they lest so precious a tree should be possessed by the inhabi- 
tants of other islands not belonging to them, that, in their wars, 
it was one of their principal motives to destroy them, and in 
their treaties of peace to stipulate that they should be extir- 
pated. By these illiberal measures, the Hollanders were the 
exclusive proprietors of the Spice Islands, and had all the mo- 
nopoly to themselves. I am not aware that the exact quantity 
has ever been stated that was sold during the most profitable 
years; but the average proportion of Nutmegs vended in Europe 
(according to an account inserted in Stavorinus's Voyage), 
was estimated at 250,000 lb. annually, besides about 100,000 lb. 
disposed of in the East Indies. Of Mace, the average has been 
90,0001b. sold in Europe, and 10,000 lb. in the Indies. When 
the Spice Islands were taken by the British in 1796, the impor^ 
tations by the East India Company into England alone in the 
two years following their capture, were, of Nutmegs 129,732 lb. 
and of Mace 286,000 lb. When the crops of spice have been 
superabundant, and the price likely in consequence to be re- 
duced, the same contracted spirit has actuated the Dutch to 
destroy immense quantities of the fruit, rather than suffer the 
market to be lowered. A Hollander who had returned from 
the Spice Islands, informed Sir William Temple, that at 
one time he saw three piles of Nutmegs burnt, each of which 
Was more than a church of ordinary dimensions could hold. 
In 1760, M. Beauma RE witnessed at Amsterdam, near the 
Admiralty, the destruction by fire of a mass of spice, which was 
valued at One Million of Livres, and an equal quantity was 
condemned to be burnt on the day following ; and Mr Wil- 
cocKE, the translator of Stavorinus's Travels, relates, that 
he himself beheld such a conflagration of Cloves, Nutmegs, and 
Cinnamon, upon the little island of Newland, near Middle- 
burgh in Zealand, as perfumed the air with their aromatic 
scent for many miles around. " Although," continues Mr 
Wtlcocke, " the Dutch have thus, by every means in their 
power, laboured to counteract the indulgent bounty of Heaven, 
they have not, in any instance, attained their object ; for, ex- 
clusive of the impossibility of preventing the spontaneous pro- 
duction of spices in the extensive woods of hundreds of islands. 
