The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-14 00:00:00

PEPPER TRADE.

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From the Sitiptro,a Ckrowiele.l
Of all the produce of the eastern islands, and of the
countries immediately in their ncighboulhood, in &mond
among h t rs, black pepper is the /110 St important, both
Inc and quantity,
'file pt.pper countries extend from about the longitude
*I p.i (kg., to that of 115 deg. tut. beyond which none is
to be found, and it reaches from 5 deg. south latitude to
about 12 deg. north, where it again ceases. Within these
limits we have Sumatra, Borneo, the :Malayan Peninsula,
and certain countries lying on the cast coast of the Gulf of
SS an.
The whole produce of the inland of Sumatra is estimated
7,01 to fall short of 164,000 pikols ; the south- west coast
being said to produce 150,000, and the north-cut coast,
15.000 pikols.
The r.pper ports on the north-cut coast of Sumatra arc
Latinist and iKhlt, with Sanlang. The two that produce
15,000 pikols ; and the latter 3,000 annually. The culti-
vation is carried on by the Bata nation in the interior.
'f he ports on the south-west coast, and the amount of
their produce, as given on a recent estimate, arc as fol-
low, viz.:—
Port and diattict of Trnmah .
Di.trict of Pulp Hos
nato of Mat
('”alt from Tampa. Turn to Sum
•rt of Sum
1%.6.611a 114 tea
44
P.,viets .o the North of Anulabo

40.1100
4,0011
20.000
33,000
1 AN*
20.0011
LINO
ROAN

Total pikols . - lrio.ooo
llere it is of importance to remark, that the culture and
1444m:time is extremely fluctuating, a circumstance arising
partly from the character of the culture, partly from the
nature of the soil, and perhaps in no inconsiderable degree
from the character of the caltivator. All the imitable lands
ere put under pepper culture when the price is high, but
on OteselltllaS, when the vines are exhausted, no fresh vines
are planted, either because the soil has been actually hit:
poverialted, or the cultivator thinks so, or at all events ikever
attempt' to apply any dressing for the purpose °innovating
r. From this cause the ports and districts which one year
:.re the most productive, are found in a short time after-
wards to yield a very inconeiderable gnat& ty, or are totally
unproductive. Thus Trumalt, by tar the moot consider-
aisle pepper district, was a few years aj..,0 unknown to Eu-
rapean traders even by moue, and yet its produce is already
decreasing ; so is that of l'uto Due district, and still more
rapidly that of Kualla Batts. On the other 'mud, the pro-
duction of Clint, and the districts to the northward of Ana-
tabu arc rapidly increasing, while that of Timpat Tuan,
flusu, and Analabu, is stationary. During the last pepper
season there obtained cargoes on the west coast of Sumatra
twenty-seven American shape, six country traders, four
large French ships, besides the ships belonging to the East
India Conipany, which generally take away 300 tuns.
Nearly the whole of this trade is in the hands of Europeans
Americium, and finds its way to Europe, to America, and
hi a small proportion to Chine. No trade can be more per-
lectly free than this is, the natives selling their produce to
the beet bidder, without distinction or predilection. The
en'tivetors are members of numerous petty and independ-
ent tribes, and the increased value and extent of the trade
is a noted proof of what commercial freedom is capable of
eiKeting, emu among so rude a people.
The north coast of Sumatra, from Pettier down to the
Csrimons, is estitnateel, as already mentioned. to produce
I 4,0e0 piked. Prince of Wales Island is the principal
depot for thia, from whence the greatest part is exported to
India and Chins. 'fhe produce of Nance of Wales Island
itself is shout 15,000 pikols.
Of the islands at the mouth of the straits of Malacca
and Singapore, Hinting, on which Ratio is situated, and
adjacent admit's, produce 10,000 pikols ; and Lingga about
54.000.—A large proportion of this is brought to the empo-
rium of Singapore, which exported last year about el,OOO
pikols ; some part to lietreal and China, but principally to
Europe direct, iu ft ex-trail .rs.
The west coast of the Malayan Peninsula produces no
pepper, with the exception of shout 4,00(1 pikols afforded
by the territory of Malacca. It may be rew.arked, that no
country which is rich in tin, also affords a large produce ill
pepp..r. Whether it be that the existence of tin points
out a sterility in the soil unfavourable to the growth of
pepper, or that the capital which each state can afford is
iusulticient to conduct both these branches of industry at
once, is a matter on which want of local information dis-
qualifies us from deciding.
On the eget coast of the Peninsula, the production of
pepper is ver_y considerable. The porta of Patmi and Ca-
lantan, chiefly the latter, yield about 16,000 pikols an-
nitally, and Trinpanu +mom 8,000. A portion of this is
broireht to Shts,pepore and l'enans ; but we believe the
pester proportion goes direct to China in junks, of which
three large ones freepient Tringanu annually, and one Ca-
lantan. The Americans, too, occasionally visit three ports.
In year !WI three vessels, of coueiderable burthcu, ob-
tained exegetes.
The east coast of the gulf of Siam, from the latitude of
i 0 to that of 12j north, affords an extensive produce of
pepper. This coast is scarcely known, even by name, to
he traders of Europe. The rrineipal lofts here arc Chan-
tihnn, Fungyai, Pongiunti, and Kampot, the two first being
under the dominion of Slain, and the latter under that of
Ktionhoja. The whole produce is estimated at not less than
*O,OOO pikols, 40,000 of which arc brought at once to the
espied of Siam as tribute to the King, and the whole finds
it" way to China in junks. It remains only to estimate
the produce of the island of Itorneo. The state of Pier-
two properly so called, the most populous and condi-
derable of that vast and altnest trackless region is, we be-
lieve, the only part of the Wand which new yields any sup-
ply I f pepper worth mentioning, for that of Hanjermstasm
has lung ceased to be of any consideration. The whole
produce of Borneo is estimated at shout 510,000 pikols, of
which a large share is carried to China direct in junks,
Sjl2l. by Portuguese vessels ; and about 7,000 pikols arc
now annually brought by the native craft of the country h-
eed* to Singapore, in the course of that free trade which is
lap lily flourishing at this settlement.
flee data which have been stated, will enable us to csti-
mat.. the whole production of the Malayan Archipelago,
including that of the Peninsula of hide= ; and that of
the east coast of the Gulf of Siam at 308,000 pikols; and
as there is no other part of the world that affords pepper,
excepting the western coast of the Peninsula of India, and
Ibis affords but 30,000 pilots, or less than one tenth part
of what the plates we bare enumerated produce ; we have,
accordingly, at retie view, the whole production of the earth,
being 3304,000 pikols, or 43,066,666 pounds avoirdupois,•
and two-thirds. lire average price of pepper has been
lately about Mite Spanish drillers a pikol; so that the
whole value drawn into India n'14,1 Europe, China, and
the New World, on account of this single commodity, is
11,012,000 dollars.
.0f all the articles on which the industry of man is ex-
excise-el, and of which the productien is, at present at least,
limited to a comparatively small extent of the globe, pepper
is the most universally in use., being in very common de-
mand among tarn of all conditions, the civilized and semi-
barbarous, the rich and the poor. The taste for it is no
aWiir of caprice or fashion, and we may be sure that its
consumption will always l:ecp pan with the very improve-
remit of wan himself, and increase in the ratio of the
fatality and cheapness •in which the cultivator and
merchant shall be able to supply it. The quantity given
in this statement may indeed appear enormoue, but a very
simple experiment may satisfy us, that instead of being s',
it Is really the contrary; when meted out to the consum-
ers, that is to say, to the whole population of the globe, or to
one thonsmul milieu of peoi.le, it will be found that the
average annual consamptioo of an individual amounts to no
wore than 3'2 grains ; leer than a grain a day, and, upon
an average, than the foor-fifth part of a peppercorn a day.
We have but to add a word on the quahties of tire dif-
ferent varieties of pepper. The beet tr. that of Malabar,
the pepper of the east coast of the gulf af Siam is coesidered
next, then follow those of Calantan, Borneo, the 'vest mast
of Saundra, and at the bottom of the list is the pepper of
Rid.. With respect to this last, the fact is, that the avi-
dity of time cultivators and dealers to bring it to market has
tempted them to pluck it before it is ripe, and from thence
it turns out light, hollow, and ill-coloured.

It is said that Sir George Wotowall. Bart has soli lois
ttowlangtoft b
suttitlls, to leir.Wilson,

ni;il-un—and estate at S
a rich silk unscitant in