iGgy.y EXTERIOR DEVOTION. 261 



be so unkind to us ? Why would you suffer your self to be 

 thus us'd, would it not have been better for you to have 

 granted chearf uUy what we ask\l ? " 



The GJiincses have a great share of exterior Devotion, some 

 Instances of which I have observ'd. The Butchers bless 

 their Meat before they expose it to Sale, and every one 

 blesses his Victuals, before he puts it into his Mouth. The 

 Master of the House repeats divers Prayers, and reiterates 

 many Genufjections, after which he offers what he has to 

 those that are present. I know tJhis by Experience, and I 

 know likewise, they would take it for an unpardonable 

 Affront, should any one refuse to eat what they so offer'd 

 him. 



The third sort of Inhabitants of Batavia, (and who might 

 take it ill for not being nam'd the first, were it not that 'tis 

 customary to prefer the Eich to the Poor,) are the Javans^ or 

 Natives of the Island. They are Tawny, of moderate Stature, 

 and well sliap'd. 



They go half-naked, and keep part of their Hair under their 

 Turbants,'^ but let fall the rest. I once saw a Javan Prince at 

 Batavia, who went Habited after the Holland Fashion, only 

 he kept his Turbant. Their Huts are made with Bamboos, 

 and cover'd with Leaves, and are for the most part small and 



1 The Javanese at Batavia occupy two Campongs, each under a chief 

 of their own nation, on the right and left of the Great River. They are - 

 principally husbandmen, and cultivate the rice-fields in the neighbour- 

 hood ; but some are employed in fishing. The Javanese, who are better 

 featured than the Malays, are of a light brown colour, muscular and 

 well made. The women also have a more pleasing cast of countenance 

 than the Malay femalesj and in some of the hilly tracts they are really 

 beautiful. They generally wear a long black gown, with a cloth 

 •wrapped round to serve as a petticoat ; and the men a black cotton frock, 

 with either a cloth tied round the waist or a short pair of drawers. The 

 higher classes are very partial to chintzes, silks, and velvets, which they 

 are fond of embroidering and in which they generally a^Dpear on all 

 festivals and public occasions. (Thorn, /. c, pp. 238, 240.) 



'^ In orig. : " turban.'' 



