No one wakes him; habit rouses him at dawn.

He scrubs his teeth with a fibrous stick.

It is a part of his religious belief to keep his teeth clean.

The East Indian (Hindu or Mohammedan) has the whitest, soundest teeth in the world if the betel-nut is but temperately used.
Beyond this village lay a ruined city, now inhabited by cobras and slinking jackals.
Dawn.

A few dung fires smoldered.