630 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



as no one can tell where they mtiy 

 be makint;; their destrvictive bur- 

 rows, perhaps through the thin 

 plaak that separates the whole 

 crew from their eternity ! 



In these cases there is no me- 

 thod of destroying them, but by 

 sinking the Aessel in shallow w atcr 

 for some days, until they are all 

 drowned. 



The principal useful trees, 

 shrubs, and plants, on this island, 

 are those that bear the cocoa-nut, 

 fireca-nut, pepper, and betel. 

 The cocoa-nut tree is raised by 

 burying the nut (stript of its lib- 

 rous root) at some depth in the 

 eromid ; and it is very singular 

 tliat the stem is nearly as thick 

 when it makes its appearance 

 above ground, as it ever becon'.es 

 afterwards, though it sometimes 

 rices to the height of fiftv or -lixty 

 feet. 



'I'hc arecatrf c makes aveiyhand- 

 some appearance; its branches 

 aie small, hut its leaves are very 

 beautiful, furraii\e: a round tuft 

 at the top of the trunk, which 

 grows as strait as an arrow to the 

 height of twenty -five or thirty 

 feet. The .shell wliich contains 

 the fruit is about the size of a 

 Mall-nut, and of a yellowish red 

 colour outside, and rough witliiu ; 

 when rij)e it is astrigcnt, and not 

 unpleasant to the taste. 



It is needless to say llo■.^ much 

 this nut (when nii\ed with leaves 

 of the betel ;ind c hnnam) is iised 

 in chewing by all classes of tiie 

 natives. This composition is 

 called Penang (whence tiie name 

 of the island), and tliijugh it Ira.^ 

 an agreeable flavi»r,r, it gives the 

 Ujouths of tlie natives, who use 

 it, a most d'abolical appearance, 

 rendering what few straggling 

 tectli they have as black as jet j 



while their disgusting chaps seem 

 as gory as if they had been mang- 

 ling a piece of raw flesh. 



The pepper-plant is a shrub 

 \slu).''e loot is small, tibrous, and 

 Hexii>le ; it rises into a stem 

 which requires a tree or prop to 

 sup])ort it ; its wood has the same 

 sort of knots as the vine, and 

 when dry it exactly resembles the 

 vine branch. The leaves which 

 have a strong smell and pungent 

 taste, are of an oval shajie, but 

 they diminish 'tow.ards the extre- 

 mity, and end in a point. Trom 

 the flower bud-, which are white, 

 and sometimes placed in the'mid- 

 dlc, sometimes at the extremities 

 of the branches, are produced 

 small bunches rescmljling those 

 ( f the currant tree ; each of these 

 contains from twenty to tlur.ty 

 corns of pepper ; they are com- 

 nionly gathered in October, and 

 exposed to the sun seven or eight 

 days. Tlie fiuit, which is gi'een 

 at first, and aflerwaids red, when 

 stripped cf its covering, assunics 

 the appearance it has wiicn we 

 .see it ; it is not sown, but plant- 

 ed ; a great nicety is required in 

 the clioice of the shoots ; it pro- 

 duces no fruit till the end of three 

 years, but bears so plentifully 

 tlie, three succeeding years, that 

 some plants yield six or seven 

 pounds of pepper in tiiat period. 

 The bark t!»en begins to shrink, 

 and in twelve years time it cea?~es 

 bearing. 



The culture of pepper is not 

 difficult J it is sufficient to plant 

 it in a rich soil, and carefully to 

 pull up the v.ee>!s that grow in 

 great alumdance round its icots, 

 especially the three first ycais. 

 As the sun is highly necessary to 

 the grouth of ihe pepper plant, 

 when it is reacJvto bear, the trees 



that 



