364 



THE CLOVE. 



also succeeded in extracting an excellent oil, 

 the clove oil of commerce being generally made 

 by distilling cinnamon leaves. This novelty be- 

 came a universal favourite with the Zanzibar 

 public, who held it to be highly medicinal, and 

 used it especially for inflammations. Locally the 

 spice is employed as a condiment and infused as 

 a medicine and a tonic : women of the poorer 

 classes make necklaces and ear-rings of the corns ; 

 they also pound them to a paste, and mould them 

 into different shapes. 



The Asakif , or stalks pulled off when the fruit 

 is dry, are exported to Europe under the name 

 of 6 clove stems,' and are used as a mordant for 

 dyeing silks. An English house once provided 

 tin canisters to preserve its purchases, whereas 

 they are mostly sent home in bulk. Certain 

 other merchants, £ born with the pencil behind 

 their ears,' open the hatches, and to make the 

 cargo 'weigh out' heave in sea-water, which, 

 they say, does not much affect the flavour of 

 pepper and cloves. The stems fetch from one- 

 eighth to half of a German crown per Earsilah, 

 or frail of 35 lbs. The price of cloves, originally 

 $5 to $6 per Earsilah, has now fallen to $2 and 

 even to $1. In 1856, the Island exported 

 five millions of lbs ; the next year, however, was 



