tavia, when it was transferred
there on account of its advantageous situation, in the centre of the
company's trade and settlements, while Amboina lay too far to the
east. The island of Java also is vastly more fertile than Amboina,
producing all the necessaries of life in abundance, so that it has
no dependence for provisions on any other country, while they had
provisions to search for in all other places, at the time when the
government was established at Amboina. This island is one of the
largest of the Moluccas, being situated in the _Archipelago of St
Lazarus_, in lat. 3 40' S. and long. 128 deg. 30' E. 21 deg. 30' or 430 marine
leagues east from Batavia. It was conquered in 1519 by the Portuguese,
who built a fort there to keep the inhabitants under subjection, and
to facilitate the conquest of all the adjacent islands. This fort was
taken by the Dutch in 1605, but they did not entirely reduce the whole
island of Amboina and the neighbouring islands till 1627, by which
conquest they acquired entire possession of the clove trade, whence
these islands are termed the _gold-mine_ of the company, owing to the
vast profit they draw from them, and it is so far superior to
other gold-mines, that there is no fear of these islands being ever
exhausted of that commodity. A pound weight of cloves or nutmegs, for
the company has the entire monopoly of both, does not in fact cost the
company much more than a half-penny, and every one knows at what rate
the spices are sold in Europe. Amboina is the centre of all this rich
commerce; and to keep it more effectually in the hands of the company,
all the clove-trees in the other islands are grubbed up and destroyed;
and sometimes, when the harvest is very large at Amboina, a part even
of its superfluous produce is burnt.

This valuable spice grows only in Amboina and the other five Molucca
islands, and in the islands of Meao, Cinomo, Cabel, and Marigoran. The
Indians call cloves _calafoor_, while the inhabitants of the Moluccas
call them _chinke_. The clove-tree is much like the laurel, but its
leaves are narrower, resembling those of the almond and willow. Even
the wood and leaves taste almost as strong as the cloves themselves.
These trees bear a great quantity of branches and flowers, and each
flower produces a single clove. The flowers are at first white, then
green, and at last grow red and pretty hard, and are properly the
cloves. While green, their smell is sweet and comforta