26 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



and found it perfectly mild and tractable. At Suracarta 

 it was confined in the large area or square which bounds 

 the entrauce to the royal residence. A deep dffch about 

 three feet wide limited its range, and for several years 

 it never attempted to pass it. It was perfectly reconciled 

 to its confinement, and never exhibited any symptoms of 

 uneasiness or rage, although on its first arrival harassed 

 in various ways by a large proportion of the inhabitants 

 of a populous capital, whose curiosity induced them lo 

 ins])ect the stranger of the forest. Branches of trees, 

 shrubs, and various twining plants were abundantly 

 provided for its food : of these the species of Cissus, and 

 the small twigs of a native fig-tree, were preferred. 

 But plaintains were the most favourite food ; and the 

 abundant manner in which it was supplied with these by 

 the numerous visitors tended greatly to make the animal 

 mild and sociable. It allowed itself to be handled and 

 examined freely, and the more daring of the visitors 

 sometimes mounted on its back. It required copious 

 supplies of water, and, when not taking food or inten- 

 tionally roused by the natives, it generally placed itself 

 in the large excavations which its movements soon caused 

 in the soft earth that covered the allotted space. The 

 animal rapidly increased in size: in the year 1817, 

 having been confined at Suracarta about nine or ten 

 months, the dimensions were nine feet in length, and 

 above four feet three inches in height at the rump. In 

 1821 it had acquired the height of five feet seven inches. 



"This information I received from my friend Mr. 

 Stavers, who is now in England on a visit from the 

 interior of Java ; and he favoured me further with the 

 following detail, which completes the history of the 

 individual. 



" Having considerably increased in size, the ditch of 

 three feet in breadth was insuflScient for confining it ; 

 but, leaving the enclosure, it frequently passed to the 

 dwellings of the natives, destroying the plantations of 

 fruit-trees and culinary vegetables which always surround 

 them. It likewise terrified those natives that accidentally 



