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

296 THE OCEAN OF STORY
p. 1001) says that if the labourer cannot afford a siri-box, a
small supply of betel and nuts will usually be found in the
corner of his handkerchief. Every petty chief and his wife
have their siri-box, that of the man being termed epok and
that of the woman chepuri. As in the case of the Sultan of
Jogjakarta, these sm-boxes are sometimes of solid gold and
bejewelled with rare workmanship ; they are then considered
as family heirlooms. Cardamoms and cloves make up part
of the articles in the siri-box of a person of condition and
quality.
Borneo
The methods of chewing in both Borneo and Celebes
present no innovations. Nearly all travel-books to the East
Indies of the nineteenth century contain the usual short
account.
Speaking of the Dyaks (or Dayaks) of Sarawak, Hose says
they are constantly chewing and have both lips and teeth
discoloured with the practice. 1
Spencer St John gives us details of the use of the nut and
betel leaf in Dyak betrothals and marriages. 2
Besides the ordinary attention which a young man is able
to pay to the girl he desires to make his wife, there is a peculiar
testimony of regard which is worthy of note. About nine or
ten at night, when the family is supposed to be asleep within
the mosquito curtains in the private apartment, the lover
quietly slips back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
the inside and enters the room on tiptoe. He goes to the
curtains of his beloved, gently awakes her, and she, on hear-
ing who it is, rises at once, and they sit conversing together
and making arrangements for the future in the dark over a
plentiful supply of sirih leaf and areca-nut, which it is the
gentleman's duty to provide. If, when awakened, the young
lady arises and accepts the prepared areca-nut, happy is the
lover, for his suit is in a fair way to prosper, but if, on the
other hand, she rises and says :
" Be good enough to blow
up the fire," or "to light the lamp," then his hopes are at an
end, as that is the usual form of dismissal. Of course, if this
kind of nocturnal visit is frequently repeated the parents do
1 Hose and McDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo, vol. i, pp. 32, 60. See also
Hose, Natural Man, London, 1 926, p. 94.
2 Life in the Forests of the Far East, 2nd edition, 2 vols., London, 1863,
quoted by Hickson, A Naturalist in North Celebes, p. 274 et seq.