ACCOUNT OF CELEBES, AMBOYNA , &C. 2 57

Befides 22,310 tatanamangs, which are trees that are not comprehended in the cloveplantations, but hand interfperfed here and there, near the houfes. Every Amboy-nefe plants fuch a clove-tree when a child is born to him, in order by a rough cal-culation to know their age. Although they do not oppofe the extirpation of the clove-trees in the plantations, when the Company think it fit, yet to touch their tatanamangswould fpeedily be the caufe of a general infurrection among them; this was manifefton the occafion of one of the laft extirpations, when the extirpators ignorantly, at leaf!;as they pretended, cut down fome tatanamangs. The whole country was immediately

up ; and had not the then governor, Van der V-, fpeedily provided againfl: it, they

would have deftroyed all the other clove-trees, fet fire to their habitations, and flyingto the mountains, they would thus have withdrawn themfelves from their obedience tothe Company.

I have been afifured that a clove-tree will continue to bear fruit for the fpace ofeighty years *.

Befides the clove, nutmeg-trees likewife grow here with tolerable luxuriance jhut they are all deftroyed by the orders of the government, whenever they arefound f.

In proportion as the clove trees were more and more eradicated, the governmentat Batavia began to think on the means of giving the Amboynefe an equivalent for thediminution of that produ&ion, as the crop of cloves brought but little money intocirculation, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, of which I- {hall fay more here-

* Valentyn mentions a clove-tree upon Hoewamoehil, that was known to be one hundred and thirtyyears old, and to have yielded in one feafon two bhars, or l,ioolb. of cloves. Tt<.

t As we had no opportunity, in the thorc account given of the iflands of Banda in the firft volume, todeferibe the nutmeg-tree, it may be well to introduce an account of it here. The myriftica mofehata, ortrue nutmeg, is a handfome and fpreading tree; the bark is fmooth, and of a brownifli grey colour; theleaves are eliptical, pointed, obliquely nerved, on the upper fide of a bright green, on the tinder whitifh," n d Hand alternately upon footftalks; they afford a ipoft grateful aromatic, feent when bruifed. If abranch of the tree be broken off, a fap runs out of it, which is of great prejudice to the tree ; and it neverthrives well afterwards. It does not bear fruit till its eighth or ninth year. When it begins to producelru 't, little yellovvilh buds make their appearance, out of which fmall white flowers are blown, hangingtwo or three together, upon flender peduncles: in the centre of the flower is an oblong reddifll knob,r °m which the fruit is produced, though no more than one bloffom out of three commonly ripens to anutmeg. The fruit is eight or nine months arriving at maturity ; but blofforns and ripe fruit are found atfame time upon the fame tree, and the nutmegs are generally gathered three times in a year. The/tut appears like a fmall peach, both in fhape and in colour, only it is pointed towards the (talk ; when it* n pe, the outer coat, which is almoft. half an inch thick, opens and fhews the nutmeg, in its black and. ’ n| ng {hell, encircled by a network of fcarlet mace ; the outer coat is generally whitifh, a little hard, and'j er Y good preferved in fugar, or dewed ; you then come to the mace, which is of a fine bright red colour,and under it a black fhell, about as thick as that of a filbert but very hard ; it is opened by being firftfuc «ffi^ly in five different petaks, or drying places made of fplit bamboo3, upon which the nutmegse laid, and placed over a flow fire; in each of thefe petaks they remain a week, till,the nutmegs are-d to fhake within the fhell, which is then eafily broken ; the nutmegs are then forted and deliveredo he Company ; each foit is then feparately put in bafkets, and foaked three times in tubs with fea-water,to U f lm P re g nate d with lime ; they are then put into dittindf clofets, where they are left for fix weeks,weat ; this is done that the lime, by clofing the pores of the nuts, may prevent their ftrength fromj 0n P 01atln g) and likewife becaufe fuch a prepared nutmeg is not fit for propagation. Some trees affordget", and fome rounder nutmegs, but which are of the fame quality; the long ones are called male nut-(j- “ llt there are likewife wild male nutmegs, which have little flavour, and are not rallied. The Ban-Th C C £n . UI ) watc feveral forts of nutmegs; but they appear only varieties in the fruit of the fame tree.Fo 6 ^ r I^' ca f atua . or wild nutmeg, grows in all the Eaftern iflands; it feems to have been this fort thatfike^f . a ' ne ^ at Dory harbour in New Guinea , and planted on the ifland of Bunwoot: it is producedfrom" 1 C m t ^ 1 . e lodks, at the ifland of Tobago . An effential oil is extradled both from nutmegs and<Vp , mace ! it is reckoned that three catti of Banda, making about feventeen pounds and a quarter Am-am weight, yield about a quart of oil. Tr.

v ol. xi. 1.1. after

L. X.