BAT AVI A. 227 
sometimes frjed in. oil and sometimes boiled in plain water, 
with which are used a few capsules or heads of Capsiciun or 
Cayenne pepper, and a little salt, to render more palatable 
this insi|)id grain. With the use of animal food a true Java- 
nese is wholly unacquainted, and of milk he is very sparing, 
except indeed of that liquid substance, sometimes though 
improperly so called, which abounds in the young cocoa 
nut, and which affords a cool and refreshing draught. This 
tree, and indeed most of the palm tribe as the date, the 
sago and the areca, all supply him with solid food. The 
chief use of the areca, however, is only as an ingredient in a 
compound masticatory, consisting, besides this nut, of chunam 
or lime of shells and seriboo or seeds of long pepper, made 
into a paste and rolled up in the green leaf of betel pepper. 
This composition, when moistened in the mouth, communi- 
cates to the tongue and lips a deep red colour, which turns 
afterwards to a dark mahogany brown. The teeth of a 
Javanese being painted black (because monkies, he observes, 
have white ones) give to the countenance rather a hideous 
appearance. 
The areca nut, especially Avhen fresh from the tree, is 
powerfully narcotic, and a small portion will cause intoxica- 
tion in those who are not accustomed to the use of it. The 
feculae of \his nut is the Catechu or red earth of the old Phar- 
macopoeia, and is obtained by boiling it with unslacked 
lime; but the Terra Japonica or Catechu, which is now in use 
and said to be an excellent tooth powder, is the ashes of a 
particular species of mimosa, found in Japan and on most of 
the Eastern islands. The charcoal of the areca nut is, liow- 
G G 2 
