SUMATRA. 
♦7 
filing does not, by deftroying what we term the enamel, diminiih the 
whitenefs of the teeth. The great nieii fometimes fet theirs in gold, by 
caling, with a plate of that metal^ the under row ; and this ornament, con- 
traftcd with the black dye, has, by hmp or candle light, a very fplendid 
effect. It is fometimes indented to the lliape of the teeth, but more 
ufiially quite plain. They do not remove it either to eat or fleep. 
At the age of about eight or nine, they bore the ears of the female 
children j which is a ceremony that nuift ncceifarily precede their mar- 
riage. This they call ' etenday^ as they call filing their teeth h£daho*fg; 
both which operations are regarded in the family, as the occasions of a 
feftivah They do not here, as in fome of the adjacent illands, (of 
Nias ia particular), encourage the aperture of the ear to a monftrous fize^ 
fo as in many inftanccs to Be large enough to admit the hand through, 
the lower parts being ftretched tiJl they touch the ihoulders- Their 
eatings are moftly of gold fillagrec, fattening, not with a clafp, but irt 
the manner of ftuds. 
Villages^ 
