[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 151.1.6 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 151.1.6 Travels in India (Ball) 151.1.6 - **Language:** English ### [151.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1.6) For to say the truth, the commanders and those subordinate to them in authority in the factories know well how to appropriate large sums for their own benefit, to the great detriment of the Company; and as they cannot do so without having an understanding with the broker, he does the same on his own account, those below him also taking what they can. I made an estimate once of all the money of which the Company is defrauded on the trade in each factory, and I ascertained that as they annually defraud it in all the factories taken together to the extent of 1,500,000 or 1,600,000 livres they have abundant opportunity for consoling themselves. For to speak but of Persia alone, I have known commanders who, both by the sale of spices and on the purchase of silks, have placed apart for themselves in one year more than 100,000 piastres. They practice marvellous artifices which it is difficult for the Company, especially the directors and shareholders of the Company, who are in Holland, to discover. For, as regards the commanders in India, the fact must become very patent before the General of Batavia and his council have recourse to law, and most frequently the commanders close the mouth of the Avocat Fiscal, to whom they make a present which amounts to more than the third part which would come to him if all were confiscated, another third belongs to the Company, and the other to the Hospital. - [Previous: 151.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1.5) - [Next: 151.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1.7) - [Up: 151.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.151.1.6) · Pramāṇa