Travels in India (Tavernier) 152.1.4

152.1.4

When the King’s people came to conduct me to the palace, not seeing my brother with them, I was on the point of refusing to follow them, and I recalled before my eyes the manner in which the King of Achin had treated M. Renaud, who had left Nantes with his brother on the vessels which M. de Montmorency sent to India. I shall record the history of it in a few words, and this short digression will possibly not be displeasing to the reader. A French Company of Commerce was established for India, whither it sent four vessels, three large and one small one of eight guns, upon which among others the two brothers Renaud, who entered the service of the Company, embarked. Their journey was the shortest and the most fortunate of any ever heard of, as they arrived before Bantam in less than four months. The King received them with great joy, and in eight or ten days’ time he gave them as much pepper as they asked for, and at a very fair price, they having received it at more than 20 per cent cheaper than the Dutch do.