mi. I-\N I.KM- 



118; Linschoten, I /.. 1598 (ed. Hakl. s rharmaeog. 



Ind., iii., 180; Gildomeister anl ll..tim.mn. Volatile Oils, 1900. 321] 



P. longum. Linn. Long Pepper, j>ij>nhnnl. />i/*j/. rulli. filfil dardt, *'/</ 

 yippali, Uida, mulagu, peik-khyen, etc. A pern-ritual nhruh. nutiv.. of th hotter 

 parts of India from Nepal eastwards to Assam, the Khasia hills and Bengal, 

 westwards to Bombay, and southwards to Travancore. Ceylon and M >u * n *- As 



Cultivation 



manifesting antiquity of knowledge, it may be mention. Sanskrit 



ratively r 

 had lHHn transferred to black pepper. Long pepper Is mentioned by 



pippali was originally given to thia plant, and only within comparatively repent 



times had been transferred to black pepper. Long pepper is men 



I 'liny (Holland, trawl.. l>k. x ii., ch.7), and is referred to in the Periplu( 1st out- 



ng pepper is cultivated in Bengal and Sout h I n.iui. and is the pepper chiefly 

 exported from Calcutta. It is propagated by suckers and requires a 

 dry Hoil. Tlie suckers are transplanted after the periodical rains set in, at a 

 nee of 5 feet from each other. Each bigha is said to produce 2 maunds of 

 pepper the first year, 4 maunds the second. 6 maunds the third, after which 

 i!i" roots are grubbed up, dried and sold. The plants require no irrigation. 

 I. MI ut tin- rniumfiir.Mm-nt of the hot season the roots are carefully covered uitli 

 straw to preserve them from tho heat. Radishes, barley, or brinjalt (!" 

 *r /><{/ it ) uro usually cultivated in tln space between the plant*. The fruit 

 is gathered when green in January, and is preserved by drying in the un. 

 dried unripe fruit and the root have long been used in MEDICINE. [C'f. Pharma- 

 cog. Ind., iii., 176 ; The Bower Manuscript, I.e. 78, 80, 88, etc. ; Gildemeistor and 

 Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 1900, 322 ; Dutt, I.e. 243-4.] 



P. Betle, Linn. ; Hunter, As. Res., 1807, ix., 390-1 ; Bot. Mag., 1832, 

 3132. The Betle, pan, tdmbuli, tambula, vilyadde, videcha-pdna, ndgurvel, 

 vettilai, ndgavalli, viledele, kunyoe, etc. A perennial dioecious creeper, 

 probably native of Java ; cultivated for the sake of its leaves in the 

 hotter parts of India and Ceylon. 



History. According to Hobson-Jobson (ed. Crooke, 89) the word betle is the 

 Malayan vettila, i.e. veru-Ua, which means " simple or mere leaf " and comes to 

 us through the Portuguese betre and betle. The Natives of India and the Indo- 

 Chinese countries have from remote times been in the habit of chewing the leaf, 

 generally mixed with areca-nut, lime, and catechu in the case of the poorer classes, 

 with cardamoms, nutmegs, camphor, etc., in that of the rich. Marco Polo (ed. 

 Yule, ii., 306, 311), in the 13th century, writes that the people of India have a habit 

 of keeping in the mouth "a certain leaf called Tembul," and adds that the richer 

 classes and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic 

 spices, as well as quicklime. In 1442 Abd-er-Razzak, in the narrative of his journeys 

 in the East, thus describes the method of eating it. " They bruise a portion of 

 fau/el (Areca), otherwise called sipari, and put it in the mouth. Moistening a leaf 

 of the betel, together with a grain of chalk, they rub the one on the other, and roll 

 them in the mouth. They thus take as many as four leaves of betel at a timo, 

 and chew them. Sometimes they add camphor to it, and sometimes they spit 

 out the saliva, which becomes of a red colour." Garcia de Orta (Coll., x.), writing 

 in 1563, corroborates these facts, stating that the Indians are in the habit of 

 keeping the nail of the right thumb pointed and sharp, in order to remove the 

 midrib of the leaf. Many of the other early travellers refer in similar terms to 

 the practice of chewing the betle-\ea,f. [Cf. Narrative of Journ. of Abd-er-Razzak, 

 1442, in Ind. in the 15th Century (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 32 ; Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind., 

 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 62-8, etc. ; Pyrard, Voy. E. Ind., 1601 (ed. Hakl. 

 Soc.), ii., 362-3 ; Bernier, Travels, 1656, in Constable, Or. Misc., i., 13-4 ; 

 Barbosa, Coasts E. Africa and Malabar (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 73 ; Mandelslo, Travels, 

 in Olearius, Hist. Muscovy, etc., 1662, 42 ; Fryer, New Ace. E. Ind. and 

 Pers., 1672-81, 40 ; Diary of W. Hedges, 1681-7 (ed. Yule), ii., cccxxxi. ; 

 Hamilton, New Ace. E. Ind., 1727, i., 304; Joret, Les. PI. dans L'Antiq., etc.. 

 1904, ii., 261.] 



CULTIVATION. The cultivation of betel-leaf is attended with many 

 difficulties ; it requires a constant temperature, a fairly uniform degree 

 of moisture, and much attention on the part of the cultivator. The plant 

 is propagated by cuttings or sets grown under shade, and in many parts of 

 within specially constructed lions, or mats having 



Kruit. 

 Msi 



vi., pt. i., 



247-66. 



Betta. 



Pin. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



