The Biwat people number about 1200, and they live in four villages on the banks of the Yuat River in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. Their land is very fertile and high-set, an exception in a region which is otherwise a vast lowland swamp. This circumstance allows the Biwat people to be self sufficient in food, and to have a regional monopoly of tobacco and betel nut. Control over the production and distribution of these drugs has been an important source of power for Biwat people for generations. On the whole there is general agreement about the major subjective effects.
Small doses result in a euphoric feeling, copious red saliva and an increased flow of energy.
Larger doses produce a sedative effect in which reaction time slows markedly. While each of the three major ingredients contributes to the total physiological consequences, alkaloids present in the betel nuts themselves are probably the most significant in terms of psychoactive properties. Biwat began producing and trading betel and tobacco, but by 1929, and possibly very much earlier, Biwat was experiencing some of the situations which we think of as contemporary problems. However the content of each category is different. Social prominence is no longer associated with theatrical performances and head-hunting.