Both men and women file and blacken the teeth. When a boy or girl has
reached the age of puberty, it is time that this beautifying should be
done. There is, however, no prohibition to having it performed earlier
if desired. The candidate places his head against the operator and grips
a stick of wood between his teeth while each tooth is filed so as to
leave only the stump, or is cut or broken to a point (Plate XIIa and b).
When this has been successfully accomplished, what is left of the teeth
is blackened.
The color is obtained in two ways. The more common method is to place a
piece of metal on one end of a bamboo[8] tube, the other extremity of
which rests on glowing coals. The smoke from the charring bamboo is
conducted through the tube to the cold metal on which it leaves a
deposit or "sweat." This deposit is rubbed on the teeth, at intervals,
for several days until they become a shiny black. A second method is to
use a powder known as _tapEl_ which is secured from the _lamod_ tree.
The writer did not see this tree but, from the description given of it,
believes it to be the tamarindus. This powder is put on leaves and is
chewed. During the period of treatment the patient is under certain
restrictions. He may neither drink water, cook or eat anything sour, nor
may he attend a funeral. Should he do so his teeth will have a poor
color or be "sick." When the teeth have been properly beautified the
young man or woman is considered ready to enter society.
[8] A variety known as _balakayo_ is used for this purpose.
Boys run about quite nude until they are three or four years of age.
Until about the same age the girls' sole garment is a little pubic
shield, cut from a coconut shell and decorated with incised lines filled
with lime (Fig. 7). Not infrequently bells are attached to the sides of
this "garment." When children do begin to wear clothing their dress
differs in no respects from that of their elders.