82 ON NUTMEG CULTURE IN THE BANDA ISLANDS. 



The imports of bees'-wax in 1858 were 1,964 cwts. bleached, and 9,679 

 cwts. unbleached. The unbleached came chiefly from Java, British India, 

 and France, and was valued at about £10 the cwt. The unbleached came 

 principally from Morocco (2,654 cwts.), British East Indies (2,353 cwts.), 

 Gambia and West Coast of Africa (1,697 cwts.), United States and British 

 West Indies. The average value was about £8 5s. per cwt. 



The imports and exports of bees'-wax into the United Kingdom in quin- 

 quennial periods have been : — 



Imported. Re-exported. 



Cwt. Cwt. 



1826 4,130 1,493 



1831 7,203 2,382 



1836 7,999 2,778 



1841 7,484 3,776 



1846 10,210 2,913 



1851 10,448 3,403 



1856 13,766 1,794 



1858 11,643 3,284 



ON NUTMEG CULTURE IN THE BANDA ISLANDS. 



BT DB. BLEEKEB. 



Dr. Bleekeb, so well known for his fish-lore, visited the Banda Islands 

 in 1855, in the suite of Governor -General Duymaer von Twist, and our 

 readers may find his remarks on the nutmeg plantations an interesting 

 supplement to Dr. Oxley's account of them, which still remains the best 

 that has been published. Dr. Bleeker, indeed, purposely omits the details 

 of the cultivation, collection of the fruit, smoking, liming, and packing of 

 the nut, and drying of the mace, on the ground that these have been so 

 often described by travellers that any mere explanation of them would 

 be superfluous. But the fact is, that all Dutch writers on the Bandas have 

 passed over the cultivation, even the garrulous and voluminous Valentyn 

 being silent on it, although otherwise so minute, that each park or planta- 

 tion is separately described by him. Dr. Bleeker is not the only writer 

 who refers to the mythical labours of his predecessors, and there seemed to 

 be every warrant for the suspicion that an intentional reserve was main- 

 tained, until Dr. Oxley discovered the real fact to be, that such a thing as 

 cultivation of the nutmeg is entirely unknown in the Bandas. 



Dr. Bleeker states that the nutmeg begins to yield fruit in its seventh or 

 eighth year, and continues to do so till its fortieth year, and even later ; 

 that although it attains a height of forty or fifty feet, it needs and receives 

 the shade of lofty trees ; that although the fruit ripens all the year round, 

 it is more plentiful in August, and in November and December, the 

 principal crop being in August ; that the nut continues to be limed for 

 exportation ; and that the broken nuts are made into the solid fat termed 

 nutmeg soap. 



