THE PEPPER TRADE. 



M7 



this great discovery, appears not to liave been satis* 

 fied vnih the results and prospects of his voyage 

 until he had fidly loaded his ships with it. At that 

 time it was worth about seventy-five cents per pound 

 in Europe. For a century afterward, so completely 

 was this trade monopolized by the Portuguese and 

 Dutch Governments, that it constantly commanded 

 even a higher price. Except salt, perhaps no other 

 condiment is so universally used ; and yet the 

 natives, who cultivate it for the rest of the world, 

 never use it themselves, just as we have already seen 

 is the case with those Malays who raise cloves and 

 nutmeg and mace. 



It was used by the Romans more than two thou- 

 sand years ago ; and Pliny is surprised that people 

 should go aU the way to India to obtain a condiment 

 that had nothing to recommend it but its pungency 

 (ammiiudo). 



In the early part of this century a very consider- 

 able trade in pepper was carried on by American 

 vessels, chiefly from Boston and Salem, with this 

 island, especially between this place and Achin, a 

 region generally kno^vn to our sailors as " The 

 Pepper Coast." Serious troubles offcen arose be- 

 tween their crews and the natives, and in 1830 

 nearly all the officers and crew of the ship Friend- 

 ship, of Salem, were overpowered and murdered but 

 a little farther north. 



The region where the pepper-vine is now most- 

 ly cultivated is south of Palembang, on the banks 

 of the river Ogan. In the archipelago it does 

 not grow wild, and is only cultivated on Sumatra 



