PEPPER. 
127 
This valuable spice grows chiefly on the Malabar Coast, 
in Sumatra, liorneo, Java, Singapore ; its cultivation has 
also been introdnced in Cayenne and the West Indies. 
The black and white sorts of pepper are both the produce 
of the same plant. 
The best white peppers are supposed to be the finest 
bemea, which drop from the tree, and, lying under it, 
become somewhat bleached by exposure to w^atlier; the 
greater part of the white pepper nsed as a condiment is, 
owever, tlie black merely foteeped in water, and decorti- 
cated, by which means the pungency and real value of the 
spice are diminished ; but having a fairer and more uniform 
appearance when thus prepared, it fetches a higher price. 
Jamaica is the chief seat of the magnificent myrtle 
which furnishes the pimento of commerce. This beautiful 
tree grows to the height of about thirty feet, with a smooth, 
brown trunk, and shining green leaves resembling those 
of the bay. In July and Aiigust a profusion of white 
flowers, filling the air with their delicious odours, forms a 
very pleasing contrast to the dark foliage of its wide- 
spreading branches. It grows spontaneously in many 
parts of the island, particularly on the northern side, in 
high spots near the coast. 
When a new plantation is to be formed, no regular 
planting or sowing takes place, for, as Edwards (" History 
of Jamaica "} observes, the pimento tree is purely a child 
of Nature, and seems to mock all the labours of man in 
his endeavonrs to extend or improve its growth ; not one 
attempt in fifty to propagate the young plants, or to raise 
them from the seeds in parts of the country where it is 
not found growing spontaneously, having succeeded. For 
this reason, a piece of land is chosen, either in the neigh- 
bourhood of a plantation already formed, or in a pai-t of 
the woodland where the pimento-myrtles are scattered in 
a native state. The hind is then cleared of all wootl but 
these trees, which are lef^ standing, and the felled timber 
is allowed to remain, where it falls to decay, and perishes. 
