CHARACTERS. 



788 



« herein the widow of the deceased 

 stays one month, or one moon : they 

 also inclose a space round the grave, 

 and erect a shed over it. The wi- 

 dow is accompanied by all the young; 

 women of her own kindred, and 

 those of the deceased. Some of 

 them stay with her all the time. 

 It is also a general rule with this 

 . nation, after the chief has been dead 

 one montli, and the widow is about 

 to leave the house near the grave, to 

 rt.wesyor a woman or girl, that is, to 

 kill her in a most barbarous manner. 

 Two young chiefs begin the busineFS, 

 by plunging their spears into the 

 Tictim, and their example is imme- 

 diately followed up by a number of 

 other chiefs, who accompanying 

 their vehemence with the war shout, 

 cover the body with wounds. They 

 at length cut off her head in honour 

 of the rajah, and present it to his 

 successor. The victim meets her 

 fate with firmness, it being deemed 

 an honour to die on account of the 

 I rajah. 



I 



( Manners and Customs^ Diversiaris, 

 Sfc- Sfc. 

 Circumclsioij is common among 

 the Malays. The males are circum- 

 cised at about fifteen, or one year 

 before they are cassered. 



All the young men and women 

 are cassered. This is done by filing 

 tlicir teeth, and blackening them, 

 MJiich is reckoned an ornament. I 

 was once present at Dungally, when 

 the rajah's daughter was cassered. 

 He gave a feast on the occasion, 

 which consisted of fish, boiled rice, 

 and sweetmeats, the last of which 

 are delicious. Wishing to partake 

 of the feast, on the morning of one 



I , of these entertainments, 1 oncespoke 

 to my good old liiend Tuan Iladjee. 



He told me to be silent, and I took 

 the hint. 



When the rajah and his heads had 

 finished eating, 1 drew near to them, 

 and shewed myself to the ©id man, 

 who' immediatel}'^ hallooed to me by 

 my name, " Steersman, merri de 

 " cini;" that is, " come here." H« 

 at the same time took up one of th« 

 cases of the dishes, and all the sweet- 

 meats out of his own dish, and out 

 of the rest that were near him ; and 

 putting the contents of them into 

 one dish, presented it to me. I car- 

 ried the present to my own house, 

 and divided it amongst my people. 

 It was a treat indeed, and gave us a 

 hearty meal. I afterwards contrived 

 to be near at hand at these littlo 

 feasts, ar.d by that means we fared 

 better than in common. 



Their greatest feasts were their 

 harvest feasts. They bring a large 

 timber tree full of branches, with 

 the leaves stripped oif, into the mid- 

 dle of the town, and there stick it 

 into the ground, with the ends of 

 ilie branches cut off. They then 

 procure limbs from the cocoa-nut 

 or sage trees, and slitting them, tie 

 one end of a limb on one bough, and 

 the other end on another, so that the 

 leaves of the cocoa-nut may hang 

 down. In this manner they garnish 

 the whole tree. They then boil rice, 

 which tiiey put into leaflets of the 

 cocoa-nut tree, and tie one of thes« 

 baskets to every leaflet. 



In the afternoon, when the tree 

 is thus decorated, every person in 

 the town provides a good dish of 

 rice, and fish, or fowls, &c. for the 

 feast. Aboutsunsetthe Malays be- 

 gin to assemble, and dance round 

 the tree. The old people form the 

 first or outer circle, while the men 

 of war aud their wives are in an in- 



ser 



