That is the chief trade of the Portuguese in India. Those
vessels anchor at the city of Macan, and thus it seems as if [the
abandonment of] that city would cause the lack, [of a port] there
for this trade. But I answer that this is not so; for the Chinese
would not deny the port to the Portuguese, since they do not deny
it to many other nations who trade in their country without having a
town of their own there. On the other hand, the Chinese use that town
of Macan so harshly, that were it not for the large amounts that its
inhabitants owe them for the goods that the Chinese have supplied to
them on credit, the latter would already have driven the inhabitants
of Macan out of their country. But the Chinese act thus toward the
Portuguese, and treat them like negroes, so that they should go away
[of their own accord]. That town is rather a very great injury to the
Portuguese merchants who sail from Goa in the said ships--so much so,
that they avoid trading with its inhabitants, who generally sell the
goods that they have bought from the Chinese during the year, to the
Goa merchants at higher prices than the Chinese themselves ask. For
several years, the merchants in that region have been wont to go with
all their silver twenty leguas up stream in small boats to the city of
Canton, in order to trade with its natives, leaving their vessels in
the port of Macan--the inhabitants of which are mocked and disappointed
in the profit that they expected from the coming of the ships.
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