The Turks did not enjoy the commerce for many years, for after the year 1497[23] the Lusitanian banners in India conquered their coasts, and the Portuguese, masters of the navigation of the Orient, blockaded the ports of the two gulfs—the Persian and the Arabic—with their fleets, preventing the entrance of that commerce there; and, conducting it by the Atlantic Ocean, they made the great city of Lisboa universal ruler over all that India produces. Thither [i.e., to Lisboa] resorted immediately not only the European nations, but also those from Africa and Asia, by which they despoiled the Turks of the source of their greatest incomes, forcing them to beg from these kingdoms what all had formerly bought from theirs. The wealth of Portugal increased so greatly by the commerce of India that, in the time of the king Don Manuel, payments of money in copper were more esteemed than those in gold. That trade furnished the profits with which to maintain wars, squadrons, and great presidios in the Orient, with which the Portuguese defended their coasts and seas, not only from the native kings, but also from the fleets that the Turks sent up through the Red Sea in order to recover what they so resented losing. Those fleets always returned either conquered or without the result for which they had sailed, until, having lost hopes of the restoration of that commerce through their lands, they desisted from the attempt—contenting themselves with some ships which, with the danger of encountering the Portuguese ships, they take to certain ports and lade with such spice as the fear of robbers allows them to take.
Number 26. Entrance of the Dutch into India, and their commerce
The commerce of the Orient lasted in Lisboa, without any other nation but the Portuguese sharing it, for almost one hundred years, which appears to have been the fatal century of their career. But as always they set upon that trade the value which has been made known in the wars of Flandes and the prohibition of trading with Olanda, their rebels determined to try to secure it; and in the year 1595 their first armed fleet entered India, to carry a portion of the spice to their islands, imparting it through them to all the northern nations, and even to those of the Levant by way of the strait of Gibraltar. Returning merchandise of great richness, they introduced a new trade, so remunerative as may be understood from the peril that they undergo, and from the expenses that they incur, in order to maintain it. Whatever they have acquired by that voyage (and it is not little) they have pillaged from this crown. The Dutch spreading through the Orient, recognizing the wealth of those regions, established their business, took part in barter there, erected factories, built presidios, fortified ports, and (what can well cause more anxiety) collected sea forces, by which they have succeeded even in driving out the Spaniards from their houses, in disquieting them, and, at times, in blockading them. They began to go out to the ocean with this trade, becoming the general pirates of the two Indias—where there are those who affirm that they have pillaged more than one hundred and thirty millions in less than forty years. They established the chief seat of this commerce in Bantan,[24] the principal port of Java Major, whither people go from all the islands—Banda, Maluco, Gilolo, Sumatra, Amboino—and from the mainland of Coroman [Goroman—MS.], Siam, Pegu, Canboxa [Ganboxa—MS.], Patan, Champa, and China. Turks, Arabs, Persians, Gusarates, Malays, Jaos, Egyptians, and Japanese go there. Consequently, with the presence of so many nations and so various sects (all of which are evil) Bantan may better be called “the Oriental Ginebra [i.e., Geneva].” There are two markets or fairs held there daily, at which more than thirty thousand persons come together to buy and sell.
Number 27. Commerce of the Orient, which the Dutch carry on from Ba[n]tan
The commerce acquired by the Dutch from that place is notable and large; for it consists of all the drugs, perfumes, and products found in those seas. The money carried by the Dutch is Castilian silver, as that is the kind that is most valued throughout the Orient. The money that circulates in the country is that of the leaden caxies [i.e., cash], of which one thousand five hundred are given for one real of silver. Two hundred caxies make one satac, and five sataques one sapacou. Rice is carried from the islands of Macaser, Sanbaya, and others. Rice forms the chief food bought by the Dutch, not only for the supply of their forts and fleets, but as a means of gain in that same port. Cocoanuts are taken [thither] from Balamban; this is another product that is consumed widely, and is of great use. They go to the confines of the island for salt, which is very profitable in Ba[n]tan [Bamtan—MS.]; and which is of greater profit, taking it, as they do, to Sumatra [Samatra—MS.], where they exchange it for wax from Pegú, white pepper, and various articles made from tortoise-shell. Twelve leguas away lies Jacatra, whence, and from Cranaon, Timor, and Dolimban, they get honey; and from Japara, sugar; from Querimara [Quarimara—MS.], east of Bornio, iron;[25] from Pera and Gustean, tin and lead; from China come linens, silks, and porcelains. Their most abundant article of trade is pepper, for huge quantities of it are gathered in Java and Sumatra. And inasmuch as even those islands do not suffice to fill all their ships, they buy the pepper in other parts where they go: as on the coast of Malabar, as far as the cape of Comori—a land that produces whatever is taken to Portugal, and that which the Moors carry to the Red Sea; at Balagate, that which goes to Persia and Arabia; at Malaca, that which goes to Pegu, Sian, and China. The large variety comes from Bengala and Java, while the Canarin, which is the least valuable, is gathered from Goa and Malabar. The best is bought at Bantan, for forty thousand caxies (which amount to 27 reals in silver), per sack of 45 cates,[26] or 56 Castilian libras, and it sells at one-half real [per libra?]. The ships which are unable to lade there—either because many ships go there, or because they are looking for wares that are not carried to their markets, or because they try to get them cheaper at their home market—go to other factories and places of trade. They go even to Meca in the Arabian Gulf, and cast anchor in Juda, twelve leguas away. For that voyage they carry drugs, food, and Chinese merchandise, which they sell for silver money—of which there is a quantity stamped with the arms of your Majesty in this kingdom, while the rest of the money consists of Turkish ducados. With that they go to other ports, and buy very precious commodities, as money is more precious [in those ports] than anything else. They get the aromatic mace from the island of Banda, which belongs to the Filipinas, and where Jacobo Cornelio left the first factors in the year 600; and in that of 608, Pedro Guillelmo Verrufio erected a fortress, although at the cost of his life. There, then, they barter the mace and the nutmeg, which is grown in no other part of the world, and obtain it there in so great quantity that they can lade annually one thousand toneladas of it. They take it dry, in order to carry it to Europa; and to Meca, Ormuz, and all the Orient in a conserve; for it is highly esteemed, as it is a very delicate relish. With mace, pepper, nutmeg, and other drugs they go to Pegu and Sian, where they trade rubies and wax in their factories. They barter those substances in Sumatra for pepper, which they also carry to Ormuz. There and at certain ports of Cambaya, they buy indigo (a royal product, and of which there is a monopoly in India), manna (a medicinal drug of Arabia and Persia), and rhubarb. What they are most eager to buy at Ormuz are the pearls that are fished from the Persian Gulf as far as Besorà. They also get them between Ceylan and Comori, between Borneo and Anion, and in Cochinchina. At Ormuz they trade most for precious stones[27]—fine bezoars, turquoises, chrysolites, amethysts, jacinths, garnets, topazes from Cahanor, Calecut, and Cambaya, copper wire, and not very good agates. They have a factory in Patan, since—although they do not desire the trade of those people, as it consists only of silver money—a great quantity of Chinese merchandise is found there; and, as the Dutch cannot enter that country, they barter there [i.e., at Patan] for silk in the skein and woven, porcelain ware, and other things, and for calambuco wood, which is found in Sian, Malaca, Sumatra, and Cambaya. They get ginger from Malabar, not to take to Olanda—where they have too much with what they plunder in the Windward [Barlovento] Islands—but to take to Ormuz, which with that from Malaca, Dabul, and Bacain is traded in Persia [Percia—MS.] and Arabia. They trade cardamomum in Malabar, Calecut, and Cananor, [that plant] being used throughout the Orient to sweeten the breath. From the coasts of Sofala, Melinde, and Mozambique, they get gold, ivory, amber, and ebony, which they also get from Champá, whose mountains apparently raise no other [varieties of] woods. From Bengala they get civet, and mother-of-pearl. The best benzoin is that of Ceylan and Malaca; but as the Dutch have but little trade in those parts, they get along with that of the Javas, which is not so good, and with some of fine quality that they obtain in fairs and ports. The same is true of cinnamon which they are unable to obtain at Ceylan, except through third persons; accordingly, they secure but little, and content themselves with the wild cinnamon of Malabar, although it is very poor. Sandalwood was formerly the most profitable product in India, and was traded by the Portuguese. It was obtained in the island of Timor, where they had a fortress; but, as it is near Bantan, the Dutch have gained possession of it and its trade. This is the white sandalwood, for the red comes from Coromandel and Pegu. They buy snakewood [palo serpentino],[28] brought from Ceylan [Seilan—MS.], in the fairs of Sumatra; eaglewood from Coromandel; camphor in Sunda and Chincheo, but better in Borneo; myrobalans[29] in Cambaya, Balagate, and Malabar; incense from Arabia; myrrh from Abasia [Abaçia—MS.]; aloes-wood from Socotora; all of which they obtain at Ormuz. They trade but few diamonds, for the fine ones come from Bisnaga and Decan, and are taken to the fair of Lispor, between Goa and Cambaya; and since the Dutch do not go thither, they have no share in them, but they get some at the fair in Sumatra.
Number 28. Commerce in cloves, and how the Dutch entered it, and took possession of Maluco
The most noble product, and that which is must earnestly desired, as it is of the greatest profit and gain, is the clove. Cloves are produced in the celebrated islands of Maluco and that of Amboyno; and a little in the islands of Ires, Meytarana, Pulo, Cavali, Gilolo, Sabugo, Veranula,[30] and other islands adjacent to the Malucas—which are the chief producers of cloves, and produce the best quality. As now, it was formerly the most valued product of the Orient; and now it forms one of the royal commodities of its commerce. In the islands where it is grown, one bare costs 460 Castilian reals. [The bare] has 640 libras, so that it does not amount to 25[31] maravedis [per libra]; while it is sold for at least one ducado in Europa, so that each libra gains fourteen, which is an excessive profit. From the time when those islands were sold to the crown of Portugal, for the above-mentioned reason, for the sum of three hundred thousand ducados, that crown possessed them and the clove trade until the year 1598, when Jacobo Cornelio Nec went to India with eight ships. Dispersing those ships through its kingdoms, two of them went to Terrenate, where they left six factors, the first that Olanda had in that archipelago [In the margin: “In the year 11”]. In the year 601, of twelve other ships which entered the Orient, seven went to Amboyno, and by an arduous attempt gained the fort held there by the Portuguese; and although it was immediately recovered by Andres de Mendoca Furtado, commander of the fleet of India, and he, victorious, overran the islands of Maluco, subduing those of Tidore and Maguso [Magusié—MS.], he was unable to enter that of Terrenate [Teranete—MS.], where the Dutch had taken refuge and made its king rebel—the reënforcement of two hundred soldiers sent (in one ship and four fragatas, in charge of Captain Juan Galinato) by Don Pedro de Acuña, governor of Filipinas, being of no use. Thereupon everything was in a ruinous condition. In the year 605 [sic] Estevan Drage, who went to India with twelve galleons, attacked Amboyno and recaptured the fortress; and, going to Tidore and the rest of the Malucas, gained possession of them all.
Number 29. Recovery of Maluco by the governor of Filipinas, and its annexation thereto
That loss was felt keenly in España. The difficulty of relief from India having been recognized—as that country was so distant, and its forces were so broken; while those of the Filipinas, because they were greater and nearer, were more suitable—letters were sent to the governor of those islands, with orders that, aided by the Portuguese, they should endeavor to recover Maluco and restore it to this crown. Don Pedro de Acuña, having determined to make that expedition, and being already in possession of the aid that India could furnish, assembled a fine fleet in Iloylo, consisting of five large ships, six galleys, three Portuguese galliots, another open galliot, four junks, three champans, two English lanchas, and fourteen fragatas; and with them thirty-eight small boats, one thousand four hundred and twenty-three Spaniards, one thousand six hundred natives, seventy-five pieces of artillery, and everything else needed. With that he gained Terrenate, reduced Tidore, and subdued Siao, Sula, and Tacome, Gilolo, Sabugo, Gamocanora; and left those islands obedient. He moved the fortress of Terrenate to a better site, and garrisoned it with six hundred Spaniards, as it was the capital of all the other islands. Thus he placed on the enemy a curb, which some disasters have [since] removed. Inasmuch as the Malucos had been recovered by the Filipinas, and obtain from the latter the most certain succor, it was deemed inexpedient to return them to the crown of Portugal, or to its viceroy of India, which is so far distant from them, by the consent of both crowns; and a royal decree of October 29, 607, ordered that all the Malucas should remain, as at present, in charge of the governor of Filipinas.