natives of Sumatra, in obedience to a natural instinct, refused to touch
them, and confined themselves entirely to the crew of the vessel in
which they were brought over. This information was received from one of
the oldest inhabitants, a native himself, and exceedingly fond of
missionaries. He is said also to be very skilful in the _cuisine_
peculiar to the island.

"During the season of gathering the pepper, the persons employed are
subject to various incommodities, the chief of which is violent and
long-continued sternutation, or sneezing. Such is the vehemence of these
attacks, that the unfortunate subjects of them are often driven backward
for great distances at immense speed, on the well-known principle of the
æolipile. Not being able to see where they are going, these poor
creatures dash themselves to pieces against the rocks or are
precipitated over the cliffs, and thus many valuable lives are lost
annually. As, during the whole pepper-harvest, they feed exclusively on
this stimulant, they become exceedingly irritable. The smallest injury
is resented with ungovernable rage. A young man suffering from the
_pepper-fever_, as it is called, cudgeled another most severely for
appropriating a superannuated relative of trifling value, and was only
pacified by having a present made him of a pig of that peculiar species
of swine called the _Peccavi_ by the Catholic Jews, who, it is well
known, abstain from swine's flesh in imitation of the Mahometan
Buddhists.

"The bread-tree grows abundantly. Its branches are well known to Europe
and America under the familiar name of _macaroni_. The smaller twigs are
called _vermicelli_. They have a decided animal flavor, as may be
observed in the soups containing them. Macaroni, being tubular, is the
favorite habitat of a very dangerous insect, which is rendered