294 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
picul. Unlike most pioneers in planting, lie ended by 
making a fortune by bis plantations. The cultivation 
soon increased, and continued a prominent feature of 
the country till about 1896, when, partly from the low 
price, and partly from the exhaustion of firewood for 
cooking the gambir, and making burnt earth for the 
pepper, and also of suitable timber for pepper posts, 
both the gambir and pepper plantations dwindled away, . 
and in 1906 hardly one was left. During this period, 
the area under pepper and gambir was very large, and 
almost the whole of the original forest of the island was 
destroyed to make way for the two plants. After the 
abandonment of the ground, it became covered with 
lalang grass, and eventually with secondary scrub, and 
was valueless for many years. The cultivation was 
carried on exclusively by Chinese, and the pepper was 
grown more as an adjunct to gambir than as an 
independent crop. 
Singapore has for many years been the great 
emporium for pepper. In 1872, 25,000,000 lbs. was 
imported into England from Singapore and Penang, 
while British India sent only 256,000 lbs.; and in 1877, 
26,500,000 lbs. was exported. Most of the white pepper 
in trade comes from Khio and the Straits Settlements. 
The following are the trade figures given to me by 
Mr. W. C. Kiin, the Eegistrar of Imports and Exports 
of Singapore, since 1875, for each fifth year : — 
Imports 
White 
Pepper. 
Value. 
Black Pepper. 
Value. 
1875 
1880 
1885 
1890 
1895 
1900 
1905 
29,644 
18,447 
32,257 
41,961 
80,259 
(kind not specified) 
810,260 
450,277 
581,661 
1,812,972 
2,948,859 
391,735 
206,174 
323,428 
511,440 
415,452 
221,398 
283,119 
4,074,466 
2,368,200 
5,774,472 
6,902,648 
3,889,577 
6,342,914 
7,268,227 
