U^ IINBU EELIGION- 



The fingalar prejadies of the Hindus oi Continental India, on ihe fub- 

 j€d of food, are either qualified in practice; or altogether negleded by thofe 

 of Bali. The lower claffes are by no means punctilious on the fabject of. 

 diet; and the Brakmans who alone attend to di(lin6lions-of this kind, refpe6k 

 them with fuch modifications, a? render their obfervances very wide 

 of the Indian practice, ^s far as my limited acquaintance with both will., 

 £nal:>le me to judge^ 



Ths Ba/inefe vtnCT?tte the cow : but they alii'gn as the reafon for pay- 

 ing no peculiar honors to the common breed found on thsir own iiland^ 

 that it is not the one which their religioi commands them to refpe6i:. 

 The breed of Oxen found on Bali is of the wild fpecies, yfually calle.dv 

 Benteng by the natives of these iilands. It is of a, remarkably large fize,^. 

 and fit for any purpofe of agriculturfj but wants the hump whicb; 

 rharaderizes the" /?2i/<a^?z cov/ ; and which would feem neceffary to. 

 entitle the animal to fanflity. On Java, I have feen. many image* 

 of the Bull NomH^ the vehicle of MahadevAj with an enormous hump 

 evidently fhowing that the ordinary cattle of thefe countries did.not 

 afford the models frora which fuch fculptures; were made* The 

 Raja of Blelling expreffed a great delire to have one of the /ri<3^2^j^;^i; 

 breed, and wrote me to this effect on my return to Java. I had the- 

 fatisfaction to procure a white bull ^qd cow of the Cufrat hvt^d^ 

 which; were fent to Bali^ and reached the Raja in fafety,- 



The ordinary ox of Bali is decidedly held in ub refpea jj for- the im- 

 ferior clafles eat beef without fcruple. The Raja fup plied our troops: 

 v/ith> abundance of cow beef in preference to that of the buiFalOj which. 

 is more' efteemed- among the Balimfe. The cattle were, fiaughtered -on , 

 the'beach within a few yards of the houfe wbere 1 1 Raja refided ; and, 

 tliis without offering violence to his own prejudices, or thole of any 

 clafs of his fubjeSs, ' 



