282 MYRTACE^. 



In the beginning of the 8th century, the same spice is noticed 

 by Benedictus Crispus/ archbishop of Milan, who calls it Cariophylua 

 ater ; and in a.d. 716, it is enumerated with other commodities in 

 the diploma granted by Chilperic II. to the monastery of Corbie in 

 Normandy.^ 



We find cloves among the wares on which duty was levied at Aeon 

 (the modern Acre) in Palestine at the end of the 12th century, at which 

 period that city was a great emporium of Mediterranean trade.^ They 

 are likewise enumerated in the tariff of Marseilles of A.D. 1228,* in that 

 of Barcelona of 12.52' and of Paris, 1296.' 



These facts show that the spice was a regular object of commerce at 

 this period. But it was very costly : the Household Book of the 

 Countess of Leicester, A.D. 1265,'' gives its price as lOs. to 12s. per lb., 

 exactly the same as that of saffron. Several other examples of the 

 high cost of the spice might be adduced. 



Of the place of growth of cloves, the first distinct notice seems to be 

 that of the Arabian geographer Ibn Khurdadbah,® A.D. 869-88.5, who 

 names the spice, with cocoa-nuts, sugar, and sandal-wood as produced 

 in Java. Doubtless he was misinformed, for the clove-tree had not 

 come so far west at that period. Marco Polo ** made the same mistake 

 four centuries later : finding the spice in Java, he supposed it the 

 growth of the island. 



Nicolo Conti," a Venetian merchant who lived from A.D. 1424 to 

 1448 in the Indian Archipelago, learned that cloves are brought to 

 Java from the island of Banda, fifteen days' sail further east. With 

 the arrival of the Portuguese at the commencement of the 16th century, 

 more accurate accounts of the Spice Islands began to reach Europe ; 

 and Pigaf etta," the companion of Magellan, gave a very good description 

 of the clove-tree as he observed it in 1521. 



The Portuguese had the principal share in the clove trade for nearly 

 a century. In 1605 they were expelled by the Dutch, who took exclu- 

 sive possession of the Moluccas and adopted extraordinary measures for 

 keeping the traffic in their own hands. Yet notwithstanding this, large 

 supplies of cloves reached England direct. In 1609 a ship of the East 

 India Company called the Consent arrived with 112,000 lb., the duty 

 on which amounted to £1400 and the impost to as much more. The 

 spice ungarbled was sold at 5s. Qd. and 5s. 9cZ. per lb. — of course, in 

 bond.^^ 



To efi'ect their purpose, the Dutch endeavoured to extirpate the 

 clove-tree from its native islands, and even instituted periodical 



^ Poematium Medicum — Migne, Patro- ^ Le Livre des routes et des provinces, 



loguB Curstts, Ixxxix. (1850) 374. traduit par C. Barbier de Meynard, Journ. 



2 Pardessus, Diplomata, Charlce, etc., ii. Asiat. ser. 6. tome v. (1865) 227. 

 (1849) 309. » Yule, Marco Polo, ii. (1871) 217.— It 



* liecue'd des Historiens des Croisades, should however be bonie in mind that the 

 Lois, (1843) 173. name Java was applied in a general sense 



* M^ry et Guindon, Hist, des Actes ... by the Arab geographers to the islands of 

 de la municipality de Marseille, 1841. 373. the Archipelago. 



' Capmany, Memorias sobre la marina, ^" Kunstmann, Die Kenntniss Indiens im 



etc. de Barcelona, iii. 170. XF'«" Jahrhundert, Munchen, 1863. 46. 



8 Douet d'Arcq, Revue, arcMologique, ix. ^^ Eamusio, Delle navigationi et viagyi, 



(1852) 213. Venetia, 1554, fol. 4046. 



"^ Manm-rs and Household Expenses in ^^ Calendar of State, Papers, Colonial 



A^ttryfanrf (Roxburgh Club), 1841. liL series, East InUes, 1862. 181. 



