Girl of Timor.ASIATIC ISLANDS.
Girl of Timor.
Girl of Timor.
Girl of Timor.
The prevailing customs in Ceylon are similar to those of India. They are divided into distinct castes, from the nobleman to the weaver of mats; the children follow the same business as their fathers; and it is not allowable for one tribe to marry into another. The people in general labor hard, and subsist on a little rice and salt. One of their principal ceremonies of marriage, consists in tying the garments of the bride and bridegroom together, in token that they are bound together for life. This is solemnized in the presence of friends and relations, with such festivities as the wealth of the parties admit.
In many of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, the condition of women is far better than it is on the continent of Asia. They are not shut up within the walls of a harem, but are allowed to eat with the men, and associate with them on terms of equality. Foreigners are freely introduced to them, and they sometimes attend the parties given by English and Dutch residents, where they uniformly behave with modesty and propriety.
Before the introduction of Mohammedanism into Java, women often held the highest offices of government; and when the chief of a district dies, it is even now not uncommon for the widow to retain the authority that belonged to her deceased husband. Polygamy is permitted by religion and law, but the common people seldom have more than one wife. The sovereign of Java does not by custom have more than four, nor the chiefs more than two; but they generally have a greater or less number of mistresses. It is extremely easy to obtain divorces and form new connections; but during the continuance of the relation, the matrimonial vow is said in general to be faithfully observed. If a woman is dissatisfied with her husband, she can obtain divorce by paying a certain sum of money established by custom. The lower class pay about twenty dollars, and the higher pay fifty. The husband can refuse to consent, but he seldom does so, because it is considered dishonorable to live with a reluctant companion. It is not uncommon to see a woman who has divorced three or four husbands before she isthirty years old. Some individuals change their mates ten or twelve times. A man may at any time obtain separation by making suitable provision for his wife’s support; and this is no difficult matter in a country where food is very abundant, and shelter almost unnecessary.
The Javanese have very little of the Asiatic jealousy of women; but when they believe themselves wronged, they pursue the offender with the most implacable revenge. The prince of Madura, during times of political commotion, sought refuge with his family on board a Dutch ship. The captain, according to the custom of his country, greeted the princess with a kiss. She screamed, and her husband immediately stabbed him to the heart.
There are three kinds of marriages in Java. The first, which is most common, is where the rank of the parties is equal, or the bridegroom superior to the bride; the second is where the wife’s station is much above that of the husband; and the third is a sort of half-marriage, the offspring of which are not allowed to be upon an entire equality with the other children. In the two first kinds of marriage, the ceremonies are alike; but in the last there is no ceremony at all. The first wife is always at the head of the family; on this account, no father is willing to bestow his daughter upon a man of his own rank for a second or third wife.
Girls are generally disposed of in marriage at a very early age. An unmarried woman of twenty-two years old is almost unheard of in Java.
The wedding ceremonies are similar to those in neighboring countries. The betrothment is arranged by relatives, and consists in the offering and accepting of gifts.
A price is always paid by the bridegroom, in money, jewels, clothes, buffaloes, or rice, according to his wealth. This is generally regarded as a provision for the wife; but among some tribes, the money or goods is given outright to the girl’s parents. On the wedding day, the bridegroom, dressed in his richest attire, and mounted on his best steed, proceeds to the bride’s dwelling, accompanied by his friends with music. When they approach, she comes out to meet them, and receives them with a low obeisance. In some districts they have a frolicsome custom of throwing bundles of betel leaves at each other, as soon as the bride appears at the door. If she receives a blow on the forehead it is considered as a sign that she will have to obey her husband; but if the reverse happens, it is supposed that she will govern him. The bridegroom conducts his bride to a seat elevated above the rest of the company, and in token of their intention to live together, they eat siri (or betel leaves) from the same siri-box. In some places they eat rice from the same vessel. The nuptials are celebrated at the mosque, according to the Mohammedan ritual, and the young couple move through the village in gay procession; the bride in an open litter, decked with all the jewels she could buy or borrow, and the bridegroom and his friends on horseback, with as much splendor of appearanceas their means will allow. They are always accompanied by music, and sometimes a buffoon goes before them making ludicrous gestures. They return to a feast at the bride’s parents’; and on the fifth day after the marriage, a new procession is formed to escort them to the house of the bridegroom’s father, where an entertainment is prepared, and where they again eat siri from the same siri-box.
In some districts, the spinning wheel, loom, and various cooking utensils, are carried in the bridal procession. Among some tribes in the interior, it is customary for the bride to wash the bridegroom’s feet, in token of subjection; in other places, he treads upon a raw egg, which she wipes from his foot. In some parts of the island, when a man marries a second or third wife, he approaches the bride with a burning brand, on which she pours water from a vase. An English traveller speaks of a widow, who, growing weary of this ceremony before the brand was extinguished, threw the remainder of the water full in her lover’s face. As first marriages are generally arranged by parents, the second wife is more apt to be the object of real affection.
In Java the labor of women is estimated about as high as that of men; and as they are generally industrious and frugal, they are quite independent of the other sex. Children are not deserted or neglected, as they are in many parts of Asia, because in Java it is very easy to support them, and to employ them profitably. Among the poor, it is common for the parents to drop their proper names on the birth oftheir first child, especially if it be a son: if the babe, as often happens, is called by such a name as The Handsome One, they are called the Father and Mother of The Handsome One.
The birth of a child is celebrated by a feast of yellow rice, to which the relations are invited; but the name is not conferred with any religious ceremonies. A yearly festival is held in Java in honor of the dead. On these occasions, men, women, and children, dressed in their best clothing, repair to the burial-places and strew the tombs of their parents with flowers consecrated to that purpose.
All the women in Java, from the princess to the peasant, weave and make the garments worn by their families. Men are accustomed to pride themselves on the beauty of the cloth woven by their wives and daughters. In every part of the island women may be seen spinning and weaving, on an elevated veranda in front of their bamboo cottages, protected from the sun by a projection of the roof.
The Javanese are generally mild, respectful, and timid. They are said to have a pensive look, and their demeanor is somewhat elegant and insinuating. Women of the lower classes, being very much exposed to the influence of an intensely hot climate, become extremely ugly in their old age.
With regard to complexion, they consider a golden yellow as the standard of perfection. One of their popular poets, describing a graceful woman, says, “Her neck was yellow as gold, her gait was gentle and majestic, like that of an elephant.” The Javanesehave naturally very fine teeth, but they used to consider it a disgrace to let them remain “white, like a dog’s;” and at eight or nine years old, they were filed and died indelibly black, with a preparation made of burnt cocoa-nut. This is a painful operation, but was formerly considered so necessary, that when they wished to say a girl was past her childhood, they expressed it by saying, “She has had her teeth filed.” Some people of fantastic taste had them filed so as to resemble a saw. But Sir Stamford Raffles says the custom of filing the teeth in any way is now nearly out of fashion in Java.
They spoil their mouths, which are usually handsome, by the use of betel and tobacco. Both men and women take pride in a beautiful head of hair, which they perfume with fragrant oils. The women fasten it in a knot at the back of the head, and when in full dress they interweave it with an enormous mass of flowers, and wear wreaths suspended from the ears. The Indian islanders are extremely fond of flowers; it is an epithet they always apply to express beautiful things.
When the Javanese wish to appear particularly fascinating, they stain the face, neck, and arms with a yellow cosmetic obtained from perfumed flowers.
The sovereign keeps a select band of beautiful dancers for the amusement of the royal household. These females are the only persons that are allowed to perform thes’rimpi,—a slow, modest, and exceedingly graceful dance, resembling a minuet by four persons. At the beginning and end of the dance,the performers raise their clasped hands to their foreheads, and bend reverentially toward the prince. None but very young girls belong to this band, and they leave it as soon as they become mothers.
Javanese women of high rank dress in a manner exceedingly tasteful and magnificent. They wear full flowing robes of delicate silk, of green or other colors, stamped with golden flowers; their girdles are composed of plates of gold, clasped with diamonds; while armlets, bracelets, and tiaras are richly chased and studded with gems.
The public class of dancers, calledrong-gengs, are similar to their frail sisters of Hindostan in dress and deportment. But notwithstanding their profligacy, those who acquire considerable fortune frequently marry men much superior to themselves in rank. Their songs are very comic, and they are sometimes accompanied by a buffoon, who excites laughter by a ludicrous imitation of all their movements. The Javanese dances have the same characteristics, which distinguish that amusement in various parts of Asia. They consist principally in graceful attitudes, and slow movements of the limbs, even to distinct motions of the hands and fingers. Men often join in these dances, but no females, except professional dancers, ever perform before strangers.
The women of Java are very fond of a peculiar kind of amusement calledsintren. A little boy or girl, richly dressed, is put under a basket, and music and song burst forth, while all the spectators clap their hands to keep time. The basket soon beginsto move; in a short time the child rises—dances in a wild but graceful manner—seems to sink exhausted into slumber—and awakes apparently unconscious of all that has happened. The charm consists in the idea that the whole soul is fascinated, and led unawares by the power of music.
The women of this island do not go with the upper part of the person uncovered, as they do in the southern parts of the peninsula.
The Javanese are exceedingly superstitious. Their fears are easily excited by dreams and bad omens, and they are great believers in old women endowed with supernatural powers.
Sumatra is less advanced in civilization than Java, and is inhabited by various tribes of different origin. The Battas are an irritable and warlike tribe. They take as many wives as they please, and seldom have less than five or six. The women live in the same apartment with their husband; the room has no partitions, but each wife has a separate fireplace. As the bridegroom always makes a present of buffaloes, or horses, to the parents of the bride, daughters are considered a source of wealth. The women do all the work, while their husbands lounge in idleness, playing on the flute, with wreaths of globe-amaranth around their heads; or racing with each other, without saddle or stirrups, or hunting deer, or gambling away their wives, their children, and themselves. The Battas consider their wives and children as slaves, and sell them whenever they choose. Anunfaithful wife has her hair cut off, and is sold for a slave; the paramour is killed and eaten by her husband’s tribe.
On festival occasions, the girls wear gold pendants in their ears, and fasten their hair with golden pins, having heads in the shape of birds or dragons. They likewise give a beautiful polish to large shells, of which they make bracelets. Their dress covers the person modestly.
More is known of the Redjangs than of any other tribe in Sumatra. They are a small, well-formed race, with deep olive complexion, and hair of shining blackness, owing partly to the cocoa-nut oil with which they constantly anoint it. The women are very proud of long hair, which they roll up tastefully on the crown of the head. They are fond of wearing garlands, which are generally composed of white, or light yellow, flowers. In some districts the girls wear fillets half an inch broad around their foreheads; the poor have them made of the leaves of the nipah-palm, but the rich wear silver and gold.
The Redjangs have the absurd custom of stretching the ears, flattening the noses, and compressing the heads of new-born infants. They let the nails of the middle and little finger grow to an extraordinary length. The tips of the fingers are stained with the red juice of henna; and it is singular that their hands are always cold to the touch.
Their common garments are generally made of the bark of the paper-mulberry tree, prepared in a manner similar to Otaheite cloth.
The women in general are very ugly, but some of them are remarkably handsome; especially among the higher classes, who are not necessarily exposed to the influence of the sun. A Sumatran woman is considered old at thirty, and decrepit at forty. The same custom with regard to names prevails here as in Java. If a child is named Ladin, the parents are called the Father and Mother of Ladin. It is a custom with them never to speak their own name; if a stranger inquires what it is, they ask another person to tell it.
The Redjangs manifest a degree of delicacy toward women, which one would not expect from a people half civilized. Virtue and modesty are held in high estimation, and as a natural consequence the opposite vices are rare. If an unmarried woman disgraces herself, her father and lover are both fined; if unable to pay, she is sold for a slave. A dishonored husband seldom seeks redress by a legal process; he is either silent, or revenges his own wrongs. Girls are seldom trusted from the presence of their mothers; but at public festivals, in the town hall, young people meet to dance and sing. If a young man takes a fancy to any of the assembly, he generally sends some elderly woman with presents to the damsel. Her parents then interfere, and if they consider the match a suitable one, the preliminaries are soon settled. There are three different kinds of marriage among the Redjangs. By the first mode, the husband purchases his wife for a given sum, and she becomes his slave, to all intentsand purposes. In this case, a man is allowed to have as many wives as he can buy and maintain. This marriage, which is called marriage byjourjour, is in most cases modified by a custom, which enables the parents of the bride to reconcile their avarice with affection. A part of the price of their daughter remains unpaid, and is calledtali koulo, or the bond of friendship. While this sum, however small, remains due, the woman is not the slave of her husband; he cannot sell her, or abuse her with impunity, and she is at liberty to seek a divorce from him when she pleases. When families are upon good terms, a portion of thejourjouroften remains unpaid for several generations; and some men are quite rich from the sums due to them for daughters, sisters, aunts, and grand-aunts. These are regarded as debts of honor, and are very seldom lost. Where the wholejourjouris paid and received during the lifetime of a woman, she is completely in the power of her husband; her only privilege is, that he is obliged to sell her to her relations, if they offer as high a price as he can obtain elsewhere. But these connections are very rarely formed without thetali koulo, or bond of friendship.
The second kind of marriage is called marriage byambelanack. In this case the husband is adopted by the bride’s father, remains with him, works under his authority, and both parents and children are considered as the property of the head of the family. A man who is married in this way cannot take another wife, without the consent of his adoptedfather; but if he acquires, either by industry or inheritance, a sum sufficient to pay the expenses attendant upon other forms of marriage, he can at any time secure to himself and wife the privileges belonging to them.
By the third mode, the husband gives and receives a sum of money, and the wife is on a perfect equality with him. This is called marriage bysimando, and takes place less frequently than the other forms. In this case, a second wife cannot be taken without divorcing the first, and giving her half the fortune; but if the wife herself seeks the separation, she loses her right to half the property, and can only receive her original dowry.
The various regulations connected with these different forms of marriage, and consecrated by custom only, are carefully observed.
The wedding ceremonies are very simple. The father of one of the parties, or the chief of the village, joins their hands and pronounces them husband and wife. Animanperforms this office for those who are Mohammedans. A bamboo broken in the presence of the parties and their relations constitutes a divorce.
The Redjangs are gentle, patient, polite, and serious. They bathe frequently, but never wash their garments.
The Lampongs, who reside in the south part of Sumatra, are distinguished by a complexion lighter than the other tribes. In the shape of their faces, and the form of their eyes, they resemble the Chinese.The tallest and handsomest women of the island belong to this tribe. Their manners are much more free than the Redjangs, and they are less scrupulous about the character of their wives and daughters. It is a common thing to see a young girl sitting out of doors, perfuming and arranging her lover’s hair, while he lays his head in her lap, and looks up affectionately in her face. They generally marry byjourjour, and the bride is always protected by thetali koulo, or bond of friendship. Marriages bysimandoare very rare. At festivals, a young man is appointed to select the couples that shall dance together. On these occasions both men and women use perfumed ointments, and paint their faces in fantastic style.
The Sumatrans have naturally very perfect teeth, but they grind them away almost to the gums, or file them to a point, and dye them jet black. The wealthy have the teeth of the lower jaw covered with gold plate, so as to produce a rich contrast with the upper ones. Those who cannot afford this, leave one or two white, by way of contrast. A feast is given by the family whenever a child has its ears pierced and teeth filed. Women do not carry infants in their arms, but sitting astride on the hip, supported by a cloth which is tied on the opposite shoulder. Their cradles are made to swing from the ceiling, like those of the Hindoos.
Very little is known concerning the social condition of Borneo. It contains various tribes, similarto each other in person and manners. The women of the Biadjos are said to be tall and handsome. Their only clothing is a strip of cloth about the waist, and they are accustomed to paint their bodies blue. They hang weights to their ears, about as large as a crown-piece, which stretches them to an immoderate length. They plate their teeth with gold, and wear necklaces of tigers’ teeth.
No man is allowed to solicit a damsel in marriage until he has cut off the head of an enemy. When this condition is fulfilled the lover makes presents to his mistress; if they are accepted, an entertainment is given by her parents, and on the ensuing day by his parents. After the feast, the bridegroom is conducted home to the house of the bride. At the door, a friend sprinkles him with the blood of a cock, and her with the blood of a hen; the parties then give each other their bloody hands, and from that time they live together. If the blood of the fowls spirts too far, it is deemed an unlucky sign. If a man loses his wife, he cannot marry a second, till he cuts off the head of another enemy. If his wife conducts herself improperly, he gives her a sound beating.
On the sea-coast of Borneo fleets of boats may be seen laden with provisions brought to market by the women, who are screened from the sun by huge bamboo hats. These women are small and rather pretty. In complexion they are about as dark as mulattoes. They walk with a firm step, and turn their toes out, which is an unusual thing among the oriental nations. Wives are bought, and marriagesperformed with great ceremony; generally before the bride is eleven years old. Public opinion is by no means rigid concerning the character of unmarried females; but the subject is viewed differently when they have husbands.
The natives of Celebes are of a light olive complexion, with glossy black hair, that falls in ringlets over the neck and shoulders. Men adorn their hair with jewels; but women merely wear gold chains about the neck. They color their nails red, and their teeth black, and take great pains to flatten the noses of their infants.
The husband receives no other dowry with his wife than the presents she obtains before the ceremony. As soon as the young couple are married, they are shut up in an apartment by themselves for three days; a servant brings them necessary food, while their friends are entertained with great merriment by the bride’s father. At the end of this time they are liberated, receive congratulations, and are conducted to their future home. The women of Celebes are distinguished for virtue and modesty. They take an active part in business, and are frequently raised to the throne, though the government is elective. At public festivals they appear freely among men, and those in authority discuss affairs of state in their councils. In token of equality, the husband and wife always eat from the same dish; he from the right side, and she from the left. The wife of the chief of Lipukaski was considered one ofthe first politicians in Celebes. One day she rode out among the warriors of her tribe, and upbraiding them with tardiness in giving battle, she demanded a spear, that she might herself give them an example. Stimulated by her reproof, they went forth and gained the victory. This woman was said to have a countenance expressive of great intelligence and firmness. In many parts of the Eastern Archipelago women have been intrusted with sovereign power; and it is singular that this occurs most frequently where the government is most turbulent. The passion for gaming, so common in the other islands, prevails in Celebes. Wives, children, and personal freedom are often staked, and quarrels arise which occasion deadly hostility between families. The fine demanded by law is twenty dollars for the murder of a man, and thirty for a woman. The women of Celebes, and of the other Molucca islands, wear hats of prodigious size, six or seven feet in diameter. Infants are plentifully rubbed with oil, and boys are never nursed longer than a year, from the idea that it would injure their understandings.
In Amboyna, as in almost every part of the East, a man purchases a bride by a certain sum of money given to the parents. They have an unbounded admiration for very young girls, and a great abhorrence of old women. The girls are not often trusted away from their mothers; but courtship is carried on by means of nosegays, or plates of fruit, mutually exchanged, and arranged in such a manner as to signify the various degrees of love or disapprobation.
In some of the neighboring islands, when a young man is too bashful to speak his love, he seizes the first opportunity he can find of sitting near the object of his affection, and tying his garment to hers. If she allows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts nor loosens it, she thereby gives her consent to the marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is at liberty to try his luck again, at a more propitious moment; but if she cuts it, there is an end of hope.
The customs of the island of Bali greatly resemble those of the Hindoos. Widows sacrifice themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands in great numbers. When the king dies, all his wives and mistresses devote themselves to the flames; and when the queen dies, great numbers of her female slaves are stabbed with daggers, and thrown upon the pile. This death is considered so honorable that it is generally eagerly contended for; and if it happen that a request to be sacrificed is for any reason refused, it is mourned over as an irretrievable disgrace. Individuals who have been thus denied, as well as those who, being selected, are reluctant to become victims, are forever after imprisoned. If they find means to escape, the first person that meets them may dispatch them with a dagger, and cast their bodies into the streets. At the funeral of the king’s son, one of his wives, who was very young, asked her father whether, as she had been married only three months, it was her duty to sacrifice herself. The parent, steeled by custom, urged the disgrace she would bring onher family, and the poor girl sprung into the flames, where she was soon consumed. It seldom happens that one of the laboring class devotes herself in this way, and the sacred order never do; but it is almost universal in the mercantile and military classes.
Wives are purchased; and if a young man cannot obtain the requisite sum, he agrees to serve the father or guardian of the damsel, until his labor defrays the debt. When his conduct is very satisfactory, the parents often remit a portion of his services. Divorce is not allowed in Bali. The women of this island disfigure their ears by enormously extended apertures. They are frank and cheerful in their manners, and enjoy a degree of consideration which seems remarkable where polygamy prevails.
The women of Timor have very delicate and graceful forms, dark brown complexions, pleasing features, and black eyes full of vivacity. They consider corpulence a very great defect.
When a new king begins his reign they sacrifice a young female slave, adorned with jewels and flowers, by exposing her on the water’s edge until the crocodiles come and devour her. This is done on account of a tradition that the royal family descended from crocodiles.
The natives of this island chew betel and gild their front teeth. In general, both men and women let the hair flow loosely over their shoulders; but sometimes the wealthy fasten it with golden rings, or arrange it in the Grecian style, fastened by goldpins with diamond heads, or tortoise-shell combs inlaid with gold. They constantly wash their hair with lye, and render it glossy with cocoa-nut oil. The higher classes of females are seldom seen in public. They are distinguished by golden bracelets, expensive coral necklaces, and ornaments of copper-wire around their arms and ankles. They are sometimes tattooed with figures representing flowers, made with an instrument dipped in indigo. They spend their time in frequent bathing, smoking, chewing betel, and sleeping, while slaves fan them to keep away the insects. Sometimes they amuse themselves by making trifling articles of rice straw, or leaves of the pandanus; but all occupation, except light fanciful work, is left to the poorer classes. They pay evening visits, drink tea together, and remain till late at night, entertained with the dancing and singing of slaves, accompanied by the Malay tambourine and the Chinese tamtam.
The ladies of Timor are extravagantly fond of perfumes. Their dress is impregnated with the odor of sandal-wood and gum-benjamin, their beds are strewed with fragrant flowers, and they often chew small Chinese cakes, highly aromatic, which perfume the breath for a long time. They likewise wear garlands about their head, neck, and arms. Their love-letters are composed of flowers, and betel leaves folded in different ways, according to the meaning they are intended to convey. When a girl bestows a wreath taken from her own person, it is an open avowal of affection.
Very little disgrace is attached to any indiscretions committed before marriage. When parents are satisfied with the price offered for a daughter, they cause animals to be killed and the entrails consulted for omens, before the wedding takes place. The people of Timor take as many wives as they can maintain, and sometimes sell their children in order to purchase them. Here, as in Java, girls are considered a source of wealth, because at their marriage parents are sure to receive a sum of gold, or a certain number of cattle. So long as any part of the price remains unpaid, they can take back their daughter without making restitution, or they may claim her children as property.
The inhabitants of New Guinea are frightfully ugly. Their skin is black and rough; they color their hair a fiery red, and dress it like a huge mop. Both men and women pass rings, sticks, and pieces of bone through their noses, which render it difficult for them to breathe. While these savages are lounging about, or chasing wild hogs, their women cut wood, dig vegetables, and make pottery ware. The bachelors live in houses by themselves, built apart from the other cabins.
The natives of New Holland are nearly black, and but little more comely than their neighbors of New Guinea. They go without clothing, and rub themselves with fish oil, as a defence against musquitoes. They daub their hair with yellow gum, in order tofasten ornaments of feathers, fish-bones, and the tails of dogs. Both sexes have the back and arms deeply scarred by an operation performed with pieces of broken shell. Scarcely any woman has the two lower joints of the little finger; it is not known whether this sacrifice is made in mourning for relatives, or for some other reason. Before a girl is given to her husband, her two front teeth are knocked out. Theloverthen throws a kangaroo skin over her shoulders, spits in her face several times, marks her with painted stripes of different colors, orders her to march to his hut with his provision bag, and if she does not go fast enough to please him, he gives her a few kicks by the way. These savages generally steal wives from some tribe with whom they are at enmity. As soon as they observe a girl without any protector near, they rush upon her, stupefy her with blows of a club, and drag her through the woods with the utmost violence. Her tribe retaliate merely by committing a similar outrage. There are no wedding ceremonies. These wretched women spend much of their time in fishing. They chew muscles and cockles, and drop them in the water for bait. Their lines are made of fibres of bark, and their hooks of mother-of-pearl oyster shells, rubbed on stones till they assume the desired shape. They commonly beguile the time by singing; but they never dance, though the men spend a great deal of their time in that amusement.
A woman will often be out with two or three children, in a miserable boat, on the very edge of a rollingsurf, that would frighten even an experienced mariner. If they have an infant, it lies across the mother’s lap, without danger of falling; for while employed in fishing, she sits in the bottom of the shallow boat, with her knees up to her neck, and between the knees and the body her babe lies securely.
When the New Hollanders are displeased with their wives, they spear them or knock them in the head. Neither men nor women appeared to have any sense of modesty; but when they found that white people, who visited the island, thought it indecent to go without clothing, the women grew more reserved, and seemed desirous of conforming to their ideas of propriety.
The people of Van Diemen’s Land are in a state similar to that of New Holland. They rub their hair with red ochre, and decorate it with fish-bones and teeth. The dull black of their complexions is deepened with powder of charcoal. They likewise tattoo themselves in lines or points, which rise up in tubercles, of the same color as the rest of the skin. The women dive into the sea for shell-fish and lobsters, while their husbands sit by a fire cooking and eating the choicest morsels they procure; they likewise hunt game, and cut all the fuel. The men keep as many wives as they please, but treat them so badly, that they seize every opportunity to run away and place themselves under the protection of the British sailors, who come there to obtain seals.They are much handsomer, and more cleanly, than the women of New Holland, and are said to be remarkably kind and docile. Toward the sailors, who protect them, they are most faithful and affectionate. If a storm comes on while their mates are out engaged in the seal-fishery, these tender-hearted creatures constantly endeavor to propitiate the Good Spirit with songs, which they accompany with graceful and supplicating gestures. They have such a dread of returning to the power of their brutal husbands, that they are continually afraid the sailors will go away and leave them. If they are so unfortunate as to be seized by their tribe, they are treated most savagely, and their half European children are thrown into the fire. These children are said to be universally and remarkably beautiful. In their wild state these women wear little or no clothing. Infants sit on the shoulders of the mother, entwining their legs about her neck, and holding her fast by the hair of her head. Being accustomed to this position, they take care of themselves with great dexterity. The women may often be seen at the fishing stations, pursuing their occupation with babes in this apparently dangerous situation.
Little is known of the interior of the Philippine islands. Some of the native tribes who live in the mountains, wear only a small apron made of the barks of trees. They are said to be friendly, cheerful, and cleanly, with scrupulous ideas of modesty, both in married and unmarried women. They purchasetheir wives. The simple bridal ceremony is performed by a priestess, who sacrifices an animal on the occasion. Manilla, the largest town of these islands, is principally occupied by the descendants of Spanish and Chinese settlers. They are extremely indolent; sleeping and smoking the whole day. Little children learn to smoke before they can run alone; and women are so fond of cigars, that they have them a foot long and thick in proportion. When they walk out to take the evening air, whole parties of them may be seen, elegantly dressed, with these great bales of tobacco burning in their mouths. They likewise injure their teeth by chewing betel.
The island of Loo Choo has been seldom visited by Europeans. Captain Hall gives a most delightful picture of the honesty, kindness, simplicity, and politeness of the inhabitants. All his efforts to obtain a sight of the women of this island were fruitless. The natives guarded them at every step, and always sent runners before them, to give indication of their approach. Once, at a sudden turning of the road, the English officers met two women; but they instantly threw the baskets from their heads, and ran into the woods, in the utmost terror. It appears, however, that they are not thus scrupulous about being seen by their own countrymen; for by the help of a telescope, captain Hall saw them coming from the country with baskets on their heads, beating rice in wooden mortars, playing with dogs in the midstof a crowd of people, and washing clothes in the river, after the East India fashion, by dipping them in the stream, and then beating them on stones. Infants are carried across the hip, as in India. The natives were unwilling to speak of their women, and seemed distressed when questions were asked. One of them said they were regarded as inferior beings, and not allowed the use of fans, which are considered a great luxury in Loo Choo. But their treatment of the English boatswain’s wife seemed to contradict this statement; for it was not only kind and indulgent in the extreme, but was tinged with something of respectful gallantry. On one occasion, a Loo Choo lady visited the boatswain’s wife, when all the men were out of the way. She wore loose floating robes, with a girdle tied at the side, and had sandals on her feet. She was rather fair, with small dark eyes, and shining black hair, fastened in a knot on one side of the head. She seemed to be exceedingly timid. When captain Hall insisted upon knowing why the natives were afraid to let them walk into the village, one of the chiefs answered, in broken language: “Loo Choo woman see Ingeree man, Loo Choo woman cry!”—meaning, “If a Loo Choo woman should see an Englishman, she would cry.”
The manners and customs in Japan, and the occupations of different classes, are similar to those of China. In economy of time and labor they rival even the Chinese; and unlike them they are scrupulously neat in their habits. There is no end totheir rules for the ceremonials of behavior. They have whole volumes written to teach people how to drink a glass of water, how to give or receive a present, how to salute a superior, or an equal, &c. &c. Children, being early accustomed to habits of thoughtful industry and punctilious civility, appear like little old men and women, while they are yet infants. In this respect they resemble their neighbors of China, among whom the boisterous mirth of childhood is a thing almost unknown; perhaps the whole Celestial Empire does not furnish a genuine specimen of a romping girl, or a madcap, roguish boy. Implicit obedience to parents and superiors prevails in Japan, to as great an extent as in China.
The houses in these islands are of simple construction, made of bamboo, with apartments divided by movable partitions. The wealthy have a good deal of painting, gilding, and rich japaning, about their walls and furniture. Their soft floor mats serve both for seats and tables, and chop-sticks of ivory or wood are used instead of knives and forks. They have metal mirrors with handles, to be used at the toilet. The fashion of their dress is the same for both sexes, and for all classes, from the monarch to the poorest subject; and they say it has remained unchanged for two thousand five hundred years. They wear long full robes, like night-gowns, with sleeves so wide that they almost reach the ground. These garments are cut round at the neck, without a collar, leaving the throat and a small portion of the neck uncovered. The women wear these robes solong that they trail on the ground. The garments are fastened at the waist with a sash, which the married tie in front, and the unmarried behind. Ladies of rank often have them made of variegated silk, interwoven with flowers of silver or gold. They sometimes wear thirty or forty at once; but they are of such delicate texture, that the whole do not weigh more than three or four pounds. Their shoes are made of rice straw. The Japanese complexion is yellow; but women of distinction, being sheltered from the sun, are nearly as white as Europeans. They appear in public when they please, either attended by a servant with an umbrella, or rolled along in a sort of ornamented wheelbarrow, with an awning over it. Whether in doors or out, they always have fans in their hands. They have very black hair, broad snubby noses, and small oblong eyes, which appear to be constantly winking. All ranks and ages are remarkable for industry, and it is said the women are generally characterized by an exemplary observance of the domestic virtues. The emperor has but one wife, who is styled empress, but he has several mistresses, who form a part of the royal household, though subordinate to her in rank.
When a husband accuses his wife of infidelity, and she asserts that she is guiltless, her oath is taken in writing, and laid on water; if it swims she is esteemed innocent. This crime, like most others in Japan, is punished with death.
The men of the Aleutian or Fox islands are glad in times of scarcity to barter away a wife for a fish or a leather bottle full of train-oil. Sometimes one woman lives with two husbands; and often leaves a second or third to return to the first with all her children. These islanders frequently exchange wives with each other, and have not the slightest idea of any dishonor connected with the infamy of their women. Under these circumstances, it is not wonderful that the females are destitute of modesty.
The men of the Fox islands wear frocks neatly made of the skins of birds, which look beautifully when the variegated feathers glisten in the sunshine. The women wear the more homely covering of the ice-bear, with the hairy side outward. They decorate these unwieldy robes with strips of leather, covered with beads, shells, or sea-parrots’ bills. The wing-bones of the sea-mew furnish them with needles, and seals’ nerves are used for thread. Rude as these implements are, their workmanship is exceedingly curious and delicate. The women tattoo themselves in such a manner, that they look as if they had mustaches.
The Ainos, or native inhabitants of the Kurile islands, are modest even to bashfulness. The men are very shy about allowing strangers to hold any communication with their wives and daughters. Their tattooed hands, swarthy faces, jet black hair hanging over their foreheads, and lips stained blue,are not much calculated to excite the admiration of those accustomed to civilized life. The Ainos, of both sexes, are remarkable for the gentleness and strict honesty of their characters.
Asiatic women baking bread.
Asiatic women baking bread.
Asiatic women baking bread.