576 PIPERACEiE. 



arranged perpendicularly in three or four store}' s ; mixed with the 

 grains were a few long, simple hairs. Another fact of some interest is, 

 that at a temperature of 93° to 100° C, this drug becomes quite black, 

 while kamala undersfoes no chancre of colour. 



In 18/8 our friend Professor Schar was informed by a Swiss firm, 

 Messrs. Furrer and Escher of Aden, that Kanbil, Qinbil or Kamala are 

 unknown there. But they sent under the name of Vars a powder, 

 which Prof. Schiir as well as one of us (F.) find identical with the 

 drug which had been imported by Messrs. Allen and Hanbury. Prof 

 Schar was also informed that Vars is used chiefly in the coast districts 

 of Mascat (Oman) and Hadramaut, in skin diseases, for expelling the 

 tape worm and as a dye. 



Thus the appellation Wurrus or Waras is to be restricted to the 

 dark purple or violet glands occurring in eastern Africa and Yemen, 

 although the Waras sent to one of us^ by Vaughan was kamala. 



As to the mother-plant of Waras ^ we have no information to offer ; 

 we attempted in vain to ascertain its origin. It is evident that it is 

 the " black Abyssinian " powder already alluded to at page 578. 



PIPEEACE^. 



FRUCTUS PIPERIS NIGRI. 



Piper nigrum; Black Pepper ; F. Poivre noir ; G. Schivarzer Pfeffer. 



Botanical Origin — Piper nigrmn L. — The pepper plant is a 

 perennial climbing shrub, with jointed sterns branching dichotomously, 

 and broadly ovate, 5- to 7-nerved, stalked leaves. The slender flower- 

 spikes are opposite the leaves, stalked, and from 3 to 6 inches long; 

 and the fruits are sessile and fleshy. 



Piper nigriim is indigenous to the forests of Travancore and 

 Malabar, whence it has been introduced into Sumatra, Java, Borneo, 

 the Malay Peninsula, Siam, the Philippines and the West Indies. 



History — Pepper^ is one of the spices earliest used by mankind, 

 and although now a commodity of but small importance in comparison 

 with sugar, coffee, and cotton, it was for many ages the staple article 

 of trade between Europe and India. It would require in fact a volume 

 to give a full idea of the prominent importance of pepper during the 

 middle ages. 



In the 4th century B.C., Theophrastus noticed the existence of two 

 kinds of pepper {ireirepi), probably the Black Pepper and Long Pej)per 

 of modern times. Dioscorides stated pepper to be a production of 

 India, and was acquainted with White Pepper (XevKov iriwepi). Pliny's 

 information on the same subject is curious; he tells us that in his time 

 a pound of long pepper was worth 15, of white 7, and of black pepper 

 4 denarii ; and expresses his astonishment that mankind should so 



* Hanbury, Science. Papers, 73. varieties has passed into almost all lan- 



^ Some information will be met with in guages, comes from the Sanskrit name for 



Capt. Hunter's Account of Aden, 1877. p. Long Pepper, pippali, the change of the / 



107. In 1875-1876 there were exported into »• having been made by the Persians, in 



from Aden 42,975 lb. of Waras. whose ancient language the I is wanting. 



*The word pei'per, Mhich with slight 



