Giles Milton has written a fascinating history of the nutmeg from an English viewpoint -- Nathaniel's Nutmeg, How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History. Hodder & Stoughton, 1999. ISBN 0 340 69676 1. Cheers, Russ -------------------------------------- Persevere Russell G. Campbell Burlington, ON, Canada My Home page: www.it4biz.com/omnibus My Magazine: http://www.it4biz.com/omnibus/PortOfCall My Blog: http://www.it4biz.com/omnibus/rantrave My Genealogy: http://www.it4biz.com/omnibus/genealogy -----Original Message----- From: David Watson [mailto:david.watson@canada.com] Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:04 PM To: CARIBBEAN-L@rootsweb.com I hope this gets through to the newsgroup. My last message on place names seem to have disappeared into the ether. I've been following the discussion on nutmegs with some interest and was glad to see Edward dealing with the Bank-Wallen issue. He sent me transcripts of these letters some time ago, I dare say years, and they were most interesting. The received wisdom you read on travel sites and in recent histories of Grenada seems to be based on a paper written by the late Dr Groome in 1967. Dr Groome was a zoologist who spent his working life in Grenada. He may the most eminent Grenadian natural historian of the 20th century - not saying much, you may say. Well, perhaps not, but he had many contacts in the UK, at Kew, and throughout the West Indies to home he sent sample and with whom he communicated regularly. I expect they enjoyed the odd holiday at his home on the south east west corner of the island. He was finally imposed upon to write a book, though I expect it was hell for those who wanted it written - I think for the visit to Grenada for UK royals. It's called "The Natural History of Grenada" and I have it beside me as I write. Dr Groome was an academic, a "character" and a colleague of mine when I taught at the GBSS. He has a beach named after him; if your from Grenada you've probably heard of him. To get back to his paper, it's called "The nutmeg story" and is re-published in his book, which was published in 1970 (out of print now, I'm afraid.) I just want to point out some Groome "facts." He says the French tried to crack the Dutch nutmeg monopoly in 1769. An expedition to the Moluccas resulted in 400 nutmeg trees, 10,000 nutmegs, either growing or ready to grow, 70 clove trees and a chest of cloves which were planted in Mauritius in 1770, in a variety of soils. Everything failed. According to Dr Groome, however, the British East India Company sent someone to the Moluccas to collect nutmeg for planting in Penning Island in 1796, where they flourished for many years. He says that other planting were attempted, with various degrees of success in Calcutta, Madras, Brazil and several West Indian islands. Dr Groome makes many interesting points in his paper, which I won't quote. He identifies the individuals and estates associated with Grenada nutmeg from 1843. But he also points out that nutmegs had been established in many West Indian islands by 1824. Apparently one of the first trees planted in the Trinidad botanical gardens was a nutmeg brought from St Vincent. He does say, however, that at this point, nutmegs were of no commercial significance. George Brizan, in his history of the island, notes that commercial nutmeg production dates from 1860 - 1878 production was 470 cwts, by 1929 it had reached 22,666 cwts and accounted for 22% of world exports. I won't go into the esoteric details of estate ownership, sugar's decline and the rise and importance of the nutmeg. I just would like to defend Dr Groome and to say that I know that all his opinions were well researched and without bias, at least as much as any of ours are. Sorry if this is off topic. Nutmegs have been a bone of contention for centuries. By the way, I never heard of Banks visiting Grenada and it was only through Cindy's post that I heard of any connection between la Grenade and nutmegs. We learn a lot from this newsgroup. I do know the liqueur, however. I haven't had it since the days when the family used the recycled green Mateus Rose wine bottles - in those days it was what we now call "home based." As I remember, it tasted something like Cointreau or Grand Marnier. I don't remember a nutmeg taste. I have personally never understood the attraction to nutmeg flavour. David ______________________________