small at the wrists and ankles. Upon the whole they are
gracefully formed, and I scarcely recollect to have ever seen one
deformed person among the natives.*

(*Footnote. Ghirardini, an Italian painter, who touched at Sumatra on his
way to China in 1698 observes of the Malays:
Son di persona ben formata
Quanto mai finger san pittori industri.
He speaks in high terms of the country as being beautifully picturesque.)

The women however have the preposterous custom of flattening the noses,
and compressing the heads of children newly born, whilst the skull is yet
cartilaginous, which increases their natural tendency to that shape. I
could never trace the origin of the practice, or learn any other reason
for moulding the features to this uncouth appearance, but that it was an
improvement of beauty in their estimation. Captain Cook takes notice of a
similar operation at the island of Ulietea. They likewise pull out the
ears of infants to make them stand at an angle from the head. Their eyes
are uniformly dark and clear, and among some, especially the southern
women, bear a strong resemblance to those of the Chinese, in the
peculiarity of formation so generally observed of that people. Their hair
is strong and of a shining black; the improvement of both which qualities
it probably owes in great measure to the early and constant use of
coconut oil, with which they keep it moist. The men frequently cut their
hair short, not appearing to take any pride in it; the women encourage
theirs to a considerable length, and I have known many instances of its
reaching the ground. The men are beardless and have chins so remarkably
smooth that, were it not for the priests displaying a little tuft, we
should be apt to conclude that nature had refused them this token of
manhood. It is the same in respect to other parts of the body with both
sexes; and this particular attention to their persons they esteem a point
of delicacy, and the contrary an unpardonable neglect. The boys as they
approach to the age of puberty rub their chins, upper lips, and those
parts of the body that are subject to superfluous hair with chunam
(quicklime) especially of shells, which destroys the roots of the
incipient beard. The few pilae that afterwards appear are plucked out
from time to time with tweezers, which they always carry about them for
that purpose. Were it not for the numerous and very respectable
authorities from which we are assured that the natives of