Page 222 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

the value, sometimes it can be found in the OBP's. In many cases however only the goods carried are listed, without their value, and more often Batavia confines itself in the OBP's to a list of goods which, after checking with the invoice - which is not included! - are missing in the cargo, or of which too many have been sent without being invoiced. When the value is actually given, no distinction is made between goods destined for Company use and those meant for sale. For the value of ready money and other goods sent, reference can be made to the introduction to this volume.
Particularly striking is the total lack in the sources of data on the changes in numbers on board ship for the route Cape-Republic and on the numbers of those arriving home. Nowhere in the VOC archives has a systematically compiled survey of these been found. Data on the death-rate on board on the passage to the Cape and on the numbers disem­ barking at the Cape of Good Hope have been derived from the Cape lists, figures in which are given without distinction between categories on board, in contrast to the lists compiled in Batavia.
As already pointed out in dealing with the uitloopboeken, data on shipping after 1794, when the directors had to hand over control, are largely lacking. The Lists therefore do not go beyond 1794 for the outward voyage and not beyond early 1795 for the return voyage, the homeward bound fleet of 1794/95 still being included.
A survey of the most important sources used in the compilation of the Lists is given on p. 271-272. In this survey ΚA numbers only are given, as in the list of sources following it.