Note 18 — The Ottoman Turks and the Routes of Oriental Trade

Heyd, Colonie commerciali, ii. 272, note 1, quotes Peschel for the statement that a quintal of ginger which cost at Calicut 4 cruzados sold at Alexandria for 11 and at Venice for 16. But G. Priuli (in R. Fulin’s Diarii e Diaristi Venetiani, Venice, 1881, p. 160) says that one ducat at Calicut mounted to from 60 to 100 ducats in Europe. The latter statement appears to be exaggerated, since in England, at the farthest extremity of Europe, pepper could fall as low as 9d. the pound (see note 12). If Priuli be correct, the value of pepper at Calicut in his time was a farthing or less per pound, or a sou per kilogram.