The Indian Ocean - Michael Pearson [127]
A great Ship of 5 or 600 tunns burthen that belonged to a great Merchant, an Eminent man in Bengala, whose name was Narsam Cawn [Nasib Khan], In her Voyadge homeward from Cehlone, One of theire Elephants not well Secured, did, with all the force he could possibly, run his tooth through the Ship Side in such a measure that they could not keep her free 2 hours longer, and were forced to betake themselves to their great boat, and haveinge faire Weather and not beinge above 30 leags off Shore, they all Saved theire lives.
If the elephant survived the voyage and lived for three days once landed the freight was payable: between Rs 500 and 800, depending on size.11
A brief regional survey around the littoral of the ocean will identify the main trade products. The East African coast at this time continued mostly humble trade, except in ivory, to the Red Sea and Hadhramaut areas. Most of this trade, of which at least by volume the main item was mangrove poles used for house construction and ship building around the Arabian coasts, was carried by Muslim traders located in the host areas rather than by the Swahili inhabitants of the coast.
The Red Sea continued to be the major route connecting the southern part of Eurasia with the northern, that is the eastern Mediterranean. Some of this trade was that done by pilgrims as they chaffered their way to the Holy Cities, engaging in petty trade on the way in order to cover their costs and buy food. But apart from this there was a very major trade centred on the port of Mecca, Jiddah, which however had little or nothing to do with the pilgrimage traffic. Around 1580 some forty or fifty great ships called each year with spices and merchandise. A few years later Lobo wrote generally of Jiddah,
which has been made so famous in these times in all of the East by the great number of ships that go there and the rich trade the merchants find there, and the superstitious custom of pilgrimages to Mecca made by those who follow the infamous Koran... since the ships which sailed to Juda made excellent business profits, because of the great wealth of the universal market of people and merchandise carried on in that city, they became so famous in India that when people wanted to indicate that something was very costly and valuable they would call it a ship from Mecca or Juda.12
Throughout our period Gujarat was a major trade centre, based on its huge production of cotton cloth and other products, and its role as a gateway not only for the hajj but also for a host of imported products sent up country to the heartland of the Mughal empire. Early in the sixteenth century Tomé Pires wrote that Cambay stretched out two arms, one to the Red Sea and one to Melaka. Portuguese misrule made the Gujaratis move out of the latter, thus assisting in the decline of this once great port city. They traded instead all around the Bay of Bengal, and in the Malay world, especially in Aceh. The companies found them keen, often dominant, competitors in the region. By the seventeenth century Cambay had been replaced by Surat. This was an important change and one which had nothing to do with the European presence in the area. Through the seventeenth century and beyond Surat was one of the greatest ports in the world, with a variegated and skilful merchant community, vast capital resources, and connections all around the littoral of the ocean. Around 1700 the port was home to a fleet of over 100 vessels,