The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests, tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the interchange of commerce.
The betel shrub (Piper Betle), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit, one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands, is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange. At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very
lowest slaves of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance, however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (Hytopedesa) which celebrates as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:—"Betel is pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love! O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even in heaven!"[22]
It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.
That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums. We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped
into the mouth. The Hindoos, on the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly called Terra Japonica, because it was long supposed to be a mineral product) made out of the pith of the Acacia Catechu, a species of Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species of resin obtained from the Melaleuca Cajeputi, as also a little tobacco.
The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves, nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.
In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world. They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty. If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should have taken to flight
like the women and children, it should seem that these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.