Page 411

Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places

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Batavia (continued) for to the deceit of an Indian. Cheating by false weights and measures, false samples, &c, &c. are lookd upon only as arts of trade: if you do not find them out tis well; if you do, Well they say, then we must give you what is wanting, and refund without a blush or the least wrangle, as I myself have seen in matters relating to the ship. But their great fort is asking one price for their commodities and charging another, so that a man who has laid in 100 pecol of sugar, as he thinks at 5 dollars a pecul, after it has been a week or ten days on board will have a bill brought him in at 7, nor will the Merchant go from his charge unless a written agreement or witnesses can be brought to prove the bargain. For my own part, I was fortunate enough to have heard this character of them before I came here, and wanting nothing but daily provision agreed immediately in writing for every article at a certain price, which consequently my Landlord could never depart from; I also, as long as I was well, constan[t]ly once a week lookd over my bill and took it into my posession, never Voyaging Accounts © Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 485, February 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-411.html