or government, dwelling in low huts
scarcely rising above the ground, and having a scanty shirt for their
whole clothing. Their complexion inclines towards white, and they are of
low stature: They go bareheaded and barefooted, with their hair hanging
down, having broad round foreheads. They are idolaters, and worse even
than the _Poliars_ and _Hyrana_[98] of Calicut, being of dull
apprehension, little strength, and altogether barbarous in their
manners. The soil bears no fruits except nutmegs, which grow on a tree
very much like the peach in its branches and leaves. Before the nut
becomes ripe, the mace expands round like a red rose; but when the nut
ripens the mace closes and embraces the nut, and both are gathered
together, which the natives do without rule or order, catch who catch
may, all things being there in common. The tree yields fruit of its own
nature without grafting or pruning, and it is so common and plentiful
that twenty-six pound weight is sold for three _souses_ or half a
_carline_ of the money which is current at Calicut. These islanders have
no other order of justice than the law of nature, and live therefore
without lawsuits or any of those contentions proceeding from _thine and
mine_.

[Footnote 98: These are named on a former occasion _Nirani_.--E.]

Having tarried three days in Banda, my companion asked the Christian
merchants where was the region which produces cloves, and they told him
that these were found in an island named _Monoch_ or Molucca, six days
sail from Banda. We therefore resumed our voyage, and came there in
seven days. This island[99] is very narrow, yet is longer than Banda,
and the inhabitants are even more barbarous than those of Banda, for if
it were not for the human shape, they differ in nothing from brutes.
Their colour is whiter, owing to the air being colder. This island
produces cloves, which likewise grow on several small and desolate
islands on its coast. The body of the tree resembles the box-tree, and
has leaves almost like the bay tree. When the cloves are ripe, the
inhabitants beat them off the tree with long canes, having previously
laid matts under the tree to receive them. The soil is sandy, and so low
under the horizon that the north star cannot be seen[100]. The price of
cloves is about double that formerly mentioned for nutmegs, but they are
sold by measure, as the natives are entirely ignorant of the use of
weights.

[Footnote 99: Instead of one island,