The Commodities
Carried There For Sale Are Chopping Knives, Small Bugles, Porcelain,
Coloured Taffetas, But Not Blacks, Chinese Frying-Pans,[149] Chinese
Bells, And Thin Silver Plates Beaten Out Quite Flat, And Thin Like A
Wafer, About The Breadth Of A Hand.
There is much profit made in this
trade, as the Chinese have sometimes given four for one to our men who
had adventured with them.
[Footnote 149: Perhaps, as stated in conjunction with bells, gongs are
here meant, which are not unlike frying-pans. - E.]
Banda is in the latitude of 5 deg. S. and affords great store of mace and
nutmegs, together with oil of two sorts. It has no king, being ruled by
a sabander, who unites with the sabanders of Nero, Lentore, Puloway,
Pulorin, and Labatacca, islands near adjoining. These islands were all
formerly under the dominion of the King of Ternate, but now govern
themselves. In these islands they have three harvests of mace and
nutmegs every year; in the months of July, October, and February; but
the gathering in July is the greatest, and is called the arepootee
monsoon. Their manner of dealing is this: A small bahar is ten cattees
of mace, and 100 of nutmegs; a great bahar being 100 cattees of mace,
and 1000 of nutmegs. The cattee is five libs. 13-1/2[150] ounces
English, and the prices are variable. The commodities in request at
these islands are, Coromandel cloth, cheremallay, sarrasses,
chintzes or pintadoes of five colours, fine ballachos, black girdles,
chellyes, white calicos, red or stammel broad-cloths, gold in coin,
such as English rose-nobles and Dutch ducats and dollars. But gold is so
much preferred, that you may have as much for the value of 70 dollars
in gold as would cost 90 dollars in silver. Fine china basons without
rims are likewise in request, together with damasks of light gay
colours, taffetas, velvets, china-boxes, gilded counters, gold chains,
gilt silver cups, bright and damasked head-pieces, fire-arms, but not
many sword blades, which must be brandt and backed to the point.
Likewise Cambaya cloths, black and red calicos, calico lawns, and rice,
which last is a good commodity to carry there.
[Footnote 150: On a former occasion, the Banda cattee was said to
contain only 13-1/2 ounces English, so that this account is quite
irreconcileable to the former. - E.]
The Molucca islands are five in number; viz. Molucca Proper, Ternate,
Tidore, Gilolo, and Makian, and are under the equinoctial line. They
produce great abundance of cloves, not every year, but every third year.
The cattee there is 3 libs. 5 ounces English, and the bahar is 200
cattees. Thus 19 Molucca cattees make exactly 50 Bantam cattees. The
commodities most vendible in these islands are Coromandel
cheremallays, but fine, Siam girdles or sashes, salalos, but fine,
ballachos and chelleys, are in most request. Likewise China
taffetas, velvets, damasks, great basons, varnished counters, crimson
broad-cloths, opium, benzoin, &c.
Siam is in the lat.
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