8 ODOKOGRAPHIA. 



It is a beautiful evergreen tree of 20 to 40 feet in height ; often 

 with a lofty undivided trunk and horizontal, more or less 

 verticillate branches. The leaves are shining, dark, oblong- 

 elliptic and aromatic ; they are alternate, simple, entire, 

 strongly-veined, petiolate, and devoid of stipulas. The flowers 

 are almost in\'ariably dia?cious, very small, and clustered in the 

 axils of the leaves. The fruit is pendulous, somewhat in the 

 form of a small rounded pear, about 3 inches long by 2 inches 

 wide ; it has a longitudinal groove on one side like a peach, and 

 when ripe bursts into two pieces ; the enclosed single seed, 

 covered by the false aril or arillode, which constitutes the 

 substance known as Mace, being exposed to view. The seed itself 

 has a thick, hard, outer shell enclosing the nucleus or Nutmeg. 

 The nutmeg itself consists of the oleaginous albumen or perisperm, 

 with the embryo at one end, and is covered by a thin membrane 

 which adheres closely to its surface and projects into the 

 substance of the albumen, thereby giving it the mottled appear- 

 ance for which it is so remarkable. 



The Myristica fragrans is an inhabitant of the Moluccas, and 

 is especially luxurious in the Banda Isles, almost the entire 

 surface of three of the group being devoted to the cultivation 

 of this tree, which, when once establishal, requires hardly any 

 care or attention. The volcanic nature of the soil of these islands, 

 the deep shade and excessive humidity of the dense forests, are 

 eminently suitable to its growth. These islands are Lontar, 

 Pulo Ai and Pulo Xera, and are designated " The Xutmeg 

 Islands." These islands, famous for this production, are not very 

 large in size ; the area of the largest, Lontar (or the Great Banda), 

 being comprised in the space of seven miles long by two miles 

 wide. 



At one time the culture of nutmegs was almost entire!}' in 

 the hands of the Dutch, who took every means to monopolise 

 the growth of the plants and confine them to these three Banda 

 isles, but their attempts were partly frustrated by a pigeon, called 

 the " nutmeg-bird," or the "nut-eater " (a species of Carpojphaga), 

 which, extracting the nutmeg from its pulp}' pericarp, digests the 

 mace, but voids the nutmeg in its shell uninjured, which, falling 

 in a suitable situation, readily germinates. It is related that the 

 Dutch used to burn nutmegs wlien the crops were superabundant, 

 in order to keep up high prices. Many interesting particulars 



