Both sexes constantly bathe themselves in the river at least once a-day, a practice which, in this hot country, is equally necessary both to personal delicacy and health.  The teeth of these people also, whatever they may suffer in their colour by chewing betel, are an object of great attention:  The ends of them, both in the upper and under jaw, are rubbed with a kind of whetstone, by a very troublesome and painful operation, till they are perfectly even and flat, so that they cannot lose less than half a line in their length.  A deep groove is then made across the teeth of the upper jaw, parallel with the gums, and in the middle between them and the extremity of the teeth; the depth of this groove is at least equal to one-fourth of the thickness of the teeth, so that it penetrates far beyond what is called the enamel, the least injury to which, according to the dentists of Europe, is fatal; yet among these people, where the practice of thus wounding the enamel is universal, we never saw a rotten tooth; nor is the blackness a stain, but a covering, which may be washed off at pleasure, and the teeth, then appear as white as ivory, which, however, is not an excellence in the estimation of the belles and beaux of these nations.

These are the people among whom the practice that is called a mock, or running a muck, has prevailed for time immemorial.  It is well known, that to run a muck, in the original sense of the word, is to get intoxicated with opium, and then rush into the street with a drawn weapon, and kill whoever comes in the way, till the party is himself either killed or taken prisoner; of this several instances happened while we were at Batavia, and one of the officers, whose business it is, among other things, to apprehend such people, told us, that there was scarcely a week in which he, or some of his brethren, were not called upon to take one of them into custody.  In one of the instances that came to our knowledge, the party had been severely injured by the perfidy of women, and was mad with jealousy before he made himself drunk with opium; and we were told, that the Indian who runs a muck is always first driven to desperation by some outrage, and always first revenges himself upon those who have done him wrong:  We were also told, that though these unhappy wretches afterwards run into the street with a weapon in their hand, frantic and foaming at the mouth, yet they never kill any but those who attempt to apprehend them, or those whom they suspect of such an intention, and that whoever gives them way is safe.  They are generally slaves, who indeed are most subject to insults, and least able to obtain legal redress:  Freemen, however, are sometimes provoked into this extravagance, and one of the persons who ran a muck while we were at Batavia, was free, and in easy circumstances.  He was jealous of his own brother, whom he first killed, and afterwards two others, who attempted to oppose him:  He did not, however, come out of his house, but endeavoured