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

306 THE OCEAN OF STORY
thirtieth year, when one tree will produce seven or eight
hundred nuts, valued at about forty cents. Large herds of
cattle are allowed to roam at will through the plantations,
and their manure serves to fertilise the soil. The groves
are said to be the seat of malaria, especially at the season
when the trees are in flower. Hainan nuts are superior to
those from Singapore, which are imported for the purposes
of adulteration.
In recent years it appears that the areca-palm is cultivated
in Hainan only on a very small scale compared with
the extensive cultivation in Indo-China. The Chinese soil
and climate are not so suitable for its growth, owing to the
excessive presence of moisture.
Apart
from the use of areca-nuts in Southern China for
chewing, and their connection with various ceremonies, such
as weddings, etc., to which we have already referred, they
are also eaten in different ways. They are generally cooked
with chicken essence and served at the end of a meal as
dessert, or else they are sliced thinly and rolled up in green
herbage, accompanied by slices of fresh coco-nut.
In the years 1922-1924 the average tonnage of imported
areca-nuts was 3175, while the export for the same years was
1219.
Micronesia
Micronesia embraces the Pelew, Caroline, Marianne and
Gilbert groups of islands. Betel-chewing exists in the first
three groups, but appears to be unknown in the Gilbert
"
Islands, where kava-drinking is the chief narcotic. There
is certainly no betel-chewing in the Gilbert or Ellice Islands,"
says Mr Woodford (of the Solomon Islands) in a letter to
me :
" both groups are merely coral atolls and the areca-palm
would not grow there."
The Pelew Islands
Accounts of the custom in the Pelew Islands seem very
few and far between. I notice, however, several references
in Keate's work, derived from the journals of Captain Henry
Wilson 1 :
1 Account of the Pelew Islands, 2nd edit., London, 1788, pp. 299, 311.
Similar evidence is found in J. S. Kubary, Etknographische Beitrage zur Kenntniss
des Karolinen Archipels, Leyden, 1895, p. 165.