

HOOKER'S 



JOURNAL OP BOTANY 



AND 



KEW GARDEN MISCELLANY. 



The Band a Nutmeg Plantations ; by T. Oxley, Esq., B.A., Senior 



Surgeon of the Straits Settlement. 



(Extracted from the x Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern A&iaJ) 



That small yet important cluster of islands, long. 130 E. and lat. 

 4° 30' N., known as the Banda group, consists of three large and seven 

 small islets, many of which are only little rocky points jutting from the 

 sea. Those devoted to Nutmeg culture are three in number, and called 

 the Great Banda, Banda Neira, and Pulo Aai. All lie very close together. 

 One, named Gunong Api, is a lofty volcanic cone, divided by a very 

 narrow, shallow channel, difficult to be traversed, from the Great Banda 

 and Banda Neira. The crater is incrusted with ashes, which stretch 

 down to the water's edge on the western side of Gunong Api, and only 

 a few trees, shrubs, and small huts are discernible on the eastern side. 

 The Island of Great Banda is far from attractive at first sight : you see 

 along the shore the neat picturesque cottages of Parkineers, or Nutmeg- 

 growers ; the rest looks like mere jungle, till closer investigation reveals 

 its marvellous beauties. Banda Neira, again, impresses you unfavour- 

 ably : its unroofed and dilapidated houses, ruined by the terrible earth- 

 quake of 1852, give it the aspect of utter desolation ; yet never in any 

 spot of the East have I met with such lovely scenery as the Banda 

 Islands present. 



VOL. IX. 



i: 



