[The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 by Emma Helen Blair]@TWC D-Link book
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898

CHAPTER V
13/69

If his Majesty would make himself master of this, as well as of the nutmeg and mace, and establish his factories--in Yndia, in Ormuz, [57] for the nations who come from all Asia to trade for it; and in Lisboa, for Europa and the Yndias--it would be worth [from one year to another ?] three million seven hundred pesos at the least, as I reckon it; because in India each libra of cloves is worth at Ormuz one peso, and in Lisboa a greater sum, while in the West Yndias it is worth more than two pesos.

[58] Averaging them all together, it will be equivalent to ten reals per libra, which will amount to three million five hundred and twenty thousand pesos....

It will cost his Majesty to buy the cloves, in cloth, silks, and other things which the natives value, eighty thousand pesos; while the navigation and the pay of the factors will amount to one hundred and twenty thousand, all amounting to two hundred and thirty thousand pesos.

Consequently, there will be a clear profit on the cloves of three million two hundred and ninety thousand pesos.
The nutmegs and mace when delivered in Europa cost the Dutch five hundred and twenty thousand pesos annually.

The purchase, navigation, and [pay of] factors amount to one hundred and ten thousand pesos.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books