*55
ficient quantity has not yet been reared to fupercede the neceffity of a fupply of timberfrom Java.
There are many other fpecies of wood, befides the above, the half of which I amentirely unacquainted with ; they are amply defcribed by Valentyn.*
Of the products of the country confidered as articles of trade, the firfi: rank is occu-pied by its ftaple commodity, cloves. The tree f on which they grow is too-wella nd too minutely defcribed by Valentyn, than that I Ihould be required to do it here.
Two large crops of cloves never fucceed each other; if the crop be one year verytarge, that of the next year will be fmall: the firlt generally takes place in uncommondry feafons; and epidemical fevers are then very prevalent.
When the cloves are almoft ripe, they mull be foon gathered, or they Ihoot out ina few days into mother cloves. The cloves which are dried over the fire, inftead of
0 the foreft. There are two forts, which, by the timber they yield, are dilUnguilhedby the names ofttiale and female; the former is the darkeft in hue, and very veiny} it is eafier to be wrought than theBt * er ’ w ^ lc ^ ls P a ' er and lefs veiny. Tr.
tf “ A conception may be formed,” fays Valentyn, “ of the great plenty of timber-trees of all kinds« r l Amboyna, for the conftruflion of fhips and houfes, and for the fineft and mod coftly articles of<( lur niture, from the circumftance that Mr. Rumphius (author of the Hortus Amboinenfis) had pro-u CUr ed a little cabinet to be made, which was inlaid with nearly four hundred forts of only the choiceft, ( ? n d handfomeft woods, and which, together with other curioiities, that gentleman fent as a prefent,,, ln l he year 1682, to the great Duke of Tufcany, Cofmo the Third. If then there are fo many forts-of fine and choice woods fit for veneering, how many muft not the common forts be He particularlyscribes a great number, among which are feveral different fpecies of the ebony-tree ; the iron-tree ; thev a uarina; the wild clove tree; the famama tree, which is a baftard fort of teak ; the nani-tree, which-j'elds a timber that is almoft imperifhable ; the Chinefe ufe it for anchors and rudders; it withftands allWeathers, and yields but flowly to the powerful agency of fire; it is, however, on account of its-hard*?very difficult to be wrought: the cajoe-languit-tree, which has received the proud title of the treeheaven, or of the firmament, as it feems to lift its lofty and fpreading fummit to the clouds ; &c. Ate conclufion of his account of the trees of Amboyna, he affures the reader that the moll laborious exer-^° n of a long life would not fuffice to become acquainted with all the trees which grow on the lofty and'vh’ 5< i? r m °untains, the extenfive and impenetrable fortfts of Amboyna, and that the vaft number' v liol ^ e ,^ as noticed, feventy-two of which he gives reprefentations of, are but a fmall portion of theP e * *1 R.
*“ ar yophyllus. The clove is produced on a very handfome tree", fomewhat refembling a large pear-thin' 1,8 ^ tm ' s an d at the diftance of five feet from the ground its branches begin ; the bark is
two an ^ ^ rnoot h> and adheres clofely to the wood ; the wood is heavy and hard; the leaves ftand two and° n t j°PP°fite, they are about a hand-breadth in length, and two inches broad, pointed, ribbed and reddifhftnell' 6 VPP er ’ hut fmooth and of a bright green colour on the under fide, they have a very aromaticto ' r . hruifed between the fingers. When a tree is nine years old, and has been well attendedS r een ] ^'l 18 to yield cloves ; they appear in the beginning of the rainy feafon ; they are then little dark*t j len n lon gifh buds, and become perfedt cloves in ffiape in the month of Auguft or September ; theyn’ain th™ ^ e ^ ow > an d afterwards red, which is the time for gathering them; if they are fuffered to re-Pron r * e ° r ^° ur wee k s longer, they fwell and become what are called mother-cloves, which are proper forh Un pi® atlon ’ °r for candying, but not for drying as a fpice. The cloves grow on feparate ftalks, but inth e r es °f three or more together. Valentyn defcribes four forts : that which he calls the male clove, isoil. pded for drying ; the female produces cloves of a pale colour, which are the beft for extradb’ng ofthi s ’k' ^ In g* 8 clove is a very fcarce fpecies, bearing larger and double cloves; he mentions one tree ofHati v ' n t ^ lat il°°d 1,1 the ifland Machian, and a few others that were difcovered in 1668, and 1682, inth e f ar 'd In Hitoe : the fourth fort are called rice-cloves ; they are very fmall, but likewife very rare :::
upon the wild flove-tree has no kind of fpicynefs. At the time of gathering theby 1 0 ’ , e gtotmd is carefully fwept under the trees, that none may be loft; they are generally pulled offoloves ^ °°k s " The ufual time of the clove crop is in Oftober, and it lafts till December. The oil of‘imes to I! known in the Materia Medica; an hundred weight of cloves ufed to be employed in formerfeq Uence ^ rocu J e a T ,art of oil, but that quantity is now drawn from forty pounds, though it is in con-tadividugj" 01 t? P owerful s the extraction of the oil is ftridly prohibited by the Dutch Company to all
la