The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 27 of 55. Unknown

Orient in a conserve; for it is highly esteemed, as it is a very delicate relish. With mace, pepper, nutmeg, and other drugs they go to Pegu and Sian, where they trade rubies and wax in their factories. They barter those substances in Sumatra for pepper, which they also carry to Ormuz. There and at certain ports of Cambaya, they buy indigo (a royal product, and of which there is a monopoly in India), manna (a medicinal drug of Arabia and Persia), and rhubarb. What they are most eager to buy at Ormuz are the pearls that are fished from the Persian Gulf as far as Besorà. They also get them between Ceylan and Comori, between Borneo and Anion, and in Cochinchina. At Ormuz they trade most for precious stones30—fine bezoars, turquoises, chrysolites, amethysts, jacinths, garnets, topazes from Cahanor, Calecut, and Cambaya, copper wire, and not very good agates. They have a factory in Patan, since—although they do not desire the trade of those people, as it consists only of silver money—a great quantity of Chinese merchandise is found there; and, as the Dutch cannot enter that country, they barter there [i.e., at Patan] for silk in the skein and woven, porcelain ware, and other things, and for calambuco wood, which is found in Sian, Malaca, Sumatra, and Cambaya. They get ginger from Malabar, not to take to Olanda—where they have too much with what they plunder in the Windward [Barlovento] Islands—but to take to Ormuz, which with that from Malaca, Dabul, and Bacain is traded in Persia [Percia—MS.] and Arabia. They trade cardamomum in Malabar, Calecut, and Cananor, [that plant] being used throughout the Orient to sweeten the breath. From the coasts of Sofala, Melinde, and Mozambique, they get gold, ivory, amber, and ebony, which they also get from Champá, whose mountains apparently raise no other [varieties of] woods. From Bengala they get civet, and mother-of-pearl. The best benzoin is that of Ceylan and Malaca; but as the Dutch have but little trade in those parts, they get along with that of the Javas, which is not so good, and with some of fine quality that they obtain in fairs and ports. The same is true of cinnamon which they are unable to obtain at Ceylan, except through third persons; accordingly, they secure but little, and content themselves with the wild cinnamon of Malabar, although it is very poor. Sandalwood was formerly the most profitable product in India, and was traded by the Portuguese. It was obtained in the island of Timor, where they had a fortress; but, as it is near Bantan, the Dutch have gained possession of it and its trade. This is the white sandalwood, for the red comes from Coromandel and Pegu. They buy snakewood [palo serpentino],31 brought from Ceylan [Seilan—MS.], in the fairs of Sumatra; eaglewood from Coromandel; camphor in Sunda and Chincheo, but better in Borneo; myrobalans32 in Cambaya, Balagate, and Malabar; incense from Arabia; myrrh from Abasia [Abaçia—MS.]; aloes-wood from Socotora; all of which they obtain at Ormuz. They trade but few diamonds, for the fine ones come from Bisnaga and Decan, and are taken to the fair of Lispor, between Goa and Cambaya; and since the Dutch do not go thither, they have no share in them, but they get some at the fair in Sumatra.

      Number 28. Commerce in cloves, and how the Dutch entered it, and took possession of Maluco

      The most noble product, and that which is must earnestly desired, as it is of the greatest profit and gain, is the clove. Cloves are produced in the celebrated islands of Maluco and that of Amboyno; and a little in the islands of Ires, Meytarana, Pulo, Cavali, Gilolo, Sabugo, Veranula,33 and other islands adjacent to the Malucas—which are the chief producers of cloves, and produce the best quality. As now, it was formerly the most valued product of the Orient; and now it forms one of the royal commodities of its commerce. In the islands where it is grown, one bare costs 460 Castilian reals. [The bare] has 640 libras, so that it does not amount to 2534 maravedis [per libra]; while it is sold for at least one ducado in Europa, so that each libra gains fourteen, which is an excessive profit. From the time when those islands were sold to the crown of Portugal, for the above-mentioned reason, for the sum of three hundred thousand ducados, that crown possessed them and the clove trade until the year 1598, when Jacobo Cornelio Nec went to India with eight ships. Dispersing those ships through its kingdoms, two of them went to Terrenate, where they left six factors, the first that Olanda had in that archipelago [In the margin: “In the year 11”]. In the year 601, of twelve other ships which entered the Orient, seven went to Amboyno, and by an arduous attempt gained the fort held there by the Portuguese; and although it was immediately recovered by Andres de Mendoca Furtado, commander of the fleet of India, and he, victorious, overran the islands of Maluco, subduing those of Tidore and Maguso [Magusié—MS.], he was unable to enter that of Terrenate [Teranete—MS.], where the Dutch had taken refuge and made its king rebel—the reënforcement of two hundred soldiers sent (in one ship and four fragatas, in charge of Captain Juan Galinato) by Don Pedro de Acuña, governor of Filipinas, being of no use. Thereupon everything was in a ruinous condition. In the year 605 [sic] Estevan Drage, who went to India with twelve galleons, attacked Amboyno and recaptured the fortress; and, going to Tidore and the rest of the Malucas, gained possession of them all.

      Number 29. Recovery of Maluco by the governor of Filipinas, and its annexation thereto

      That loss was felt keenly in España. The difficulty of relief from India having been recognized—as that country was so distant, and its forces were so broken; while those of the Filipinas, because they were greater and nearer, were more suitable—letters were sent to the governor of those islands, with orders that, aided by the Portuguese, they should endeavor to recover Maluco and restore it to this crown. Don Pedro de Acuña, having determined to make that expedition, and being already in possession of the aid that India could furnish, assembled a fine fleet in Iloylo, consisting of five large ships, six galleys, three Portuguese galliots, another open galliot, four junks, three champans, two English lanchas, and fourteen fragatas; and with them thirty-eight small boats, one thousand four hundred and twenty-three Spaniards, one thousand six hundred natives, seventy-five pieces of artillery, and everything else needed. With that he gained Terrenate, reduced Tidore, and subdued Siao, Sula, and Tacome, Gilolo, Sabugo, Gamocanora; and left those islands obedient. He moved the fortress of Terrenate to a better site, and garrisoned it with six hundred Spaniards, as it was the capital of all the other islands. Thus he placed on the enemy a curb, which some disasters have [since] removed. Inasmuch as the Malucos had been recovered by the Filipinas, and obtain from the latter the most certain succor, it was deemed inexpedient to return them to the crown of Portugal, or to its viceroy of India, which is so far distant from them, by the consent of both crowns; and a royal decree of October 29, 607, ordered that all the Malucas should remain, as at present, in charge of the governor of Filipinas.

      Number 30. The clove trade, which is carried on by way of India

      In regard to the clove trade, it was proposed that it be introduced by way of Nueva España, carrying to barter for it the products of the island of Panay and the merchandise of China at the account of the royal treasury; and that with the 100,000 ducados that would be invested in that, one might trade for all the cloves that were gathered in those islands. In the five chief islands alone that amounts to 4,400 bares of cloves of prime quality (which is the selected spice). At 640 libras, that amounts to 2,816,000 libras, in which two millions are concerned annually, for the maintenance of those islands, and the gaining of large increases for the royal treasury. In regard to it a decree of instruction had been given February 16, 602; but it was not then considered advisable to disturb that trade of India, either because of the injury that the Portuguese would receive, or in order not to cause a greater withdrawal of silver from Nueva España. However, that argument had little force; for, in exchange for the 100,000 ducados, two millions would be returned. Accordingly, although Maluco remained under the crown of Castilla, it was ordered that the clove trade be carried on by way of India, by a decree of November 17, 607; and the Portuguese go from India to buy the cloves at Manila, and take them to Malaca. Only what is needed there it shipped to Nueva España, and the rest is conveyed to various parts and kingdoms of the Orient which are convenient to Manila and the Malucas. The Dutch have again attempted to usurp that trade, as will be told later.

      Number 31. The Dutch return to Maluco; and the deeds of the governor of Filipinas

      Don Juan de Silva, who succeeded Don Pedro de Acuña in the government, tried to preserve during his term what his predecessor had gained.

30

See the description and prices of precious stones found in the appendix to Duarte Barbosa’s East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1866), pp. 208–218.

31

Apparently referring to some plant of the genus Strychnos, several species of it having the reputation of curing the bites of serpents. Blanco says (Flora, p. 61) that he himself has witnessed several cures by this means.

32

A dried fruit, resembling a prune, which contains tannin; formerly used in medicine, now mainly in tanning and dyeing. It is the product of various species of Terminalia.

33

The manuscript is mutilated at this point, and contains only the first part of this name, “Vera.”

34

The manuscript reads “29.”