Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 52/Some Early Accounts of the Malay Tapir
Some Early Accounts of the Malay Tapir.
By W. George Maxwell
In Groeneveldt's translation[1] of the Ying-yai Shêng-lan, an account of Sumatra written by a Chinese traveller in A. D. 1416, there is the following quaint statement:—
"In the mountains of this country a supernatural animal is found, called The Divine Stag. It looks like a large pig, and is about three feet high; the forepart of the body is black, the hind part white, and the hair is sleek, short, and very fine. The mouth is like that of a pig, but not flat in front; the hoofs have three grooves, and it only eats plants, not other animals."
The tapir (tapirus malayanus) is of course the animal here described, and the account, for all its quaintness, is excellent. The question is why should the tapir be called "The Divine Stag." Groeneveldt in a foot note gives the two Chinese ideographs, which he has translated by these words.
The ideographs are 神 (pronounced sin in the Mandarin dialect) which means spirit or soul, and 鹿 (pronounced lok) which means a deer or stag; and "divine stag" is thus the straightforward translation of the two words.
The obvious difficulty however is that the tapir most certainly is not called "the divine stag" by the inhabitants either of Sumatra or of any other country in which it is found. There is nothing divine or stag-like in its appearance, nor is there, so far as I am aware, any folk-lore or folk story that could be distorted, by the natural mistake of a traveller or by any stretch of imagination on his part, into such an expression as the divine stag."
The Malay name of the tapir is tenok (تنق) and what we should expect would be that the writer, who was of course describing an animal that was quite new and unknown to his readers, would endeavour to render this word in the ideographs of the language in which he was writing. What we should expect him to say is "in the mountains of this country a supernatural" (or, perhaps, rather, "extraordinary") animal is found called the tenok.
And this is, I venture to suggest, what the author has actually written.
Searching through the various dialects of the Chinese language for a dialect in which 神鹿 will represent the sound tenok, we find that in the Hylam dialect 神 is pronounced "tin" whilst in the groater number of the other dialects it is "sin" or "shin."
The Hylam dialect would therefore appear to be indicated 鹿 however remains "lok" as in the Mandarin dialect. We therefore get "tin-lok," which, though it takes us a good part of the way, is not entirely satisfactory. I am informed however by the Chinese interpreters of the Supreme Court that there is no ideograph which represents the word "nok." It would therefore appear either that 鹿 represents the nearest sound possible in the Chinese language to the Malay word tenok, or else that, in A. D. 1416, it was pronounced "nok."
The passage in the Ying-yai Shêng-lan is interesting in more than one respect. Firstly, if my suggestion that these two ideographs represent the word tenok is correct, it shows that the writer of that work was a Hylam; a native, that is to say, of the Island of Hainan, a fact which both the geographical position of that island with regard to the countries mentioned in the account, and the skill and daring in navigation of its inhabitants render extremely probable.
I am more inclined to believe the writer of the Ying-yai Sheng-lan to have been a Hylam from the passage in the work where, also in an account of Sumatra, he gives (according to Groeneveldt's translation) the following account of the mango: "There is a kind of mango called by the natives yam-pa; it is like a pear but a little longer and has a green skin."
Yam-pa, which is the sound of the ideographs 奄拔 in the Mandarin dialect, is meaningless. The Hylam dialect however gives us Jam-bu, which is not only excellent Malay but shows incidentally that the writer's memory had deceived him into confusing the guava with the mango.
The passage is interesting in a second respect, for Groeneveldt's "stag" deserves to be recorded along with the "sladang" and "hippopotamus" with which other writers have confused the tapir. It was indeed no less an authority than Newbold that confused the sladang (the Indian "gaur," bos gaurus) with the tapir. In his "British Settlements of the Straits of Malacca," published in 1839, he makes, on page 435 of the first volume, the following extraordinary statements:—
"The seladang is suposed by some zoologists to be identical with the tapir. The Malays however make a difference distinguishing the other tapir by the name of tennok. This is a point desirable to ascertain. The seladang may probably be a variety."
It would have been unfair perhaps to draw attention to this slip of Newbold's if it were not for the fact that it affords a curious instance of the extent to which the Malay forests were unknown even to the best informed English residents at a comparatively recent date.
More than one early traveller has recorded the hippopotamus in the far east. Generally they have I think confused it with the rhinoceros or the tapir. Occasionally perhaps they may have been misled by the word kuda ayer—(the Malay for the little sea-horse, which is not uncommon in these waters) which has led the lexicographers sadly astray. Marsden (in 1812), Abbé Favre (in 1875) and Swettenham (in (1881) all give kuda ayer as hippopotamus, thereby plainly implying that the hippopotamus, which of course is only found in Africa, is known to the Malays.
Lastly this early Chinese account of the tapir is interesting in that it anticipates, by exactly four hundred years, Major Farquhar's discovery of the tapir in Malacca. There will be found in Volume XIII of "Asiatick Researches," published in Calcutta in 1820, a very interesting account of this discovery. Major Farquhar, who was Governor in Malacca, wrote from Malacca on the 29th January 1616 the following letter to the Honourable A. Seton:
My dear Sir,
Conceiving that the accompanying account of an animal of the tapir kind, found in the forests in the vicinity of Malacca; but which I believe is not generally known to exist in any part of the old world, may prove interesting, I have taken the liberty to transmit it to you, for the purpose, (should you consider it as meriting public attention), of being presented to the Asiatic Society: I have likewise the pleasure to send a full length drawing of the animal, and a drawing and skeleton of its head, which is of very singular shape.
- I remain My Dear Sir,
- Your much obliged and very faithful servant,
- W. FARQUHAR.
Malacca, 29th January 1816.
Major Farquhar's account, after a detailed description of the dentition and dimensions of the animal, is as follows:—
"The tapir (called tinnoo by the Malays) is an animal, which I believe has hitherto boon considered, by the naturalists as being peculiar to the New World; it will however appear abundantly evident from the present account, that this is a mistake; and that a species at least of this quadruped is common to many of the forests on the Malay Peninsula, and particularly so in the vicinity of Malacca, being as well known to the natives there as the elephant or rhinoceros. The tapir of Malacca, although differing in some essential points from that of America, cannot, I conceive, be considered but as a variety of the same genus of quadruped.
"The manner in which the feet are divided is very peculiar; and is the same in both animals; having four hoofs in the fore, and only three in the hind feet. The general size and shape of the tapir of the old and new world will be found nearly alike, but differing in color; the head of this animal is of a peculiar shape, and forms a sort of ridge at top, the eyes are small, ears roundish and bounded with white, which can be drawn forward at pleasure, the legs are short and very stout, the body large, and in shape somewhat resembling that of the hog. The neck is short and thick, and the skin strong and coarse, like that of a buffalo. The hair is short, and of a black colour, from the proboscis to the extremity of the fore quarters; the body and part of the hind quarters of a light grey, and the rest of the hinder parts and legs are black. The tail is very short, and almost destitute of hair. It has no mane on the neck, in which respect it seems likewise to differ from the American tapir. When young it is beautifully spotted with brown and white.
"The tapir of Malacca is not known to the natives as an amphibious animal; it is perfectly harmless, and of a timid disposition. Indeed it seems destitute of any natural means of offence or defence. It feeds on vegetables, and is said to be particularly fond of sugar-cane. Its flesh is eaten by the natives (with the exception of Muhammadans, who deem it unclean) and considered very good: none of these animals have as yet been domesticated at Malacca, but I have no doubt if taken when young, they might be tamed with equal facility as those of America.
"The drawing which accompanies this will be found a faithful representation of the Malacca Tapir. It is taken from life, and will convey a much better idea of the animal than any description I am able to give.
"It is I think, very possible that the Malacca Tapir may be found to correspond more closely with one of the two fossil species described by Cuvier, in his geological discoveries, as having been met with in different parts of France, Germany, and Italy, the one named the small, the other the gigantic, Tapir."
Major Farquhar's discovery of the tapir in the Malay Peninsula was followed in the same year by the discovery of the animal in Sumatra. Mr. Siddons, the British Resident at Bencoolen, wrote on the 6th December, 1816 the following lettrer to the Secretary of the Asiatic Society.
"Sir,
I have sent on board the Ship Claudine, commanded by Captain Welsh, a very rare animal called on this coast the Tannoh which I beg you to present to the Asiatic Society in my name.
It resembles, with extreme closeness the Tapir of Buffon. It was presented to me by the Pangeran of Soongye Lamswe, who informed me that it was caught in a paddy plantation upon his lands in the interior. Search was made for its parents, but no traces of them were discovered the people were attracted by the shrill cry of the animal, which they found at the edge of the paddy ground, close to a thicket, amidst very long grass, the Pangeran himself is, perhaps, the oldest man living in these districts: He says that he never saw but one other animal of this description, which was when he was about ten years old, and that he has never heard of one having been seen since, that which he then saw was of the size of a small cow.
The Tannoh eats boiled rice, after it has got cool, grass, leaves &c. It is of a very lazy habit, but perfectly gentle, and loves to bathe, (remaining a very considerable time under water) and to be rubbed or scratched, which he solicits by throwing himself down on his side. He has been in my possession almost three months, during which period he has grown considerably, and his skin has changed from a dusky brown, streaked and spotted with white, to its present appearance.
I trust the animal will reach Calcutta alive, when no doubt it will gratify the curious in natural history.
- I remain, Sir,
- Your very obedient servant
- G. J. SIDDONS.
Sumatra, Fort Marlborough, 6th December, 1816.
The following notes by the Secretary of the Society conclude the article in "Asiatick Researches." and are sufficiently interesting to bear repetition.
"The animal's habits continue of the gentle and indolent character mentioned in the preceding communication, and it agrees with Major Farquhar's description in every respect, except in its evincing a great fondness for water: it constantly seeks a pool in which it remains immersed the greater part of the day; and not unfrequently dives for a very considerable period, presenting in this respect another analogy to the Tapir of South America.
"The following description of a young animal, received subsequently from Major Farquhar, with some interesting communications on subjects of natural history, will complete the information we at present possess regarding the oriental Tapir.
"The drawing which accompanies the following account of a young Tapir, and which I have the pleasure of offering to the acceptance of the Asiatic Society, was taken from an animal about four months old, and represents it as of a reddish brown colour, studded with white spots. It was taken from one I had alive in the house. After it has passed the above period, it begins gradually to change colour until the age of six months, by which time it has lost all its beautiful spots, and attained the general colour of the full grown Tapir as represented in a drawing transmitted from hence to the Asiatic Society in the beginning of last year. The Tapir from which the present drawing was made, I preserved alive in the house for upwards of six months, when it died suddenly. I found it an animal possessed of a most mild and gentle disposition. It became as tame and familiar as any of the dogs about the house, fed indiscriminately on all kinds of vegetables; and was very fond of attending at table to receive bread, cakes, or the like. It seemed very susceptible of cold, notwithstanding the great thickness of its skin, and I think I may venture without safety to affirm that the Tapir of Malacca has nothing amphibious in its nature, a character which appears to attach to those of America. Indeed the one I reared showed rather an aversion to water and in the wild state they are found to frequent high grounds."
- ↑ Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca. W. P. Groenveldt (Verhandelingen van het Genootschap van Kunsten on Wetenschappen. Volume XXXIX. Batavia 1879.) Miscellaneous Papers relating to Indo-China, Second Series Vol. I. p. 199.