Travels in India (Tavernier) 77: BOOK II

77

Gum-lac, of which I shall speak below 7½ mahmūdis. „ „ washed 10 „ „ „ in sticks of sealing-wax 40 „
Some kinds cost 50 and 60 mahmūdis per maund, and even more when musk is added to it.
Saffron of Surat, which is only used for colours . White Cumin 8 „ Black Cumin 3 „ Arlet, small 3 „ Incense, from the Arabian coast 3 „ Mirrha. The good quality called Mirrha-gilet 30 „ Mirrha-bolte, from Arabia 15 „ Cassia 2 „ Sugar-Candy 18 „ Asutinat, a kind of grain which is very hot 1 „ Fenouil (Fr.), large 3½ „ „ small and very hot 1½ „ Oupelote root 14 „ Cointre 5 „ Anzerout, from Persia 120 „ Aloes Sucotrin, from Arabia . . . . 28 mahmudis. Reglisse . . . . 4 ,, Vez Cabouli, a kind of root . . . . 12 ,, Aloe-wood, in large pieces . . . . 200 ,, „ in small pieces . . . . 400 ,, There is a sort of aloe-wood which, if very oily, costs per . . . . 4000 ,,
I shall now make some special remarks about gum-lac, sugar, opium, tobacco, and coffee.
Gum-lac for the most part comes from Pegu, but it also comes from the Kingdom of Bengal; and it is dearer in the latter places because the inhabitants of the country extract from it that beautiful scarlet colour which they use to dye and paint their cotton cloths. Nevertheless the Dutch buy it to export to Persia, where it is used to produce the same colour which the Persians employ in their dyes. That which remains after the colour is extracted is only used to embellish toys made in the lathe, of which the people are very fond, and to make sealing-wax; and be it for the one or the other purpose, they mix whatever colour they desire with it. That which comes from Pegu is the cheapest, though it is as good as that of other countries; what causes it to be sold cheaper is that the ants, making it there on the ground in heaps, which are sometimes of the size of a cask, mix with it a quantity of dirt. On the other hand, in Bengal, the district from whence they bring the lac being a kind of heath full of shrubs, the ants secrete it round the ends of branches, which makes it fair and clean, and it is consequently dearer. The inhabitants of Pegu do not employ it as a dye because they receive their cotton cloths ready dyed from Bengal and Masulipatam; and, moreover, they are so uncivilised that they do not engage in any art. There are many women at Surat who gain their livelihood by preparing lac after the colour has been extracted. They give it whatever colour they wish, and make it into sticks like Spanish wax. The English and Dutch Companies export about 150 chests annually. Lac in sticks does not cost more than 10 sols the livre, and it is worth 10 sols the ounce in France, though it be half mixed with resin.
Moist sugar is exported in quantity from the Kingdom of Bengal, and there is great traffic in it at Hugly, Patna, Dacca, and in other places. On the occasion of my last visit to India I went very far into Bengal even up to the frontiers of the neighbouring states. I heard a thing from many old people of the country which should be recorded. It is that sugar kept for thirty years becomes poison, and that there is nothing more dangerous or prompter in producing effect. Loaf-sugar is made at Ahmadabad, where the people understand how to refine it; and it is called on this account royal sugar. These loaves of sugar generally weigh from 8 to 10 livres.
Opium comes from Burhanpur, a good mercantile town between Surat and Agra. The Dutch go there for it, and exchange their pepper for it.
Tobacco also grows abundantly in the neighbourhood of Burhanpur; and in certain years I have known the people to neglect saving it because they had too much, and they allowed half [the crop] to decay.
Coffee grows neither in Persia nor in India.