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.
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