Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/315

IN THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO* S7I The inhibition of usury is as little regarded as the last. The rate of interest for a loan is fre- quently inserted in their written contracts, and the amount sued for as openly and avowedly as any other debt whatever. The only negative precept of the Koran by which the Javanese can be said strictly to abide, is the prohibition against eating the flesh of hogs, the one which presents no temptations. How readily men are led to make such easy sacri«  iices may be inferred from a singular relic of Hinduism in Java, now confined to the royal fa- mily, an abstinence from the flesh of the cow. I have seen many of the princes in a state of ine- briety from wine at a solemn religious festival, who most piously abstained from touching beef.