28l

ACCOUNT OX CELEBES, AMBOYNA , &C.

Thus the Englifh formed a fettlement fome years ago upon the ifland Xullock,lying north of the Moluccas ; but as the indifferent quality of the foil, and other cir-cumftances, did not anfwer their purpofes in forming fuch an eftablifhment, theychanged it for Balambangan, an ifland on the north-eaft coaft of Borneo , in order tolay the foundation there for a place of trade* * whither the clandeftine dealers in fpicemight bring their goods, and thus furnifh our rivals with the articles out of which weendeavour to keep them.

The garrifons which the Company keep in this province, were fixed, in the year1752, at nine hundred men, including the feamen and the pennifts. His Excellency,Governor Moffel, fays, in his further memorial, written in the year 1753, thatthis number is fufiicient, fince Amboyna has nothing to fear from an Europeaneinemy*.

By that memorial, the profits which accrue annually to the Company upon the faleof goods, are eftimated at forty thoufand gilders; the proceeds of the rent of lands,excife duties, a duty of five per cent, upon the fale of real property, the damp duties,and the produce of the permits granted for the importation and exportation of privatemerchandize, are coniputed to be thirty thoufand gilders; and all the receipts are,confequently, taken at feventy thoufand gilders ; which fum, by a further memorialof economy, was reduced to fixty-fix thoufand gilders : and even this latter fum is notnow drawn from thofe objedfs ; fixty or feventy bales of coarfe piece-goods, which areannually difpofed of here at an advance of from feventy to eighty per cent., the goodvent whereof likewife depends much upon the fuccefs or failure of the crop of cloves,do not fuffice, with the other revenues, to make up that amount.

According to the abovementioned memorial of Governor Moffel, the annual chargesof this government ought not to exceed one hundred and eighty-five thoufand gilders,in order that the defalcation on the four eaftern provinces fhould not be more thanfour hundred thoufand gilders a year ; but, by the lateft memorial, the charges of Am-boyna were ftated at/. 176,518. o. o; and, in the five laft years, they have averagedyearly /265,549. 10. 11, fo that they adfually amount to /.89,031. 10. ix everyyear more than Moffel dated them at f.

Thefe

heat of the day) fets off to the woods with fome of his men, where he executes his commiffion juft as itfuits his convenience; takingcare to bring back plenty of branches, to fhew his affidnity, when, perhaps,they are all from one tree. Sometimes a ferjeant at an outpoft, to get into favour with his chief, fends anaccount of his having difcovered, on a certain fpot, a parcel of fpice-trees, with news, perhaps, at thefame time, that he has deftroyed them all: poffibly the chief's domeftic might inform him of many morefuch fpots at hand, but they are too wife to fay much on fo delicate a fubjeft. Tr.

* In 1776-1777, the whole eltablilhment at Amboyna confided of fifty -two in civil employments, threeclergymen, twenty-eight furgeons and affiftants, forty-fix belonging to the artillery, 174 feamen andMarines , 657 foldi'ers, and in mechanics, in all 1071 Europeans 5 befides fifty-nine natives in the Com-pany’s fervice. Tr.

t The calculations of General Moffel of the revenues and charges of the feveral eftablifhments of theI)utch Eaft-India Company, are always particularly mentioned in this work, and contrafted with thea &ual amounts of each in the year 1779 (that is, from the ill of September, 1778, to the 31ft ofA-Uguft, 1779), that year being in the books of the Company one which they call het boekjaar, or yearm which a general review is taken of all their concerns, as is done every ten yeafs; becaufe the calculations°f that g.entleman have not only formed the bafis upon which the revenues and charges of each fettlement,as dated in the famous “ Hiitoire Philofophique et Politique,’* of Abbe Raynal , have been computed,tut have alfo obtained a great and almoft decifive authority in eftablifhing the advantages or difadvantagesreaped by the Dutch from their Indian poffeffions. In the courfe of this work they frequently appear tobe confiderably different from the adlual amount of the receipts and expenditure, and are, in faff, rather

o © calculations