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species of Leea, of which the fruits coloured well when ripe; 
and a Mussaenda with an exceptionally large white sepal, 
Down the river towards the Kwala a thriving business 
was being done in salting fish, for which it was claimed that 
the best salt fish from the West Coast comes from Trang. 
Higher up the river there is a fair trade in pigs and poultry 
which largely supplies the Penang market. The area of 
padi land is not extensive but is well stocked with native 
cattle between the seasons; hardy, rather wild, powerful 
little beasts, which make excellent draft cattle for which 
there is a demand. 
The pepper gardens were a surprise. These were 
worked in allotments by Chinese and were in a sound state 
of cultivation. Most of the coast land — and some distance 
in land too — the soil consists of a stiff sandy clay with 
intersecting patches of laterite which at the site of the 
gardens had become a large deposit of laterite gravel and 
ferruginous clay and it was remarkable to see healthy pep- 
per vines growing on some patches of little else than laterite 
gravel. Starting with the nurseries; stock plants were 
planted in shallow trenches, by this means the adventitious 
rhizome (what Malays call the chaehing i.e., the worm-like 
underground root-stem) is not buried deep!}" and the grow- 
ing point is uncovered and layered towards the edge of the 
trench where a stake is fixed for its reception — as owing to 
the wide spacing of the nodes of the rhizome a distance of 
about two feet is necessary. As soon as this root-stem is 
well attached to its stake the young plant is removed and is 
then ready for permanently planting. No other cutting is 
used in Trang and I do not think that stem cuttings grow 
so symmetrically, or fruit so freely, as the basal or under- 
ground stem. 
Trang pepper differs from All other varieties in its 
shorter or more decided fruiting season At the time of 
my visit (April) I did not see a solitary catkin of flowers 
or fruit. Like Arabian coffee the periodicities are pro- 
nounced and the crop must be gathered when ripe, or lost. 
As however the crop ripens during the dry season — and I 
was so informed — there is little loss from rain damage. 
(Growers of local pepper a; HI he aware that there is fre- 
quently a considerable loss as a consequence of heavy rains, 
by direct damage at the time of pollination ; and fungus on 
the catkins and fruits during exceptionally wet seasons.) 
This pepper further differs from other varieties in being 
the smallest fruited of all — the catkins are about 3 inches 
