THE BETELNUT PALM. 



283 



called Addaca in Travancore. In the Bombay market three kinds 

 are met with; white, from Sheviirdhun, which are three times the 

 value of those from other countries ; red, which are half the value of 

 the best white ; and nuts in the husk, sold by the thousand. The 

 crushed nut is generally used with the leaf of the betel-pepper 

 (Pijper Betle), and chunam or shell-lime. Prepared slices of boiled 

 betelnut, called Callyareka, are sold in Cochin at about 6d. a pound. 



The mastication of the betel is considered very wholesome by those 

 who are in the habit of using it. Mr. Crawfurd thinks that, like 

 tea, coffee, and tobacco, the areca nut stimulates the nervous system, 

 and hence its general use. It may be so, but the black hue it imparts 

 to the teeth (although it is said to be an excellent preserver of them), 

 together with the blackened lips and mouth, give anything but an 

 agreeable appearance. 



Betelnuts contain a large quantity of tannin, which has caused 

 them to be employed in some parts of India for dyeing cotton cloths. 

 The exact country of the betelnut is unknown, but is supposed to be 

 the Sunda Islands ; the tree, from time immemorial, has been exten- 

 sively cultivated in all parts of the East Indies, so that we are unable 

 to trace it back to the spot whence it originally may be supposed to 

 have come. It grows freely in all the eastern islands, from Sumatra 

 to the Philippines, and seems to have as many distinct names as there 

 are languages. Thus in Malay and Chinese it is called Pin-lang or 

 Pinang (giving its name to the island in the Straits) ; in Sumatra, 

 Jambi ; in Bali, Banda ; in Bugis, Pa^o ; and in Tagala and Bisaya, 

 Bongo ; in Achin, Penu ; in Sanscrit, Goorvaka ; in Bengalee, Gooa ; 

 in Arabic, Fofal ; in Persian and Hindustani, Soojpara ; and in Telugu, 

 Poha CJiettu. Judging by this, the probability is that the tree is 

 indigenous in each country. In the fresh or green state, the betelnut 

 is an object of general domestic consumption ; and in the diy state, 

 of large exportation to China and India. Fifteen tons of these nuts 

 were shipped from Singapore in 1858, to the single port of Ningpo. 

 The shipments from the Straits Settlements in 1867 were 3,820,457 

 cwt., valued at 120,626Z. From Pinang the exports in 1870 were 

 166,111 piculs. The most productive countries in this article are 

 Ceylon, and the northern and southern coasts of Sumatra, towards its 

 western extremity. At Billiton, in the Eastern Ai'chipelago, there 

 were in 1874 65,228 Areca palms. 



At Travancore, where the betelnut is a staple product, a quarter of 

 a centmy ago, there were ten and a quarter million of trees growing, 

 which, at the average yield, would produce about 68,000 tons of 

 nuts. From the Madras Presidency there was shipped to Bombay in 

 1872-73 43,958 cwt., besides about two millions of the nuts unhusked. 

 In Pinang there are half a million, or more, betel palms, producing 

 upwards of 3000 tons. The Pedir coast of Sumatra produces an- 

 nually about 4700 tons, of which half is exported. The Chinese 

 receive from thence 3000 tons, besides as much more from Cochin 

 China. When there is not an immediate demand for the nuts they 

 are stored in the husk, but insects attack them freely. Of the nuts 

 produced in Travancore, 300 tons of prepared nuts are annually sent 

 to Tinnevelly and other parts of the peninsula, and about 3,000,000, 

 ripe nuts, in the husk, to Bombay and other places by sea. The local 



