pious and abominable. Hence they mostly pass their lives in peace and leisure. Robberies and murders are quite unknown among them. No one may speak to the king but his wives and children, except at a distance by hollow canes, which they apply to his ear, and through which they whisper what they have to say. They think that at death men have no perception as they had none before they were born. Their houses are small, built of wood and earth, covered partly with rubble and partly with palm-leaves. It is ascertained that there are twenty thousand houses in the city of Porne. They marry as many wives as they can afford to keep; they eat birds and fish; make bread of rice; and drink a liquor drawn from the palm tree—of which we have spoken before. Some carry on trade with the neighbouring islands, to which they sail in junks, some are employed in hunting and shooting, some in fishing, some in agriculture: their clothes are made of cotton. Their animals are nearly the same as ours, excepting sheep, oxen, and asses: their horses are very slight and small. They have a great supply of camphor, ginger, and cinnamon. On leaving this island our men, having paid their respects to the king, and propitiated him by presents, sailed to the Moluccas, their way to which had been pointed out to them by the king. Then they came to the coast of the island of Solo,[1] where they heard that pearls were to be found as large as doves' eggs, or even hens' eggs, but that they were only to be had in very deep water. Our men did not bring home any single large pearl, as they were not there at the season of the year for pearl-fishing. They said however that they found an oyster there
- ↑ Probably Yolo, certainly one of the Sulu islands.—Stevens.
