1832.] 
ISLAND OP SUMATRA. 
151 
first rank ; and has added not a little to tlie value of our com- 
mercial intercourse with the natives of the Malay coast. Every 
effort has been secretly made by the East India Companies of 
Europe, to get this valuable trade into their own exclusive power. 
It was for the monopoly of this single article that the Dutch 
maintained so long, and at so great a sacrifice of human hfe, their 
factory at the productive but sickly port of Padang, on the west 
coast of Sumatra, about fifty miles south of the equator, grasping 
at the whole traffic on that coast. Actuated by a similar poHcy, 
the British East India Company exerted their whole strength, 
and finally succeeded in getting the ascendency ; so that in the 
year 1774, a short time before her American colonies declared 
their independence, their exports of pepper alone, from the west 
coast of Sumatra, amounted to no less than twelve hundred tons 
per annum. It is not our present purpose, however, to go into 
the statistics of this valuable trade ; but rather to show the natural 
capacities of the island, and the articles of commerce which are 
indigenous to the soil. It may not be improper, however, to add, 
that Padang has been alternately in the possession of the Enghsli 
and Dutch several times ; but finally surrendered to the latter hi 
1814. In 1797, while in possession of the British, it was almost 
totally destroyed by an earthquake, when upwards of three hun- 
dred lives were lost. 
The pepper grows on a vine, or creeping plant, with a ligneous 
stalk, and leaves of a dark green, heart-shaped, pointed, and not 
poignant to the taste, and having little or no smell. The blossom 
is small and white, and the fruit hangs in bunches, or clusters, 
resembling those of the currant-tree, but larger and less pliant. 
It is from four to five months in coming to maturity. The berries 
are at first green, and gradually become a bright red when ripe, 
and soon fall off if not gathered. All the bunches on the stems 
do not become ripe at the same time, and the natives frequently 
go through their little farms with small baskets, plucking off each 
bunch as they become ripe. When gathered, it is spread out on 
mats, or clean places, to dry. That which has been gathered at 
a proper age will shrink least ; while those skilled in the trade 
will readily distinguish that which has been plucked prematurely, 
by rubbing it in the hand, when it will impart much dust, and even 
crumble to pieces. 
