Betel-chetving. — Chinese Courtesy. 239 



Gambir {Nauclea Gamhir); however, this mixture is not chewed, 

 but placed between the lips and the front teeth, where it is 

 barely kept long enough to admit of the saliva collecting in 

 the mouth of a blood-red colour, which tliey spit out, the poor 

 in their huts into cocoa-nut shells, the wealthier classes into 

 copper vessels, but princes and rich people into golden spit- 

 toons. Even the ladies have given way to this custom, and 

 the native belles make use occasionally of this filthy juice 

 in order to keep importunate admirers at a distance ! 



Supper, which, in anticipation of our arrival, had been 

 made ready for us, was served entirely in the European 

 mode, and om' Mahometan host went so far in his assimila- 

 tion to Western ideas as to overcome certain religious 

 scruples, and himself join us at table. As we sat round the 

 board long after midnight the Assistant Resident of the dis- 

 trict made his appearance, M. Visscher van Gaasbeek, a 

 Hanoverian by birth, who however has lived twenty-five 

 years in this country, and immediately placed himself en- 

 tirely at our disposal. We now proceeded to chalk out our 

 plan of operations for the ensuing day, and the Regent gave 

 orders in advance to have in readiness his own coach and 

 several saddle-horses for an excursion to Lembang, the re- 

 sidence of M. Junghuhn. Before we separated, the Regent, 

 with whom unfortunately we could only communicate through 

 a Malay interpreter, with much condescension produced out of 

 a leathern case his own elegantly- engraved carte-de-visite^ and 

 expressed his desire to exchange with ourselves. The Java- 



