ON NUTMEG CULTURE IN THE BANDA ISLANDS. 83 



Dr. Oxley states the number of bearing trees in the thirty-four gardens 

 at 319,804, According to Dr. Bleeker, there were in 1854 only 297,272 

 bearing trees, out of a total of 424,573. The produce was 537,861 lbs. of 

 nutmegs, and 133,986 lbs, of mace, being 1-8 lb. of nutmeg and 0"451b. of 

 mace, or a total of 2*25 lbs. of spice from bearing trees — a yield small com- 

 pared with that which has been obtained from the best plantations in the 

 Straits settlements. 



The produce of the Banda trees has varied very much, owing partly to 

 natural and partly to artificial causes. In the earlier part of last century 

 it was greater than it has since been; the nearest approach to the old figure 

 having been attained in 1847, when the crop amounted to 755,252 lbs. of 

 nuts, and 105,051 lbs. of mace. The quinquennial yield from 1830 to 1854 



was as follows, in pounds : — 



Nutmegs. Mace; 



1830 to 1834 1,651,764 » 475,140 



1835 to 1839 2,787,555 699,672 



1840 to 1844 3,077,930 712,247 



1845 to 1849 2,978,640 691,814 



1850 to 1854 2,633,244 656,824 



Total... 13,129,133 3,235,697 



The annual average has been on the twenty-five years, 525,165 lbs. nut- 

 megs, and 129,428 lbs. mace; and during the last fifteen of tbem, 579,321 

 lbs. nutmegs and 137,392 lbs. of mace. In 1798 the maximum annual 

 quantity to be delivered to the East India Company was fixed at 520,000 lbs. 

 of nutmegs, and 130,000 lbs. of mace, the park-holders being obliged to 

 destroy the produce above the limit. It was not reached, however, till 

 1835, and by that time the Straits plantations had rendered obsolete regula- 

 tions based on the maintenance of the old monopoly. 



On the island of Neira there are three plantations, Zevenbergen and 

 Hersteller, Bankubatu, and Lautakka, containing 32,642 trees. Ay pos- 

 sesses six plantations — Welvaren, West Klip, Wiltevreden, Mata-lengko, 

 Kleinzand and Vertvachting, containing 172,931 trees. Lonthoir, or Great 

 Banda, has twenty-five plantations ; eight in the district of Lonthoir, con- 

 taining 135,145 trees ; eight in the district of Voorwell, containing 67,806 

 trees ; and nine in the district of Achterwal, containing 113,609 trees. 

 There are 2,456 labourers employed on the plantations, of whom 1,836 are 

 on Great Banda. The plantations not only differ greatly in size, but are 

 very disproportionate in the quantity and quality of their produce, and in 

 the labour bestowed on them. The number of trees varies from 4,000 to 

 28,000, and the produce from 5,000 to 32,000 lbs. of nutmegs. The pro- 

 duce is classed into medium, inferior, and broken nuts, and into good mace 

 and chips. The inequality in the produce, acre for acre, depends on many 

 causes, such as the situation of the plantations with reference to the pre- 

 vailing winds, the soil, facility of collecting the fruit, and the care bestowed 

 on it by the perkeniers. The Government pays to those of Neira 16 doits* 



* A doit is a little more than^i farthing. 



g2 



