36 TEETH BLACKING AMONGST THE MALAYS. 



The coconut shell "baja " is produced as follows. A fire is 

 made ou the ground or the cooking place, and a piece of well 

 dried coconut shell laid on it, when this has become ignited it is 

 removed quickly from off the fire, placed on the ground and 

 rapidly covered over with the half of a coconut shell having a 

 hole in the bottom of it. This at once extinguishes the flame 

 and there issues from the orifice of the shell a jet of smoke. In 

 this jet is held, in a slanting position, a piece of cold iron, on 

 which the vapourous parts of the smoke condense into a black 

 fluid, which runs down the iron and drips off its lower end into 

 a shell or small cup placed to catch it. It is this fluid which is 

 the "baja" of the Malays. When the smoke stops, the piece of 

 coconut shell is again placed on the fire, ignited and the process 

 repeated three or four times, luitil the whole of the shell is 

 reduced to charcoal. A fresh piece is then taken, and so on. 

 To produce about one half of a fluid ounce of "baja" ten to 

 twelve coconut shells are required. 



The covering coconut shell and the cold iron form a 

 simple and ingenious still and condenser, and the products 

 of the destructive distillation of the shell are obtained quite 

 easily. 



To prepare " baja " from wood is a more troublesome process, 

 though it is quite as primitive. Many sorts of v/ood are used, 

 and specimens of the following kinds are in the Museum 

 collection: — Mangis, the mangosteen (Garcinnia majigostana) ; 

 Langsat (Lanslum domesticuni) ; Poyaii, a small tree; Perpara, 

 a small tree ; Pekau Utan, a white flowered climber ; Berasah, a 

 sort of orange ; Dada Kurau, a small tree with large leaves 

 which grows in the padi fields ; Seringan, a bush, the leaves of 

 which are \ised to stuff pillows ; Derom, a small tree ; Kadudu, 

 thePenang strawberry {Melastoma malabathi-icum) ; Rotan Seger 

 {Calamus sp.) ; Jeruu, a bush (Sida rhomhoefolia) ; Perpulut, a 

 bush (TJrena lohata.) ; Trong Blanda, a bush (Solanum sp.) ; 

 Limau Kuasit, a sort of orange ; Sarapat, a bush. 



There are said to be some hundred or more different kinds 

 of plants which can be used for this purpose. It would appear 

 that nearly any wood may be used, if it is fairly hard and has 

 pith in the centre of the young wood. 



The sticks, which may be of any size, from half to one inch 

 diameter and two to three feet long, are stripped of their bark 

 and put on the " para " or rack over the cooking place in a Malay 

 house, to dry. They are allowed to remain there until they are 

 quite dry, when they are ready for use. 



