Chap. II. to the EAST-INDIES. 
735 
fented to his Majefty, I at laft obtained leave to buy up 
Pepper in the City. Being fenfible of this Favour, and 
meaning to oblige the King as much as I could, I profered 
to buy fix hundred Bahars of his own Pepper •, but he re- 
plied, he was my Friend, and would not put it upon me, 
fince it was too dear, in regard he had made an Oath not 
to fell it under fixteen Taels the Bahar. Next Day 1 made 
a Publication of the King’s Licence, that the Inhabitants 
might not fcruple to fell their Pepper ; but at the fame time 
the King was buying up Pepper for himfelf, and the Inha- 
bitants feared, that if they fold me any, he would alledge 
they had preferred my Cuftom to his. 
To ftifle this Apprehenfion, I firft bought fome of the 
Sabandar, thinking his Example would expel their Fears ; 
but by an unlucky Accident, before he had delivered me 
any, the King took him up, and laid him in Irons, for 
not having fome enamelled Work ready, which he had 
committed to his Care to get done by our Goldfmith by a 
prefixed Day, at which Time he had promifed it to a She 
Favourite ; though after ali, it was not the Sabandar’s Neg- 
ligence, but the Goldfmith’s being taken ill, that occafioned 
the Delay. After this, notwithftanding I had the King’s 
Licence, they would not fell me one Bahar, fome pretend- 
ing they durft not, while the King bought, others refufing 
to take Rials, or any other Coin but iEnas, which is a Gold 
Coin current in the Country. In the mean time I fent Don 
Francifco Carnero a Pcrtugueze to the Court of the Great 
Mogul, by the Way of Mujilipatan. His Errand at that 
Court was to obtain leave from the Great Mogul to fettle a 
French Factory at Surat , the Sovereignty of which belonged 
to him. 
The Defign of that Fadfory Was to render a Fadtory at 
Achen more ufeful to us ; for there being no Accefs to Ban- 
tam , there was a Neceffity of having a Fadtory at Achen , 
fince the Rials and French Commodities would not be put 
off at Achen without Lofs ; whereas at Surat the Rials are 
pretty high, and fome French Commodities may be put off 
at Cent, per Cent. Profit, fo that it would be our Intereft hot 
to fail diredtly from France to Achen, but to Surat , where 
we might put off our Commodities at a good rate, and 
buy up fome Commodities at Surat, that the People of 
Achen can as little do without as the very Rice they eat ; 
and this would fetch us the Achen Pepper at an eafy rate. 
This Carnero was an everlafting Gamefter, and won great 
Sums by the Help of fome falfe Dice he had brought from 
France with him, particularly from the Sabandar, whofe 
Loffes at Gaming made him very hungry in his De- 
mands upon me, and yet I could not take off the Portu- 
gueze from playing with him. One time when Carnero was 
playing, he happened, by beating his Hand againft the 
Table, to break one of his falfe Dice, upon which there 
run fome Quickfilver out of it, that quickly flipped thro* 
the Chinks of the Table ; this put his Company into a hor- 
rid Conifer nation, for Carnero quickly hid the Pieces of the 
broken Dice, and they imagined there was fome Magick 
in the fubtile Spirit that appeared and difappeared fo 
fuddenly. 
On the 1 5th of April I made a Difcovery that the King 
had played me a Trick, and that no Recommendation or 
Prefents whatfoever would get the better of his avaricious 
Temper ; for he only gave me the Licence to amufe me, 
and keep me from leaving the Place, as I had threatened to 
do before. He knew very well, that his buying of Pepper 
at the fame time would ftifle my Market, and if any one 
had fold me Pepper, he would certainly have puniflied 
him under pretence of prefering my Cuftom to his. Be- 
fides, the true Reafon of the Sabandar’s Confinement was 
not the Bufinefs of the King’s, but his mifunderftanding the 
King’s Defign, in giving me the Licence *, and the Saban- 
dar fent to intreat me to intercede with the King that he 
might not be difgraced, for that he had expofed his Life to 
Danger by doing me Service. Next Day I went to inter- 
cede with the King omthe Sabandar’s Behalf ; but he inter- 
rupted me, by afking, if I had bought any Pepper ? I an- 
fwered, that 1 had not endeavoured to buy any, nor would, 
till his Majefty’s Market was over. Then he laughed, con- 
trary to his Cuftom, and told me, he would fell me fome 
cheap. I ordered the Interpreter to offer him a Catti, or 
thirty-two Rials a Bahar : But the Interpreter durft not men- 
4 
tion the Sum, and pretended he aid not underftand me § 
upon which I told it myfelf in the Malagas Language. The 
King was filent for fome time ; after which he gave me to un- 
derhand, that tho’ he had fwore that whofoever offered him 
lefsthan fixty-four Rials for his Pepper fhouldlofe his Favour *, 
yet he would overlook it in me, and that the Englijh and 
Dutch had offered him forty-eight Rials, and at that Price I 
might have what I would. I made anfwer, that the Dutch 
and Englijh had a larger Purfe than I, and dealt in feveral 
Branches of Trade that compenfated the Dearth of the 
Pepper, and that in fine, I had not fo much Money to 
give. However, being informed that unlefs I took fome 
of his Pepper, they durft not fell me a Grain in the City, 
and confidering withal that Bantam being blocked up, there 
Was none to be had but in his Dominions. Upon thefe 
Confiderations I offered to take four hundred Bahars at forty 
Rials ; but the King would not abate any thing of his Price, 
faying, he had ufed me more kindly than the Dutch , fince 
he would not let them have it at the fame Price. Finding 
him refolute, I offered to take three hundred Bahars at his 
Price, provided he would give me a Licence to buy three 
hundred more at Ficow •, at laft he agreed to it, and ordered 
the three hundred Bahars to be delivered. I preffed him 
to fign my Licence for Ficow out of hand, in regard he was 
about to take Phyfick for his Illnefs, fo that I could not 
have Audience of him for fome time ; but he told me that 
would be over before I was ready to go. 
Notwithftanding the King’s Orders, it was a long time 
before I could get the Pepper which the King had ordered 
me, by reafon of the Avarice and Villany of his Officers, 
who always found out fome Trick or other to put off thofe 
they have to deal withal, till they are fufficiently bribed. 
For, befides that they have no Salary, they are obliged to 
make the King a rich Prefent once a Year. As for dealing 
with private Perfons, I found them all unwilling to take 
Rials, and for that Reafon employed a Broker to make a 
Propofal to the Dutch and Englijh of giving them my 
Rials at the current Price, in Exchange for Gold ; but the 
Broker acquainted me, that they were fo far from liftening 
to the Propofal, that they had a great Hand in finking the 
Value of the Rials, in order to fpoil my Market, and pre- 
vent my trading at all. Being difappointed on that hand, 
I made my Addrefs to the Orankaye Laxemane , offering 
him the Rials at Ten per Cent. Difcount. At firft he 
agreed ; but next Day when I came with the Rials, he 
retraded, and faid he would give but three Mas and an half 
for them ; fince they went for no more in the City, find- 
ing I could not mend myfelf, I condefcended to let them 
go ; but after all, when I came to deliver the Rials, he 
retraded again. 
The notorious Perfidioufnefs of this Nation made me 
think of leaving them in Time before the bad Seafon was 
farther advanced. In the mean time the Officer of the 
Aljandeque flopped twenty-one Bahars of Pepper for the 
the King’s Duty. It was a great Surprize to me to hear 
that the King demanded Duty for the Pepper he had fold 
me himfelf, efpecially confidering that before I made the 
Bargain, my Interpreter affured me he never did. But 
when I reprefented the Matter to the Orankay, and de- 
fired Accefs to the King, in order to complain of the In- 
jury done me, he told me, that I was obliged to pay Cu- 
ftom for it, that the Dutch had always paid it, and that 
fuch a Complaint would be very difagreeable to the King ; 
and fufpeding that my Interpreter had mifinformed me 
upon the Matter, would have tied him to a Poft, if I had 
not brought him off as one of my Domefticks. 
At laft I found my Interpreter to.be one of the Spies of 
the Aljandeque , and perceived he ha'd difeovered all my In- 
trigues to the King’s Officers. Though this Fellow was 
born of Chriftian Parents, and profeffed Chriftianity for 
forty Years when among Strangers, yet he inftruefted his 
Children in the Mohammedan Religion, a certain Evidence 
that he was worfe than a true Mohammedan , and had neither 
Religion nor Confcience. The Duties upon the Pepper 
that I was obliged to pay were Seven per Cent, to the 
King, Ten per Cent, of the King’s Duties to the Officers, 
and a Mas for every Bahar to the Weigher. When I paid 
this Duty to the Officers they feized upon the Interpreter, 
who had made me believe there was none due, and having 
tied 
