232 ACCOUNT OF CELEBES , AMBOYNA, &C.
The Princes of Bima, Dompo, Tambora , Sangar, and Papekat have, in general,obferved their engagements with the Company pretty well; but thofe of Sumbawa have paid little attention to them, by the inftigation of the Macaffers and Wadjorefe,who refort in great numbers to thefe iflands, efpecially the latter, who are great mer-chants and adventurous navigators, and, with their country boats, they keep the fea in amod furprizing manner ; they are even faid to go as far as the Englilh fettlement atBencoolen, on the weft coaft of Sumatra *.
Paffir and Coeti are two little ftates, or fea-ports, fituated on the eaft fide of theifland Borneo , and were anciently conquered by the Macaffers f.
Their Princes ufed formerly to vifit thefe places alone, or only accompanied by theirrelatives, prohibiting their other fubje&s or allies from going thither. But thefe ftateswere received into alliance with the Company in the year 1686. •
In 1726, they were taken by the famous fugitive Wadjorefe Prince and pirate AroeSeenkang, and have ever fince paid an annual tribute to him J.
CHAP. XII. — Account of Fort Rotterdam, and of the Lands of the Company around it. ■— Difputes with the Macaffers about the Limits. — The Northern Provinces. — Occur-rences relating to them. — Maros. — Siang. — Labaccan. — Sageree. — Southern Pro-vinces. — Poelembankeeng. — Galiffong. — ffands on the Coafl. — Tanakeke , and theThree Brothers. — Bontain. — Character of its Inhabitants. — Defcription of the Bayand Fort. — Boelecomba. — Productions. — Its Road and Fort. — Bera. — Ship-building. — Defcription of their Proas. — The Inhabitants.
HAVING given an account of the principal matters relative to the allies of theCompany, I Ihall next proceed to defcribe the Company’s own lands, which belongto the government of Macaffer.
Of the Company’s poffeflions in Celebes , Fort Rotterdam is the chief. It lies in thekingdom of Macaffer, and belonged formerly to the jurifdidlion of Tello. It is on theweft coaft of Celebes , in the fouth latitude of five degrees feven minutes, and is thehead fettlement of the Company here. It is called Oedjong Pandang in the treaty ofBoni, by which it was ceded to-the Company, together with the diftrift belonging toit. None of the contrafts point out the exafl; diftance to which the jurifdiftion roundthe fort ought to be extended, on which account the Macaffers endeavour to circutn-fcribe it to the north within the exterior bounds of the town, or negree, of Vlaardingen
* Captain Forreft mentions to have feen fifteen prows, from Celebes , at a time, at Bencoolen, loadedwith a mixed cargo of fpices, wax, caflia, fandal-wood, dollars, and the cloths of Celebes , called cam-bays. Tr.
+ Forreft informs us that Paffir was a colony from Wadjo, and that the Wadjorefe equally formed fettle-ments on Sumbawa, and at Rhio, in the Straits of Malacca . Tr.
J Paffir feems now to be entirely freed from the influence of the Dutch , the tribute mentioned by theauthor being oftenfibly required for the prote&ion of the freedom of the port; and in 1772, when theEnglilh Eaft India Company’s ftiip Britannia was there, a factory was intended to be eftablilhed chiefly forthe fale of opium, Indoftan piece-goods, and the purchafe of the precious commodities, fpices, gold, wax,&c. brought thither by the Buggueflfes ; this plan was only fruftrated by a commotion taking place inthe town, at which the Englilh commander, rather needlefsly took the alarm, and quitted the country.Paflir was then a place of great trade ; with two fathoms water on the muddy bar of a river that led up tothe town, forty-five miles, the tide running a good way up above the town ; this confided of about threehundred wooden houfes on the north fide of the river, moft of them inhabited by Bugguefs merchants: thehoufe and wooden fort of the Sultan was on the fouth fide, a very little way from the river. The Bri-tannia lay about fifteen miles off the river’s mouth, in fix fathoms, muddy ground. Tr.
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