316 Ternate. 



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 oppres- 

 sions of the Portuguese, and a continuance of their regal power 

 and exclusive authority over their own subjects, which is main- 

 tained in all the islands except Ternate to this day. 



It is no doubt supposed by most Englishmen, who have 

 been accustomed to look uj^on 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 

 cultivators. Now the absorption of so much labor in the cul- 

 tivation of this one product must necessarily 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, rattan, gum-dammer, and other valua- 

 ble products of the seas and the forests would be obtained. I 

 believe, therefore, that this abolition of the spice trade in the 

 Moluccas was actually beneficial to the inhabitants, and that 

 it was an act both wise in itself, and morally and politically 

 justifiable. 



In the selection of the j)laces in which to carry on the culti- 

 vation, the Dutch were not altogether fortunate or wise. Ban- 

 da was chosen for nutmegs, and was eminently successful, 

 since it continues to this day to produce a large supply of this 

 spice, and to yield a considerable revenue. Amboyna was 

 fixed upon for establishing the clove cultivation ; but the soil 

 and climate, although apparently very similar to that of its na- 

 tive islands, is not favorable, and for some years the Govern- 

 ment have actually been paying to the cultivators a highei' 

 rate than they could purchase cloves elsewhere, owing to a 

 great fall in the price since the rate of j)ayment was fixed for 



