168 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



1020. Borneo is the largest island in the world next to New Holland. It is low and 

 marshy towards the shore, and in this respect and in its climate, is similar to Java. 

 The soil is naturally fertile ; but agriculture is neglected, the inhabitants occupying 

 themselves in searching for gold, which they exchange with the Japanese for the neces- 

 saries of life. 



1021. The ava, or intoxicating jyepper {Piper methysticum), is cultivated here. It is a 

 shrub with a forked stem and oblong leaves, bearing a spike of berries, and having thick 

 roots. The root of this plant, bruised or chewed in the mouth, and mixed with the saliva, 

 yields that nauseous, hot, intoxicating juice, which is so acceptable to the natives of the 

 South Sea islands, and which is spoken of with so much just detestation by voyagers. A 

 similar drink is made in Peru from the meal of the maize. They pour the liquor of the 

 cocoa-nut, or a little water, on the bruised or masticated matter, and then a small quantity 

 produces intoxication and sleep. After the use of it for some time, it produces inflam- 

 mation, leprous ulcers, and consumption. It is cultivated in all the South Sea islands, 

 excepting the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. {Spix's Travels.) 



1022. The Manillas, or Philippine Islands, are a numerous group, generally fruitful in 

 rice, cotton, the sugar-cane, and cocoa. The bread-fruit also begins to be cultivated here. 



1023. The Celebezian Islands are little known. They are said to abound in poisonous 

 plants; and the inhabitants cultivate great quantities of rice. 



1024. The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, are small, but fertile in agricultural products. 

 In some the bread-fruit is cultivated, also the sago palm, with cloves and nutmegs. 

 The nutmeg-tree (^Myristica moschata) grows to the size of a pear-tree, with laurel-like 

 leaves ; it bears fruit from the age of ten to one hundred years. The fruit is about the 

 size of an apricot, and when ripe nearly of a similar color. It opens and discovers the 

 mace of a deep red, growing over and in part covering the thin shell of the nutmeg, 

 which is black. The tree yields three crops annually ; the first in April, which is the 

 best ; the second in August ; and the third in December ; yet the fruit requires nine 

 months to ripen it. When it is gathered, the outer coriaceous covering is first stripped 

 off, and then the inner carefully separated and dried in the sun. The nutmegs in the 

 shell are exposed to heat and smoke for three months, then broken, and the kernels 

 thrown into a strong mixture of lime and water, which is supposed to be necessary for 

 their preservation, after which they are cleaned and packed up ; and with the same in- 

 tention the mace is sprinkled with salt water. 



1025. New Holland, or what may be called the continent of Australasia, has a fine and 

 salubrious climate ; and being on the southern side of the equator, the seasons are the 

 reverse of those in Europe. The surface is in general low and level, and little occu- 

 pied by mountains. TTie country is naturally rather barren than fertile ; the soil is 

 sandy, and many of the lawns or savannahs are rocky and barren. Woods occur fre- 

 quently, but there appear to be few or none of those extensive forests which cover such 

 immense tracts in most new countries. The inhabitants being savages of the lowest 

 grade, have no kind of agriculture or cultivation. That art, however, is making rapid 

 progress round the British colony of Botany Bay. 



1026. Pajrua, or New Guinea, partakes of the opulence of the Moluccas, and their 

 singular varieties of plants and animals. The coasts 



are lofty, and abound with cocoa-trees ; in the interior, / ^ ^_^ 



mountain rises above mountain, richly clothed with J^^i-W^ f^ -^'^^ 



woods of great variety of species, and abounding in--i^^^^^^^^/ 

 wild swine {jig. 162.) Birds of paradise and elegant ;;^^^^:cr 

 parrots abound: they are shot with blunt arrows, or<^^^^ 



caught with bird-lime or nooses. The bowels and *'^=^ 



breast being extracted, they are dried with smoke and sulphur, and sold for nails or bits 

 of iron to such navigators as touch at the island. 



1027. New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomon Isles, 



New Caledonia,and the New Hebrides, are litttle known. 

 They are mountainous and woody, with fertile vales and 

 beautiful streams. The nutmeg, cocoa, yam, ginger, 

 pepper, plantains {Jig. 163.) sugar-canes, and other 

 fruits and spice-trees abound. 



1028. iWMjZeaZawihasscarcely any agriculture; but 

 plantations of yam, cocoa, and sweet potatoe. There 

 is only one shrub or tree in this country which pro- 

 duces fruit, and that is a kind of a berry almost taste- 

 less ; but they have a plant {Phormium tenax), which 

 answers all the uses of hemp and flax. There are two 

 kinds of this plant; the leaves of one of which are yel- 

 low, and the other deep red ; and both of them re- 

 semble the leavcb of flags ; of these leaves they make 



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