Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/386

 3J0 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF such as cotton, coft'^'c, cloves, &c. • In the market of Bengal, where they meet on equal tenns, the pro- duce of Malabar usually fetches about 2 per cent, more than that of the Indian islands. In the mar- kets of Europe there is a difference of ^d. a pound in favour of Malabar pepper, but in China no dif- ference whatever is made. In point of cheapness, the Malabar pepper will bear no comparison with that of the Indian islands. When Malabar pepper is sold in the markets of Bombay, at the rate of 16 Spanish dollars per pi- cul, that of the Archipelago is sold in Batavia at 9 Spanish dollars the picul, or 45 per cent, cheap- er. The same rate of difference seems always to have existed. Buchanan tells us, that 120 rupees a candy, or 11 Spanish dollars and 11 cents a pi- cul, are a price too small to enable the cultivators of Canara to grow pepper. The Indian islanders can afford to grow it, as already shewn, for 4 Spa- nish dollars, or for little more than one third of the Malabar prices. * When free European trad- ers received the pepper of the Indian islands at 4 and 5 Spanish dollars the picul, they paid in Ma- labar 7tV(J dollars. The Dutch and English com- SOO tons are the common export of pepper, and we have it for almost one half o( the price we pay for Malabar pepper." New Account of the East Indies, Vol. II. p. 156.
 * Hamilton, giving an account oPJelior, says, *' About