Travels in India (Tavernier) 107: CHAPTER XXV · Concerning the places from whence gold is obtained in Asia and Africa.
Travels in India (Ball) 107
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CHAPTER XXV · Concerning the places from whence gold is obtained in Asia and Africa.
107.1
Japan consists of many islands to the east of China trending northwards, some even believing that Niphon, which is the largest of them, is, as it were, in contact with the mainland; it is the region of all Asia which furnishes the greatest quantity of gold, but it is thought that the principal part of it comes from the island of Formosa, from whence it is carried to Japan. Since the Dutch have held Formosa they have been unable to develop the trade of the particular locality where they believe the gold to occur. Gold also comes from China, and the Chinese exchange it for the silver taken to them, for, price for price, they prefer silver to gold, because they have no mines of silver. This gold is of one of the lowest standards of any found in Asia. The island of Celebes or Macassar also produces gold, which is obtained from the rivers, where it occurs mingled with the sand. In the island of Achin or Sumatra, after the rainy season, and when the waters in the streams have subsided, veins of gold are found in the pebbles of different sizes which the rains have carried down from the mountains facing the north-east. On the west coast of the same island, where the Dutch go to ship pepper, the peasants bring an abundance of gold, but it is of very low standard, even inferior to the gold of China.
107.2
Towards Thibet, which is identical with the Caucasus of the Ancients, in the territories of a Raja beyond the Kingdom of Kashmir, there are three mountains close to one another, one of which produces gold of excellent quality, another grenat, and another lapis. Finally, gold comes from the kingdom of Tipperah, of which I shall give a description in the following Book, but this gold is of bad quality, being of about the same standard as the gold of China. These are all the places in Asia from whence gold comes, and I shall now say something of the gold of Africa, and of the region where it is obtained in greatest abundance. It should be remarked, under this head, that the governor of Mozambique has subject to him the commanders of Sofala and of Shupanga. The first of these two small governments is on the river Sena 60 leagues from its mouth, and the other is 10 leagues higher up. From the mouth of the river up to these places on both sides there are many settlements of negroes, each of which is commanded by a Portuguese. These Portuguese have for a long time been masters of the country, and act like petty princes, making war against one another on the smallest pretext, there being some among them who have as many as 5000 Cafres, who are their slaves. The Governor of Mozambique, to whom these petty princes are subject, furnishes them with cloth and other necessary goods, each of which he sells according to its market value.
107.3
When the Governor of Mozambique leaves Goa to assume possession of his government, which is the best of those subject to the Viceroy, he takes with him a great quantity of goods, and especially calicoes dyed black. His correspondents at Goa also send him every year two vessels laden with the same goods, which he forwards to Sofala and Shupanga, and up to the town of Monomotapa, capital of a Kingdom of the same name, otherwise called Voubebaran — the town being about 150 leagues distant from Shupanga. The ruler of all this country takes the name of Emperor of Monomotapa, and his authority extends up to the confines of Preste Jan. It is from these territories of Monomotapa whence the purest and finest African gold comes, and it is extracted without great difficulty by excavating in the ground to a depth of only 2 or 3 feet. In certain places in this country which are not inhabited, because there is no water there, gold is found on the surface of the ground in nuggets of all kinds of shapes and weights, and there are some of these nuggets which weigh an ounce. I have had, as curiosities, some pieces which I have presented to my friends, and some of them weighed as much as 2 ounces. I still have one weighing an ounce and a half or thereabouts. When at Surat with M. d’Ardilière, son of M. du Jardin, of whom I have made mention in my account of Persia, an Ambassador from the King of Abyssinia arrived, whom we went to salute.
107.4
I presented him with a pair of pocket pistols decorated with silver, and having invited us to dine with him he showed us the presents which he was carrying to the Great Mogul on behalf of the King, his master. They consisted of fourteen beautiful horses, which were all that remained out of thirty he had taken from his country, the others having died in the vessel when crossing the sea from Mocha to Surat. Also a number of young slaves of both sexes ; and finally, this being the most important and worthy to be admired, there was a tree of gold 2 feet 4 inches high, and about 5 or 6 inches round the stem. It had ten or twelve branches, some of which were nearly half a foot long and an inch broad, others being smaller. In some parts of the large branches there was to be seen some roughness, which in a manner resembled buds. The roots of this tree which had been thus naturally formed, were small and short, the longest not being more than 4 or 5 inches. The people of this Kingdom of Monomotapa, knowing the time that the calicoes and other goods arrive at Sofala and Shupanga, come punctually to provide themselves with what they require.
107.5
Numerous Cafres from other Kingdoms and Provinces also come, and the Governors of these two towns sell them calicoes and other things of which they have need, trusting for the payment which they undertake to make the following year by bringing gold, to the amount agreed upon, for if the Governor did not trust them thus there would be no trade between the Portuguese and the Cafres. It is almost the same with the Ethiopians who every year carry gold to Cairo, of which I have spoken in my account of the Seraglio of the Grand Seigneur. These people of Monomotapa do not live a long time on account of the bad water in their country. At the age of twenty-five years they begin to be dropsical, so that it is considered a marvel when they exceed forty years in age. The Province where the river Sena rises is called Moukaran, and belongs to another King, commencing at 100 leagues or thereabouts above Sinupanga. The people of this Province find much gold dust in several rivers which join the Sena; but this gold is inferior to the other kind, and it is also taken to Sinupanga and Sofala. The country is very healthy, and the inhabitants live as long as those of Europe. In certain years Cafres arrive there from much farther than the Province of Moukaran, and even from the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope.
107.6
The Portuguese know of the country and its name, but have not induced the Cafres to reveal more than that their country, called Sabia, is governed by a King, and that they generally spend four months on the road to Sofala. The gold which they bring is excellent, and is in nuggets, like that of Monomotapa; they say that they find it on high mountains, where they only have to excavate the ground for it to the depth of 10 or 12 feet. They also bring an abundance of elephants’ tusks, and say that there are so many elephants in the country that they are to be seen in troops in the fields, and that all the palisades of the fortresses and parks are made of elephants’ tusks; this I have also observed elsewhere. The ordinary food of these Cafres is the flesh of this animal, and four of them, with their assegais, which are a kind of short pike, are able to bring an elephant to the ground and kill it. All the water in their country is very bad, which is the reason why they have swollen legs, and it is a marvel when any one is exempt.
107.7
Above Sofala there is a country commanded by a King called the King of Baroe. In some part of his country there grows a root which is an inch thick, and of a yellow colour. It cures all kinds of fever by causing vomiting; but as very little of it is found the King forbids, under severe penalty, any of it to be carried out of his Kingdom. While Dom Philippe de Mascarehnas was Viceroy of Goa the King of Baroe sent him a piece of this root about 3 feet long, garnished with gold at both ends, and with rings of gold in the middle. The Viceroy having received it made great account of it, and causing it to be cut up into several pieces presented them to certain of his friends. He sent two to Surat to Mr. Fremlin, the English President, who showed them to me, and having placed a piece of the root on my tongue I found the taste very bitter. As for silver mines, there are none in the whole of Asia, save only in the Kingdom of Japan. Some years ago very rich mines of tin were discovered at Delegore, Sangore, Bordelon, and Bata; this has done some injury to the English, because there is no longer need of their tin as formerly, sufficient being now produced in Asia. Tin is only used in this country to tin cooking-pots, kettles, and other copper utensils.