Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
scattered masses of white coralline limestone. The larger island has coral rock to a height of
three or four hundred feet, while above is lava and basalt. It seems probable, therefore, that
this little group of four islands is the fragment of a larger district which was perhaps once
connected with Ceram, but which was separated and broken up by the same forces which
formed the volcanic cone. When I visited the larger island on another occasion, I saw a con-
siderable tract covered with large forest trees, dead, but still standing. This was a record of
the last great earthquake only two years ago, when the sea broke in over this part of the is-
land and so flooded it as to destroy the vegetation on all the low lands. Almost every year
there is an earthquake here, and at intervals of a few years very severe ones, which throw
down houses and carry ships out of the harbour bodily into the streets.
Notwithstanding the losses incurred by these terrific visitations, and the small size and
isolated position of these little islands, they have been and still are of considerable value to
the Dutch Government, as the chief nutmeg-garden in the world. Almost the whole surface
is planted with nutmegs, grown under the shade of lofty Kanary trees (Canarium commune).
The light volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive moisture of these islands, where it rains
more or less every month in the year, seem exactly to suit the nutmeg-tree, which requires
no manure and scarcely any attention. All the year round flowers and ripe fruit are to be
found, and none of those diseases occur which under a forced and unnatural system of cul-
tivation have ruined the nutmeg planters of Singapore and Penang.
Few cultivated plants are more beautiful than nutmeg-trees. They are handsomely shaped
and glossy-leaved, growing to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and bearing small yellow-
ish flowers. The fruit is the size and colour of a peach, but rather oval. It is of a tough fleshy
consistence, but when ripe splits open, and shows the dark-brown nut within, covered with
the crimson mace, and is then a most beautiful object. Within the thin hard shell of the nut is
the seed, which is the nutmeg of commerce. The nuts are eaten by the large pigeons of
Banda, which digest the mace but cast up the nut with its seed uninjured.
The nutmeg trade has hitherto been a strict monopoly of the Dutch Government; but since
leaving the country I believe that this monopoly has been partially or wholly discontinued, a
proceeding which appears exceedingly injudicious and quite unnecessary. There are cases in
which monopolies are perfectly justifiable, and I believe this to be one of them. A small
country like Holland, cannot afford to keep distant and expensive colonies at a loss; and
having possession of a very small island where a valuable product,
not a necessary of life
,
can be obtained at little cost, it is almost the duty of the state to monopolise it. No injury is
done thereby to any one, but a great benefit is conferred on the whole population of Holland
and its dependencies, since the produce of the state monopolies saves them from the weight
