202 EXTRACTS OF A LETTER 
fruits and betel-nut, is all they want. They are of short stature, well 
made, but certainly not good-looking ; and, taking the women and girls 
I have occasionally seen as a fair sample, there is very little necessity 
for their hiding themselves or covering their faces, unless indeed they 
are ashamed of them. Every Malay man or boy carries a creese, or knife 
of some kind, in a large wooden sheath by his side; this and the sarong 
they never go without. The “sarong” is a curious garment; it is a 
ring or cylinder of calico, about a yard deep and a yard and a half in 
diameter ; it is worn in all sorts of ways; either over one shoulder as 
a scarf, or wrapped round the body like a Scotch plaid, or more gene- 
rally put round the waist like a petticoat, and twisted or tucked in in 
a great bunch in front, having a curious and uncomfortable appearance, 
though, from its being generally of bright colours, it is not unpicturesque. 
The people generally appear to be very good Mohamedans. They 
abstain rigidly from wine and pork; they pray pretty regularly, attend 
the mosques on Fridays, and have two or three wives when they can 
afford it. Many make the pilgrimage to Mecca; and they have school- 
masters in most villages, who teach the children to read the Koran and 
to write. Here was a degree of social organization which the succes- 
sive European conquerors of the country had had nothing to do with; 
and one cannot help admiring the wonderful genius of that man whose 
doctrines and mode of worship should have spread so wide and taken 
such deep root, and who, however great the errors of his system, has at 
all events banished idolatry, and raised many barbarous nations one step 
in the scale of civilization. 
We had now made up our minds to go to Mount Ophir, which lay 
about thirty miles further in the interior, and to reach the summit of 
|. which is a great object with all adventurous tourists who visit Malacca. 
We had heard most alarming accounts of the difficulties and fatigues 
we should have to undergo, and of the danger of being bled to death 
by the little leeches which infest the jungles. Of these, however, We 
had already had some experience, and had got used to them. They are 
about an inch in length, and slender, with suckers at both ends of the 
_ body, and move, not by crawling, like our common leeches, but by suc- 
. cessive steps, exactly like the geometric, or measuring caterpillars. They 
. do not inhabit the water, but frequent damp jungle, on the leaves of 
E plants, where they may often be seen standing erect or outstretched on 
_ their posterior extremity, and moving about their head right and left 
