388 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF rections in the Moluccas down to the year 1681, when the Dutch at length established the monopo- ly to their heart's desire. That they might regu- late and control production and price just as they thought proper, the clove trees were extirpated every where but in Amboyna, the seat of their power ; and the surrounding princes were bribed by annual stipends to league with them for the de- struction of their subjects' property and birthright. This plan was begun about the year 1551. * The contracts are still in force, and an annual fleet vi-
- " Admiral Vlaming," says Ruraphius, " having now re-
turned frora Banda, and observing, as before stated, that the Company was overstocked with cloves, he longed for an opportunity of rooting up a portion of the clove trees. The existing disaffection seemed to him to afford that op- portunity, by means of which the whole produce might be secured to the Company, and the faithless inhabitants be prevented from smuggling. With this view, he request- ed the king of Ternate to come to Amboyna, that he might accompany him to Batavia, to take measures with the Governor- General and Council for settling the affairs of the Moluccas. He also proposed to the king that he should cause to be extirpated ail the clove trees in his country, as they were the cause of all the disaffection which existed, and that he should yearly receive, in con- sideration of this service, a good sum in money." In ano- ther place he says that, on one occasion, at a single ga- thering, Amboyna alone produced, for the first crop, a rich harvest of two thousand bahars, 1,188,000 lbs. avoirdupois, but that Jbrtune favoured the admiral, for the troops sent to ravage the country succeeded in destroying a great many sago and cocoa-nut trees, with 3000 clove trees !
