Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/195

 ASIATIC NATIONg. 179 venture of the same nature would be among us, but consists of a great many small adventures, the proprietor of each of which accompanies his own, and has it in his separate compartment of the ves- sel, at his own exclusive disposal and control. The principal adventures are usually the joint property of a family, some members of which reside in the islands, and others in China. Of the extent of the risk and profit we may judge from the rate at which money is borrowed at Batavia for one of these adventures. This is usually forty per cent. The neat profit cannot be less than double this amount. On such bulky articles as tea and porce- lain, the advance of price in the ports of the In- dian islands is about from 150 to 200 per cent.j upon wrought silks and cottons about 100. These, how- ever, it must be recollected, are not wholesale but retail prices, for as soon as the junks arrive at the ports of their destination in the Indian islands, shops are immediately opened, and the goods re- tailed by the owners. The duties levied at the native ports on the junks are arbitrary and uncertain, varying, of course, at each port. Instead of levying an ad va- lorem duty upon the cargo, as would be done among us, a tax is imposed on the junk for the liberty of trading. This mode of payment is par- ticularly agreeable to the Chinese, and, indeed, to all other Asiatic traders, who, naturally enough.