NUTMEGS AND MACE 103 



commenced the introduction of spice plants, and nutmegs 

 and cloves were extensively planted, but the disease of 

 1866 practically exterminated the cultivation on the 

 island, and it was never renewed to any large extent. 

 Indeed, Singapore seems less well suited for the nutmeg 

 than Penang. In Penang, however, the cultivation 

 revived, and is still a very important one, though the 

 plantations have passed from European hands to those 

 of Chinese and Malays. 



In the Dutch Islands the cultivation still continues, 

 and there is a considerable export thence. 



The plant has been exported to all other tropical 

 countries but, except in the West Indies, has hardly 

 entered the stage of important cultivation. In Zanzibar, 

 Mr. Lyne informs me it grows on selected soils, but is 

 not extensively cultivated though it bears freely. 



It might be grown with success in most of the 

 tropical islands, for it seems to require sea-air, but the 

 price of nutmegs and mace, though still remunerative, 

 is not at present sufficiently high to induce the ordinary 

 planter to take it up extensively. 



SOIL AND ALTITUDE 



Soils. The soils in which nutmegs have been culti- 

 vated with success are remarkably varied. 



The Spice Islands of the Banda group, long famous 

 for their nutmegs, are volcanic islands. Dr. Oxley 

 describes them thus : 



Neira is little else than volcanic ashes mixed with quantities 

 of pumice-stone, which, broken into minute portions, form in 

 many places a sort of brownish gravel on the surface. The 

 colour of the soil is nearly black. It is a sandy, friable loam, 

 enriched by the constant falling of a very dense foliage with a 

 large proportion of vegetable matter. The soil of Great Banda 

 is, generally speaking, of a brown colour, and has more tenacity 

 than that of Neira. There is no granite rock to be found on 

 either of the islands, and but very little iron-stone. The hills 

 are composed of basalt, conglomerate, trachyte, and obsidian. 



In great contrast to this is the soil of Penang and 



