I 
lyii abitants of tub lad rone islands. 95 
other eastern nations. The men here, as in most eastern countries, 
buy their wives, or pay their parents a dowry for them, fhesc mar- 
riages for a time, are well regulated, and often prove very beneficial 
to the occasional husband. Most of the foreigners who trade hither, 
marry a wife for the time of their stay. In case of a separation, the 
father is obliged to take care of the boys, and die mother of the girls. 
No woman is looked upon the worse, but rather the better, for having 
had several European husbands. In Pegu, the inheritance of ail 
land is in the king; he is likewise the heir of all his subjects who die 
without issue, but in case they have children, two-thirds go to them, 
and the rest to the king. 
The religion of the Heguers is the same, in the main, w'ith that 
which prevails over the rest of India and Thibet, only according to 
the humour or interest of the priest. They hold the existence ol one 
supreme God, of whom they make no image ; but they have many 
inferior created gods, whose images are set up in the temples, lor the 
laity to worship. 
When a person falls sick, we are told that they generally make a 
vow to the devil, from whom they believe all evil comes. Then a 
scaffold is built, and victuals are spread on the top of it, to solace Old 
Nick, and render him propitious. This feast is accompanied with 
lighted candles and music, and the whole is managed by an under- 
taker called the devil’s father. 
Inhabitants of the Ladrone Islands.- 
When these islands were first discovered, the natives were totally 
unacquainted with any other country except their own, and having 
nD account of their own origin, supposed that the author of their 
race was formed of a piece of the rock of Furna, one of their smallest 
islands. Many things looked upon by us as absolutely necessary to 
our existence, were utterly unknown to them. They had no animals, 
but one species of birds, resembling turtle doves, which they never 
killed, but only tamed thenii and taught them to speak. They were 
much astonished on seeing a horse which a Spanish captain left 
among them, in 1673. But what is most incredible is, that they 
were utterly unacquainted with fire, till Magellan, provoked by their 
repeated thefts, burnt one of their villages. When they saw their 
wooden houses blazing, they thought that the fire was a beast w'hich 
fed upon the wood ; and some of them who came too near, being burnt, 
the rest stood at a distance, lest they should be devoured, or poisoned 
by the breathings of that terrible animal. 
The inhabitants are olive-coloured, but not of such a deep dye as 
those of the Philippines; their stature is good, and their limbs well- 
proportioned. Though their food consists entirely of fish, fruits, and 
roots, yet they are so fat, that to strangers they appear swelled, but 
this does not render them less nimble and active. They often live to 
one hundred years or more, yet retain the health and vigour of men 
of fifty. The men go stark naked, but the women are covered. They 
are not ill-looking, and take great care of thek beauty, though their 
ideas on that subject are very different from ours. They admire 
