But The Common People Have Very Little Knowledge Of Any
Religion, Only Saying That There Is A God Who Made Heaven And Earth And
All Things.
They say that God is good, and will not hurt them, but that
the devil is bad, and will do them harm; wherefore many of them are so
ignorant as to pray to him, for fear he should harm them.
Assuredly, if
there were here men of learning, and having a sufficient knowledge of
their language to instruct them, many of these ignorant people might be
drawn over to the true Christian faith, and civilized; for many with
whom I have conversed upon Christian laws have liked all very well,
except the prohibition of a plurality of wives, as they are all very
lascivious, both men and women.
The better sort of the Javanese, who are in authority, are great takers
of bribes; and all of them are bad payers when trusted, although their
laws for debt are so strict, that the creditor may take his debtor,
wives, children, slaves, and all that he hath, and sell them in
satisfaction of the debt. They are all much given to stealing, from the
highest to the lowest; and surely they were, in times past, canibals or
man-eaters, before they had trade with the Chinese, which some say is
not above a hundred years ago. They delight much in indolent ease and in
music, and for the most part spend the day sitting cross-legged like
tailors, cutting a piece of stick, by which many of them become good
carvers, and carve their criss handles very neatly; which is all the
work that most of them perform.
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