receive honours and respect next to the prince himself.

Whatever, at former periods, may have been the extent and influence of the Hindu religion, Bali is now the only island in the Eastern Seas, in which that religion is still prevailing as the national and established religion of the country. That high spirit of enterprize which burst the bounds of the extensive confines of India, like the dove from the ark, rested its weary wing for a while in Java, till driven from thence it sought a refuge in Bali, where even amongst the rudest and most untutored of savages, it found an asylum. The four grand divisions of the Hindus are here acknow ledged, and the number of Bramana (Bramins) attached to the small state of B'liling exceeds four bundred, of whom about one hun. dred are termed Pandita.

Without entering into the particular tenets of the prevailing Hinduism of Bali, which can only be treated of with propriety and correctness after a more thorough acquaintance with the practical duties, and some knowledge of what is contained in their sacred records, it may be affirmed without hazard, that Hinduism, as it exists at the present day in Bali, is rather to be considered as the nationalized Hinduism of Bali, in which a large portion of the native institutions and customs are admitted, than Hinduism as it is understood to prevail on the continent of India. The Brahmins, however, are held in high veneration; and, on being questioned as to their doctrines and to what sect they belong, they answer invariably, they are Bramana Siwa,

They have the same appearance as Bramins wherever they are met with, and the Indian features at once distinguish them as descended from a foreign race. The town and small temples which we occasionally observed, have the appearance of a Maharatta village, and the eye is struck with every thing strictly Hindu, forming a most unexpected contrast with the present style of building and appearance of the country on passing through Java and the other Eastern Islands..

On inquiring into the relative rank and importance of their deities, they invariably described Bitara Guru as the first in rank; then Bitara Brama, the spirit of fire; Bitara Wisnu, the spirit of the waters; and lastly, Bitara Siwa, the spirit of the winds.

Beside these, they describe numerous subordinate deities, to` whom they pay adoration; as Dewa Gid'e Segara, the divinity of the great sea; Dewa Gid'e Dalam, the divinity who presides over death; Gid'e Bali Agung, the great and popular deity of Bali ; Dewa Gid'e Gunning Agung, the great deity of the mountain ; which last is the deity of most general worship.

Bitara Guru, though considered as the highest object of worship, is declared to be subordinate to, and only the mediator with the divinity, whom they designate by the expressive and appropriate term of Sang Yang Tung'gal, THE GREAT AND ONLY ONE.

The bodies of deceased persons are invariably burnt, and the wives and concubines of the higher classes perform the sacrifice of Satia. A few days pre

vious to my landing on Bali, nineteen young women, the wives and concubines of the younger rajah, who was lately put to death, sacrificed themselves in this manner.

The written language of Bali differs but little from that of Java; but the character has a more ancient form. The Kawi is the sacred language, and understood or pretended to be understood by the Bramins. The common language is a mixture of the original language of the country and that of Java, in which the latter predominates.

Deferring until another occasion a more particular review of the religion, institutions and habits of this people, I will, for the present confine myself to such observations as occur on the contemplation of the peculiar and extraordinary character they exhibit for the Balinese differs widely both in appearance and character from the Javan, and indeed from every other inhabitant of the Archipelago.

The natives of Bali are about the middle size of Asiatics; larger and more athletic than the Javans or Malays, and possessed of an air of independence different altogether from the appearance of their more polished neighbours on the coast of Java. The women, in particular, are well proportioned. They seem to be on a perfect equality with the men. They are not secluded from society; and their general intercourse with strangers, even Europeans, is frank and cheerful. They are fairer than the women in Java; and, wearing no covering above the waist, the natural

beauty and symmetry of their shape is neither restrained nor concealed.

There are two kinds of slavery existing in Bali, and sanctioned by the laws of the country. The first is termed "paniak;" by which is understood a perfect state of slavery; the second,

kowang," which resembles the condition of the slave-debtor in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. "Paniac" is synonimous with "humba" among the Malays, and signifies a slave. The master has complete possession of his person; and may lawfully transfer and punish with death, according to his will and pleasure, it being contrary to usage for the prince to interfere. In the mode of acquiring this absolute property there appears to be but little restriction. Prisoners taken in war, or families carried off from their countries, are daily sold and transferred; the deed of tran-fer, called in Bali, “ padol," being authenticated by the Tumung gung. In cases where an outrage is committed in a neighbouring state in alliance, application from the injured party, transmitted through the proper chief, will cause the persons to be restored, and the perpetrators of the outrage are liable to the punishment of death; but, in cases where the countries are not immediately in alliance, or when the parties carried off from a friendly state happen to want friends to make application in their favour, no notice is taken of such occurrences If a free man wishes to marry a female slave, he may obtain her by purchase, provided he can agree with the proprietor; otherwise, he

may

may be admitted to marry her on condition that he becomes a servant with her: this second degree of slavery comes under the title of rowang." Persons convicted of offences not of the first magnitude, are generally sold for slaves by the prince, or taken to serve him as such. The term "rowang" is used to express the second, or modified degree of slavery. If a man happens to be indebted, and without the means of payment (the debt exceeding ten dollars) he may be sold by the Jaxa, and the amount for which he is disposed of is appropriated to repay his creditor; the surplus being divided between the prince, the jaxa, and the creditor, as a recompense for their trouble: the man sold in this manner becomes a rowang. This state of servitude embraces every feature of slavery, excepting that the rowang cannot be sold, put to death, nor sent out of the country. If a rowang wishes to marry, he may do so on receiving his master's consent, but the woman becomes a rowang also. But the rowang possesses this advantage, that he may redeem himself at any time, by paying the amount of the debt, or the money may be advanced for him; so that his condition is that of a debtor bound to serve his creditor until the amount of his debt is discharged. In the event of the debt not amounting to ten dollars, the party cannot be sold; but the jaxa will order the goods and property of the debtor to be disposed of, and an obligation to be given for the payment of the remainder whenever his circumstances may admit. A person in

debted to another, and unable to pay, may make over his wife and children to the creditor, who, in such case, will become rowangs; and, on eventual payment of his debt, he may demand back his family,

In marriage, the dowry established by custom, for all persons of equal rank, is forty dollars, to be paid to the parents of the bride; but as it happens, in many cases, that the husband is unable to pay this sum, he becomes indebted to the parents for the amount, and this constitutes a third branch of slavery, under the term Tatung'gon. The man and wife reside in the house of the bride's father, and the man performs service in attendance on the family, or in assisting in the cultivation of the land. When the husband is enabled to pay the dowry, he is then at liberty to quit the father's house, and to maintain an independent establishment, under the term of

Orang Merdika," or freeman. If the new-married man, however, behaves to the satisfaction of his wife's family, it often happens, that after a certain time, the father-in-law consents to remit the whole or part of the dowry, according to the circumstances of the parties.

The punishments for crimes are death, confinement, and selling into slavery; neither torture to obtain confession, mutilation, nor even corporal punishment are used. Theft and robbery are punished with death; and, for murder, treason, and gang robbery, in aggravated cases, the punishment of death is inflicted

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posing that portion of the globe which is comprehended within Polynesia and Austral Asia, our attention is arrested by the striking uniformity in habits and language which prevails throughout; and which induces the inference, either of one common origin, or of early and very general intercourse.

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Such customs as the singular practice of filing the teeth and dying them black, noticed by the authors who have written Pegu, Siam, Camboja and Tonquin, and prevailing generally throughout the whole Malayan archipelago; the practice of distending the perforated lobe of the ear to an enormous size, noticed in like manner to exist in the same parts of the peninsula, and prevailing throughout the Archipelago, in a greater or less degree in proportion with the extension of Islamism; the practice of tattooing the body, noticed among the Burmans and people of Laos, common to many tribes in Borneo, and particularly distinguished in some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean, betray a common original; and if it is recollect ed that this custom, as well as that of plucking the beard, was noticed in South America, the question may arise, in what course or direction the tide of population has flowed. In a recent publication, an idea has been started, in reference to the similarity of the languages, that the population of the Philippines and of the islands in the South Sea originally emigrated from America. It will not be required of me to go into any description of those singular appendages to the virile member,

noticed by the writers on Pegu, Siam and Camboja, and adopted among many tribes of Borneo and the Moluccas. Whatever may have been the origin of this very singular custom, traces are to be found, even in Java of the veneration in which it once was held. The practice of triumphing over a subdued enemy may be common to the barbarous state in general; but the deliberate system of manhunting, in order to procure heads as a trophy of manliness and military gallantry, however it may have originated in this feeling of uncivilized nature, may be ranked among the peculiarities of this portion of the globe.

The language of the different tribes of Borneo is ascertained to bear a strong resemblance to that of the scattered tribes of Camboja, Champa and Laos. The position maintained by Mr. Marsden, that the Malayan is a branch or dialect of the widely extended language prevailing through the islands of the Archipelago to which it gives name, as well as those of the South Sea, appears to be established and confirmed as our information advances; and, if we except the Papuas, and scattered tribes having curled hair, we find the general description given of the persons of the Siamese and the ruder population of the adjacent countries, which have not admitted any considerable admixture from the Chinese, to come very near to the inhabitants of the Archipelago, who, in fact, may be said to differ only in being of a smaller size, and in as far as foreign colonization and intercourse may have changed thein.

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