102 MAJOR MULLER'S EXPEDITION. 



1747 the Dutch succeeded in establishing a settlement, 

 which, as has been before stated, was continued till 

 1810, when it was formally abandoned by the then 

 Dutch governor- general, Marshal Dsendals ; it was 

 soon after re-occupied by the English from Java, at 

 the invitation of the sultan, and was, together with 

 the other possessions of the Dutch in the East which 

 the English had occupied during the Avar, delivered 

 over to that nation at the general peace. 



Coti, the largest of the Bugis kingdoms on the 

 island, has been but little known to Europeans : the 

 inhabitants are of the same commercial disposition as 

 those of their countrymen in the other parts of the 

 Archipelago. In 1825 the Dutch sent an expedition for 

 the purpose of exploring the river, which is said to be 

 one of the largest in the island. It was commanded 

 by Major Muller, a gentleman who had been long 

 employed surveying on the western coast, but it was 

 unfortunate in its termination. The major and his 

 attendants were murdered by the Dyaks at the insti- 

 gation of the Bugis who accompanied him, after having 

 ascended the river upwards of 300 miles from its mouth. 



It is said that Major Muller, on his first arrival, 

 had made an arrangement with the sultan, by which 

 the latter had agreed to permit the Dutch to settle, 

 and monopolize the commerce of the place, they 

 paying annually the sum of 80,000 guilders into 

 the royal treasury. When this compact became known 

 to the nobles, with whose interests it would have 

 seriously interfered, they remonstrated so strongly 



