The Summit Of The Small Island Is Composed Of A Highly
Crystalline Basalt; Lower Down I Found A Hard, Stratified Slatey
Sandstone, While On The Beach Are Huge Blocks Of Lava, And
Scattered Masses Of White Coralline Limestone.
The larger island
has coral rock to a height of three or four hundred feet, while
above is lava and basalt.
It seems probable, therefore, that this
little group of four islands is the fragment of a larger district
which was perhaps once connected with Ceram, but which was
separated and broken up by the same forces which formed the
volcanic cone. When I visited the larger island on another
occasion, I saw a considerable tract covered with large forest
trees - dead, but still standing. This was a record of the last
great earthquake only two years ago, when the sea broke in over
this part of the island and so flooded it as to destroy the
vegetation on all the lowlands. Almost every year there is an
earthquake here, and at intervals of a few years, very severe
ones which throw down houses and carry ships out of the harbour
bodily into the streets.
Notwithstanding the losses incurred by these terrific
visitations, and the small size and isolated position of these
little islands, they have been and still are of considerable
value to the Dutch Government, as the chief nutmeg-garden in the
world. Almost the whole surface is planted with nutmegs, grown
under the shade of lofty Kanary trees (Kanarium commune). The
light volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive moisture of
these islands, where it rains more or less every month in the
year, seem exactly to suit the nutmeg-tree, which requires no
manure and scarcely any attention.
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