Amboyna, the Banda and Uhasser islands, chiefly supply the cloves, nutmegs, and mace which form the staple exports. The Banda islands are Neira or Banda-Neira, Great Banda, Ay or Way, Mimi, Rozingain, and Goenong-Api, containing an area of 588 sq. miles. In 1857, pop. 6,101, of whom 400 were Europeans; that of the whole residency, 110,302, including the eastern part of Ceram. The principal island of the group is Neira, s.e. from Amboyna, in 4° 33' s. lat., and 130' e. long., separated by Dar ' row straits from Gocnong-Api on the w. and Great Banda on the east. The coast is :steep, and surmounted by several forts and batteries, which command the straits and roadstead. The town of Neira, on the s. side of the island, is the capital of the Dutch residency of Banda, has a Protestant church, school, and hospital. The Banda islands have a rich soil, and are planted with nutmeg-trees, producing, in 1860, upwards of a million lbs. of nuts, and 275,586 lbs. of mace. The culture has nearly doubled since 1851. Pine-apples, the vine, banana, cocoa-nut, and other fruit-trees thrive, and are :abundant. Ay is the prettiest and most productive of the group. Goenong-Api is a lofty volcano. There are wild cows, hogs, and deer; sea-carp and mackerel, which last are dried, and form with sago the food of the slaves. The 0. monsoon begins in May, aud the w. in December, and are accompanied with rain and storms. The climate is not particularly healthy.
The Uliassers, which, with Amboyna, produce the cloves of commerce, are Saparoua, Oma or Haroukou, and Nousa-Laut. They lie to the e. of Amboyna, in 3° 40' s. lat., and 128° 33' e. and have an area of 10Th sq. miles. Saparoua is the largest, and is formed of two mountainous peninsulas, joined in the middle by a narrow strip of grassy land. Recently them were about 100.000 trees, producing 185,000 lbs. of cloves. The pop. amounts to 11,665, of whom 7,340 are Christians, and have 12 schools, with a very large attendance of scholars.—Oma, separated from Saparoua by a strait of a league in width, has 11 villages, of which Harouka and Oma are the chief. It is mountainous In the s., and has several rivers and sulphurous springs. The produce •of cloves has amounted in one year to 40,000 lbs.; and the villagers possess 50,000 cocoa palms, besides other fruit-trees. The woods abound with deer and wild hogs, the rivers with fish. Sago is grown, but not in sufficient quantities to meet the wants of the peo ple, who draw further supplies from Ceram. The beautiful village of Harouka, on the w. coast, is the residence of the Dutch postholder, who is president of the council of chiefs. Here is the head office of the clove-produce. There are two forts on Oma, several churches, and 6 schools, with 700 pupils. Pop. 7,188, one-half Christians, the other Mohammedans.—Nousa-Laut lies to the s.e. of Saparoua. It is planted with elove-trees, which in one year produced 120,000 lbs. There are upwards of 30,000 cocoa-nut trees. The inhabitants, who formerly were pirates and cannibals, amount to 3,479 souls, are• all Obriatlans, cud haVe schools in every village—An 1859 they were :.attended by 870 pupils.
The clove-tree and the nutmeg are indigenous to all the Spice islands, but the clove-cut tivation is confined to Amboyna and the Lliasscrs, the nutmeg to the Banda islands. Till 1824 the Dutch prohibited the planting of these trees in other parts, and caused those of native growth to be rooted out, in order to prevent smuggling, and to retain the supply of these spices to the European market. The Spice islands are generally healthy both for Europeans and Asiatics; and though the plains are sometimes very hot, mountains. are always near, where it is pleasantly cool in the morniugs and evenings. Besides the spice-trees, the bread-fruit, sago, cocoa-nut, banana, orange, guava, papaw, also ebony, iron-wood, and other valuable timber-trees, are abundant. The natives of some of the islands are Alfoers; of others, Malays on the coasts, and Alfoers in the interior. In Ceram are also Papuan negroes, brought originally from Bali and Papua as slaves.
The resident and other Dutch officials reside in the city of Amboyna, the streets of which are broad, planted with rows of beautiful trees, and cut each other at right angles.. There are two Protestant churches, a town-house, orphanage, hospital, and theater, besides a useful institution for training native teachers, with which is connected a print ing-press. Near the city are beautiful promenades and country-seats. Pop. 10,500.
In 1854 the clove-produce amounted to 380,592 lbs., the number of trees planted being 405,639, of which one-third part were fruit-bearing; nutmegs, 537,861 lbs., and mace, 133,986 lbs.; the trees planted being 424,573, of which 297,272 were bearing. The total cost of the nutmegs and mace delivered in the Netherlands that year was -£30,768 ster ling. realizing ;1:94,466. In 1859 the Moluccas sent to Java for the account of govern ment, 2,012 pierils of mace (the picul = 133 lbs.), 81,101 of cloves, 6,636 of nutmegs, and 28 of cocoa-nut soap; the value being £59,416. The produce of nutmegs, in 1851, was 463,309 lbs.; in 1859 it had risen to 832,634, and in 1860 to 1,044,657. The clove-crop varies much, as the following table will show: 1856, 617,250 lbs.; 1857, 187,093k; 1858, 233,518; 1859, 390,888; 1860, 258,117. Amboyna and Banda have been free ports since 1854; but as government monopolizes the labor, there is no fair competition, and the people are slaves of the soil, their chiefs being paid in proportion to the produce delivered.
In 1521 Antonio de Brito first appeared to take possession of the Moluccas in the name of the king of Portugal; and after a long period of violence, intrigue, and perfidy, the Portuguese were driven out by the Dutch and natives, at the beginning of the 17th century. The change was of no advantage to the natives, for the Dutch, having obtained_ the exclusive right of buying all the cloves, at a nominal value, a series of wars ensued, which resulted in the subjugation of the Spice islands. Recently, new sultans of Ternate and Tidore have been appointed, with less power than their predecessors; and the wars with the Alfoers of Ceram, in 1859 and 1860, have brought them more fully under Dutch. rule. ?