nd supercargoes of the
tambangans, praws, and other small coasting vessels. So great is the
effect of moral causes and habit upon a physical character esteemed the
most treacherous and sanguinary.

CHAPTER 15.

CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
ORATORY.
CHILDREN.
NAMES.
CIRCUMCISION.
FUNERALS.
RELIGION.

CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.

Whether to blunt the edge of painful reflection, or owing to an aversion
our natures have to total inaction, most nations have been addicted to
the practice of enjoying by mastication or otherwise the flavour of
substances possessing an inebriating quality. The South Americans chew
the cocoa and mambee, and the eastern people the betel and areca, or, as
they are called in the Malay language, sirih and pinang. This custom has
been accurately described by various writers, and therefore it is almost
superfluous to say more on the subject than that the Sumatrans
universally use it, carry the ingredients constantly about them, and
serve it to their guests on all occasions--the prince in a gold stand,
and the poor man in a brass box or mat bag. The betel-stands of the
better rank of people are usually of silver embossed with rude figures.
The Sultan of Moco-moco was presented with one by the India Company, with
their arms on it; and he possesses beside another of gold filigree. The
form of the stand is the frustum of a hexagonal pyramid reversed, about
six or eight inches in diameter. It contains many smaller vessels fitted
to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf, and chunam, which is quicklime
made from calcined shells; with places for the instruments (kachip)
employed in cutting the first, and spatulas for spreading the last.

When the first salutation is over, which consists in bending the body,
and the inferior's putting his joined hands between those of the
superior, and then lifting them to his forehead, the betel is presented
as a token of hospitality and an act of politeness. To omit it on the one
hand or to reject it on the other would be an affront; as it would be
likewise in a person of subordinate rank to address a great man without
the precaution of chewing it before he spoke. All the preparation
consists in spreading on the sirih leaf a small quantity of the chunam
and folding it up with a slice of the pinang nut. Some mix with these
gambir, which is a substance prepared from the leaves of a tree of that
name by boiling their juices to a consistence, and made u