6yS The H 1ST OR T . of the • 
Mailer, in Confideiration of 2 500 Quintals of Cinnamon to 
be paid him as an annual Tribute. 
In 1520 they built a Fort here, and began to fettle, and 
afterwards obtained an abfolute Power over a great Part of 
the Ifland, under Colour of the Emperor’s Will, who made 
the Portugueze Heirs of his Dominions. The Trade they 
carried on there was very confiderable, and next to the Vice- 
roy fh.ip of the Indies ; the Captain General of this Ifland, 
was thought the firft Poll the King of Portugal had to be- 
llow. The Commodities they drew from hence were long 
Pepper, fine Cotton, Ivory, Silk, Tobacco, Ebony, Mufk, 
Chryllal, Salt-peter, Sulphur, Lead, Iron, Steel, Copper, 
befides the three grand Articles, of, Cinnamon, all kinds of 
precious Stones except Diamonds, and Elephants. 
As foon as the Dutch came into the Indies , they formed 
a Defign of making themfelves Mailers of fo valuable a 
Place. They made their firft Defcent in the Year 1602, 
and carried on fometimes open Wars, fometimes fecret 
Contrivances againft the Portugueze , till in the Space of 
about fifty-five Years, they compleatly drove and wormed 
them out of Ceylon , making themfelves Mailers of Co- 
lombo and Negombo , which were the principal Places in the 
Ifland and of the ftrong Fortrefs of Punto Gallo , which 
commands the bell Haven in Ceylon. 
The Portugueze held their Eftablifhments here for about 
a hundred and fifty Years under fixteen Captain-Generals, 
from Don Pedro Lopez de Souza, who was the firft, down 
to Don- Antonio d* Amaral y Menefes , who was the laft. 
Captain Ribeyro , who wrote the Hiftory of this Ifland in 
1685, and prefented it to the King of Portugal , allures us, 
that the Country was loft through the Covetoufnefs and 
Pride of the Governors, and the Luxury, Lazinefs, and 
Cowardice of the Soldiers, which he charges on the inactive 
Ad minift ration in Portugal that took no care to look into 
the Management' of fo confiderable a Settlement, and 
which brought in fo large a Revenue to the Crown of Por- 
tugal, till it was too late. A Circumftance furely that 
ought to be remembered, and confidered by every maritime 
Power. 
14. The Ifland of Sumatra, which extends itfelf North- 
weft and South-eaft, fronting the Peninfula of Malacca , is 
divided by the Equinoctial almoft into two equal Parts, ex- 
tending to 6° of Latitude North and South. It is about 
two hundred and fifty Leagues in Length, fixty in Breadth, 
and five hundred in Circumference. The Portugueze came 
hither in 1508, under the Command of Don Diego Lopez 
de Seguira, They found the Country very defireable, as 
being extreamly rich and fruitful, and under the Dominion 
of feveral petty Princes, who were continually at War with 
each other. 
One would have imagined, that this might have afforded 
an Opportunity to the Portugueze of fubje&ing it entirely, 
as they did other Parts of the Indies ; but it happened 
otherwife ; for the People, by their continual Difputes 
among themfelves, were become fo well acquainted with the 
Art of War, that they were not able to make great Impref- 
fion, but contented themfelves with a few Settlements on 
the Coaft, which enabled them to carry on a very lucrative 
Trade with the Inhabitants, not only in Sulphur, Rice, 
Ginger, Pepper, Camphire, Caffia, Sandal, and other rich 
"Woods and Drugs ; but alfo in fine Tin, Iron, Copper, 
Silver, Gold and Diamonds c . 
The Dutch began to infeft this Ifland in 1596, and foon 
after, as their Power increafed, began, as ufual, to exclude 
all other Nations *, but the Inhabitants foon fhook off their 
Yoke, and are ftill in a great meafure free. It is for this 
Reafon probably that almoft all our European Writers con- 
cur in treating thefe People as the moft cruel, barbarous, 
and perfidious in the Indies , without ever confidering that 
thefe very Epithets may be juftly. retorted upon thofe who 
endeavour to deprive them of their Liberties and their Pof- 
feffions, without the leaft Colour of Right. 
15. The Moluccas , or Spice- Hands, were not difco- 
Book I. 
vered by the Portugueze till the Year 151 1, and then, as 
it were, by chance. Francis Serrano and Diego d* Abreu, 
being fent to make Difcoveries, were feparated by a Storm ; 
the former penetrated as far as Ternate , but the latter dis- 
covered omy the Ifland of Amboyna , and afterwards that 
of Banda. They fpent about eight Years in thefe Difcove- 
ries, which coft Serrano his Life in his Return. We are 
indebted to a Portugueze Writer, whofe Name was Ar- 
genfola , for a large Hiftory of thefe valuable Elands, which 
confift, ftriclly fpeaking, of no more than five ; from 
whence it is faid they received their Name in the original 
Language of the Inhabitants. They are not out of Sight 
of each other, and lie all of them within the Compafs of 
twenty-five Leagues. They are famous for producing fe- 
veral forts of valuable Spices, and are governed by three 
Kings. Their Coafts are very dangerous, becaufe of Sands 
and Shelves : They were formerly fubjeCt to the Chinefe , 
then fell under the Javanefe , and were afterwards fubdued 
by the Malayans \ and the Mohammedans had begun to fet- 
tle in them, and convert the Inhabitants to their Religion, 
but a very little while before they were difcovered by the 
Portugueze. The Hiftory we have before mentioned, is 
equally copious and curious, but much too long to have a 
Place in this Collection ; yet we fhali extraft from thence 
a diftindl Account of thefe Hands, becaufe no other 'Wri- 
ter affords us any thing comparable thereto. 
Ternate , fays lie, is eight Leagues in Compafs ; the 
Land is high, and they have good Water, t little Pro- 
vifions, and few Cattle, except Goats. Their chief Riches 
confift in Cloves : They have extraordinary Parrots, which 
exceed thofe of the JVefi-Indies in fpeaking, and many 
Birds of Paradife. They have Almonds, and coarfe To- 
bacco. During their Wars with the Portugueze, they 
burnt all their Clove-trees, retired to the Mountains and 
Deferts, and forbid felling any thing to the Portugueze on 
pain of Death, which reduced them to great Extremity. 
Though they burnt the Cloves in Defpite, our Author 
fays, their Allies did fo cultivate the Soil, that it produced 
them in greater abundance than ever in a few Years. The 
King of this Ifland was the moft powerful of all the four- 
teen in the Moluccas, and beaded of a divine Extraction, 
which the filly People firmly believed. He was Sovereign 
over feventy-two Elands that lay in the Great Archipelago , 
betwixt Mindanao on the North, thofe of Bima and Co- 
rea on the South, and the Terra Firma of Papoas, or 
New Guinea, on the Eaft, and had his Tribute in Gold, 
Amber, and Birds of Paradife. 
Having made thefe great Conquefts over his Neigh- 
bours, he called himfelf Emperor of the Archipelago, where 
there were many Colonies of Chriftians ; but moft of them 
were deftroyed, or apoftatized by the Perfecution above- 
mentioned. Argenfola gives a particular Account of the 
Forces which every Ifland could raife, and in the whole 
reckons them at 120,300 Men that were lifted, befides 
Multitudes of others, and a great Number of Slaves. 
Many of thefe Hands had their particular Kings, but all 
fubjeCt to him of Ternate , and ferved under him, to re- 
venge the Death of King Aerio, who was treacheroufly 
murdered by the Portugueze. This great King’s Name 
was Cachilbabu , Aerio 1 s third Son : He allowed the Dutch 
to trade here in 1599, entered into a ftriCt Friendfhip 
with them, and entertained them with Fights of Gladia- 
tors, after the Manner of his Country. The Dutch af- 
fifted him to fhake off the Yoke of the Spaniards and Por- 
tugueze \ and he was victorious over thofe of Tidor. The 
Place where he kept his Court was Gammalamma , on the 
Coaft, cotififting chiefly of one Street, their Houfes be- 
ing of Wood and Cane. About a League from hence, 
there is a Town called Mallayo , inclofed with Walls of 
Stone, without Mortar. The Road to Cammalamma is 
not good. There are ftill fome Remains of Churches and 
other Structures, built by the Portugueze. The firft Fort 
the Dutch built here was Terlucco ; the next was the For- 
c The Revenue of this Hland, while in the Hands of the Crown of Portugal, was annually conveyed to Goa, on Board a Galleon, maintained at 
the Expence of the Crown for that Purpofe, and this Galleon was thus provided : The Officers were, a Captain, Purfer, Maker, Pilot, Boatfwain, 
and Steward ; the Men on Board were, two Gunners, four European Seamen, twenty Soldiers, and forty common Mariners of the Indies, with a Con- 
ftable or Provoft Marihal ; for the Maintenance and Pay of which, the King allowed annually 986,962 Reeys, or 6 1 61 . 17 s. 1 d. as appears from a State 
of the Revenues of the Portuguese Settlements in the Indies, compiled and publiihed by Don Edward de Menefes , who was Viceroy there in the Year 
1584. 
trefs 
