358 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



sugar. After a day or two the weak syrup is re- 

 moved, and replaced by a stronger ; and the shifting 

 is two or three times repeated, increasing the strength 

 of the syrup each time. The preserve thus formed 

 is one of the finest that is made ; and the removed 

 syrups are not lost, but fermented into a pleasant 

 liquor, which gets the name of cool drink.' 



The manner of cultivating ginger is extremely 

 simple, requiring little skill or care ; it is propagated 

 with as much ease and nearly in the same manner as 

 potatoes are in Great Britain. 



PEPPER Piper. The species of this genus are 

 very numerous botanists describing about sixty 

 some of which are to be found in every quarter of 

 the world except Europe. The Piper nigrum pro- 

 duces the black and white pepper of commerce. 

 This pepper-bush is a perennial plant found native 

 upon the slopes of mountains in the southern parts 

 of both the Indian peninsulas, especially on the coast 

 of Malabar. It is likewise cultivated to a great 

 extent in Sumatra, Java, and the adjacent places. 

 Pepper at one time formed the principal export from 

 Java ; it was chiefly cultivated in Bantam, and like- 

 wise in the dependencies of that province in the 

 southern part of Sumatra ; these districts producing 

 the greater part of the supply exclusively furnished 

 by the Dutch to the European market. It is, how- 

 ever, a satisfaction to find that the greedy spirit 

 which would appropriate all to self, may sometimes, 

 in its unjust efforts to secure this end, defeat its own 

 purpose. We learn from Sir T. S. Raffles, that ' the 

 system by which it (pepper) was procured, was too 

 oppressive and unprincipled in its nature, and too 

 impolitic in its provisions to admit of long duration. 

 It was calculated to destroy the energies of the 

 country, and with them the source whence the fruits 

 of the monopoly proceeded. In the year 18 J J, ac- 



