177°. which is brought from the continent of India; the better fort-
'---,— j of women alfo add cardamum, and many other aromatics,
to give the breath an agreeable fmell. Some of the Indians,
however, are employed in filhing, and as lightermen, to
carry goods from place to place by water; and; fome are
rich, and live with much of the fplendour of their country,
which chiefly confifts in the number of their Haves,
In the article of food thefe Ifalams are remarkably temperate
: it confifts chiefly of boiled rice, with a fmall proportion
of buffalo, filh, or fowl, and fometimes of dried fifft,
and dried fhrimps, which are brought hither from China;
every dilh, however, is highly feafoned with Cayan pepper,
and they have many kinds of paftry made of rice flower,
and other things to which I am a ftranger; they eat alfo a
great deal of fruit, particularly plantanes.
But notwithftanding their general temperance, their feafts
are plentiful, and, according to their manner, magnificent.
As they are Mahometans, wine and ftrong liquors profefledly
make no part of their entertainment, neither do they often
indulge with them privately, contenting themfelves with
their betel and opium.
The principal folemnity among them is a wedding, upon
which occafion both the families borrow as many ornaments
of gold and filver as they can, to adorn the bride and bridegroom,
fo that their drefies are very fhowy and magnificent.
The feafts that are given upon thefe occafions among the rich,
lafts fometimes a fortnight, and. fometimes longer; and
during this time, the man, although married on the firft
day, is, by the women, kept from his wife.
The language that is fpoken among all thefe people, from
what place foever they originally came, is the Malay; at
leaft it is a language fo called, and probably it is a very
corrupt
corrupt dialect o f that fpoken at Malacca. Every little ifland
indeed has a language of its own, and Java has two or three, i----— '
but this lingua franca is the only language that is now fpoken
here, and, as I am told, it prevails over a great part of the
Eaft Indies; A dictionary of Malay and Englilh was pub-
lilhed in London by Thomas Bowrey, in the year 1701.
Their women wear as much hair as can grow upon the
head, and to increafe the quantity, they ufe oils, and other
preparations of various-kinds. Of this ornament Nature has I
been-very liberal; it is univerfally black, and is formed into
a-kind of circular wreath upon the top of the head, where it r
is fattened with a bodkin, in a tafte which we thought inex-
preflibly elegant: the wreath of hair is furrounded by another
of flowers, in which the Arabian jeflamine is beautifully '
intermixed with- the golden ftars of the BdngerTanjong.
Both fexes conftantly bathe themfelves in the river at leaft
once a day; a practice which, in this hot country, is equally
neceflary both to perfonal delicacy and health. The teeth of
thefe people alfo, whatever they may fuffer in their co-
l6ur by chewing beetle,- are an objedt of great atterition:
the ends of them, both in the upper and under jaw, are
rubbed with a kind of whetftone, by a very troublefome and
painful operation, till they are perfectly even and flat, fo
that they cannot Tofe lefs than half a line in their length.
A deep groove-is then made crofs the teeth of the upper jaw,
parallel with the gums, and in the middle between them and
the extremity of the teeth; - the depth of this groove is at
leaft equal to one-fourth of the thicknefs of the teeth, fo
that it penetrates far beyond what is called the enamel, the
leaft injury to which, according to the dentifts of Europe, is
fatal; yet among thefe people, where the pradtice of thus
wounding the enamel is univerfal, we never faw a rotten
tooth;
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