the The first voyage made by. the Dutch was in in' which year their
first fleet, under the command of Houtman (who had been previously
employed by the Portuguese in the East-India service), sailed direct to
‘ " 'B a n tam .
“ Java, „until that period tmdiscoyered; but,' which ^ .a c c o u n t of,its size sad fertility was
‘f “^mediately peopled by Passara, son of the,rking of £iam,: and the city of Passaraan,
“ called after his own name, was founded at a very good seaport, and this was the first settle“
“ ment on the island. '
“ The Javans are proud, brave, and treacherous, and. so vindictive, that for any slight
“ offence (and they consider as the most, unpardonable th,e touching their forehead with ybur>
“ hand) they declare amok to revenge jC,; They navigate much, to every part of the Eastern
“ Archipelago, and say that formerly they used to navigate the ocean as far as the island of
“ Madagascar^(St. Laurence).
“ *^he city of Bintam, or Banta, which is in_the middle of the opening ofitfie straits of Sunday
“ stands.in the centre ofya large bay, which from point to point, may b,e about-thrèe leagues
** wide, the bottom good, and the depth of water from two to six fathoms,.; A river of. suflb-
“ cient depth for junks and galleys, falls into this .bay, and divides the town into two. parts.
“ On one side of the town there is a fort, built of sun-dried bricks: the walls are about seven
“ palms thick, .the bulwarks of. wood, well furnished with artillery.,
“ The Island of Sunda is moré mountainous than Java. I t has six gqpd seaports X sOhmm -
“ at the extremity of the island; Chacatara, or Caravan; Tangaram, , Chegmde, Pandang, and
“ Bintam, which have a great traffic, on account of the trade .carried on, not ..only, with
“ Java, but with Malacca and Sumatra.
r w.The principal city of this kingdom is called Haro,'situated ,a jittfe-tovvards (she interior,'
“ and we are assured that when Henriquez Leme first visited it, tiris.tqjsn had upwards of fifty
“ thousand inhabitants, and that the kingdom had upwards of one hundred thousand fighting
“ men.
“ The soU is very rich- An inferior gold, of six carats, is found.. There is nh.m.W.. „<=
“ butcher’s meat, game and provisions, and tamarinds which serve thfi, native» for, .vinegar;
“ TIle inhabitants are not very warlike, much addicted to their idolatries, and hate the Maho-
“ medans, and p^rticularly sifice they were conquered by the Sangue Pdti Duma.
.“ Here föur or five thousand slaves may be purchased, on account of the numerous popular
jySjljrc and its being lawful for.t&e father to sell-the childrens The wonaen are handsome* and
“ those of the nobles chaste, which is not thfe case with those of the.lower classes, There are
“ monasteries or contents for the women, into wjfiph,.the, nobles-pnf, their daughters, wheö
«' ffiey cannot matcJi tliem.in marriage according to their wishes. The married wnms.fr,
“ their husbands die, must, as,a point o£honour,"die with them, and if they should be’ afraid
“ of death they are put into the convents.
“ The kingdom descends from father to son, and not. from uncle to nephew, (son of the
“ sister,) as among the Malabara and other infidels in India
“ They are foniTof rich arms, opamentejl vipith, gold and inlaid work. Their M e t are gilt;
“ “ d also .tfie pomt of their lances. Many otiier particulars might be added (but we reserve
“ them
Bantam, At this period-the Portuguese wer^ at war with the king of Bantam,
to whom Houtman offered assistance, in return for.which he obtained
permission
•“ jh |m fer gVffi|raphy),'* .60ficemng the . pmiuffi^as. of this island; in which upwards óf
“ thirty thousand quintals of pepper are collected annually.”
. t Decad. iv. Chapter 13....•
year 1^5S,jJo>gé.Albuqaérque-, governor of:Malacca, equipped a vessel to carry
. “ Heqriquez LpUR®,' with a competent suite and certain presents; .tp the king Samiam above
.*/ mentioned, for jh e '. purpose of establishing .a .commercial • intercourse. Lerne was well re-
“ ceived by the king, who was fnDy. sensible of the imp'ortahce of such a connexion ‘in the
“ .war i®. which! he was;then engaged with the Moors. ^Mahomedans); an'd,. therefore, he:' re-
“ quested that, for the protection of the trade, the king of. Portugal should erect a fortress
“ and that he would-load-as many ships as he chose with pepper,! in return for such merchan-
p diae as the country required, . And -further, •> he:(the Mng)c®Miged!bitnself,.(ä8-a pledge
“ äfljf :his friendship, to give him; annually a .thousand Bags of- pepper, from the day on which
“ the building of the .fortress'shduld commence.
f‘.TheS,e thihgs being concluded and presents exchanged, Lerne returned to Malacca, where
he was well- "received • by Albliquerque, who ifnmediat'ely communicated the. result to, the
“ king of Portugal, who approvetfof all thafr-hadbeen done.
Ips;j ' * •*. * * *
“ (Francisco de Sfi was in-consequehce 'dispatched with six vessels (the names of which and
“ .of their commanders are'‘enumerated), with -whichhé calledat Malacca, and accompanied
“ thé expedition against Bintam • (then in the. possession of the rexpel)ed king, of Malatsc&J, on
“ learing, which b e was overtaken by a dreadful storm, and one'jjf his vessels, commanded by
“ DironteGoelho;';reaohedrthe poTthf ’Calapa (where' thé fort was to be built), where she
“ .wasidriven. on shore, and all the crew perished by thé, hands of the Moors (Mahomedans), who
" werè then masters óf the country; having a few days Before*staken the town from the native
“ ÜsgA whó had concluded the treaty with the Kin^ óf Portugal, and given him the site on
M which to .erect.the.fortress.- .
v pff .But although- fhe intended establishment on Java was thus' frustrated, the Portttguesfe
1 continued to have intercourse with that island, at "which fhey frequently touched oh their
“ voyage to and from the Moluccas,”
•*’ Decad. iv. Book Chapter-14.
1 y *‘ In August, L526» Anfqnio 4® Brittq, on his return from Temati to Malacca, touched at
“ the port of Paneruca, where herföund his - conn try man J Jono- de Moreno, -who had twenty
“ Malay junks under his "command. From Ithenceyhe proceeded to the town o£-Tagasam,
“ whose inhabitants were at war with the Portuguese, and had captured a junk laden with
“ cloves, which he had dispatched to Malacca, and they even attempted to take the vessel in
• ^ -(which
* Barros often.alludes to his Treatise on Geography, in which lie had" described particularly all the countries
mentioned in his Decadas; b ut It never was published, having been left in an imperfect state a t bis death.