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Malacca
units of mass

16ᵗʰ century

The Portuguese controlled Malacca from 1511 to 1641; the names are those used by the Portuguese. Their equivalents in later romanizations are pretty obvious; e.g., cate = catty, cumduryn = condorim, and so on.

For trade in cloves, nuts, mace, sandalwood, pepper, pucho (“huma droga da Asia”--Morais 1789, page 263), incense, oak galls, myrrh, brazil wood, iron, sulfur, saltpeter:

baar of the large dachem*
cate	200
1.05144 kg	210.2883 kg

Metric equivalents calculated by de Lima Felner from 1 cate = 2 arrateis, 4 omças, 5 octauas, 15 grãos, 3 dezauos.

For trade in pewter, China silk, ivory, “amfião” (anafáia, the first silk yarn spun by a silkworm. Transtagno 1773; Morais 1813 v1 page 128), rose water, roçamalha (“a sort of drug” -- Transtagno), Chinese camphor, and other merchandise:

baar of the small dachem*
cate	200
0.91800 kg	183.6 kg

*A dachem is a municipal steelyard or balance. See footnote 1, page 101, of Tomé Pires.

Metric equivalents calculated from 1 cate = 2 arrateis.

For trade in gold, seed-pearls, coral, “calambuco” (a type of wood, “the same as the calamba, but less aromatic”--Morais 1813 v1 page 323), roots from Manica, musk:

					cate
				tael	20
			paual	4	80
		maz	4	16	320
	cupão	4	16	64	1280
cumduryn	5	20	80	320	6400
0.12 g	0.64 g	2.57 g	13.0 g	41.23 g	803.25 g

Metric equivalents calculated from 1 cate = 28 omças.

Sources: Antonio Nunes (1554), page 39 (manuscript folio 31). Tomé Pires.

19ᵗʰ century

							bahar
						pecul	3
					kip	6 2/3	20
			bedur		7½	50	150
		tampang or catty		2	15	100	300
	buncal		20	40	300	2000	6000
	miam	16	320	640	4800	32,000	96,000
as gold and silver weights, per Doursther, 1840	2.90 g	46.47 g	929.4 g	—	—	—	—
ordinary commerce	1.9 g	30.6 g	612.5 g	1.23 kg	9.19 kg	61.25 kg	183.8 kg

Malacca units of mass

16ᵗʰ century

19ᵗʰ century

Malacca
units of mass