612 Account of the Territory and Inhabitants [Dec. 



The Biddn ^Axj or midwife always attends on the occasions of 

 births ; her hire is about a dollar for the forty days, during which it is 

 customary for her to remain. 



The new arrival, being washed, &c. the father puts his mouth to 

 its ear, and pronounces the ^f jf Azdn, or " Allah Akbar." On the 

 seventh day, the ceremony of Bar Chukur £ ..^ j or shaving the 

 head is performed, together with the i^\j Fateheh, and AJy Maulood, 

 a form of prayer used at births. 



On the fortieth day, the woman performs the customary ablutions 

 and prayers, and is pronounced clean. 



The ceremony of ^Xxt <U* Lj Berasa Gigi, or filing the teeth, 

 takes place among women before the day fixed for the L^^Iia Antar 

 belanjd, i. e. the day on which it is customary for the bridegroom to 

 send the money for the marriage expences. 



It is performed by a woman with a species of fine stone, brought 

 generally from Achin, sometimes a fine steel file is substituted : the 

 patient reclines on her back, during the operation ; it lasts about an 

 hour, and has been described to me, as producing a peculiarly harsh 

 and unpleasant sensation, similar to that caused by the action of strong 

 mineral acids. The teeth are generally filed down about quarter of 

 their height. After the operation, the gums not unfrequently remain 

 in a swollen and painful state for two or three days. The Berasa Gigi 

 is performed on males at an uncertain period, but generally in early 

 age, and is, as Mr. Marsdkn observes, generally the occasion of some 

 family festival; as, also, is the ceremony of boring the females' ear. 



The Malays imagine the process of filing down the teeth as indispen- 

 sable to personal beauty ; together with the subsequent operation of 

 blackening them. This is done by the repeated application of a black 

 liquid termed Grang, obtained by burning cocoanut-shells on iron plates. 



Marriages are not contracted at so early an age as among the Mos- 

 lems of India, but, as there, the parties chiefly interested have least to 

 do in selecting their future partners for life. 



The alliance is first agreed on by the friends of both parties, gene- 

 rally the matrons. 



After this, a few friends of the bridegroom elect, wait upon the 

 bride's father, and present him with a ring and a small donation of 

 clothes; the marriage expences, which are paid by the man's friends, 

 are then agreed on. The Mahrj^ or marriage portion of the wife i3 

 also paid by the man, and ought to be always a tahil of gold, or silver or 

 some other less precious metal, according to his means*. It is usually 

 fixed at the time of performing the Ki Nikah, which is done by the 



* It is however generally thirty Serapie— a sum nearly equivalent tq 30 £Ugees>, 



