Final answer:
The provided passages do not directly answer what Peter Billingsly chewed instead of tobacco. Additional context is needed to provide an accurate answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The passage provided does not specifically mention Peter Billingsly or what he chewed instead of tobacco. However, it references different characters and their actions, such as a man chewing tobacco in cold weather and creating a beard of ice, and another character, McTeague, smoking tobacco. There is a line where a character named Old Grannis states that he does not smoke and suggests that chewing could replace smoking for him, but this does not directly relate to the initial question.
Given the information provided, we cannot conclusively say what Peter Billingsley chewed instead of tobacco. To properly answer the student's question, additional context is required, possibly from other portions of the text or the overall work in which Peter Billingsley is a character.