The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-07
JET CHARMS
 FROM BEASTS
Teeth of Many Kinds Ward
 Away Evil Spirits
SNAKE AMULETS COM MON
Queer Expectations Among SaVages and Cultured Races-Tongue Plays Potent Part-Feathers Are
 Much Used-Cures for Illness
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post
 Animal teeth as amulets bave been popular from the earliest ages. The ma tives living on Torres Strait take crocodile's tooth, paint 1t red. and place in the hollow part certain strong scented vegetable drugs, and then smear it all over with fat from a corpse. In the South Sea Islands many natives regard the teeth of the sperm whale with reverence. and it was the custom at one time for the chiefs to wear them, not only as charms, but also as an insigna of their rank, and the whalers used to make considerable profit at times by extracting these from the whales killed and bartering them to the chiefs. The people of Ceylon and Malabar used to worship the teeth of elephants and monkeys. The people of Benin, West Africa, be- lieve that elephants teeth bring good luck to the possessor.
 To cure rheumatism one should car ry the last double tooth in the jaw bone of a hog in the pocket. The mountain Indians of Labrador believe that they can cure the toothache by fixing a bears tooth to the aching molar. attached sometimes to pair of scissors. In upper Egypt the teeth of the hyena are highly esteemed, and are used as amulets for the youns and old The belief that badgers tooth sewn within the waistcoat brings luck at cards Is quite ancient The rodent teeth of the beaver are regarded by the Indians as potent charms.
 Temple of the Tooth.
 In Randy, the capital ofSCeylon, is to be seen a magnificent temple, the "Malagawa Delada" Cemple of the tooth). which is one of the wonders of the island. According to the old traditions, when Buddha felt his end approaching he commanded his dis ciples to erect large funeral pyre and cremate his body, but afterWard they should carefully search the ashes, In which they would find some relic of him which they were to preserve. Whatever nation had possession of this relic would prosper to the end of time Buddhas s body was faithfully cremated by the 12, and when they searched the ashes they found nothing but a tooth. Inside the temple at the head of a flight of steps is a curious round tower in which behind a strong iron grating is to be seen miniature Buddhist pagoda about three feet high and made of gold. In this Buddha's tooth is preserved. A kind of altar in front of the iron grating Is cov- cred day and night with red mogra blos- soms which are mostly brought by wom- en as sacrifices.
 The sacred relic is well guarded from profane eyes even here. A rectangular box about 15 inches long and or inches broad made of gold and all set around with uncut rubies of considerable size contains another smaller box, which is 1,re the finest pearls found in former centuries on the Ceylon coast. Inside this is still another box covered with a profusion of uncut gems-sapphires, rubies, emeralds, etc., and in this Is an immense sapphire hollowed out like a cup in which upon golden lotus leaf rests the tooth of Bud dha
 The tooth may only be exposed once every 100 years except when some great calamity is to be averted-for instance, in times of great drought pestilence. Then it is brought out and exposed with great pomp in front of the temple.
 Tusk of Wild Boar.
 The strange part of this adoration, however, Is that the tooth, which Is about five inches In length, Is not that of Buddha at all. according to a natural ist who was fortunate enough to see 1t some years ago, but is the side tusk of
 
 the course of the numerous bloody wars which have ragged between Ceylon and India during the last 2O0O years. over the possession of this sacred relic the original tooth was lost or destroyed. and the priests substituted the present one
 The tongues of animals have been and are still favorite amulets. The tongue of a vulture plucked out with iron and hung about mans neck in cloth will bring him what he desires. A tongue cut from living fox will ward off disease of all kinds. but the person carrying one will surely die if he happens to meet a fox at any crossroads the charm is sell dom used Some Indians believe that if they do not bite off the tip of the tongue of any wild animal they kill they will rot have good luck in hunting. Numbers of people keep in their pocketbooks a little bit of dried-up stuff wrapped in a piece of tissue paper. It Is carried for luck The Thlinkit Indian haman, or witch doctor when preparing for his life work, kills land otter and cuts out its tongue, which he carefully preserves and hides from the sight of anybody.
 Feathers of birds have from ancient