ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA.

1 99

The third government is that of Ternate, to which the ifland of Tidore is fab-ordinate. The garrifon is computed to amount altogether to feven hundred men.Ternate is not a fubje£t of fo much folicitude as the iflands juft mentioned, for allthe fpice-trees which it poffefled, are extirpated, and no others may be planted in theirftead * *.

This

or 15I. ns. iod. fterling, being about 4^(1 per pound,looolb. mace, paid to the planters, at 10 ft. per lb.i2olb. for 12 per cent, allowed upon the fhipment.

88alb. neat. Charges of (hipping, _/Ii. per cwt.

/.500. O

8. 16

/.jo8. 16

88clb. mace, therefore, flood the Company in

t ■ . ... —

or 46I. 5s. fterling, being about 12-^d. per pound.

The real quantity of thefe precious fpices, produced in the Banda ifles, has never been exaflly known.The largeft quantity of nutmegs fold by the Eaft India Company in Holland, at one time, was 280,964^.in the year 1737 ; in 1756 was fold 241,4271b. ; and in 1778, 264,1891b.; the average has been taken at2 5o,ooolb. annually, fold in Europe , at 75 ftivers per pound, befides about loo.ooolb. difpofed of in theIndies, at no lefs a rate. Of mace* the average fold in Europe has been 9o,oooIb. annually, at /.6 perPound, and io,ooo!b. in the Indies. Againft, however, the amazing profits accruing upon thefe articlesmull be confidered, the important expences of the eftabliftrment at Banda. Three large fhips are difpatchedthither every year from Java with rice and other necefiaries. In the year 1779 the charges amounted to■/• i 46,i?o, and the revenues proceeding from the duties on imports, &c. to/I9350, leaving a furplus in thecharges of/'.l36,820, orabout 12,4401. fterling; although the able and intelligent governorGeneralMoffel, inhis plan of reform of the Company’s affairs in India , calculates that the revenues of Banda could be increafedto7.90,000, taking, at the fame time, the charges of the eftabliftiment at/. 155,000, by which the ultimateej tpence would be reduced by one half. Thefe iflands, however, can never be expe&ed to yield any advan-tage befides that derived from the fpice-trade, Entirely cut off from all the other parts of India , and de-prived of all commerce, fave the trifling bartering trade we have noticed with the indigent natives of thefouth-eaftern and fouth-weftern iflands, they are even deftitute of the means of fubfiftence for their owninhabitants, and mull be fupplied with every neceflary from without. Nature, who has lavifhly bellowedvpon them articles of luxury and fuperfluiiy, has denied them thofe of indifpenfable neceffity. Banda islikewjfe accounted a moll unhealthy place, efpecially at the chief fettlement of Neira. Some attributethis circumftance to the neighbourhood of the volcano, in the ilhnd of Gunung Api > and others to adeleterious quality in the water.

When Ad miral Rainier took poflfcffion of Banda, he found in the treafury 66,675 rixdollars, and in ftore°4>777lb. nutmegs, and 19,5871b. mace. The Znglifh Eaft India Company iold 30,0001b. nutmegs,a °d 25,0001b. mace at their lali fpring fale, which was the full public fale in England of thefe valuableart 'cles. Tr.

* The province of Ternate includes the iflands of Ternate, Tidore, Motir, Machian, and Bachian ; whichare what are properly the Moluccas ; they are the original places of growth of the liner fpices, and largerJHitmegs are (till found in the woods of Ternate, than any that are produced at Banda. On the ifland of~ er nate, in one degree north latitude, is lituate Fort Orange, which is the refidence of the governor. TheSpaniards had a footing in the Moluccas as late as ihe year 1663, at which period they abandoned their® “blilhment at Gammalamma, which v/as formerly the refidence of the Kings of Ternate ; and the Dutch•o-ait India Company proving the ftrongeft in their wars in 1680, with the confederated Kings of the Mo-luccas , the King of Ternate became tributary to them, and the Kings of the other iflands were fo far ren-Wed dependent upon them, that, in the year 1778, upon fufpicion of their having fct fome machinations°n root againft the Company, the two powerful Kings of Tidore and Bachian were depofed, and fent inj* , to Batavia, and their thrones given to other Princes, upon condition of their becoming the vaffals ofe Company. Some places, fituated in the eafteru part of the ifland Celebes, belong likewife to this govern-the chief of them are Gorontalo and Manado ; and the objeft of the Company in fettling there, isponctpally to furnilh provifions for Ternate, that part of Celebes being very fruitful in rice and otherHilaries. They alfo yield a confiderable quantity of gold, about 24,000 tads, of a dollar and a half iu

Weight,