many of them who have prejudices in favour of their native country, take small beer, which they are told dilutes the blood, and affords plenty of fluids for a free perspiration; they sometimes drink from ten to fifteen bottles of it in the course of the day. They dine a little after one o'clock. Immediately before dinner two men slaves go round with Madeira wine, of which each takes a bumper, as a tonic or whetter of the appetite, and to give the stomach strength for digestion. This is always the signal that dinner is just going to be served up. Then follow three female slaves, one with a silver basin, with a cover of the same metal pierced with many holes ; the second, with a silver jar full of pure water, and sometimes of rose-water, for washing the hands, and the third with towels for wiping them. When this ceremony is finished, the company walk into the hall to dinner, during which a band of music plays at a little distance. The musicians are all slaves, and in the number of these the master's chief ostentation seems to consist. Their dinners are plentiful, and consist of a great variety of dishes. They do not, however, eat much, nor indeed could it be supposed that in such circumstances they could have much appetite for it, but they seem to drink as freely as if they had tasted no wine that day before. At dinner a number of female slaves attend, and this seems to be the time principally allotted for their appearance. After dinner they wash their hands again, take a dish of coffee, and all go to sleep. Their beds, even in houses of the first people, have no sheets: they consist only of a mattress, pillows, a large bolster, and a chintz counterpane.. They pull off their clothes, put on their night-dress, consisting of a night-cap, and long loose callico gown, which they always carry with them wherever they go; then lie down on the top of the counterpane, and so sleep till about five o'clock. Most of the gentlemen bachelors have a favourite female slave who retires along with them to fan them, and keep off the musquitoes while their master sleeps; but more frequently she performs other services. This however, is not tolerated in better regulated families, where a wife directs the internal economy of the house. They get up before six o'clock, dress themselves, take tea, and afterwards take an airing in their carriages, pay visits, and form their parties for the evening, which they spend in various amusements, and never part till a very late hour.

Such habits of life soon exhaust the strength, and enfeeble the constitution. The functions of life are fatigued, the powers of the body are worn out by luxury, indolence, and voluptuousness; and, when disease attacks them, the feeble victim, without nerves or stamina to resist it, falls a speedy sacrifice, and sinks into the grave. Deaths of this kind are so frequent at Batavia, that they scarcely make any impression upon the minds of the inhabitants. The frequency of the event has rendered it familiar, and they shew no signs of emotion or surprise when they hear in the morning of the death of the person with whom they supped in seemingly good health the evening before.

There are but very few of the women of Batavia who have been born in Europe, most of them being natives of the place, but descended originally from European parents. The climate and manners of the country appear however to have had very considerable influence upon them, with regard to figure and appearance. The features and outlines of the face are European, but the complexion, character, and modes of life are very different, and approach more to those of the native inhabitants of Java. A pale sickly languor overspreads the whole countenance. There is not the least tint of the rose to be seen in any cheek. While at home in their own houses, they dress like their slaves. Their clothes are made of the same red checkered cotton cloth, and consist chiefly of a long loose gown descending to the ancles, with large wide sleeves. They have no head-dress, but they wear their hair plaited and fixed behind with a silver bodkin, in the same manner as the Paysannes of the Valais, and of several of the cantons of Switzerland do. The colour of the hair is almost universally black. They never use powder, but wear chaplets of flowers, and anoint the hair with cocoa-nut oil to make it grow. They certainly have great abundance of it, and very long and flowing, but whether the cocoanut oil contributes any thing to this effect or not, it always gives the hair a greasy dirty look, and has a very disagreeable smell. While they sit in this manner in the midst of their female slaves, dressed as they are, employed in the same occupation, and conversing familiarly with them, a stranger does not easily distinguish them, and passes by without taking any further notice of them. A circumstance of this kind that happened to Mr. Maxwell and myself, embarrassed us a little. It was on the day we went to pay the visit to Mr. Engelhart, which has been mentioned before. Madame Engelhart, (who is the present governor-general's niece) and her daughter, by a former marriage, were sitting amidst their slaves in the portico behind the hall, and dressed exactly in the manner now described. After some conversation with Mr. Engelhart, we walked out to see the garden, stables, and other buildings behind the house; and we passed and repassed several times through the portico, without taking the smallest notice of madame or mademoiselle, whom we confounded with the group that surrounded them. We returned into the hall again, and were going to take leave of Mr. Engelhart, and go away. He said he must first present us to his wife and step-daughter. He went to the door and called them in. We thought we saw two slaves approaching before their mistresses; it was madame and mademoiselle, bareheaded, bare-necked, bare-legged, and bare-footed, clad in nothing but the loose red and blue-checkered night-gown. We made our bow, not a little surprised and embarrassed. The ladies curtseyed, spoke a few words to us, and then returned to their slaves. When the Batavian ladies go abroad in the cool of the evening, to pay visits, or take an airing in their carriages, and particularly when they go to their assemblies or evening parties, they dress magnificently. Still, however, they put no powder in their hair, but adorn their heads with a profusion of diamonds and jewels of various kinds, intermixed with chaplets of flowers, and particularly the leaves of the polyantha tuberosa and pandang. They have very rich gold and silver boxes, in which they carry their betel and areca, and various spices, which they mix with it. They first take one of the betel leaves, and spread ¡upon it a little slacked quick-lime and gambir, (which is the inspissated juice or extract of the cashew-nut;) they next take a piece of the areca nut, some bruised cardamomseeds, pepper, and tobacco, and, placing this composition over the gambir and quick-lime, they roll it up in the betel leaf, then wrap the whole in one or two more fresh leaves, and so put it into their mouths, and chew it constantly. This warm stimulating masticatory excites a flow of saliva tinged with the brown dirty colour of the gambir, which also overspreads their lips, teeth, and gums. Each of their areca boxes contains many small compartments for the different kinds of spices and other substances they make use of, and a knife, scissors, nippers, and other instruments for breaking the areca nut, and preparing it for being chewed. The ladies pretend the effect of these pungent fiery substances is to sweeten the smell of the breath, to strengthen the stomach, and give firmness and tone to the muscles and nerves. Each lady has a female slave or squaw that accompanies her wherever she goes, sits at her feet, and carries the areca box, and frequently prepares the quid for her mistress. In the parties or assemblies, when they find the heat disagreeable, they retire without any ceremony, undress themselves, put on loose cotton night-gowns, and return again into the hall, hardly recognisable by strangers. The gentlemen do the same, strip off their heavy velvets, and return in white cotton jackets, with loose sleeves. The Edelherrs, however, have generally diamond buttons to these jackets, and those a little advanced in years also put on their night-caps. Custom may reconcile these things, so as at last to make them appear indifferent, and especially in such climates as these, where every individual finds the benefit of a light loose dress, and pants for cooler air. But, with regard to the chewing the areca, it appears astonishing it should ever cease to appear disgusting to a European. Whatever real or pretended advantages the Batavian fair may derive from it, the appearance and practice are shocking and nauseous to a stranger; and instead of inviting passion, or increasing their charms, seem an invincible antidote against them.

This progressive change from the original European, and gradual approach to the complexion, character, and manners of the Aborigines of Java, would seem an argument in favour of the system of those philosophers who derive the whole of the human race from one common original stock, and make every variety of form, colour, and character, depend upon the influence of climate, local circumstances, and habits of life. Some of the wits of Batavia, however, pretend that the partialities and favours many of the ladies have been suspected of shewing to some of their male slaves, might very possibly come in for a modifying share of this physical effect. Women here are generally nubile between eleven and twelve years of age. They are soon ripe, and as soon decay. A woman before the thirtieth year of her age is accounted a femme passée. After bearing one or two children their whole frame is relaxed and debilitated. The husband seeks for another mistress, and the slighted wife looks for another lover. It sometimes happens that a mutual tacit consent supports this double economy; but more frequently the passion of jealousy and indignant revenge prevails over every other feeling; and often, it is said, the furious spouse has administered poison to the husband, whose sudden death has been ascribed to the usual violence of the malignant fevers of the country. It appears certain that the climate is by no means so fatal to the female sex as it is to the male. Women live much longer, and are more exempt from disease. There are many examples at Batavia of one woman having outlived six or seven husbands; and in general most married women there have passed through several widowhoods. The mistress of the hotel where we lodged had been six times married before, and the present landlord was her seventh husband. There was every reason to conclude from her embonpoint and healthier look, compared with his thin emaciated form, that she stood a fair chance of soon changing him for another successor. There are, however, several causes which contribute to this effect, and that account physically for the longer life and better health of the women in this country. The greatest number of them, though originally of European descent, are natives of the place, and naturalized to the climate and manners of the country. They accommodate themselves from their infancy to the situation in which they are placed. They lead a life of ease and quiet; they continue all day under the coolness of the shade, never stirring abroad or exposing themselves to the heat of the sun, or the action of those noxious miasmata which perpetually float around the country. They take no concern in business or commerce, and of course live unmolested by the cares, anxieties, and concerns of trade and public affairs. They make frequent use of the cold bath, and are