112 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XII. 



although, indeed, it has been alleged by some authors that they 

 only grow on the slopes of Caucasus which lie exposed to the 

 sun. The seeds, however, differ from those of the juniper, in 

 being enclosed in small pods similar to those which we see in 

 the kidney-bean. These pods are picked before they open, 

 and when dried in the sun, make what we call " long pepper." 

 But if allowed to ripen, they will open gradually, and when 

 arrived at maturity, discover the white pepper; if left ex- 

 posed to the heat of the sun, this becomes wrinkled, and changes 

 its colour. Even these productions, however, are subject to 

 their own peculiar infirmities, and are apt to become blasted 

 by the inclemency of the weather ; in which case the seeds 

 are found to be rotten, and mere husks. These abortive seeds are 

 known by the name of " bregma/' a word which in the Indian 

 language signifies " dead." Of all the various kinds of pepper, 

 this is the most pungent, as well as the very lightest, and is 

 remarkable for the extreme paleness of its colour. That which 

 is black is of a more agreeable flavour ; but the white pepper 

 is of a milder quality than either. 



The root of this tree is not, as many persons have imagined, 

 the same as the substance known as zimpiberi, or, as some call 

 it, zingiberi, or ginger, although it is very like it in taste. 

 For ginger, in fact, grows in Arabia and . in Troglodytica, in 

 various cultivated spots, being a small plant 50 with a white 

 root. This plant is apt to decay very speedily, although it is 

 of intense pungency ; the price at which it sells is six denarii 

 per pound. Long pepper is very easily adulterated with 

 Alexandrian mustard ; its price is fifteen denarii per pound, 

 while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four. It is 

 quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into 

 fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is 

 sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that 

 has attracted our notice ; whereas, pepper has nothing in it 

 that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its 

 only desirable quality being a certain pungency ; and yet it is 

 for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was 

 the first to make trial of it as an article of food ? and who, I 

 wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself 



50 Fee remarks, that this is not a correct description of ginger, the Amo- 

 Jnum zingiher of Linnaeus. Dioscorides was one of those who thought 

 that ginger was the root of the pepper- tree. 



