The clove tree is said to be indigenous only in the five small islands, which constitute the Moluccas proper, viz., Tarnati, Tidori, Mortir, Makiyan and Bachian. It was afterwards introduced into other neighbouring islands, where it is now cultivated, and at a later period into Zanzibar and Pemba on the East coast of Africa. Cloves appear to have been known in China as early as B.C 266. At that time it was customary for the officers of the court to hold the spice in the mouth before addressing the sovereign in order that their breath might have an agreeable odour. (Pharmacographia.) It is difficult to say when they were first introduced into India, but they are mentioned by Charaka, who is considered to be the oldest Sanskrit medical writer, under the name of Lavanga, a name which, with various modifications, is applied to cloves all over India. They are regarded by Sanskrit writers as light, cooling, stomachic, digestive and useful in thirst, vomiting, flatulence, colic, &c., and are prescribed with other spices and with rock salt. (Dutt’s Hindu Materia Medica.)
The paragraph continues on p. 21; the transcription stops at “(Dutt’s Hindu Materia Medica.)”.