180 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



the sharp, quick rap of a drum, which, however mo- 

 notonous, still has something stirring and lively in 

 it ; and two gongs, imported from China, and just 

 harsh and discordant enough to please the musical 

 tympanums of the stupid Celestials. The tifa is beat 

 with a piece of wood of any shape held loosely in 

 the right hand, while the left hand raises the note 

 by pressing against the edge of the vibrating skin. 

 There is, therefore, no such thing as a long roll or a 

 short roll, but one unvaried beating. The two gongs 

 were of different sizes, and were struck alternately, 

 but this was so slight a change that it only made the 

 monotony more wearisome. Each rower had a small 

 wooden box, about a foot long, four inches high, and 

 six wide, where he carried the all-important betel- 

 nut, siri, lime, and tobacco. It also served as a chest 

 for his extra clothing. 



The betel-nut is the fi'uit of a tall, slender, and 

 extremely graceful palm, the Areca catechu. The 

 trunk is usually from six to eight inches only in 

 diameter, but the sheaf of green leaves that springs 

 out of its top is thirty or forty feet from the gi'ound. 

 Of all the beautiful palms, this is decidedly the most 

 fascinating to me. Near the house in which I lived, 

 at Batavia, there was a long avenue of these grace- 

 ful trees, and there in the l^right mornings, and cool 

 evenings, I was accustomed to saunter to and fro, 

 and each time it seemed that they were more charm- 

 ing than ever before. This tree grows over all 

 tropical India, and the whole archipelago, including 

 the Philippines. Its Malay name is piiicmg, hence 

 Pulo Pinaug is the Betel-nut Island. In nearly all 



