THE CLOVE AND NUTMEG. 201 



the commerce of all nations ; for the spice trees having been 

 transplanted into countries beyond the control of the Dutch, 

 the ancient system could not possibly be maintained any 

 longer. 



The clove tree belongs to the far-spread family of the 

 myrtles ; the small lanceolate evergi*een leaves resemble those 

 of the laurel, the flowers growing in bunches at the extremity 

 of the branches. When they first appear, which is at the be- 

 ginning of the rainy season, they are in the form of elongated 

 greenish buds, from the extremity of which the corolla is ex- 

 panded, which is of a delicate peach-blossom colour. The 

 corolla having fallen off, the calyx turns yellow, and then red ; 

 when it is beaten from the tree, and dried in the sun. If the 

 fruit be allowed to remain longer on the tree the calyx or clove 

 gradually swells, the embryo seed enlarges, and the pungent 

 properties of the clove are in great part dissipated. 



The whole tree is highly aromatic, and the foot-stalks of the 

 leaves have nearly the same pungent quality as the calyx of the 

 flowers. ' Clove trees,' says Sir Stamford Raffles, ' as an avenue 

 to a residence, are perhaps unrivalled — their noble height, the 

 beauty of their form, the luxuriance of their foliage, and, above 

 all, the spicy fragrance with which they perfume the air, pro- 

 duce, on driving through a long line of them, a degree of 

 exquisite pleasure only to be enjoyed in the clear light atmo- 

 sphere of the Eastern Archipelago.' 



In spite of the endeavours of the Dutch to confine the nut- 

 meg tree to the narrow precincts of Banda, it has likewise ex- 

 tended its range not only over Sumatra, Mauritius, Bourbon, 

 and Ceylon, but even over the western hemisphere. It is of a 

 more majestic growth than the clove, as it attains a height of 

 fifty feet, and the leaves of a fine green on the upper surface, 

 and grey beneath, are more handsome in the outline, and 

 broader in proportion to the length. When the trees are 

 about nine years old, they begin to bear. They are dioecious, 

 having male or barren flowers upon one tree, and female or 

 fertile upon another. The flowers of both are small, white, 

 and bell -shaped ; the embryo-fruit appearing at the bottom of 

 the female flowers in the form of a little reddish knob. When 

 ripe, it resembles in appearance and size a small peach, and 

 then the outer rind, which is about half an inch thick, bursts 



