Note 23 — Chapter V · Of the expense incurred by your Majesty to maintain the fortified posts of Tidore and Terrenate in the Malucas Islands.

See the detailed description of the clove tree, its product, the mode of gathering cloves, their properties, and the extent of the trade in this spice in Recueil des voiages Comp. des Indes Orientales, i, pp. 503–507. The price at which the Dutch bought cloves from the natives (in 1599) is there stated at fifty-four reals of eight. The extent of the crop is thus stated: “According to [278n] what the inhabitants of Ternate say, the Molucca Islands produce annually the following quantity of cloves: the islands of Ternate and Tidore, each 1,000 bares; Bassian Island, 2,000 bares; and Motier Island, 600 or 700 bares.” Crawfurd says (Dict. Indian Islands, p. 503): “In England, before the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, a pound of cloves cost 30s., or 168l. per cwt.”