Moluccas, is pretty exact. The police which they have there established
does honour to the understanding of those who were then at the head of
the company. When they had driven the Spaniards and Portuguese from
thence, by the most sensible combination of courage with patience, they
well guessed that the expulsion of the Europeans from the Moluccas would
not secure them the exclusive spice-trade. The great number of these
isles made it almost impossible for them to guard them all; and it was
not less difficult to prevent an illicit intercourse of these islanders
with China, the Phillippinas, Macassar, and all smuggling vessels or
interlopers that should attempt it. The company had still more to fear,
that some of the trees might be carried off, and that people might
succeed in planting them elsewhere. They resolved therefore to destroy
as far as they could the spice trees in all the islands, only leaving
them on some small islands, which might easily be kept; then nothing
remained, but to fortify well these precious depositories. They were
obliged to keep those sovereigns in pay, whose revenues consisted
chiefly of this drug, in order to engage them to consent, that the
fountain thereof should be annihilated. Such is the subsidy of 20,000
rix-dollars, which the Dutch company pays annually the king of Ternate,
and some other princes of the Moluccas. When they could not prevail on
any one of these sovereigns to burn his spice-plants, they burnt them in
spite of him, if they were the strongest; or else they annually bought
up the green leaves of the trees, well knowing that they would perish,
after being for three years thus robbed of their foliage, which the
Indians were doubtless ignorant of.
By this means, whilst cinnamon is gathered upon Ceylon only, Banda alone
has been consecrated to the culture of nutmegs; Amboina, and Uleaster,
adjoining to it, to that of cloves, without its being allowed to
cultivate either cloves at Banda, or nutmegs at Amboina. These places
furnish more than the whole world can consume. The other stations of the
Dutch, in the Moluccas, are intended to prevent other nations from
settling there, to make continual searches for discovering and burning
all the spice-trees, and to furnish subsistence for those isles where
they are cultivated. Upon the whole, all the engineers and mariners
employed in this part, are obliged when they leave the service, to give
up all their charts and plans, and to make oath that they keep none. It
is not long since that an inhabitant of Batavia has been whipped,
branded, and banished to a distant isle, for having shewed a plan of the
Moluccas to an Englishman.
The spice-harvest begins in December, and the ships which are destined
to take in ladings of it, arrive at Amboina and Banda in the course of
January, and go from thence for Batavia in April and May. Two ships
likewise go annually to Ternate, and their voyages are regulated by the
monsoons. There are likewise some snows of twelve, or fourteen guns,
destined to cruize in these parts.
Every year the governors of Amboina and Banda assemble, towards the
middle of September, all the orencaies or chiefs in their department.
They at first give them feasts and entertainments for several days; and
then they set out with them in a kind of large boats, called
_coracores_, in order to visit their governments, and burn all the
superfluous spice-plants. The chiefs of every particular factory are
obliged to come to their governors-general, and to accompany them on
this visitation, which generally ends with the end of October, or at the
beginning of November; and the return from this tour is celebrated by
new festivals. When we were at Boero, M. Ouman was preparing to set out
for Amboina, with the Orencaies of his island.
The Dutch are now at war with the inhabitants of Ceram; an island that
is very rich in cloves. Its inhabitants would not suffer their plants to
be extirpated, and have driven the company from the principal stations
which they occupied on their ground; they have only kept the little
factory of Savaï, situated in the northern part of the isle, where they
keep a serjeant and fifteen men. The Ceramese have fire-arms and
gun-powder, and they all speak the Malayo pretty well, besides their
national jargon. The inhabitants of Papua are likewise constantly at war
with the company and their vassals. They have been seen in vessels armed
with pedereroes, and containing two hundred men. The king of
Salviati[130], which is one of their greatest islands, has been taken by
surprize, as he was going to do homage to the king of Ternate, whose
vassal he was, and the Dutch keep him prisoner.
Nothing can be better contrived than the above plan and no measures
could be better concerted for establishing and keeping up an exclusive
commerce. Accordingly the company have long enjoyed it; and owe that
splendour to it, which makes them more like a powerful republic, than a
society of merchants. But I am much mistaken, or the time is nigh at
hand, when this commerce will receive a mortal stroke. I may venture to
say, that to desire the destruction of this exclusive trade, would be
enough to effect it. The greatest safety of the Dutch consists in the
ignorance of the rest of Europe concerning the true state of these
isles, and in the mysterious clouds which wrap this garden of the
Hesperides in darkness. But there are difficulties which the force of
man cannot overcome, and inconveniencies for which all his wisdom cannot
find a remedy. The Dutch may construct respectable fortifications at
Amboina and Banda; they may supply them with numerous garrisons; but
when some years have elapsed, an almost periodical earthquake ruins
these works to the very foundations; and every year the malignity of the
climate carries off two thirds of the soldiers, mariners, and workmen
which are sent thither. These are evils without remedy; the forts of
Banda, which have thus been overthrown three years ago, are but just
rebuilt; and those of Amboina are still in ruins. The company may
likewise have been able to destroy in some isles, a part of the known
spices; but there are isles which they do not know, and others too,
which they are acquainted with, but which defend themselves against
their efforts.
The English now frequent the Moluccas very much; and this is doubtless
not done without some design. Several years ago, some small vessels
sailed from Bencoolen, and came to examine the passages, and pick up the
necessary intelligence concerning this difficult navigation. We have
seen above, that the natives of Bouton told us of three English ships
lately passing through those straits; we have likewise made mention of
the assistance they gave to the unfortunate sovereign of Balimbuan; and
it seems to be certain, that they likewise furnish the Ceramese with
powder and arms; they had even built them a fort, which captain le Clerc
told us he had destroyed, and in which he had found two pieces of
cannon. In 1764, M. Watson, who commanded the Kingsberg, a frigate of
twenty-six guns, came to the entrance of Savaï, obliged the people, by
firing muskets at them, to give him a pilot, who could bring him to the
anchorage, and committed many outrages in that weak factory. He likewise
made some attempt against the people of Papua; but it did not succeed.
His long-boat was seized by the Indians, and all the Europeans in it,
among the rest, a son of lord Sandwich’s, who was a midshipman, and
commanded the boat, were fastened to posts, circumcised, and then
cruelly murdered[131].
It seems, upon the whole, as if the English do not mean to hide their
projects from the Dutch company. About four years ago they formed a
station in one of the isles of Papua, called _Soloo_ or _Tafara_. M.
Dalrymple, who founded it, was its first governor; but the English kept
it only for three years. They have now abandoned it, and M. Dalrymple
came to Batavia in 1768, on board the Patty, captain Dodwell, from
whence he went to Bencoolen, where the Patty sunk in the road[132]. This
station furnished bird’s nests, mother of pearl, ivory, pearls, and
_tripans_ or _swallops_, a kind of glue or froth, of which the Chinese
are very fond. What I find extraordinary is, their coming to sell their
cargoes at Batavia; which I know from the merchant who bought them. The
same man assured me that the English likewise got spices by means of
this station; perhaps they obtained them from the Ceramese. I cannot say
why they have abandoned it. It is possible, that they may already have
got a great number of spice-trees transplanted in one of their
possessions in India, and that believing they were sure of their
success, they have abandoned an expensive station, which is but too
sufficient to alarm one nation, and give information to another. At
Batavia we had the first account of the ships, of which we had met with
the traces several times on our voyage. Mr. Wallace arrived at Batavia
in January 1768, and sailed from thence again almost immediately. Mr.
Carteret, who was involuntarily separated from his chief, soon after
leaving the straits of Magalhaens, has made a much longer voyage, and
his adventures I believe must have been far more complicated. He came to
Macassar at the end of March of the same year, having lost almost all
his crew, and his ship being in a rotten condition. The Dutch would not
bear him at Jonpandam, and sent him back to Bontain, hardly consenting
to his taking Moors to replace the loss of his people; after staying two
months in the isle of Celebes, he came to Batavia on the 3d of June,
careened there, and sailed from thence the 15th of September, that is,
only twelve days before we arrived there. M. Carteret has said very
little about his voyage here; however, he has mentioned enough to let
the people know, that in a passage by him called St. George’s strait, he
had had a fight with the Indians, whose arrows he shewed, with which
they have wounded several of his people, and among the rest, the next in
command after him, who even left Batavia without being cured.
[Sidenote: 1768. October.]
We had scarce been above eight or ten days at Batavia, when the diseases
began to make their appearance. [Sidenote: Diseases contracted at
Batavia.] From the best state of health, in all appearance, people were
in three days brought to the grave. Several of us fell ill of violent
fevers, and our sick found no relief at the hospital. I accelerated as
much as I could the dispatch of our affairs; but our sabandar likewise
falling sick, and not being able to do any business, we met with
difficulties and delays. I was not ready before the 16th of October to
go out, and I weighed, in order to anchor without the road. The Etoile
was to get her biscuit on board that day. She completed the stowing of
it in the night, and as soon as the wind permitted, she came to anchor
near us. Almost every officer on board my ship was already sick, or felt
a disposition towards it. The number of fluxes had not decreased among
the crews, and if we had made a longer stay at Batavia, it would
certainly have made greater havock among us than the whole voyage. Our
man from Taiti, who had doubtless been sheltered from the influence of
the climate by the extasy into which every thing that he saw threw him,
fell sick during the last days, and his illness has been of a long
duration, though his docility in taking physick was quite equal to that
of a man born at Paris: however, when he speaks of Batavia, he always
calls it the land which kills, _enoua maté_.
-----
Footnote 129:
This name is wretchedly disfigured from the Dutch, _Schout-by-Nacht_,
which signifies _Rear Admiral_. F.
Footnote 130:
_Salawati._ F.
Footnote 131:
Lord Sandwich’s son never was in any of these expeditions; it
therefore is evident, that M. de Bougainville has been misinformed in
regard to this particular. F.
Footnote 132:
Mr. Dalrymple never was at Batavia, nor Bencoolen; he left China in
January 1765, and arrived in England in July 1765, since when he has
never been out of the kingdom. From whence it must be obvious, M. de
Bougainville is entirely mistaken in what he says concerning M.
Dalrymple.
-----
_CHAP. IX._
_Departure from Batavia; touching at the isle of France; return to
France._
The 16th of October, I set sail alone from the road of Batavia, in order
to anchor in seven fathom and a half, bottom of soft ooze, about a
league in the offing. I was thus half a mile W. N. W. of the beacon,
which is left on the starboard side, when you enter the road of Batavia.
The isle of Edam bore N. N. E. ½ E. three leagues. Onrust, N. W. by W.
two leagues and a third. Rotterdam, N. 2° W. a league and a half. The
Etoile, who could not get her bread before it was late, weighed at three
o’clock in the morning; and steering for the lights, which I kept
lighted all night, she came to an anchor near me.
[Sidenote: Particulars concerning the course which must be taken
in going out from Batavia.]
As the course for leaving Batavia is interesting, I hope I shall be
allowed to mention the particulars of that which I have taken. On the
17th we were under sail, by five o’clock in the morning, and we steered
N. by E. in order to pass to the eastward of the isle of Rotterdam,
about half a league; then N. W. by N. in order to pass to the southward
of Horn and Harlem; then W. by N. and W. by S. to range to the northward
of the isles of Amsterdam and Middelburg, upon the last of which there
is a flag; then west, leaving on the starboard side a beacon, placed
south of the Small Cambuis. At noon we observed in 5° 55′ of south
latitude, and we were then north and south with the S. E. point of the
Great Cambuis, about one mile. From thence I steered between two
beacons, placed, the one to the southward of the N. W. point of the
Great Cambuis, the other east and west of the isle of Anthropophagi, or
Canibals, otherwise called Pulo Laki. Then you range the coast at what
distance you will or can. At half past five o’clock, the currents
setting us towards the shore, I let go a stream-anchor in eleven
fathoms, oozy bottom, the N. W. point of the bay of Bantam bearing W. 9°
N. about five leagues, and the middle of Pulo Baby, N. W. ½ W. three
leagues.
In order to sail out of Batavia, there is another passage besides that
which I have taken. When you leave the road, range the coast of Java,
leaving on the larboard side a buoy, which serves as a beacon, about two
leagues and a half from the town; then you range the isle of Kepert to
the southward; you follow the direction of the coast, and pass between
two beacons, situated, the one to the southward of Middelburg island,
the other opposite this, on a bank which joins to the point of the main
land; you then find the beacon, which lies to the southward of the small
Cambuis, and then the two routes unite. The particular chart which I
give of the run from Batavia, exactly points out both tracks.
[Sidenote: Clearing the straits of Sonda.]
The 18th, at two o’clock in the morning we were under sail; but we were
forced to anchor again in the evening: it was not till the 19th in the
afternoon that we cleared the straits of Sonda, passing to the northward
of Prince’s island. At noon we observed in 6° 30′ south latitude, and at
four o’clock in the afternoon, being about four leagues off the N. W.
point of Prince’s island, I took my departure upon the chart of M.
d’Après, in 6° 21′ south lat. and 102° east longitude, from the meridian
of Paris. In general, you can anchor every where along the coast of
Java. The Dutch keep some small stations on it, at short distances from
each other, and every station has orders to send a soldier on board the
ships which pass, with a register, on which he begs that the ship’s
name, from whence she come, and whither she is bound, may be inscribed.
You put into this register what you please; but I am far from blaming
the custom of keeping it, as it may be the means of getting news of a
ship, concerning which, one is often in great anxiety, and as the
soldier who carries it on board always brings along with him fowls,
turtle, and other refreshments, which he turns to good account. There
was now no longer any scorbutic complaint, at least, no apparent one on
board my ships; but several of the crew were ill of a bloody-flux. I
therefore resolved to shape my course for the Isle of France, without
waiting for the Etoile, and on the 20th I made her the signal for that
purpose.
[Sidenote: Run to the isle of France.]
In this run we found nothing remarkable, except the fine weather, which
has much shortened the voyage. We had constantly a very fresh wind at S.
E. Indeed we stood in need of it, for the number of the diseased
encreased daily, they recovered but slowly, and besides the bloody-flux,
some were likewise afflicted with hot fevers, of which one of my
carpenters died in the night between the 30th and the 31st. My masts
likewise gave me much concern; I had reason to fear that the main-mast
would break five or six feet below the cat-harpings; we fished it, and
to ease it, we got down the main-top-gallant-mast, and always kept two
reefs in the main-top-sail. [Sidenote: 1768. November.] [Sidenote: Sight
of the isle of Rodrigue.]These precautions considerably retarded our
run; yet notwithstanding this, on the 18th day after leaving Batavia, we
got sight of the Isle of Rodrigue[133], and the second day after that,
of the Isle of France.
The 5th of November, at four o’clock in the evening, we were north and
south of the north east point of the Isle of Rodrigue, whence I
concluded the following difference in, our reckoning from Prince’s
island to Rodrigue. M. Pingré has there observed 60° 52′ east longitude
from Paris, and at four o’clock, I was, by my reckoning, in 61° 26′.
These supposing, that the observation made upon the isle at the
habitation, had been taken two minutes to the westward of the point with
which I bore north and south at four o’clock, my difference in a run of
twelve hundred leagues, was thirty-four minutes a-stern of the ship; the
difference of the observations made on the 3d, by M. Verron, gave for
the same time 1° 12′ a-head of the ship.
[Sidenote: Land-fall at the Isle of France.]
We had sight of Round Island the 7th at noon; at five o’clock in the
evening we bore north and south with its middle. We fired some guns at
the beginning of night, hoping that the fire on the Cannoniers Point
would be lighted; but this fire, which M. d’Aprés mentions in his
instructions, is now never lighted; so that, after doubling the Coin de
Mire, which you may range as close as you please, I was much embarrassed
in order to avoid a dangerous shoal, which runs above half a league out
into the sea off the Cannoniers Point. I kept plying, in order to keep
to windward of the port, firing a gun from time to time; at last,
between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, one of the pilots of the
harbour, who are paid by the king, came on board. I then thought I was
out of danger, and had given him the charge of the ship, when at half
past three o’clock he run us a-ground, near the Bay of Tombs. [Sidenote:
Danger which the frigate runs.] Luckily there was no swell; and the
manœuvre which we quickly made, in order to endeavour to cast the ship
off shore, succeeded; but it may easily be conceived, how great our
grief would have been, if after happily avoiding so many dangers, we had
been cast away close to our port, through the fault of an ignorant
fellow, to whom we were obliged to leave the management of the ship, by
the regulation of the service. We got off with the loss of only
forty-five feet of our false keel, which was carried away.
[Sidenote: Nautical advice.]
This accident, of which we had like to have been the victims, gives me
an opportunity of making the following reflection: When you are bound
for the Isle of France, and see that it is impossible to reach the
entrance of the port in day-time, prudence requires, that you must take
care in time, not to be too much entangled with the land. It is
necessary to keep all night on the off side, and to windward of
Round-island, not lying-to, but plying to windward, under a good deal of
sail, on account of the currents. Besides, there is anchorage between
the little isles; we have found from thirty to twenty-five fathom there,
and a sandy bottom; but one must only anchor there in an extreme case of
necessity.
[Sidenote: Anchorage of the Isle of France.]
On the 8th, in the morning, we entered the port, where we moored that
day. The Etoile appeared at six o’clock in the evening, but could not
come in till the next morning. Here we found our reckoning was a day too
late, and we again followed the date of the whole world.
[Sidenote: Particulars of our proceedings there.]
The first day of my arrival, I sent all my sick people to the hospital,
I gave in an account of what I wanted in provisions and stores, and we
immediately fell to work in preparing the frigate for heaving down. I
took all the workmen in the port, that could be spared, and those of the
Etoile, being determined to depart as soon as I should be ready. The
16th and 18th we breamed the frigate. We found her sheathing worm-eaten,
but her bottom was as sound as when she came off the stocks.
We were obliged to change some of our masts here. Our main-mast had a
defect in the heel, and therefore might give way there, as well as in
the head, where the main-piece was broken. I got a main-mast all off one
piece, two top-masts, anchors, cables, and some twine, which we were in
absolute want of. I returned my old provisions into the king’s stores,
and took others for five months. I likewise delivered to M. Poivre, the
_intendant_ of the Isle of France, all the iron and nails embarked on
board the Etoile; my alembic and recipient, many medicines, and a number
of merchandises, which now became useless to us, and were wanted in this
colony. I likewise gave three and twenty soldiers to the legion, as they
asked my leave to be incorporated in it. Messieurs Commerçon and Verron,
both consented to defer their return to France; the former, in order to
enquire into the natural history of these isles, and of Madagascar; the
latter, in order to be more ready to go and observe the transit of Venus
in India; I was likewise desired to leave behind M. de Romainville, an
engineer, some young volunteers, and some under-pilots, for the
navigation in the several parts of India.
[Sidenote: Loss of two officers.]
We were happy, after so long, a voyage, to be still in a condition to
enrich this colony with men and necessary goods. The joy which I felt
on this occasion, was cruelly converted into grief, by the loss which
we here suffered, by the death of the chevalier du Bouchage, ensign of
the king’s ships, and a man of distinguished merit, who joined all the
qualities of the heart and mind which endear a man to his friends, to
that knowledge which forms a complete sea-officer. The friendly care
and all the skill of M. de la Porte, our surgeon, could not save him.
He expired in my arms, the 19th of November, of a flux, which had
begun at Batavia. A few days after, a young son of M. le Moyne,
_commissaire-ordonnateur_ of the marine, who embarked as a volunteer
with me, and had lately been made a _garde de la marine_[134], died of
a pectoral disease.
In the Isle of France I admired the forges, which have been established
there by Messrs. Rosting and Hermans. There are few so fine ones in
Europe, and the iron which they make is of the best kind. It is
inconceiveable how much perseverance, and how great abilities have been
necessary to make this undertaking more complete, and what sums it has
cost. He has now nine hundred negroes, from which M. Hermans has drawn
out and exercised a battalion of two hundred men, who are animated by a
kind of ambition. They are very nice in the choice of their comrades,
and refuse to admit all those who have been guilty of the least roguery.
Thus we see sentiments of honour combined with slavery[135].
[Sidenote: 1768. December.]
During our stay here, we constantly enjoyed the fairest weather
imaginable. The 5th of December, the sky began to be covered with thick
clouds, the mountains were wrapt in fogs; and every thing announced the
approaching season of rain, and the hurricane which is felt in these
isles almost every year. [Sidenote: Departure from the Isle of France.]
The 10th I was ready to set sail. The rain and the wind right on end did
not allow it. I could not sail till the 12th in the morning, leaving the
Etoile just when she was going to be careened. This vessel could not be
fit for going out before the end of the month, and our junction was now
no longer necessary. This store-ship left the isle of France towards the
end of December, and arrived in France a month after me. I took my
departure at noon, in the observed S. lat. of 20° 22′ and 54° 40′ east
longitude from Paris.
[Sidenote: Run to the Cape of Good Hope.]