24 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



and liimself as quitting tlie island in haste for fear 

 of being made a meal of. 



In 1596 the Dutch, under Houtman, first arrived 

 off Bantam, and, finding the native king at war with 

 the Portuguese, readily fui-nished him with assistance 

 against their rivals, on his offering to give them a 

 place where they could establish themselves and 

 commence purchasing pepper, which at that time was 

 almost the only export. 



The English, following the example of the Portu- 

 guese and the Dutch, sent out a fleet in 1602, during 

 the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These ships touched 

 at Achin, on the western end of Sumatra, and thence 

 sailed to Bantam. 



In 1610 the Dutch built a fort at a native village 

 called Jacatra, " the work of victory," but which they 

 named Batavia. This was destroyed in 1619, and 

 the first Dutch governor-general. Bolt, decided to 

 rebuild it and remove his settlement from Bantam to 

 that place, which was done on the 4th of March of 

 that year. This was the foundation of the present 

 city of Bata^^a. The English, who had meantime 

 maintained an establishment at Bantam, withdrew 

 in 1683. 



In 1811, when Holland became subject to France, 

 the French flag was hoisted at Batavia, but that 

 same year it was captured by the English. On the 

 19th of August, 1816, they restored it to the Dutch, 

 who have held it uninterruptedly down to the pres- 

 ent time. 



In glancing at the internal history of Java, we 

 find that, for many centuries previous to a. d. 1250. 



