[29] According to official statements, the total yield from 1675 to 1854 was 100,034,036 Amsterdam pounds.
[30] De Cauto, who visited these islands in 1540, says: “The Persians call the clove calafur, and speaking on this matter, with permission of the physicians, it appears to us that the carofilum of the Latin is corrupted from the calafur of the Moors (Arabs), for they have some resemblance. And as this drug passed into Europe through the hands of the Moors with the name calafur, it appears the Europeans did not change it. The Castilians (Spaniards) called cloves gilope, because they came from the island of Gilolo (probably one of the chief sources of this article at that time). The people of the Moluccas call them chanqué. The Brahmin physicians first called them lavanga, but afterward gave them the Moorish name. Generally all nations give them a name of their own, as we have done; for the first of us (the Portuguese) that reached these islands (the Moluccas), taking them in their hands, and observing their resemblance to iron nails, called them cravo, by which they are now so well known in the world.”
[31] In 1855 the population of the islands east of Amboina was thus divided, and so little change has occurred that these figures closely represent the relative numbers of each class at the present time:
| Islands. | Mestizoes. | Burgers. | Villagers. | Slaves. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christians. | Mohammedans. | |||||
| Haruku | 88 | 288 | 3,204 | 3,544 | 64 | 7,188 |
| Saparua | 162 | 2,912 | 7,340 | 1,154 | 97 | 11,665 |
| Nusalaut | 4 | 63 | 3,386 | 26 | 3,479 | |
[32] In 1854 the western part that is included in the residency of Hila was supposed to contain a population of two thousand four hundred and sixty-eight; the middle peninsula and the bay visited on this voyage, twenty-four thousand one hundred and ninety-four; the northern coast under Wahai, forty thousand nine hundred and twenty-five; and, in the great area east of Elpaputi Bay, it was supposed that there dwelt between twenty-one and twenty-two thousand; making a total of eighty-nine thousand and eighty-seven, about ninety thousand; but Dr. Bleeker, who gives these figures, thinks there are half as many more people among the mountains, and that the whole population of the island should be put down at one hundred and fifty thousand. He gives the population of these islands for 1855 in round numbers as follows:
| Amboina | 29,500 |
| Haruku | 7,900 |
| Buru | 9,200 |
| Amblau | 1,000 |
| Bonoa | 1,500 |
| Nusalaut | 3,500 |
| Manipa | 700 |
| Saparua | 11,600 |
| Ceram | 150,000 |
| Total | 214,200 |
These figures may be regarded as good estimates of the population at the present time.
[33] This name Alfura, in Dutch Alfoera, is also written Alfora, Alafora, Arafura, and Halafora. Mr. Crawford finds that it is composed of the Arabic articles alor, el, and the preposition fora, without; and was simply a general denomination given by the Portuguese when they were supreme in the Moluccas to all the native inhabitants who were without the pale of their authority.
[34] This Gunong Api most not be confounded with another similar volcano of the same name north of Wetta, and still another near the western end of Sumbawa, at the northern entrance to the Sapi Strait.
[35] De Barros, in Crawfurd’s “Dictionary of the India Islands.”