Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-06
HE HOUSES ARE OF BOARDS A LEAVE

Settlements or the Dutch East Indies.
These people do not believe in laying up
money where moth and rust will cor
rupt. They want only enough to support
life, to dress in good style and to give a
feast when their children are married
Their needs are few. and when supplied
they lay off until want comes. Some OF
the rulers tell me they cannot get their
own subjects to work their plantations
and the Sultan of JohOre. who governs
the state on the mainland opposite Singa-
pore. says that he has to get Chinese
coolies to DO his work, for his own men
will not labor.
/ have visited some of the Malay vii
lagos. Their houses are scattered about
under the trees near the roads They are
usually huts about fifteen feet square.
made of bambooS or boards with a thatch
of palm leaves. The average house has
only one or two rooms. the people eating
or sleeping where the cooking is done.
Their kitchen furniture is an iron pan
and a cocoanut ladle, with perhaps pot
for their soups and stewS. The bed s
mat spread the floor, and the family
sprawl there at full length while resting
The people of the interior live not unlike
the poorer classes of our Philippine Is
lands, and their customs are much the
same. Nearly every one chews the betel
nut. and men, women and children smoke
cigarettes and cigars. | have seen girls
of five and six with cigarettes in their
mouths. and the babies are taught 70
smoke by tie time tHey are aDl6 10 crawl.
AS to the betel habit, this is universal
1t consists of chewing the nut of the
Arepa palm mixed with tobacco and lime
AS the people chew they spit, and their
saliva is the color of blood. The nabit
turns the teeth black, swells the tongue
and putfs out the lips and makes chem
crack. The chewing is said to take away
hunger and fatigue, and the habit once
acquired is seldom broken. L see cid
women pounding the nuts to powder
that thew maStaafa them hot
their toothless gums. The better classes
have betel SpittoonS, and betel boxes for
the lime. leaves and nuts. Some high Off
Gals have their chewing rnaids-Sirls who
carry about the hetel sets. and offer the
delicious materials to them from time TO
time presenting the spittoons at inter-
walls.
These Malays, like our Moros, are Mo-
hammedans. They study the Koran, keep
Ramazan, and if they can afford it have
several wives. The girls are especially
fine looking. They have light brown
skins, long black hair and beautiful
ewes Their noses are inclined to be fiat,
but their teeth are like pearls where they
are not betel chewers. and they have
high foreheads and good faces. Many
have small waists. small hands and small
feet with square toes.
They are sometimes married at four
teen, but the more common age is from
seventeen to twenty. The parents ar
range the marriages, and the wedding is
long, tedious and expensive. Wedding
presents are usually in money, and it is
expected that every guest will give what
he can.
After the marriage the husband fire.
auently leaves his wife with her parents
for several months, and then takes her
home He is expected to have one house
for each wife. and it is his duty to treat
each of his four wives alike, and to divide
UP his time equally among them. If he