152 yoYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. [Febraary, 
The pepper vine runs up on poles, like our beanpoles, previously 
planted for that purpose, six feet apart, as our farmers plant their 
Indian corn. The culture of one thousand such plants is occu- 
pation sufficient for a man and his Vi^ife ; while five hundred is the 
amount allotted to a single person. But these allotments carry, 
us back to times when the natives were more severely dealt by ' 
than they are at present ; when grasping monopolies laid heavy 
exactions on the petty chiefs, who in their turn tyrannised over 
their harmless and unresisting subjects. 
There are said to be three species of pepper, and known in 
different sections of the country by different names. That which 
is raised in the Rajang district, is called lado cawoor ; is strong, 
bears a large leaf and fruit, and is slow in coming to perfection. 
The leaf and fruit of the lado manna are smaller, but the vine 
bears sooner, and in much greater quantities. The Jambee is 
small in leaf and fruit, and has long since fallen into disrepute. 
It is probable that the different qualities of the soil have an agency 
jn producing these varieties. 
The pepper season, as well as the ripening of other fruits in 
Sumatra, are liable to great irregularities from the uncertainty of 
the monsoons, which are not always so exactly periodical as they 
are in some other parts of India. In ordinary seasons, the pepper 
vine produces two crops in the year. The first is a large one, called 
poopool-augoong, about the month of September, when the sun is 
crossing the equator, in his declination towards the south ; the 
.other, called the lesser or half crop, booalello, in the month of 
March, when the sun is returning across the equator, towards the 
north. For on every spot between the tropics, the sun is vertical 
twice in each year, so that each experiences a double season. In 
jhe beautiful language of Thomson-^ 
" Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crowned, 
And barbarous wealth, that see each circling year 
Returning suns and double seasons pass." 
These different crops are generally brought from the interior to 
the seashores by rafts of bamboo or other timber, floated on the 
current of rapid streams. , 
Among the indigenous productions of the island is the cam- 
phire-tree, producing a gum, or resin, so celebrated and valuable 
