unprincipled and barbarous, that the native population suffered grievously by
this destruction of such valuable property. But it is certain that this was not the
case. The Sultans kept this lucrative trade entirely in their own hands as a rigid
monopoly, and they would take care not to give, their subjects more than would
amount to their usual wages, while: they would surely exact as large a quantity
of spice as they could possibly obtain. Drake and other early voyagers always
seem to have purchased their spice-cargoes from the Sultans and Rajahs, and not
from the cultivators. Now the absorption of so much labour in the cultivation of
this one product must necessarily have raised the price of food and other
necessaries; and when it was abolished, more rice would be grown, more sago
made, more fish caught, and more tortoise-shell, rattan, gum-dammer, and other
valuable products of the seas and the forests would be obtained. I believe,
therefore, that this abolition of the spice trade in the Moluccas was actually
beneficial to the inhabitants, and that it was an act both wise in itself and morally
and politically justifiable.
In the selection of the places in which to carry on the cultivation, the Dutch
were not altogether fortunate or wise. Banda was chosen for nutmegs, and was
eminently successful, since it continues to this day to produce a large supply of
this spice, and to yield a considerable revenue. Amboyna was fixed upon for
establishing the clove cultivation; but the soil and climate, although apparently
very similar to that of its native islands, is not favourable, and for some years the
Government have actually been paying to the cultivators a higher rate than they
could purchase cloves elsewhere, owing to a great fall in the price since the rate
of payment was fixed for a term of years by the Dutch Government, and which
rate is still most honourably paid.
In walking about the suburbs of Ternate, we find everywhere the ruins of
massive stone and brick buildings, gateways and arches, showing at once the
superior wealth of the ancient town and the destructive effects of earthquakes. It
was during my second stay in the town, after my return from New Guinea, that I
first felt an earthquake. It was a very slight one, scarcely more than has been felt
in this country, but occurring in a place that lad been many times destroyed by
them it was rather more exciting. I had just awoke at gun-fire (5 A.M.), when
suddenly the thatch began to rustle and shake as if an army of cats were
galloping over it, and immediately afterwards my bed shook too, so that for an
instant I imagined myself back in New Guinea, in my fragile house, which shook
when an old cock went to roost on the ridge; but remembering that I was now on
a solid earthen floor, I said to myself, "Why, it's an earthquake," and lay still in
the pleasing expectation of another shock; but none came, and this was the only