the men. The seclusion of women in Java
takes place only among the better classes, but
even with them it is not very rigid. They are
rather withdrawn from the public gaze, and from
the stare of strangers, than immured. British
gentlemen, after they became known to the native
princes, were always admitted into their
harams to pay their respects to the princesses.
The wife and daughters of the chief of Samaraim
made their appearance at the public parties given
by the British and the Dutch, where they acquitted
themselves with a delicacy and propriety which
did honour to their high rank. The respectable
chieftain himself, it may be remarked* was the
most punctilious Mahomedan, on essential points,
of all his countrymen.
It is only where the greatest intercourse has
taken place with foreigners, and where the Arabs
and western Indians have left an impression of their
peculiar habits, that women are in any considerable
degree immured, as among the greater number of
the Malay tribes.
Polygamy and concubinage are tolerated in every
country of the Archipelago, that is, they exist a-
mong a few of the higher ranks, and may be looked
upon as a kind of vicious luxury of the great,
for it would be absurd to imagine, since the prejudice
which supposed a numerical disproportion Of
the sexes has been long ago abandoned, that polygaray
or concubinage should be an institution affecting
the whole mass of society. It must be admitted,
however, that their prevalence among the
higher orders, those whose manners give an example
to the society, must contribute to degrade and
vitiate the female character. In the circumstances
under which the intercourse takes place, there are
some which conduce to mitigate its influence even
in this respect. The wife of the first marriage is
always, the real mistress of the family, and the rest
often little better than her handmaids. No man
will give his daughter for a second or third wife
to a man of his own rank, so that, generally, no
wife but the first is of equal rank with the husband.
*
* The following picture of the condition of women among
the tribes of the Archipelago is given by an. excellent authority
;__« They did never stir out of their own room when the
general was at home, but as soon as he was gone out,, they
would presently come into onr room, and sit with us all day,
and ask a thousand questions of us concerning oui English
women, and our customs. You may imagine that before this
time, some of us had attained so much of their language as to
understand: them, and give answers to their demands. X remember
that one day they asked how many wives the king of
England had ? We told them but one, and that our English
laws did not allow of any more. They said it was a strange
custom that a man should be confined to one woman ; some
of them said i t was a very bad law, but others again said it