to each other in person and manners.

The women of the Biadjos are said to be tall and handsome. Their only clothing is a strip of cloth about the waist, and they are accustomed to paint their bodies blue. They hang weights to their ears, about as large as a crown-piece, which stretches them to an immoderate length. They plate their teeth with gold, and wear necklaces of tigers' teeth.

No man is allowed to solicit a damsel in marriage until he has cut off the head of an enemy. When this condition is fulfilled the lover makes presents to his mistress; if they are accepted, an entertainment is given by her parents, and on the ensuing day by his parents. After the feast, the bridegroom is conducted home to the house of the bride. At the door, a friend sprinkles him with the blood of a cock, and her with the blood of a hen; the parties then give each other their bloody hands, and from that time they live together. If the blood of the fowls spirts too far, it is deemed an unlucky sign. If a man loses his wife, he cannot marry a second, till he cuts off the head of another enemy. If his wife conducts herself improperly, he gives her a sound beating.

On the sea-coast of Borneo fleets of boats may be seen laden with provisions brought to market by the women, who are screened from the sun by huge bamboo hats. These women are small and rather pretty. In complexion they are about as dark as mulattoes. They walk with a firm step, and turn their toes out, which is an unusual thing among the oriental nations. Wives are bought, and marriages

performed with great ceremony; generally before the bride is eleven years old. Public opinion is by no means rigid concerning the character of unmarried females; but the subject is viewed differently when they have husbands.

The natives of Celebes are of a light olive complexion, with glossy black hair, that falls in ringlets over the neck and shoulders. Men adorn their hair with jewels; but women merely wear gold chains about the neck. They color their nails red, and their teeth black, and take great pains to flatten the noses of their infants.

The husband receives no other dowry with his wife than the presents she obtains before the ceremony. As soon as the young couple are married, they are shut up in an apartment by themselves for three days; a servant brings them necessary food, while their friends are entertained with great merriment by the bride's father. At the end of this time they are liberated, receive congratulations, and are conducted to their future home. The women of Celebes are distinguished for virtue and modesty. They take an active part in business, and are frequently raised to the throne, though the government is elective. At public festivals they appear freely among men, and those in authority discuss affairs of state in their councils. In token of equality, the husband and wife always eat from the same dish; he from the right side, and she from the left. The wife of the chief of Lipukaski was considered one of

the first politicians in Celebes. One day she rode out among the warriors of her tribe, and upbraiding them with tardiness in giving battle, she demanded a spear, that she might herself give them an example. Stimulated by her reproof, they went forth and gained the victory. This woman was said to have a countenance expressive of great intelligence and firmness. In many parts of the Eastern Archipelago women have been intrusted with sovereign power; and it is singular that this occurs most frequently where the government is most turbulent. The passion for gaming, so common in the other islands, prevails in Celebes. Wives, children, and personal freedom are often staked, and quarrels arise which occasion deadly hostility between families. The fine demanded by law is twenty dollars for the murder of a man, and thirty for a woman. The women of Celebes, and of the other Molucca islands, wear hats of prodigious size, six or seven feet in diameter. Infants are plentifully rubbed with oil, and boys are never nursed longer than a year, from the idea that it would injure their understandings.

In Amboyna, as in almost every part of the East, a man purchases a bride by a certain sum of money given to the parents. They have an unbounded admiration for very young girls, and a great abhorrence of old women. The girls are not often trusted away from their mothers; but courtship is carried on by means of nosegays, or plates of fruit, mutually exchanged, and arranged in such a manner as to signify the various degrees of love or disapprobation.

In some of the neighboring islands, when a young man is too bashful to speak his love, he seizes the first opportunity he can find of sitting near the object of his affection, and tying his garment to hers. If she allows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts nor loosens it, she thereby gives her consent to the marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is at liberty to try his luck again, at a more propitious moment; but if she cuts it, there is an end of hope.

The customs of the island of Bali greatly resemble those of the Hindoos. Widows sacrifice themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands in great numbers. When the king dies, all his wives and mistresses devote themselves to the flames; and when the queen dies, great numbers of her female slaves are stabbed with daggers, and thrown upon the pile. This death is considered so honorable that it is generally eagerly contended for; and if it happen that a request to be sacrificed is for any reason refused, it is mourned over as an irretrievable disgrace. Individuals who have been thus denied, as well as those who, being selected, are reluctant to become victims, are forever after imprisoned. If they find means to escape, the first person that meets them may dispatch them with a dagger, and cast their bodies into the streets. At the funeral of the king's son, one of his wives, who was very young, asked her father whether, as she had been married only three months, it was her duty to sacrifice herself. The parent, steeled by custom, urged the disgrace she would bring on

her family, and the poor girl sprung into the flames, where she was soon consumed. It seldom happens that one of the laboring class devotes herself in this way, and the sacred order never do; but it is almost universal in the mercantile and military classes.

Wives are purchased; and if a young man cannot obtain the requisite sum, he agrees to serve the father or guardian of the damsel, until his labor defrays the debt. When his conduct is very satisfactory, the parents often remit a portion of his services. Divorce is not allowed in Bali. The women of this island disfigure their ears by enormously extended apertures. They are frank and cheerful in their manners, and enjoy a degree of consideration which seems remarkable where polygamy prevails.

The women of Timor have very delicate and graceful forms, dark brown complexions, pleasing features, and black eyes full of vivacity. They consider corpulence a very great defect.

When a new king begins his reign they sacrifice a young female slave, adorned with jewels and flowers, by exposing her on the water's edge until the crocodiles come and devour her. This is done on account of a tradition that the royal family descended from crocodiles.

The natives of this island chew betel and gild their front teeth. In general, both men and women let the hair flow loosely over their shoulders; but sometimes the wealthy fasten it with golden rings, or arrange it in the Grecian style, fastened by gold