that hand at liberty
which they always, from motives of delicacy, scrupulously eat with; the
left being reserved for less cleanly offices. Neither knives, spoons, nor
any substitutes for them are employed; they take up the rice and other
victuals between the thumb and fingers, and dexterously throw it into the
mouth by the action of the thumb, dipping frequently their hands in water
as they eat.

UTENSILS.

They have a little coarse chinaware, imported by the eastern praws, which
is held a matter of luxury. In cooking they employ a kind of iron vessel
well-known in India by the name of quallie or tauch, resembling in shape
the pans used in some of our manufactures, having the rim wide and bottom
narrow. These are likewise brought from the eastward. The priu and
balanga, species of earthen pipkins, are in more common use, being made
in small quantities in different parts of the island, particularly in
Lampong, where they give them a sort of glazing; but the greater number
of them are imported from Bantam. The original Sumatran vessel for
boiling rice, and which is still much used for that purpose, is the
bamboo, that material of general utility with which bountiful nature has
supplied an indolent people. By the time the rice is dressed the utensil
is nearly destroyed by the fire, but resists the flame so long as there
is moisture within.

FIRES.

Fire being wanted among these people but occasionally, and only when they
cook their victuals, there is not much attention paid in their buildings
to provide conveniences for it. Their houses have no chimneys, and their
fireplaces are no more than a few loose bricks or stones, disposed in a
temporary manner and frequently on the landing-place before the doors.
The fuel made use of is wood alone, the coal which the island produces
never being converted by the inhabitants to that purpose. The flint and
steel for striking fire are common in the country, but it is a practice
certainly borrowed from some other people, as that species of stone is
not a native of the soil. These generally form part of their travelling
apparatus, and especially with those men called risaus (spendthrifts that
turn freebooters), who find themselves often obliged to take up their
habitation in the woods or in deserted houses. But they also frequently
kindle fire from the friction of two sticks.

MODE OF KINDLING THEM.

They choose a piece of dry, porous wood, and cutting smooth a spot of it
lay it