(& LA PEROUSE. 349 



matic oil that is in high requefl : the natives 

 know how to extract this valuable oil, of which 

 they make an article of commerce. 



The largefl clove-trees that we faw in this 

 excurfion were not above feven meters in height, 

 and their trunk was not more than two deci- 

 meters in thicknefs. The natives are obliged to 

 deliver the produce of them to the Dutch Eaft- 

 India Company for about the hundred and fif- 

 tieth part of the price at which it is fold in 

 Europe. We faw a great many which they had 

 fpread on mats in the fhade of their fheds, in 

 order to dry them properly before they delivered 

 them to the Company's agents. The natives 

 took good care not to expofe them to the rays 

 of the fun, which would have taken away part 

 of the efTential oil of this excellent aromatic. 



Being on the fea-fhore, I heard fome wind- 

 inftruments, the harmony of which, though 

 fometimes very correct, was intermixed with dis- 

 cordant notes that were by no means unpleafing : 

 thefe founds, which were very mufical, and 

 formed fine cadences, feemed to come from fuch 

 a diftance, that I for fome time imagined the 

 natives were having a concert beyond the road- 

 ftead, near a myriameter from the fpot where I 

 ftood. My ear was greatly deceived respecting 

 the diftance ; for I was not a hundred meters 

 from the inftrument : it was a bamboo at leal! 



twenty 



