VIII 



PEPPERS 291 



REGIONS OF PEPPER CULTIVATION 



India. The pepper plant being indigenous to the 

 Malabar coast, was first cultivated and exported thence, 

 and that in very early times. From this region it 

 gradually spread over other parts of Asia, but at what 

 dates is not clear. From the earliest recorded times 

 till the fifteenth century at least, the greater part of the 

 spice in the markets of the world was derived from the 

 west coast of India. The whole of this region, from Cape 

 Comorin to Kanara, was the pepper-country for many 

 centuries, producing not only the greatest amount, but 

 also the spice of the highest reputation. Nearly all the 

 pepper was shipped at Madras, being conveyed there by 

 the coasting trade from the various centres of cultivation. 



The development of the industry in Sumatra, the 

 Straits Settlements, and Cambodia, however, broke 

 through the monopoly of the trade possessed by India, 

 and the exports diminished materially. In 1829, 

 Milburn reports (quoted in the Dictionary of Economic 

 Products of India) that while the produce of Sumatra 

 was estimated at 168,000 piculs, that of the islands 

 south of Sumatra 12,000 piculs, of the Malay Peninsula 

 28,000, the Gulf of Siam 60,000 piculs, and Borneo 

 20,000 piculs, that of India was only 30,000 piculs; 

 and in 1872, out of 27,576,710 Ibs. imported into 

 England, 25,000,000 Ibs. came from the Straits Settle- 

 ments, and only 256,000 Ibs. from India; and in 1889, 

 the total imports into England from the whole of the 

 British East Indies being 28,555,304 Ibs., 28,041,096 Ibs. 

 came from the Straits Settlements. The Indian trade, 

 however, increased largely in recent years, as the follow- 

 ing tables show, taken in quinquennial periods : 



1875-1876 to 1879-1880 . . . 5,420,963 Ibs. 

 1880-1881 to 1884-1885 . . . 5,061,098 

 1885-1886 to 1889-1890 ; . : 7,652,334 



A considerable quantity of pepper was imported 

 into India from the Straits Settlements, Java, etc., in 



