144 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



origin, and that there is as yet no proof that either the "Indian 

 domesticated horse" or Bend Or was of oriental lineage. In 

 view therefore of the theories just stated, it is most important 

 to ascertain as accurately as possible the history of the horses 

 of the Indian Archipelago, of the Malay Peninsula, and of 

 Hindustan. 



When John Crawfurd^ wrote his admirable work on the 

 Indian Archipelago in the beginning of the last century, in 

 many of these islands the horse was still unknown. ' Cavalry,' 

 he writes, "may be looked upon as a matter of pomp and 

 luxury rather than as a useful arm of war. The great and 

 their retainers are mounted upon horses, and in Java and 

 Celebes they are numerous. The latter island in particular 

 contains extensive plains, so unfrequent in the rest, where horse 

 might be employed for the purposes of war with advantage. 

 The horses of that island too are superior in size and strength 

 to those of any other of the Archipelago, and the habit of 

 following the chase on horseback makes the people bolder and 

 more expert riders than are the rest of the tribes. The Javanese 

 are very bad riders, and in many countries of the Archipelago 

 the horse is unknown altogether." As the horse has been used 

 for war by all peoples who have tamed him or long possessed 

 him, this statement is sufficient to raise serious doubts respect- 

 ing the antiquity of the horse even in Sumatra and Java, and 

 we naturally seek for information from earlier sources. The 

 spices for which the western islands of the Archipelago were 

 the emporium had from an early period attracted thither the 

 adventurous merchants of Arabia, who gradually began to 

 establish themselves on the coasts and to propagate the faith 

 of Islam. When the celebrated traveller Ibn Batuta- of 

 Tangiers visited Sumatra and Java in 1345 he found that, 

 although the town of Sumatra was held by an Arab prince, 

 the chief spice-growing parts of that island were still in the 

 hands of the infidels. When he and the merchants that were 



1 History of the Indian Archipelago by John Crawfurd, late British Resident 

 at the court of the Sultan of Java (Edinburgh, 1820), Vol. i. pp. 229, 230. 



2 Voyages d'lhn Batoutah (translated from the Arabic into French by 

 C. Defremery and Br. Sanguinetti : Paris, 1853), Vol. iv. pp. 230, 231. 



