— Attachment between chiefs and retainers.— Attachment
to their tribe or society.— Attachment to their place o f
birth.
O n the interesting and important subject of manners
and character, there is much diversity among
the different tribes; but the general outlines a-
gree, and among the more civilized tribes, whose
manners alone are worth describing at large, the
diversity consists, in general, rather in degrees
and minute particulars than in any essential
difference. Whenever it is of practical importance
that the distinction should be noted, I shall
take care to record it as I proceed. The description
of the manners of the islanders may be classed
under the three following heads; 1. An account of
their bodily endowments ; °Z. Of their intellectual
qualifications; and 3. Of their social qualities.
The Javanese holding the first rank in civilization
and numbers, and being the nation with which I
am most intimately acquainted, I shall hold them
chiefly in view when I attempt to delineate the
character of the Indian islanders.
The bodily constitution and personal appearance
of the Indian islanders have been already treated
of, and, therefore, I shall confine myself in this
place to an account of those qualities of their
minds which are more immediately connected with
their physical constitution.
For a people below the middle size of Europeans,
and feeding almost solely on a vegetable diet,
the Indian islanders are a strong and athletic people.
In their personal exertions they are slow and persevering,
but not active. It is not unusual to see porters
in Java carry a heavy load thirty miles a-day
for several days successively, going at their quickest
pace, seldom more than three miles an hour. They
never possess agility; they can neither run nor
leap; they never attempt feats of activity; and
among them one never sees any of those crowds of
vagabonds that in other countries of Asia earn a
livelihood by tumbling and slight of hand.
Like all people in the lower stages of civilization,
the Indian islanders are defective in personal cleanliness.
The heat of the climate, and the preservation
of health, render it a matter of enjoyment,
and almost of necessity to bathe frequently. This
operation, therefore, they constantly perform, as
well in the foulest pools as in the purest brooks,
and both children and grown persons are to be
seen paddling in the water at all hours of the day**
* “ They always wash after meals, or if they touch any
thing that is unclean ; for which reason they spend abundance
of water in their houses. This water, with the washing of
their dishes, and what other filth they make, they pour down
near their fire-place ; for their chambers are not boarded, but
floored with split bamboes, like lath, so that the water prce
sently falls underneath their dwelling rooms, where it breeds
maggots, and makes a prodigious stink. Besides this filthiness,