other parts of the body that are not covered with clothing,
with a composition of cocoa nut oil and sandal wood dust,
as a preventive against a too copious perspiration, and the
biting of mosquitoes and other annoying insects.
They are remarkably temperate in their diet, but neither
their temperance nor their moderate labour seem to have the
effect of promoting longevity. Females usually marry at ten
or twelve years of age, till which time they go nearly naked,
wearing only a belt round their loins, with a broad metal
plate in front, of an oval or circular form, and sometimes
shaped like a h e a rt; and this is the only imperfect covering
of what decency requires to be concealed. Sometimes they
wear rings or bracelets round the wrist, chains about the
neck, and chaplets of flowers in the hair. When a girl is
espoused, she is clad in a loose flowing robe, variously ornamented
according to the circumstances of her parents, her
hair is more than usually decorated with flowers, and
smoothed with a profusion of paste and cocoa nut oil. In
this dress she rides about the town or village, mounted on
horseback and, as emblematic of her chastity, the animal is
always a white one, when such is to be had; and she is accompanied
by all the friends, the relations and the slaves
of both families, and a band of music. But this is often her
last public exhibition; for, if she marries into a family of
condition, she is then shut up for the remainder of her
Jife.
The diet of the Javanese forms a great contrast with that
of the Dutch. A considerable part of it consists in rice,
sometimes fryed in oil and sometimes boiled in plain water,
with which are used a few capsules or heads of Capsicum or
Cayenne pepper, and a little salt, to render more palatable
this insipid grain. With the use of animal food a true Javanese
is wholly unacquainted, and of milk he is very sparing,
except indeed of that liquid substance, sometimes though
improperly so called, which abounds in the young cocoa
nut, and which affords a cool and refreshing draught. This
tree, and indeed most of the palm tribe as the date, the
sago and the areca, all supply him with solid food. The
chief use of the areca, however, is only as an ingredient in a
compound masticatory, consisting, besides this nut, of chunam
or lime of shells and seriboo or seeds of long pepper, made
into a paste and rolled up in the green leaf of betel pepper.
This composition, when moistened in the mouth, communicates
to the tongue and lips a deep red colour, which turns
afterwards to a dark mahogany brown. The teeth of a
Javanese being painted black (because monkies, he observes,
have white ones)' give to the countenance rather a hideous
appearance. •
The areca nut, especially when fresh from the tree, is
powerfully narcotic, and a small portion will cause intoxication
in those who are not accustomed to the use of it. The
feculae of this nut is the Catechu or red earth of the old Pharmacopoeia,
and is obtained by boiling it with unslacked
lime; but the Terra Japónica or Catechu, which is now in use
and said to be an excellent tooth powder, is the ashes of -a
particular species of mimosa, found in Japan and on most of
the Eastern islands. The charcoal of the areca nut is, howg
g 2