The fourth government under the company is Banda, an island about fifty leagues from Amboina towards the east, and to the southward of the Moluccas.  The governor, who is generally an eminent merchant, resides at Nera, the capital of the country, and has several other neighbouring islands under his jurisdiction, in the government of all which he is assisted by a council, as at Amboina.  In some representations sent home, and published by the company, this island is set forth as being very expensive to the company, and so thinly inhabited as to take off very little goods, while it is so barren as to require large supplies of provisions.  All this is pure artifice; for, though Banda is a very small island in comparison with Amboina, being only about twelve leagues in circumference, it certainly affords as great profits, which arise from the important commerce in nutmegs, which grow here in such prodigious quantities as to enable the Dutch company to supply all the markets in Europe.

This admirable and much-valued fruit grows in no other part of the world except Banda and a few other small islands in its neighbourhood, named Orattan, Guimanasa, Wayer, Pulo-wai, and Pulo-rion.  The nutmeg-tree is much like a peach-tree, but the leaves are shorter and rounder.  The fruit is at first covered by two skins or shells, the outer one being tough and as thick as one’s finger, which falls off when the fruit ripens.  This outer rind when candied has a fine taste and flavour.  When this falls off, the next is a fine smooth skin or peel, which is the mace, or flower of the nutmeg; and below this is a harder and blackish shell, much like that of a walnut; and on opening this shell, the nutmeg is found within, being the kernel.  The mace is at first of a fine scarlet colour; but, when ripe, it falls off the shell, and is then of an orange colour, as it comes to Europe.  They preserve whole nutmegs in sugar, which make the best sweetmeat in India.  The Bandanese call nutmegs palla, and mace buaa-palla.  There are two sorts of nutmegs; the one being of a long shape, called males, and the other round and reddish, called females, which latter have better taste and flavour than the other.  When gathered and the mace carefully preserved, the shells are removed and the nutmegs dried, being first thrown among quicklime, as otherwise worms would breed in and destroy them.

There are several islands in the neighbourhood of Banda in which the nutmeg-trees grow, but these are carefully destroyed every year, which at first sight may seem extraordinary, as, if once destroyed, one would imagine they would never grow again.  But they are annually carried by birds to these islands.  Some persons allege that the birds disgorge them undigested, while others assert that they pass through in the ordinary manner, still retaining their vegetative power.  This bird resembles a cuckoo, and is called the nutmeg-gardener by the Dutch, who prohibit their subjects from killing