Travel Reference
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his neck he had a chain of perfect gold, the links very great and one fold double; on his left
hand was a diamond, an emerald, a ruby, and a turky; on his right hand in one ring a big and
perfect turky, and in another ring many diamonds of a smaller size.'
All this glitter of barbaric gold was the produce of the spice trade, of which the Sultans
kept the monopoly, and by which they became wealthy. Ternate, with the small islands in a
line south of it, as far as Batchian, constitute the ancient Moluccas, the native country of the
clove, as well as the only part in which it was cultivated. Nutmegs and mace were procured
from the natives of New Guinea and the adjacent islands, where they grew wild; and the
profits on spice cargoes were so enormous, that the European traders were glad to give gold
and jewels, and the finest manufactures of Europe or of India, in exchange. When the Dutch
established their influence in these seas, and relieved the native princes from their Por-
tuguese oppressors, they saw that the easiest way to repay themselves would be to get this
spice trade into their own hands. For this purpose they adopted the wise principle of concen-
trating the culture of these valuable products in those spots only of which they could have
complete control. To do this effectually it was necessary to abolish the culture and trade in
all other places, which they succeeded in doing by treaty with the native rulers. These
agreed to have all the spice trees in their possessions destroyed. They gave up large though
fluctuating revenues, but they gained in return a fixed subsidy, freedom from the constant
attacks and harsh oppressions of the Portuguese, and a continuance of their regal power and
exclusive authority over their own subjects, which is maintained in all the islands except
Ternate to this day.
It is no doubt supposed by most Englishmen, who have been accustomed to look upon
this act of the Dutch with vague horror, as something utterly unprincipled and barbarous,
that the native population suffered grievously by this destruction of such valuable property.
But it is certain that this was not the case. The Sultans kept this lucrative trade entirely in
their own hands as a rigid monopoly, and they would take care not to give their subjects
more than would amount to their usual wages, while they would surely exact as large a
quantity of spice as they could possibly obtain. Drake and other early voyagers always seem
to have purchased their spice-cargoes from the Sultans and Rajahs, and not from the cultiv-
ators. Now the absorption of so much labour in the cultivation of this one product must ne-
cessarily have raised the price of food and other necessaries; and when it was abolished,
more rice would be grown, more sago made, more fish caught, and more tortoise-shell, rat-
tan, gum-dammer, and other valuable products of the seas and the forests would be ob-
tained. I believe, therefore, that this abolition of the spice trade in the Moluccas was actually
