pearance as their means will allow. They are always accompanied by music, and sometimes a buffoon goes before them making ludicrous gestures. They return to a feast at the bride's parents'; and on the fifth day after the marriage, a new procession is formed to escort them to the house of the bridegroom's father, where an entertainment is prepared, and where they again eat siri from the same siri-box.

In some districts, the spinning wheel, loom, and various cooking utensils, are carried in the bridal procession. Among some tribes in the interior, it is customary for the bride to wash the bridegroom's feet, in token of subjection; in other places, he treads upon a raw egg, which she wipes from his foot. In some parts of the island, when a man marries a second or third wife, he approaches the bride with a burning brand, on which she pours water from a vase. An English traveller speaks of a widow, who, growing weary of this ceremony before the brand was extinguished, threw the remainder of the water full in her lover's face. As first marriages are generally arranged by parents, the second wife is more apt to be the object of real affection.

In Java the labor of women is estimated about as high as that of men; and as they are generally industrious and frugal, they are quite independent of the other sex. Children are not deserted or neglected, as they are in many parts of Asia, because in Java it is very easy to support them, and to employ them profitably. Among the poor, it is common for the parents to drop their proper names on the birth of

their first child, especially if it be a son: if the babe, as often happens, is called by such a name as The Handsome One, they are called the Father and Mother of The Handsome One.

The birth of a child is celebrated by a feast of yellow rice, to which the relations are invited; but the name is not conferred with any religious ceremonies. A yearly festival is held in Java in honor of the dead. On these occasions, men, women, and children, dressed in their best clothing, repair to the burial-places and strew the tombs of their parents with flowers consecrated to that purpose.

All the women in Java, from the princess to the peasant, weave and make the garments worn by their families. Men are accustomed to pride themselves on the beauty of the cloth woven by their wives and daughters. In every part of the island women may be seen spinning and weaving, on an elevated veranda in front of their bamboo cottages, protected from the sun by a projection of the roof.

The Javanese are generally mild, respectful, and timid. They are said to have a pensive look, and their demeanor is somewhat elegant and insinuating. Women of the lower classes, being very much exposed to the influence of an intensely hot climate, become extremely ugly in their old age.

With regard to complexion, they consider a golden yellow as the standard of perfection. One of their popular poets, describing a graceful woman, says, "Her neck was yellow as gold, her gait was gentle and majestic, like that of an elephant." The Java

nese have naturally very fine teeth, but they used to consider it a disgrace to let them remain "white, like a dog's;" and at eight or nine years old, they were filed and died indelibly black, with a preparation made of burnt cocoa-nut. This is a painful operation, but was formerly considered so necessary, that when they wished to say a girl was past her childhood, they expressed it by saying, " She has had her teeth filed." Some people of fantastic taste had them filed so as to resemble a saw. But Sir Stamford Raffles says the custom of filing the teeth in any way is now nearly out of fashion in Java.

They spoil their mouths, which are usually handsome, by the use of betel and tobacco. Both men and women take pride in a beautiful head of hair, which they perfume with fragrant oils. The women fasten it in a knot at the back of the head, and when in full dress they interweave it with an enormous mass of flowers, and wear wreaths suspended from the ears. The Indian islanders are extremely fond of flowers; it is an epithet they always apply to express beautiful things.

When the Javanese wish to appear particularly fascinating, they stain the face, neck, and arms with a yellow cosmetic obtained from perfumed flowers. The sovereign keeps a select band of beautiful dancers for the amusement of the royal household. These females are the only persons that are allowed to perform the s' rimpi,-a slow, modest, and exceedingly graceful dance, resembling a minuet by four persons. At the beginning and end of the dance,

the performers raise their clasped hands to their foreheads, and bend reverentially toward the prince. None but very young girls belong to this band, and they leave it as soon as they become mothers.

Javanese women of high rank dress in a manner exceedingly tasteful and magnificent. They wear full flowing robes of delicate silk, of green or other colors, stamped with golden flowers; their girdles are composed of plates of gold, clasped with diamonds; while armlets, bracelets, and tiaras are richly chased and studded with gems.

The public class of dancers, called rong-gengs, are similar to their frail sisters of Hindostan in dress and deportment. But notwithstanding their profligacy, those who acquire considerable fortune frequently marry men much superior to themselves in rank. Their songs are very comic, and they are sometimes accompanied by a buffoon, who excites laughter by a ludicrous imitation of all their movements. The Javanese dances have the same characteristics, which distinguish that amusement in various parts of Asia. They consist principally in graceful attitudes, and slow movements of the limbs, even to distinct motions of the hands and fingers. Men often join in these dances, but no females, except professional dancers, ever perform before strangers.

The women of Java are very fond of a peculiar kind of amusement called sintren. A little boy or girl, richly dressed, is put under a basket, and music and song burst forth, while all the spectators clap their hands to keep time. The basket soon begins

to move; in a short time the child rises-dances in a wild but graceful manner-seems to sink exhausted into slumber-and awakes apparently unconscious of all that has happened. The charm consists in the idea that the whole soul is fascinated, and led unawares by the power of music.

The women of this island do not go with the upper part of the person uncovered, as they do in the southern parts of the peninsula.

The Javanese are exceedingly superstitious. Their fears are easily excited by dreams and bad omens, and they are great believers in old women endowed with supernatural powers.

Sumatra is less advanced in civilization than Java, and is inhabited by various tribes of different origin. The Battas are an irritable and warlike tribe. They take as many wives as they please, and seldom have less than five or six. The women live in the same apartment with their husband; the room has no partitions, but each wife has a separate fireplace. As the bridegroom always makes a present of buffaloes, or horses, to the parents of the bride, daughters are considered a source of wealth. The women do all the work, while their husbands lounge in idleness, playing on the flute, with wreaths of globe-amaranth around their heads; or racing with each other, without saddle or stirrups, or hunting deer, or gambling away their wives, their children, and themselves. The Battas consider their wives and children as slaves, and sell them whenever they choose. An