Clusius states that Capsicums were brought to India from Pernambuco by the Portuguese; from India they were introduced into Germany, and finally reached England in 1595. The Spaniards were acquainted with the spice as early as 1494. Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus in his second voyage to the West Indies, notices them among the productions of Hispaniola as a condiment used by the natives under the name of Agi, which is still the common name for them in Spanish. In English they were formerly known as Guinea-pepper, and the Portuguese call them Pimenta de Guiné. Chili is the Mexican name. (Pharmacographia.) In the Indian vernaculars there is no special name for them, and they are not mentioned by any Sanskrit writers. Up to the present time the cultivation of the plant is carried on more extensively at Goa than at any other place in Western India, and capsicums are well known in Bombay as Govai-mirchi, “Goa pepper.” The Arabs call the chillie Filfil-ahmar, “red pepper,” in Persian it is Filfil-i-surkh, which has the same meaning. Besides the two species commonly cultivated, several varieties of C. grossum are met with in India as ornamental plants in gardens; they are mostly remarkable for the size of their fruit; which is almost or entirely devoid of pungency; one variety, which has been named C. cerasiformis, has globular fruit resembling a cherry. A yellow capsicum, having a peculiar flavour, has been introduced into India from Nipal, and from it is prepared a very highly esteemed Cayenne pepper. […] The Hindus and Indian Mahometans use capsicum very freely as a condiment, but the Arabs and Persians object to it. Medicinally the natives of India consider capsicum to be stomachic and stimulant, and a promoter of the regular action of the bowels: externally they use it as a rubefacient. The irritant properties are frequently taken advantage of to inflict torture upon prisoners and refractory children. In European medicine capsicum is used in the form of a plaster, or liniment, made with the ethereal tincture, in rheumatic and neuralgic affections; it produces warmth and redness of the part. Pads dipped in a strong infusion of the crushed pods may also be used; they should be covered with paraffin paper or oil silk, and may be kept on for several hours; as a gargle, or in the form of lozenges, it is used in tonsillitis, pharyngitis and relaxed sore-throat. In the West Indies it is used in infusion with cinnamon and sugar to relieve the sinking at the epigastrium felt by drunkards, and forms a most valuable diet drink for patient suffering from delirium tremens, as it satisfies the craving for stimulants. Large doses taken internally by persons who are not in the habit of using capsicum may produce gastro-enteritis.
One sentence omitted: it demeans the people it describes (it reports a vernacular name for bird’s-eye chillie built on a racial slur).