J 770. HOUND THE WORLD. %63 



of finery is an universal passion, for their ornaments 

 were very numerous. Some of the better sort wore 

 chains of gold round their necks, but they were made 

 of plaited wire, and consequently were light and of 

 little value ; others had rings, which were so much 

 worn, that they seemed to have descended through 

 many generations ; and one person had a silver- 

 headed cane, marked with a kind of cypher, consist- 

 ing of the Roman letters V, O, C,' and therefore 

 probably a present from the Dutch East India Com- 

 pany, whose mark it is : they have also ornaments 

 made of beads, which some wear round their necks 

 as a solitaire, and others, as bracelets, upon their 

 wrists : these are common to both sexes, but the 

 women have besides strings or girdles of beads, 

 which they wear round their waists, and which serve 

 to keep up their petticoat. Both sexes had their ears 

 bored, nor was there a single exception that fell under 

 our notice, yet we never saw an ornament in any 

 of them ; we never indeed saw either man or woman 

 in any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary 

 dress, except the king and his minister, who in 

 general wore a kind of night-gown of coarse chintz, 

 and one of whom once received us in a black robe, 

 which appeared to be made of what is called prince's 

 stuff. We saw some boys, about twelve or fourteen 

 years old, who had spiral circles of thick brass wire 

 passed three or four times round their arms, above 

 the elbow, and some men wore rings of ivory, two 

 inches in breadth, and above an inch in thickness, 

 upon the same part of the arm : these, we were 

 told, were the sons of the rajas, or chiefs, who wore 

 those cumbrous ornaments as badges of their high 

 birth. 



Almost ail the men had their names traced upon 

 their arms in indelible characters of a black colour, 

 and the women had a square ornament of flourished 

 lines, impressed in the same manner, just under the 

 bend of the elbow. We were struck with the simili- 



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