The King Came Aboard Again, Bringing Four Principal Women Along With
Him, Who Were Attired In Silken Gowns, Overlapped In Front, And Girt
Round Them.
Their legs were bare, except that they had half buskins
bound about their insteps with silk ribbon.
Their hair was very black
and long, tied up in a knot on the crown, in a very comely manner, no
part of their heads being shaven, like the men. They had comely faces,
hands, and feet, with clear white complexions, but wanting colour, which
they supplied by art. Their stature was low, but they were very fat, and
their behaviour was very courteous, and not ignorant of the respect due
according to their fashions. The king requested that no person might
remain in the cabin except myself and my linguist, who was a native of
Japan, brought along with me from Bantam. He was well skilled in the
Malay language, in which he explained to me what was said by the king,
in Japanese. The women were at first somewhat bashful, but the king
desired them to be frolicsome. They sung several songs, and played on
certain instruments, one of which resembled our lute, being bellied like
it, but longer in the neck, and fretted like ours, but had only four gut
strings. They fingered with their left hands, as is done with us, and
very nimbly; but they struck the strings with a piece of ivory held in
the right hand, as we are in use to play with a quill on the citern.
They seemed to delight much in their music, beating time with their
hands, and both playing and singing by book, prickt on lines and spaces
much like our own.
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