aks at home now, young gentlemen; how do you like
the looks of them?" asked the guest, after the meal had been disposed
of.

"I think they are the pleasantest savages I have ever met," replied
Louis.

"I am afraid you did not appreciate the young women who were so
attentive to you, Mr. Belgrave," continued the agent.

"Regarding them as uncivilized maidens, they are about the best
specimens. The expression on their faces was pleasant, a few of them
were pretty, though as a whole they were not handsome, and they seemed
to be kind-hearted. I could not admire them, though their eyes were as
brilliant as they were black. Their long hair would be the envy of many
an English or American belle."

"The women are very vain of their hair. They bestow a great deal of
attention upon it," added Mr. Eng. "The fever of the island sometimes
deprives them of their hair, as it may in your country, and that is the
greatest calamity that can overtake the younger women."

"I suppose it all right here; but they disfigure and spoil one of the
principal attractions of ladies in enlightened nations, the teeth, which
they blacken by chewing betel."

"It also makes their lips look as though they had daubed them with blood
or red paint; but they do it here, as in India, to make themselves more
beautiful. Tastes differ, and the practice makes them ugly to you. The
betel-vine grows here, and the leaves are used for chewing. The nut of a
certain palm produces the same effect on the teeth."

"I don't admire the brass rings they wear on their waists and around
their necks. If I were old enough to get married, I should not look for
a wife among the Dyak girls," said Louis, laughing and shaking his head.

"The Dyak women are generally well treated; but they have to work very
hard, and much that you would think the men ought to do is done by them.
The lords of creation here are inclined to be lazy, while their wives
and daughters are engaged in the rice-fields, though their husbands and
brothers are driven to labor.

"But the women are not the abject slaves you sometimes find them in the
savage state. They have their influence, and exercise a degree of
control in household matters. The females are fond of fish, and insist
that their husbands shall supply them with this diet. On account of the
bores which sweep up the rivers, this is often a dangerous occupation,
and the men are unable to procure any fish. Instances are known in which
the women