“He took and tasted, a new life Flowed through his renovated frame;
His limbs, that late were sore and stiff,
Felt all the freshness of repose;
His dizzy brain was calmed,
The heavy aching of his lids
At once was taken off;
For Laila, from the bowers of Paradise,
Had borne the healing fruit.”——Thalaba.
The widely distributed race of Malays, occupy not only the Malayan Peninsula, and, though not exclusively, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, but has penetrated into Madagascar, and spreads itself through the islands of the Pacific from New Zealand, the Society, the Friendly Isles, and the Marquesas, to the distant Sandwich and Easter Isles. Whatever may have been the starting point, it is essentially a shore-dwelling race, peopling only islands, or such portions of the continent as border the ocean, and never penetrating into the interior, or passing the mountains running parallel to the coast. Their energies are most conspicuous in maritime occupations, and to this predilection their extensive diffusion may be attributed. These people, supposed by some to have an affinity to, or alliance with the Hindoo and Chinese races, whence they have been called Hindoo-Chinese, present as many points of difference as of resemblance; and while some of the258 customs of the inhabitants of southern or eastern Asia may be found amongst them, they have also others peculiarly their own. The indulgence in opium is not unknown to the Malays, but the national indulgence of the race is the areca or betel nut, a habit characteristic of a sea-loving people. The use of a pipe, and especially an opium-pipe, would be a hindrance to the freedom of their motions on board their vessels, and require a state of inactivity or repose incompatible with a maritime life, in order to be enjoyed. This may in part account for the prevalence of chewing tobacco in our navy, and of the “buyo” by the Malays.
 
The areca palm is one of the most beautiful of the palms of India. It has a remarkably straight trunk, rising forty or fifty feet, with a diameter of from six to eight inches, of nearly an equal thickness throughout. Six or seven leaves spring from the top, of about six feet in length, hanging downwards from a long stalk in a graceful curve. This palm is cultivated all over India, in Cochin-China, Java, and Sumatra, and other islands of the Archipelago, for the sake of the nuts. The fruit is of the size and shape of a hen’s egg, and consists of an outer, firm, fibrous rind or husk, about half an inch thick, and an inner kernel, somewhat resembling a nutmeg in size, but more conical in shape. Internally the resemblance to a nutmeg, with its alternate white and brown markings, is even greater. When ripe, the fruit is of a reddish yellow colour, hanging in clusters among the bright green leaves. If allowed to hang until fully ripe, it falls off and sows itself in the ground, but this is not allowed. The trees are in blossom in March and April, and the fruits may be gathered in July and August, when the sliced nut can be prepared from them, but they do not fully ripen till September and October.
 
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The nuts vary in size, their quality, however, does not at all depend upon this property, but upon their internal appearance when cut, intimating the quantity of astringent matter contained in them. If the white or medullary portion which intersects the red, or the astringent part be small, has assumed a bluish tinge, and the astringent part is very red, the nut is considered of good quality, but when the medullary portion is in large quantity, the nut is considered more mature, and not possessing so much astringency, is not deemed so valuable.
 
This palm is cultivated in gardens and plantations. The latter are usually close to the villages, and are extremely ornamental. Like the Malays themselves, the areca palm prefers the neighbourhood of the sea, which is most conducive to the perfection of the fruit, as the coca shrub of the Peruvian mountaineers delights in the slopes of the Andes. It is stated that a fertile palm will produce, on an average, eight hundred and fifty nuts annually, the average production in the plantation is about fourteen pounds weight for each palm, or ten thousand pounds per acre. The price they realize to the grower is about two shillings the hundredweight.
 
The addaca, or betel nut, is a staple product of Travancore. In 1837 the number of trees growing there was stated in the survey to be 10,232,873, which, at the average rate named, would produce 63,000 tons of nuts. Nearly half a million trees are in cultivation in Prince of Wales’ Island, which would produce about 3,000 tons more. The Pedir coast of Sumatra produces annually about 4,700 tons, of which half is exported. The Chinese import near 3,000 tons annually, exclusive of their supplies from Cochin-China, the amount of which is not known, but, without doubt, more than another 3,000 tons. Many ships freighted solely with these nuts sail260 yearly from the ports of Sumatra, Malacca, and Siam.
 
When there is no immediate demand for the areca nuts they are not shelled, but preserved in the husk, to save them from the ravages of insects, which attack them nevertheless, almost as successfully. Of the nuts produced in Travancore, upwards of 2,000 candies,26 prepared nuts, are annually exported to Tinnevelly and other parts of the country, and about 3,000,000 of ripe nuts are shipped to Bombay and other places, exclusive of the quantity consumed in the country, and for the inland trade.
 
From the report of P. Shungoomry Menowen, we derive the following account of the preparation of the nuts. There are various kinds in use. That used by families of rank is collected while the fruit is tender; the husk, or outer pod, is removed, the kernel, a round fleshy mass, is boiled in water. In the first boiling of the nut, when properly done, the water becomes red, thick, and starch like, and this is afterwards evaporated into a substance like catechu. The boiled nuts being now removed, sliced, and dried, the catechu-like substance is rubbed thereto, and dried again in the sun, when they become of a shining black colour, and are ready for use. Whole nuts, without being sliced, are also prepared in the same form for use. Ripe nuts, as well as young nuts in the raw state, are used by all classes of people, and ripe nuts preserved in water are also used by the higher classes.
 
Nuts prepared in Travancore for exportation to Trichinopoly, Madura, and Coimbatore, are prepared in thin slices, coloured with red catechu or uncoloured. For Tinnevelly and other parts of261 the country, the nuts are prepared by merely cutting them into two or three slices and drying them. For Bombay, and other parts of the Northern Country, the nuts are exported in the form of whole nuts dried with the pods.
 
The nut is chewed by both sexes indiscriminately in Malabar as well as on the Coromandel coast. In Malabar they mix it with betel leaf, chunam, and tobacco; but in Tinnevelly and other parts, tobacco is never added. The three ingredients for the betel, as commonly used, are, the sliced nut, the leaf of the betel pepper, in which the nut is rolled, and chunam, or powdered lime, which is smeared over the leaf.
 
The areca nut is commonly known by the Malay name of Pinang, but in the Acheenese language it is called Penu, and the palm producing it Ba Penu. The ripe nut is called also Penu massa, and the green Penu mudr. The leaf of the betel pepper is called either Ranu or Siri, and the lime Chunam or Gapu. Tobacco, when used, is............