24 sriCE«. 



tish inhabitants tu n- to enjoy, until the 8th of June 

 1820, the unfettered Iil>erty of disposing of themsel tH 

 and property. 



Since the expiration nf thr- a*W€ period, a duly of 

 ,30 per tOitrtm ha* been levied thereon tlie exportation 

 of al! spice? — unlet* theve Itave been isold to die Dnieli 

 government,— in which ease, they have been exempted 

 from duty altogether. It cannot 1k» supjMjsed 

 that the Dutch %ill readily abandon the policy <ii cen- 

 turies and foster in their own bosom thatwhieii ^sub- 

 versive of it. 



1 Bencoolen, to any nation which shall | H» foe&! must 

 prove as it ever has proved, on expensive pot. Is it not 

 therefore probable that it will be held no longer 

 than die period of the spire plantations n 

 to be ? — accordingly, v>e tiud that, the format i- 

 on of new plant tri* n* is discouraged within the 

 limits of the Settlement; that estates of such proprie- 

 tors as have died intestate arc believed to be under 

 the management of government authorities — and that 

 ten of the plantations, formerly reckoned the best, and 

 lying within the limits, have gone to waste and rain 

 from want of funds or labourers to keep Ifeem in order, 

 and that there arc fmly two spice estates remaining 

 which pay any rent to the proprietors! It v>iil be 

 remembered that the Benooolen spire estates within 

 the limits, belonged to British inhabitants most, if not 

 all of whom, have left Bencoolen. h may also be nl> 

 served that the wages given there now to fickle Ma- 

 layan labourers are the same as able-bodud Chinese 

 receive at Penang. 

 In pursuance of the foregbing reasoning, it becomes 



of importance to notice that the geographical limits 

 which nature seems to have originally assigned to the 

 true nutmeg ami elovc — more especially to the former — 

 are singularly contracted, atirl that as yet the circle for 



