Duarte Barbosa, in his account of the region, had described Javanese palang in excruciating detail. “They are very voluptuous,” he wrote of the inhabitants, “and have certain round hawk’s bells sewn and fastened in the head of their penis between the flesh and the skin in order to make them larger. Some have three, some five, and others seven. Some are made of gold and silver and others of brass, and they tinkle as the men walk. The custom is considered quite the proper thing. The women delight greatly in the bells, and do not like men who go without them. The most honored men are those who
...more
