84 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO ambassador, and the third series of negotiations came to an end. Meanwhile the Hollanders were rendering our posi- tion intolerable in the Archipelago. In 1613 they forci- bly prevented the people of Machian in the Moluccas from trading with us. In 1614 our agents retaliated by BROACH, ON THE COAST OF INDIA, IN 1778. a treaty with the rich nutmeg island Banda, whose inhabitants declared themselves willing to live and die with the English. In 1615 the London Company en- couraged its factors to break boldly into the Spice Islands and to attempt both Banda and Amboyna. But the Dutch replied by the argument of " seven tall ships " in the Archipelago, and threatened to sink any English interloper. In December, 1615, at their head- quarters at Bantam in Java, " the envy of the Holland- ers is so great that to take out one of our eyes they
