[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) › 75 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 75: Concerning Spices. Travels in India (Ball) 75 - **Language:** English ### Concerning Spices. ### [75.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.1) Cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmegs, mace, cloves, and cinnamon are the several kinds of spices which are known to us. I place cardamom and ginger as the two first, because cardamom grows in the Kingdom of Bijapur and ginger in that of the Great Mogul, and the other kinds of spices are imported from abroad to Surat, where they constitute an important article of commerce. Cardamom is the best kind of spice, but is very scarce, and as but a small quantity is grown in the place I have indicated, it is only used in Asia at the tables of the nobles. 500 livres of cardamom are sold at from 100 to 110 reals. Ginger comes in large quantities from Ahmadabad, where it grows in greater abundance than in any other part of Asia, and it is difficult to realise the quantity which is exported in a candied condition to foreign countries. ### [75.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.2) Pepper is of two kinds, one of small size, and the other much larger; these are respectively called small and large pepper. The large kind is chiefly from Malabar, and Tuticorin and Calicut are the towns where it is purchased. Some of it also comes from the Kingdom of Bijapur, and is sold at Rajapur, a small town of that kingdom. The Dutch who purchase it from the Malabaris do not pay in cash for it, but exchange for it many kinds of merchandise, as cotton, opium, vermilion, and quicksilver, and it is this large pepper which is exported to Europe. As for the small pepper which comes from Bantam, Achin, and other places eastwards, it is not sent out of Asia, where much is consumed, especially by the Muhammadans. For in a pound of small pepper there are double the number of seeds that there are in a pound of the large; and the more grains in the pillaus, into which they are thrown by the handful, the more are seen, besides which the large pepper is too hot for the mouth. This small pepper, delivered at Surat, has been in some years sold at the rate of 13 or 14 mahmūdis the maund, and I have seen it bought at this price by the English, who export it to Hormuz, Bassora, and the Red Sea. As for the large pepper which the Hollanders fetch from the coast of Malabar, 500 livres of it brings them only 38 reals, but on the merchandise which they give in exchange they gain 100 per cent. ### [75.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.3) One can get it for the equivalent in money of 28 or 30 reals cash, but to purchase it in that way would be much more costly than the Dutch method. As for large pepper, without going beyond the territories of the Great Mogul there is enough to be obtained in the Kingdom of Gujarāt, and it is generally sold at the rate of from 12 to 15 mahmūdis the maund. The wood of long pepper costs but four mahmūdis. Nutmeg, mace, clove, and cinnamon are the only spices which the Dutch have in their own hands. The three first come from the Molucca Islands, and the fourth, i.e. cinnamon, comes from the island of Ceylon. ### [75.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.4) There is one thing remarkable about the nutmeg, namely, that the tree is never planted. This has been confirmed to me by many persons who have dwelt for many years in the country. They have assured me that when the nuts are ripe certain birds which arrive from the islands to the south swallow them whole, and reject them afterwards without having digested them, and that these nuts, being then covered by a viscous and sticky substance, fall to the ground, take root, and produce trees, which would not happen if they were planted in the ordinary way. I have here a remark to make upon the subject of the Bird of Paradise. These birds, which are very fond of the nutmeg, assemble in numbers in the season to gorge themselves with it, and they arrive in flocks as flights of field-fares do during the vintage. As this nut is strong it intoxicates these birds and causes them to fall dead upon the spot, and immediately the ants which abound in the country eat off their feet. It is on this account that it is commonly said that a Bird of Paradise with feet has never been seen. This is, however, not precisely true, for I have seen three or four with their feet intact, upon which the ants had not had time to operate. A French merchant, named Contour, sent one which had feet, from Aleppo, to King Louis XIII, who prized it much as it was so beautiful. ### [75.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.5) But notwithstanding all the Dutch can do to prevent it, you can obtain cloves at Macassar, in the Isle of Celebes, without the spice passing through their hands, because the islanders buy in secret from the captains and soldiers of the forts belonging to the Dutch at the places where the cloves grow, taking them in exchange rice and other necessaries of life, without which they would be unable to subsist, being miserably supported. Whilst commerce was vigorously pushed by the English, they acted as though their object was to destroy that of the Dutch. After having bought a parcel of cloves at Macassar they sent them to all the places where the Dutch were accustomed to sell them, and giving them at a cheap price, and sometimes even at a loss, by this means they ruined the clove trade of the Dutch. For it is an established custom in India that the first who fixes the price of any article of merchandise constrains all others, by his example, to sell at the same rate during the year. It is for this reason that the Dutch have established a factory at Macassar, where their officers raise the price of cloves as much as they can when the King of the Island opens the sale. They make considerable presents to the King in order to induce him to uphold the price, which neither the English nor the Portuguese, in the miserable state in which their affairs are to-day, are able to prevent. ### [75.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.6) Whenever the people of Macassar have cloves they pay for the goods brought to them with that spice; payment is also made with tortoiseshell, which is in great demand in all the Empire of the Mogul and in Europe: it is also made with gold dust, by which there is 6 or 7 per cent to be gained instead of its being lost on the money of the island, although it be gold, because the King adulterates it too much. The four places where cloves grow in abundance are the land of Amboine, the land of Ellias, the land of Seram, and the land of Bouro. The Islands of Banda, which are six in number, known as Nero, Lontour, Pouleay, Roseguin, Polleron, and Grenapuis, bear nutmegs in great abundance. The Island of Grenapuis is about 6 leagues in circuit, and culminates in a peak from whence much fire issues. The Island of Damne, where the nutmeg also grows in great abundance and of large size, was discovered in the year 1647 by Abel Tasman, a Dutch commander. The prices of cloves and nutmegs, as I have seen them sold to the Dutch in Surat in certain years, were as follows: — The maund of Surat is equal to 40 seers, which make 34 of our livres at 16 onces to the livre. A maund of cloves was sold for 103½ mahmūdīs. A maund of mace was sold for 157½ mahmūdis „ nutmegs „ 56½ All the cinnamon comes at present from the Island of Ceylon. The tree which produces it closely resembles our willows and has three barks. The first and second only are removed, and the latter is considered to be much the best. ### [75.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.7) As for the third, it is not touched, for if the knife cuts it it causes the tree to die. This is an art which the natives learn from their youth. The cinnamon costs the Dutch more than is generally believed. For the King of the Island of Ceylon, who is otherwise called King of Kandy, from the name of the capital town, being a sworn enemy of the Dutch because they did not keep their promise with him, as I have elsewhere related, sends troops every year with the intention of surprising them when they go to collect the cinnamon. It is for this reason that the Dutch are obliged to have 1500 or 1600 armed men to defend an equal number of men while engaged in removing the bark of the cinnamon, and they are obliged to feed these labourers for all the remainder of the year in addition to the expenditure on the garrisons in several parts of the island. These great outlays enhance the price of the cinnamon; it was not so in the time of the Portuguese, who had not all this expenditure, but placed all to profit. The cinnamon tree bears a fruit like an olive, but it is not eaten. The Portuguese used to gather quantities of it, which they placed in chaldrons with water together with the small points of the ends of the branches, and they boiled the whole till the water was evaporated; when cooled, the upper portion of what remained was like a paste of white wax, and at the bottom of the chaldron there was camphor. ### [75.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75.8) Of this paste they made tapers, which they used in the churches during the service at the annual festivals, and as soon as the tapers were lighted all the church was perfumed with an odour of cinnamon. They have often sent them to Lisbon for the King’s chapel. Formerly the Portuguese procured cinnamon from the countries belonging to Rajas in the neighbourhood of Cochin. But since the Dutch have taken this town, and have become masters of the coast of Ceylon, where the cinnamon grows, seeing that that of the neighbourhood of Cochin injured the trade, because, not being so good as that of Ceylon, it was sold at a low price, they destroyed all the places where it grew, and thus there is no cinnamon now but that of Ceylon, which is altogether in their hands. When the Portuguese held this coast the English bought cinnamon from them and ordinarily paid 50 mahmūdis for a maund. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.75) · Pramāṇa