Baruse Is To The North Of Passaman, And
Yields Considerable Quantities Of Benzoin; Cottatinga Yields Gold, And
The Other Places Pepper.
Our general brought the king of Acheen's letter
to these places, where the chief men received it with great submission,
each of them kissing it and laying it on his head, promising to obey its
injunctions, yet all failed in performance.
It were proper, in these
letters from the king, to procure all the particulars of the trade to be
inserted. I set sail from Tecoo for Bantam on the 4th September.
[Footnote 176: It is so expressed in the Pilgrims; yet it would seem
that such arbitrary proceeding in the sovereign, assuming the character
of merchant, would be destructive of all trade. - E.]
The best gold, and the largest quantity, is to be had at the high hill
of Passaman, where likewise is the best, cheapest, and most abundant
produce of pepper. But the air is there so pestiferous, that there is no
going thither for our nation without great mortality among the men.
Fortunately this is not necessary in procuring pepper, as the Surat
commodities at Tecoo are sufficiently attractive. I have even observed
many of the natives to labour under infectious diseases, the limbs of
some being ready to drop off with rottenness, while others had huge
wens or swellings under their throats, as large as a two-penny loaf;
which they impute to the bad water.[177] Though a barbarous people, they
are yet acquainted with the means of curing their diseases. The people
of Tecoo are base, thievish, subtle, seeking gain by every kind of
fraud, or even by force when they dare; using false weights, false
reckonings, and even attempting to poison our meats and drinks while
dressing, and crissing our men when opportunity serves: But it is to be
hoped they may be inforced to keep better order, by the influence and
authority of the king of Acheen. At Acheen our Portuguese prizes were
disposed of, and shared according to the custom of the sea, a sixth part
being divided among the captors, and the rest carried to the account of
our employers. There were only five left in the factory. Many of our men
were sick, owing to their immoderate indulgence in drinking arrack.
[Footnote 177: The goitre was long ignorantly imputed in Europe to
drinking snow water; but is now well known only to affect the
inhabitants of peculiar districts, as Derbyshire in England, and the
Valais in Switzerland, and this district in Sumatra, where certain
mineral impregnations render the water unwholesome. - E.]
When at Bantam, in October 1616, there were four English ships, and five
Hollanders at Jacatra, which raised the price of pepper; and that the
more, because the Dutch boasted of having brought this year in ready
money 1,600,000 dollars, which is probably a great exaggeration to brave
our nation. Their last fleet of six ships took two or three ships of the
Portuguese, of which they made great boasts.
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