JOS the V O Y 
reft* one which was going to the King’s Court with a young 
Lady on board. This incenfed the King of Banjaar to 
ftich a degree, that he ordered 5 or 6000 of his Subjects 
to attack and deftroy the Settlement *, of which Mr. Cun- 
■ ningham having Notice, he abandoned it the Day before the 
Night in which the Attack was to be made, retiring with 
his People on board of four Ships that were accidentally 
in the River. The Banjaarans did not fail attacking thele 
Ships, but were fo warmly received, that near 1 500 of 
them were killed in the Adtion : Notwithftanding which, 
they burnt the two fmalleft, and killed feveral People who 
were on board them. Mr. Cunningham , however, and the 
reft, of the Gentlemen of the Faftory, made their Efcape 
on board the other two Ships ; but left the belt Part of 
their Effedts behind them. 
The King afterwards invited the Englijh to trade in his 
Port, but declared he would never fuffer them to have 
another Fadtory ; and there is not now any European Set- 
tlement in the whole Ifland. The Commerce of Borneo 
confifts in as rich Goods, as any in the Indies. At Sam- 
bas , and Succadana , they deal in Diamonds, of which there 
is a Mine in the Heart of the Country. Thefe Stones are 
generally from four to twenty-four Carats •, and there are 
feme found of thirty and forty Carats ; but the whole 
Trade does not amount to above 600 Carats in a Year. 
They always fell thefe Stones for Gold, though that like- 
wife -is the Commodity of the Ifland ; and there is a very 
coniiderable Trade for Gold-duft carried on at Pahang , 
Say a, Calantan , Seribas , Catra , and Melanouha. Bezoar , 
of the fineft fort, is another Article in their Trade, not at 
all inferior in its Value to the former. Japan Wood, fine 
Wax, Incenfe, Maftich, and feveral other rich Gums, are 
alfo met with here ; but, after all, the ftaple Commodity 
of the Eland is Pepper, of which there is as much, and as 
good, as in any Part of the Indies. Our Author mentions 
another very valuable Drug met with in this Ifland, which 
is a Stone he calls the Porkftone , valued at fo high a Rate, 
as to be worth no lefs than three hundred Crowns apiece. 
The Indian Phyficians, it feems, are of Opinion, that, by 
exhibiting to their Patients the Water in which this Stone 
has been fteeped, they can infallibly difeover whether they 
will live or die. It is a Pity he has not given us a further 
Defcription of this Curiofity, or told us what his Senti- 
ments are of its Virtues, fince Credulity is fo common in 
• the Eaft, that there is no taking Fads of this kind upon 
Truft. 
Before the Portuguefe difeovered a Paftage to the Indies 
by the Cape of Good Hope , the Chinefe were in Poffeflion 
of all the Trade of this Ifland ; and, fince the Europeans 
Lave declined fettling there, it is, in a great mealure, fallen 
into their Hands again. The Places where they are fettled, 
hefides Banjaar-Majjeen , are Mampua , Peya, Lando , and 
. Sambos , where they carry on a great Commerce, and fur- 
nifli the Inhabitants in Return with Silks, Chintz, Calicoes, 
and, in fhort, all the Manufadures of China and Japan. It 
has been fuggefted, and with great Shew of Reafon, 
that a more valuable Trade might be eftablilhed in this 
Ifland of Borneo , than in any Part of the Eaft Indies , be- 
caufe there arrive here annually large Fleets of China Junks, 
laden with all the Commodities of that Empire, which 
might be purchafed as cheap, or cheaper, than in China it- 
felf, for Reafons, with which the Reader fhall foon be made 
acquainted. There come likewife annually, from the Ifland 
of Celebes , fmall Veflfels, which, in fpite of the Vigilance 
of the Dutch , bring confiderable Quantities of Cloves, 
Nutmegs, and other Spices; which is the Reafon, that the 
Dutch are not able to fell any great Quantities of thefe 
Goods in their Traffick with the Inhabitants : Yet they fre- 
quently fend Ships hither to load with Pepper, and en- 
deavour to keep up a good Correfpondence with the Kings 
' of Borneo and Sambas ; for, as to the King of Banjaar^ 
'he has declined having any thing to dp with them. 
It is not a little ftrange, confidering the mighty Sway 
the Dutch Eaft India Company have in that Part of the 
World, that they fhould have no Fadtory or EftabiiiE- 
' mem in China. They, have, indeed, formerly lent Em- 
’baftadors. thither,, under Pretence of demanding Leave to 
’trade freely ; but that was with a Deflgn only to gain a 
^greater Infight into that Commerce j and* in confequ.en.ee 
AGES of Book I. 
of the Difcoveries made thereby, they have been led to 
decline it. While they were poffefted of the famous Ifland 
of Formofa , they carried on a direct Trade to that Em- 
pire with great Profit ; but* fince- they were expelled from 
thence in the Year 1661, they have not been able to make 
this Trade turn with any great Profit : Yet, fince the let- 
ting up of the Imperial or Oft end Company, they have tried 
to fend Ships thither from Holland directly ; but even this, 
as our Author informs us, has been to no great Account, 
their Profit having been feldom larger than twenty-five per 
Cent, which, confidering the Hazard of the Voyage,- and 
other Inconveniencies, was not looked upon as any confi- 
derable Return. There have been feveral Reafons affigned 
for this, fome of which it may be proper to mention. It 
is, in the firft place, very much doubted, whether in any 
Place, where both Nations are on a Level, the Dutch are 
able to deal with the Chinefe , who are certainly the cun- 
ningeft Traders in the World. It is, in the next place, 
fuggefted, that the Chinefe are lefs inclined to deal with 
them than other Europeans ; and, when they do, always 
hold them to harder Terms. It has been likewife remarked, 
that the Port-charges, and the Prefents they make, ftrike 
very deep into their Gains : But thefe feem to be very Su- 
perficial Conjectures, and not to reach the Truth in any 
degree. 
But that the Dutch do not affeeft any Settlement in this 
Empire, may be very well accounted for, from the two 
following Caufes, which are certainly very weighty. The 
firft is, that, being at fo great a Diftance from Batavia , 
and in a Country where it is eafy to conlign their EffeCts to 
Portuguefe , Englijh , and other foreign Merchants, the Of- 
ficers mind their own Concerns more than the Company’s ; 
of which a convincing Proof has been had, by the Portu- 
guefe vending their Pepper at a greater Advantage than the 
Dutch , though they bought it at an high Price at Batavia. 
But the fecond Caufe is ftill more important : There is a 
prodigious Trade carried on by the Chinefe to Batavia , 
which, though it is a Voyage of 700 Leagues, the Chinefe 
make in their Junks in the Space of fix W eeks, failing from 
Canton in the Beginning of December , and arriving in the 
Middle of January . The Company, in the firft place, 
have a Duty of four per Cent, on all the Goods they 
bring, which are Gold, Silks of all forts. Tea, Annifeed, 
Mufk, Rhubarb, Copper, Quickfilver, Vermilion, China- 
ware, &c. for which they receive in Exchange Lead, Tin, 
Pepper, Incenfe, Camphire, Cloves, Nutmegs, Amber, 
and abundance of other Things, on all which the Dutch 
fet their own Prices, and confequently buy much cheaper 
than other Nations can purchafe the lame Goods in China: 
They have alfo found by Experience, that a diredl Trade 
between Holland and China leflens very much this more 
profitable Commerce at Batavia. Neither is it there only 
that they have an Opportunity of dealing with the Chinefe^ 
but in many other Parts of the Indies , where, when the 
Chinefe Merchants have completed their Sales to the Na- 
tives, they are very glad to part with the Remainder of 
their Commodities at a very eafy Rate to the Dutch. Thus 
it clearly appears, that the Eaft India Company are able to 
fend Home vaft Quantities of China Goods, without carry- 
ing on a diredt Trade with that Country, either from 
Holland or Batavia. 
I cannot fay how far Things may be altered fince our 
Author wrote *, but this is certainly a very fair, and a. very 
fenfible. Account of Matters, as they then flood. Here he 
finifhes his Remarks on the Oeconomy of the Dutch Eaft 
India Company, which is certainly, in all refpedts, the 
cleareft and beft that is hitherto extant, in order to refume 
the Thread of his Narration, and to profecute his Voyage 
Home from Batavia , as he was obliged to make it on board 
one of the Company’s Return-fhips, purfuant to the Order 
of the Governor-General and his. Council, when Commo- 
dore RoggeweiPs Veftels were feized and condemned.. 
3 8 . There happened nothing remarkable in our Author’s 
Voyage from Batavia to the Cape of Good. Hope , worthy 
of Obfervation, except their meeting with a violent Storm- 
in the Height of Angola y on the Coaft of Africa. ; by which 
they were very near being driven upon the Rocks which 
infeft that Coaft - s and had a Sight of the Remains- of the 
Sehomnberghy a Ship belonging to. the Eaft India Company, 
