36 



INDIA BEVOND THE GANGES. 



« men, have been known to board European fliips of thirty or 

 " forty guns, in order to take poffeffion of them, and murder^ 

 *« with their poignards, great part of the crew. The Malay 

 « hirtory is full of fuch enterprifes, which mark the defperate 

 " ferocity of thefe barbarians. 



" The Malais who are not flaves go always amied, they would 

 " think themfelves difgraced if they went abroad without their 

 " poignards, which they call Crii ; the induftry of this nation 

 " even furpaffes itfelf, in the fabric of this dertrudiive 

 " weapon. 



"As their lives are a perpetual round of agitation and tu- 

 " mult, they could never endure the long flowing habits which 

 " prevail amongft the oxYizv Jfiatks. The habits of the Malais: 

 « are exadly adapted to their fliapes, and loaded with a multi- 

 *' tude of buttons, which fatten them clofe to their bodies in 

 « every part.. I relate tliefe feemingly trifling obfervations, in 

 ^ order to prove, that in climates the moft oppofite, the fame 

 '^' laws produce flmilar manners, cuftoms, and prejudices ; theip 

 " efl'edt is the fame too with refped: to agriculture. 



" The lands poffcfled by the Malais are, in general, of a fu- 

 *' perior quality ; nature feems to have taken pleafure in there 

 " affembling her moll favorite productions. They have not only 

 " thofe to be found in the territories of Siam^ but a variety of 

 " others peculiar to thefe iflands. The country is covered with 

 *' odoriferous woods, fuch- as the eagle or aloes wood, the fandal,. 

 *' and the CaJJia Odorata, a fpecies of cinnamon : you there 

 *' breathe an air impregnated with the odors of innumerable 

 *' flowers of the greateft fragrance, of which there is a perpe- 



« tual 



