Travels in India (Tavernier) 85.2.6

85.2.6

To remedy this disorder it is requisite to profit by the mistake of the Dutch, and to do that which they now practise, having realised the extent of this injury after an experience of many years. For, in fine, the Commander is not ignorant of the profit which there is for officials of the house when they load the goods of foreigners on the vessels of the Company, be it for Hormuz, for Bassora, for Mocha, or other places. With respect to Mocha on the Red Sea, the merchants who trade there are allowed one bale free of customs; it is for this reason that among their bales they have always one five or six times larger than the others, which ten or twelve men have difficulty in carrying. The freight of some vessels amounts to 60,000 rupees, and when the Commander and broker are in league, they sometimes make a third, and even as much as a half, as their profits, over and above which a vessel never leaves without the Commander and his wife presenting some rewards to their most faithful servants and slaves of both sexes. To one they give permission to ship six bales, to another eight, and to another ten, more or less, and as the bales in these countries pay freight according to the value of the goods, when a merchant has any bale of great value, amounting sometimes to 20,000 rupees, he agrees for the freight at the best price he is able, and abates one half, at least, with one of these servants or slaves who has received this free permission from his master or mistress.