Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/417

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 4.01 more than 4)~ Spanish dollars per picul, l|d. per lb., or 17s. 6d. per cwt. As an argument in fa- vour of the monopoly, it has been sometimes as- serted, although not much insisted upon, that its care and vigilance are necessary towards supplying the consumer with good spices. That there is as little meaning as possible in such an assertion may readily enough be shewn. There was the greatest comparative consumption of spices when the mono- polists had nothing at all to do with them ; and, as far as nutmegs are concerned, those nutmegs must surely have been well enough cured which could withstand, in a rude period of navigation, many careless sea voyages, long land journeys, and all the alternations of heat and cold to which they were necessarily subjected. Were nutmegs, as at present preserved, submitted to the same trials, but a small portion of them indeed would reach the distant market of Europe. In treating of the clove, I have endeavoured to ascertain its natural price, and fixed it at about six Spanish dollars per picul, or 2,}d. per pound ; or, stored for export, eight Spanish dollars per pi- cul, or 3^d. per pound. The natural price of the nutmeg is much lower ; and from the data already adduced we may conclude, that, in a state of free trade, it ought not to exceed four Spanish dollars per picul ; or, ready for exportation, six Spanish dollars per picul, or 2^d. per pound. The true VOL. 111. c c