ENGLAND'S TRADE WITH THE EAST INDIES 3 ing transferred her cargo to his own ships, he let the plundered Portuguese vessel go her way. A good freight thus secured, Lancaster filled up his ships with spices at several of the islands, made a friend of the boy-king of Bantam, left a factory of English merchants and seamen, and returned to England on September 11, 1603. Two of his ships preceded him. On June 16th the Company had received the glad news that the Ascension was in the Thames, and forthwith ordered " six suits of canvas doublet and hose without pockets," for six porters to land her precious spices. The profits, apart from the plunder, were very large. The pepper had cost at Bantam, including dues, under 6d. per lb., while the selling price in England in 1599 had been raised from 3s. to 6s. and 8s. Its ordinary price was formerly 2s. 8d., and although it sank after the establishment of the Company to 2s. or even less, the returns were great. The gaiii on the finer spices was still larger. I find that £2948 paid in 1606 for cloves in Amboyna fetched £36,287 in London in 1608. These enormous profits on Indian commodities, rang- ing from 500 to 1500 per cent., should at once have established the credit of the Company. But when the ships returned in 1603, the plague had brought business to a stand. Between December 7, 1602, and December 1, 1603, the Company declared that no fewer than 38,138 persons died of the pestilence in London; that all the merchants and people of condition had fled; and that " trade hath utterly ceased within the City for almost this half year." When the plague abated, diflfi-
