MODE OF GATHERING CLOVBa 



155 



time, 1521, according to the same authority, reached 

 the enormous quantity of 6,000 Ijahars, 3,540,000 

 pounds of " UBcleaned," and 4,000 bahars, 2,360,000 

 pounds of " cleaned eloveSj about seventeen times 

 the quantity obtained at the present time. Though 

 this statement at first appears incredible, it is strength- 

 ened by the fact that the two ships of Magelhm's 

 fleet that reached Tidore, one of the Spice Islands, 

 "vyere filled with cloves during a stay of only twenty- 

 four days. When the buds are young they are 

 nearly white, afterward they change to a light green, 

 and finally to a bright red, when they must at once 

 l)e gathered, which is done by picking them l>y hand, 

 or beating them off with baml>oos on to cloths spread 

 beneath the trees. They are then simply di-ied in 

 the sun, and are ready for the market, lu diying, 

 theii^ color is changed from red to black, the condi- 

 tion in which we see them. They are gathered twice 

 a year, at about this time, in June, and again in the 

 last of December- The leaves, bark, and young 

 twigs also have some peculiar aromfi, and at Zanzibar 

 the stems of the buds are also gathered and find a 

 ready sale. The favorite locations of this tree are 

 the high hill-sides, and it is said that it does not 

 thrive well on low lands, where the loam is fine and 

 heavy. The soil best adapted to it appears to be a 

 loose, sandy loam. In its original habitat it grows 

 chiefiy on volcanic soil, but in Aniboina and the other 

 islands, where it is now cultivated, it has been found 

 to flomish well on loams t(>rmed by the disintegra- 

 tion of recent sandstone and secondary rocks. The 

 native name for this fruit is chmhl^ perhap.s a corrup- 



