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 up into little balls or squares, as before spoken of:  tobacco is likewise added, which is shred fine for the purpose, and carried between the lip and upper row of teeth.  From the mastication of the first three proceeds a juice which tinges the saliva of a bright red, and which the leaf and nut, without the chunam, will not yield.  This hue being communicated to the mouth and lips is esteemed ornamental; and an agreeable flavour is imparted to the breath.  The juice is usually (after the first fermentation produced by the lime) though not always swallowed by the chewers of betel.  We might reasonably suppose that its active qualities would injure the coats of the stomach, but experience seems to disprove such a consequence.  It is common to see the teeth of elderly persons stand loose in the gums, which is probably the effect of this custom, but I do not think that it affects the soundness of the teeth themselves.  Children begin to chew betel very young, and yet their teeth are always beautifully white till pains are taken to disfigure them by filing and staining them black.  To persons who are not habituated to the composition it causes a strong giddiness, astringes and excoriates the tongue and fauces, and deadens for a time the faculty of taste.  During the puasa, or fast of ramadan, the Mahometans among them abstain from the use of betel whilst the sun continues above the horizon; but excepting at this season it is the constant luxury of both sexes