"I am sure that I could tell what we did not have in some of our Mexican soups much easier than what we did have. I should think that there must have been both kinds of pepper, ginger, garlic, mustard, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and everything else. I cannot understand why people living in the tropics want to season their food with such hot stuff."
"What do you mean by two kinds of pepper, brother George?" asked Mabel.
"Cayenne pepper and black pepper," was the reply.
"Oh, yes, I know!" said Fred. "Cayenne pepper comes from Cayenne in French Guiana. But where do we get black pepper?"
"Nearly all of it comes from Sumatra," said Mary. "Do you know where Sumatra is, Mabel?"
"Sumatra is one of the large islands south and southeast of Asia, which are called the East Indies," replied the schoolgirl.
The conversation had now become general, and Mr. Smith called attention to the distance that these condiments travel in reaching us.
"Sumatra is almost exactly on the opposite side of the earth from us," said he. "Fred, how would the black pepper be brought to New York from Sumatra?"
"Across the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, I suppose. But I do not know whether it would then come straight across the Atlantic Ocean, or first go to England."