for carrying (usually by water,) to the European factory or 
gadong, at the mouth of the river. That which has been 
gathered at the properest stage of maturity will shrivel the 
least ; but, if plucked too soon, it will, in a short time, by 
removal from place to place, become mere dust. Of this 
defect, trial may be made by the hand; but as light Pepper 
may be mixed with the sound, it becomes necessary that 
the whole should be garbled at the scale by machines 
constructed for the purpose. Pepper that has fallen to the 
ground overripe and been picked up from thence, will be 
known by being stripped of its outer coat, and in that state 
is an inferior kind of white Pepper.” 
Two crops of Pepper are generally produced in one 
eal at Penang, the first gathering commences in Decem- 
er; at which time, the vines put out new flowers, whose 
fruit is matured in April and May, when the second harvest 
begins and lasts till July. In Sumatra, the greater crop 
(pupul agung) takes place between the months of October 
and March, and the lesser, or half-crop (buah sello) be- 
tween April and September. : | 
In the small island of Penang, in the year 1802, the 
quantity of Pepper produced was estimated at between 
eighteen and twenty thousand picols ; which, at twelve 
dollars the picol, amounted to 216,000 dollars. In Sumatra 
previous to the year 1780, the price paid to the grower by 
the Company was ten Spanish Dollars per bahar of five — 
hundred weight, or five hundred and sixty pounds. From 
the same country too, about one-third of the quantity of 
black Pepper collected, but none of the white, is annually 
Sent to China. The produce of Sumatra in this article is, 
however, probably very small, compared to what 1s stated 
by the Commandant Cunes in relation to the Pepper trade, 
of the Malabar coast, in a Memoir addressed to his suc- 
cessor Gaspar pE Jone, in the year 1756, “ no less than ten 
full cargoes (amounting to between eight and nine millions 
of pounds weight) might be annually exported. But the 
half of this quantity is carried over the mountains to the 
Coast of Coromandel, to the north, to the Deckan, and 
further on to different parts of Hindostan. ‘This Pepper Is 
‘e€steemed the best of all that is produced in Asia, and 1S 
the most sought after by all nations” *. 
—= Te 
Fig. 1. Portion of a Male Spike. 2. Perfect Flower. 3. Fruit or — co 
Pepper (nat. size). 4. The same cut open to show the situation Of SSS 
as at the top of the Albumen. 5. Embryo included in its sack : aS Aa 
ed, ta a 
a 
eerie 
* See Stayoninus's Voyages, Y. 3. p- 220, 
a 
