e ceremonies of
gluttony. He spends his whole time in eating and drinking with his
women, or in cock-fighting. Such is the king, and such are his subjects;
for the whole land is entirely given to such habits of enjoyment.

[Footnote 40: _Areka_ is the nut, and _betel_ the leaf in which it is
wrapped, along with _chunam_, or lime, called _sharp-chalk_ in the
text.--E.]

While, in all parts of Christendom, it is the custom to uncover the head
in token of reverence, it is here the direct contrary; as, before any
man can come into, the presence of this king, he must put off his shoes
and stockings, coming before him bare-footed and bare-legged, holding
his hands joined over his head, bowing his body, and saying _dowlat_;
which duty performed, he sits down, cross-legged, in the king's
presence. The state is governed by five principal officers, his
secretary, and four others, called _sabandars_, in whom are all the
authority of government, and who have inferior officers under them. The
will of the king is the law: as there seemed to be no freemen in all the
land, the lives and properties of all being at the king's pleasure. In
punishing offenders, he makes no man happy by death, but orders their
hands and feet to be cut off, and then banishes them to an island called
_Pulo Wey_. When any one is condemned to die, he is either trodden to
death by elephants, or empaled. Besides those in jails, many prisoners
in fetters are seen going about the town. The king has three wives, and
many concubines, who are very closely kept, and his women are his chief
counsellors.

The king has many gallies, an hundred, as I think, some of them so large
as to carry four hundred men. These are all made like wherries, very
long, narrow, and open, without deck, forecastle, or poop, or any upper
works whatever. Instead of oars, they have paddles, about four feet
long, made like shovels, which they hold in their hands, not resting
them on the gunwales, or in row-locks, as we do. The gallies have no
ordnance; yet with these he holds all his neighbours under subjection.
His admiral is a woman, as he trusts no man with that high office. Their
weapons are bows and arrows, javelins, swords, and targets, having no
defensive armour, and fighting entirely naked. They have a great many
pieces of brass ordnance, which they fire lying on the ground, using no
carriages. Some of these are the greatest I ever saw, and the metal of
which they are made is said to b