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fruits of their labour. Possessing no certain property, they are
satisfied with little. The food of those who inhabit the level country
is rice and fish; but those who dwell in the mountains use a root called
_tallas_, with salt. This salt they make out of the ashes of wood.
Their dwellings are little huts, constructed of bamboos, plastered with
mud, and thatched with broad leaves. Their furniture consists of a
bedstead made of bamboos, a block on which to pound their rice, two pots
for boiling food, and a few cocoa-nut shells for drinking. They seldom
live much beyond their fiftieth year. They were converted to Islamism
about 1406, when the Arabian Chick-Ibn Molana came over, and, marrying
the daughter of the king of Damak, received as her portion the province
of Cheribon. Their mosques are generally of wood, and perfectly
unadorned; but the tomb and mosque of the said Ibn Molana form a
magnificent edifice. They do not place their dead in coffins, but wrap
them in linen, and place a stone at the head and another at the foot of
the grave, as seats for the two angels who, after their death, examine
into their conduct while in this world.

The Javanese are, in general, well-shaped; of a light-brown colour; with
black eyes and hair, their eyes being much sunk in the head. They have
flattish noses and large mouths. In figure, they are generally thin,
though muscular; here and there only a corpulent person being seen. The
women, when young, have softer features than the men; but when they grow
old, it is difficult to conceive any human being more hideous than they
become. A man's dress consists of a pair of linen breeches, scarcely
reaching half-way down the thighs, and over this a sort of shirt of blue
or black coarse cotton cloth, which hangs loose below the knee. The
hair of the head is bound up in a handkerchief, in the form of a turban.
A woman's dress consists of a coarse chintz cloth, wrapped twice round
the body, fastened under the bosom, and hanging down to the calf of the
leg; over this is a short jacket, which reaches to the waist. No
covering is worn on the head, but the hair is bound up in a fillet, and
fastened at the back of the head with large pins. Sometimes chaplets of
flowers are worn. Children run about without clothes till they are
eight years old. Of course, I have been speaking only of the lower
classes. The upper generally dress with great magnificence.

The Javanese are not much