Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/75

 SKETCH. Ixv a beKef which gave rise to the great discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Portuguese struggled to reach India by an eastern route, and so made their way round the Cape of Good Hope ; while the Spaniards, moved by the same ambition, sought to reach the same goal by sailing west, and so passed through the straits of Magellan. Then began the great contest among the maritime nations of Europe for gold and spices. Long after Dampier^s time, the trade with the East was considered the richest of all trades; and the richest part of it was the spices. It is not easy in the present day to under- stand why such articles as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs should have been looked upon with eyes of envy by the merchants of four great colonising nations. The massacre of the English by the Dutch at Amboyna, in 1623, is a memorable proof of the jealous spirit which prevailed among the nations on that subject. The Dutch were regarded as the great monopolisers of the trade ; and they were supposed to have deliberately suppressed the accounts of their explorations of New Holland, for the purpose of concealing their discoveries and keeping all the nutmegs to themselves. The faith in spices as a source of national wealth flourished down to the end of the last Century. It shows itself in Matrass proposal for colonising this country. *' Part of it lies in a climate parallel to the Spice Islands, and is fitted for the production of that valuable commodity, as well as the sugar-cane, tea, coffee, silk, cotton, indigo, tobacco, and the other articles of commerce that have been so advantageous to the maritime powers of Europe '' — (p. 423). Thus he actually heads the whole list of products with the spices, as if sugar, tea, cotton, and tobacco were quite inferior articles. And as if that was not enough, ho returns to the subject in another paragraph in which he refers to the Moluccas — then the principal seat of the trade, carefully watched by the Dutch. '^ As part of New South Wales lies in the same latitude as the Moluccas, and is even very close to them, there is every reason to suppose that what nature has so bounti- fully bestowed on the small islands may also be found on the larger. But if, contrary to analogy, it should not be so, the Digitized by Google