o f Sunda. Near Bantam they met with their antient enemies
the Portuguefe, who had long been mailer o f thefe feas ; they
inilantly attacked fome o f their merchant ihips, one of which,
burnt by the Portuguefe themfelves, had fifty tons of cloves on
board ; another, which they took, had twenty; this foretafte o f
¡the riches o f the iHands, whetted their refolution o f purfuing
their plan, and of fupplanting the tyrants in this invaluable
branch o f commerce. The fécond voyage was performed under
the conduit o f the great Heemjkirk in 1598. From Bantam, he
failed with four ihips to the very Moluccas, found the moft cordial
reception from the monarchs o f Amboina and Ferrate, and
returned laden with cloves, nutmegs, mace, pepper, and cinnamon
: fleet followed fleet : the Dutch attacked the Portuguefe in
all parts of the iflands, and never defiited till they had, in 1603;
completed the conqueits o f both the Banda and Molucca iflands.
At this period Portugal was fubject to the crown of Spain. In
1605, Philip III. determined to recover thefe diftant territories ::
he fent his orders to Don Pedro D'Acunha, a gallant officer, governor
of the Philippines, to take the command o f the expedition.
He failed with a numerous fleet, attacked T’ernate, took that
ifland, and in a ihort fpace reduced the whole to his' mailer.
This conqueit was but ihort lived ; the Dutch returned in great
force, and favoured by the reguli of the iflands, repoiTeflèd themfelves
o f the whole, and to this day remain entire mailers of
what is juftly ityled the gold-mines of Holland ; they immediately
deilroyed every nutmeg-tree they could find on the adjacent
iflands, built fmall forts on every one that lay to the fouth and to
the well, as out poits to prevent the accefs o f other European nations,
tions, executed with the moil cruel rigour all fmugglers; and to
this day became foie mailers of the trade in nutmegs, mace,
cloves, and cinnamon..
T he Englifh vifited the Spice Iflands in the year 1602, in their Engiish^
firft voyage to the Eajl Indies. Sir James Lancajier, during his
itay at Bantam * , fitted out a fmall pinnace, and furnifhing it
with fuch articles as he thought would be acceptable to the
natives, difpatched it to-the Moluccas under the command of
Mr. William Starky. The pinnace returned after the departure
o f Lancajier, and forwarded to England the firfl cargo o f nutmegs
and cloves it ever received in a bottom o f its own.
In our fecond voyage the fleet was commanded by Sir Henry
Middleton, knight, who, in 1604, after a month’s flay at Bantam,
failed directly for Amboina, leaving two ihips to take in a cargo
o f pepper. From Amboina the admiral went to the Moluccas,
and difpatched the other fhip, commanded by Mr. Colthurjl, to
Banda; we are not told the circumflance of this voyage, any
more than that Sir Henry returned to England, and that the
Dragon, his principal fhip, lofl hy licknefs forty-three out o f
fifty-three men, between Bantam and the Cape..
William Keeling, commander of the expedition which was
made in 1667, was the firfl who began a reg,ular commerce with
the Spicy Iflands. He reached Banda on February 8th, 1608 ; delivered
his monarch’s ,.^ /« « the Firft’s, letter and prefents at
Hera, the capital town, and obtained leave to eitablifh a faitory
at Puloway; he actually built a houfe, but the jealous Hollanders
pulled it down, when Keeling returned to England with a rich
* Bure has,. volt i. p. it2 ,
car&o