68 



AUSTRALASIA. 



replaced, despite the English, by that of Batavia, the central point of their future 

 conquests. At this period the Portuguese had become too enfeebled to continue 

 the struo-o-le with Holland, which in 1609 had alreadj^ wrested the Moluccas from 

 them. At present, of their former vast empire in the Eastern seas, there remains 

 nothing but the eastern half of Timor with a contiguous islet. 



Holland thus became a great political and military state, ruling over many 

 kino-doms, disposing of considerable forces, with redoubtable admirals and brave 

 captains at her service. Nevertheless, the trading company, to which the Nether- 

 lands Government had in 1602 granted a monopoly of the commerce with Indonesia, 

 found itself powerless to defend its vast possessions when its English rivals had 

 become masters of the sea. At the end of the eighteenth century the Spice 

 Islands, regarded as the most valuable of all colonial possessions, had fallen into 

 the hands of England, and in order to prevent her from seizing the whole of the 

 Malay Archipelago, the privileges of the company were purchased by the Dutch 



Fig. 24.— CoMPAEATivE Aeeas of Holland and the Dutch East Indies. 



Scale 1 : 48,000,000. 



Eflst oF (ireenwicl- 



900 Miles. 



States, then known as the Batavian Republic. But Java and its dependencies 

 passed, none the less, into the power of the English, by whom they were not 

 restored till 1816, after the Napoleonic wars. 



Since that time Holland, notwithstanding her insignificant size compared with 

 its Eastern possessions, has remained undisputed mistress of all the insular groups 

 which she had acquired at the close of the last century. She has even extended 

 her sway over several islands not previously claimed by her, while her effective 

 control has been enlarged and strengthened in the interior of Sumatra, Borneo, 

 and Celebes. 



The northern part of Borneo alone had hitherto remained beyond the influence 

 of the Dutch, and this circumstance has enabled a British company recently to 

 acquire a considerable portion of the great island. This new English domain, 

 with the neighbouring principality of Sarawak, acquired by a British soldier of 



