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CHAP. XVI. — Climate of Amboyna. — Monfoons. — Rivers. —Hills impregnated withSulphur. — Soil. — Productions. — Plants. — Herbs. — Trees. — Cloves . — Extir-pations of Clove-trees. — Gujlom of the Amboynefe to plant a Clove-tree upon the Birthof a Child. — Nutmegs. — Cultivation of Pepper and Indigo. — Sugar and Coffeemight Ukewife be produced.
THIS, as well as all the other of the Company’s poffefllons in the Moluccas , isfituated in the torrid zone. During the three months which I fpent at Amboyna , themedium height of a Fahrenheit’s thermometer was between eighty and eighty-two degrees; the greateft heat was ninety-one degrees, and the fevereft cold feventy-two degrees; a difference which, in thefe parts, is fo confiderable, that if fuchchanges were to occur every day, it would, in my opinion, be exceedingly prejudicialto the conftitution of the body : this is greatly occafioned by the high mountains ofSoya, at the foot of which Fort New Victoria, and the town of Amboyna arefituated, whereby the rays of the fun are impeded from fhining upon thefe places,till it has been three quarters of an hour above the horizon; and on the other hand,at noon, when the fun is to the north of the line, as was the cafe during my abodethere, and its rays ftrike againft thefe mountains, which form, as it were, an am-phitheatre, it cannot be, but that the heat muff be greatly encreafed by the reverbe-mtion ; at leaft, when I was at the Laha, which lies in a level plain on the oppofitefide, I did not perceive the exceflive heat which is felt at the fort.
The changes which occur, with refpeft to the weight of the atmofphere, are notfi° great; during my lfay of three months, they could fcarcely be faid to amount totwo lines, or to one-fixth of an inch ; neither rain, wind, or fine weather, feemed tohave any influence in this refpedt.
The monfoons are exaftly the contrary here, to what they are along the iflands ofJava, Borneo, Bali, Lornbcc, Sumbawa, the weft coaft of Celebes , &c.; for when thef outh-eaft monfoon prevails at thofe places, it is accompanied by fine, dry, and pleafantWeather, on which account this feafon is called the good monfoon: whereas it is thenme bad feafon at Amboyna, Ceram, Banda, the eaft coaft of Celebes , and in thecountries and feas lying between them; it then rains almoft inceflantly, accompanied by"violent thunder and lightning, and fudden whirlwinds, to which I have frequently beenWitnefs at Amboyna ; but all this ceafes, and turns to the fineft weather, upon havingpaffed the ftrait which feparates Saleyer from Celebes .
Many rivers precipitate themfelves into the bay of Amboyna , from the mountains,n °ugh they only deferve that appellation during the rainy, or bad monfoon; for in the§ood feafon they are mere rivulets, and many of them are nearly dry. I was witnefs to® re markable difference occafioned in them by the time of the year ; for on my arrival,«en the dry feafon was not over, the four rivers, which run into the fea, near the°wn and the adjacent villages, namely the Way Tome, the Way Alla, the Way Nito,in'^ ® ato G ac lj a > or Elephant’s river, were, at that time, no more than rivulets,ft which there was fcarcely two or three feet water ; but at my departure, the con-heav 7 mins had fo fwelled them, that they carried away in one night the ftrongeftle a a T e ft bridges, thirty and more feet in length, that were thrown over them, or ata , ^ am aged them very confiderably.
literals are not met with here, though fome of the hills yield abundance of goodon K° ne ’ which their wholefurface is incruftated. There is one, in particular,{ he peninfula of Hitoe, which is famous on that account, and is thence called
Wawani,