296 SPICES 



CHAP. 



sorted into three compartments by a winnowing machine ; 

 the heaviest is used for white pepper, the next heaviest 

 is made into black pepper, and the third, after the best 

 fruits are picked out, goes as refuse pepper. Two-thirds 

 of the crop form white pepper, and the remaining third 

 black. The white pepper goes to London, and the black 

 to China. The freight from Chantabun to Bangkok is 

 13s. 9d. per ton, and there is an inland duty of 1 : 7 : 6. 1 

 Sumatra. Pepper was cultivated in Sumatra in very 

 early days, as early as 1509, chiefly by the Achinese, 

 who are still among the best cultivators. Marco Polo 

 does not mention it as being cultivated in Sumatra, and 

 it was perhaps introduced later. It is recorded by 

 Linschoten in 1598, as being a product of Sumatra. In 

 1783 Marsden writes that of the commercial articles of 

 produce pepper is the most important and abundant. 

 The trade in this spice was then the object of the East 

 India Company's trade with Sumatra, and the only 

 product that they kept exclusively in their hands, their 

 servants and the merchants under their protection being 

 free to deal in any other commodity but this. Many of 

 the local chiefs had invited the English to form settle- 

 ments in their respective districts, and factories were 

 established, and a permanency and regularity given to 

 the trade, previously very uncertain, while it depended 

 on the success of occasional voyages to the coast. 

 Failure of adequate quantities for cargoes, and the 

 caprices and cheating of the rajas, made the trade very 

 uncertain. The Company's agents, however, residing on 

 the spot could inspect the plantation, secure the 

 collection of the produce, and estimate the tonnage 

 required. Contracts were made with the chiefs, who 

 were obliged to compel their dependents to cultivate 

 pepper, and to secure for the Company the exclusive 

 right of purchase, in return for which they enjoyed 

 English protection, and received an allowance on the 

 produce. The price paid by the Company was 10 

 dollars (15s.) per bahar (5 cwt.). It was later raised to 



1 Foreign Office Consular Report, 1893, Kew Bulletin, 22, 1893. 



