Page 23 - Malay sketches

THE REAL MALAY
she is about five years old. From then, she is
taught to help in the house and kitchen, to sew, to
read and write, perhaps to work in the padi field,
but she is kept out of the way of all strange men-
kind. When fifteen or sixteen, she is often almost
interesting ; very shy, very fond of pretty clothes
and ornaments, not uncommonly much fairer in
complexion than the Malay man, with small hands
and feet, a happy smiling face, good teeth, and
wonderful eyes and eyebrows the eyes of the little
Malay boy. The Malay girl is proud of a wealth
of straight, black hair, of a spotless olive com-
of the arch of her brow " like a
plexion, one-day-
old moon " of the curl of her eyelashes, and of the
dimples in cheek or chin.
Unmarried girls are taught to avoid all men
those related to them. Until mar-
except nearly
it is considered unmaidenly for them to raise
riage,
their eyes or take any part or interest in their
surroundings when men are present. This leads to
an affectation of modesty which, however over-
strained, deceives nobody.
After marriage, a woman gets a considerable
amount of freedom which she naturally values. In
Perak a man, who tries to shut his womenkind up
and prevent their intercourse with others and a
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