fice for all their purchases; and on the return of
the ships half of the goods shall belong to the king, and the merchants
shall be at liberty to sell the other half for their own behoof. It
appears evident to us that this mode of conducting business will be
greatly more to the benefit of the merchants than going entirely at their
own risk, as has been done hitherto; so that the king will probably find
abundance of people willing to trade to India on these conditions. We
have accordingly a share in these two ships; but of the event, God alone
can judge.

[1] This letter is dated 16th September 1502; and by it P. Pascquali
appears to have gone from Portugal into Spain:--E.

SECTION V.

_Of the Weights and Money of Calicut, and of the places whence they
procure their Spices_[1].

Having already treated concerning the articles of commerce of all kinds
in the Indies, it is proper to give some account of the prices and
weights of these. In the city of Calicut a _bahar_ of nutmegs is sold for
450 _favi_. A bahar consists of four quintals, of 100 pounds each, and
twenty _favis_ are equal to a ducat. A bahar of cinnamon costs 390 favi.
A _faracula_, or the twentieth part of a bahar of dried ginger, is six
favi. A faracula of candied ginger is twenty-eight favi. A bahar of
tamarinds thirty favi. A bahar of the best pepper 400 favi. A bahar of
_zerombeci_ forty favi. A bahar of myrabolans 560 favi. A bahar of
zedoary thirty favi. A bahar of red sanders eighty favi. A bahar of lac
260 favi. A bahar of _sanasius_ 160. A bahar of mastic 430 favi. A
_faracula_ of camphor 160. A bahar of pepper 360. A faracula of
frankincense five favi. A faracula of benzoin six favi. A faracula of
aloes wood 400 favi. A faracula of cassia eleven favi. A faracula of
rhubarb 400 favi. A bahar of cloves 600 fevi. A faracula of opium 400
favi. A bahar of white sanders 700 favi. A mitrical of ambergris, or six
ounces and a quarter. A bahar contains twenty faraculas. A faracula
fourteen aratollae and a third; as twenty-three Venetian aratollae are
equal to twenty-two Portuguese pounds. A golden ducat is equal to twenty
favi.

As to those things which are carried from Europe for sale at Calicut, a
faracula of brass sells for forty-five favi. A faracula of white coral
for 1000. A faracula of silver for twenty favi. A faracula of spurious
coral for 300. A faracula of alum twenty. An almenum of saffron sells for
eighty favi: the almenum exceeds