Chap. II. 
Portugueze Empire in the Eaft-Indies. 
they will hit a fmall Mark at the Diftance of fourfcore 
Yards. They likewife dip the Points of their Daggers in 
the fame poifonous Drugs, and the very Scratch of it, ei- 
ther Dart or Dagger, kills without Remedy l . The Wo^ 
men likewife make ufe of thefe Poifons to gratify their 
Revenge ; for as they are generally allowed to be extream- 
ly conftant themfelves, fo they have very quick Refent- 
ments in Cafes of Infidelity, efpecially in regard to Euro- 
peans , who frequently cohabit with them, and fometimes 
marry them. 
As they were rather the Allies, than the Subjects of 
the Portugueze , fo they were much more attached to that 
Nation than any other Indians , and gave a very hofpita- 
ble Reception to fuch of them, as on the Declenfion and 
Ruin of their Colonies, fled thither for Protefilion, which 
was one Reafon that the Dutch made fuch a Point of re- 
ducing the King of Macajfar , which they did after a long 
War in 1667, and prefcribed to him very hard Terms, 
particularly thefe, that he fhould deliver up to them the 
Harbour of Jompadan , as too good for any but the Dutch 
to be pofleflfed of ; next he was obliged to turn all the 
Portugueze out of his Dominions, which was the more rea- 
fonable, becauie it was intended, that he fhould never 
trade with them, or any other European for the future ; 
and laftly, he was to renounce all Commerce with the 
Spice Ijlands, without which his Conquerors could not 
have monopolized them m . 
This fully proves what has been before obferved, that if 
the Portugueze had taken Care to have converted thele 
People to Chriftianity, and had taught them the Sciences, 
they would have been of more ufe to the Crown of Portu- 
gal , than all the Indian Nations that were fubjedfed to it •, 
for they had very right Notions of the Confequences of 
falling under the Dominion of the Dutch , and ftruggled 
againft their whole Power in the Indies , when at its great- 
ell Height, for many Years •, and fince their Country has 
been fubdued, Multitudes of the Macajfar s have quitted * 
it, and tranfported themfelves to other Places, where they 
are entertained as Soldiers, particularly at Batavia , where 
they are elleemed by far the bell Indian Troops in the 
Service of the States, and fome of them likewife are in 
the Pay of the Portugueze Viceroy at Goa . 
19. The Sunda Hands were now entirely open, and it 
is not ealy to conceive, how the Portugueze could be fo 
Jong traverfing thofe Seas, without gaining a proper 
Knowledge of them •> yet it does not appear, that before 
the Year 1 527, they were acquainted with any thing more 
than the Name of the Hand of Borneo , and with its Situ- 
ation, by reafon of their frequently palling by its Coafts. 
About that Time, Captain Edward Conil had Orders to 
examine it more narrowly, and being once acquainted 
With the Worth of the Country, they made frequent Vi- 
fits thither. This Hand, which is almoll of a circular Fi- 
gure, lies immediately under the Equator ; it is about five 
hundred Leagues in Circumference, and abounds with the 
richeft Commodities, the Hills well ftored with Gold, and 
the finell Diamonds in India are found in its Rivers, walh- 
ed down into them probably from the Hills, by the Tor- 
rents that pour into them. 
All the Coafts they found inhabited by Malayan 
Moors , who certainly had eftablifhed themfelves there by 
Conqueft, but the original Inhabitants Hill remain in the 
Mountains, and are ftiled Beajus , which in the Malayan 
Tongue, fignifies a wild Man, and the Moors ufe the ve- 
ry lame Word for the largeft Sort of Apes, that are like- 
wife common in this Country, as if they meant to fignify. 
that the one had as little of Humanity about them as the: 
other, which however is far from being true. The Moors 
are governed by levcra! Kings, the Chief of which are 
thofe of Manjar-Maffen, of Succadon , in one of whole Ri- 
vers there are excellent Diamonds found ; of Borneo * and 
others. The Beajufes have no Kings, but only Princes, 
and other Chiefs. Thofe that are Subjeds to the King of 
Manjar, or border upon him, pay a Tribute ; but fuch as 
live farther up in the Country, and in Places inacceffable 
to the Moors , are abfolutely independent, and live accord- 
ing to their own Cuftoms. The Beajufes are generally ve- 
ry fuperftitious, being much addicted to Augury. They 
do not adore Idols, but their Sacrifices of Sweet-wood and 
Perfumes, are offered to one only God, who they believe 
rewards the Juft in Heaven, and punifhes the Wicked in 
Hell. They marry blit one Wife, and look upon any 
Breach of conjugal Faith, either in the Man, or in the 
Woman, as fo heinous an Offence, that every one con- 
trives the Death of the Perfon tranlgreffing 5 either by 
themfelves, or their Friends; and therefore the Women 
are very modeft and referved, efpecially the Maidens, who 
are not feen by their Hufbands till the Wedding-day, when 
the Women receive their Portion. 
They are Enemies to Fraud and Theft, and grateful 
for Benefits received* Among themfelves, they live lov- 
ingly and friendly, and therefore, when every Man has 
gathered what he fowed for his own Ufe, the reft on the 
Mountains and Vallies, is in common, without any Diftinc- 
tion of particular Right. They are alfo well inclined in 
their Pleafures, and feek Honour in Hunting, at which 
Sport they endeavour to get fome fharp Horns to polifh, 
and wear them as an Ornament at their Girdle. This 
Girdle is no other than a long Slip of Linnen, which turns 
between their Thighs to cover their Privities, one End 
of which hangs down before, and the other behind. The 
Peafants make a fort of Cloth of the Barks of Trees, 
which being afterwards walhed and beaten, are as foft as 
Cotton, and thofe Trees being within the Dominions of 
the Malay Moors, they expofe themfelves for the Bark to 
their Tyranny and InfoJence. Some of them go naked, 
and the reft wear a fmall Doublet made of the fame 
Bark, which they dye of any Colour. On their Heads, 
to keep off the Heat of the Sun or Rain, they wear a Cap 
of the Palm-Tree Leaves, fhaped above like a Sugar- 
Loaf, long, and with Flaps hanging down. 
The Weapons they ufe are Knives, made like the Can* 
giers of the Moors, and Zampittes, that is. Trunks about 
fix Spans long, out of which they Ihoot little wooden 
Darts, with an iron Head at the one End, and Cartouch, 
or hollow Paper at the other, blowing into which, they 
Ihoot it out with a vaft Force, and fometimes the Point 
being poifoned, the Wound is mortal. They alfo Ihoot 
Birds with Pellets through them. The Beajufes, as to 
their Perfons, are of a dark Complexion, well-counte- 
nanced and ftrong. Such is the Account given of them 
by the Portugueze Writers, who, for any thing I know, 
are the only Authors that can be depended upon in this 
Particular. Their Countrymen carried on their Trade chief- 
ly with the Moors , whom they could never fubdue ; nor 
have their Succeffbrs, the Dutch , been able to do any thing 
considerable againft them, as we have already Ihewn at 
large in another Place. 
T he noble Hand of Java was fooner vifited by the 
Portugueze , on account of the Trouble given them by the 
Pirates, or Privateers, fitted out from Bantam , or as they 
call it Bint am , and other Places in the fame Hand, which 
When our Royal Society was firft founded, they fent fome Queries to Sir P hitherto Vamatti, who refided at Batavia, the fixteenth of which 
ran in thefe Words, “ What Foifon is it the King of MacaJJ'ar in Celebes is faid to have particular to himfelf, which not only kills a Man immedi- 
ately , that hath received the flightell Wound by a Dart dipp’d therein, but alfo within half an Hour’s Time makes the Flelh touched therewith fo 
rotten, that it will fall like Snivel from the Bones, and whole poifonous Steam will foon fly up to a Wound made with an unpoifoned Dart, if the 
‘ £ hlood be only in the flightell Manner touched with a Dart infected with the Poifon? ” To which he gave the following Anfvver ; “ That there is 
“ kich a Poifon in this King’s Pofleffion, is moll certain, but what it is no Chriitian ever knew ; fome lay it is the Gall of a venomous Filh, others 
fay it is a T ree, which is fo venemous, that thofe who are condemned to die, fetch the Poifon, but not one of an Hundred efcapes Death. The 
“ ^ v00ts of this Tree are held an Antidote againft the Poifon; but our People, when we had War with Majfacar , found no Antidote like to their 
own, or others Excrements, as foon as they felt themfelves wounded, they inftantly took a Dofe of the fame, which prefently provoked to vomit 
and fo by Repulfion (as i conceive) and Sweat, freed the nobler Parts from farther Infection. 
. I ihould not have advanced thefe Fads on the Hearfay or Report of any Writer whatever, but the Treaty dated the 18th of November 1667, 
is before my Eyes, and the fixth Article of it begins thus; “ They, that is the Regients of Macujfar, lhail turn out the Portugueze, and all belong- 
J mg to them, without Exception ; and becaufe we are obliged to believe, that the Englijh are great iv ifehief makers, and the Authors of the pre- 
fent War, the faid Regents lhall turn them out alfo, the firft Opportunity, and lhail- never permit either of thofe Nations or their Creatures, to 
s ‘ negotiate or trade in Macajfar hereafter, &c. ” 
induced 
