402 



SPICES AND PEAGEANT WOODS. 



By expressiou, nutmegs are made to yield a concrete oil, called 

 Adeps Mj/risticcd, or sometimes erroneously oil of mace. A 

 volatile oil is also procured by distillation, Nutmegs and mace 

 are used medicinally as aromatic stimulants and condiments. In 

 large doses they have a narcotic effect. The fleshy part of the 

 fruit is used as a preserve. 



Dr. Oxley has given such an admirable account of the nutmeg 

 and its cultivation, as the result of 20 years experience in Singa- 

 pore, that I shall draw largely from his valuable paper, which is 

 contained in the second volume of " The Journal of the Indian 

 Archipelago," page 641. 



The nutmeg tree, like many of its class, has a strong tendency 

 to become monoecious, and planters in general are well pleased 

 at this habit, thinking they secure a double advantage by having 

 the male and female flowers on the same plant. This is, however, 

 delusive, and being against the order of nature, the produce of 

 such trees is invariably inferior, showing itself in the production 

 of double nuts and other deformities. It is best, therefore, to 

 have only female trees, with a due proportion of males. 



The female flowers, which are merely composed of a tripid 

 calyx and no corolla, when produced by a tree in full vigor are 

 perfectly urceolate, slightly tinged with green at the base, and 

 well filled by the ovary, whereas the female flowers of weakly 

 trees are entirely yellow, imperfectly urceolate, and approach 

 more to the staminiferous flowers of the male. 



The shape of the fruit varies considerably, being spherical, 

 oblong, and egg=shaped, but the nearer they approach sphericity 

 of figure, the more highly are they prized. 



There is also a great variety in the foliage of different trees, 

 from elliptic, oblong and ovate, to almost purely lanceolate-shaped 

 leaves. This difference seems to indicate in some measure the 

 character of the produce ; trees with large oblong leaves ap- 

 pearing to have the largest and most spherical fruit, and those 

 with small lanceolate leaves being in general more prolific bearers, 

 but of inferior quality. 



Wliilst its congener the clove has been spread over Asia^ 

 Africa, and the West Indies, the nutmeg refuses to flourish out 

 of the Malayan Archipelago, except as an exotic, all attempts to 

 introduce it largely into other tropical countries having decidedly 

 failed. The island of Ternate, which is in about the same latitude 

 as Singapore, is said to have been the spot where it was truly in- 

 digenous, but no doubt the tree is to be found on most of the 

 Moluccas. At present the place of its origin is unproductive of 

 the spice, having been robbed of its rich heritage by the policy 

 of the Dutch, who at an early period removed the plantations to 

 the Banda isles for better surveillance, where they still remain 

 and flourish. But although care was formerly taken to extirpate 

 the tree on the Moluccas, the mace-feeding pigeons have frustrated 

 the machinations of man, and spread it widely through the Archi- 

 pelago of islands extending from the Moluccas to New Guinea. Its 



