1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 325 



other aromatics, to give the breath an agreeable 

 smell. Some of the Indians, however, are employed 

 in fishing, and as lightermen, to carry goods from 

 place to place by water ; and some are rich, and live 

 with much of the splendour of their country, which 

 chiefly consists in the number of their slaves. 



In the article of food these Isalams are remarkably 

 temperate : it consists chiefly of boiled rice, with 

 a small proportion of buffalo, fish, or fowl, and some- 

 times of dried fish, and dried shrimps, which are 

 brought hither from China ; every dish, however, 

 is highly seasoned with Cayan pepper, and they have 

 many kinds of pastry made of rice-flour, and other 

 things to which I am a stranger ; they eat also a 

 great deal of fruit, particularly plantains. 



But notwithstanding their general temperance, 

 their feast are plentiful, and, according to their man- 

 ner, magnificent. As they are Mahometans, wine 

 and strong liquors professedly make no part of their 

 entertainment, neither do they often indulge with 

 them privately, contenting themselves with their 

 betel and opium. 



The principal solemnity among them is a wed- 

 ding, upon which occasion both the families borrow 

 as many ornaments of gold and silver as they can, 

 to adorn the bride and bridegroom, so that their 

 dresses are very showy and magnificent. The feasts 

 that are given upon these occasions among the rich, 

 last sometimes a fortnight, and sometimes longer ; 

 and during this time, the man, although married on 

 the first day, is, by the women, kept from his wife. 



The language that is spoken among all these 

 people, from what place soever they originally came, 

 is the Malay ; at least it is a language so called, and 

 probably it is a very corrupt dialect of that spoken 

 at Malacca. Every little island indeed has a lan- 

 guage of its own, and Java has two or three, but 

 this lingua franca is the only language that is now 

 spoken here, and, as I am told, it prevails aver a 



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