148 DOMESTIC AND INTERNAL ries of strangers give a powerful impulse to the in- ternal commerce of the Archipelago ; and from this source springs the tratHc which is driven in collecting the Ibllowing list of commodities : Edible birds'-nests — tripang^ or bech de mer — black-pepper — cloves, mace, and nutmegs — cam- phor — sharks* Hns, — and tortoise-shell, &c. &c. Be- sides the coasting and internal trade, conducted in the different productions just enumerated, by strangers or foreign settlers, the most powerful and civilized tribes have always themselves conducted a considerable carrying trade. These considerable tribes are the Javanese, the Malays, and Bugis, the great tribes of the three finest islands, Java, Sumatra, and Celebes. The annals of the Spice Islands mention, that, as early as the year 133^2, the Javanese were in the habit of frequenting Ternati, then the paramount island of the group, for cloves, and they are again mentioned as forming settlements there, along with the Malays, about the period of the conversion of their inhabitants to the Mahomedan religion. One or other of the three great tribes above-mentioned, in all probability, indeed, conducted the spice trade from the earliest periods. It was the demands of the western world which stimulated this commerce, and the adventure of those tribes may be considered as Q first link in that long commercial chain which brought the spices of the Moluccas through many
