SPICES OF THE TROPICS 259 



also important. In pharmacy certain spices, especially ginger, 

 cardamoms and cloves, hold a very important place, both on 

 account of their medicinal properties and their effect in disguising 

 nauseous decoctions. The antiseptic properties of spices, more 

 especially cloves, due to their volatile oils, is well known, and for 

 preservative purposes, both in domestic and scientific uses, they 

 are invaluable. The appropriateness of spices to sacred uses, as 

 for burning in incense, has long been recognised, and in certain 

 social and religious customs of oriental countries spices are to this 

 day very commonly employed. It is recorded that spices were 

 used in the funeral piles of the Egyptian Kings and that Nero burnt 

 at the obsequies of his wife "a quantity of cinnamon and cassia 

 exceeding in amount the whole importation into Rome for one 

 year ! " Finally, not the least virtue of certain spices is their effect 

 in sweetening the breath of persons who are addicted to masticat- 

 ing habits, popularly known in the East as " betel-chewing." For 

 this purpose cardamoms especially are esteemed in India and 

 Ceylon, and star-anise in China and Japan. It is claimed that 

 spice trees also have a beneficial effect on climate, their volatile 

 oils acting as a preventive against mosquitoes and other germ- 

 carrying insects. 



The following are the principal spices of the tropics in alpha- 

 betical order, with a brief description and notes on their cultivation 

 and uses, etc. The botanical name and Natural Order are within 

 brackets. 



Allspice; "Whole-spice;" Pimento; "Jamaica Pepper" 

 (Pimenta officinalis. Myrtaceae). A small tree with smooth greyish 

 bark, 25 to 35 feet high, native of the West Indies and Central 

 America. The dried unripe berries, which are of the size of small 

 peas and of a glossy black colour when ripe, are the allspice 

 or pimento of commerce. The name " all-spice " is due to a sup- 

 posed resemblance of the spice to a combination of the odour and 

 flavour of cinnamon, nutmegs and cloves. The trees had been 

 introduced into Ceylon early in the last century, and established 

 at Peradeniya, where it flowers in the dry weather and usually 

 produces a small crop of fruit, but outside the Botanic Gardens it 

 is rarely met with in this country. It is considered to yield best 

 in a hot and rather dry climate, preferring a loose loamy or 

 alluvial, well-drained soil. The berries are picked while green, 

 but just ripe, and are then dried in the sun, the latter process 

 taking six to ten days. The fruits are known to be sufficiently dry 



