en, to carry goods from place to place by water; and some are
rich, and live with much of the splendour of their country, which
chiefly consists in the number of their slaves.

In the article of food, these Isalams are remarkably temperate: It
consists chiefly of boiled rice, with a small portion of buffalo, fish,
or fowl, and sometimes of dried fish, and dried shrimps, which are
brought hither from China; every dish, however, is highly seasoned with
Cayan pepper, and they have many kinds of pastry made of rice-flour, and
other things to which I am a stranger; they eat also a great deal of
fruit, particularly plantains.

But notwithstanding their general temperance their feasts are
plentiful, and, according to their manner, magnificent. As they are
Mahometans, wine and strong liquors professedly make no part of their
entertainment, neither do they often indulge with them privately,
contenting themselves with their betel and opium.

The principal solemnity among them is a wedding, upon which occasion
both the families borrow as many ornaments of gold and silver as they
can, to adorn the bride and bridegroom, so that their dresses are very
showy and magnificent. The feasts that are given upon these occasions
among the rich, last sometimes a fortnight, and sometimes longer; and
during this time the man, although married on the first day, is, by the
women, kept from his wife.

The language that is spoken among all these people, from what place
soever they originally came, is the Malay; at least, it is a language so
called, and probably it is a very corrupt dialect of that spoken at
Malacca. Every little island, indeed, has a language of its own, and
Java has two or three, but this lingua franca is the only language that
is now spoken here, and, as I am told, it prevails over a great part of
the East Indies. A dictionary of Malay and English was published in
London by Thomas Bowrey, in the year 1701.[150]

[Footnote 150: What is here said of the Malay language cannot be
implicitly relied on, information on the subject being exceedingly
scanty at the time of the publication. Mr Marsden has lately favoured
the world with both dictionary and grammar of the Malay, of which a very
important account will be found in the Edinburgh Review for April
1814.--E.]

Their women wear as much hair as can grow upon the head, and to increase
the quantity, they use oils, and other preparations of various kinds. Of
this ornament Nature h