MACE. CINNAMON. CLOVES. 455 



controlled that of mace, which is of course the produce of the 

 same plant. 



CINNAMON. The influence of the Dutch East India Com- 

 pany was not so powerful over the produce of this spice, which 

 has a wider geographical area than nutmegs, mace, and cloves 

 have. On the general average, the price of cinnamon and 

 nutmegs are very nearly the same. The gradual decline in 

 price of this spice down to the end of the fifth decade is also 

 marked, and the rise afterwards is in accordance with what we 

 have seen in other kinds of tropical produce other than pepper. 

 The price of cinnamon is more variable than that of any other 

 of the spices. Thus it stands at los. in 1586, goes to 6s. in 

 1587, and is at $s. 6d. in 1590. It is $s. in 1608 and 6s. in 

 1609, 35. in 1631, 7,$-. <)d. in 1633, and 3^. again in 1634. In 

 1639, 1645, and 1663 it is again at 8j. In 1689 it is i6s. ; in 

 1692, 8s. In 1698 it is '/s. 6d. ; in 1699, 4^, It is probable 

 that a very uncertain demand had much to do with these 

 fluctuations in price. 



CLOVES. The struggle in the East India islands raged 

 more furiously round the possession of this tropical produce 

 than over any other thing which the region produced. It was 

 for the clove and the sale thereof that the Dutch intrigued 

 with every Eastern chief, and against Portuguese first and 

 Englishman afterwards. More blood has been spilt over 

 cloves than over some dynasties. More unforgiven injuries 

 have been committed, in order to secure the commercial 

 monopoly of this spice, than over anything except the 

 monopoly of religious dogmas. There is no subject which 

 would better illustrate the temper of trade greediness than a 

 narrative of the energies by which the Hollanders secured for 

 themselves the advantages which they coveted. I believe 

 however that, though it lasted through the period before me, 

 the taste for this spice was a transient fashion. 



Few and broken as the facts are which I am able to bring 

 forward, they illustrate the struggle in the spice islands with 

 sufficient clearness. The price is comparatively low in the first 



