CHEWING THE COON.
“It ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the foolish, and
dull, and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive,
quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which,
delivered over to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, becomes
excellent wit.”——_Sir John Falstaff._
“In Burmah,” says Howard Malcolm, “almost every one, male and female,
chews the singular mixture called _coon_, and the lacquered or gilded
box containing the ingredients is borne about on all occasions. The
quid consists of a slice of areca nut, a small piece of cutch, and
some tobacco rolled up in a leaf of betel pepper, on which has been
smeared a little tempered quicklime. It creates profuse saliva, and so
fills up the mouth that they seem to be chewing food. It colours the
mouth deep red, and the teeth, if not previously blackened, assume the
same colour. From the combination of the three ingredients this colour
seems to proceed, since the leaf and nut, without the lime, fail to
produce it. This hue, communicated to the mouth and lips, is esteemed
ornamental, and an agreeable odour is imparted to the breath. The
juice is usually, though not always, swallowed. A curious circumstance
connected with the expectoration of the red juice is related at
Manilla, where it is narrated with strong protestations and firm belief
in its veracity.
Some years ago a ship from Spain arrived in the port of Manilla. Among
the passengers was a young doctor from Madrid, who had gone to the
Philippines with the design of settling in the colony and pushing his
fortune by means of his profession. On the morning after he had landed,
our doctor sallied forth for a walk on the pasco. He had not proceeded
far when his attention was attracted to a young girl, a native, who was
walking a few paces ahead of him. He observed that every now and then
the girl stooped her head towards the pavement which was straightway
spotted with blood. Alarmed on the girl’s account, our doctor walked
rapidly after her, observing that she still continued to expectorate
blood at intervals as she went. Before he could come up with her the
girl had reached her home, a humble cottage in the suburbs, into which
she entered. The doctor followed close upon her heels, and summoning
her father and mother, directed them to send immediately for the priest
as their daughter had not many hours to live. The distracted parents,
having learned the profession of their visitor, immediately acceded to
his request. The child was put to bed in extreme affright, having been
told what was about to befal her. The nearest padre was brought, and
everything was arranged to smooth the journey of her soul through the
passes of purgatory. The doctor plied his skill to the utmost, but in
vain. In less than twenty-four hours the girl was dead.
As up to that time the young Indian had always enjoyed excellent
health, the doctor’s prognostication was regarded as an evidence
of great and mysterious skill. The fame of it soon spread through
Manilla, and in a few hours the newly-arrived physician was beleagured
with patients, and in a fair way of accumulating a fortune. In the
midst of all this, some one had the curiosity to ask the doctor how he
could possibly have predicted the death of the girl, seeing that she
had been in perfect health a few hours before. “Predict it,” replied
the doctor, “why, sir, I saw her spit blood enough to have killed her
half a dozen times.”
“Blood! how did you know it was blood?”
“How! from the colour, how else?”
“But every one spits red in Manilla.”
The doctor, who had already observed this fact, and was labouring under
some uneasiness in regard to it, refused to make any further confession
at the time, but he had said enough to elucidate the mystery. The thing
soon spread throughout the city, and it became clear to every one that
what the new _medico_ had taken for blood, was nothing else than the
red juice of the buyo, and that the poor girl had died from the fear
of death caused by his prediction. His patients now fled from him
as speedily as they had congregated; and to avoid the ridicule that
awaited him, as well as the indignation of the friends of the deceased
girl, our doctor was fain to escape from Manilla, and return to Spain
in the same ship that had brought him out.
The ladies who work in the government cigar factory at Manilla,
all, more or less, chew the betel nut, and any one daring enough to
disregard the warning not to touch anything, when passing as a visitor
through the rooms, must stand the assault from the mouths of a hundred
or two of these dames, in the shape of a deluge of the decoction of
this nut. The captain of an American vessel at Manilla, although warned
of the consequences, with American impudence, infringed the rule, and
paid the penalty. He was compelled to beat a retreat, and being dressed
in the white garb of the East, resembled a spotted leopard, in the room
of a free and enlightened citizen of the great Republic.
The mastication of the betel is considered very wholesome by those
who are in the habit of using it, and it may be so, but the black
appearance it gives to the teeth, although it is said to be an
excellent preserver of them, together with the brick red lips and
mouth, cause anything but an agreeable appearance. Its use certainly
does not impart additional beauty to the native females, who habituate
themselves to an extent equal to that of the opposite sex.
The custom, Marsden states, is universal among the Sumatrans, who
carry the ingredients constantly about them, and serve them 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 ranks 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
upon it, and he possesses another besides, of gold filagree. The form
of the stand is the frustum of an 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, with
places for the instruments employed in cutting the first, and spatulas
for spreading the last.
Captain Wilkes also describes that of the Sultan of Sooloo. “On the
left hand of the Sultan sat his two sons, on the right his councillors,
while immediately behind him sate the carrier of his betelnut casket.
The casket was made of filagree silver, about the size of a small
tea-caddy, of oblong shape, and rounded at the top. It had three
divisions, one for the nut, another for the leaf, and a third for the
lime. Next to this official was the pipe-bearer, who did not appear to
be held in equal estimation.”
A circumstance is also narrated in connection with the son of this same
Sultan, which exhibits the use of betel in another phase. This son,
shortly after taking a few whiffs from the opium-pipe was overcome, and
became stupid and listless. When partially recovered, he called for
his betel nut to revive him by its exciting effects, and counteract
the influence of the opium. The pinang or buyo was carefully chewed by
his attendant to a proper consistency, moulded into a ball, and then
slipped into his mouth. Hence we may learn two things. First, that
chewing the betel counteracts the ill effects of an over-dose of opium.
Secondly, that it is extremely convenient to have an attendant with
a good set of teeth, since he could not only masticate betel nut for
you, and relieve you from a large amount of labour; but in the event of
your joint not being so tender as it should be, the amount of milling
to be expended at dinner could be divided between you, the attendant
masticating the tough dishes, and yourself the tender, and thus,
by division of labour, a good dinner could be procured with little
expenditure of your own muscular strength.
In Sumatra, when the first salutation is over, which consists in
bending the body, and the inferior 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 man of subordinate rank to
address a great man without the precaution of chewing it before he
spoke.
The Tagali maidens, says Meyen, regard it as a proof of the uprightness
of the intentions of a lover, and of the strength of his affection, if
he takes the buyo from his mouth. In Luçon, a little box or dish is
kept in every house, in which are kept the betel rolls prepared for the
day’s consumption, and there a buyo, or betel roll, is offered to every
one who enters, just as a pinch of snuff or a pipe might be with us.
Making the buyo is a part of the occupation of the females, who may be
seen in the forenoon stretched on the ground rolling them. Enough for
the day’s consumption is generally carried, in a siri box of metal or
japanned ware, by those whose occupations call them from home; every
one who can afford the expense, puts a fresh roll in his mouth every
hour, which he continues to chew and suck for about half an hour or
more.
Betel holds an important place in the marriage ceremonies of the
Tagals. When once a young man has informed his father and mother that
he has a predilection for a young Indian girl, his parents pay a visit
to the young girl’s parents upon some fine evening, and after some
very ordinary chat, the mamma of the young man offers a piastre to the
mamma of the young lady. Should the future mother-in-law accept, the
young lover is admitted, and then his future mother-in-law is sure to
go and spend the very same piastre in betel and cocoa wine. During the
greater portion of the night, the whole company assembled upon the
occasion, chews betel, drinks cocoa wine, and discusses upon all other
subjects but marriage. The young men never make their appearance till
the piastre has been accepted, because in that case they look upon it
as being the _avant-courrier_, that is, the first and most essential
step towards their marriage.
During the fast of Ramadan, the Mahometans abstain from the use of the
betel while the sun continues above the horizon, but, except at this
time, it is the constant luxury of both sexes from an early period of
childhood till old age, when, becoming toothless, they are unable to
masticate the nut, and are reduced to the alternative of having all
the ingredients previously reduced to the form of a paste for them, so
that, without effort, they may dissolve in the mouth.
When Lady Raffles had reached Merambung in Sumatra, being much fatigued
with walking, and the rest of the party having dispersed in various
directions, she lay down under the shade of a tree, when a Malay girl
approached, with great grace of manner, and on being asked if she
wanted anything, replied, “No! but as you were quite alone, I thought
you might like to have a little talk, so I came to offer you some
_siri_ (betel), and sit beside you.”
The darker the teeth the more beautiful is a Siamese belle considered;
and in order that their gums should be of a brilliant red, to form
a pleasant contrast to the black lips and teeth, they resort to the
pastime of chewing betel from morning till night. The constituents of
the betel being rolled up into something very much like a sailor’s
quid, it is then thrust into the lady’s cheek, and is munched, and
crunched, and chewed so long as the slightest flavour is to be
extracted, and, as they never swallow the juice, the results are very
detrimental to the cleanliness of the floors of the houses, and of
themselves generally. They commonly make use of two such quids during
the day, and this mixture has the effect of dyeing their gums and the
whole of the palate and tongue of a blood-red colour. Old crones, and
very ancient _chronoses_ (for both men and women use the betel), who
have no longer any teeth to masticate the mixture with, are attended by
servants, who have a species of small pestle and mortar always about
them, wherein they reduce the betel into a proper form for the delicate
gums of their aged patrons.[30]
The betel pepper is cultivated at Zanzibar, where the use of betel
prevails, as it does at the Comoro Islands and at Bombay. But the
custom is not in vogue in Arabia. The betel palm is also grown for the
sake of its fruits in the island of Zanzibar.
The habit of masticating betel nut in combination with hemp has of late
come into vogue in the United States of America, and doubtless Brother
Jonathan will soon eclipse Malaya in his predilection for the “buyo.”