cca, the Philippine, and other islands of the great
Indian Archipelago.

Of course the boys were now curious to know what the betel was, and the
shikarree proceeded to give them full information about this curious
commodity.

The "betel," or "pawn" as it is called by the Hindoos, is a compound
substance, and its component parts are a leaf, a nut, and some
quicklime. The leaf is taken from an evergreen shrub, which is
cultivated in India for this very purpose. Ossaroo stated that it is
usually cultivated under a shed made of bamboos, and wattled all around
the sides to exclude the strong rays of the sun. The plant requires
heat and a damp atmosphere, but exposure to the sun or dry winds would
wither it, and destroy the flavour and pungency of the leaf. It
requires great care in the cultivation, and every day a man enters the
shed by a little door and carefully cleans the plants. The shed where
it grows is usually a favourite lurking-place for poisonous snakes, and
this diurnal visit of the betel-grower to his crop is rather a dangerous
business; but the article is so profitable, and the mature crop yields
such a fine price, that both the labour and the danger are disregarded.
Ossaroo chanced to have some of the leaves in his pouch still in an
entire state. He only knew them as "pawn-leaves," but the botanist at
once recognised a rare hothouse plant, belonging to the pepper tribe,
_Piperacea_. It is in fact a species of _Piper_, the _Piper-betel_,
very closely allied to the climbing shrub which produces the common
black-pepper of commerce, and having deep green oval and sharply-pointed
leaves of very similar appearance to the leaves of the latter. Another
species called _Piper siriboa_ is also cultivated for the same purpose.
So much for one of the component parts of this singular Oriental "quid."

"Now," continued Ossaroo, facing to one side of the path and pointing
upwards, "if Sahibs lookee up, dey see de pawn-nut."

The boys looked as directed, and beheld with interest a grove of noble
palms, each of them rising to the height of fifty feet, with a smooth
cylindrical shank, and a beautiful tuft of pinnated leaves at the top.
These leaves were full two yards in breadth, by several in length. Even
the pinnae, or leaflets, were each over a yard long. Just below where
the leaves grew out from the stem, a large bunch of nuts of a reddish
orange colour, and each as big as a hen's egg, hung downward. These
were