[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) › 85.3 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 85.3 Travels in India (Ball) 85.3 - **Language:** English ### [85.3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.1) These people are able, moreover, to make use of still another artifice. If the merchant is a friend of the Commander he settles with him, and pretending to have bought the bales of merchandise from the Company, which is free from all custom, he is released by paying the 2 per cent, the same as all those who have bought goods from the Company. The following is the remedy which can be brought to bear on this irregularity. It is necessary to establish in the principal factory a fiscal counsellor to act in the name of the King and by his authority. He should be independent of the General of the Company, in order that he may have the right to keep an eye upon his actions as upon those of the least of the officers. A man of position is required for this post, who will be resolute and watchful, and who has under him a representative at each factory. Each of these representatives, in the exercise of his duties, should observe what is indicated in the following articles:— As soon as he sees a vessel belonging to the Company in the offing, he should go at once, or sometimes, according to the season, he should await till it has cast anchor. Then the captain of the vessel should deliver no letter to any other person, but should place all in the hands of the representative, who will deliver those of the Company to the Commander. ### [85.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.2) He should take two or three persons with him, who will remain on the vessel until it is unloaded, to see that all that is landed belongs to the Company. It is especially necessary that he should take care that the people whom he takes with him do not get drunk, for it often happens on these occasions that the officers of the vessel purposely intoxicate them when they have some contraband goods to send off the vessel, which they cleverly give to the fishing boats which bring them fish and other supplies; this is done generally at night. If it is a place where there are neighbouring islands, as the time is approximately known when the vessels ought to arrive, the representative of the Fiscal Counsellor should send beforehand, as far off as he can, two or three small boats, to be on the look-out round these islands, and as soon as they have discovered the vessel, they should join her, to prevent any contraband goods being landed in the islands, to which the bribed persons might come to carry them secretly to whomsoever they are addressed. He should confiscate all that he discovers in the vessel not bearing the mark of the Company, or which does not belong to foreign merchants. He should be able to dismiss from his post the officer to whom the goods belong, if a subaltern ; but if it is one of the superiors he should give notice of it to the Chief of the Factory, who, with his Council, will be able to degrade him from his office and confiscate his salary. ### [85.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.3) He may order all letters of private persons to be opened to detect this contraband trade and the parties to it. This is why the captain of the vessel is obliged to hand them over to him ; but he may not open the Company’s letters. The (proceeds of this) confiscation of goods should be applied, one third to the poor of the nation, another third to the Company, and the remainder to the Fiscal and his officers, and this it is which the Dutch do. He will also represent the King in all criminal and civil processes which come before the Commander and his Council, and he will be able to requisition and take part in the name of his Majesty in all kinds of actions. Provided always that this officer is vigilant and a man of integrity, he will be able to render considerable service to the Company. If the English had established such an one in their factories, they would have had greater profit ; but the officers of that nation pretend that there is no superior power capable of withdrawing the privilege from them after they have once completed their apprenticeship in London, and hold the certificate of their master of having served him well for seven years. ### [85.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.4) This injunction against private trade cannot be too strictly imposed. It is observed to-day with so much strictness amongst the Dutch that when a vessel of that Company is ready to leave Amsterdam, a Burgomaster administers to the captain and all on board a solemn oath that they will content themselves with their wages, two months’ of which are given in advance, and that they will not trade on their own account ; but the conduct of the Company in respect to their wages compels them, in spite of their oaths, to aid themselves by secret traffic to subsist while in their employment. This is the artifice which they make use of to satisfy their consciences. When they have arrived in India, and see themselves in the way of obtaining some good employment, they marry as quickly as possible, and trade secretly in their wives’ names ; this is not always permitted. And they imagine that in this way their conscience is relieved. But they are sometimes caught, and I shall give a somewhat amusing example of it, from among many others which I could recount. ### [85.3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.5) The captain of a vessel, a rich man, who troubled himself little about making court to the wives of the Chiefs of the Company, became a butt for their attacks, and was one day stung by some remarks made by Madame la Generale, who was talking to him at Batavia in the presence of many ladies, for which, without saying a word then, and well knowing all their intrigues, he resolved to avenge himself on the first occasion, which offered itself in this manner. When this captain was about to return from PULICAT to Batavia, the wife of the Governor of the former place, who was in league with Madame la Generale in some private trade, believing that the captain was one of her friends, begged him to ship secretly eight bales of very valuable goods, and to have particular care that they were not wetted, in order to take them to Batavia; this the captain promised to do, and he placed the bales in a separate place. Having arrived at Batavia, he went first, according to custom, to salute the General and to hand him the letters belonging to the Company. The General is in the habit of keeping the captains to dinner or to supper, according to the hour of their arrival. There are always present on these occasions some Councillors of India, to hear the news, who remain to dine with the General. At the close of the repast the General asked the captain what news he had from Pulicat, and if the Governor and his wife had not asked for anything to be done for them. ### [85.3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.6) “Nothing,” replied the captain coldly, “except that Madame, the Governor’s wife, specially charged me with eight bales of goods, and to keep a good eye on them, so that they should not get damp, being articles of great value, and to deliver them on my arrival into the hands of Madame la Generale.” This little-expected reply much surprised the General and those of the Council who were dining with him, and still more Madame la Generale, to whom the husband, turning, asked somewhat rudely if she carried on trade with the wife of the Governor of PULICAT, which, according to the laws of the Company, would have been criminal. Madame la Generale having stoutly defended herself, protesting that she knew nothing of what the captain had said, the General then told the latter that he must be mistaken, and there and then ordered the Fiscal to go and seize the bales, and expose them on the quay to see if they would be claimed by any merchant. After they had remained there for some days without any one presenting himself to ask for them, they were confiscated ; and thus, without great noise, the captain had his revenge for the displeasure he had received at the hands of Madame la Generale. ### [85.3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.7) All the subaltern officers of the Factories should be promoted by steps, from that of the post of sub-writer to that of Commander, so that the expectation of this promotion should encourage them to live well, and acquire all the niceties and details of the Indian trade in order to qualify for the highest posts. It is of the greatest importance not to show any favour in this, and that interest should not give advancement to any one without his having passed through all the steps ; for one of the things which does most injury to the Dutch trade is that for some years back the higher classes in Holland have sent their sons to India to seek for the posts which secret trade makes so profitable. The access which they obtain, be it to the principal officers or to their wives, whose power is great in this country, causes them to be preferred, when any post becomes vacant, to those who have no other recommendation than that of their long services. ### [85.3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.8) It is true that some years ago the General at Batavia and his Council, seeing the injury this did to the Company, wrote to the Directors that they may send people to India of whatever quality they please, but that they should not send any more with recommendations; that in the future they would be of no avail, but would rather injure the advancement of their friends, it not being fair that favour should precede merit; that the General and his Council had sufficiently good eyes to recognise the fitness of those sent, and would employ them according as they were worthy and as it was considered proper. These are all the remarks which I have been able to make in reference to the discipline of the Factories and the methods that a new Company ought to observe for its establishment in the East Indies. ### [85.3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3.9) But I was forgetting one thing, which is of importance for a commercial Company, and to which it should pay attention. Up to this hour the Dutch observe this precaution, that they send to India neither captain nor pilot who has not passed through all degrees, from a simple ship’s boy up to the most important charge, and does not know how to take observations, and is not thoroughly acquainted with the coasts. Moreover these captains are not of delicate constitutions, and content themselves for food with a piece of cheese or a slice of beef which has been in pickle for two or three years. And truly they are to be imitated in that respect. It is altogether different with some other nations, who often place on vessels captains who have never seen the sea, and whom favour alone immediately elevates to this post. In addition to which, when they embark they generally require elaborate cuisine appliances, plenty of sheep, calves, fowl, and turkeys, which consume much water, and soil the vessel with their droppings. Economy is the great support of commercial Companies, and it is an article to which those who are Directors should give their particular attention. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3) · Pramāṇa