BAN 



226 



BAN 



Bandn. 



the Dutch pledged themselves to defend the natives, 

 particularly against the Portuguese. The breach of 

 this agreement by the Datives, and the murder of the 

 Dutch commissary, occasioned hostilities between the 

 two power*. In 1616, a similar treaty was entered 

 into with the English, who were then at war with 

 the Dutch ; but this also was broken by the inhabi- 

 tants of Banda. The English having refused, after 

 they had made peace with the Dutch, to join them in 

 the reduction of the Banda isles, the latter attack- 

 ed them in 1621, and compelled the natives to deliver 

 up their towns, their forts, their arms, and all their 

 islands. In order to secure to themselves the nut- 

 meg a:id mace which thcseislands produced, the Dutch 

 erected forts in all the islands, and divided the soil 

 into orchards, which they distributed among the 

 Dutch colonists in proportion to the number of their 

 slaves. The Banda isles were taken from the Dutch 

 by the English admiral Rainier in 17,06, and in 1801 

 were restored to them by the treaty of Amiens. 



The chief settlement of the Dutch is in the island 

 of Nera, which has an excellent harbour, commanded 

 by the cannon of the forts Belgica and Nassau. The 

 island of Banda, which is about 8 miles long and 5 

 broad, is defended by a fort and two or three redoubts. 

 It contains 25 nutmeg fields, which produce annually 

 about 570,000 pounds of nutmegs, and 110,000 

 pounds of mace, called the flour of nutmeg. The 

 hurricane of 1778, however, nearly annihilated the 

 nutmeg trees of this island. These nutmeg fields oc- 

 cupy about 70,000 square toises. In the island of 

 Puloway there is a small fort ; Pulorohn is defend- 

 ed by a small redoubt ; Rossingen has also a redoubt ; 

 and Gonong is remarkable for a volcano, which al- 

 ways sends forth smoke, and sometimes flames. The 

 nutmeg flourishes amidst the lava of Gonong, as well 

 asin the lineblack mould whichcoverstheother islands. 



In the year 1796, the annual produce of the Banda 

 islands was 163,000 pounds of nutmeg, and 46,000 

 pounds of mace. Between the years 1795 and 1798, 

 the English East India Company imported 817,312 

 pounds of cloves, 93,732 pounds of nutmegs, and 

 16.730 pounds of mace, and about a third part more 

 in private trade. In the year 1737, the Dutch East 

 India Company sold at one time 280,961 pounds of 

 nutmeg. In 1756, 211,427 pounds were sold; and 

 in 1778, 261,189 pounds. The average has been 

 considered to be about 250,000 pounds annually, 

 which was sold in Europe at 75 livrcs per pound, 

 exclusive of 100,000 pounds sold in the Indies. The 

 average quantity of mace has been 90,000 pounds an- 

 nually, and 10,000 pounds in the East Indies. 



While the Banda isles supply Europe with their 

 spiceries, they deny the means of subsistence to their 

 own inhabitants. Sago, which is the pith of a tree of 

 moderate size, serves them for bread; and the juice 

 which exudes from its branches is their ordinary be- 

 verage. The cattle and grain which they use arc 

 imported from the island of Java. The population 

 of these islands, which is said to have been once 15,000, 

 is now only 5763. E. Long. 130 40', S. Lat. 4 

 18'. See Stavorinus's Voyflge by Wilcocke, vol. i. 

 p. 331, vol. ii. p. 418. Bougainville Voyage Aufour 

 Jii Monde Raynal's Hist, of the Indies, Asiatic Re- 



gister, 1800, p. 200; and Peuchet's Did. 



Com mere. (^) B 



BANDAGE. See Subgery. v v -J 



BANDANA Han , <., a species of the 



East Indian manufacture much admired in Europe, 

 and fabricated in India both from silk and cotton. 

 The ground of these handkerchiefs is commonly of a 

 dai-k colour, most frequently red, blue, or purple j 

 and the pattern almost always consists of spots ge- 

 nerally white, or sometimes a bright yellow. The du- 

 rability of the colours^ and the darkness of the ground, 

 have contributed to cause a very great demand for 

 this article in the European market ; and, from i 

 cause, the home manufacturers have been long very 

 anxious to produce articles of this description, which 

 might rival the Indian goods in quality and cheap- 

 ness. 



The only mode of accomplishing this, was for a 

 long time, and until very recently, considered to be 

 by the ordinary process of calico printing with blocks 

 upon whi^e cloths ; but in this way it was very rare- 

 ly, if ever, in the power of the manufacturer to render 

 his colours sufficiently durable, especially the reds ; 

 and therefore the home made article was never held in 

 estimation by purchasers, most of whom consisted of 

 that class of people to whom durability was a most 

 essential, and even indispensible, requisite. Besides 

 the difficulty of fixing the colour sufficiently, the tax 

 upon this, as well as every other species of printed 

 Cloths, must have operated considerably in the com- 

 parison with the imported goods. Lately, however, 

 a discovery has been made of a mode of manufactu- 

 ring this kind of handkerchief, so as to ensure the du- 

 rability of the colour, and at the same time to be en- 

 tirely free from any tax whatever under the existing 

 revenue laws. This manufacture was first practised 

 at Glasgow, wdiere it is now prosecuted to very 

 considerable extent ; and it is still, we have reason to 

 believe, entirely confined to that part of the country. 



The new process is exactly the converse of print- 

 ing ; for it consists of dyeing the cloth of a durable 

 colour, as red, blue, or purple, and then discharging 

 that part whicli forms the pattern, by means of a 

 strong solution of the oxy-muriate of lime applied by 

 a mechanical process, which we shall now describe, 

 referring the reader for a plan and section of the ap- 

 paratus used, to Plate LII. Figs. 3. and 4. PlatiM. 



The goods used for this manufacture are of cotton, ^'8' ?i 4 " 

 sometimes woven plain, but much more frequently 

 tweeled. The cloth after being woven, is dyed, and 

 the colour most frequently used is the Turkey red. 

 After the cloth has been dyed, it is smoothly and re- 

 gularly folded in pieces generally containing twelve 

 handkerchiefs each, and in this state is put into the 

 press ; which being firmly shut, to prevent the dis- 

 charging liquor from coming into contact with, or 

 operating upon, any part of the cloth, excepting 

 that from which the colour is to be extracted, in 

 about ten or twelve minutes the chemical discharge is 

 completed. As soon as this is done, the press being 

 opened, another piece is put in, and the operation re- 

 peated ; so that, allowing 15 minutes for each piece, 

 about 50 may be put through the press in the course 

 of a day of 12 working hours, by the labour of one 



