COCK-FIGHTING. 61 



peninsula of Malacca, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Spice 

 Islands, the Malay word ayam is used, but on the 

 Philippines and Java the Javanese word maniik is 

 frequently heard— it has hence been inferred that the 

 Malays and Javanese were the first to domesticate it, 

 and distribute it over the archipelago. Temminck 

 regards the Gallus hanJciva as the progenitor of our 

 common fowl. If he is right in this conjectui'e, it 

 was probably brought into Greece by the Persians, 

 for the Greeks sometimes called it the "Persian 

 bird." " Its early introduction into Europe is shown 

 by representations of it on the walls of the Etruscan 

 tombs, and Mr, Crawfurd states that it was found in 

 England more than two thousand years ago. The 

 small variety known to us as " the Bantam," is not a 

 native of Java, but received that name because it 

 was first seen by European traders on Japanese 

 junks which came to that city to trade. 



All the Malay race, except the Javanese, have 

 tlie most inordinate thirst for gambling, and their 

 favorite method of gratifying this passion is cock- 

 fighting. This is forbidden by the Dutch Govern- 

 ment ; but in the Philipj^ines the Spanish only sub- 

 ject the gamblers to a heavy tax, and the extent to 

 which it is indulged in those islands is indicated 

 by a yearly revenue of forty thousand dollars from 

 this source alone. 



The passion for this vice among the Malays is 

 also shown in their language ; for, according to Mr. 

 Crawfurd, there is one specific name for cock-fight- 

 ing, one for the natural and one for the artificial spur 



* Crawfnrd's Diet. Ind. Arch. 



