As to the origin of the custom, the Sĕmang unanimously declare that the patterns of the combs were the invention of the god Plê for themselves, and were not borrowed from any other folk. In former times the combs had only three teeth. The teeth are merely a means for fastening. The men wear no combs as their hair is kept short. Their magical remedies are the gor’s and gar’s. They say that in very ancient times women carried bamboo sticks on which were cut the whole seventy disease patterns. The gi were stuck in the girdle.
The diseases for which the combs are effective attack women only, and these, the men say, are mostly imaginary. Illnesses which attack both men and women are kept off by the quivers and blow-pipes (sumpit) of the men, as the women are generally not very far off from the men.
The handle of a typical comb is divided into eight transverse bands, each of which has its own name. Above the broad central band (tîn-wêg) are four narrow bands, while below it are three narrow bands. The first and second band of the upper series are called respectively wâs and pâwêr. The uppermost line, above wâs, is called tĕpî, the lowest line below the eighth band (nos), and immediately above the teeth, is called mos.
Fig. 117.—Blossom of an Ixora; from Stevens.
Wâs and pâwêr are the protecting figures, whose charm keeps off the diseases. Tĕpî, pâwêr and mos are also parts of a flower, wâs is the scent, the stamens and pistil are called tĕpî, the line in the comb above the wâs band has the same name, the lengthened tube above the green calyx is known as pâwêr and the calyx as mos. Two jungle flowers now serve as pâwêr, one a kind of Ixora, but the botanical name of the other has not been identified.
