Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/402

 S86 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF and that the ancient selling price in England, after the voyage from Aleppo to Venice, from Venice to Bruges or Antwerp, and thence to England, was 237ioo Spanish dollars, nearly thirty times the prime cost, seventeen times the price at the emporium of Sunda Calapa, 160 per cent, on the price at the markets of the Caspian, and 68 per cent, beyond the Aleppo prices. This is, in a few words, a pic- ture of the distant commerce of all other barba- rous times. During the second period of the trade in cloves, or that of the dominion of the Portuguese, very little change appears to have been effected in the price of cloves, for Europe was supplied partly through the Portuguese, and partly with the pro- duce which came over-land, a proof that the Por- tuguese could not have brought a great deal, or materially interfered with the commerce of the Arabs. The Dutch had hardly established their connection with the Moluccas when they were followed by the English, and both had to com- pete with the Portuguese, the Chinese, and na- tive traders, that is, the Malays, Javanese, and Macassars. The price of cloves, of course, rose, and in l6l9, Rumphius * informs us, that the Dutch Governor-General Coen was compelled to allow by contract 13^^ Spanish dollars the picul for them, but that this did not satisfy
 * Manuscript History of Amboyna.