The only substitute was the "aji," or capsicum, of which several species grew around, and almost every dish they ate was strongly spiced with it.
"Popular Adventure Tales"
Mayne Reid
We were very well received and had fish in abundance, as well as tomatoes, and capsicum to season them with, and dishes of English earthenware out of which to eat them.
"The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes"
Tomás de Comyn Fedor Jagor Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow Charles Wilkes
Various new plants attracted my attention this day, especially a beautiful Loranthus on the rosewood Acacia, and a small bush bearing a green pod resembling a small capsicum in shape.
"Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia In Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1848) by Lt. Col. Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell Kt. D.C.L. (1792-1855) Surveyor-General of New South Wales"
Thomas Mitchell