VIII 
PEPPERS 
297 
a higher figure (15 dollars). The chiefs were paid about 
1^ dollar on each bahar purchased by way of an 
allowance. The Company looked well after the culti- 
vation, making annual surveys of the plantations. 
Their servants resident in the different districts reported 
annually on the number of vines, their condition, and 
returns of crop, and gave rewards or punishments 
where necessary. The inhabitants of the districts 
were obliged to plant a certain number of vines, each 
family 1,000, and each young unmarried man 500, 
and as the gardens attained their prime, young gardens 
were prepared to keep up the cultivation continuously. 
The Directors seem not always to have been satisfied 
with the output of pepper, which was often less than 
they estimated. This was due to various reasons — 
accidents, such as the death of the owner, floods, raids 
of elephants, unfavourable seasons, and want of suffici- 
ently careful calculation by the Directors of the Company. 
To obtain the medium proportion of produce to acreage, 
a Mr. John Crisp prepared in 1777 a general comparative 
review of the Manna Residency, in which he showed 
that the proportion of bearing vines to the whole 
number in the Residency was 5T to 11, and that the 
produce of 1,000 vines in bearing was, on the average, 453 
lbs. Further calculations, taken collectively through 
the country for twelve years, gave as a mean annual 
production of 1,000 vines in actual bearing, but of all 
ages, 404 lbs. The average annual produce of the 
Company’s settlements on the West coast of Sumatra 
were estimated at 1,200 tons, and this was what was 
actually received. The return given above for 1,000 
vines seems to be rather small, but it must be remem- 
bered that a considerable number of the vines included 
were obviously only commencing to bear, and it does 
not appear that any manure was used. 
The system of compelling the natives to cultivate 
pepper for the Company to buy was the method 
commonly in use in Dutch colonies until comparatively 
recent times. It had certainly some great advantages. 
