Bantam, A Town Of Java Major, Stands In Latitude 6 Deg.
S. and the variation
here is 3 deg.
W.[142] It is a place of great resort by various nations, and
where many different commodities are to be bought and sold, though of
itself it produce few things, besides provisions, cotton-wool, and
pepper. The quantity of this last at the yearly harvest, which is in
October, may be about 32,000 sacks, each containing 49-1/2 Chinese
cattees, and each cattee 21-1/2 rials English.[143] A sack is called a
timbang, two of which are one pekul, three pekuls a small bahar,
and 4-1/4 pekuls a great bahar, or 445-1/2 cattees. As the Javanese
are not very expert in using the beam, they mostly deal by means of a
weight called coolack, containing 7-1/4 cattees. Seven coolacks are
one timbang, water-measure, being 1-1/4 cattees more than the beam
weight, although there ought to be no difference; but the weigher, who
is always a Chinese, gives advantages to his countrymen, whom he
favours, as he can fit them with greater or smaller weights at his
pleasure.
[Footnote 141: This subdivision is likewise a continuation of the
Observations of Saris, while factor at Bantam, and is to be found in the
Pilgrims, vol. I. p. 390.]
[Footnote 142: The latitude of Bantam is 6 deg. S. as in the text, and its
longitude is 106 deg. 10' W. from Greenwich.
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