SUM A T R A.. 7^ 
like that of the bay. Ginger h planted in fmall quantities. It is called 
fipudday; which name occafions me to remarkj that m the Malay lan- 
guage, they ufc the word pudday" to exprefs that pungent , acrid 
quality in pepper and other fptces, which we vaguely denote by the word 
" which has another fignification totally diflferent. A dlih high 
fcafonedj may, according to our mode of espreHion, be at the fame time 
hot and cold. C'iftus arabkus and amomum zerumhtt are cultivated for 
medicinal purpofes, as is alfo the gahngale. Small plantations of 
tobacco, of the fame fpecies with the Virginia, are to be mem. with 
every where in the country, but the people are not expert in the method 
of curing it, eife thefe is no doubt but it might be brought to great per- 
fcdlion, and by encreafing the quantity, rendered a confiderablc object 
of trade. It is cut, whilft green, into fine fhreds and afterwards dried 
in the fun. Benjan ( fefamum ) is fown largely, efpecialty in the Paf^^ 
fummah country, for the oil it produces, which is ufed in burning only. 
The falma Cbrifit (^jarak) from whence the caitor oil, fo much prized, 
is extrad:ed, grows wild in abundance. The natives are fond of the 
fugar cane, which they cut into joints, and chew as a delicacy, but 
they rarely exprefs, or manufadure its juice. Their fugar ojr jaggrei^ 
is made from a liquor yielded by the j^rtau^ a fpecies of palm. They 
plant the kratoity mulberry, but of a drawf kind, for the ufe of the 
fdk worms which they rear, but not to any great extent, and the raw 
fiik produced from them feems of an indifferent quality. The filk is in 
general white inftead of yellow, and the filaments appear coarfe* but 
this may be partly occafioned by the method of loofcning them from the 
bsgs, which is by fteeping them in hoc water. The famples I have feen 
were in large flat cakes which would require much trouble to wind offi 
Calooee h u fpecies of nettle, of which excellent twine, not infe/ior to 
ours, is made, 1\ grows to the height of about tour feet, without 
branches, the ftem being imperfectly ligneous. It is cur down, dried and 
^ If thc^ aitcients wore acquamced with fugar, if was produced hom Cgme-fp^cies of die paloim 
^ the fwgar canc& were not brought into the Mcditerraneman from the eafl:, *till a fiiort time be- 
fore the difcovery of the paJTage to India by tlie Cape : The word faccbmKm i* conjc£lured to be 
del ived from J^ggrgtt wbjch tiie French ^rosiountt/eUgarffi, 
