Chapter 68 - Page 2

return.

In Valapee, prevails not the barbarous Hindoo custom of offering up
widows to the shades of their lords; for, bereaved, the widows there
marry again. Nor yet prevails the savage Hawaiian custom of offering
up teeth to the manes of the dead; for, at the decease of a friend,
the people rob not their own mouths to testify their woe. On the
contrary, they extract the teeth from the departed, distributing them
among the mourners for memorial legacies; as elsewhere, silver spoons
are bestowed.

From the high value ascribed to dentals throughout the archipelago of
Mardi, and also from their convenient size, they are circulated as
money; strings of teeth being regarded by these people very much as
belts of wampum among the Winnebagoes of the North; or cowries, among
the Bengalese. So, that in Valapee the very beggars are born with a
snug investment in their mouths; too soon, however, to be appropriated
by their lords; leaving them toothless for the rest of their days, and
forcing them to diet on poee-pudding and banana blanc-mange.

As a currency, teeth are far less clumsy than cocoanuts; which, among
certain remote barbarians, circulate for coin; one nut being
equivalent, perhaps, to a penny. The voyager who records the fact,
chuckles over it hugely; as evincing the simplicity of those
heathens; not knowing that he himself was the simpleton; since that
currency of theirs was purposely devised by the men, to check the
extravagance of their women; cocoanuts, for spending money, being
such a burden to carry.

It only remains to be added, that the most solemn oath of a native of
Valapee is that sworn by his tooth. "By this tooth," said Bondo to
Noojoomo, "by this tooth I swear to be avenged upon thee, oh
Noojoomo!"