Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/231

 EUROPEAN NATIONS. 215 and the necessity of combining in one a military and commercial navy, the trade, of necessity, was wholly conducted by the king. The ships were usually of great size, often of fifteen or sixteen hundred tons burthen, having crews, including the soldiers, of five and six hundred men. The whole crew, from the commander to the lowest sailor, had regular pay ; and, besides his pay, an allow- ance of tonnage, according to his rank. The goods belonging to the crew were, besides, free of du- ties ; and the exclusive monopoly of the king ex- tended only to the principal articles, as cinnamon, black-pepper, and the precious spices. This regu- lation must have occasioned a considerable compe- tition in the market. In India, conquest and re- ligious conversion were the primary objects of the Portuguese, and commerce but a secondary one. Colonization was unrestricted, and no obstacle opposed to it but the climate and the hostility of the natives. The trade in India was perfectly unshackled, and the Portuguese entering into it with avidity, did not feel the want of a distant commerce to Europe, for which their funds were less adequate. The Portuguese never attempted, like their successors, to limit or regulate the growth of any of the favourite articles of commerce. It happen- ed, therefore, from the degree of freedom which prevailed, that their commercial establishments.