Note 9 — Memoir

Besides the trade in elephants the Company deals here only in pepper, about 40,000 or 50,000 lb. of which is sold yearly; some copper, spiaulter,9 a little pewter, a small quantity of powdered sugar, about 300 or 350 ammunams of Ceylon areca-nut, which are sold to the inhabitants, and a few other articles of little importance which are sold to the Company’s Dutch servants, amounting altogether to no more than Rds. 7,000 or 9,000 a year. Several endeavours have been made to extend the trade, and an effort was made to introduce here the linen manufacture from Tutucorin and Coromandel, but so far without success, as may be seen from the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Ceylon of January 22, 1695, where I brought forward several questions with regard to this matter. It was proposed there to allow private persons in Jaffnapatam to carry on a trade in cloth on the payment of 20 per cent. duty, which proposal was approved by Their Excellencies at Batavia by their letter of December 12 of the same year, but this subject will be treated of under the head of Leases. Considering further means of extending the Company’s trade, it struck me that Jaffnapatam was not only better situated than Calpetty for the areca-nut trade with Coromandel, but also that the roads through the Wanni to the Sinhalese areca-nut forests are very good, so that the nuts could be transported from there in Boyados.10 In our letter of October 26, 1694, to Colombo, I proposed that this should be done, which proposal was referred by His Excellency the Governor and the Council of Colombo to Their Excellencies at Batavia. In their letter of December 12, 1695, our Supreme Government expressed themselves in favour of this proposal, but in a later letter of July 3, 1696, this was cancelled, although it is beyond doubt that this way of transport of the areca-nut would be more advantageous to the Company. This may be seen from the fact that the Portuguese, when they were here, followed the same practise, and with good success as I was told. I will now leave the subject of areca-nut and revert to that of elephants. Many of these animals have been left here after the last sale in 1696, because the purchasers were afraid of meeting with a north wind on their voyage. Many vessels will be required to transport not only these animals but also those that will be sold during the next southern season. There being no agent now, the purchasers will have to look out for themselves. And it will be necessary for Your Honours to give them all possible assistance in order that they may not be entirely discouraged and give up this trade. Your Honours must also inquire whether any suitable vessels are to be procured here which could be sent to Colombo or Galle in March or April, for the transport from there of the Company’s elephants fit for sale: in compliance with the proposals contained in the correspondence between Colombo and Jaffnapatam of April 13 and July 11, 1695, and especially with the orders from Their Excellencies at Batavia in their letter of July 3, 1696, wherein this course was highly approved. The fare for these private vessels is far less than the expenditure the Company is put to when its own vessels are used to transport the elephants from Galle round about Ceylon to Cougature. If the latter course has to be followed, care must be taken that the animals are carefully landed at Manaar, in order that they may be fit to be transported further by land to the place of their destination. It will also be necessary to have some more of these animals trained for the hunt; because at present the Company owns only about 6 tame ones, while there should be always about a dozen; not only in order to fetch the elephants from Manaar and to tame the wild animals, but also to assist the Wannias in case they should capture a large number of elephants, when these animals would be useful in the shipping of those sold to the purchasers. This is not a regular practice, but is followed sometimes at their request when any animals are to be shipped which are not sufficiently tamed to be led into the vessels by themselves. Nothing more need be said with regard to the elephants, except that there are about 6 animals in the stables besides the 6 for the hunt mentioned above. It is to be hoped that this number will soon be considerably increased, and the prices must be regulated according to the instructions contained in the letter from Colombo of January 16, 1696, and in compliance with the decision arrived at on certain questions brought forward by the late Commandeur Blom in the Council of Ceylon on February 17, 1692, and agreed upon on February 19 following; while also, and especially, the instructions from Their Excellencies at Batavia contained in their letter of January 4, 1695, must be observed, where they order that no animals are to be sold or sent except for cash payment, so that there may be no difficulty in recovering the amount. (7)