Title
A Voyage to the East Indies: Page 40
Description
remedy this Defect by Anointing their Bodies, and those of their Children from the first Hour of their Birth, till they grow old, wth. a Composition of Soot, Grease, & Dung. Their Apparell generally consists of a sheep skin with which they cover their Backs & Part of their Buttocks, turning the hairy side inwards or outwards according as the Weather[?]; this with an Artificial Cape of the same Kind of Ingredients as mention’d before, dried on their Heads in the Sun, compose the dress of the Males; The Women are habited in the same Manner except that they wear an additional small Robe, made of the Skin of some soft Animal. Their Garments are fasten’d to their Bodies by Thongs of the same Kind. They have many Customs amongst them too horrid to be related & so incredible, that was I to relate them, Persons unacquainted therewith, would imagine I was using the Privilege of a Traveller. However they are described by several Authors & by some, Accurately. When the Dutch first settled here, they met with great opposition from the Natives, who were very numerous, & might under proper Management have prevented, any european Power from making a Settlement in the Country; but their own Inaptitude to Mas[?]uævres of this sort, join’d to the Artifice of the Dutch, have effectually subdued them, & the present [end page 40]
