[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Storia do Mogor](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci) › [Storia do Mogor (Irvine)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine) › 43.4 # Storia do Mogor 43.4 Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 43.4 - **Language:** English ### [43.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.43.4) Betel, or pan, is a leaf similar to the ivy-leaf, but the betel leaf is longer ; it is very medicinal, and eaten by everybody in India. They chew it along with ' arrecas ' (areca), which physicians call Avelans Indicas (Indian filberts), and a little catto (kath or katthd), which is the dried juice of a certain plant that grows in India. Smearing the betel leaf with a little of the kath, they chew them together, which makes the lips scarlet and gives a pleasant scent. It happens with the eaters of betel, as to those accustomed to take tobacco, that they are unable to refrain from taking it many times a day. Thus the women of India, whose principal business it is to tell stories and eat betel, are unable to remain many minutes without having it in their mouths. It is an exceedingly common practice in India to offer betel leaf by way of politeness, chiefly among the great men, who, when anyone pays them a visit, offer betel at the time of leaving as a mark of goodwill, and of the estimation in which they hold the person who is visiting them. It would be a great piece of rudeness to refuse it. - [Previous: 43.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.43.3) - [Next: 44.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.44.1) - [Up: 43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.43) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.43.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.43.4) · Pramāṇa