Busuk’s long black hair had to be done up in a marvellous chignon on the top of
her head. First, her maids washed it beautifully clean with the juice of the lime
and the lather of the soap-nut; then it was combed and brushed until every hair
glistened like ebony; next it was twisted up and stuck full of the quaint golden
and tortoise-shell bodkins, with here and there a spray of jasmine and chumpaka.
Busuk’s milky-white teeth had to be filed off more than a fourth. She put her
head down on the lap of the woman and closed her eyes tight to keep back the
hot tears that would fall, but after the pain was over and her teeth were
blackened, she looked in the mirror at her swollen gums and thought that she
was very beautiful. Now she could chew the betel-nut from the box her mother
had given her!
The palms of her hands and the nails of her fingers and toes were painted red
with henna, and the lids of her eyes touched up with antimony. When all was
finished, they led her out into the great room, which was decorated with mats of
colored palm, masses of sweet-smelling flowers and maidenhair fern. There they
placed her in the chair of state to receive her relatives and friends.
She trembled a little for fear Mamat would not think her beautiful, but when, last
of all, he came up and smiled and claimed the bit of betel-nut that she was
chewing for the first time, and placed it in his mouth, she smiled back and was
very happy.
Then the kadi pronounced them man and wife in the presence of all, for is it not
written, “Written deeds may be forged, destroyed, or altered; but the memory of
what is transacted in the presence of a thousand witnesses must remain sacred?
Allah il Allah!” And all the people answered, “Suka! Suka!” (We wish it! We
wish it!)
Then Mamat took his seat on the dais beside the bride, and the punghulo passed
about the betel-box. First, Busuk took out a syrah leaf smeared with lime and
placed in it some broken fragments of the betel-nut, and chewed it until a bright
red liquid oozed from the corners of her mouth. The others did the same.
Then the women brought garlands of flowers—red allamandas, yellow