1838.] 



Sketch of the Malayan Peninsula. 



71 



the Malays, and frequently alluded to both in their prose compositions 

 and poems. Of the genus, Cervus, are the Kijang, or Cervus Munfjac, 

 the Rusa, or Cervus Hippelaphus, and the Cambing-utan, goat of the 

 woods, or Antelope Sumatrensis. The Cervus axis, or spotted deer, 

 has been imported at Pinang from Bengal. It is indigenous in Suma- 

 tra. The Bos Arnee or buffalo exists in a domestic state on that part 

 of the peninsula occupied by Malays. It occurs I believe wild in 

 Burmah, and at the southern base of the Himalayas. There are two 

 kinds of bison found in the forest* though rare. Neither the horse, 

 ass, camel, cow, hare, rabbit or fox, are, I believe, indigenous in the 

 peninsula; nor the singh or lion, although Singhapura, or Singapore, 

 is stated in ^he Malay annals to have been so called from the appear- 

 ance there of an animal of that species. Among the Hyslricidce 

 is the Landok, or Hystrix longicanda, the Malay porcupine. 

 Those that have fallen under my observation, appear to be larger than 

 the Indian porcupine. 



Cetacea. — The last order of Mammalia is that of Cetacea, connect- 

 ing as it were the inhabitants of the land with those of the watery 

 deep. Of the genus Halicore, stands first the supposed Mermaid of the 

 eastern seas, the Duyovg, improperly termed Diigong. Skeletons of 

 this singular production of nature have been sent to Europe by Mr. 

 Crawfurd, Sir S. Raffles, and Messrs. Diard and Duvancel. In 1830, a 

 Duyong preserved in spirits was forwarded by Mr. G. Swinton, to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, and delivered over to Dr. Knox for dis- 

 section. t But it had been unfortunately divided into three portions 

 which incalculably diminished its value. It is to be hoped that this 

 deficiency will be shortly supplied through the zeal of some of our 

 countrymen in the Straits. 



* The horns of a bison found in the Naning district are now in the possession of Briga- 

 dier General Wilson, c. E. 



t The following description of the Duyong is from the Ed. Cab. Library, No. viii. p. 73. 



The Halicore, or daughter of the sea is called duyong by the Malays, and has 

 hence acquired the name of dugong in our books of natural history. There is only a 

 single species as yet ascertained. It inhabits the Indian seas, especially the Sumatran 

 coasts, and has been confounded by several voyagers with the lamantins, which belong to 

 the African and American shores. It measures seven or eight feet long, and is covered 

 by a thick hide, of a pale-blue colour, with whitish marks on the abdomen. The head 

 ^omewhat resembles that of a young elephant deprived of its proboscis. The body is 

 fish-shaped ; the anterior extremities are contained within an undivided membrane, in the 

 form of a fin. The rudiments of a pelvis are observable and the caudal extremity is ho- 

 rizontally sloped, or cut like the arch of a circle. The flesh of this animal is held in great 

 estimation, and is usually reserved for the tables of the sultan and ra jas. Its own food 

 is said to consist of alg<B,fuci, and other marine productions of the vegetable kind." 



