1 697-] PETITIONS IGNORED. 219 



Coin'd Silver, Cloaths, Instruments and Utensils, wliich, 

 without reckoning the Bark, amounted to the value of 2,000 

 Crowns. But the various Petitions we presented on this 

 Head were always put off to another time.^ 



After we had continu'd five or six Months in this Con- 

 dition at Batavia, the General sent for him whom he had 

 made the Clerk of the Fort, and told him there had no 

 occasion yet offer'd to send for the Governor of Isle Maurice 

 to answer our Complaints in Person, and for that reason our 

 Affairs could not for the present be search'd to the bottom, 

 but he did not doubt they would do us Justice in Holland, 

 and therefore we might if we pleas'd pursue it there, and get 

 our selves ready to depart with the first Fleet.^ 



After this manner it pleas'd our Superiors at Batavia to 

 determine our Suit. They need not have kept us there so 

 long, to give us no better Satisfaction. They might have let 

 us go at first according to our Desires, and tho' they made^ 

 us do Duty in the Vessel without Pay, as we had done in 

 our Voyage from Isle Maurice. But those who were secretly 



1 In orig.: "rendre etant d'ordinaire uae chose peu agreable aux 

 rendeurs," omitted by translator. 



2 " The seamen coming out of Europe are, in the same manner, imme- 

 diately put aboard other ships, and may not return into Europe under 

 three years' service, being allowed some little trade for their greater 

 encouragement ; for the true way to be well serv'd is to promote the 

 interest of those who are employ'd. Thus we see that there is no reason 

 to admire that the Dutch are so wealthy, and so zealously serv'd in 

 India, their care in advancing such as are in their service exciting all 

 persons to be zealous in the performance of their duty ; for the kindness 

 of a master very often fixes the wavering fidelity of the servant. It is 

 well known that the Dutch owe the flourishing condition they are in to 

 the mighty trade they drive in several parts of the world ; and it is no 

 less plain that their greatest wealth is drawn from India, whence, as has 

 been said, they yearly receive thirteen or fourteen ships richly laden ; 

 the cargo whereof outward-bound costs them little, and the import they 

 vend to all other nations at their own rates." (Luillier, translation by 

 Symson, up. fit., p. 322.) 



3 In orig.: "au hasard meme de servir." 



