76 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



and fitting the head like our hats, only that the crown is 

 beneath the brim. 



Seeing these people for the first time, Europeans are apt 

 to be shocked, for the women wear no clothing above the 

 waist. With their darker skins, however, it is not so con- 

 spicuous as it would be otherwise ; at any rate one gets 

 used to it, as one does to many another strange sight, un- 

 pleasant ones, too, in many cases, among which I may 

 name their habit of attending to their own and their 

 children's hair in public. This they do in the most careful 

 manner, scrutinising every lock, chatting merrily the while, 

 not one whit disgusted, let alone surprised, at their findings ; 

 the surprise, indeed, would most surely lie the other way. 

 This is part of the daily toilet, never omitted, and per- 

 formed in the open at any time as they squat in the street 

 or, in the case of the more select, on their own small veran- 

 dahs. Children perform these kind offices for each other in 

 the intervals of play or squabbling. Not that these habits 

 are peculiar to Malabar ; you may see the same thing 

 going on in every bazaar street all day long all over India. 



While speaking thus slightingly of certain native customs, 

 it is but fair to mention others that are more pleasing, such 

 as their scrupulous care of their teeth. The first duty 

 taught to a child is attention to its little mouth and pearly 

 teeth. In that respect at least these primitive people 

 have nothing to learn, and a good deal to teach. The 

 brush used is a far better one than ours, being simply a 

 twig of a certain tree — the neem tree. 1 They cut a twig 

 a few inches long, scrape up one end, and as the wood is very- 

 fibrous, the brush is ready. These twigs have a refresh- 

 ingly clean taste, are astringent, and slightly bitter. I 

 have often used them, and preferred them, too, combining 

 as they do — with efficacy and agreeableness — the purposes 

 of both brush and powder. 



1 Or margosa, Melia Azadirachta. 



