is generally turned upside down and left there; but if they are well-to-do, the
locks are usually sent to Mecca in charge of a pilgrim, who casts them on his
arrival into the well Zemzem.”
I will now describe the ceremony of filing or “sharpening” the teeth, from notes
taken by myself during the actual ceremony (20th March, 1897).
The youth whose teeth I saw filed must have been quite fifteen or sixteen years
of age, and had not long before undergone the rite of circumcision. When I
arrived I found the house newly swept and clean, and all the accessories of the
ceremony already prepared. These latter consisted of a round tray (dulang)
containing the usual bowl of rice-paste (tĕpong tawar), with the brush of
leaves,^39 three cups (containing different sorts of rice), an egg,^40 three rings of
precious metals (gold, silver, and amalgam), a couple of limes, and two small
files (to which a small tooth-saw and two small whetstones should be added).^41
The ceremony now commences: the tooth-filer (Pawang gigi) first scatters the
three sorts of rice and sprinkles the tĕpong tawar upon his instruments, etc.,
repeating the proper charm^42 at the same time; the patient meanwhile, and
throughout the operation, reclining upon his back on the floor with his head
resting on a pillow. Next the Pawang, sitting beside the patient, “touches” the
patient’s teeth, first with each of the three rings of precious metal and then with
the egg, throwing each of these objects away as he does so, and repeating each
time a charm (Hu, kata Allah, d. s. b.), which is given in the Appendix. Next he
props open (di-sĕngkang) the patient’s mouth by means of a dried areca-nut, and
repeats another charm (Hei, Bismi) in order to destroy the “venom” of the steel,
laying the file upon the teeth,^43 and drawing it thrice across them at the end of
the charm. He then cuts off (di-k’rat) the crowns of the teeth (with one of the
files), smooths their edges (di-papar) with one of the whetstones, and polishes
them (mĕlechek). During the whole of this part of the performance, which is a
trying ordeal to witness, although it is borne with the utmost fortitude on the part
of the sufferer, the latter holds a small mirror in front of his mouth in order to be
assured that the operation is progressing to his satisfaction. When the actual
filing is over, the areca-nut is extracted, and a piece of cocoa-nut husk or small
block of pulai wood inserted in its stead, in order to facilitate the proper
polishing of the now mutilated teeth. This latter part of the operation is
accomplished by means of the file, a small piece of folded white cloth protecting