Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/338

 32^ INTERCOLONIAL COMMERCE. gold, exported only 14 chests of silver, amounting to L. 4666j Sterling. They sold the gold on the continent of India, at an advance of 28 per cent., but gained only 1? per cent, on the silver. After this we hear no more of the exportation of silver, but, on the contrary, the Dutch at present find a profit in the permission given to them to import a quantity of their national coin. In the year 1700, the Japanese government made an important alter- ation in the standard of their coin, having debased their Cobang or Cupang from a fineness of between twenty and twenty-one carats, to between thirteen and fourteen carats, w'hiist they compelled the Dutch to receive it, thus reduced in value 37 per cent., at the old rates. Besides the precious metals, Japan produces copper, iron, and the alloyed metal tutenague. Copper is the most important and abundant of all these ; and, according to Kajmpfer, is as cheap as iron. The price paid for it by the Dutch, in all periods of their connection, has been about 12i)% tahils, or 18nj*o Spanish dollars per picul, equal to L.3, 9s. 2d. per cwt. This is considerably less than half the price of British sheet copper, which is of in- ferior intrinsic value in all foreign markets. The Dutch, at one period, exported from 700 to 1200 tons a-year, a large portion of which was disposed of on the continent of India, at a clear gain of from 90 to 95 per cent* We hear nothing of cop-