viation from that colour is regarded as a striking singularity. This race is found throughout the whole extent of the Archipelago, but aboundɛ chiefly in Sumatra, Java, and indeed whereever civilization has made some progress. Their notions of beauty are nearly the same as among ourselves. "The man that is considered handsome, and the woman that is pointed out as beautiful by an European, are the same that are allowed to be so by their own countrymen."

tions highly favourable for observation and inquiry, he employed himself in collecting the materials, which he has embodied in the volumes on our table, and which he has entitled the History of the Indian Archipelago. It is not, however, a chronological arrangement of events, or a series of disquisitions on the politics of these islands, that constitute the sole, or, indeed, the chief subjects, which that title includes. On the contrary, the "character of the Indian islanders," the arts and sciences they practise or cultivate, together with their language and religion, are treated of under distinct heads, as well as what is more properly termed their history and political institutions. On all of these, and some other topics, a great deal of valuable information is adduced, and in a sufficiently attractive form; except that we think the matter, in many instances, might have been advantageously condensed; and that the author would have done well to have avoided many of the speculations in which he has thought proper to indulge.

"The East Insular negro" (the other race) is a distinct variety of the human species, and evidently a very inferior one. Their puny statures, and feeble frames, cannot be ascribed to the poverty of their food, or the hardships of their condition, for the lank-haired races, living under cir cumstances equally precarious, have vigorous constitutions. Some islands they enjoy almost exclusively to themselves, yet they have in no instance risen above the most abject barbarism. Whenever they are encountered by the fairer races, they are hunted down like the wild animals of the forest, and driven to the mountains or fastnesses incapable of resistance." Vol. I. pp. 25, 26.

The Indian Archipelago contains three islands of the first rank in point of size, namely, Borneo, New Guinea, and Sumatra ;* of the second rank, Java, and the Malayan Peninsula; of the third rank, Celebes, Luzon, and Mindanao; and of a size still inferior upwards of sixteen. But the relative importance of these islands does not depend on their territorial magnitude, but on their situation, and productions. "The whole Archipelago is situated within the tro'pics." The grouping of the islands gives rise to numerous intricate straits and passages, which would be of dangerous navigation, were it not for the pacific nature of the seas, and the uniformity of the winds and currents. These islands are inhabited by two distinct races of the human species a brown complexioned race, and an aboriginal negro race. The first in person are short, squat, and robust. The hair of their heads is long, lank, harsh, and invariably black: the face round, the mouth wide, the cheek bones high, the nose, though never prominent, is never flat, and the eyes are so uniformly black, that any de

New Holland is excluded, being regarded as a Continent.

The Indian islanders are defective

in personal cleanliness, though they are fond of bathing. In point of diet they are temperate, and even abstemious. Rice, spiceries, and a small portion of animal food, frequently fish, constitute their ordinary fare. Drunkenness is very uncommon among them, though at their feasts they occasionally drink to inebriety. They are industrious, or indolent, in proportion to their civilization or barbarity; possess a high degree of fortitude, and are generally superior to the fear of death. They are slow of comprehension, but have cars of remarkable delicacy for musical sounds. They have no capacity for intrigue, and have a sacred regard for truth. In their external deportment they are grave and courteous. Though tenacious of their rights, they are neither litigious, avaricious, nor rapacious. Hospitality is universal among them. These virtues, however, are contaminated by their belief in dreams, omens, sorcery, charms, philtres, and relics. Revenge is one of the most common of their vices: a blow will not for a moment be tolerated: the kris is at hand ready to avenge the insult. "The exercise of the right of private revenge, and the law which acknowledges it, de

and the handle.

mand life for life, but both accept a pecuniary commutation; so that every man's life has its price, and that too not a very high one."

The husband invariably pays a price for his wife among all the tribes. Women are not immured, but associate with the men on terms of equality; and in the island of Celebes women are eligible, and are sometimes raised to the sovereign authority. In Java the women are secluded among the better classes, but not very rigidly. Polygamy and concubinage are tolerated, but looked upon as a vicious luxury of the great. No man will give his daughter for a second or third wife to a person of his own rank. Parental authority is exercised to the latest periods of life, and filial duty willingly returned. Fraternal affection, particularly between children of the same mother, is warm and active. The Javanese have a strong attachment to the place of their birth, and nothing will induce them to quit the tombs of their fathers. Yet the author tells us they have not a word in any of their languages to express friendship.

The houses in some of the islands are raised on posts, and are constructed chiefly of bamboo, rattan, palmetto leaf, and wild grass. Houses are generally grouped into villages, and a town is merely an aggregation of villages, distinguished by the size of the public mosque, and the palace of the Prince. The inhabitants sit, and eat on the ground; their food is served on trays of wood or brass; and their beds are benches of bamboo, furnished with a mat and pillow. In cooking they use shallow pans, or pots imported from China. There is not a bridge in the whole island of Java, no sluice of durable materials, no artificial canals or wells, and no tanks or other public works of irrigation. The art of turning an arch is not understood at present, though it is discovered in the ruins of every ancient temple. Their manufactures of the loom are of a coarse texture, which they dye blue or red. The raw materials of their silk stuffs are brought from China. They work well in metals, and the filagree of the Sumatrans is highly curious. The kris is fabricated into a great variety of shapes, and a great deal of ornament is occasionally lavished both on the blade

Betel boxes are also curiously carved. Their shipping consists of vessels, from small canoes hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, to those of 50 tons burden, but as they increase in size, they become unsafe. The materials of ship-building are abundant.

Most of the savage tribes of the Archipelago go in a state of perfect nakedness, with the exception of a slight covering suggested by modesty. Children of both sexes go entirely naked till the age of six or seven years. The habit of those who are clothed is a sort of medium between the tight dress of the Europeans, and the flowing robe of the continental Asiatics. It is nearly the same in both sexes. The Surung, or envelope, used in the manner of a Scots Highlander's plaid, is universal: below this many wear drawers, or pantaloons, and both are fastened by a zone, generally of silk. The second general piece of dress is the coat made in various forms, but which, in the greatest proportion of cases, may be described as a frock with sleeves. The legs and feet are bare, and a slight species of turban is wrapped round the head. Flowers, ornaments of gold, and of diamonds, are worn on festive occasions. The kris, or dagger, the betel box, and the umbrella, are constant appendages of the dress. With the view of improv ing the beauty of their persons, it is customary to file and blacken their teeth, an operation which is performed about the age of puberty. A coloured cosmetic to improve the complexion is also in use among the civilized tribes. On festive occasions, many portions of the dress are laid aside, and we may truly say of the Javanese, that when in full dress they are almost naked." From the age of puberty to death, every man is armed to protect himself, so that these islanders are strictly an armed population. Besides the kris, the weapons of war used by them are the club, the bow and arrow, the tube for discharging arrows (which are sometimes poisoned with vegetable juice) and fire-arms.

We must content ourselves with referring our readers to what is said by Mr Crawfurd on the Arithmeticthe Calendar-the Navigation and Geography-the Medicine and the Music of these islanders, that we may leave ourselves room to be some

what particular on the subject of their
agriculture, which we regard as high-
ly curious and important. The rainy
season of the year may be denominat-
ed the spring, and the dry season the
autuinn, of these tropical countries.
The diversified character of the sur-
face affords abundance of land of a
low and marshy, and of an elevated
and dry, quality. The perennial
streams, which pour down the sides
of the high mountains, charged with
the debris of rocks and the decay of
vegetation, shed a fertilizing influence
throughout the whole extent of their
course. The alluvial soils of the val-
leys are from ten to fifty feet in thick-
ness, and are too rich to need the aid
of manure. The degree and the va-
riety of the temperature are circum-
stances, in like manner, highly fa-
vourable for the most valuable as well
as the most luxuriant vegetation. A
fugitive crop of rice is sometimes ta-
ken from patches cleared in the fo-
rests; this land pays no rent. The
uplands constantly under culture pay,
as rent, a third part of the produce.
The lands which are flooded in the
course of the periodical rains, and
those which can be watered by artifi-
cial irrigation, yield two crops in the
year, and pay a rent in proportion to
their value. The buffalo and the ox
are the cattle commonly employed in
the labours of agriculture. A plough,
a harrow, a hoe, a large knife, and a
sickle, are almost the whole stock of
implements that is required. The
brooks are dammed to cause them to
overflow the fields; the slopes of the
mountains are formed into terraces to
intercept and retain the beneficial
moisture; and valleys are rendered
almost impassable, from the frequency
of the water courses.

"Not an accessible spot is to be seen in the season that is not covered with a rich harvest; and if we take into account-the brilliant tints of an equatorial sky, the vicinity of mountains of ten thousand feet high, the more elevated portions of which are covered with forests of perpetual verdure,-valleys thickly strewed with groves of fruit trees, hiding the cottages of the peasantry, together with the peculiar richness of the rice crop itself, which far excels that of all the other Cereal gramina, we may imagine that rural industry can. not well be contemplated, in any portion of the globe, to greater advantage."

Vol. I. pp. 352, 353.

Two descriptions of rice are cultivated throughout the islands, the plants of the one of which require immersion in water, the other not. The latter kind is sown in the middle of the dry season by dibbling or broadcast; that which requires submersion is sown when the season permits. When the land is watered by artificial means, it is sown at the pleasure of the cultivator, so that, 66 in one little field, or rather compartment, the husbandman is ploughing or harrowing; in a second he is sowing; in a fourth the grain is beginning to flower; in a fifth it is yellow; and in a sixth, the women, children, and old men, are busy reaping." The rapid growth of the grain has enabled the Javanese husbandman, in a few happy situations, to urge the culture to the amount of six crops in two years and a half.

The stubble is burned, after the ground has been a short time pastured with cattle. In some places rice is grown during the wet season; and, in the dry half of the year, some species of pulse, farinaceous root, or annual cotton, is cultivated. But the richer lands are scourged by the everlasting succession of a double harvest of rice.

After rice, maize, which seems an indigenous plant, is most extensively cultivated, and, as an article of food, has in the islands the same relation to rice that oats and barley have to wheat in Europe. It is a sure crop, as it grows well in every clime of the Archipelago; it is also very productive, four or five hundred fold not being an unfrequent return. Millet, and other small grains, are not raised in great quantities; but pulses form an important article of husbandry in the western islands of the Archipelago: they are cultivated chiefly as green crops after rice. The pulse whence soy is manufactured is raised to a considerable extent, and requires skill in the culture. Nutritive roots, such as the yam, sweet potatoe, Java potatoe, arrow-root, and the common potatoe, are also extensively cultivated. The varieties of the yam are numerous, and it sometimes grows to the weight of forty or fifty pounds. The sweet potatoe follows rice as a green crop, and grows to a large size. The manioc of South America has been introduced, and may be seen

growing wild in the hedges. The largest of the palm tribe. The fruit
Dutch have also introduced the Ame- is in great abundance, and grows from
rican potatoe, the common potatoe, shoots on strings about three feet in
artichokes, cabbages, peas, and other length. The liquor or toddy flows
European garden stuffs. Cucumbers from the shoots of fructification on the
are cultivated, and consumed in large first appearance of the fruit, after they
quantities. The cocoa-nut, the ground have been beaten for three successive
pestachio, the Palma Christi, and se- days with a small stick. This is fer-
samum, are raised for the oil which mented into a liquor possessing an in-
they afford. The cocoa-nut grows best toxicating quality, is manufactured
near the sea, and is seldom met with into sugar or into wine, and from the
in the interior. The best edible oil wine the Batavian arrack is prepared.
is obtained from a large handsome The gomuti palm thrives best in hot
tree named Kanuri, which yields a dry plains. The betel vine, which
nut of an oblong shape, nearly as large yields the pepper of that name, is
as a walnut. The sago-palm is an raised for its aromatic and pungent
important article of the husbandry of leaves. These, with the nut of the
this region. It is one of the hum- Areca palm, and other occasional in-
blest of the palm tribe, and has, in gredients, are used as a masticatory.
the early period of its growth, the ap- The plant is cultivated in separate
pearance of a bush with many shoots. gardens, near villages, where water is
The stem contains an enormous vo- abundant. It is propagated by slips,
lume of a spongy medullary matter, affords leaves fit for use in the second
like that of the alder. This is the year, and continues to yield them for
edible part, and from it the bread of more than thirty years. The juice
the islanders is formed. A good sago called Gambis, an article of extensive
plantation or forest is a bog knee deep. consumption and traffic, is obtained
The
"When the pith is ascertained to be from the leaves of a shrub.
ripe, the tree is cut down near the root, plant grows in dry situations, and is
and the trunk subdivided into portions of propagated from the seed. When the
six or seven feet long, each of which is split seedlings are about nine inches high,
into two parts. From these the medullary they are transplanted, and never rise
matter is extracted, which, with an instru- above the height of five feet. The
ment of bamboo or hard wood, is forth- juice is boiled in iron pots to the con-
with reduced to a powder like saw-dust. sistence of a syrup, and, when cool,
The process of separating the farina from becomes solid, and is cut into square
the accompanying bran and filaments is cakes. It is used as a masticatory,"
simple and obvious, and consists merely and much of it is exported into China.
in mixing the powdered medulla with Tobacco is of universal consumption,
water, and passing the water charged with
the farina through a sieve at one end of
and is, consequently, raised in large
the trough in which the mixture is made. quantities, chiefly on the lands water-
The water so charged is made to pass into ed by artificial irrigation. The leaf
a second vessel, where the farina falls to is always shred when green, after hav-
the bottom, and, after two or more edul- ing been freed from the fibrous mid-
corations, is fit for use. This is the raw rib. The Banana, the Bread fruit,
sago meal, which keeps, without further the Mangustin-the most exquisite
preparation, a month. For further use, of Indian fruits,--the Durian, which
this meal is made into cakes, which keep never cloys or palls on the appetite,-
a long time." Vol. I. pp. 389, 390.
the Juck, which grows to an enormous
size,-the Mango, a fruit of a delicate
flavour,-the orange and lemon tribe,
in great profusion,-the pine-apple,
the Guava, the Papaya, the custard-
apple, the cashew tree, the pomegra-
nate, the tamarind, with a great va-
riety of other fruits, both indigenous
and exotic, are cultivated in many of
the islands, and are even found wild
in some of them. Flowering plants,
shrubs, and trees, are also abundant
and various, and the prevailing co-
lours are yellow and red.

Among the plants raised as articles of native luxury is the Areca palm. It has a graceful stem about thirty or forty feet high, begins to bear fruit when six years old, and to leave off bearing and to die about the age of twenty-five. The fruit in the green state is eaten, and the ripe nut is a great object of commerce. The Sagwire or Gomuti palm, which yields a saccharine liquor much used by the natives as a beverage, is also extensively cultivated. It is one of the