100 



A NATUn A LIST'S WANnEIlINOS. 



a«ljoiniiig valley, where below a great overhangbig rock they 

 wait till breiik of next day, when they return home in a 

 similar secret aud silent maeuer to their coniing. They aU 

 wear garments of cloth striped with bliick aud white-. 



ftaflles* has given an interesting and full account of these 

 }>ei>jde in his * History of Java* from which I make the follow- 

 ing extract ■ " They were at one time numerous in various pjirts 

 of Java, leading a wandering life, practisiug religious rites 

 diiTerent from those of the great body of the jwf^ple, and avoid- 

 ing intercourse with them, but most of them are now reduced 

 to subjection, and are become stationary in their residence, 

 hiiving embraced the Mahomedan religion. In a few villages 

 their peculiar customs are still preserved. Although by tra- 



EAliTUKKVl AJth ioi i hvii JUL UABAM; i GBOTS. 



dition tieir descent is from a princess of Mendang, Xumulan, 

 and a chief transfarmed into a dog, thoy have claims to be 

 conKi^lered the actual descendants of the aUirigines of the 

 islau'L They are represented as having a great veneration 

 for a red dog, one of which is generally kept by each family, 

 which they ^vill not permit to be struck or ill-used.f When a 

 young man asks a girl in marriage he must prove descent 



• For additional inXiimiatioij the reader is referred to TijdscLrift v, Ned. 

 Ind. u jaarg. ii. deel, p. 295 »sq.\ iv. j. il 217 ^ vii, j. iv. 335 ei ss^,; 

 Bijdragen v. Ind, T. L. en Y.-Kunde, iii, Yolgreeks, iv. iletjL ; Indiaclies Maga- 

 zim, 1845, 



t " AccordiDg to the Zend Avesta^cerUin dogs have tlie power of protecting 

 the dei>arled spirits from tlie demons \yin^ m wait for it on the perilous 

 passage vf the narrow bridge over the nhym of hell ; and ti dog is always led 

 in funeral procesi?ions, and raado to Imik at the corpse/'— 2facmi7. Maff.y 

 '* Vilkge Life in the Apennines/' June 1879. 



