IX 
LONG PEPPER 
317 
adult it dowers and fruits all the year round, and 30 or 
40 spikes can be taken from one plant every few days. 
They are merely dried in the sun. 
The plant is dgured, and some account of it is given 
by Rumphius in the Herbarium Amhoinense, vol. v. 
p. 333, under the name of Pijper longum. He states 
that it was abundant in his time in Java, Bali, and 
Uliasser, but only cultivated in a few gardens in 
Amboyna, and gives the well-known Malay name, 
Chabei, and also Lada padang, as used by Malays. 
The Amboinese word is Maritsja ammo or Marisa 
ammu. He states that it was cultivated on the stems 
of the tree Moringa (the Ben-nut), or on coco-nut 
trunks, but not on stakes as black pepper is. Natives 
of Java say, however, that they cultivate it on posts 
just as black pepper is grown. Miquel, Elustrationes 
Piperacearum (111. xxxix.), gives a good dgure of it. 
The Javanese use it in curry and in native medicine. 
It is chiedy grown in Java, Bali, Rhio, and other islands. 
I cannot dnd that it has ever been cultivated in the 
Straits Settlements, though it is mentioned by Hunter 
in his Plants of Prince of Wales Island (Penang), as 
“ cultivated and used as long pepper, but a very distinct 
species from the Malabar or Bengal long pepper,” in 
1802. 
Uses, etc. — The spikes are gathered when they begin 
to turn red or yellowish, and quickly dried in the sun, 
or over a dre, as they are very liable to rot if not 
speedily dried, and especially if gathered when red. 
The dried spikes are cylindrical and somewhat taper- 
ing to the tip, and marked with superdcial spiral furrows. 
They are 1 in. or in. in length, and \ in. through ; 
of a brownish or greyish white colour (said to be caused 
by rubbing them with lime), and when washed they 
have a deep brownish red colour. 
The pepper is very much more pungent than black 
pepper, and has a pleasant aromatic taste. 
As a spice it is chiedy used in pickling, and also as 
ground pepper for preserves, and in Malay curries. It 
