738 The EXPEDITION of Commodore Beaulieu Book!. 
continue where I was, threatning to fet Sail with the Hof- 
tages I had on Board, if they would not return me my Man. 
On the firft of October the Purfer was returned, and I 
delivered them their two Hoftages. He reported that the 
King had only twenty Bahars of Pepper, and 'de fired to 
pay the other ten in Rials, at the Rate of twenty Rials a 
Bahar. That the Country was very poor, and the Rice 
extreme dear. That upon the Arrival of every Praw the 
People fled into the Country, thinking them to be the Par- 
tizans of the King of Achen. That about eight or ten 
Days before, they had received Advice that feventy Sail 
had arrived at Pera , with the King of Achen ' s Army on 
Board, and by yet frefher Intelligence that the King of 
Achen was dead. Upon this Report, though I had re- 
folved not to let them have any Cannon, becaufe I meant 
to return by the Way of Achen, yet I thought fit to amufe 
them with fair Words, till I had taken in frefh Water; 
and with that View fent back the Purfer to acquaint them 
that I was very much difpofed to deal with them. 
That I could not bring my Ship to Perleys, becaufe my 
Rudder was out of Order •, and that to fihew my Willing- 
nefs to oblige them, I was ready to fend one of my Cannon 
on Shore, provided they gave me two Hoftages to infure 
the Delivery of twenty Bahars of Pepper within eight 
Days, or elfe deliver the Pepper itfelf. This Offer pleafed 
them fo well that they fent me Word there were no Occa- 
fion for giving Hoftages, or putting a Cannon aftiore till 
the Pepper was got ready, which would be in fix or feven 
Days. In this Place I did nothing to the Purpofe, only 
I caufed to be cut down for me a Main-Top-Maft, a Mi- 
zen-Maft, and Bolt-Sprit, which I could not have elfe 
where. If I could have ftayed there till January , I could 
have loaded my Ship with Pepper at a quarter of the 
Price it coft me at Achen , befides that, at that Time the 
Trade- Winds came E. and fo would have flood fair for re- 
turning diredlly to France , but the Men I had were fo 
few, and were fo difcouraged, that I could not think of 
waiting. 
32. This Iffand, called by the Inhabitants Pulo Fan- 
chohuy , and by the Natives of Achen , Pulo Lada , i. e. the 
IJland of Pepper , lies in 6° if N. Lat. the Needle vary- 
ing 20 30' N. W. It has about fifteen or twenty Leagues 
in Circumference, and is mountainous in fome Places, es- 
pecially where it faces Pulo Bo'tton , where it lies three 
Leagues off to the Weft ward. In the middle of the Coun- 
try there is a high Mountain, divided into two by a very 
narrow Valley, which is not obfervable but on the South- 
fide. The Pepper grows at the Foot of this Mountain as 
well as in the intervening Plain, which extends itfelf three 
or four Leagues in Length. The Pepper Plants are dreffed 
after the fame Manner as our tall Vines. Were this Iffand 
more cultivated, it would produce many more than it does, 
for there are not, at prefent, above a hundred Perfons in 
the Ifland, whereas formerly it was inhabited by above, 
feven hundred. 
The Soil of the above-mentioned Place is very conve- 
nient for all forts of Drugs, Fruit, Rice, and Cattle, be- 
ing enriched with excellent Pafturage and plenty ol Rivers 
and Springs. The reft of the Hand is covered with very 
thick Woods in which, efpecialiy upon the Mountains, 
there are fome Trees exaftly ftraight, of an incredible 
Height and proportionable Thicknefs. On the South-Side 
the Shore it is frequently interfered with Arms of the Sea, 
leaving little Hands and Rocks, covered with Woods. On 
the North there lies a large Iffand about a League off. On 
the Eaft it has a Bay, covered with a little Iffand, in which 
Ships -of two hundred Tuns may ride with Safety, and be 
Iheltered from all Winds. In a Word, there is a very fafe 
Anchorage all round the Hand, and any Part of it affords ex- 
cellent frefh, Water. From the Beginning of July to the End 
of October , the Winds are there wefterly, at which Time it 
ra n; very much, and the Climate is unhealthy, as it hap- 
pens in all other Places of the fame Latitude. 
33. The Pepper ripens in November ; its Harveft is 
from the Middle of December fo the End of February . At 
prefent this Hand produces every Year 500,000 Pound 
Weight of excellent, large, and dry Pepper, which is pre- 
ferable to that of any other Place in the Indies . This 
Hand is fubjeft to the King of bfueda, without who ft Per- 
4 
million no Trade can be carried on there. The Poriu «■ 
gueze, who refide at Malacca , come there every Year to 
trade, and continue there from December to February. The 
Commodities they bring are Guzurat Plufti, Salt, Rice, 
and a few Rials, which go all of them well off there, by rea- 
fon of the Vicinity of the Chinefe , a good Number of 
whom are fettled at Patavi , a Town fituated on the op- 
pofite Coaft. 
They fell their Pepper by Meafure, and not by Weight, 
which is better for the Buyer, fince, at that Rate, he can- 
not be fo eafily injured by wetting it, or deceived by the 
putting Stones or Sand into it, as they commonly do at 
Achen. They fell it by the Nali, which contains fixteen 
Gautals, each Gautal containing four Chuppas, fifteen Nali 
make a Bahar, which is four hundred and fifty Pound Aver* 
dupois ; fo that the Meafure in this Hand is greater by one 
quarter than in the King of Achen' % Territories. The 
common Price of a Bahar is fixteen Rials. The Pepper- 
Plants grow in a fat free Soil. They are planted at the 
Root of every Tree, round which they creep and twift like 
Hops. The Way is to take a Shoot or Sprig of an old 
Pepper- Plant, and plant it under fome Shrub, taking care 
to clean the Ground, and weed out all the Herbs about it ; 
it will bear no Fruit till the third Year, after which it bears 
every year fix or feven Pounds Weight of Pepper. Its 
firft, fecond, and third Years Crops are much at one, but 
the fourth, fifth, and fixth decreafe one third both in the 
Quantity and Size of the Pepper ; and in the feVenth, 
eighth, and ninth, the Pepper becomes very fmall and 
lbanty, fo that after its twelfth Year it bears no more, and a 
new Shoot nuift be planted in its Room ; for the firft three 
Years the Ground about them muff: be kept very clean, 
or they will not bear, and even that requires a great deaf 
of Pains, for the Climate is extreme moift, by reafon 
partly of the Rains and partly of the Dew, which is lo 
great, that if one walks among Trees or Grafs before the 
Sun-rifing, they will be as wet as if they waded through 
Water. When the Plant begins to bear, the Branches of 
the Tree, through which it creeps, muff; be lopped off, 
left they intercept the Rays of the Sun, which, above all 
Things that Plant ftands moft in need of. When the 
Clufters of this Fruit are formed, Care muft be taken to 
fupport them with Poles, left the Weight fhould draw 
down the Plant, which of itfelf is tender enough. Care 
muft likewife be taken that no Buffaloes, or Oxen, or large 
Animals get in amongft them, left they fhould be en- 
tangled among the Branches, and fo break them. 
They muft be planted at a convenient Diftance one from 
another, that one may get round them with a Ladder to 
prune them after their Fruit is gathered, for, otherwife, 
they would grow too high, and fo bear lefs Fruit. Com- 
monly this Plant has a white Flower in April ; in June 
this knots, in Auguft it is large, green, and ftrong, and 
the Natives makeufe of it for Sallad,or make a rich Pickle 
of it, and other Fruits in Vinegar, which they call Achar, 
and which will keep for a Twelve-Month. In October it 
is red, in November it begins to grow black, in December 
it is all over black, and confequently ripe. This is the moft 
general Method, though, in fome Places, it is ripe fooner 
or later than in others. When the Fruit is ripe, they cut 
off the Clutters and dry them in the Sun, till the Grain 
falls off from its Stalk, which it does not in lefs than fifteen 
Days, though the Sun is very hot ; and during that Time 
they muft be turned from Side to Side, and covered up in 
the Night-Time. There are fome of the Grains that nei- 
ther redden nor blacken, but continue white, which are 
made ufe of phyfically,. and fold for double the Price of the 
other. Of late Years the Inhabitants obferving that Fo- 
reigners wanted thefe for the fame Ufe, have found out a 
Way of whitening the black ones, by taking them when 
they are yet red, and waffling off the red Skin with Wa- 
ter and Sand, fo that nothing remains but the Heart of thff 
Pepper, which is white. 
By this Account we may perceive the Pepper does not 
grow fo eafily as many are apt to imagine,, and that the 
Pepper- Plants require a great many Hands to d refs them, 
which at prefent is mightily wanted in this Hand, both it 
and the Country of Pfueda being laid defolate by the King 
of Achen within theft three or four Yeats, infomuch that 
the 
