By the custom of the country, good food and lodging are ordered to be provided for all strangers and travellers arriving at a village; and in no country are the rights of hospitality more strictly enjoined by institutions, or more conscientiously and religiously observed by custom and practice. "It is not sufficient," say the Javan institutions, "that a man should place good food before his guest; he is bound to do more: he should render the meal palatable by kind words and treatment, to soothe him after his journey, and to make his heart glad while he partakes of the refreshment." This is called _bójo krómo_, or real hospitality. The chewing of betel-leaf (_síri_), and the areka-nut (_pínang_), as well as of tobacco (_tambáko_), and _gámbir_, is common to all classes. The _síri_ and _pínang_ are used much in the same manner as by the natives of India in general. These stimulants are considered nearly as essential to their comfort, as salt is among Europeans. The commonest labourer contrives to procure at least tobacco, and generally _síri_; and if he cannot afford a _síri_ box, a small supply will be usually found in the corner of his handkerchief. Cardamums and cloves compose part of the articles in the síri box of a person of condition. The inhabitants of Java, as a nation, must be accounted sober; although Europeans, in order to serve their own purposes, by inducing some of the chiefs to drink wine to excess, have succeeded, to a certain extent, in corrupting the habits of some individuals in this respect. Two kinds of fermented liquor are however prepared by the Javans, called _bádek_ and _bróm_: the former from rice; the latter almost exclusively from _kétan_ or glutinous rice. In making _bádek_, the rice previously boiled is stewed with a ferment called _rági_, consisting of onions, black pepper, and capsicum, and mixed up into small cakes, which are daily sold in the markets. After frequent stirring, the mixture is rolled into balls, which are piled upon each other in a high earthen vessel, and when fermentation has commenced the _bádek_ exudes and is collected at the bottom. The remaining rice, strongly impregnated with the odour of fermentation, has a sweetish taste, and is daily offered for sale in the markets as a dainty, under the name of _tapé_. _Bádek_ is, in comparison with _bróm_, a simple liquor, producing only slight intoxication: it is often administered to children to dislodge worms from the intestines. In making _bróm_, the _kétan_ is boiled in large quantities, and being stewed with _rági_, remains exposed in open tubs till fermentation takes place, when the liquor is poured off into close earthen vessels. It is generally buried in the earth for several months, by which the process of fermentation is checked and the strength of the liquor increased: sometimes it is concentrated by boiling. The colour is brown, red, or yellow, according to the kind of _kétan_ employed. _Bróm_, which has been preserved for