244 
SUMATRA. 
€itftm of chewing Bete!— Emblematic prefents — Oratory — C/ji/- 
dren — Names — Chcumcifion — Funer^th. 
HETHER to blunt the edge of painful reflection, or owing 
to an averfion our natures have from total inadtionj moft nations have 
been addicted to the pradlice of enjoying by m.^flicatton, or othcnvife, 
the flavor of fubflances pofTcfling an inebriating quality. The South 
Americans chew the toCQa and mambeey and the eaftcni people, the hetd 
and anea^ or^ as they are called in the Malay language, feeree and pe- 
nang. This cuftoni has been accurately defcribed by various writers, and 
therefore it is almoft fuperfluous to fay more on the fubjed:, than that the 
Suraa trans univerfally ufe it ; carry the ingredients confl:antly about them ; 
and ferve k to their guefts on all occafions ; the prince in a gold ftand, 
and the poor man in a brafs box, or mat bag. The betel itands of the 
better rank of people, are ufually of fllver, embofled with rude figures. 
The Sultan of Moco Moco was prclented with one by the India Corn- 
pan y, \vith their arms ^ Jt ; and he pofl^jSe* befidc, another of gold 
fillagree. The form of. the ftand is the fruftrum of an hexagonal py- 
ramid, reverfed ; about flx or eight inches in diameter. It contains 
> many feiallcr veflels, fitted to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf and 
chunanty which is quick lime made from calcined fliells ; with places for 
the inftruments employed in cutting the firft, (cacbeep)^ and fpaculas for 
fpreading the laft. 
When the firft falutatlon is over ; which coniifls in bending the body, 
and the inferior's putting his joined hands between thofe of the fupe- 
rior, and then lifting them to his forehead ; the betel is prefented as 
a token of hofpitality, and an adt of poHtenefs, To omit it on the one 
hand, or to reject it on the other, were an affront ; as it would be like- 
wifci in a perfon of fubordinate rank, to addrefs a great man, without the 
precaution of chewing it before he fpoke. All the preparation confifts in 
fpreading on the /eer€£ leaf, a fmall quantity of the chmsm^ and folding 
k 
