ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA.

fiot

Slaves and rice are the chief objefts of traffic here; but the eftablifhmcnt is like-wife confidered of great importance, for the fecurity of the Moluccas and the fpice-iflands *.

Upon the ifland of Timor , part of which belongs to the Portuguefe, and part to theDutch , the Company have a fmall fettlement, the profits and expences of which arenearly equal f.

At Banjermaffing, fituated on the fouth fide of the great illand of Borneo , the•charges and revenues are equally nearly upon a par. Its chief product is pepper J.

Malacca

* See the further ample account of the fettlement at Macafier, in Mr. Stavorinus’s Second Voyage. Tr.f Timor is an ifland lying in the direftion of north-eaft between eight degrees forty minutes and ten de-grees thirty minutes, fouth latitude ; the Dutch fettlement is at a fort called Coupang at; the fouth-weft.part of it, in latitude ten degrees twelve minutes fouth, and in longitude, according to the Dutch charts, onehundred and twenty-one degrees fifty-one minutes eafl, but according to Captain Bligh , in one hundred andtwenty-four degrees forty-one minutes eaft. The chief of the fettlement has the rank of merchant, with aftadditional falary of/.200c, and the eftablifhment confifted in 1776-1777 of ten perfons in civil, and two inecclefiaftical employments, two furgeons, five belonging to the artillery, eight marines, forty foldiers, andthree mechanics, in all feventy Europeans. The north-eaft and fouth fides of the ifland belong to theHutch, whofe governor has equally the controul over the neighbouring fmall iflands of Rot ti, Savu, andfbme others, which are governed by their own native Princes, but who are dependent of the Company, andpay yearly acknowledgments of fmall value, confiding principally in wax, which is the chief article producedin their domains. The Portuguefe have a fmall faftory, called Liffau, on the north fide of Timor . Thecharges of the Dutch eftablifhment here amounted in 1779 to and the receipts toy.13,619.

And upon the whole, they have been computed to be nearly upon a par. Timor furnifhes a number ofSlaves for private ufe, who are of a pliant difpolition and temper, and are much employed at Banda in thecultivation and preparation of nutmegs and mace. The Company likewife receive from Timor a confider-ahle quantity of fandal-wood, and bees-wax (though the former article is now fcarce), in exchange forpiece-goods, on the fale of which five per cent, is allowed, in equal proportions, to the two firft officers ;the profits on this little trade are more than adequate to make good the charges of the (hip, which isannually difpatched from Batavia, for the purpofes of fetching them, and of carrying a cargo of necefiariesto the government. Tr.

t The factory at Banjermaffing lies in three degrees fouth latitude. There is a fmall fort, where a juniormerchant as refident, with about twenty-five or thirty foldiers are Rationed. The objeft of this cllablifli-mynt is chiefly the collcftion or purchafe of the pepper and rough diamonds produced in the country.iu ,e ^ er cent- on the P e PP er collected is allowed to the refident. The contraft entered into with the Kingobliges him to deliver 6oo;ocO pounds, at three flivers per pound ; and this is the only article which in-bces the Company to retain this pofieffion, for the profits on the rough diamonds, gold, wax, canes, andla g°, would not be fufficient to make good the charges. The refpe&ive qualities-of thefe latter articlesfo inferior that the trade of the Company in them is confined to a mere trifle. The circumjacentbdian nations, and the Chinefe, carry on a great trade with Borneo , The Englilh have fome eftabliflt-ments on the north coaft of Borneo , but their fettlement at Balambangan was deftroyed in 1775, by thet)i r° 8 ’ atlc ^ we know not whether it has been re-eftablilhed. They have endeavoured to rear the nutmeg at^ P^ aces> 1 hey fucceeded tolerably in the beginning, but either their plants have degenerated, or, e ^ had not originally the genuine kind, for the nutmegs they now produce are much lefs in value thanoie which are grown at Banda, and are, in fadt, what are called wild nutmegs, being of an oblong ffiape,a lefs fpicy nature than the true ones. Banjermaffing is of no importance to the Company as a fourceth r - evenile » h >r ^ey do not poflefs a foot of land without their fort, and are obliged to be' conftantly onCIr K uar d againft the inlrdious attacks of the natives ; though in 1769 an o-.der, which was made in^ 754 > for all captains of veflels going thither, “ not to land all the cafh they had on hoard for the factorythe°I C was withdrawn ; the fort being then thought fufficiently ftrong to withftand any afiault of

tt) 6 t dians .' The charges of this eftablifhment were, in ; 779, f. 12,091, about itccl fterling, which,this f* Cf t ^ 10 ^ e conveying the pepper to Batavia, are fcarcely covered by the profits accruing onicanty trade.

£ rotn an . < ’ a ' 5 ar| fl Succadana are pofieffions which the Dutch Company have obtained in Borneo , by grantkv th * *R ^ an,ain > to whofe crown they were appendages, being provinces formerly conquered

e Bsrnamtfe ; in the year 1778 he ceded the entire property of them to the Company, who im-treat' ate a ^'P ^ rom Batavia, with an adequate Force to take pofieffion of them, and enter into a

vol W ' th ^ ^ u * lan the country. Both thefe obje&s having fucceeded, the Company fettled them-' **: » d felve*