the berry is allowed to remain somewhat longer on the vine; it is, when plucked, immersed in boiling water, by means of which process and subsequent friction, before drying, the husk is separated.

    The exports of pepper from Pinang in the last four years have
    been—­In 1849, 2,591,233 lbs.; in 1850, 6,397,733 lbs.; in 1851,
    2,366,933 lbs.; in 1852, 2,112,133 lbs.”

A small quantity of pepper seems to be annually exported from Ceylon, which I presume is the growth of that island; thus there were:—­

54 cwts. shipped in   1842
83  "        "        1843
102  "        "        1844

In the Customs’ returns of Ceylon, it is classed with cardamoms, and 160 to 170 cwt. of the two were shipped in each of the years 1850 and 1851.  Last year the quantity was smaller.

Pepper cultivation has been introduced into the Mauritius, and in 1839 more than 500,000 lbs. were imported from thence, but as the shipments have since decreased, I presume it has given place to the more profitable staple sugar.  I have been able to glean no information as to the progress it has made in the West Indies.  In Cayenne it has been successfully carried on for many years; and large shipments of pepper have been made thence to France.

BLACK PEPPER EXPORTED FROM SINGAPORE.

Piculs.     Value in rupees.
1841   Total Exports          66,810
"    Growth of Singapore    21,231         47,674
1842   Exports                74,228
"    Growth of Singapore    32,277         72,473
1843   Exports                57,883
"    Growth of Singapore    35,585         79,900
1844   Exports                67,148
"    Growth of Singapore    42,995        386,152
1845   Exports                65,892
"    Growth of Singapore    39,019        350,443
1846   Exports                56,709
"    Growth of Singapore    35,712         -----
1847   Exports                60,994
"    Growth of Singapore    36,565        328,397

Pliny, the naturalist, states that the price of pepper in the market of Rome in his time was, in English money, 9s. 4d. a pound, and thus we have the price of pepper at least 1,774 years ago.  The pepper alluded to must have been the produce of Malabar, the nearest part of India to Europe that produced the article, and its prime cost could not have exceeded the present one, or about 2d. a pound.  It would most probably have come to Europe by crossing the Indian and Arabian ocean, with the easterly monsoon, sailing up the Red Sea, crossing the desert, dropping down the Nile, and making its way along the Mediterranean by two-thirds of its whole length.  This voyage, which in our times can be performed in a month, most probably then took eighteen.  Transit and customs duties must have been paid over and over again, and there must have been plenty of extortion.  All this will explain how pepper could not be sold in the Roman market under fifty-six times its prime cost.  Immediately previous to the discovery of the route