The 28th Of The Same Month Came In The
Great Enkhusen Of Holland From Ternate; And On The Same Day The King Of
Jackatra Came To Visit Our General.
The 1st August, in the afternoon, while the general and all our
merchants were very busy in the warehouse,
Taking an inventory of all
the prize goods remaining, and of all our other goods, word was brought
that the Hollanders had wounded two of our men, whom we presently
afterward saw enter the gate bleeding. Our general immediately ordered
every man to take his weapons, and to lay them soundly over the
Dutchmen's pates, which was done accordingly, and the Dutchmen were
banged home to their own house, one being run through the body, who was
said by some to have recovered afterwards; and two more lost their arms.
The Dutch merchants and several others came out with firearms; but
hearing that their men began the fray, they said they had only their
deserts: and, after taking a cup of wine in a friendly manner with our
general, they kindly look their leave. News was carried to court that
the Hollanders and us were by the ears, and that two were slain; on
which some of the king's attendants asked, whether the slain were Dutch
or English? and when told they were Hollanders, they said it was no
matter if they were all slain. I thank God that only two of our men were
hurt in this affair, which were those mentioned at the first; one having
a cut over the hand, and the other a stab with a knife in the side, but
not very deep. This was the first serious affray, but it was not long
before we were at it again pell-mell, again and again, when the
Hollanders sped as they did now.
The 11th August two ships came in from Cambaya, which had taken much
wealth from the Portuguese, and the same day one ship came from
Tenate.[132] The Ascension came in from Banda on the 16th. The 8th
September the Dutch merchants invited our general and his masters and
merchants to a feast, where we were treated with good cheer and much
friendship. The 15th September, two Dutch ships set sail for Holland,
one being a small ship laden with pepper at Bantam; and the other,
having taken in some cloves at Ternate, was loaded out with prize goods,
taken from the ships that came from Cambaya. The Dutch admiral came in
from Banda on the 21st, and next day our general sent some merchants to
the Dutch house to congratulate him; on which day a drunken Dutchman
caused a new fray, which began with our surgeon, but was augmented by
several on both sides, and some of the Hollanders were wounded.
[Footnote 132: Though not mentioned in the text, these three ships were
most probably Hollanders. - E.]
About one o'clock that same afternoon, while our general sat on a bench
at our gate, conversing with a Portuguese, a drunken Dutch swab came and
sat himself down between them, on which our general gave him a box in
the ear and thrust him away. Some of his comrades came presently round
our gate, drawing their knives and sables, [hangers,] and began to
swagger. Taking the butt-ends of our pikes and halberts, and some faggot
sticks, we drove them to an arrack house, where they shut the door upon
us; but we forced it open, knocked some of them down, and carried them
prisoners to our general. Soon after another troop of Hollanders came
down the street to take part with their comrades, on whom we laid such
load that they took to their heels, some being knocked down, and many
having their pates pitifully broken, while others had to run through a
miry ditch to escape us. The master of their admiral had occasioned this
tumult, as he had gone from ship to ship, desiring the men to go armed
on shore and kill all the English they could meet: and when some of our
people were going on board the Dutch ships, some Englishmen they had in
their ships called out to them not to come on board, as orders had been
given to slay as many English as they could, on board or on shore. These
frays were much wondered at by all foreigners in Bantam, that we should
dare to go to blows with the Hollanders, who had seven large tall ships
in the road, while we had but two. None of our men met with any harm in
this affray, except Mr Saris, one of our merchants, who got a cut on his
fore-finger with a hanger.
At the end of this fray, the Dutch general came to our house with a
great guard of captains, merchants, and others, and being met in a
similar manner in the street by our general, was invited into our
house. When the cause of this affray was reported to the Dutch general,
he approved of what we had done. When some of his people complained that
their men bore all the blows, as was apparent by their bloody pates and
shoulders, the Dutch general said he saw plainly the fault lay with his
men, and he would take order to prevent so many of his men coming on
shore in future. After much talk, a banquet of sweetmeats was served,
the Dutch general took a kindly leave of ours, and all the Dutch and
English merchants shook hands and parted.
Some Javans, who belonged to two of the principal men of Bantam under
the king, had stolen nine muskets and callivers from the gun-room of our
ship the Ascension; and two of them returning shortly after to steal
more, were taken by our people with the stolen goods upon them. Our
general sent me to examine into the matter, and to bring them on shore.
After some examination, they confessed whose slaves they were, and said
the pieces were forthcoming.
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