When all the contemplated work had been finished, Philip was at a loss to know how he should employ the large number of his subjects, in order to free himself as much as possible from their fawning companionship.
He would have built an observatory on the summit of the extinct volcano but for the fact that the supply of plaster had already been used in remodeling the buildings, and it was impossible to quarry rocks of such size that they would be held together by their own weight.
The readiness with which his subjects copied every movement caused him to believe it might be possible in the near future, unaided by human beings, to continue the work already begun on the plantation—provided, of course, he was not molested by the pirates. This idea came into his mind one day when they were near the base of the volcanic mountain, and he saw what at first glance appeared to be a peach-tree.
It was from twenty to thirty feet high, with glossy green leaves, and bearing small, yellowish flowers at the same time that ripe fruit, not unlike a peach in size and color, hung upon its branches.
Up to this moment he had supposed an orange was the only tree which blossomed while the fruit was ripening, and this singular fact showed him the mistake made in believing it to be a peach-tree.
Picking one of these luscious-looking apples, he found it of a tough, fleshy consistency, partially split open, and showing within a dark brown nut covered with crimson mace. It was a nutmeg.
As Philip well knew, the Dutch Government had relinquished its monopoly of the nutmeg trade in these seas, and he speculated, despite the amount of gold stored in the cavern, whether it would not be possible, with the aid of his long-tailed subjects, to make of this fruitful island one vast plantation of nutmegs, which would be a source of wealth greater even than the bed of the stream could produce.
Although king of apes, he had the natural desire of man to increase his possessions, and for a time his fancy painted most gorgeous and alluring pictures of what might be done if the energies of the monkeys could be directed into the proper channel.