The drive was for the most part through spice plantations and groves of orange and palm, and, without delays, would have brought us in an hour’s time to the coast.  But we could not consent to press onward to the goal ahead without pausing for at least a glimpse of the many objects of interest on the way.  First we strolled over a plantation of black pepper cultivated by Chinamen.  The vine is a creeper with a knotty stem that if unpruned will reach the height of near thirty feet, but in order to render the vines more productive they are kept down to about a dozen or fifteen feet, and each is trained over a separate pole or prop.  At each joint of the stem the plant puts out its fibrous tendrils, grasping the prop, and so climbing to the top.  Whenever a vine happens to trail on the ground these tendrils, like strawberry “runners,” shoot into the earth, but then they bear no fruit.  The branches are short, brittle and easily broken, the leaves deep-green, heart-shaped and very abundant, and the blossom a cluster of small white flowers, almost destitute of odor.  The fruit hangs in long clusters of some forty or fifty grains each, somewhat after the fashion of the wild grape, though much more diminutive in size.  Until after it has reached its full size it is green, when at maturity of a bright red, and black only after it has become thoroughly dry.  When the berries begin to redden the bunches are gathered and spread upon mats in the sun to dry:  then the corns soon wither, turn black and drop from the stems, becoming thus the shriveled black pepper known in commerce.  What is known among us as white pepper was formerly supposed to be a different species from the black; but the sole difference is in the curing, that intended for white pepper being placed in baskets under water until sufficiently swollen for the exterior pellicle to rub off by rolling in the hands after being again dried in the sun.  The plants are propagated by cuttings, which are generally placed some six feet apart, sometimes being trained over the trunk of an old tree, and at others over a strong stake.  The vines commence bearing the third year, and continue to do so for a dozen or more, when they are rooted up, new ones having been previously planted to take their places.

We next called at two gambier plantations, both owned and conducted by Chinamen who came to the island a few years before as common coolies.  The gambier (Funis uncatis) was formerly called terra japonica, from being supposed to be an earth and to come from Japan.  It is grown on sandy soil or dry hills, and requires very little labor in cultivation.  It is a slender-stemmed, vine-like shrub with oval-shaped leaves and pale purplish flowers in clusters.  The seeds germinate in forty days, and the seedlings are transplanted when about nine inches high.  When full grown they reach a height of ten feet or more, and after the first year the leaves and branches are regularly gathered and prepared for the market.