cargo o f fpices. We perfifted in our lucrative voyages, and,
.notwithftanding the numberlefe obftruétions we met with from
the Dutch, formed a fettlement in thefe iflands. The natives of
Banda, on a quarrel with the Dutch, by a formal inftrument,
made a refignation o f their ifland to u s ; and thofe o f Lantore
did the fame. In 1620 Puloroon and Puhway were alfo added to
the Britifh dominions, and our peaceful monarch affumed the
title of t in g o f thofe iflands : he alfo received the moft friendly
epiftles from his brother kings of Lernat-e, Tidor, and Bantam.
The accounts given by-old Bur chas, vol. i. from p. 701 to 705,
are well worth the reader’s perufal. Thefe ceffions were confirmed
by treaty between "James 1. and the Dutch in -1619 ; not-
wkhftarrdtng which, at the very conclufion of a treaty, they determined
on our expulfion. They attacked with a ftrong force
Lantore and Poleroon ; they ravaged the iflands, feizedour factories
and magazines, and after flxipping the fadfors naked, firft
whipped them, loaded them with irons, and after all maffacred
them, by flinging them over the walls, and in the moft favage
manner dragged their remains in chains through the ftreerts*
The quantity o f fpices feized by thefe barbarians will ferve to
give an idea o f the extent o f our commerce : they found in our
magazines twenty-three thonfand pounds of macé, and a hundred
and fifty thoufand pounds of'nutmegs. T he narrative of
thefe proceedings are preferved in the-eighth volume-of Church-*
'frill’s Collection, but it is too horrible to be -repeated ^ and the
apology-of the Dutch fo futile and fe falfe as not to merit the
recital. CronmelL, iq '1654, had the glory of compelling the
Dutch to reftore to us the iflajjd of Poleroon, and to make ample
a fatisfactioq
fatisfadtion for their barbarities at Amboina. As to Poleroon, it was
kept but a very lhort time ; for in 1664, in the inglorious reign
o f his profligate fucceflor, it was taken from us by à Angle fliip.
T h e Abbé Raynal gives the following defcription o f thefe
iflands : “ They feem,” fays be*, “ to have been thrown up by
“ the fea, and may with reafon be fuppofed to be the effedf o f
H feme fubterraneous fire. Lofty mountains, the fummits of
“ which are loft in the clouds, enormous rocks heaped one upon
j l another, horrid and deep caverns, torrents which precipitate
“ themfelves with extreme violence, volcanoes perpetually an-
“ nouncing impending deitruction ; fuch are the phænomena
“ that give rife to this idea, or aflnit in confirming it.” By the
fequel of my account it will appear that the Abbé’s defcription.
and inference feem to have been very well founded.
T h is is the general view of them. I colledt the following
particulars o f thofe of Banda (the Moluccas I referve till my arrival
on their coafts) : the firft called Gonnapo, or Goenong-api, G o e n o n c -
in 1621 emitted fire,fmoke, and cinder; and had, perhaps,,long
before left neither woods, fruits, or water. The eruptions have-
lieen at times fo violent as to carry defolation to part o f the
neighboring ifland o f Banda, overwhelming the woods and:
greateft trees, and to fling ftones of three or four tons weight
from one ifland to the other.. Even in the laft year (1791) we
are informed, that k made a very confiderable eruption. In the
Phil. Tranf. Abridg, t is an account of a moil horrible eruption;
o f this mountain in November 1694, attended with noifes like
the difeharge o f artillery. It call up fuch a- quantity of ftones- as-
* p .13 9 . t Vol. ii. P- 393’
entirely
A i t .