a few short strangling hairs, and there is none at all on the breast or limbs. The
Javanese, personally, are not an agile people, and make very indifferent runners or
wrestlers Compared with the Hindus they are personally a slow people.
As to'moral character, the Javanese of the present day may be described as a peaceable
docile, sober, simple, and industrious people. From my own experience of them,
I have no difficulty in pronouncing them the most straightforward and truthful
Asiatic people that I have met with. The practice of running a muck, so frequent
with the other cultivated nations of the Archipelago, is of very rare occurrence with
them. It is curious to contrast this character with that given of them by the Europeans
who first observed them. Barbosa, who saw them at Malacca before its
conquest, and of which, according to De Barros, they formed the majority of the population,
renders the following account of them “ These,” says he, “ are small thick-
made men, with large faces, broad chests, and ill-favoured. They go naked from the
waist upwards, and below it they wear a piece of cloth carelessly put on. They wear
nothing on the head, but their hair is arranged with a r t ; and some have the hair
shaven or cropped. They are a people of great ingenuity, very subtle in all their