It
appears evident to us that this mode of conducting business will be
greatly more to the benefit of the merchants than going entirely at their
own risk, as has been done hitherto; so that the king will probably find
abundance of people willing to trade to India on these conditions. We
have accordingly a share in these two ships; but of the event, God alone
can judge.
[1] This letter is dated 16th September 1502; and by it P. Pascquali
appears to have gone from Portugal into Spain: - E.
SECTION V.
_Of the Weights and Money of Calicut, and of the places whence they
procure their Spices_[1].
Having already treated concerning the articles of commerce of all kinds
in the Indies, it is proper to give some account of the prices and
weights of these. In the city of Calicut a _bahar_ of nutmegs is sold for
450 _favi_. A bahar consists of four quintals, of 100 pounds each, and
twenty _favis_ are equal to a ducat. A bahar of cinnamon costs 390 favi.
A _faracula_, or the twentieth part of a bahar of dried ginger, is six
favi. A faracula of candied ginger is twenty-eight favi. A bahar of
tamarinds thirty favi. A bahar of the best pepper 400 favi. A bahar of
_zerombeci_ forty favi. A bahar of myrabolans 560 favi. A bahar of
zedoary thirty favi. A bahar of red sanders eighty favi. A bahar of lac
260 favi. A bahar of _sanasius_ 160. A bahar of mastic 430 favi. A
_faracula_ of camphor 160. A bahar of pepper 360. A faracula of
frankincense five favi. A faracula of benzoin six favi. A faracula of
aloes wood 400 favi. A faracula of cassia eleven favi. A faracula of
rhubarb 400 favi. A bahar of cloves 600 fevi. A faracula of opium 400
favi. A bahar of white sanders 700 favi. A mitrical of ambergris, or six
ounces and a quarter. A bahar contains twenty faraculas. A faracula
fourteen aratollae and a third; as twenty-three Venetian aratollae are
equal to twenty-two Portuguese pounds. A golden ducat is equal to twenty
favi.
As to those things which are carried from Europe for sale at Calicut, a
faracula of brass sells for forty-five favi. A faracula of white coral
for 1000. A faracula of silver for twenty favi. A faracula of spurious
coral for 300. A faracula of alum twenty. An almenum of saffron sells for
eighty favi: the almenum exceeds the Portuguese pound two aratollae and a
half, and is therefore equal to about three Venetian pounds.
It appears proper to mention the regions from whence the various spices
are brought to Calicut. Pepper is brought from a certain tower near the
coast, about fifty leagues beyond Calicut. Cinnamon comes from a country
called _Zolon_, Ceylon, 260 leagues beyond Calicut, and from no other
place. Cloves come from the district of _Meluza_, which is twelve
Portuguese leagues from Calicut, and is in the country of Cananore.
Nutmegs and mastic come from _Meluza_, which is 740 leagues from
Calicut[2]. Castor, which is musk, comes from a certain region called Pegu,
500 leagues from Calicut. Fine pearls come from the coast of _Armuzi_[3],
700 leagues from Calicut. Spikenard and myrabolans from the province of
_Columbaia_[4], 600 leagues from Calicut. Cassia _in twigs_[5] is procured
in the territory of Calicut. Frankincense is brought from _Saboea_[6], 800
leagues distant. Aloes-wood, rhubarb, camphor, and calinga, is sent from
the country of Chiva[7], 4000 leagues from Calicut. Myrrh from the
province of _Fastica_[8], 700 leagues distant. Calicut produces
_zeromba_[9]; and Cananore sends cardamoms, being only twelve leagues
distant. Long pepper is found in _Same_[10]. Benzoin from _Zan_, 700 miles
from Calicut. Zedoary is produced in the territory of Calicut. Lac comes
from the city of _Samoterra[11], 500 leagues distant. Brasil wood from the
region of _Tannazar_, 500 leagues. Opium from the coast of _Adde_, 700
leagues.
[1] This Section is taken from the _Novus Orbus_ of Grynaeus, p 63. in
which it forms part of the navigations from Lisbon to Calicut,
attributed to the pen of Aloysius Cadamosto. The information it
contains respecting the principal commodities then brought from India
to Europe, and their prices, is curious: Yet there is some reason to
suspect that the author, or editor rather, has sometimes interchanged
the bahar and the faracula, or its twentieth part, in the weights of
the commodities. Several of the names of things and places are
unintelligible, probably from corrupt transcription. - E.
[2] Meluza may possibly be the city of Malacca, then a great emporium of
Indian trade; but it is impossible to reconcile or explain Meluza in
Cananore twelve leagues from Calicut, and Meluza 740 leagues from
thence. - E.
[3] This may possibly refer to the island of Ramisseram in the straits of
Manaar, between Ceylon and the Coromandel coast, near which the famous
pearl fishery is still carried on. - E.
[4] Evidently Cambaya or Guzerat. - E.
[5] Probably Cassia lignea, or in rolled up bark like twigs, to
distinguish it from the drug called Cassia fistula. - E.
[6] Perhaps the coast of Habesh on the Red Sea. - E.
[7] Probably a typographical error for China. - E.
[8] Alluding to some part of the coast of Arabia. - E.
[9] Perhaps Zedoary, repeated afterwards under its right name. - E.
[10] Same and Zan probably are meant to indicate some of the Indian
islands. Same may be Sumatra. Zan may be some port in Zangibar, on the
eastern coast of Africa.
