2 8 2 ACCOUNT OF CELEBES, AMBOYNA , &C.

Thefe, as well as the charges of the government of Macafler and Ternate, mull bedefrayed out of the profits upon the cloves, nutmegs, and mace, which mull, likewife,contribute towards making good the expences of the Company at Batavia and athome 5 but can any favourable expectations of future advantage be entertained on thishead, when we conlider the great decreafe which is experienced in the fale of the firftnamed fpice ? Three millions of pounds remaining Hill in the warehoufes at Batavia,of which no more than one-fifteenth part can be annually difpofed of in the Indies,together with a flock on hand in Holland, large enough to fupply the confumption ofEurope for the fpace of ten years, and the quantities of cloves that from time to timeare committed to the flames by the Company, in order to leffen their fuperabundantflock, form proofs enough of the decreafe of the clove-trade, and do not require furtheranimadverfion than the bare mention of them *.

calculations of what thefe ought to be, than what they really are. In 1779, the charges of Amboyna werey.201.082 ; and the whole of the revenues, including the profits upon the fale of goods (five percent onthe fale being allowed to the governor and iecond, two-thirds to the former, and one-third to tire latter),■amounted to no more than _/48,747, leaving a balance again!! the Company of T.152,335, or aboutIj,85ol. flerling. Tr.

* Every clove-tree is calculated to produce annually, upon an average, two, or two and a half pounds ofcloves, fo that the yearly crop is at leal! one million pounds per annum from the 500,000 clove-trees allowedto be cultivated ; much larger crops are frequently made, though in fome years they fall materially fliort,and yield but a trilling quantity. One of the largeft fales of cloves made in Holland, was in the year 1714,when 435,427 pounds were fold ; in 1758, no more than 200,000 pounds were fold ; in 1778, 234,271pounds; and in 1788, 400,000 pounds ; and about 150,000, or 200,000 pounds are annually difpofed ofin the Indies. The quantities of cloves always remaining over in the hands of the Company, notwithftandingtheir continual extirpations, mult, therefore, be immenfe ; they endeavour to moderate this fuperfluity by-burning large quantities of fpices from time to time ; Sir William Temple fays, in his Obfervations uponHolland, that a Dutchman, who had be^i at the Spice-iflands, told him, that he faw, at one time, threeheaps of nutmegs burnt, each of which was more than an ordinary church could hold; in 1760, M. Beau-mare faw at Amtlerdam, near the admiralty, a fire of fpices, the fuel of which was valued at 1,000,000 oflivres, and as much was to be burnt on the day following ; the tranfiator of this work has himfelf beenwitnefs to the burning of large quantities of cloves, nutmegs, and cinnamon, upon the little iiland of New-land, near Middleburgh, in Zealand, the aromatic fcent whereof perfumed the air for many miles around.Although the Dutch have thus, by all the means in their power, endeavoured to counteraft the indulgentbounty of heaven, they have not, in any inllance attained their objedt; for, exclufive of the impoffibilityof preventing the fpontaneous production of fpices in the extenfive woods of hundreds of iflands, ofwhich they ftarcely know the names or fituation, and the conilant clandeftine trade carried on in fpices,by the Papuas Ctrair.mers, Bouginefe, and Chinefe, the confumption of, and demands for cloves have fomuch decreafed, that the monopoly is no more worth the expences of retaining it exclufively : and in regardto nutmegs, they have been the dupes of their own avarice ; for, confining as much as polfible, the cul-tivation of that fpice to the iflands of Banda, it was nearly annihilated there in the year 1778, by a violenthurricane and earthquake, and few fupplies of confideration have been obtained for feveral years afterwards.When Admiral Rainer took pofleffion of Amboyna , in J 796 he found in the treafury, 81,112 rix-dollars,and in flove 5t5,94clb. of doves. The importations into England, by the Eaft-India Company, fincethe capture of the Spice-iflands, till the prefent time (Odtober 1798), have been as follows :cloves, 817,312 pounds,nutmegs, 93,752 do.mace, 46,73c do.

betides confiderable quantities of each in private trade and privilege goods, namely,

Ca 63 ^ cloves, weighing, we fuppofe, about 30,coolb.

20 calksSi cafes76 calks29 elicits7 boxes12 cafes1671131

weighing,

nutmegs,

calesbalks j

chtils J

do.

do.

36,000

240,000

On