country
produced to be set on table. Our men, delighted at this, returned
to their companions, and told them what had taken place. They were
much delighted by the graciousness and benevolence of the king, and
took up their quarters in the island. When they had been entertained
for some days by the king's munificence, they sent envoys thence
to the other kings, to investigate the resources of the islands,
and to secure the good will of the chiefs. Tarante was the nearest;
it is a very small island, its circumference being a little over six
Italian miles. The next is Matthien, and that also is small. These
three produce a great quantity of cloves, but every fourth year
the crop is far larger than at other times. These trees only grow
on precipitous rocks, and they grow so close together as to form
groves. The tree resembles the laurel as regards its leaves, its
closeness of growth, and its height; the clove, so called from its
resemblance to a nail [Latin, _clavus_] grows at the very tip of
each twig; first a bud appears, and then a blossom much like that of
the orange; the point of the clove first shows itself at the end of
the twig, until it attains its full growth; at first it is reddish,
but the heat of the sun soon turns it black. The natives share groves
of this tree among themselves, just as we do vineyards: they keep the
cloves in pits, till the merchants fetch them away. The fourth island,
Muthil, is no larger than the rest. This island produces cinnamon; the
tree is full of shoots, and in other respects fruitless, it thrives
best in a dry soil, and is very much like the pomegranate tree. When
the bark cracks through the heat of the sun, it is pulled off the
tree, and being dried in the sun a short time becomes cinnamon. Near
Muthil is another island, called Bada [Badjan or Batchian], more
extensive than the Moluccas; in it the nutmeg grows. The tree is
tall and wide-spreading, a good deal like a walnut tree; the fruit
too is produced just in the same way as a walnut, being protected
by a double covering, first a soft envelope, and under this a
thin reticulated membrane which encloses the nut. This membrane we
call Muskatbluethe, the Spaniards call it mace, it is an excellent
and wholesome spice. Within this is a hard shell, like that of a
filbert, inside which is the nutmeg properly so called. Ginger also
is produced in all the islands of this archipelago: some is sown,
some grows spontaneously; but the sown gi