DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.643#0159
WESTERN HINDOOSTAN, 139
liquor called Toddy; the Indians hang, to the part left adherent
to the tree, an earthen pot, in ^ which is collected from a pint
to a quart a day. From this liquor, fermented, is diftilled an
excellent Arrack, and a very fiery dram called Fool, with which
our fearnen too frequently intoxicate themfelves.
Areca Cathecu, or Pinanga, Rumph. i, tab. iv. to vii. is, from
the univerfal cuftom of chewing the nut with Betel, a molt
ufeful tree, and greatly cultivated in every part of India.
The Pliny of India gives feveral plates of it, with the form
of the nut, and fructification, and of the cultivated and wild
kinds*. The nuts are ufually of the fize of a hen's egg:
they are therefore broken and prepared for chewing, wrap-
ped in the bitter leaf of the Betel, mixed with Cbunan, or
fhell lime, and in that form taken all over India by people
of every age, fex, and condition. Rumphius, i. p. 32, is moft
particular about the ufe, and the great pomp and ceremony
with which the Indian monarchs bellow it on the embafladors
they receive from foreign ftates. It is the compliment of the
country to offer this at vifits, or wherefoever people meet:
it is an emblem of peace and friendfhip, is fuppofed to ex-
hilarate the fpirits, to ftrengfhen the ftomachs (but at the
expence of the teeth), and is particularly in repute with
ladies of intrigue, as it is fuppofed to improve the powers
of love. The Arabs call the Areca tree Faufel. Gerard, p.
1520, has caufed it to be engraven.
These trees are not found in Coromandel or Bengal. The
nuts are fent there in great quantities, as articles of commerce.
* Betela-codi, Rheede. v. tab. 16*
T 1 The
liquor called Toddy; the Indians hang, to the part left adherent
to the tree, an earthen pot, in ^ which is collected from a pint
to a quart a day. From this liquor, fermented, is diftilled an
excellent Arrack, and a very fiery dram called Fool, with which
our fearnen too frequently intoxicate themfelves.
Areca Cathecu, or Pinanga, Rumph. i, tab. iv. to vii. is, from
the univerfal cuftom of chewing the nut with Betel, a molt
ufeful tree, and greatly cultivated in every part of India.
The Pliny of India gives feveral plates of it, with the form
of the nut, and fructification, and of the cultivated and wild
kinds*. The nuts are ufually of the fize of a hen's egg:
they are therefore broken and prepared for chewing, wrap-
ped in the bitter leaf of the Betel, mixed with Cbunan, or
fhell lime, and in that form taken all over India by people
of every age, fex, and condition. Rumphius, i. p. 32, is moft
particular about the ufe, and the great pomp and ceremony
with which the Indian monarchs bellow it on the embafladors
they receive from foreign ftates. It is the compliment of the
country to offer this at vifits, or wherefoever people meet:
it is an emblem of peace and friendfhip, is fuppofed to ex-
hilarate the fpirits, to ftrengfhen the ftomachs (but at the
expence of the teeth), and is particularly in repute with
ladies of intrigue, as it is fuppofed to improve the powers
of love. The Arabs call the Areca tree Faufel. Gerard, p.
1520, has caufed it to be engraven.
These trees are not found in Coromandel or Bengal. The
nuts are fent there in great quantities, as articles of commerce.
* Betela-codi, Rheede. v. tab. 16*
T 1 The