International Market

0993-8_BIOR_2008/1-2_01 21-04-2008 14:39 Pagina 10 15 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2008 16 northwards, to the Îidjaz and Egypt, whereas myrrh and rassemale finished up in southern districts, in India and the Indonesian Archipelago. In addition to Indian, East African and Turkish merchants, the Dutch conducted some activities in this commerce. The profits aimed at, finally, could reach dizzy heights. Sandalwood yielded about 600% in one season, eaglewood more than 2,500% and musk at least 4,000%! Benzoin in the bazaar of al-Mukha For one sweet-smelling product, the supply or transit, the cargoes, prices or profits were not discussed, i.e. benzoin. This is not because the documents keep deathly silent about it, but, on the contrary, because they abound in data, enough to justify a separate study. That very study, which is to be considered a continuation of the ‘frankincense’ research, is undertaken here. The period under the searchlight again runs from 1614 to 1640. During that quarter of a century al-Mukha flourished, transforming itself from a local fisherman’s village into an internationally renowned mercantile port. At the same time, the Ottoman eyalet was on its way to wrack and ruin, a series of increasingly powerless Îanafi Beylerbeyis, from Dja‘far Basha to ËanÒuh Basha, suffering defeats against the revolting Zaydi Imams al-Ëasim b. MuÌammad and MuÌammad b. al-Ëasim. The sources drawn from are again, in addition to some contemporary printed logs, the handwritten missives, reports, resolutions, bills of carriage, invoices and price lists which have come down to us in large numbers in the archives of the Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), i.e. ‘United East India Company’, a globally operating enterprise maintaining a semipermanent factory in the Yemeni port city CABESSA OR BARIGA and itself an actor on the benzoin market2). DUTCH DATA ON THE BENZOIN BUSINESS Successively, designations and usages, supply, origin and IN EARLY MODERN AL-MUKHA*) destination, varieties and qualities, weighing and packaging, pricing and taring, quantities landed and traded, sales prices C.G. BROUWER in al-Mukha and purchase prices elsewhere, turnover and price trends, profits and losses, commercial strategy, costs and presents will be dealt with. The results are summarized SEARCHLIGHTS ON THE MUKHAWI BENZOIN TRADE in a final section. For details concerning nomenclature, botany and usages, Al-Mukha: International market for aromatics not touched upon in the documents and journals investigated, In the early decades of the seventeenth century, ‘sweet- one is referred to the thorough treatises by Schopen and scented shipments’ regularly reached or left al-Mukha, a sta- Schönig, to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and to the survey of ple port situated only a few hours sailing north of the straits trade products by Wennekes, covering the Yemeni, the Arab of Bab al-Mandab in the hot and humid Tihama. As Brouwer and the Dutch contexts, respectively. Unfortunately, demonstrated in a recently published essay on the Mukhawi Grohmann’s work on South Arabian economic history, a real trade in ‘frankincense and other aromatics’1), sandalwood, landmark, does not discuss the country’s benzoin commerce, sunbul and hing-asa were supplied by cargo ships from West- let alone that in early modern al-Mukha3). It goes without ern India and Sind. Musk came from Javanese regions, saying that the useful lexicons by Kooijmans and Schoone- whereas eaglewood, ambergris and myrrh were mainly veld-Oosterling — based on Stapel’s — and by Yule and shipped in from East African ports. Frankincense arrived, by Burnell are referred to when necessary. land or by sea, from the Îa∂ramawt, the rassemale landed Finally, the rare publications of a specific, local, regional was possibly carried from Suez. Only the origin of mastic, if or international nature examining the Mukhawi benzoin supplied at all, remained mysterious. It turned out that nowhere in the sources consulted was it stated that any of these fragrant products were actually sold 2) On the Ottoman rule over South Arabia (1538-1635/6), on al-Ëasim in the Yemeni hinterland, in Ta‘izz, Dham r or ∑an‘ ’. At and his martial sons MuÌammad and Isma‘il (since 1598), on al-Mukha, on a a the VOC (1602-1799), its activities in Yemen (1614-c. 1758) and the reflec- any rate, sandalwood, ambergris and sunbul travelled further tion thereof in documents, as well as its participation in the aromatics trade, see the secondary literature referred to in Brouwer, Shipments, cols. 67-68, sub nn. 17-18. *) The cooperation with Dr Julia Harvey (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), 3) Grohmann, Wirtschaftsgebiet, vol. I, p. 115, n. 1 (ÌaÒi luban al-djawi who so competently corrected the English version of this benzoin essay, produced by the ∂arb tree in South Arabia is not, as Ritter suggested, iden- was both professional and companionable. Alf shukr! tical with Ibn Ba††u†a’s luban djawi originating from Sumatra). This is the 1) Brouwer, Shipments, especially the summarizing remarks in col. 87. historian’s sole reference to the product. 0993-8_BIOR_2008/1-2_01 21-04-2008 14:39 Pagina 11 17 CABESSA OR BARIGA 18 transactions at the turn of the seventeenth century have been Explicit references to such cargo vessels prove to be spo- indicated in the introductory sections of Brouwer’s frank- radic. According to an eye-witness from 1616, ‘merchant- incense essay cited above4). A simple reference, therefore, men’ hailing from Indian ports such as Neggena (Nagna), will suffice here to the studies by Terpstra (1918), Mac Promiens (Miani), Cadts (Kutch), Diu, Surat, Goga, Chaul, Leod (1927), Van Leur (1934/1955), Beckingham (1951), Dabhol, Goa, Cannanore, Calicut and Masulipatnam, as well Pirenne (1958), Davies (1961) and Brouwer (1980, 1982, as from Sumatran Achin, transported benzoin to Southern 1985, 1988 (twice), 1999, 2001, and 2006). In these four- Arabia. But from all of the ports mentioned? Probably not. teen contributions in book or article form — one tenth of It is most likely that only the ship owned by Aga Rasa (Agha the total number of checked publications—, without excep- Rasa), the Governor of Dabhol, was involved. This vessel, tion relying on Dutch source materials, a handful of words leaving Achin as usual in February, appeared in the roads of at most is devoted to benzoin, and that in ever-changing al-Mukha on 24 April with, in addition to spices and chi- contexts. In other words, in the secondary literature only naware, a batch of benzoin9). seldom is attention called to the fragrant product that so Five years later, in the monsoon of 1621, crafts originat- often appears in records and logs, and then only in passing. ing from Indian coastal cities — Nagna, Gingut, Diu, Surat, In the Yemeni coastal city benzoin was marketed by Indian Goga, Chaul, Dabhol, Cannanore, Cochin and Masulipatnam and Dutch merchants: this is the whole, not particularly sub- — provided the Red Sea port with the sweet-smelling item. tle, message5). But here again, was it all of these ships, some of them, or only one10)? We may assume, finally, that the benzoin which was for- THE BENZOIN BUSINESS IN AL-MUKHA, 1614-1640 warded to Masulipatnam by the VOC bottom the Schiedam at the end of September 1621 would reach the Yemeni port Designations and usages aboard a native craft in the course of the next season. In Among the aromatic substances traded in early seven- December, at least, the loading of the latter was in full teenth-century al-Mukha was benzoin, a sweet-smelling gum swing11). resin tapped from storax benzoïn (Port. benjoim, from Ar. luban djawi, i.e. ‘Javanese frankincense’). The spelling found Aboard Dutch freighters in the sources analysed can vary widely: from benjuijn, via Whereas the documents and journals examined keep silent benjeun, to benjuwijn. Once, in 1616, it is stated that ollij- about benzoin transactions by the English East India Com- van[nel] (read: olibanum, Ar. al-luban) is ‘known as ben- pany (EIC), it turns out that the data concerning the activi- sevins with the Javanese’6). ties of their Dutch competitors is both extensive and detailed. Unfortunately, nowhere is a hint given as to the use of the In 1616, the jacht (‘yacht’) the Nassau, under the com- product, neither in nor outside Yemen; the authors of mis- mand of the opperkoopman (‘senior merchant’) Pieter van sives and reports did not want to waste ink and paper on a den Broecke, sailed away from Bantam, entered the Bay of subject considered common knowledge7). al-Mukha on 25 January and brought the product ashore12). In the spring of 1620, Pieter de Carpentier and the Gover- Supply: Aboard Indian cargo vessels nor General Jan Pietersz. Coen, residing in Batavia, saw, on During the period at issue, benzoin was offered for sale on the authority of Van den Broecke, such a rosy future for the the Mukhawi market, presumably, in all successive com- benzoin commerce in Southwest Arabia that they encouraged mercial seasons. This can be deduced from the fact that the the massive purchase of the resin by Gerard Fredericksz. product figures in general price surveys covering 1616, 1621, Druijff and Cornelis van Nieuroode, merchants active in 1622, 1623, 1638 and 1640. No doubt it was carried to Ara- Patani and Siam respectively13). A few months later, at the bia aboard Asian freighters, although the lists referred to do end of August, the ’t Wapen van Zeelandt, a large schip not breathe a word about this8). (‘ship’) hailing from Jacarta, with the experienced Van den Broecke as its Commander, discharged a lot of benzoin in the port of Aden. The senior merchant Harman van Gill was commissioned to carry it, aboard Arab djalbas, together with 4) Brouwer, Shipments, cols.

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