[109] One of the names of Pángi.
[110] The prevalence of this practice must strike every one.
[111] See Astronomy
[112] See Historical Chapters.
[113] These prayers will be found at length in the Transactions of the Batavian Society, vol. ix. The word hong! used by the Javans at the commencement of their invocations to the deity, is doubtless the mystical om! of the Hindus.
[114] The following are the only traditions respecting these people which are current in the eastern provinces. "The people of the Teng'ger mountains say, that they received that name from a person from Matáram, of an inquisitive and travelling turn (wong malána), who having ascended the highest of them, and being struck with astonishment at the view of all around, gave them the above-mentioned name of Teng'ger, from the Javan word angeng'ger, which signifies wonder or astonishment.
"Before Gúnung Bràma had received that name, or had become a volcano, there lived a man called Kiai Géde Dádap Pútih, who had no children. He petitioned of his deity to grant that he might have children, to the number of twenty-five, promising, in that event, that he would cast away one of them into the sea. In the course of a short time children began to be born unto him. As soon as he had the number he had prayed for, the people of Teng'ger were inflicted with a pestilence, so dreadful in its effects, that those who were attacked by it in the morning never failed to die before the evening. Dádap Pùtih was so distressed and afflicted at the lamentable situation of the Teng'ger people, that he loathed his food and neglected his rest, till it was communicated to him in a vision, that the pestilence had been sent in consequence of his having omitted to perform his vow, of casting into the sea one of the twenty-five children whom the deity had granted him. Dádap Pútih then assembled all his children, and inquired which of them was willing to be sacrificed, in order to appease the angry deity. All of them signified their unwillingness to become the victim except the youngest child, who voluntarily came forward and agreed to suffer, in which ever way its father thought proper. Dádap Pútih, however, reflecting that the sea was at a very great distance, carried this child only to that extensive sand plain at the foot of Gúnung Bráma, which bears the name of Sagára wédi or Lout Pásir, and there abandoned it. No sooner had he done so, than Gúnung Bráma began to send forth hollow sounds, and immediately burst forth into a volcano. Sagára wédi is so called from the resemblance of its sandy surface, to a sea when surveyed from Bráma's heights: its original name is Dassar.
"Bima being asked by Kresna if he was able, in the course of one night, to make an inland sea below the Teng'ger mountains, and having answered in the affirmative, Kresna challenged him to do it, telling him at the same time, that it must be done before the cocks were heard to crow, or the people of the villages began to weave or beat out rice. By three o'clock in the morning his work was so far advanced, as to convince Kresna that it would be completed in the prescribed time. To prevent this, therefore, Kresna immediately went, and rousing all the cocks and people of the villages, caused the former to crow and the latter to begin to weave and beat out rice. By this manœuvre, Bima was obliged to leave off the work, which otherwise would have been completed within the fixed time; and so incensed was he against the people, who had so untimely began to weave and beat our their rice (whereby he failed to perform the task which was given to him to prove his power) that he cursed them, and swore that they should never again perform either the one act or the other, and to this day the Teng'ger people neither weave cotton nor beat out rice."
[115] See History.
[116] It has already been noticed that the island is plentifully supplied with a fine breed of small horses. Almost every petty chief and public officer is mounted, and those who possess the means pride themselves upon a respectable establishment. They have an aversion to some colours, and there are particular marks, the possession of which renders a horse valuable to the natives; if a few hairs on the neck curl, or have the appearance of a star, the horse is highly prized. Previously to the cession of Kedú to the European government in 1812, the native princes maintained a very respectable stud in that province. Horses are never shod on Java, nor are they secured in the stable, as is usual in Europe and Western India. A separate enclosure is appropriated for each horse, within which the animal is allowed to move and turn at pleasure, being otherwise unconfined. These enclosures are erected at a short distance from each other, and with separate roofs. They are generally raised above the ground, and have a boarded floor.