atron in a full suit of yellow nankin
made _a la Chinoise_, with broad-brimmed straw hat, long, braided
queue, and the inevitable Chinese fan. The rest of us donned our white
linen "fatigue suits," and leghorn hats of such vast dimensions as
bade the wearers have no thought for umbrellas. Thus equipped, we
were ready for all sorts of emergencies--climbing rocks, diving into
jungles or wading through muddy creeks.

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 trun