Now this Pangeran, or Prince, was the owner or proprietor of the nest-caves; and Datoo and his sons, his born vassals, were keepers and guards of the caves against robbers, and, as such, bound to render Prabu any aid he might require whenever he came upon a nest-gathering expedition. At the question Datoo appeared at first a little surprised, but he answered,—
“The Strong-one and the Weak-one are in the forest, hunting the buffalo, and will return in time to render aid to the noble Prabu. But let my worthy friend delight his heart and please his eye, for the Handsome One[A] is here to welcome her betrothed;” and the frown vanished from our captain’s brow, as a girl, pretty for a Javanese, but yellow as saffron, entered the room, when he arose, and, having addressed to her some very pretty words, saluted by—well, not kissing, but smelling her cheek.
The remainder of the day was spent in preparing for our expedition the next morning. At night we slept together in the same room. As, however, it was the first moment since entering the house we had seen Prabu alone, Martin mischievously said:
“Prabu, you sly dog! you never told us you had a sweetheart.” But our captain was sullen, and replied not. Determined, however, to have his joke, Martin continued: “The Handsome One is a beauty lovely as the houris of Mahomet’s Paradise; but she is very young—almost a child, Prabu.”
“She has had her teeth filed,” replied our captain; but with that answer my brother was compelled to rest content, for he would say no more. But I must explain.
This ugly custom of blackening the teeth is common with the Asiatics, but it is the natives of the Archipelago alone who also file them. The practice as far as regards the men, is equivalent among Americans to throwing aside the boy’s dress and assuming that of the man; and with the women, to that, perhaps, of our young ladies making their first appearance at public places. But it is always a preparation for marriage.
The operation is confined chiefly to the upper canine teeth, the edges of which are filed down and rendered perfectly even, while the body of the tooth is rendered concave.
The person about to be operated upon is thrown upon his or her back, and an old woman—a professor of the art—grinds the teeth into the desired form with a piece of pumice-stone. An indelible black is easily given, after the loss of the enamel, by the application of an oily carbon, procured by burning the shell of the cocoa-nut. The two middle upper canine teeth are left white, and sometimes covered with a plate of gold—the contrast which they form, in either case, with the jet-black of their neighbors being looked upon as highly becoming. A few individuals, more whimsical than the rest, have the teeth filed into the appearance of a saw.
Thus, not only to be in the fashion, but to be regarded as a real beauty, a Javanese must have his teeth properly filed and blackened; for, say they, “men and women ought not to have teeth like dogs and monkeys.” And this saying, perhaps, suggests that the ugly institution had its origin in a rude effort of improvement, on the part of the first savage tribe that began it, to distinguish itself from the beasts of the field and those ruder than themselves, who nearly resembled the former. Crawford gives us the following anecdote, illustrative of Javanese public opinion upon this “mode”:
“After the young Sultan of Java had had his teeth duly filed and blackened, according to custom, one of the chiefs asked me, with perfect earnestness, if I did not think his highness’s looks very much improved, and was surprised that I did not agree with him. When the elder son of the Chief of Samarang—one of the very interesting youths who were educated at Calcutta—visited Bali, the Rajah of Blelleng, one of the sovereigns of that island, was informed of the circumstance, and asked his opinion of him. He approved of his looks, manners and conversation; but added, ‘it was a thousand pities his teeth were white!’”