y
chewing the betelnut, which, as before intimated, gives to their teeth
and lips a disagreeably suggestive color, as if they were covered with
blood. The men, and some of the women also, carry the means for this
indulgence about them at all times, secured in the folds of their one
garment wrapped about the loins. They inclose a piece of the nut in a
bit of green leaf, after adding a portion of quicklime, and thus form
a quid which they masticate with great earnestness, expectorating the
while as a person does who chews tobacco, for which it is an Eastern
substitute. Sometimes the mass is permitted to rest for a while
between the gums and the cheek, and though it is known to
occasionally produce cancer of the mouth, the natives give it not a
second thought. The betelnut is a tonic, though very little if any of
the nut is swallowed, nor is the saliva which it produces. In some
cases cardamom and pepper seeds are added to the quid to give it
pungency. It is claimed also that this combination counteracts
malarial influences, forming a preventive against fever, which attacks
natives as well as strangers in the lowlands. This habit becomes
inveterate with the Singhalese, just as smoking or chewing tobacco
does with those addicted to the weed. The men here would rather
abstain from food than from chewing this stimulating compound. It is
said that Europeans who have contracted the habit afterwards give it
up with equal difficulty. It is not alone the lower classes who chew
the betelnut. Persons of good social standing do it,--priests, native
officials, ladies in their boudoirs, and so on, just as some American
women are addicted to the secret use of cigarettes, wine, or liquor.

The practice of chewing the betelnut is so ancient in Ceylon, and
along the coast of India proper, that the Arabs and Persians who
visited these countries in the eighth century, or say a thousand years
ago, carried back the habit to their country, where it is still more
or less prevalent in the sea-coast district.

Thus mankind, civilized and barbarian, seek some stimulant other than
natural food and drink. In Europe and America, where tobacco is easily
obtained, it serves the purpose with the majority. In Peru, the
Indians universally chew the leaves of the coca for the stimulating
effect it produces. In China, opium takes the place of tobacco to a
certain extent, while in the region of which we are writing, the
betelnut yields a mild stimulant and