are often, therefore, as ignorant of the world and
of manners as upon their wedding-day. It is not
that they have no capacity to learn, but the men
have no inclination to teach.
“ The men generally go dressed in the Dutch
fashion, and often wear black.
“ As soon as you enter a house, where you intend
to stop for ah hour or more, you are desired by
the master to make yourself comfortable, by taking
off some of your clothes, &c. This is done, by laying
aside the sword, pulling off the coat and wig,
(for most men wear wigs here,) and substituting
in the room of the last a little white night-cap,
which is generally carried in the pocket for that
purpose.
t{ When they go out, on foot, they are attended
by a slave, who carries a sunshade (called here
sambreel or payang) over their heads; but whoever
is lower in rank than a junior merchant may
not have a slave behind him, but must carry a small
sunshade himself.
“ Most of the white women, who are seen at
Batavia, are born in the Indies. Those who come
from Europe at a marriageable age are very few in
number. I shall, therefore, confine my observations
to the former.
“ These are either the offspring of European
mothers, or of oriental female slaves, who, having
first been mistresses to Europeans, have afterwards
been married to them, and have been converted to
Christianity, or at least have assumed the name of
Christians.
“ The children produced by these marriages
may be known, to the third and fourth generation,
especially by the eyes, which are much smaller than
in the unmixed progeny of the Europeans.
“ There are likewise children, who are the offspring
of Portuguese, but these never become entirely
white.
“ Children born in the Indies are nicknamed
liplaps by the Europeans, although both parents
may have come from Europe.
“ Girls are commonly marriageable at twelve or
thirteen years of age, and sometimes younger. It
seldom happens, if they are but tolerably handsome,
have any money, or any to expect, or are related
to people in power, that they are unmairied
after that age.
** As they marry while they are yet children,
it may easily be conceived, that they do not possess
those requisites which enable a woman to manage
a family with propriety. There are many of
them who can neither read nor write, nor possess
any ideas of religion, of morality, or of social intercourse.
“ Being married so young, they seldom get
many children, and are old women at thirty years
of age. Women of fifty, in Europe, look young