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 considerable 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 island and so flooded it as to
destroy the vegetation on all the low lands. Almost every
year there is ap earthquake here, and at intervals of a few
years very ¡isevere 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 (Kanarium 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 cultivation
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 yellowish 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.
f
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 mono