Читать книгу The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 27 of 55 - Unknown - Страница 34

The commerce acquired by the Dutch from that place is notable and large; for it consists of all the drugs, perfumes, and products found in those seas. The money carried by the Dutch is Castilian silver, as that is the kind that is most valued throughout the Orient. The money that circulates in the country is that of the leaden caxies [i.e., cash], of which one thousand five hundred are given for one real of silver. Two hundred caxies make one satac, and five sataques one sapacou. Rice is carried from the islands of Macaser, Sanbaya, and others. Rice forms the chief food bought by the Dutch, not only for the supply of their forts and fleets, but as a means of gain in that same port. Cocoanuts are taken [thither] from Balamban; this is another product that is consumed widely, and is of great use. They go to the confines of the island for salt, which is very profitable in Ba[n]tan [Bamtan—MS.]; and which is of greater profit, taking it, as they do, to Sumatra [Samatra—MS.], where they exchange it for wax from Pegú, white pepper, and various articles made from tortoise-shell. Twelve leguas away lies Jacatra, whence, and from Cranaon, Timor, and Dolimban, they get honey; and from Japara, sugar; from Querimara [Quarimara—MS.], east of Bornio, iron;28 from Pera and Gustean, tin and lead; from China come linens, silks, and porcelains. Their most abundant article of trade is pepper, for huge quantities of it are gathered in Java and Sumatra. And inasmuch as even those islands do not suffice to fill all their ships, they buy the pepper in other parts where they go: as on the coast of Malabar, as far as the cape of Comori—a land that produces whatever is taken to Portugal, and that which the Moors carry to the Red Sea; at Balagate, that which goes to Persia and Arabia; at Malaca, that which goes to Pegu, Sian, and China. The large variety comes from Bengala and Java, while the Canarin, which is the least valuable, is gathered from Goa and Malabar. The best is bought at Bantan, for forty thousand caxies (which amount to 27 reals in silver), per sack of 45 cates,29 or 56 Castilian libras, and it sells at one-half real [per libra?]. The ships which are unable to lade there—either because many ships go there, or because they are looking for wares that are not carried to their markets, or because they try to get them cheaper at their home market—go to other factories and places of trade. They go even to Meca in the Arabian Gulf, and cast anchor in Juda, twelve leguas away. For that voyage they carry drugs, food, and Chinese merchandise, which they sell for silver money—of which there is a quantity stamped with the arms of your Majesty in this kingdom, while the rest of the money consists of Turkish ducados. With that they go to other ports, and buy very precious commodities, as money is more precious [in those ports] than anything else. They get the aromatic mace from the island of Banda, which belongs to the Filipinas, and where Jacobo Cornelio left the first factors in the year 600; and in that of 608, Pedro Guillelmo Verrufio erected a fortress, although at the cost of his life. There, then, they barter the mace and the nutmeg, which is grown in no other part of the world, and obtain it there in so great quantity that they can lade annually one thousand toneladas of it. They take it dry, in order to carry it to Europa; and to Meca, Ormuz, and all the Orient in a conserve; for it is highly esteemed, as it is a very delicate relish. With mace, pepper, nutmeg, and other drugs they go to Pegu and Sian, where they trade rubies and wax in their factories. They barter those substances in Sumatra for pepper, which they also carry to Ormuz. There and at certain ports of Cambaya, they buy indigo (a royal product, and of which there is a monopoly in India), manna (a medicinal drug of Arabia and Persia), and rhubarb. What they are most eager to buy at Ormuz are the pearls that are fished from the Persian Gulf as far as Besorà. They also get them between Ceylan and Comori, between Borneo and Anion, and in Cochinchina. At Ormuz they trade most for precious stones30—fine bezoars, turquoises, chrysolites, amethysts, jacinths, garnets, topazes from Cahanor, Calecut, and Cambaya, copper wire, and not very good agates. They have a factory in Patan, since—although they do not desire the trade of those people, as it consists only of silver money—a great quantity of Chinese merchandise is found there; and, as the Dutch cannot enter that country, they barter there [i.e., at Patan] for silk in the skein and woven, porcelain ware, and other things, and for calambuco wood, which is found in Sian, Malaca, Sumatra, and Cambaya. They get ginger from Malabar, not to take to Olanda—where they have too much with what they plunder in the Windward [Barlovento] Islands—but to take to Ormuz, which with that from Malaca, Dabul, and Bacain is traded in Persia [Percia—MS.] and Arabia. They trade cardamomum in Malabar, Calecut, and Cananor, [that plant] being used throughout the Orient to sweeten the breath. From the coasts of Sofala, Melinde, and Mozambique, they get gold, ivory, amber, and ebony, which they also get from Champá, whose mountains apparently raise no other [varieties of] woods. From Bengala they get civet, and mother-of-pearl. The best benzoin is that of Ceylan and Malaca; but as the Dutch have but little trade in those parts, they get along with that of the Javas, which is not so good, and with some of fine quality that they obtain in fairs and ports. The same is true of cinnamon which they are unable to obtain at Ceylan, except through third persons; accordingly, they secure but little, and content themselves with the wild cinnamon of Malabar, although it is very poor. Sandalwood was formerly the most profitable product in India, and was traded by the Portuguese. It was obtained in the island of Timor, where they had a fortress; but, as it is near Bantan, the Dutch have gained possession of it and its trade. This is the white sandalwood, for the red comes from Coromandel and Pegu. They buy snakewood [palo serpentino],31 brought from Ceylan [Seilan—MS.], in the fairs of Sumatra; eaglewood from Coromandel; camphor in Sunda and Chincheo, but better in Borneo; myrobalans32 in Cambaya, Balagate, and Malabar; incense from Arabia; myrrh from Abasia [Abaçia—MS.]; aloes-wood from Socotora; all of which they obtain at Ormuz. They trade but few diamonds, for the fine ones come from Bisnaga and Decan, and are taken to the fair of Lispor, between Goa and Cambaya; and since the Dutch do not go thither, they have no share in them, but they get some at the fair in Sumatra.