114 ■ Voyage of the Novara. 



into the mouth. The Hindoos, on the other hand, add to these 

 ingredients, which tliey always carry about with them in 

 elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly called 

 Terra Japonicay because it was long supposed to be a mineral 

 product) made out of the pith of the Acacia Catechu, a species 

 of Mimosa ; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory com- 

 position a species of resin obtained from the Melaleuca Cajejmti, 

 as also a little tobacco. 



The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth 

 and lips of the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only 

 to some difference in the proportions of the ingredients used, 

 very probably to the use of a larger quantity of coral-lime. 

 What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians have of filing 

 down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive sub- 

 stance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed 

 neither by personal observation nor by the account given 

 by the natives themselves, nor by the Malay traders who 

 frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri. 



In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider 

 the inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races 

 of the world. They consider it a duty to marry very young 

 and take but one wife, but they age with uncommon rapidity. 

 Of about 100 natives with whom during our stay on the 

 various islands we were in communication, hardly one was 

 above forty, and the majority may be rougldy estimated at 

 from twenty to thirty. If, moreover, we set it down as im- 

 probable that all the aged men should liave taken to flight 



