Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/395

Rh colour, which I supposed to denote various degrees of ripeness. They were hard, and the outer skin was quite thin.

I recognised in this the Pepper plant, a discovery particularly agreeable at this moment.

The boys soon gathered a large supply; the red berries were soaked in salt and water for several days, then washed and rubbed, and finally, becoming perfectly white, were dried in the sun. The treatment of the green berries was simple; they were merely exposed to the sun's heat for a day or two, and then stored: in this way we obtained enough, both of black and white pepper, to last us a very long time. I took also a number of young plants, that we might have pepper growing at Rockburg and our various settlements. Some roots of another plant were also taken, which, from the pods appeared to be a kind of bean.