Page:Malay Annals.pdf/13

 leaves them much more open to receive new impressions, and adopt new examples. Whatever may have been their original religion, its character does not appear to have been deeply imprinted, and they have carried the same moderate and temperate spirit into their new faith. They have no knowledge of the odious distinction of castes, but mingle indiscriminately in all society. With a high reverence for ancestry, and nobility of descent, they are more influenced, and quicker discerners of superiority of individual talent, than is usual among people not far advanced in civilization. They are addicted to commerce, which has already given them a taste for luxuries, and this propensity they indulge to the utmost of their means. Among a people so unsophisticated, and so free from prejudices, it is obvious that a greater scope is given to the influence of example; that, in proportion as their intercourse with Europeans encreases, and a free commerce adds to their resources, along with the wants which will be created, and the luxuries supplied, the humanizing arts of life will also find their way, and we may antici-