42.—How pepper grows in India.
I have not been in Great India where the pepper grows, but I have heard in the Infidel country from those who have seen it, where and how it grows. In the first place, I have understood and heard, that it grows near the city of Lambe, in a forest called Lambor;[(1)] this forest is quite XIIII days journey in length. In this forest are II cities and many villages in which are Christians; it is very hot where the pepper grows. The pepper grows on trees which are like the wild vine, and is something like the sloe when it is green; and they bind them to poles as they do the vine, and the trees bear a great deal. When it is green it is ripe, then they cut it as they do grapes, and expose it to the sun until it is dry. Three kinds of pepper grow; the long and black grows with the leaves. There is the white, which is the best, and they keep it in the country; but not so much of this grows as of the other. There are also many serpents there, produced by the heat. Some people say, that when the pepper is to be gathered, fires are made in the forest to drive away the serpents, therefore the pepper becomes black; but this is not the case, because if they made a fire, the trees would wither and bear no more fruit; but the truth is, that they wash their hands with the juice of an apple which they call liuon,[(2)] or of some other plant; the serpents escape from the smell, and then they gather the pepper without trouble. In the same country they also grow good ginger, and many spices and aromatics.