120 THE PALMS OF ASU. 



cess the pernicious qualify alluded to above is 

 removed. The nut thus prepared forms one of 

 the ingredients of betel, or ^;a2t'M, as it is called 

 ill Bengal, which is universally chewed by the 

 inhabitants of tropical Asia for its stimulating 

 and inebriating properties. In South America, 

 the cocoa and mambee are thus used, and, in 

 many parts of the world, tobacco is employed m 

 the same way. But neither of these is in 

 half such general use as the betel in the cast. 

 All persons, without exception of age or sex, 

 begin at an early age to accustom themselves to 

 the use of betel, until it becomes an article of 

 absolute necessity. Blume tells us that the 

 Asiatic nations w^ould rather forego meat and 

 drink than their favourite areca nut ; and even 

 Europeans who have resided long among the 

 betel chewers acquire the habit, and enjoy it 

 quite as much as the natives. 



Betel consists always of three ingredients ; 

 a piece of the nut of the areca palm, folded in 

 a leaf of a species of pepper called betel, 

 smeared with a little chiauan, or lime made 

 from burnt shells : and sometimes a fourth is 

 added. Terra japonica, or catechu. The betel 

 plant is the Piper betel, a climbing plant with 

 ivy-like leaves, and nearly allied to the species 

 which produces black pepper. It is carefully 



