Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/431

ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 41^ European traders of Peiiang, who dispose of it from their warehouses at an advance of from 100 to 200 per cent. It is principally carried to China and Bengal, bringing, in the market of Canton, an average price of 3^^ Spanish dollars per picul ; and in that of Calcutta 4 -^ Spanish dollars, an advance on the prime cost in the one of 50 per cent., and in the other of 'JO per cent. An article so cheap, and so little perishable, might, perhaps, be imported into Europe, and used with advantage in the dyeing of our cotton goods, a purpose to which it is converted in Coroman- del and Malabar. The betel-nut of the Indian is- lands is grown cheaper than that of Malabar by no less than 66§ per cent., or is no more than one- third of its price. Garnhir, or Terra Japonka, as mentioned in the account given of its agriculture, is the produc- tion of the western portions of the Archipelago, from whence it is a great article of exportation to the eastern, and especially to Java. It is also sent to China. The price of the commodity to the traders, who export it from the places of its growth, is from three to four Spanish dollars per picul. It usually sells in Java at six, and when the market is understocked, often as high as eight Spanish dollars. Such fluctuations of price we must reckon to meet with in countries between which the communication is still uncertain, because unskilfully conducted.