The Colas c30.28

c30.28

'The imports into China in this trade,' says Rockhill,⁷⁵ 'consisted of two distinct categories of goods, the one manufactured textile fabrics (mostly of cotton), spices and drugs, and the other, and by far the most valuable intrinsically, jewels and semi-precious substances, such as ivory, rhinoceros' horn, ebony, amber, coral and the like, and various aromatic products and perfumes, used either in the preparation of incense or for perfuming the body.' The high value of the second category of goods and the increasing demand for them led the Chinese government to declare their sale a government monopoly. Trade in these articles was open only to licensed vendors who bought their supplies at government warehouses in quantities and at prices fixed by government. Trade in cotton fabrics, spices and drugs was under no restrictions, and subject only to an import duty payable in kind and varying from one-tenth to two-tenths of the goods imported. Besides this import duty collected at the time of their entering the port, these goods had also to bear a fixed tonnage tax on the ship. This trade was felt on the whole to be beneficial to China and caused no anxiety to the government. In course of time, however, grave abuses developed in connection with the trade in luxuries, and the drain of currency and precious metals resulting from its expansion was such as to cause the government very serious concern. These evils came to light in the twelfth century, and the Chinese government had to embark on legislation calculated to prohibit the exportation of precious metals and coined money and to restrict the volume of trade with Ma'bar and Kulum (i.e., the Coromandel coast and Quilon).