Most modern authors agree in saying that the
clove tree is a native of the Moluccas and did not spread to other parts of Asia before the arrival of Europeans in Indonesia.
The first can be translated as "bark of cloves." According to Li Hsun, this substance had medicinal properties: it was a remedy for toothache.(15) Perhaps it had something to do with cinnamon, for, as mentioned above, cinnamon was often wrongly identified with the bark of the
clove tree; however, the sources do not really permit us to establish any clear relation between the two substances.
Dave says: "They have
clove trees that grow on the beaches and when the wind blows you can smell them.
An emerging and efficacious anesthetic for use with fish is clove oil, which is extracted from flower buds, leaves and stems of
clove trees (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr.
But their dissatisfaction with the government peaked in the early 2000s, when they stopped protesting silently and instead set their
clove trees on fire, sending a strong message about their unwillingness to play any longer.
Local alliances, the destruction of
clove trees in areas where voc control was limited, and the decimation and evacuations of local communities were important elements in eventually unsustainable trade politics.
Each Ambonese head of family had to plant and maintain 100
clove trees (p.163).
