Travels in India (Tavernier) 107.1

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.