Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/387

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION'. S7I panies, in the beginning of last century, paid in Malabar at the rate of 7i^fnj Spanish dollars the pi- cul, while they obtained it in the Archipelago at 3 and 3} Spanish dollars. Some loose attempt may be made at estimating the consumption of different countries in pepper. The whole produce of Malabar * is considered to amount to 6000 candies, 28,8UOpiculs,orS,840,000 lbs. avoirdupois ; considerably less than the little island of Penang produced at one period. The quantity of pepper imported into China by Eu- ropean traders is annually 20,560 piculs, or f^,74<l, 333 lbs. It may be presumed that the junks take as much more, or, in all, 5,4^82,666. The Dutch send to Japan 30,000 lbs. annually. The quantity, on an average of eleven years, imported in- to Bengal, was 35,000 Bazar maunds, or 21,000 pi- • " Black pepper is the grand article of European com- merce with Malabar. Before the invasion of Hyder, the country now called the province of Malabar produced an- nually about 15,000 candies of 640 lbs. The quantity con- tinued gradually diminishing until ITSS-it, when Colonel Macleod's army came into the province, since which the de« crease has been more rapid, and continues every year to augment." — Buchanan* s Journey, Sec. o. TI. p, 530. Dr Buchanan ascribes the diminution entirely to disturbances and misgovernment, but I imagine it is more to be attributed to the high cost of growing, and the consequent inability of competing with the produce of the Indian islands.