The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

250 THE OCEAN OF STORY
various trays and bowls for holding the leaves and passing
round the chew," when entertaining a guest. Then there
is the mortar used by the toothless for grinding the nut into
a kind of paste.
Although they are rarely used to-day,
there is the elaborately
embroidered betel-bag (for which see below), and the
bowls for expectorating, used in the houses of the rich. As
can be well imagined, such a list of articles used in betel-
chewing makes a distinct call upon the artistic genius of the
particular country concerned, and accordingly our museums
contain numerous specimens of cutters, lime-boxes, etc.,
which are objects of great beauty and interest.
The best collection in London is to be seen at the (much
too little known) Indian section of the Victoria and Albert
Museum. The specimens are all to be found in " Room 8
metal-work." Case 5 contains several examples
of brass
" Sireh "-boxes from Sumatra. Some have a design of
swastikas carved on their sides. Case 13 has a very curious
specimen of a nineteenth-century comb and areca-nut cutter
combined from Tan j ore. The portion forming the cutter
represents a man and a diminutive woman. It is of brass,
and decorated with incised ornament. In the same case is
a pestle and a mortar of brass, cast and turned. Cases 14
and 17 contain a collection of Singhalese cutters and limeboxes.
The cutters vary in size from about 4 J to 11| inches
in length. They are mostly of steel, often inlaid with silver, and
partially encrusted with brass. One is carved in the shape of
a dragon, and another terminates in the head of a bird.
The cases for chunam represent, in shape and average
size, an old English watch-case. They are usually of brass
and copper, inlaid with silver and enriched with floral and
other designs. They all have a chain of brass or copper, vary-
to which is attached
ing from four inches to a foot in length,
a spatula.
The spatula is usually about the size of an English
saltspoon, the head of which is flat and averages half-an-inch
in breadth and a quarter of an inch in depth. One specimen,
however (in Case 15), has a head larger than a five-shilling
piece.
Another good collection of cutters will be found in Wall
Cases 25 and 27. Some of these are inlaid with coloured
glass, and have handles of ivory, bone or pearl. One specimen
is of gilt metal set with green and red glass, while another
is of steel, with double joints containing knives. Some are