Spices in the Indian Ocean World

M.N. Pearson, M.N. Pearson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351898638
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire du monde

By turns exotic, valuable and of cardinal importance in the development of world trade, spices, as the editor reminds us, are today a mundane accessory in any well-equiped kitchen; in the 15th-18th centuries, the spice trade from the Indian Ocean to markets all over the world was a major economic enterprise. Setting the scene with extracts from Garcia da Orta's fascinating contemporary Colloquies on the drugs and simples of India [Goa 1563], this collection reviews trade in a wide variety of spices, exploring merchant organisation, transport and marketing as well as detailing the quantitative evidence on the fluctuations in spice trade. The evidence and historical debates concerning the 16th-century revival of the Mediterranean and Red Sea spice trade at this time, are fully represented here

1
Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India: Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace and Nutmeg, Pepper

Garcia da Orta

FIFTEENTH COLLOQUY

CINNAMON

RUANO

ONE cannot eat any spice with pleasure except cinnamon. It is true that the Germans and Flemings eat pepper, and here our negresses eat cloves, but Spaniards do not eat any of the spices except cinnamon. I bear it in memory that the food smelt strongly of it, and not of any other spice. I asked the cook whether he used it, and he said no, but that many dishes were seasoned with cinnamon water. In place of what we call casna lignea,¹ the word canela is often used. It will be as well that we should discuss it now.

ORTA

CANELA, and what we call CASSIA LIGNEA, are one and the same thing ; but the ancient writers saw this spice after it had come from such a distance that they could not have had a correct notice of it, and as the price was very high there arose a thousand fables which Pliny and Herodotus repeat. They relate them as true, when in reality they are quite fabulous. I do not propose to speak of them here, because every one now knows the truth. The price being so high, and the avarice of men still higher, the drug was often falsified. As the false kind could never be exactly like the real spice in every respect, they made two kinds, one the true cinnamon and the other the falsified one, both being usually of the same species.

RUANO

Tell me what you know, and at the end I will mention any doubts which occur to me, for I do not wish to remain with them. I wish to hear from you the names in all languages, in the lands where cinnamon grows, and in Arabia and Persia, for by these names we shall be able to obtain a knowledge of cassia lignea and of cinnamon. For my present view, with others who have written on the subject, is that the true cassia is not the true cinnamon.

ORTA

I will satisfy you on all these points. Neither the Greeks nor the Arabs knew the cassia, and this was on account of the great distance and the little communication with the region where it grew. Those who brought it for sale to Ormuz and Arabia were Chinese, as I will explain to you presently. From Ormuz it was taken to Aleppo, a principal city of Syria. Those who brought it thence to the Greeks said that they had it in their country and in Ethiopia. It was taken with superstitious rights. The priest divided what remained into shares for the devil, for his worshippers, for the king, and for the priests.

RUANO

How is this ? Do you mean to say that neither the cassia nor the cinnamon are in Ethiopia or Arabia ?

ORTA

Yes ! and I am astonished that you did not know it ; for Ethiopia has been reached by our ships and great part of it explored by our people, and in it there is neither canela nor cinamomo nor cassia lignea ; and the Arabs themselves come to buy it and take it to their country, and at the time when they come the price is very high.

RUANO

Is this that you allude to the real canela ? For they may not get the true cinnamon or cassia, but that other, and being a rude people they would not know the difference,

ORTA

The physicians of Arabia, Turkey, and Coraçon are very learned men, and all call this thick canela, which they use, cassia lignea.

RUANO

What proof can you give me that it does not grow in Ethiopia ?

ORTA

I say that both the Ethiopias are very well known to the Portuguese ; for the coast of Guinea, which is the Ethiopia below Egypt, is known to us, not only the sea-shore, but also the interior ; and as I have told you, a priest explored from the island of San Tomé to Sofala¹ and Mozambique, and came thence to Goa, and 1 knew him very well. From the Cape of Good Hope to Mozambique and Melinde many persons have been along the coast, and these have come here, and none have ever seen the canela. So that we know that the canela does not grow in either of the Ethiopias, either above or below Egypt.

RUANO

Is this because they are few who have the curiosity to enquire ?

ORTA

It is not so altogether. For the natives of the island of San Lourenço, who are very barbarous, showed some men who came to trade with a fruit of the size of a filbert without a head, and as it smelt like a clove ¹ they wished to be shown the tree in case it should be cinnamon or cassia lignea. They were shown what appeared to be a medicine quite as odoriferous. The medicines were never better known than at present, especially by the Portuguese, so you must not suppose that such precious drugs are wanting with us, for the plants and fruits are now better known than ever. Of course the grafting makes diversity, as well as the transplanting them from one land to another.² For the love of me, do not suppose that we are deficient in cinnamon. We have as much as we require. I will now tell you the names.

RUANO

I say that I claim my right, as the lawyers have it.

ORTA

The cassia lignea is called by the Arabs SALIHACHA, and the Persians give it the same name. The Indians who do not know physic through the Arabian books, give it the same name as they give to cinnamon, because in all this countrythey make no difference between the names of cinnamon and cassia lignea. In truth, no person can see any difference between them, whether physician or druggist.

RUANO

I rejoice much to know this.

ORTA

The Chinese have navigated to this land from a very remote period, and as the people were barbarous and unlearned they adopted laws and customs from them. The Chinese went in such large vessels and in such a way that, if it will not bore you, I will tell you many things which do not directly belong to the subject of our colloquy, but which may interest you.

RUANO

I shall be very much obliged if you will, and we have time to devote to it.

ORTA

I know the number of Chinese ships that navigated, having counted those which went to Ormuz as recorded in their books, and there were 400 junks which entered the port of the island Jeru, now called Ormuz. They also say that 200 junks have been lost on the rocks of Chilâm. Junks are long vessels, which have their bows and sterns alike. In Calicut they had a fortified factory, which still exists, and is called China Cota, or the fort of the Chinese. In Cochin they left a stone as a mark, in memory of their having been there. When the King of Calicut (called Zamorin or Emperor) besieged Cochin because the Portuguese held it who were then engaged in the discovery of India, he destroyed the place and carried off this stone as a trophy, which cost him very dear. On this stone the King of Repelin was crowned, the Zamorin placing the crown on his head, who received homage from him ; and the stone was left at Repelin by order of the Zamorin. Repelin is four leagues from Cochin, and there the stone remained until 1536. Then Martin Affbnso de Sousa, the not less invincible than fortunate captain, burnt, sacked, and destroyed Repelin. The king fled and many with him, and many of those were slain who did not escape, as I can testify, being an eye-witness. The stone was taken back to Cochin, and the king ordered great festivities to be made over it, and thanks to be given to those who brought it. He remained deeply obliged to the Captain, Martin Affbnso de Sousa, who twice drove the King of Calicut out of his territory, and sent him the sombreiro, which he took with the praus in Beadalla (there were 57), where 15,000 men were killed, remaining with him no more than 300. He also took 600 pieces of artillery, and more than 1000 muskets. As the deeds of this great captain are many, I will not tell you more. These that I have mentioned are not told in praise, for he has acquired more praise than any one else of his time, but I tell you of them to make clear what I said about the Chinese.

RUANO

But I want to know about the cinnamon, for, in discussing the plants, you always give me some history of them.

ORTA

These merchants bring from their country gold and silk, porcelain, musk, copper, seed – pearls, alum, and many other things. They se...