Hamilton’s account op the east indies. 4*5

foofe on the top of their heads. Their bodily garb is a frock of cotton cloth or filk,made meet for their bodies, and the arms of their frock ftretched clofe on the arm,the lower part of the frock reaching half-thigh down.. Under the frock they have afcarf or lurigee doubled fourfold, made fall about their middle, which reaches almoftto the ancle, fo contrived, that at everydlep they make, as they walk, it opens before,and (hews the right leg and part of the thigh.

This fafhion of petticoats, they fay, is very ancient, and was firft contrived by a cer-tain Queen of that country, who was grieved to fee the men fo much addicted to fodomy,that they neglericd the pretty ladies. She thought that by the fight of a pretty leg andplump thigh, the men might be allured from that abominable cuilom, and place theiraffections on proper objects, and according to the ingenious Queen’s conjecture, thatdrefs of the lungee had its defired end, and now the name of fodomy is hardly knownin that country.

The women are very courteous and kind to ftrangers, and are very fond of marryingwith Europeans, and moll part of the ftrangers who trade thither, marry a wife for theterm they ftay. The ceremony is, (after the parties are agreed) for the bride’s parentsor neareft friends or relations, to make a feaft, and invite her friends and the bride-groom’s, and at the end of the feaft, the parent, or bride-man, afketh them both beforethe company, if they are content to cohabit together as man and wife, and both de-claring their confent, they are declared by the parent or friend to be lawfully married:and if the bridegroom has an houfe, he carries her thither, but if not, they have a bedprovided in the houfe where they are married, and are left to their own diferetion howto pafs away the night.

They prove obedient and obliging wives, and take the management of affairs withindoors wholly in their own hands. She goes to market for food, and a£fcs the cook indrefling his victuals, takes care of his clothes, in wafting and mending them ; if theirhufbands have any goods to fell, they fet up a ft op and fell them by retail, to a muchbetter account than they could be fold for by wholefale, and fome of them carry a cargoof goods to the inland towns, and barter for goods proper for the foreign markets thattheir hufbands are bound to, and generally bring fair accounts of their negotiations.If fte proves falfe to her hufband’s bed, and on fair proof conviried, her hufbandftay carry her to the Rounday, and have her hair cut, and fold for a Have, and hemay have the money ; but if the hufband goes aftray, fte will be apt to give him a gentledofe, to fend him into the other world a facrifice to her refentment.

If fte proves prolific, the children cannot be carried out of the kingdom without theKing’s permiflion, but that may be purchafed for 40 or 50I. fterling ; and if an irre-concileable quarrel happen where there are children, the father is obliged to take careof the boys, and the mother of the girls. If a hufband is content to continue the mar-riage, whilft he goes to foreign countries about his affairs, he muft leave fome fund topay her about 6s. 8d. per month, otherwife at the year’s end fte may marry again ; but,if that fumis paid her on his account, fte is obliged to ftay the term of three years, andfte is never the worfe, but rather the better looked on, that fte has been married to feveralEuropean hufbands.

Chap. XXXVII. —Gives an Account of the Pegu Clergy ; their Charity , &c. ; theirTemples , and the Reafon why they are fo numerous , and their Trials by Ordeal; theFertility of the Country, and the Ceremony in burning the Corpfeof an High Priefl.

THE Pegu clergy are the beft obfervers of the rules of morality and charity that I-have met with in my travels, and the people are pious and hofpitable. There are valtvol. viii. , 3 1 numbers