9b POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



as a preserve. The arillus and the enclosed nut are both 

 valuable spices. 



Tor a long time the nutmeg culture was confined to its 

 native habitat, the Molucca Islands, by the jealousy of the 

 Dutch, whose possession of these islands gave them command 

 over their produce ; when however they were for a short time 

 in possession of the English, during the great European 

 war, the nutmeg and other spices were introduced to Penang 

 and others of the Malay and Indian islands. The nutmegs 

 we receive are chiefly from the island of Penang and from 

 the Cape of Good Hope ; those of the Cape are first im- 

 ported there from various places. 



There are several kinds of nutmegs, which are of inferior 

 quality, and are the produce of different species of plants j 

 they are occasionally imported for the purpose of mixing 

 with or adulterating the true spice ; they are — 



The Shell Nutmeg, Long Nutmeg, or Wild Nutmeg of 

 Sumatra and Madagascar, which is the fruit of Myristica 

 Madagascariensis. — This nut is enclosed in a thin brittle 

 shell, over which grows the arillus and pericarp. The shell 

 is of dark brown colour, looking as if varnished; it is an 

 inch and a half in length, and not much thicker than the 

 common nutmeg. Its value is very inferior. 



