largest of the group, being about 7 miles long, with an average breadth of 2 miles, and
having the form of a crescent. Nera, on which the principal settlement stands, is
but a mile and a half long, and half a mile broad.
The whole Banda group, which has an area of no more than 17'6 geographical
square miles, is of volcanic formation, and Gunung-api, is an entire volcanic mountain,
the most active of the whole great volcanic band, although its height above the sea-
level is only 2500 feet. The eruptions of this mountain have been frequent and
destructive. The first of which we have any record took place in 1629. This was
followed by eruptions in 1690 and the five following years,—in 1765, in 1775, in 1816,
in 1820, and in 1852. In the months of November and December of this last year, a
succession of fearful earthquakes, but unaccompanied by any eruption of Gunung-api,
took place, which nearly overwhelmed the islands of Nera and Lontar, overthrowing
houses, and destroying ships and nutmeg plantations. The eruptions of Gunung-api
are accompanied by violent earthquakes, and by risings of the sea equally fatal. In
the eruption of 1690, the sea rose 25 feet higher than high water at spring tides, and
swept off every dwelling on or near the shore, and every vessel. A cannon weighing
3500 pounds was earned away from the quay on which it stood to the distance of
30 feet. In the eruption of 1691, the succession of earthquakes which took place
was such as to terrify the inhabitants, many of them emigrating to Amboyna and
Celebes. The eruption of 1852 seems to have been not less disastrous than that of
1690. The eruptions are invariably followed by fatal epidemics, which carry off
many of the inhabitants.
The Banda Islands are, with small exceptions, covered, as elsewhere, with a luxuriant
forest. Their most distinguished product is, of course, the nutmeg, Myristica mos-
chata, not, however, confined to them, for it is equally a native of other islands lying
east of them, as far as New Guinea inclusive. • The mammal animals are few in
number, and, as is always the case in islands of small extent, none of the larger are
found, not even any species of hog or deer. Among the feathered tribe the most
abundant and remarkable are the parrots and pigeons. Of the first of those, the red
loory, Psittacus ruber, is the most singular; and of the last, Columba perspicillata
and Columba senea, both great depredators on the nutmeg, and the first of them
good game.
The population of the Banda Islands, by an enumeration made in 1840, was found
to be 5081, of which Nera had 1225 ; Lontar or the Great Banda, 372 ; Ai, 148; and
Bun, 42. These, amounting to 1687, constituted the free population; the rest were
made up of 2183 slaves and 1029 convicts ; for these islands are the place of transportation
for the felons of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. In 1725 the population was
stated at 5000, so that in a period of 115 years, no increase had taken place: indeed,
if we deduct convicts, which did not exist in 1725, there had been a decrease of
about 1000, or one-fifth of the whole number.
Agriculture is confined to the raising of fruits and vegetables, and the rearing of the
nutmeg. Of this there are reckoned to be 34 parks, as they are called by the Dutch.
These contain among them about half amilbonof trees, which on an average of years
are reckoned to produce 400,000 pounds of nutmegs and 130,000 of mace. The whole
trade of the islands consists in the export of the produce of the nutmeg tree, and in
the importation of corn and other necessaries for the maintenance of the population,
the government being the sole exporter of the nutmegs, and the sole importer of the
com. The volcano of Gunung-api furnishes an abundant supply of sulphur, but it
is not collected; the necessary labour and enterprise for sucb an undertaking not
existing in the stagnant state of society which prevails. The town, which is the seat
of administration, not only for the Banda but for other islands annexed to them,
such as those of Goram and Aroe, estimated at a population of 200,000, is Bituated on
Nera, and on the shore of a safe harbour formed between it, Lontar and Gunung-api.
The scene presented on entering this harbour is represented to be quite unequalled
for picturesque beauty in the Archipelago, and is the more striking from the total
absence of all evidence of industry and civilisation until it appears in view.
The revenue of the Banda Islands consists in the profits of the nutmeg monopoly.
The price paid to the proprietors of the nutmeg parks may be reckoned in round
numbers, for the quantity above specified, at about 10,0001., and the value at Batavia, to
which they are transported at the cost of the government, is about 55,0001., so that the
gross profits of the monopoly would be thus about 45,0001. This is, however, subject
to many deductions, as the cost of the establishment for superintending the culture,
for curing and warehousing on the spot, transport of the produce to Batavia, expense
of warehousing and selling it there, and the difference between the prime cost of rice
in Java and in the Banda Islands, some 1500 miles distant. But besides this, the
monopoly profits have to support the whole charges of the civil, municipal, ordnance,
naval and military establishments, the last alone comprising 400 rank and file, with
their officers all kept up for no other purpose than the maintenance of the
monopoly The certainty is, that instead of profit, there must be a heavy loss. In
I fact this monopoly, which now existing for above two centuries, if the cost of its
acquisition be reckoned, never could have yielded a real profit, and for many years
'back is well known to have been accompanied by a heavy loss. A perseverance in it,
therefore, is a subject of much surprise both to enlightened Dutchmen and strangers.
1 The history of the Nutmeg Islands is as follows : They had been known to and
foften frequented by the two principal insular nations of the western part of the
Archipelago, the Malays and Javanese, for many ages before the advent of Europeans.
Hindoos most probably, and Arabs and Chinese certainly, had visited them long
before the Portuguese. The latter, therefore, although the first to reach, cannot be
said to have discovered them. Alboquerque, after his conquest of Malacca in 1511,
obtained all the necessary information respecting the Spice Islands, and despatched
Antonio d’Abreu, one of his lieutenants, to trade with and take possession of them
in the month of December of that year. “ Before him,” says De Barros, he sent a
¡native of Malacca, one Nakhoda Ismael, in a trading junk, belonging to some Moorish
¡¡Javanese and Malays of these parts, so that on d’Abreu’s arrival he might be well
received. Indeed, as our name was wonderful in this part of the world, there was
little risk of his not being handsomely treated.” On his way d’Abreu touched at
fjlressic in Java, and there took “ Malay and Javanese pilots who had made the
voyage” to the Spice Islands. Leaving Java, the first of the Spice Islands which he
,neached was Amboyna, from whence he proceeded to the Banda Islands. De Barros’
^description of them is th is: “ And as the Moluccas comprehend five islands, so
(nnder the name of Banda are also five islands, each with its own proper name. In
¡¡truth, the chief of them is called Banda, to the principal port of which, Lutatam, all
'ships resort that come for the nutmeg trade. The other islands are called Boso-
languim, Ay, Bom, and Neira, and all of them lie within 41° south altitude. Every
year there repair to Lutatam Javanese and Malays to load cloves, nutmegs, and mace;
for this place being in the latitudes most easily navigated, and where ships are most
safe, and as the cloves of the Moluccas are brought to it by vessels of the country, it
is not necessary to go to the latter in search of them. In the five islands now named
grow all the nutmegs consumed in every part of the world.” He afterwards adds
that nutmegs produced in all the other islands were brought for the convenience of
the foreign merchant to Lutatam in Lontar or the Great Banda, and that place, in
short, seems to have been, on the arrival of the Portuguese, the local emporium of
the nutmeg trade. De Barros describes the volcano of Gunung-api correctly, and is
only wrong in his etymology of its name, making gunung, which signifies mountain,
;to mean “ fire,” and api, which means “ fire,” to be the proper name of the island.
His account of the characters of the Bandanese is this : “ The people of these islands
! are robust, with a tawny complexion and lank hair, and are of the worst repute in
these parts. They follow the sect of Mahommedan, and are much addicted to trade,
their women performing the labours of the field. They have neither king nor lord,
and all their government depends on the advice of their elders; and as these are often
at variance, they quarrel among themselves. The land has no other export than the
nutmeg. This tree is in such abundance that the land is full of it, without its being
¡planted by anyone, for the earth yields it without culture. The forests which
produce it belong to no one by inheritance, but to the people in common. When
June and September come, which are the months for gathering the crop, the nutmeg
woods are allotted, and he who gathers most has most profit.” This account would
/¡seem to show that the people of the Banda Islands lived under a sort of rude
•patriarchal republic, and in fact that they were, although few in number, a spirited
¡and independent people, as indeed, the desperate resistance they afterwards made
|ftgainst both Portuguese and Dutch sufficiently shows. Their adoption of the
¡Mahommedan religion is by no means a proof of barbarism, but the reverse, as it is
¡only the most advanced nations of the Archipelago that have done so, while generally,
■he more Bavage tribes remain unconverted up to the present day. That the life and
¡/property of strangers was tolerably secure among them is sufficiently attested by the
lact oi their islands having been selected as the emporium of the whole spice trade,
itven their reception of the Portuguese on their first arrival was friendly, as admitted
by themselves. “ Antonio d’Abreu,” says De Barros, “ after having set up pillars
testifying his discovery, and loading his ships with mace and nutmegs, as well as with
d 2