A VOYAGE TO BORNEO.

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If two fmall fhips were fent, I conceive it would be more advantageous than one thatwould carry as much as both; for if any difference fhould arife out of the natives’jealoufy, &c. the two would undoubtedly be better able to defend themfelves, and tokeep them in awe till they could give a proof of their behaviour, which ought to beextreme civil towards them, without the leaft fhew of fear or diftruft. However youcannot be too much upon your guard. Moreover, two fhips could fooner difpatchloading, for one could go up to the town, and flay there whilft the other fhould anchoragainft the mouth of China River. This would fave the lofs of many a day, when therains prevent the bringing down the pepper fo far to the fhip, befides the time fpent ingoing and returning; whereas the fhip that lies in town and alongfide or near the houfe(being according to cuftom cajaned or thatched over the deck) might take in andgarble the pepper in all forts of weather, having one mill on fhore and another onboard, which would certainly fave two-thirds of the time it would take in carrying itdown in boats ; and when fhe had thus got her full loading fhe fhould fall down theriver, and the other might come up in her room : but both fhould by no means betrufted up at one time, unlefs the trade were better eftablifhed than it is as yet. TheCompany did fend with us inflruments for garbling the pepper, but we did not ufethem, having made there a kind of mill much eafier to be built than defcribed, wherewithwe garbled or cleanfed ten times the quantity of pepper in a day more than the otherwould, and with much lefs trouble, as being more convenient in every refpedt. As toyour pepper-duff you ought not to heave it overboard, for the natives will drive downafter it in their boats, fcum a great part thereof up, dry it, then mix it with theirpepper and fell it to you again, befides, I doubt not but the Chinefe would give fome-thing for it: for, as the Banjareens informed me, they make no difference betweenthat which is free, and that which is full of duff, but load all together in their junkswithout garbling. You will every day have the provifions above mentioned broughtto your door by the men’s wives in the town; but you muff be very careful to keepyour folks from affronting them, and you need not fear being fupplied while youlie there.

You will be firfl mightily crowded with people of all forts, under pretence ofbuying or felling ; and you muff bear a little with their impertinence: but to preventthe ill confequence of affronting them, and to hinder them from pilfering, which thepoorer fort are much addicted to, it is but hiring a houfe large enough, which you maydo for about fifty pieces of eight, and feparate it into different apartments, accordingto your ftations, and leave one large room to meet thefe people in, and to weigh andpay for your pepper: not but that you will be obliged to carry into your private apart-tnents fome of the topping dealers, with whom you are obliged to have private confer-ences; but you muff refufe that liberty to the ordinary people from the very firft.

ne of the reafons why I propofe your having a houfe there, as we had, is the greatn vantage you will have of keeping your fhip clear, which otherwife would be like aair, full Q f perpetual comers and goers ; whereof fome, under pretence of buying ande m gi would not only pilfer whatever they could lay their hands on, but greatly hinderHilo' f roni doing their duty, and often create differences between them and the

ou ght to look upon the Chinefe there as your enemies at bottom ; howevera ways civil to them, as they to outward appearance are always to you : you may° tuin a penny with them in many things that the Banjareens are flrangers to. They* ^ C0 ') 1 P^ e,:e merchants, and know very well the value of all forts of drugs, diamonds,

and other goods. J

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