They grow in clusters beneath the crest of the palm, in a similar manner to the cocoa-nut; but the tree is more prolific, as it produces about two hundred nuts per annum.

The latter are very similar to large nutmegs both in size and appearance, and, like the cocoa-nut, they are enclosed in an outer husk of a fibrous texture.
The consumption of these nuts may be imagined when it is explained that every native is perpetually chewing a mixture of this nut and betel leaf.

Every man carries a betel bag, which contains the following list of treasures: a quantity of areca-nuts, a parcel of betel leaves, a roll of tobacco, a few pieces of ginger, an instrument similar to pruning scissors and a brass or silver case (according to the wealth of the individual) full of chunam paste--viz., a fine lime produced from burnt coral, slacked.

This case very much resembles an old-fashioned warming-pan breed of watch and chateleine, as numerous little spoons for scooping out the chunam are attached to it by chains.
The betel is a species of pepper, the leaf of which very much resembles that of the black pepper, but is highly aromatic and pungent.

It is cultivated to a very large extent by the natives, and may be seen climbing round poles and trees in every garden.
It has been said by some authors that the betel has powerful narcotic properties, but, on the contrary, its stimulating qualities have a directly opposite effect.