Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/410

 S94f COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF Moluccas over the market price of those of Cay- enne and Bourbon, is, in fact, a bounty paid to the cultivators of those countries for growing cloves, and cannot be estimated at less than 800 per cent., or 72 Spanish dollars per picul. Setting aside, therefore, a difference of about 25 per cent, of in- feriority in their intrinsic values, which they have to struggle against, it is evident that not only free culture and trade, but any moderate relaxation of the monopoly in the Moluccas would instantly de- stroy the clove trade of Cayenne and Bourbon. Down to the year 1815, Bourbon cloves were im- ported into England under the cover of a protect- ing duty, but when the duties were equalized, the Bourbon cloves were wholly driven out of the market. Cayenne cloves, until last year, were im- ported under the same advantages, and will, now that that protection is withdrawn, inevitably share the same fate. Having rendered a very detailed account of the clove trade, it will not be considered necessary to furnish such ample accounts of the trade in nut- megs, which does not essentially differ from it. The production of nutmegs by the perverse arts of the monopoly is confined, as mentioned in treating of their agriculture, to the small cluster of the Banda Isles, and the quantities produced for com- mercial purposes elsewhere are very limited. The produce of the nutmeg tree, as it is presented in 6