diameter scarcely exceeds six inches. At the top of the stem there is a
sheath of polished green, from the top of which again there issues a
tuft of the most ethereal, feathery fronds, diverging and drooping with
matchless grace. Under these hang the clusters of reddish-brown nuts.

As the areca nut will not grow except in places that are at once moist
and warm, the gardens are generally situated in narrow valleys and dells
among hills, with little streams of limpid water rippling past them or
through them. The steaming heat of such situations can only be realised
by one who has traversed them at noon in the month of May in pursuit of
sport or natural history. But the palms grow so close together that
their fronds mingle into an almost unbroken roof, through which the sun
can scarcely peep, and every air that enters there has the heat charmed
out of it, and as it wanders among the broad, aromatic leaves of the
betel vines which wreathe the pillars of that fairy hall, it is
softened with balmy moisture, and laden with fragrance and scent to woo
your senses in perfect tune with the tinkling music of the water and the
enchanting beauty of the whole scene.

In a large hut among these shades, with bananas waving their banner
leaves over the smooth and well-swept yard in front, where the children
play, lives the family that cultivates the garden. They are a sect of
Brahmins, but very unbrahminical, unsophisticated, industrious,
temperate, kind and hospitable. Other Brahmins despise them and wish to
deny them the name, because they have soiled their priestly hands with
agriculture. But they return the contempt, and walk in the way of their
fathers, a way which leads them among the purest pleasures that this
life affords and keeps them from many of its more sordid temptations.
Perhaps the picture has its darker shades too. I have not seen them, and
why should I look for them?

The betel nut harvest is something of the nature of an acrobatic
performance, for the crop is not on the ground, but on poles forty or
fifty feet high. This is the manner in which it is gathered. The farmer,
attended by his wife, goes out, and slipping a loose loop of rope over
his feet to keep them together, so that when he gets the trunk of a tree
between them it may fit like a wedge, he clasps one of the trees with
his hands and goes up at a surprising rate. He carries with him a long
rope, and when he reaches the top, he fastens one end of it to the