ptgafetta’s voyage round the world.

365

King of Tadore, had fix hundred, and the other five hundred and twenty-five chil-dren. The Gentiles have not fo many wives as the Moors, nor are they fo fuper-ftitious. The firft thing they meet in the morning is the object of their adorationduring the day. The King of the Gentiles is called Rajah Papua: he is very rich ingold, and inhabits the interior of the ifland. Here are feen, growing among the rocks,reeds as large round as a man’s leg which are full of excellent water # ; of thefe we pur-chafed a number. The illand of Giailolo is fo large that a boat with difficulty canmake the tour of it in four months.

Saturday, 16th November, one of the Mooriffi Kings of Giailolo came, with a num-ber of boats, on board our veffel. We made him a prefent of a green damafk veft-ment, two yards of red cloth, fome looking-glafles, fciffars, knives, combs, and twoglafs goblets gilt, which much delighted him. He told us very politely that as weWere friends of the King of Tadore he efteemed us alfo as his friends, lince he lovedthat monarch as dearly as his own fon. He invited us to vifit his country, alluringus we fhould be treated with great diftin&ion. This King is very powerful, and much;fefpefted in all the neighbouring iflands. He is of great age, and is called Juffu.

The next morning, Sunday, the fame King made us a fecond vifit, and wiffied to-fee the manner in which we fought and dil'charged our bombards; at the exhibitionWe made in confequence of his requeft, he appeared to be greatly pleafed, for in hisyouth he had been of a very martial difpofition.

The next day I went on ffiore to fee the clove-tree, and notice the manner in which

fruits; the refult of my obfervations was as follows: the clove-tree attains a prettyconfiderable height, and its trunk is about as large as a man’s body, varying more orlefs according to its age. Its branches extend very wide about the middle of thetrunk, but at the fummit terminate in a pyramid. Its leaf refembles that of the laurel,and the bark of it is of an olive colour. The cloves grow at the end of fmall branches,m clufters of from ten to twenty; and the tree, according to the feafon, lends forthmore on one fide than the other. The cloves at firft are white; as they ripen theybecome reddilh, and blacken as they dry. There are annually two crops gathered, the°ue at Chriltmas, the other about St. John the Baptift’s day, that is to fay about thehrne of the two folltices, feafons in which the air is more temperate in this countrythan at the other periods of the year, though the hottell of the two is that of the"miter folftice, when the fun is here at its zenith. When the year is hot, and thequantity of rain that falls is little, the amount of the crop of each illand is from threeto four hundred baharsf. The clove-tree grows only on the mountains, and dies iftfanfplanted to the plain }. The leaf, the bark, and the woody part of the tree, haveas ftrong a fmell and a flavour equally potent with the fruit itfelf. If this lad be notgathered juft at the proper feafon it becomes fo large and fo hard that no part of itremains good but the rind. There are no clove-trees of prime quality but in the moun-tains of the five iflands of Malucho ; for though fome grow in the illand of Giailolo,.a "d on the iflet Mare between Tadore and Mutir, the fruit of them is inferior. It isai .d that fogs give them their fuperior degree of perfediion in thefe iflands; howeverms nray be, we certainly did remark every day that a fog, refembling thin clouds,,

, ^ le bamboo, a teed which, natural’y contains a liquor very good to drink,j Gom fifty-five to, feventy-three tons for each illand, or for the whole five, from two hundred andto t0 three hundred and fixty-five tons ;an amazing quantity certainly, but not more than adequate

w - > e c °ufumption of Alia, Europe, and America , which are fupplied even now chiefly fioitv thefe iflandscloves. Eng. Tr.

I the Dutch have fince found that they facceed equally well in the plain.

enveloped.