the sharp, quick rap of a drum, which, however monotonous,
still has something stirring and lively in
i t ; and two gongs, imported from China, and just
harsh and discordant enough to please the musical
tympanums of the stupid Celestials. The tifa is heat
with a piece of wood of any shape held loosely in
the right hand, while the left O ' hand raises the note
by pressing against the edge of the vibrating skin.
There is, therefore, no such thing as a long roll or a
short roll, but one unvaried beating. The two gongs
were of different sizes, and were struck alternately,
but this was so slight a change that it only made the
monotony more wearisome. Each rower had a small
wooden box, about a foot long, four inches high, and
six wide, where he carried the all-important betel-
nut, siri, lime, and tobacco. It also served as a chest
for his extra clothing.
The betel-nut is the fruit of a tall, slender, and
extremely graceful palm, the A.reca catechu. The
trunk is usually from six to eight inches only in
diameter, but the sheaf of green leaves that springs
out of its top is thirty or forty feet from the ground.
Of all the beautiful palms, this is decidedly the most
fascinating to me. Near the house in which I lived,
at Batavia, there was a long avenue of these graceful
trees, and there in the bright mornings, and cool
evenings, I was accustomed to saunter to and fro,
and each time it seemed that they were more charming
than ever before. This tree grows over all
tropical India, and the whole archipelago, including
the Philippines. Its Malay name is pinang, hence
Pulo Pinang is the Betel-nut Island. In nearly all