334 PEPPEE
by which it W i i T i y 7 1Sl“ ldS) We 0an haYe no doubt about the channel
H t t l l l stzTsr-F i S g with the asinsgulrar no coiKiiment o f t f * “ a.condlmet)t.. With the exception of salt, there is perhaps
the S e T n a L r t f nel'al 7 ° ’ 5 baS been an object of consumption among
his » nm riT fW r EuT°P? for Probably not less than 2000 years. Pliny expresses
which had u o t h L r ^ 16 Sh°Uld f 0^ 1 the ^ 7 to India in quest of this commodity
time t K » ^ * In bS
^ d °o fth ePriCe °f a p r ndp°f black pepper “ the RomaTmarLtwasabout
i they ar"eh niotew °, ra n“da i“te ibse rde> m6sa‘r k7aHbl e* th*a bt °tthbe isro rretsla tsieveem n trhiceens tsoh ohuavlde
be nearly the same at that time that they are at the present S 1 1 1 ,
pepper m Europe immediately before the discovery of the new route to Indfe ft,
IInnddiiaannssC oouuttU oTf ittb, *by* a“ c Pon^dtuugcut \n°soet VleasVs ttthean piratical, the European price of w l™ ! S lliliiiS fls ii The French and English, each with a monopoly of the m a rL t of their
price fed to i T m bet*6*1 ^ of Indian competition with the Dutch, and the
" S th<3 °f th"D P“ ¡S p ? p p p mm 5 5 S & l i i i s
As to the quantity of pepper actually produced, nothing better than an aonrox,We
I he produce of the eastern side of the same island has been computed at 9 ooo’ooo
makrng the whole produce of Sumatra 31,000,000. The Malay Peninsula Borueo’
equal 8 OOtTo0cTof Z °f / ava P?od««e a considerable quantity which may probably
wi f 00,000 of pounds, makrng the total supply about 40,000,000 The totid
vatoeof this quantity, at the wholesale Indian price is, at present, httle more than
As the prices were far higher,’and "the consumers fewer,in
t o d f o f t Z Ti Cen^ f les’ .tbe qoanWy and value could not have been even oneaarrttikcdlee
ooff wwhbiiccht ttht,e™ in ttr ins“i’c “pr i.m0red ecro stto w eass,t aabtl itshbe fuotrm tohsetm, sneoltv ems oar em thonano pao ly in an Q u a r t e r
ariof^bi^4^ sterling, that the nations of Europe, for three long centories made ^ c b
rXallcyh cheeeaapo, ZbeLcayu °sfe plgrDo?durcne<?d waintdh lYitatPleac liatyb-o urT, hheayd faa nspceiecdif icth ianttr ian scioc mvamluoeT btyecnaautsue
they had received it enhance,! by the multiplied charges of a b S u T l m «
Thisnotion is even discoverable in the very manner in which we quoteitepric“ S
of pepper, on account of its once factitious value, is always given in pounds whereas
coffee, an article of superior intrinsic value, but never a fit o S for monopoly is auotoB
Chinese senll iTt t?o bu\s b yF a° rw etibgth tS o^f aeb orevae8 o0nne> hwuen drerecdk oann dt etah ibrtyy tpimZeds sth awt haimleo uthnte
The accurate Barbosa gives an account of the pepper trade, shortly after the arrival
m i l Z ° i UgUe8e m ^ “ d both at Calicut and Sumatra. ^ T s is his stole!
ment. Pepper is produced in the kingdoms of Malabar and Calicut, and a bahar
PEPPEE 335 PEP PE E
sells in the latter at from 200 to 230 fanoes, each fanoe being worth a real of Spam,
and the bahar being equal to four cantaros of the old weight of Portugal, at which all
spices are sold in Lisbon. The duty paid to the King of Calicut is 12 fences on each
bahar. The purchasers of pepper convey it to Cambay, Persia, Aden and Mecca, and
thence to Cairo and Alexandria. Pepper also grows in the island of Sumatra in the
neighbourhood of Malacca, which is finer and larger than that of Malabar, but not so
good and strong, and this is conveyed to Bengal and China, and to some parts of
Arabia, by contraband, and unknown to the Portuguese. This pepper is worth, in
Sumatra, from 400 to 600 maravedis the cantaro of the new weight of Portugal,
the difference between the old and new weights being two ounces,—the pound of the
first being 14 ounces, and of the last 16. —Ramusio, Vol. i. p. 322*
The bahar, or Persian weight, so called, varies from 400 to 450 pounds, but by a
note of Ramusio it would appear in this case to be 425, and the fanoes is certainly no
other than the silver fanam of Calicut, of the intrinsic value of 4 |d. Assuming these
data to be correct, the market price of pepper at the emporium of Calicut about the
year 1500, ranged from 2’23d to 2’57d. the pound avoirdupois. The Sumatra quotations
are not so easily determined, but seem to be higher, and to^take a higher range.
I make them from 2'68d. to id. I t is remarkable that the price of pepper, at the
present day, and what it has steadily been for some years, at the British settlements
in the Straits of Malacca, do not materially differ from those of Barbosa. I make
them, in the Singapore market, from 2-32d. to 2-52d. a pound. The cause of this
correspondence of prices, at an interval of near three' hundred and fifty years, is, I
think, obvious. At both periods the trade was free ; at both the land fit for the
production of pepper was practically boundless and consequently bore no rent, and in
both periods the wages of labour were probably the same, or, in fact, the same
amount of labour, under the same circumstances, being expended in the production
of the article at two periods so distant, the price was necessarily the same. One very
important inference may, I think, be fairly deduced from this feet, namely, that the
popular belief that great depreciation in the value of the precious metals, with a corresponding
increase in the cost of all other commodities, took place after the discovery
of the mines of America, is without foundation. The depreciation in the value of gold
has been supposed to have amounted, in the first fifty years after the influx of the
precious metals from America, to one-fourth part of its previous value, which, if true,
must have affected the cost of pepper proportionally, which it has not done any more
than it has yet done by the still larger influx, in our own time, of gold from California
and Australia. This view, taken from the prices of pepper, is corroborated by Barbosa’s
quotations of other commodities, not likely, anymore than itself, to be affected
by rent or variations in the wages of labour, compared with present prices. Opium,
camphor, and stick-lac are examples, for in these three commodities the quality is
not, probably, now different from what it was in the beginning of the 16th century,
while their prices nearly correspond.
PEPPEE (BETEL); P i p e k B e t e l . This plant, the leaf of which is in universal
use as a masticatory, along with the fruit of the areca palm, is found cultivated
among all the more civilised nations of the Malay and Philippine Archipelagos, but
is not known to the ruder, and does not extend to the islands of the Pacific. In so
far as can be judged by the names which it bears, and which are all native, and
generally different in different languages, this plant, which grows freely in a rich soil,
is probably indigenous. In the popular language of Java, it is called suruh, and in
the polite, s&dah. In Malay, it is sirih, which is most likely the same word as the
Javanese, but in the Bali it is basi, in the Lampung, chambai, and in the Tagala of the
Philippines, buyo. Being an article of such general consumption, attempts have been
made to make it, like tobacco, an instrument for levying a capitation-tax, but with
little success, since the plant must be used in the fresh state, and not being capable
of storing, an impost on it can be levied only in retail, and is, therefore, easily evaded.
PEPPEE (LONG), P ip e e longitm. This is the chabe of the Javanese, and the
lada panjang of ,the Malays, which is a literal translation of our own and the botanic
name. This commodity, is probably a native of Java, although now grown in
other countries of the Archipelago. I t is rather singular that it is not named by
Barbosa, but there can be little doubt but that it must have been an article of trade
in his time. It is, at present, about half as high-priced again in the Indian market
as black pepper. If it be the pepper which Pliny calls “ long,” its cost in the Roman
market was between three and four times the price of black pepper.
PEP PE E (Cubeb). See Cubeb.