In Java the labor of women is estimated about as high as that of men; and as they are generally industrious and frugal, they are quite independent of the other sex. Children are not deserted or neglected, as they are in many parts of Asia, because in Java it is very easy to support them, and to employ them profitably. Among the poor, it is common for the parents to drop their proper names on the birth of their first child, especially if it be a son: if the babe, as often happens, is called by such a name as The Handsome One, they are called the Father and Mother of The Handsome One. The birth of a child is celebrated by a feast of yellow rice, to which the relations are invited; but the name is not conferred with any religious ceremonies. A yearly festival is held in Java in honor of the dead. On these occasions, men, women, and children, dressed in their best clothing, repair to the burial-places and strew the tombs of their parents with flowers consecrated to that purpose. All the women in Java, from the princess to the peasant, weave and make the garments worn by their families. Men are accustomed to pride themselves on the beauty of the cloth woven by their wives and daughters. In every part of the island women may be seen spinning and weaving, on an elevated veranda in front of their bamboo cottages, protected from the sun by a projection of the roof. The Javanese are generally mild, respectful, and timid. They are said to have a pensive look, and their demeanor is somewhat elegant and insinuating. Women of the lower classes, being very much exposed to the influence of an intensely hot climate, become extremely ugly in their old age. With regard to complexion, they consider a golden yellow as the standard of perfection. One of their popular poets, describing a graceful woman, says, “Her neck was yellow as gold, her gait was gentle and majestic, like that of an elephant.” The Javanese have naturally very fine teeth, but they used to consider it a disgrace to let them remain “white, like a dog’s;” and at eight or nine years old, they were filed and died indelibly black, with a preparation made of burnt cocoa-nut. This is a painful operation, but was formerly considered so necessary, that when they wished to say a girl was past her childhood, they expressed it by saying, “She has had her teeth filed.” Some people of fantastic taste had them filed so as to resemble a saw. But Sir Stamford Raffles says the custom of filing the teeth in any way is now nearly out of fashion in Java.