134 
“ STRAY SCRAPS FROM ODD LARDERS.” 
[Nature and Art, May 1, 1867. 
which his lot may be cast, and endowed him with 
the ingenuity requisite to render it available. The 
oil-bearing fish, seal, and whale consumed in such 
quantities by the fur-clad Esquimaux, during the 
long bright night of an Arctic winter, serve to 
supply food oi 'fuel to keep the lamp of life burning. 
Heat he must both generate and maintain to live : 
he therefore wisely clothes himself in the worst 
conductors of heat he can procure ; builds a dome- 
shaped, wind-tight cell of snow blocks, which soon 
freeze together like solid marble ; and subsists on 
food rich in carbon. His rude lamp, with its moss 
wick, is oil-fed like its owner. The Polar bear and 
Arctic fox, too, in their warm winter coats, wander 
amongst the ice-floes and along the wild inhospitable 
shores in search of such oil-bearing food as good 
fortune may cast in their way. Until at last come 
milder winds. The wild-fowl, in long wedge-shaped 
flights, wing their way high overhead, pealing forth 
their clarion-like calls, — 
“ Hawnk ! lionk ! and for’ard to the nor’ard is the 
trumpet-tone.” 
The ice-fields rend and crash like distant thunder, 
as they drift slowly away; the birds chirp and twitter 
once more amongst the birches and ground willows ; 
the tiny flowers peep forth along tire hillsides ; 
spring has arrived, and the reindeer can be hunted, 
the salmon speared at the falls of the unchained 
river, and the ptarmigan shot with arrows or 
trapped amongst the whortleberry bushes ; thus 
yielding an agreeable change of diet with the 
change of season and temperature. To those who 
inhabit many parts of India and other countries 
within the torrid zone, where no real winter is 
known, animal food is not a necessary. With a 
little rice, fruit, juarree ( Holcus Sorghum ) flour to 
make their thin pancake-like “ aps,” or “ chupatees,” 
and the beloved betel-nut to chew, defiance is bid to 
hunger ; whilst a few light cotton cloths, differently 
folded, constitute head-covering and clothing. Bam- 
boos, mats, and grass, judiciously arranged, form a 
lint sufficiently commodious for sleeping purposes 
and as a sun-shade, all culinary operations being- 
conducted in the open air. 
That betel-nut chewing enables those who 
are addicted to it to endure a larger amount of 
bodily fatigue than they could support without 
it, there can be little doubt. A small quantity of 
the nut is placed with a little lime on the leaf of a 
pepper vine ( Piper betel ) ; this, after being rolled 
into a pellet of convenient size, is placed with the 
finger and thumb far back in the mouth, and is 
there retained, staining the saliva of a bright-red 
colour. 
The trade in this curious article of consumption 
is of vast extent throughout the Eastern seas, and 
the ports of Sumatra, Cochin China, and some 
other localities, are annually visited by the merchant 
fleets for its collection. The sea-board of the 
Acheen country, which is under the government 
of the Itajali of Acheen, is perhaps the most 
important trading point, and is pretty generally 
spoken of as the “Betel-nut Coast;” and the 
inhabitants of many towns and villages of con- 
siderable local importance trade in betel-nut ex- 
clusively, not only furnishing cargoes to ships, from 
the continent of India, but indirectly supplying 
the Chinese markets (where these nuts are valued at 
from three to four dollars the pecul,* according to 
quality), through Benang, whither the cargoes are 
first sent. The export from one of these Aclieenese 
towns amounts to about sixty thousand peculs 
annually ; the total supply collected from the 
various ports of shipment on the whole line of the 
Betel -nut Coast is estimated at ninety thousand 
peculs per season, commencing in May and ending in 
August. 
The nut is the produce of the Areka palm 
( A reha Catechu ), which is one of the most beautiful 
members of the palm family, shooting its slender 
stem straight up to the height of from fifty to sixty 
feet, when a splendid mass of dark green leaves is 
thrown out like a huge plume of feathers. These 
palms produce their nuts but once during the year, 
at which time they present the most beautiful and 
attractive appearance that can be well imagined ; 
the fruit’ hangs in clusters at the ends of the long, 
tough stems from which it is suspended. It is of an 
elongated oval form, about the size of an egg, and 
of orange colour, contrasting charmingly with the 
rich green of the palm leaves. Each nut is en- 
veloped in a thick fibrous coat ; on removing which 
the kernel is found within, covered with a much 
slighter and more delicate integument, each husk 
containing one nut only. These, when removed 
from their coverings, are usually of an irregular, 
conical form. 
Notwithstanding the supply of indigenous food- 
yielding products to be found in most countries, 
luxuries have from the very earliest ages been eagerly 
sought for in far-off lands ; and as the ancient 
Homans revelled in imported dainties, so the 
Chinese, and those who trade with them, visit 
distant islands in search of the Beche-de-mer 
“Trepang,” or sea-slug {Holothuria edidis). These 
uninviting, slug-like creatures are in great request 
in the markets of China as an ingredient in the 
composition of the gelatinous soups and dishes 
in which the Celestials so much delight. With 
pickled sharks’ fins, little squares of salt pork, and 
preserved bamboo shoots, the Beche-de-mer makes a 
dish perfectly irresistible to a Chinaman. There 
are six kinds of slugs generally sought for, the best 
being those obtained by diving amongst the reefs 
and rocks where they are known to resort ; others 
are taken either by torch or moonlight in the 
shallow pools, whilst the inferior kinds are gathered 
by hand from the rocks at low water. The 
various kinds, when selected and arranged according 
to their quality, are cleaned, carefully cut open, 
cooked in large caldrons in the water which they 
themselves yield, and are then thoroughly dried 
on shelves arranged in sheds constructed for the 
purpose. Large quantities of wood are expended 
in the process, as the slugs require very perfect 
* A “ pecul” consists of 133g lbs., and is a weight gene- 
rally used amongst the Malay and Javanese traders. It is 
equivalent to the “ tan ” of the Chinese. 
