l65 SPICY ISLANDS. 



Banda^ and even this ifland, to the Moluccas, for the fake of the 

 cloves. This trade he rcfolved to fupprefs ; fitted out his fleet j 

 and by his admiral defeated that of the Indians ; landed, and 

 forced the natives to fuUmit to his will : and in the year 1564 the 

 ioxQ^xii'igW^^ oi Amboina was vefied in the Portiiguefe by the king 

 of the iiland. Stephen de Sa built a fort there in the fame year, 

 and his countrymen kept pofleffion till about 1607, when the 

 Dutch made themfelves mafters of Ammina^ -Siwdoi all the Spicy 

 Iflands. The EngUfJj laid in their clame for a fhare of the com- 

 merce, and after many difputes, in 1619 a treaty was figned be- 

 tween the two nations, ftipulating that the Moluccas., Amboina^ 

 and the Banda ifles Ihould be common to both : that the Englijb 

 fliould have one third of the produce^ and the Dutch two, at a 

 fixed price, and that each fliould contribute to the defence of the 

 iflands in proportion to the benefit received. The inquifitive 

 reader may find the whole of this curious treaty in Rytnefs 

 Fcedera *. It has often been remarked, that after a treaty lb well 

 calculated to eftablifli lafting peace and harmony between the 

 two companies, nothing could interrupt thofe bleflings. The 

 reverfe took place. The Dutch, ailuated by their infatiable 

 avarice, determined, by the mofl: diabolical means, to free them- 

 Massacre of felves from all competitors. They forged a plot of the Engli/b 

 againft their lives andUberties; but fuch a plot that none but 

 idiots could have been fuppofed to have projedted. The charge 

 was, that ten fadlors, and eleven foreign foldiers, were to feize 

 on the caftle, garrifoned by two hundred men. A foolifli quef- 

 tion aiked by an Indian foldier, as to the ftrength of the place, 



* Vol. -xn'iu p. J 70. 



was 



