myrtacej:. 299 



destroyed them, except in the island of Amboyna, over which they had full 

 control, and this is still the principal source of them, as they grow to full 

 perfection in that group of islands alone. In 1770 the French obtained plants, 

 which were disseminated to other parts of the East Indies, to their possessions 

 in America, &c, where the tree is now extensively cultivated, but the best 

 cloves still come from the Moluccas, those from other places being smaller, 

 and containing less oil. 



It is stated that just before the Portuguese took possession of Amboyna, 

 the seeds of the tree were secretly carried to Amboyna, Ceram, &c, from 

 Machian, and in fifty or sixty years these islands were covered with young 

 plants. On the conquest of these places by the Dutch, they extirpated them 

 with the exception of those in Amboyna, Ternate, and two or three other 

 neighbouring islands, in order that the product might not be too plentiful. In 

 1769, they ordered that the number of trees should not exceed 500,000, and 

 a few years afterwards, one-tenth of these were ordered to be destroyed. 

 This narrow policy caused constant insurrections on the part of the natives, 

 so that Valentyn observes, **lt would have been' better, if, instead of extir- 

 pating their trees alone, we had at the same time exterminated this revenge- 

 ful and sanguinary nation." 



In an extremely interesting account of this tree by Sir W. Hooker (Bot. 

 Mag.), he says, that it is difficult to ascertain when the clove first became 

 known to Europeans. It most certainly is not the caryophyllum of Pliny; 

 and the first distinct notice of it is by PaulusiEginetus, a Greek physician of 

 the seventh century ; Sprengel is of opinion that Simeon Seth was the first 

 who mentioned them, whilst Sir J. E. Smith supposes that they are the Ca- 

 runfel of Serapion, and the Carunfel helium of Avicenna. J. Bauhin asserts 

 the inhabitants of the Moluccas were unacquainted with the value of this 

 spice, until some Chinese vessels visited them. Be these statements true or 

 not, cloves were scarcely known or used in Europe until after the conquest 

 of the East Indies by the Portuguese, Dutch, &c. 



The Clove is the unexpanded flower, the corolla forming a ball or sphere at 

 the top ; and the calyx, the tapering somewhat quadrangular base, resembling 

 a nail, whence the common name from the French clou, and it may be noticed 

 that the same designation is given to it in most European languages, it being 

 called Naghel by the Dutch, Clavo, by the Spaniards, and Chiodo by the 

 Italians. Cloves are gathered by hand, or beaten from the trees by slender 

 rods, and dried in the sun, or by means of a fire, which latter plan always 

 gives an inferior article. The clove is from five to ten lines long, and from 

 one to one and a half thick ; they are of a dark-brown colour, with a yellow- 

 ' ish-red tint. When good, they are dark, heavy, perfect, of a strong, fra- 

 grant odour, hot, acrid taste, and when pressed with the nail, should give out 

 oil. When fresh gathered, they yield on simple pressure a fragrant, thick, 

 reddish oil. Sometimes they have a considerable portion of this oil drawn 

 i from them, and are then mixed with those that retain it. When they have 

 \ been thus treated, they are paler, look shrivelled, and the ball at top is broken. 

 Another mode of deceiving purchasers is to place the cloves near a vessel 

 of water, by which they not only become plumper, but gain considerably in 

 weight. 



The oil of cloves is paje, reddish-brown, becoming darker by age, ex- 

 tremely pungent and acrid, and is heavier than water. Much of that imported 

 from the East Indies is adulterated with other oils. Cloves contain volatile 

 oil, resin, tannin, &c. ; the oil, which is the active principle, consists of two 

 oils, a heavy and a light, and on being kept for some time, furnishes a pecu- 



