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

292 THE OCEAN OF STORY
Some further curious customs are given in a recent article,
"Notes on Malay Magic," by R. O. Winstedt. 1
If a child is
taken out in the late afternoon, the lobes of its ears and the
crown of its head are smeared with betel-juice, whose redness
spirits fear. And at the same hour a Perak woman will walk
round a house where young children are and spit out yellow
turmeric at seven places. At a Malay burial betel is often
put inside the grave for the use of the deceased in the next
world. For the uses of betel in Malayan folklore see Overbeck,
Malayan Branch Roy. As. Soc. Journ., vol. ii, pt. iii, 1924,
pp. 283, 284, and vol. iii, pt. iii, December 1925, pp. 22, 23,
25, 26 and 28.
The East Indian Archipelago 2
The whole of this wide area can be described as a betelchewing
region. Even if space permitted, it would be
superfluous to quote most of the accounts of the custom, as
they nearly all are mere repetitions of previous observers.
Nearly every traveller and missionary, since the days of Raffles
and Marsden, have had something to say on the subject.
I shall therefore avoid, as far as possible, quoting accounts
which give us no new information.
Sumatra
Of the early accounts of betel-chewing in Sumatra the
most interesting and reliable is undoubtedly that given by
Thomas Bowrey (1669-1679). In describing Achin he says 3 r
" The Betelee Areca is here in great plenty and much
better then in many Other countries of the East and South
Seas. Very few houses here but have Severall trees of it
growinge that beare all the yeare longe, and the inhabitants
in Generall doe Eat thereof, prepared thus : They cutt the
Areca nut into very thin Slices, and put about one halfe of a
nut into their mouth, and then one betelee leafe or two (accordinge
as they are in bignesse), and Spread a little qualified
1
Malayan Branch Roy. As. Soc. Jour., vol. iii, pt. iii, December 1925 r
p. 11.
2
I use this term in preference to " Malay Archipelago," as I mean it to
exclude the Malay Peninsula, and to include Sumatra, Java, Timor, Borneo,.
Celebes, the Philippines, and the Moluccas. I treat both Micronesia and
Melanesia under separate headings.
3 Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, edited by Sir R. C. Temple, Hakluyt
Society, 1905, pp. 304-306.