IX 



LONG PEPPER 319 



The branches, however, are stiffer and longer, light 

 brown with green streaks ; the internodes, drum-stick 

 shaped, are about 4 in. long, round and smooth. The 

 leaves are ovate acute, the base rounded and cordate, 

 the two lobes slightly unequal. They are light green, 

 thinner than those of black pepper, 6 in. long by 4 in. 

 wide, two pairs of nerves rising from the notch at the base ; 

 between them rises the midrib, which soon breaks into 

 three slender nerves ; the leaf-stalk is 1 in. long, grooved 

 above. The leaves are alternate, and from the nodes 

 opposing the leaves are produced the flower spikes, 

 hanging down on stout pedicels 1 in. long. The flower 

 spikes are 6 in. long and J in. thick, cylindric and blunt. 

 They are of a pale glaucous green, marked with the 

 spirally arranged stigmas. The greyish colour of the 

 spike is caused by a fine white down which covers the 

 spike. Unlike black pepper, the flowers are so closely 

 compacted that it is very difficult to separate them. 

 The ovaries are sunk deeply in the fleshy rachis, and are 

 narrowed to a slender point, which reaches to the surface 

 and bears a starlike stigma, with 3 to 5 lobes ; with each 

 ovary there is on the surface of the spike a round, green, 

 shield-shaped bract, quite smooth. 



Bakek is cultivated in much the same way as 

 pepper, that is to say, from cuttings put alongside a 

 stake, up which they eventually climb, and are tied on 

 by strips of bark or rattan. They commence bearing in 

 about six months, and usually last for about four or five 

 years. They are seldom manured except with a little 

 burnt earth, as the price of the spice is low, and it does 

 not seem to be considered worth while; but they are 

 cultivated in damper and better soil than pepper, and 

 under the shade of fruit trees. With a proper supply of 

 manure they would doubtless last longer. The spikes 

 when ripe are gathered and dried in the sun, and then 

 turn black. They have a hot pungent taste, and are 

 about as hot as long pepper, but with it there is also a 

 bitter and rather unpleasant flavour. 



Bakek is chiefly used by natives as a medicine, and 



