140 FOOD OF THE MALAYS. 



On occasions of great festivals, goats are killed, and 

 buffaloes, which are brought from the Natunas islands : 

 the woods also are ransacked for the different species 

 of deer. The Malays in general are abstemious in 

 their eating, and not partial to animal food. Fowls 

 and ducks are rarely killed by them excepting on high 

 occasions; of eggs, both of the fowl and the turtle, they 

 are very fond; the former, coloured variously, and 

 having flowers and other patterns upon them, formed 

 by the colouring matter being picked off so as to 

 expose the white shell of the egg, are a part of all 

 their entertainments. Salt fish is preferred by them 

 to fresh, in which state it is seldom eaten : the Malays 

 eat none of the animals of the jungle which are not 

 used by the Europeans, and are equally clean and par- 

 ticular in the preparation of their food. Their rice is 

 beautifully boiled, as is generally the case in the East, 

 where it forms so great a portion of the food of the 

 inhabitants. 



The Dattu Patiiigi of Sarawak, and many other 

 Malays, eat no flesh whatever, declaring that the 

 flavour of it is coarse, and not equal to that of 

 fish, of which they constantly partake, and which is 

 caught in abundance during the fine season or south- 

 west monsoon, at the mouths of all their rivers. 

 Few of the Malays eat more frequently than twice a- 

 day, though those of the higher classes frequently 

 partake of tea out of small cups, in the manner of the 

 Chinese, from whom they have adopted the practice : 

 all classes and sexes use the sirih and betel, which they 



