Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/430

 414 COMMKRCIAL DESCRIPTION Of the same rate. The turmeric of Java is of high estimation in the markets of Europe, ranking next to that of China, and being much superior to that of Bengal. The principal value of the clove bark, as an article of exportation, is for its oil, which differs little from that of the clove itself. Cayu- puti oil, the essential oil of a species of myrtle, growing in the country of spices, has become of late years a favourite medicine as an external ap- plication. It has been sold on the spot for the high price of five Spanish dollars the quart ; but this is not the natural cost of the commodity, and is caused only by the difficult intercourse of the Betel-niity or areca^ gambir, and tobacco, are ar- ticles of extensive traffic. All the countries of the Archipelago respectively produce enough of areca for their own domestic consumption, but it is only the western countries, and especially the w'est coast of Sumatra, where Pedir is the most remark- able place, that the areca is in such abundance as to be an article of foreign exportation. The areca of commerce is of two kinds ; that which is dried carefully without being split, and that which is split and more hastily dried. The first is the most valuable, and its common price at Pedir, which produces for exportation about 40,000 pi- culs annually, is from f to 1 J of a Spanish dollar per picul. At this price it is purchased by the
 * trading world with the countries which produce it.