FORMER MONOPOLIES. 309 



the whole native population east of Celebes is either 

 Mohammedan or heathen. 



The islands on which the clove-tree grew spon- 

 taneously, and the ones originally known as " the 

 Moluccas " are Temate, Tidore, Motir, Makian, and 

 BachiaUj which are situated in a row off the west 

 coast of the southern half of Gilolo. Of this group 

 Tidore and Baehian, only, belong to the prince of 

 TeiTiate, and the Dutch East India Company, in order 

 to make the monopoly they ali-eady enjoyed more 

 perfect, offered this prince a yearly sum of seventeen 

 thousand fom' hundred guilders, nearly seven thou- 

 sand dollars, for the privilege of destroying all 

 the clove and nutmeg trees they could ffnd in his 

 ivide temtoiy ; for besides these five islands and 

 other smaller ones near them, and also the adjoin- 

 ing coast of Gilolo, where the clove-tree was indi- 

 genous, it had been introduced by the natives 

 themselves into Ceram, Bum, and Amboina, before 

 the ajTival of the Portuguese. This offer the prince 

 accepted in 1652, perhaps because he could not re- 

 fuse longer. From that date his power began to de- 

 cline, and in 1848 he was unable to make the people 

 of the little island of Makian acknowledge his sover- 

 eignty, which once extended from north of Gilolo to 

 Buton and Muna south of Celebes, a distance of six 

 hundi-ed geogi'aphical miles. His empu-e also in- 

 cluded the western coast of Celebes ; and the islands 

 that lie between it and Bachian, Bum, and a large 

 part of Ceram, and one-half the area of Gilolo, were 

 within its limits. For a long time expeditions were 

 fitted out every yeai- by the Dutch, to search each 



