The nutmeg itself is also dried, then smoke-dried a little, and afterwards, to prevent its turning mouldy, dipped several times in sea-water, containing a weak solution of lime.
The clove-tree is somewhat smaller, and cannot boast of such luxuriant foliage, or such fine large leaves as the nutmeg-tree.
The cloves are the buds of the tree gathered before they have had time to blossom.

They are first smoked, and then laid for a short time in the sun.
Another kind of spice is the areca-nut, which hangs under the crown of the palm of the same name, in groups containing from ten to twenty nuts each.

It is somewhat larger than a nutmeg, and its outer shell is of so bright a colour, that it resembles the gilt nuts which are hung upon the Christmas-trees in Germany.

The kernel is almost the same colour as the nutmeg, but it has no net-work: it is dried in the shade.
The Chinese and natives of the place chew this nut with betel-leaf and calcined mussel-shells.

They strew the leaf with a small quantity of the mussel-powder, to which they add a very small piece of the nut, and make the whole into a little packet, which they put into their mouth.