Here, as in all barbaric countries, the women are obliged to do the principal part of the work, and they may be seen walking in Indian file from the rice fields to the granary, each carrying on her head a large basket; the whole being under the guidance of a strapping Malay, who, from appearance, is anything but an easy taskmaster. We saw but very little of the unmarried females, except at a distance; they were, for the most part, engaged in weaving a cloth of alternate gaudy colors. On our approach the weavers would drop their work and run like deer. We examined their looms, and one who, at home, had been a weaver, said that they were on the same principle as our hand-looms. The reason ascribed for the timidity of the females was, that some years ago a Spanish vessel of war visited the town, and the crew, on getting ashore, indulging in anise until drunk, indiscriminately violated and otherwise maltreated the women. We could occasionally detect them peeping out, to have a look at us, from some secure retreat. No liberties could be taken, for the first two days, with any of them, when an acute fellow, moved by a spirit, not unlike Yankee speculation, procured prostitutes from an adjacent town; but he overshot his mark, as the liberty was then stopped, and those ashore on duty were not provided with available funds. There is a system of slavery here; and John showed me a woman, whom he said would die--indeed, she appeared in the last stages of disease--informing me at the same time that she had cost him eight dollars, but that he would sell her to me for three. Having no desire to be possessed of a human chattel in this part of the world, I declined his accommodating offer. I could not detect any difference in the races; both master and slave were, apparently, of one family. There are two Chinese merchants located here, who appear to monopolize the whole trade of the town; they had a mart filled with china ware, vermilion, cards, and various articles of Chinese manufacture; amongst which they displayed, as very desirable articles, some disgusting licentious paintings on glass--the workmanship and coloring displaying no mean artistic skill. They were eager to display their possessions, and showed us a large camphor-wood chest, filled with pice; but, although the natives were continually passing in and out, the merchants manifested no apprehension of theft; they seemed systematic in their business, and, like all Celestials, considered themselves the only civilized nation on the face of the globe. The houses the Malays inhabit are built of bamboo; the first floor is raised some six or eight feet from the ground, and the second about ten feet above the first; the floors are of split bamboo. These houses are airy and commodious; in the rainy season the inmates thatch the roof and cover the sides with mats, to protect themselves from the weather.