NOTICES OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE WITH BORNEO. 
51 l 
As soon as they in the ships saw the fleet approaching near them, 
they plied their guns with double round and partridge, and made 
a great carnage, but all did not defer the assailants from boarding, 
who when they got as high as the gun-wall or gunnel, were at a 
loss how to get over the netting, and so were hilled with great ease. 
Some got in at the head door of one of the ships, and hilled some 
English in the forecastle, but they were soon destroyed. The two 
great ships, though in danger, beat off the enemy with small loss, 
but the little ships were both burnt, with most of their men, and one 
Dutch gentleman who was obliged to flee from Batavia on one of 
the small vessels, was also burnt in her. His name was Hoogh Cam¬ 
ber, [Hooghamer] and he had been ambassador to the King of Persia. 
“ I heard some Chinamen say, who were there at the time of the 
* 
engagement, that the English killed, (in two hours that the action 
was hot,) above 1,500 men, besides many wounded and maimed, but 
the English were forced to be gone from their Settlement. The 
King thought his revenge had gone far eno’ in driving them from 
their settlement, and finding the loss of the English trade affected 
his revenue, he let all English who traded to Johore and other cir¬ 
cumjacent countries, know, that he would still continue a free trade 
with the English on the old footing, but would never suffer them, 
or any other nation to build Forts in his country. Several English 
have been there since, and loaded Pepper, and have been civilly 
treated; and the Dutch sent a ship from Batavia in An. 1712 to 
trade with them, but the Natives refused commerce with them.” 
Besides the Banjarmassing factory the East India Company had 
at one time factories at Borneo Proper* and Sukadana.f 
Of the general trade of Europeans with Borneo during the last 
century we are unable to offer any exact details. Notwithstanding 
the jealousy and intrigues of the Dutch, the English East Company, 
although balked in their attempts to obtain a firm footing on the is¬ 
land, continued to send their vessels to its ports. Even at the Dutch 
factory of Pontiana they procured cargoes by the connivance of the 
* Mr. Hunt says, that the remains of this factory still existed in 1812. 
f Hamilton, 
