THE FIRST VOYAGE TO INDIA--FAILURE
It was no mean expedition which set sail for the Indies on the second
of April of the year 1595 with four ships, 284 men, and an investment
of more than three hundred thousand guilders. Amsterdam merchants had
provided the capital and the ships. The Estates of Holland and a number
of cities in the same province had sent cannon. With large cannon and
small harquebus, sixty-four in number, they were a fair match for any
Spaniard or Portuguese who might wish to defend his ancient rights upon
this royal Indian route, which ran down the Atlantic, doubled the Cape
of Good Hope, and then made a straight line from the southernmost tip
of Africa to Cape Comorin on the Indian peninsula in Asia.
A few words should be said about the ships, for each was to experience
adventures before reaching the safe harbor of home or disappearing
silently in a lonely sea. There were the _Hollandia_, proudly called
after the newly created sovereign republic of the seven united
Netherlands; the _Mauritius_, bearing the name of the eminent general
whose scientific strategy was forcing the Spanish intruder from one
province after the other; the _Amsterdam_, the representative of a city
which in herself was a mighty commonwealth; and lastly a small and fast
ship called the _Pigeon_.
Also, since there were four ships, there were four captains, and
thereby hangs a tale. This new Dutch Republic was a democracy of an
unusually jealous variety, which is saying a great deal. Its form of
government was organized disorder. The principle of divided power and
governmental wheels within wheels at home was maintained in a foreign
expedition where a single autocratic head was a most imperative
necessity. What happened during the voyage was this: the four
captains mutually distrustful, each followed his own obstinate will.
They quarreled among themselves, they quarreled with the four civil
directors who represented the owners and the capitalists in Holland,
and who together with the captains were supposed to form a legislative
and executive council for all the daily affairs of the long voyage.
Finally they quarreled with the chief representative of the commercial
interests, Cornelis de Houtman, a cunning trader and commercial
diplomatist who had spent four years in Lisbon trying to discover the
secrets of Indian navigation. Indeed, so great had been his zeal to
get hold of the information hidden in the heads of Portuguese pilots
and the cabalistic meaning of Portuguese charts, that the authorities,
distrustful of this too generous foreigner, with his ever-ready purse,
had at last clapped him into jail.
Then there had been a busy correspondence with the distant employers
of this distinguished foreign gentleman. Amsterdam needed Houtman
and his knowledge of the Indian route. The money which in the rotten
state of Portugal could open the doors of palaces as well as those of
prisons brought the indiscreet pioneer safely back to his fatherland.
Now, after another year, he was appointed to be the leading spirit of
a powerful small fleet and the honorable chairman of a complicated and
unruly council of captains and civilian directors. That is to say, he
might have been their real leader if he had possessed the necessary
ability; but the task was too much for him. For not only was he obliged
to keep the peace between his many subordinate commanders, but he was
also obliged to control the collection of most undesirable elements
who made up the crews of this memorable expedition. I am sorry that
I have to say this, but in the year 1595 people did not venture upon
a phantastical voyage to an unknown land along a highly perilous
route unless there was some good reason why they should leave their
comfortable native shores. The commanders of the ships and their chief
officers were first class sailors. The lower grades, too, were filled
with a fairly sober crowd of men, but the common sailor almost without
exception belonged to a class of worthless youngsters who left their
country for their country's good and for the lasting benefit of their
family's reputation. There was, however, a saving grace, and we must
give the devil his due. Many of these men were desperately brave. When
they were well commanded they made admirable sailors and excellent
soldiers, but the moment discipline was relaxed, they ran amuck, killed
their officers or left them behind on uninhabited islands and lived
upon the fat of the commissary department until the last bottle of gin
was emptied and the last ham was eaten. In most cases their ship then
ran on a hidden cliff, whereupon the democratic sea settled all further
troubles with the help of the ever-industrious shark.
When we realize that the Dutch colonial empire was conquered with and
by such men we gain a mighty respect for the leaders whose power of
will turned these wild bands of adventurers into valiant soldiers. And
when we study the history of our early colonial system we no longer
wonder that it was so bad. We are gratefully astonished that it was
not vastly worse.
On the tenth of March of the year 1595 the crews had been mustered,
the last provisions had been taken on board. Everything was ready for
the departure. The riot act was read to the men, for discipline was
maintained by means of the gallows and the flogging-pole, and after a
great deal of gunpowder had been wasted upon salutes the ships sailed
to the Texel. Here they waited in the roads for two weeks, and then
with a favorable wind from the north set sail for the English Channel.
All this and the rest of the story which is to follow we have copied
from the diary of Frank van der Does, who was on board the _Hollandia_
and who was one of the few officers who got safely home.
During the first three weeks it was plain sailing. On the twenty-sixth
of April the fleet reached one of the Cape Verde Islands. Some of the
wild goats of the islands that had so greatly impressed Linschoten
were caught and divided among the sailors, making a very welcome
change in their eternal diet of salted meat. Another week went by,
and two Portuguese freighters, loaded to the gunwales, appeared upon
the horizon. Kindly remember that this was only a few years after the
desperate struggle with Spain and while yet any ship that might be
considered popish was a welcome prize. Therefore the instinct of all
the Hollanders on board demanded that this easy booty be captured.
These ships, so the men reasoned, would provide more profit than an
endless, dreary trip to an unknown Indian sea; but for once discipline
prevailed. The commanders were under strict order not to do any
freebooting on their own account. On the contrary, they must make
friends wherever they could. Accordingly, the Dutch admiral gave the
Portuguese a couple of hams, and the Portuguese returned the favor with
a few jars of preserved fruit. Then the two squadrons separated, and
the Dutch fleet went southward.
In the end of June the ships passed the equator, and scurvy made its
customary appearance among the men. The suspicion that scurvy might
have something to do with the lack of certain elements in the daily
food had begun to dawn upon the sailors of that time. Of course it was
quite impossible for them to carry fresh solid food in their little
and ill-ventilated ships, but they could take fluids. Water was never
drunk by sailors of that day. It spoiled too easily in the primitive
tanks. Beer was the customary beverage. This time, however, a large
supply of wine had been taken along, and when they reached the tropics
each of the sailors got a pint of wine per day as a remedy or, rather,
a preventive of the dreaded disease. But it increased rapidly, and with
a feeling of deep relief the sailors welcomed the appearance of wild
birds, which indicated that the Cape of Good Hope must be near. Early
in August they sailed past the southern point of the African continent,
and dropped anchor in a small bay near the spot where now the town
of Port Elizabeth is situated. Here our friend Van der Does was sent
on shore with two boats to find fresh water. His first attempt at a
landing did not succeed. The boats got into a very heavy surf. They
were attacked by a couple of playful whales, and on the shore excited
natives, reputed to be cannibals, danced about in gleeful anticipation.
A storm broke loose, and for almost an entire day the men floated
helplessly on the angry waves. When at last they returned to the ship
the other sailors had already given them up as lost.
The next day the weather was more favorable, and they managed to reach
the shore, where they made friends with the natives. According to the
description, these must have been Hottentots. They made a very bad
impression. The Hottentot, then as now, was smallish and very ugly,
with a lot of black hair that looked as if it had been singed. In
short, in the language of the sixteenth century they looked like people
who had been hanging on the gallows for a long time and had shriveled
into the leathern caricature of a man. A dirty piece of skin served
them as clothing, and their language sounded to the Dutch sailors
like the cackling of a herd of angry turkeys. As for their manners,
they were beastly. When they killed an animal, they ate it raw, both
insides and outsides. Perhaps they stopped long enough to scrape some
of the dirt off with their fingers, but usually they did not take the
trouble to cook their food. Furthermore--this, however, so far was only
a suspicion--they were said to be cannibals and ate their own kind.
[Illustration]
The happy Hottentot still lived in the Stone Age, and these first
European traders were a veritable godsend to a people obliged to hunt
with stone arrows. The expedition did not fail to discover this, and
for a few knives and a few simple iron objects they received all the
cows and sheep they wanted. And, to our great joy, we get our first
glimpse of that most amusing and clownish of all living creatures, the
penguin. The penguin has risen in the social scale of wild birds since
he has become one of the chief attractions of the moving-pictures. In
the year 1595 he was every bit as silly and absurd an animal as he is
now, when he wanders forth to make friends with the sailors of our
South Polar expeditions. Van der Does hardly knew what to make of this
strange creature which has wings, yet cannot fly, and whose feathers
look like the smooth skin of a seal. Strangest of all, this wild animal
was found to be so tame that the sailors had to box their ears before
they could force a narrow path through the dense crowds of excited
birds.
On the eleventh of August the ships left the safe harbor. Their
original plan had been to cross the Indian Ocean from this point and
to make directly for the Indian islands, but there had been so much
illness among the crew that the plan had to be given up. They decided
to call at Madagascar first of all. There they hoped to find an
abundance of fresh fruit and to spend some weeks in which to allow the
sick people to recover completely before they ventured, into the actual
domains of the Portuguese.
Unfortunately, the navigating methods of that day were still very
primitive. A profound trust in the Lord made up for a lack of knowledge
of the compass. The good Lord in his infinite mercy usually guided
the ship until it reached some shore or other. Then the navigator set
to work and wormed his way either upward or downward until at last he
struck the spot which he had been trying to reach all the time and
thanked divine Providence for his luck. The particular bay renowned
for its fresh water and vegetables, that the expedition hoped to reach
was situated on the east coast of Madagascar, but a small gale blew
the ships to the westward. They could not reach the southern cape, and
they were forced to take whatever the western coast could provide.
That was little enough. There was an abundance of wild natives. Upon
one occasion the natives caught a landing party and stripped them of
all their arms and clothes before they allowed them to return to their
ships. But there were no wild fruit-trees, and upon these now depended
the lives of the members of the expedition.
[Illustration]
Seventy sailors were dead. Worst of all, the captain of the
_Hollandia_, Jan Dignumsz by name, the most energetic of the leaders
and famous for his discipline, had also died. A small island was
used as a cemetery, and was baptized Deadmen's Land, where rested
one-quarter of the men who had left Holland. The situation was far from
pleasant when the _Pigeon_, which had been sent out to reconnoiter,
came back with good tidings. A tribe of natives had been found that
was willing to enter into peaceful trade with the Hollanders and to
sell their cattle in exchange for knives and beads. It was almost too
good to be true. For a single tin spoon these simple people would give
an entire ox or four sheep. A steel knife induced them to offer one of
their daughters as a slave.
At this spot the sick people were landed, to be tended on shore. Soon
the misery was forgotten in the contemplation of an abundance of wild
monkeys, which competed with the natives in the execution of wild
and curious dances and which when roasted on hot coals made a fine
dish. This idyl, however, did not last long. The "pious life" of the
sailors and their attitude toward the natives soon caused considerable
friction. One night the natives attacked the camp where the sick men
slept. The Hollanders, from their side, took four young natives to
their ships and kept them there as prisoners. The four of course tried
to escape. One was drowned, pulled down by his heavy chains. Two others
hid themselves in a small boat and were recaptured the next day. A few
days after this event the mate of one of the ships and another sailor
went on shore and tried to buy a cow. They were attacked. The sailor
was mortally wounded, and the mate had his throat cut. In revenge the
Hollanders shot one of the natives and burned down a few villages. It
is a sad story, but we shall often have to tell of this sort of thing
when the white man made his first appearance among his fellow-creatures
of a different hue.
After this adventure the council of captains decided to proceed upon
the voyage without further delay. On the thirteenth of December the
fleet started upon the last stretch of water which separated it from
the island of Java. After two weeks, however, scurvy once more played
such havoc among the sailors that the ships were obliged to sail back
to Madagascar. They found the small island called Santa Maria on
the east coast. The natives here were more civilized, there was an
abundance of fresh food, and the sick people recovered in a short time.
Except for a sufficient supply of water, the expedition was ready for
the last thousand miles across the Indian Ocean. Santa Maria, however,
did not provide enough water.
Once more a sloop was sent out to reconnoiter. In the Bay of Saint
Antongil, on the main island, they discovered a small river, and on
the twenty-fifth of January the four ships reached this bay. They
started filling their water-kegs when on the third of February a
terrible storm drove the _Hollandia_ on a shoal and almost wrecked
the ship. During the attempts at getting her afloat two of her boats
were swept away and were washed on shore. The next morning a sloop was
sent after these boats, but during the night the natives, in their
desire for iron nails, had hacked the boats to pieces. When thereupon
the boat with sailors approached the village, the natives, expecting
a punitive expedition, attacked the men with stones. The Hollanders
fired their muskets, the power of which seemed unknown to these people,
for they gazed at the murderous arms with great curiosity until a
number of them had been killed, when they ran away and hid themselves.
After the fashion of that day the Dutch crew then burned down a few
hundred native huts. Such was the end of the first visit of Hollanders
to Madagascar. On the thirteenth of February the ships left for the
Indies, but before they got so far the long-expected internal disorder
had broken loose.
I have mentioned that the captain of the _Hollandia_ had died on the
west coast of Madagascar. The owners of the ships, not wishing to leave
anything to luck, had provided each ship with sealed instruction,
telling the officers who should succeed whom in case of just such
an accident. These letters were to be opened in the full council
of captains. Instead of doing this, the civil commissioner on the
_Hollandia_ had opened his letter at once and had read therein that the
office of captain should be bestowed upon the first mate, De Keyser by
name, and a personal friend of the commissioner. It is difficult at
this late date to discover what caused all the trouble which followed.
De Keyser was a good man, the most popular officer of the fleet, while
Houtman, the civilian commander of the expedition, was very much
disliked by the officers of all the ships. There is nothing very
peculiar in this. Civilians are never wanted on board a fleet, least of
all when they have been sent out to control the actions of the regular
seafaring people. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the officers
taking the side of De Keyser and turning against the civilians.
Houtman in his high official altitude and in a very tactless way,
declared that he would not recognize De Keyser. De Keyser, to avoid
friction, then declared that he would voluntarily resign, but the other
officers declared that they would not hear of such a thing. Thereupon
Houtman insisted that he, as civilian commander, had a right to demand
the strictest obedience to the orders of the owners. The officers
told Houtman what they would be before they obeyed a mere civilian.
Houtman stood his ground. The council of the captains broke up in a
free-for-all fight, and the most violent backers of De Keyser declared
that they would shoot Houtman rather than give in. Thus far the quarrel
had been about the theoretical principle whether the actual sailors or
the civilian commissioners should be the masters of the fleet. But
when the man who had started the whole trouble by opening the sealed
letter against orders proposed to desert the fleet with the _Hollandia_
he committed a breach of etiquette which at once made him lose the
support of the other regular officers. Discipline was discipline. The
mutineer was brought before a court-martial and was ordered to be put
in irons until the end of the voyage. He actually made the remainder
of the trip as a prisoner. The suit against him was not dropped until
after the return to Holland. It was a storm in a tea-kettle, or,
rather, it was a quarrel between a few dozen people, most of them ill,
who were cooped up in four small and ill-smelling vessels and who had
got terribly on one another's nerves. It is needless to say that these
official disagreements greatly entertained the rough elements in the
forecastle, who witnessed this commotion with hidden glee and decided
that they would have some similar fun of their own as soon as possible.
[Illustration]
Meanwhile the wind had been favorable, and on the fifth of June, after
a long, but uneventful voyage, an island was seen. It proved to be
a small island off the coast of Sumatra. Sumatra itself was reached
two days later, and on the eleventh of the same month the Sunda
Archipelago, between Sumatra and Java, was reached. In this part of
the Indies the white man had been before. The natives, therefore, knew
the power of firearms, and they were accordingly cautious. One of them
who was familiar with the straits between the islands offered to act
as pilot on their further trip to Bantam. For eight reals in gold he
promised to guide them safely to the north shore of Java. The amount
was small, but the distance was short. On the twenty-third of June of
the year 1596 four Dutch ships appeared for the first time in the roads
of Bantam, and were welcomed by the Portuguese with all the civility
which the sight of sixty-four cannon demanded. At that time Bantam was
an important city, the most important trading center of the western
part of the Indian islands. It was the capital of a Mohammedan sultan,
and for many years it had been the residence of a large Portuguese
colony. Besides Javanese natives and Portuguese settlers there were
many Arab traders and Chinese merchants. All of these hastened forth
to inspect the ships with the strange flag and have a look at this new
delegation of white men who were blond, not dark like the Portuguese,
and who spoke an unknown language.
The fleet had now reached its destination, and the actual work of
the commercial delegates began. It was their business to conclude
an official treaty with the native authorities and to try to obtain
equal trading rights with the Portuguese. Houtman was of great value
in this sort of negotiation. As representative of the mighty Prince
Maurice of Nassau, who for the benefit of the natives was described
as the most high potentate of the most powerful Dutch commonwealth,
he called upon the regent, who was governing the country during the
minority of the actual sultan. He made his visit in great state, and
through a number of presents he gained the favor of the regent. On the
first of July he obtained the desired commercial treaty. The Hollanders
were allowed to trade freely, and a house was put at their disposal to
serve as a general office and storeroom. Two of the civilian directors
were allowed to live on shore, and everything was ready for business.
Thus far things had gone so well that Houtman decided to perform his
task leisurely. The new pepper harvest was soon to be gathered, and he
thought it well to wait until he had a chance to get fresh spices. What
was left of last year's crop was offered for a very low price, but as
there was no hurry, no supply was bought.
[Illustration]
Unfortunately, this time of waiting was utilized by the Portuguese
for a campaign of underhand agitation against their unwelcome rivals.
They did not accuse the Hollanders directly of any evil intentions, but
did the regent know who those people were? It is true that they claimed
to be the representatives of a certain Prince of Nassau. Was there
such a Prince? They might just as well be common buccaneers. It would
be much safer if the regent would order his soldiers to take all the
Hollander people prisoner and to surrender them to the Portuguese, to
be dealt with according to their deserts.
The regent, who knew nothing about his new guests except that they were
white and had come to him in wooden ships, listened with an attentive
ear. At first he did not act, but the Hollanders soon noticed that
whereas they found it difficult to buy anything at all in Bantam,
Portuguese vessels left the harbor every week with heavy cargoes. At
last when the commissary department of the Dutch fleet sent on shore
for provisions they were refused all further supplies. Evidently
something was going to happen.
To be well prepared against all eventualities, the Dutch captains began
to chart the harbor. With the small guns of that age it was necessary
to know exactly how near shore one could get in order to bombard the
enemy. The natives saw the manoeuvering, and wondered what it was
all about. From that moment on there was suspicion on both sides, and
at last the tension between them grew so serious that the Hollanders
decided to remove their goods from their storehouse and bring them on
the ships. But while they were loading their possessions into the boats
Houtman and another civilian by the name of Willem Lodewycksz were
suddenly taken prisoner and brought to the castle of the regent. This
dignitary, afraid of the Portuguese, whose power he appreciated, and
yet unwilling to act openly against some newcomers who might be far
more dangerous, wanted to keep the leader of the Dutch expedition and
one of his officers as hostages until the Dutch ships should have left
the port without doing him or his people any harm.
[Illustration]
The Hollanders, however, who knew that the Portuguese were responsible
for this action, at once attacked the Portuguese ships. Both parties,
however, proved to be equally strong, and having fired several volleys
at one another, both sides gave up their quarrel and waited until they
should be reinforced. Houtman and his companion were set free after
the Hollanders had paid a heavy ransom. All this took place in the
month of October. Even then Houtman hoped that the interrupted trading
might be resumed. Meanwhile, however, the Portuguese had asked for
reinforcements to be sent from their colony in Malacca, and a high
Portuguese official was already on his way to Bantam to offer the
regent ten thousand reals for the surrender of the entire Dutch fleet.
Of these negotiations the Dutch commander obtained full details through
a friendly Portuguese merchant. Since everybody spied upon everybody
else, this merchant's secret correspondence was soon detected, and the
culprit was sent to Malacca. As there was now no longer any hope for
profitable business, the Dutch fleet made ready to depart. Just before
leaving, however, they managed to get some cargo. A Chinaman got on
board the admiral's ship, and made him the following offer. He would
load two vessels with spices and would leave the port. The Hollanders
would attack his vessels and would capture both ship and cargo. Of
course they must pay cash and must deposit the money beforehand.
This was done, and in this way Houtman got several thousand guilders'
worth of nutmeg and mace. Thereupon the Hollanders left Bantam and
tried their luck in several other cities on the Javanese coast; but
everywhere the people had been warned by the Portuguese against
ungodly pirates who were soon to come with four big ships, and
everywhere the ships were refused water and were threatened with open
hostilities if they should attempt to buy anything from the natives.
One little king, however, appeared to have more friendly feelings. That
was the King of Sidayu, on the strait of Surabaya. He was very obliging
indeed, and volunteered to pay the first call upon his distinguished
visitors. At the hour which had been officially announced his Majesty,
with a large number of well-armed canoes, paddled out to the Dutch
ships. The Hollanders, glad at last to find so cheerful a welcome,
had arranged everything for a festive occasion. The ships had hoisted
their best array of flags, and the trumpeters--it was a time when
signals on board were given with a trumpet--bellowed forth a welcome.
The _Amsterdam_ was the first ship to be reached. The captain stood
ready at the gangway to welcome the dusky sovereign, but suddenly his
ship was attacked from all sides by a horde of small brown men. They
swarmed over the bulwarks and hacked a dozen Hollanders to pieces
before the others could defend themselves. These in turn gave fight
as best they could with knives and wooden bars, but many more were
killed. At last, however, the other ships managed to come to the relief
of the _Amsterdam_, and they destroyed the fleet of war-canoes with a
few volleys from their cannon. It was a sad business. Several of the
officers had been killed. What with the illness of many of the men
there were hardly sailors enough to man the four ships. The _Amsterdam_
looked like a butcher shop. It was cleaned thoroughly, the dead
people were given Christian burial in the open sea, and the voyage was
continued to the island of Madura.
[Illustration]
Here they arrived on the eighth of December, and were once more met
by a large fleet of small craft. In one of these there was a native
who knew a little Portuguese. He asked to speak to the commander,
who at that moment was on the _Amsterdam_. Houtman told the native
interpreter to row to the _Mauritius_, where he would join him in a few
minutes. This was a good idea, for the people on the _Amsterdam_, who
had just seen the massacre of their comrades, were very nervous and
in no condition to receive another visit of natives, however friendly
they intended to be. But through a mistake the boat of the interpreter
did not turn toward the _Mauritius_, but returned once more to the
_Amsterdam_, apparently to ask for further instructions. Then one of
these horrible accidents due entirely to panic happened. The sailors of
the _Amsterdam_ opened fire upon the natives. The other ships thought
that this was the sign for a new general attack, and they got out
their cannon. In a moment a score of well-intentioned natives, and
among them their king, had been killed or were drowning.
After this it could not be expected that the island of Madura would
sell Houtman anything at all. There was only one chance left if the
expedition was to be a financial success. This was a trip to the
Molucca Islands. But for this voyage the ninety-four sailors who were
still alive--all the others who had left Holland the year before were
dead--hardly sufficed. Furthermore, the _Amsterdam_ was beginning to
show such severe leaks that the carpenters could not repair the damage.
The ship was therefore beached and burned. The crew was divided among
the three other ships and they set sail for the Moluccas.
Before they reached these islands a formal mutiny had broken out
on board the _Mauritius_. Suddenly, during the afternoon meal, the
captain of the ship had died. He had fainted, turned blue and black,
and in less than an hour he was dead after suffering dreadful pains.
Healthy people, so the sailors whispered, did not die that way, and
they accused Houtman, who did not like this particular captain, of
having put poison into his food. Houtman was attacked by his own men,
and he was put in irons. A formal tribunal then was called together.
It investigated the charges, but nothing was found against the accused
Commissioner. Therefore Houtman was released, and the topsyturvy
expedition once more continued its voyage.
[Illustration]
But it never reached the Molucca Islands, for before they got to
these they found the island of Bali. This proved to be governed by a
well-disposed monarch. The influence of the Portuguese was less strong
in this island than it had been on Java. The Hollanders, too, had
learned their lesson, and they refrained from the naval swashbuckling
that had often characterized their conduct on Java. On the contrary,
they gave themselves every possible trouble to be very pleasant to his
Majesty the Sultan. They made him fine presents, and they produced
their maps of the fatherland and made a great ado about their official
documents. The sultan wished to know who they were. They told him
that they came from a country which was situated in the northern part
of Europe, where the water turned into a solid mass across which you
could drive a horse every winter. This country, according to their
descriptions, covered a region occupied by Russia, France, and Germany.
There was but little truth in these grandiloquent stories, but they
were dealing with an innocent native who must be duly impressed by
the great power and the enormous riches of the home of ninety-odd,
bedraggled and much traveled Dutch sailors. The account which the
sailors gave of their country so deeply impressed the king that he
allowed them to buy all the spices they wanted and to collect the
necessary provisions for the long return voyage. On February 26, in
the second year of their voyage, the three ships got ready to sail
back to Holland. One of the civilian directors who with his masterful
fibbing had brought himself more particularly to the attention of his
Majesty was left behind, together with one sailor. They were to act as
counselors to the court, an office which they held for four years, when
they returned to Amsterdam. Of the two hundred and eighty-four men who
had left Holland in 1595, only eighty-nine returned after an absence of
two years and four months.
[Illustration]
That was the end of the first trip. It had not been profitable. The
sale of the pepper and nutmeg bought in Bali saved the expedition from
being a total loss to the investors, but there were not nearly such
large revenues as were to follow in the succeeding years. Furthermore,
Houtman had not been able to establish any lasting relations with any
of the native princes of India. Neither could he report that the first
Dutch expedition had been a shining example of tactful dealing with, or
kind treatment of the people of the Indies.
But this was really a detail. It was an unfortunate incident due
to their own lack of experience and to the intrigues of the rival
Portuguese merchants.
From a commercial point of view this expedition was a failure. Yet it
brought home a large volume of negative information which was of the
utmost importance. It showed that the direct road to India was not an
impossible achievement to anybody possessed of energy and courage. It
showed that the power of the Portuguese in India was not as strong as
had been expected. It showed that the dream of an independent colonial
empire for the new Dutch Republic in the Indian islands was not an
idle one. In short, it proved that all the fears and misgivings about
Holland's share in the development of the riches of Asia had been
unnecessary. The thing could be done.