Their Nobles And
Governors Wear Hoods Of Sundry Fashions, Some Being One Half Like A Hat
And The Other Half Like A French Hood, Others Of Net-Work With A High
Crown And No Brims.
They are tall and strong built, having all very
small black eyes, and very few of them have any beards.
They will steal
and commit all manner of villainy to procure wealth. At Bantam they
purchase female slaves, as they cannot bring any women out of China. By
these slaves they have many children; and when they go back to China,
without intending to return to Bantam, they carry all their children
along with them, but sell their women. They send always some of their
goods to China by every fleet of junks; for if they die at Bantam, all
the goods they have there fall to the king. If they cut their hair, they
must never return to China; but their children may, providing their hair
has never been cut.
Sec. 2.A brief Discourse of many Dangers by Fire, and other Treacheries of
the Javanese.
After our two ships, the Dragon and Hector, were laden, and all things
set in order, our general, Sir James Lancaster, departed from Bantam on
the 21st February, 1603, leaving nine persons resident in that city,
over whom he appointed Mr William Starkie to be chief commander. He
likewise left thirteen others, who were appointed to go in our pinnace
for Banda, over whom Thomas Tudd, merchant, was constituted chief
commander, and Thomas Keith master of the pinnace. At his departure, the
general left orders that the pinnace should be sent away with all speed;
wherefore, having taken on board fifty-six chests and bales of goods,
she set sail at night on the 6th March; but meeting with contrary winds,
was forced to return to Bantam after having been two months at sea,
beating up to no purpose. Also, at our general's departure, he left us
two houses full of goods, besides some being at the Dutchman's house;
but we were too few in number to have kept one house well, had not God
of his great mercy preserved us.
Before the departure of our ships, a quarrel had taken place between our
people and the Javanese, who sought by all manner of ways to be
revenged; so that presently after the departure of our pinnace, they
began to attempt setting fire to our principal house, by means of
fire-arrows and fire-darts in the night; and when we brought out any
quantity of our goods to air, they were sure to set some part of the
town on fire to windward not far from us. If these fire-arrows had not,
by God's good providence, been seen by some of our people, that house
and all its goods had surely been consumed, as plainly appeared when we
came afterwards to repair the roof. But, as the malice of the rascal
sort began now plainly to appear, and continued for two years against
us, so did the merciful protection of God begin to shew itself, and
continued to the last day, as will manifestly be seen in the sequel of
this discourse: For which blessed be his holy name.
Immediately after dispatching the pinnace, we began to lay the
foundation of our new house, which was seventy-two feet long, and
thirty-six broad. And as at this time a new protector of the kingdom was
chosen, we were put to some trouble and cost before we could get
permission to go through with it. In airing our prize goods, Mr Starkie
unadvisedly caused the leather covers to be stripped off from most of
the bales, by which we found afterwards that they did not keep their
colour near so well as the others. On the 21st of March, in consequence
of a cannon being fired off by a Chinese captain, the town was set on
fire, and many houses full of goods were consumed. Among the rest the
Dutch house was burnt down, in which we had sixty-five packs of goods,
besides some pepper. We had also a considerable quantity of pepper in
the house of a Chinese which was burnt down, in which we lost 190 sacks
entirely, besides damage received by the rest. Our loss by this fire was
great, yet we were thankful to God it was no worse, considering how near
the fire came to our two houses, which were at that time very unfit for
such danger, especially one to which the fire came within three yards,
so that the jambs of the windows were so hot one could hardly lay their
hand upon them, yet did not its old dry thatch take fire, to the great
admiration of all who were there of many nations. All the villains of
the place gathered round our house, so that we durst take no rest, lest
they should set it on fire. Some of them even were so impudent in the
evening as to ask how many of us lay in that house, as if meaning to set
upon us in the night and cut all our throats. They were even so bold as
to come in the day time before our very faces, to observe how our doors
were fastened in the inside; and we were often warned by our
well-wishers to keep good watch, as there were a knot of thieves who
intended to rob and murder us. There were only four of us in this house,
who, with over-watching, and by the disease of the country, which is a
dysentery, were quite spent with weakness, and two of us never
recovered. Nine sail of Hollanders came into the road on the 19th of
April, 1603, of which fleet Wyorne van Warwicke was general; who shortly
after sent two ships to China, two to the Moluccas, and one to Jortan,
two remaining at Bantam. We were much beholden to this general for
bread, wine, and many other necessaries, and for much kindness.
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