(^132) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
was this game that even after the two Iberian kingdoms separated in
1640, the Dutch and English were loath to return to peace. What
could be better than
The good old rule, the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can T
The land powers of the Indies watched this intra-European contest
and kept clear. They preferred to take their share of monopolistic trade
or even to use the foreigner as an ally in their own wars. Besides, the
Asians were largely indifferent to maritime power and naval prowess—
"Wars by sea," said Bahadur Shah, ruler of Gujarat and neighbor of the
Portuguese, "are merchants' affairs and of no concern to the prestige
of kings." That was not far from the Chinese attitude. Another bad
mistake.
Meanwhile Portuguese power shriveled: one historian speaks of "the
inherently brittle superstructure of their maritime dominance."^8 And,
he might have added, the sandy infrastructure. Soon, only the great
memories remained, enshrined in the poetry of Luis da Camoëns (The
Lusiads), who sang of invisible tracks through "oceans none had sailed
before."^9 All pride. As the English governor of Bombay observed in
1737: "The Crown of Portugal hath long maintained the possession of
its territories in India at a certain annual expense, not inconsiderable;
purely as it seems from a point of Honour and Religion."^10
The Spice of Life
People of our day may wonder why pepper and other condiments
were worth so much to Europeans of long ago. The reason lay in the
problem of food preservation in a world of marginal subsistence.
Food supply in the form of cereals barely sufficed, and it was not
possible to devote large quantities of grain to animals during long
winters, excepting of course breeding stock, draft animals, and
horses. Hence the traditional autumnal slaughter. To keep this meat
around the calendar, through hot and cold, in a world without
artificial refrigeration, it was smoked, corned, spiced, and otherwise
preserved; when cooked, the meat was heavily seasoned, the better
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