428 MEDICINAL USES. 



little stalls about the suburbs of Canton, with the 

 other additional articles used in the preparation ; 

 it is also used as a mordant for coarse dyes. 

 The Areka-nuts brought from Cochin China are 

 considered by the Chinese the best imported. 

 This may, however, arise from prejudice in 

 favour of the production of a country so nearly 

 allied to them, to that introduced by foreigners. 

 In the central provinces of Hoo, kwang, and Kang, 

 si, the nut is, after being bruised and pounded, 

 mixed with the green food of horses as a preven- 

 tive against a diarrhoea, to which that kind of food 

 sometimes subjects them. It was likewise men- 

 tioned to me by a Chinese, that it is used as a 

 domestic medicine in the north of China, small 

 pieces being boiled ; the decoction is administered 

 in various visceral affections. 



A cargo of this article generates so much 

 heat as to raise the thermometer in the hold 

 forty degrees above that on the deck ; and from 

 this circumstance, and the quantity of steam 

 generated, the crew are prevented from sleeping 

 between decks. 



The Areka-nut is commonly known by the 

 very prevailing Malay name of Pinang, or 

 Pinong, but in the Acheenese language it is 

 called Penu, and the tree Ba, penu ; Ba, signi- 

 fying tree, is usually prefixed to the specific 



