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pg 12 In 1298, Marco Polo, the first European explorer to comment on the habit of betel chewing, wrote in his travelogues:"The people of Inida have a habit of keeping in theirmouth a certain leaf called the \btembul\b" (Raghavan and Baruah 1958). This habit was known to have reached Zanzibar coast between AD 12-1400, and mention is made in Dutch archives of 1664 from Malacca (West Malaysia) of a tax on betel leaf imported from India. pg 18 Generally, the quid is chewed after meals and on all auspicious occasions. The number of quids taken per day by regular chewing ranges from two to 15-20. A quid usually lasts for approximately half an hour. Heavy chewers keep the quid in the mouth while sleeping. The quids are not always prepared \iex tempore\i. On the Indian subcontinent and in Sri Lanka ready prepared quids are displayed at home on betel stands or kept in the so-called betel bag. \bSocio-ritual aspects\b pg 23 A rich variety of social functions associated with the cstomhas been dealt with in a comprehensive fashion by Krenger (1942), Penzer (1952), Raghavan et al. (1958) and Lewin (1964). The early anthropologists such as Cayley-Webster (1914), Chinnery (1922), Lyons (1926) and Williams (1930) made observations on the borader socialaspeocts of betel chewing behavior. Most likely because of the new emphasis on social structure and function anthropologists would appear to have lost interest in betel chewing. A few monographs fousing on the ethnography of betel utensils and socio-cultural aspects have been published within the last decade. In Millot (1965)- emphasis was on betel utensils from India. Solange Thierry (1969), contains numerous detailed examples of socio-ritual aspects of betel. Rooney (1993), betel-chewing traditions and symbolisms are nicely desicrbed, as are the art associated with betel and disappearance of the habit from SEAian coutries. pg 23 Red lips are a desirable mark of beauty in SEA, just as in most parts of the world. The betel has a significant function in communication. The betel leaf and the areca nut have symbolic significance as signs of happiness and fertility, both in their natural form and in artistic presentations. Morarjee (1974), in a series of monographs on Indian civilization and cultur, devotes one monograph solely to the study of the Betel tradition. pg 24
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