C H A R A C T £: R S. 



785 



The proas are strong, and neatly 

 built, with a keol, ribs, and boards. 

 The boards are made with great 

 labour, by working down a tree 

 into two planks, to the size of a 

 board of two inches thick. They 

 have plenty of gum, of which they 

 make what they call Jama, to pay 

 the scams of their proas with instead 

 of pitch. 



The canoes are navigated by three 

 or four har.ds, and sometimes up to 

 twenty. They diifer in size, are 

 long and narrow, aad have oat-rig- 

 gers, which are cross bars, at right 

 angles with the canoes, and then by 

 bars parallel with the canoe, so as to 

 keep it stiiF, and prevent it from 

 oversetting. 



The Malays reckon time by the 

 moons, and twelve moons make a 

 year : tliey distins;aish morning, 

 mid day, and night, but do not 

 count time by the hoirs as we do ; 

 the time oi the day they describe by 

 the height of the sun. 



I kepta regular account of the time 

 of ourcaptivity, by means of notches 

 on a stick, for sixteen months: then I 

 obtained from my good friend, the 

 old priest, a black lead pencil, and 

 a bit of their paper, which served 

 me to keep time with, until I was 

 unfortunately overset in the canoe, 

 when I lost diary and pencil. Re- 

 membering, however, the time and 

 the day, 1 again kept my reckoning 

 by notches ; and when I arrived at 

 Macassai, (as stated before), I was 

 but one day short in my reckoning, 

 from the time of my losing my ship, 

 to the day of my deliverance, which, 

 was two years and live months. 

 Their sabbath on the Friday, served 

 as a good check on my reckoning. 



The diversions of the Malays are 

 cock-fighting, foot-ball, cards, dice, 

 and draughts. My men often played 



Vol. XLVII. 



at cards with the natives, but their 

 games are unlike ours. 



It is a general rule every afiv;r- 

 noon to fight cocks, aL which ihe 

 men of the whole town collect. 

 They have a convenient pit made 

 for the purpose, and perfectly un- 

 derstand the business. They cut oiF 

 the spurs of the cocks, and tie a 

 steel spur or gaft' to the bottom of 

 the foot, in such a manner that they 

 stand firm and strong : they only- 

 put it on one foot, which is com- 

 monly the right. After this sport 

 is over, which usually lasts until 

 sun-set, every man returns to his 

 house to supper ; after which he 

 goes to the longar, or large house, 

 where they execute their public bu- 

 siness ; and here they spend half the 

 night in gambling, either at dice or 

 at cards. 



During this time the women are 

 employed in spinning cotton, which 

 is in great plenty and very fine ia 

 many parts. 



The Malays ride on horseback, 

 and their saddles are made of cloth, 

 stuffed with cotton, like our pillions. 

 They ride fast, but never make use 

 of horses in battle. 



They tether or confine their horses 

 with a rope if several fathoms : one 

 end of this, with a running noose, 

 is put round the neck, and the other 

 staked to the ground. These ani- 

 mals have soon the sagacity to dis- 

 entangle themselves from the rope, 

 whenever the noose hurts them. 

 When horses get loose, the Malays 

 catch them with some address, by 

 putting a noose on the end of a pole, 

 and slipping it over the animals' 

 heads. The breed is small and ac- 

 tive, but not tlcshy. The natives, 

 however, eat them. 



They hunt deer with dogs, some- 

 times on horseback, and sometimes 

 3£ . on 



