Baruse Is To The North Of Passaman, And
Yields Considerable Quantities Of Benzoin; Cottatinga Yields Gold, And
The Other Places Pepper.
Our general brought the king of Acheen's letter
to these places, where the chief men received it with great submission,
each of them kissing it and laying it on his head, promising to obey its
injunctions, yet all failed in performance.
It were proper, in these
letters from the king, to procure all the particulars of the trade to be
inserted. I set sail from Tecoo for Bantam on the 4th September.
[Footnote 176: It is so expressed in the Pilgrims; yet it would seem
that such arbitrary proceeding in the sovereign, assuming the character
of merchant, would be destructive of all trade. - E.]
The best gold, and the largest quantity, is to be had at the high hill
of Passaman, where likewise is the best, cheapest, and most abundant
produce of pepper. But the air is there so pestiferous, that there is no
going thither for our nation without great mortality among the men.
Fortunately this is not necessary in procuring pepper, as the Surat
commodities at Tecoo are sufficiently attractive. I have even observed
many of the natives to labour under infectious diseases, the limbs of
some being ready to drop off with rottenness, while others had huge
wens or swellings under their throats, as large as a two-penny loaf;
which they impute to the bad water.[177] Though a barbarous people, they
are yet acquainted with the means of curing their diseases. The people
of Tecoo are base, thievish, subtle, seeking gain by every kind of
fraud, or even by force when they dare; using false weights, false
reckonings, and even attempting to poison our meats and drinks while
dressing, and crissing our men when opportunity serves: But it is to be
hoped they may be inforced to keep better order, by the influence and
authority of the king of Acheen. At Acheen our Portuguese prizes were
disposed of, and shared according to the custom of the sea, a sixth part
being divided among the captors, and the rest carried to the account of
our employers. There were only five left in the factory. Many of our men
were sick, owing to their immoderate indulgence in drinking arrack.
[Footnote 177: The goitre was long ignorantly imputed in Europe to
drinking snow water; but is now well known only to affect the
inhabitants of peculiar districts, as Derbyshire in England, and the
Valais in Switzerland, and this district in Sumatra, where certain
mineral impregnations render the water unwholesome. - E.]
When at Bantam, in October 1616, there were four English ships, and five
Hollanders at Jacatra, which raised the price of pepper; and that the
more, because the Dutch boasted of having brought this year in ready
money 1,600,000 dollars, which is probably a great exaggeration to brave
our nation. Their last fleet of six ships took two or three ships of the
Portuguese, of which they made great boasts. They endeavour to depress
our nation by every manner of abuse throughout the Indies, acting
towards us in a most unfriendly and unchristian manner. Even in Bantam,
where they acknowledge our equal right, they threaten to pull our people
out of our factory by the ears, sometimes picking quarrels with them in
the streets, and even imprisoning them; and when they themselves have
caused an uproar, complaining to the king of Bantam of our unquietness,
and bribing him to take their parts. He receives their money, and tells
us of their dealings, taking advantage of this disagreement to fleece
both sides. Even at Pulo-way, an island freely surrendered to the king
of England, they abused our people, leading them through the streets
with halters round their necks, carrying an hour-glass before them, and
proclaiming that they were to be hanged when the sand was run out. And
though they did not actually proceed to that extremity, they kept them
three or four days in irons, and afterwards sent them aboard the Concord
and Thomasine, under a forced composition never to return. Likewise, at
the return of the Hosiander from Japan, which brought thirty tons of
wood for them, free of freight and charges, they reported she would have
returned empty, but for their timber; which also they might have said of
my ship, which brought for them, from Surat to Bantam, thirty-one
churles of indigo and a chest of pistoles, freight-free.
Captain Castleton went to the Moluccas with four ships, the Clove,
Defence, Thomas, and Concord, that he might be better able to defend
himself against the Hollanders; yet, being threatened by eleven of their
ships, they returned without doing much business, having only a few
cloves in the Clove. The captain died there of the flux; and the bad
success of that expedition, together with other faults, was laid to his
charge. The Trades-increase was twice set on fire by the Javans, and the
fire quenched by our people; but on a third attempt, she was fired in so
many places at once, that it was impossible to save her. The Darling was
laid up at Patane, in June 1615, by order of Mr Larkine and the factory,
as incapable of repair. Herrold, her master, was reported of having a
design to carry her off to the Portuguese; and, being prevented, he went
himself. The Thomasine was cast away, in September 1615, upon a shoal in
the night, seventeen leagues W. from Macasser, while returning from the
Moluccas. On this occasion her goods were lost, which were not of much
value, but they saved the money, being 2000 dollars, and all their
provisions, remaining fourteen days on a desolate island, where they
fitted up their boat, which brought themselves and their money to
Bantam. All their goods and other things were left behind, and seized by
the king of Macasser, who refused to make restitution. At Jacatra the
Hector sunk in three fathoms water while careening, her keel being
exceedingly worm-eaten.
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