Pepper by Marjorie Shaffer

Author:Marjorie Shaffer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Seven

U.S. Pepper Fortunes

THE NORTHWESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA BECAME THE CENTER OF A VIBRANT PEPPER TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. SEEMINGLY AMICABLE RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE OF SUMATRA CHANGED IN 1831 WHEN PIRATES ATTACKED A U.S. PEPPER SHIP, LEADING TO THE FIRST ARMED U.S. INTERVENTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.

For the coast of Sumatra now I’m bound,

Pepper for to get if there’s any to be found.

From thence for Europe if the Lord spares my life,

And back again to Beverly to get a pretty w[ife].

—PENNED BY A SAILOR ABOARD THE U.S. PEPPER BRIG Tuskar, 1841.

If our Government does not send a frigate next season and destroy Soo-soo, Tangan Tangan, Muckie and South Tallapow, we must bid adieu to the pepper trade.

—EXCERPT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN IN 1838 BY AN AMERICAN CAPTAIN OFF THE COAST OF SUMATRA, AND PUBLISHED IN THE SALEM REGISTER NEWSPAPER.

“Another class of commercial interloper, who will require our vigilant attention, is the Americans.”

—SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES

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