NUTMEG PLANTATIONS. 
217 
anything we had hitherto seen. These natives are 
apparently a very mixed race, and probably three- 
fourths are made up of Malay, Papuan, Arab, Por- 
tugese, and Dutch. The first two form the larger 
portion of the inhabitants, but the dark skins and 
the more or less frizzly hair of the Papuans appear 
to predominate. 
During our stay here the Governor (or Resident, 
as he is styled) made up a party to visit thenutmeg 
plantations on Great Banda. Our steam-pinnace was 
in requisition, and a most enjoyable trip it was, for, 
on reaching the landing, horses were provided to 
take the party the remaining eight miles to the 
gardens. And what a treat presented itself, for there 
are few cultivated plants more beautiful than nut- 
meg-trees. They are handsomely shaped, growing to 
a height of 20 or 30 feet, with bright glossy leaves, 
and bearing small yellowish flowers. The trees were 
now in full bloom, and in a few weeks the fruit would 
be ready for picking. It grows in size and colour 
somewhat like a peach, but rather oval ; it is of a 
tough, fleshy consistence, and as it ripens splits open, 
showing the dark-brown nut within, surrounded with 
the crimson mace, forming a very beautiful object. 
The nutmeg trade was for a number of years a strict 
monopoly ; recently the monopoly has been given up. 
The indignation at one time expressed against the 
Dutch for destroying all the nutmeg and clove trees 
on the many islands then covered with those valuable 
