[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 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 85: CHAPTER XIV Travels in India (Ball) 85 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [85.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1) — 7 parts - [85.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2) — 7 parts - [85.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.3) — 9 parts ### CHAPTER XIV ### [85.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.1) Concerning the Methods to be observed for establishing a new Commercial Company in the East Indies. Should any nation desire to establish a Commercial Company in the East Indies, before all things it ought to secure a good station in the country in order to be in a position to refit its ships, and to lay them by during the seasons when one is unable to go to sea. This want of a good harbour is the reason why the English Company has not progressed so well as it might have done, because it is impossible that a vessel can last for two years without being refitted, being subject to be eaten by worms. But since the journey from Europe to the East Indies is long, it is desirable that the Company should have some place at the Cape of Good Hope for watering and obtaining supplies of food, both when going and returning from the Indies, but especially when returning, because, as the vessels are then loaded, they are unable to carry a supply of water sufficient for a long time. In the meantime the Dutch have removed this advantage from the \[reach of\] other nations, by means of the fort which they have built at the Cape, and the English have done the same thing at St. ### [85.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.2) Helena, although, by the law of nations and the general consent of the people of Europe, liberty to use these two places of refreshment has been for many years equally free to the whole world. Nevertheless, there may still be some mouth of a river near the Cape where another fort might be constructed, and this position would be worth more than all that can be made in the island of Daufine, where there is no trade except in the purchase of cattle for the sake of their hides. But this trade is so insignificant that it would quickly ruin any company, and the French have hitherto engaged in it without any advantage to themselves. The conjecture which causes me to make the above suggestion is founded on the fact that in the year 1648 two Portuguese vessels coming from Lisbon to India, desiring to touch at the Cape to take in water, and not taking their observations correctly, the sea being very high, entered a bay 18 or 20 leagues from the Cape on the western side. They found in this bay a river, the water of which is very good, and the negroes of the country brought them supplies of all kinds of river-birds, fish, and beef. They remained there about fifteen days, and before leaving took two of the inhabitants to convey them to Goa, in order to teach them Portuguese, and endeavour to draw from them some information as to the trade which could be carried on there. ### [85.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.3) The Dutch Commander at Surat asked me to go to Goa, in order to ascertain what the Portuguese had learnt from these two negroes ; but a French engineer named Saint Amand, who had the supervision of the forts at Goa, told me that they had not been able to teach them a single word of the language, and had only guessed from their signs that they knew ambergris and elephant’s tusks. The Portuguese, nevertheless, did not doubt that they would find gold if they were able to trade with the interior. The revolution in Portugal and the wars with Spain have prevented them from examining this coast more particularly, and it is to be desired that the Company should examine it carefully without giving offence to the Dutch, or allowing them to suspect its object. It is, moreover, necessary that the Company should have a port near Surat to withdraw and refit its vessels, in case they are delayed by the rainy season. The reason is, that during this bad weather, when it is almost impossible to withstand (the violence of) the sea, the Mogul, for fear of danger to his fortress at Surat, does not allow any foreign vessel into the river, where otherwise, when unladen, they might remain protected from the destructive storms which last for nearly five months. ### [85.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.4) The only place suitable for the withdrawal of the vessels of the Company is the town of Diu, which belongs to the Portuguese. The advantages of its position are considerable for many reasons. The area of the town includes nearly 400 houses, and is capable of affording dwellings sufficiently numerous, and where the (crews of the) vessels would find all they required during their sojourn. It is situated on the coast of Gujarát, at the point of the Gulf of Cambay, and faces towards the south-east. Its shape is nearly circular, and more than half the circle is surrounded by the sea. It is not commanded by any elevation, and the Portuguese have built some fortifications on the land side which might be easily completed. It has numerous wells of good water, and also a river which falls into the sea near the town, the water of which is better than that of Surat and of Suwáli, and the shelter is very commodious for vessels. ### [85.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.5) The Portuguese, on their first establishment in India, kept a fleet at Diu composed of galleys, brigantines, and smaller vessels, with which they made themselves, for a very long time, masters of all the commerce of the places which are about to be enumerated, so that no one was able to trade without taking out a passport from the Governor of Diu, who franked it in the name of the Viceroy of Portugal at Goa. The revenue which he obtained from these passports sufficed to support the fleet and garrison, and the Governor, who was only appointed for three years, did not omit to accumulate wealth for himself during that time. Thus, according to the forces that one might establish in this place, one would derive great benefit. The Portuguese, feeble as they are at present, do not fail to profit from not having to pay duty for the money which they carry into the Kingdoms of the Great Mogul and the King of Bijapur, nor for the goods which they take there. When the rainy season is over, the wind being nearly always north or north-east, you can go from Diu to Surat in light boats in three or four tides, but if large vessels are laden, it is necessary for them to coast all round. ### [85.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.6) A man on foot going by land to a small village named the Gauges, and from thence crossing the end of the Gulf, can go from Diu to Surat in four or five days, but if the season prevents him from making this passage, he cannot go from Diu to Surat in less than seven to eight days, because he must then make the circuit of the Gulf. The town does not possess any territory outside the boundaries, but it would not be difficult to arrange with the Raja, or Governor of the Province, and obtain from him as much as may be required for the convenience of the inhabitants. The soil of the neighbourhood is not fertile, and the population around is the poorest in all the Empire of the Mogul. Nevertheless, there is an abundance of cattle in the jungles, with which the country is covered, so that a buffalo or a cow does not cost more than 2 piastres. The English and the Dutch use these cattle to feed their people, and to save the provision of their vessels during their sojourn at Suwali. It is well to remark that experience has shown that the flesh of buffaloes often causes dysentery, which is calculated to be most injurious to crews, but the flesh of cows never gives rise to it. ### [85.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.1.7) The Raja who rules the country bears the title of Governor for life; and this is the case with nearly all the Rajas in the Empire of the Mogul, who were the nobles of the Provinces where their descendants only have the title of Governors. He treats the Portuguese well, because their position as neighbours brings him in money by the sale of his corn, rice, and vegetables, and for the same reason he treats the French still better. After the establishment of such a position, which should be the principal basis of the trade of the Company, there is nothing more important than to select two men, marked by their wisdom, rectitude, and intelligence in trade, and there should be no regard for economy in their appointments. These two men are for the service of the Company, one in the position of Commandant or Commander, as the Dutch entitle them, with a council of a certain number of persons to be given him for his assistance; the other for the office of broker or merchant, who should be a native of the country, an idolater and not a Muhammadan, because all the workmen with whom he will have to do are idolaters. Good manners and probity are above all things necessary in order to acquire confidence at first among these people. It is necessary to seek to obtain the same qualities in the private brokers, who are under the direction of the Broker-general, in the provinces where the offices of correspondents are established. ### [85.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.1) Intelligence is not less necessary for these two men, in order that they may detect any adulteration in the manufacture of the goods. It arises, as I have said, either from the wickedness of the workmen and merchants or from the connivance of the sub-brokers with them. This adulteration may cause so much injury to the Company that private brokers profit by it sometimes from 10 to 12 per cent. If the Commander and the Broker-general connive together it is very difficult for the Company to guard against this fraud, but if they are both faithful and wise it will be easy to remedy it by changing the private brokers. The unfaithfulness which these officers are able to commit against the Company is this. When a vessel arrives in port, the letters of the Company and the bills of lading are handed to him who commands on shore for the particular nation. This Commander assembles his Council, and sends for the broker and gives him a copy of the bill of lading. The broker communicates it to two or three of the merchants who are in the habit of buying wholesale. If the broker and the Commander connive together to profit, the broker, instead of expediting the sale as he ought, tells these merchants privately that they have only to keep firm and offer such a price. ### [85.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.2) Then the Commander sends for the broker and these two or three merchants. He asks them in the presence of his Council what they offer for the goods mentioned in the bills of lading which have been communicated to them. If the merchants persist in saying that they will only give so much, the Commander postpones the sale for fifteen days, more or less, according as he has reason for being pressed to sell. He causes these merchants to come many times, merely for the look of the thing, and he then takes the advice of the Council in order to save appearances, and for his and the broker agree to make it increase. In the event of French vessels carrying the same goods as the Dutch, they should carry in addition money for the advances to the artisans who work in the provinces, and for a part of the price of the goods which are being made for the following year. The Company by making this advance will not pay the high interest on the loan, namely 12 to 15 per cent, which the Dutch pay ; it will have the very best goods and at the best price. All the artisans will work more willingly for it on account of this ready money. ### [85.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.3) The cargo of the vessels will be in readiness before they arrive in port. Being quickly laden they will be able to seize the good season for their return. The Company will not be compelled by necessity to sell at a bad price to three or four local wholesale merchants who have made themselves masters of the trade, whereas its brokers will be enabled to await the arrival of foreign merchants who will come to carry away its goods, or rather, because they will have the means to have them exported to the places where they will themselves be able to dispose of them. It should be remarked, besides, that it is profitable to carry gold and silver to India in bullion rather than in coin, because gold and silver are not valued in India except by their standard, and because there is always a deduction on coined money on account of the cost of minting. Should the broker be unfaithful, he is, moreover, able to come to an understanding with the master of the Mogul’s mint, established in every port in the Empire, and to value the gold or silver, coined or in bars, at a lower standard than it really is, by telling the Commander and his Council that in the assay which has been made at the mint it is found to be only of such a standard. ### [85.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.4) But it is easy to prevent this fraud, provided that the Commander is upright and intelligent, if he sends for one of the native refiners of gold and silver, who can easily be found, and who understand how to assay metals perfectly, and if he has it done in his own presence. This is what the Sieur Waikenton did for the Dutch Company, in whose name he held a factory at KAsimbAzAr, where he received each year from 6000 to 7000 bales of silk. He ascertained by this test that his broker, having an understanding with the master of the mint, cheated him of 1 or 2 per cent on the quality of the gold and silver which was brought to him from Japan, whether it was in bar or in coin, and that the Company had been defrauded of considerable sums. The broker is able to defraud also by having an understanding with the master of the mint, or with him who weighs the gold and silver in bars, coin, or dust, by employing too heavy weights, or scales which are not true. It is easy to prevent this fraud if the Commander, assisted by his Council, has them weighed in his presence with a scale and weights proved and stamped, which he keeps by him for the purpose. One of the most important observations that is to be made on the commerce of the proposed Company and the discipline of its factors is this:— ### [85.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.5) It should forbid the merchants, sub-merchants, the scribes, and sub-scribes, who serve under the Commanders, and the brokers, and also these superior officers, from doing any trade on their own private accounts, because having communication with all the artisans, and obtaining by the correspondence from the other factories information as to the articles of merchandise which will be good for sale in the following year, they do not fail to purchase them on their own account, and ship them on the vessels of the Company to the address of their correspondents, who share the grain therefrom. The Commander being himself interested, either by closing his eyes, or by a too great laxity, permits them to make this profit on account of their poor salaries. The captain of the vessel is in league with them, because he secretly derives some advantage for allowing them to load and unload. And inasmuch as these officers have but little capital, and desire to receive the price on the return of the vessel, they direct their correspondents to sell at from 8 to 10 per cent below market price, which they can easily do, because, as I shall say further on, they do not pay custom dues either at Surat or at Gombroon, and because they gain by this means about 26 per cent ; and so this causes a considerable injury to the Company, and particularly to foreign merchants. ### [85.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.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. ### [85.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85.2.7) The pursers also take part in it, but as for the merchants and sub-merchants, they disdain for the most part these small profits, and content themselves with their own shipments. Otherwise, by another artifice, when a merchant has some bales of rich goods, as of those Deccan caps, which are sometimes worth as much as 400 écus, or of these ornis of Burhanpur, of which I have spoken above, which serve to make veils for the ladies of Persia, Constantinople, and other places in Asia and Europe — when, I say, a merchant has some bales of valuable goods which should pay high duty to the Prince of the place where they are to be loaded, as soon as they are on board, the purser and captain, who are in league with the merchant, place on each the Company’s mark, and after reaching the store of the place where they have been landed with the goods of the Company, they are removed at night in secret to the house of the merchant. ### [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](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.85) · Pramāṇa