162 SPICES 



CHAP. 



attacks of the parasite Gephaleurus. The plantations 

 dwindled away and seem to have disappeared about the 

 time of the collapse of the nutmeg industry in 1866, 

 and it is curious that though there can (or until recently 

 could) be seen old nutmeg trees about Singapore, chiefly 

 in the older gardens, which were relics of the old 

 nutmeg plantations, hardly one of the old clove trees 

 remains to the present day. 



In Sumatra, in the old days of the Bencoolen Settle- 

 ment in 1823, there were a good many cloves planted, 

 but after the settlement was handed over to the Dutch 

 they soon disappeared. 



4 



NAMES OF THE PRODUCT 



The English word cloves is derived from the French 

 clou (a nail), from the resemblance of the dried bud to 

 a nail, and the same idea occurs in the Dutch word 

 naghel, the Spanish clavo, and the Italian chiodo. 

 The French word girqfle (clous de girofle) is derived 

 from caryophyllon. 



In Sanskrit the name is laoanga, whence the Bengali 

 lung and Hindu laung, and this word also occurs in 

 Malay as bunga lawang. It appears also in the name of 

 the Indian clove bark kulit lawang. Rumphius gives 

 the Amboinese name as bugu lawan and bubu lawan. 



The common Malay name for the spice nowadays 

 is chingkeh, which Rumphius perhaps correctly derives 

 from the Chinese theng lui. 



It is rather remarkable that the Malay names for 

 this Malayan spice are Indian and Chinese respectively, 

 rather confirming the idea that the Malays themselves 

 did not value or use this spice to any extent, and that 

 it was the Chinese who first appreciated the value of 

 it, and made the first use of it. 



Indeed, the Malays to the present day use it only 

 to flavour gambir for chewing with betel-nut, and in 

 certain medicines. 



The fruits of cloves, in Latin anthophylli, auto- 



