Brazil at the Dawn of the Eighteenth Century

Chapter XII: How the Planter Should Deal with Merchants as Well as with His Agents in the Market Place; Some of the Ways of Buying and Selling Sugar, as Practiced in Brazil

49 chapter xii y How the Planter Should Deal with Merchants as Well as with His Agents in the Market Place; Some of the Ways of Buying and Selling Sugar, as Practiced in Brazil The credit of a planter depends on his reliability; that is to say, on the punctuality and loyalty with which he keeps his promises. Tenants should be able to depend upon this, as he decides the days they are to press their cane and receive their share of the sugar. This reliability extends to the employees in the payment of their salaries , those who supply the firewood for the ovens, timber for the mill, tiles and molds for the boiling house, boards for chests, as well as oxen and horses for running the estate. His reliability will gain him the confidence of merchants and his agents in the market place, those who advance him money to buy slaves, copper, iron, steel, rigging, pitch, and sails, and other supplies on trust. If at the time of the fleet’s departure , the planters do not pay what they owe, they will not be able to receive any supplies for the next harvest. They will also be unable to find anyone willing to entrust money or goods to the hands of debtors who either do not pay at all, or else pay so slowly and laboriously that the creditor is menaced with bankruptcy. There are some years in which, owing to heavy mortality among the slaves, horses, oxen, or to the small yield from the cane, the planters cannot possibly pay all that they had promised. However, if they do not try to repay even a fraction of what they owe, then they do not deserve to be granted the respite for which they ask. This is particularly true when it is known that they spent money on riotous living and gambling , rather than saving to repay their creditors. In other years, when the yield is adequate and there are few or no losses, there is no reason to disappoint the merchants or agents who represent the larger commercial barons and to whom they have to render an account. Therefore, it is not very surprising if, after the contract 50 The Cultivation of Sugar has not been honored for some time and they are faced with the prospect of no profit, but on the contrary increasing loss, they moderately raise the prices of goods sold on credit. God knows when they will be able to collect the payment. To buy the sugar in advance at the rate of two cruzados, for example, which is commonly worth twelve or more tostões29 at harvest time, has its drawbacks. The buyer is certain of his profit and the seller is morally certain to lose. This is especially true when the man who advances the money does not need to purchase anything else before the time comes to ship the sugar to Portugal. Whoever buys or sells sugar in advance at the price it will be worth at the time of the fleet’s landing makes a legitimate contract. Both buyer and seller are taking an equal risk. This assumes the price will be at the prevailing market rate for sugar at that time and not privately arranged. The seller may need to do this because he is forced by necessity to sell. To buy on installment means to pay down forthwith a part of the price and to pay the rest later in quarterly or annual installments, according to the contract, until the whole is paid off. It is legitimate to add a penalty of a stipulated number of additional cruzados if any installment falls behind. However, no claims can be made for the payment of interest on money already repaid, since interest is only paid for the principal. The expression “selling the sugar captive” means selling it with the responsibility on the buyer of paying all expenses, excepting only the three tostões which are paid in Bahia, for that is a charge on the shipper. To sell the sugar “free” at the rate of ten tostões for each arroba,30 for example, means that the buyer has to pay the seller at the rate of ten tostões for each arroba and has to pay all the expenses himself. Whoever buys the sugar “captive” and ships it, can afterward sell it “free” and the next buyer pays the subsequent costs. To buy the sugar by “heads” means to...