Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/204

 152 THE PORTUGUESE POLICY IN THE EAST profitable commodities was opium, obtained from Ara- bia and Egypt. Opium had been known in China from at least the eighth century A. D., and Duarte Barbosa found the Chinese junks taking it in the time of Albu- querque as a return freight from Malacca. It soon appeared that opium could be grown in India, and Fran- cisco de Albuquerque proposed in 1513 that its impor- MALACCA. From an old engraving. tation from Arabia should be prohibited or should be made a monopoly of the Portuguese sovereign, as is shown by letters still preserved among the manuscripts of the India Office. When the supply was cut off in reprisal for the Portuguese attempt on Aden, Affonso de Albuquerque recommended " the poppies of the Azores to be sown in all the fields of Portugal," " be- cause a shipload would be used yearly in India, and the cultivators would gain much, and the people of