202 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



at the side, and discloses a shining black nut, which seems 

 the darker from the contrast of the leafy network of a fine red 

 colour with which it is enveloped. 

 The latter forms the Mace of com- 

 merce, and having been laid to dry 

 iri the shade for a short time, is 

 packed in bags and pressed together 

 very tightly. 



The shell of the nut is larger and 

 harder than that of the filbert, and 

 could not, in the state in which it is 

 gathered, be broken without injuring 

 the nut. On that account the nuts 

 are successively dried in the sun and 

 then by fire-heat, till the kernel 

 shrinks so much as to rattle in the shell, which is then easily 

 broken. 



Although not so costly as cloves or cinnamon, pepper is of a 

 much greater commercial value, as its consumption is at least a 

 hundred times greater. It grows on a beautiful vine, which, 

 incapable of supporting itself, twines round poles or mango and 

 other trees of straight high stems. As these are stripped of 



the lower branches, the vine em- 

 braces the trunk, covering it with 

 elegant festoons and rich bunches of 

 fruit in the style of the Italian 

 vineyards. 



The leaf of the pepper plant is 

 large, resembling that of the ivy, 

 and of a bright green ; the blossoms 

 appear in June, soon after the com- 

 mencement of the rains; they are 

 small, of a greenish white, and are followed by the pungent 

 berries, which hang in large bunches, resembling in shape 

 those of grapes, but the fruit grows distinct on little stalks like 

 currants. 



This valuable spice grows chiefly on the Malabar Coast, in 

 Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Singapore ; its cultivation has also been 

 introduced in Cayenne and the West Indies. The black and 

 white sorts of pepper are both the produce of the same plant. 



PEPPER PLANT. 



