Hamilton’s account of the east indies.

457

The product of the ifland is fandal-wood, the befl and largeft in the world, whichis a great commodity in China , alfo gold and bees-wax. The gold is plentiful, but ofa low touch, not amounting to 20 carats fine. And all manner of provifions areplentiful and cheap, but no anchoring about the ifland, except at Leifaw and Coupang.And the coaft is fubject to frequent tornadoes, or fqualls of wand and rain, in*troduced with much thunder and lightning.

The natives report, that at a certain feafon of the year, after the fouth-weft mon-foons are fet in, they can difcern an high mountainous land to the fouthward of them,and continues in fight from December to the latter end of February, or the beginningof March, and then difappears. If the report be true, it mull: be fome floating ifland,that comes from and goes to New Holland, which is the next tract of land to thefouth of Timor . Thefe accounts I had from a Portugueze gentleman called Alex-ander Pinto, who was a Captain at Leifaw four years, and was bound from Bataviato Goa , in anno 1704. He went paffenger with me, and feemed to be a man ofprobity.

I never met with any body that could give me any tolerable account of the iflandsto the eaftward of Timor, or of New Guinea , or New Holland, and l'o I will pafs bythem, and direct my courfe to the Iflands of Banda, where cloves, nutmegs, andmace grow, but are now all engrofied by the Dutch , who allow one of them calledPullo-wey, to belong to the Englilh, after they had been at 40 years pains to cut downall the clove and nutmeg trees that grew on it, and have made it death for the nativesever to plant any on it.

The Englilh had alfo a factory on Pullo-ron, but were glad to leave it about theyear 1618. The Dutch have that ifland Hill, with Loutore and Noro, where theyreap plentiful crops of fpice.

I mull now fleer weft-north-weft about 30 leagues, to the famous ifland ofAmboina , where as real a tragedy was acted on the Englilh, as ever happened amongfriends and allies. The ftory is too well known to need a place here. However, atprefent it has altered its fcene, and turned prodigioufly religious, having no lefs than50 Dutch Proteftant churches on that holy ifland, and the natives are very fond andforward to turn converts, efpecially fince fome Amboinefe youths have been fent toHolland, and trained up in their univerfities, and honoured with church orders.They coming back to their own native land, loaded with fuch fine qualifications, andreceiving great refpedt from their mailers the Dutch , make the converfion of thepopulace very eafy.

The Dutch have fo fortified Amboina , by their own report, that they think it im-pregnable. It is true Victoria Bay is fathomlefs till fhipping come within a mile oftheir forts, and there is no other place for anchoring on that fide of the ifland ; but Ihave heard fome Dutch officers, in difputing their knowledge of Amboina , fay, thaton that fide that fronts the coaft of Ceram, there are feveral places of anchoring at amile or two diftant from the fhore, and never a fort built to impede an enemy’s land-ing, and that if an army fuperior in force to what the Dutch have at Victoria, wouldmarch but fix or feven leagues by land, they might come on the back of the town, andlodge on hills fo near it, that none could pafs the ftreets in the. town, nor appear ontheir bulwarks or batteries; but this was a fecret that the Englilh or French oughtnot to know.

The ifland Ceram, near Amboina, has alfo cloves and nutmegs, and the Dutch ap-propriate that ifland to themfelves, and have a factory on it called Ambay. It is alarge ifland of 70 leagues long, and 13 broad.

VOL, VIII. 3 N Bum