SPICES. 361 



when thus prepared, it has a fairer and more uniform 

 appearance. 



The pepper is distinguished in Sumatra into three 

 sorts: the Molucca, which is the best; the second, 

 Cayiongee; and the worst sort, Negaree, which last is 

 the most abundant; this is a small pepper usually full 

 of dust; it is much lighter than the others, and there- 

 fore, unless the buyer be wise enough to purchase his 

 pepper by weight instead of measure, he will assured- 

 ly be imposed upon, and have this substituted for the 

 heavy Molucca berry. 



By distillation a green coloured matter is obtained 

 from pepper; this is partly resinous, and partly oily, 

 and to this the pepper owes its pungent quality.* 



Several other species of this genus are used be- 

 sides the piper nigrum. The southern Asiatics 

 wrap up the slices of the areca nut, which they are 

 in the habit of chewing, in the leaves of the beetta 

 codi (piper betle), which is a native of India and 

 China. Some species are likewise found in the West 

 Indies and in South America; they are used there 

 to season food, but are not at present known in 

 commerce. 



Cayenne pepper is the pod of a species of capsi- 

 cum dried and reduced to powder. There are many 

 species of this genus, some of which have been al- 

 ready described in a former section. They differ from 

 each other in bearing fruit of various size, shape, and 

 colour; but they all have, in different degrees, the 

 same pungent qualities; the smallest possessing them 

 with the greatest intensity. They are natives of most 

 of the tropical regions, but are most abundant and 

 most used in the Western Hemisphere. In the West 

 Indies, and in some parts of South America, they 

 form, either in substance or in powder, an ingredient 

 to almost every dish. 



* Thomson's Chemistry. 

 VOL. xv. 31 



