388 HISTORY OF CELEBES. in contact with the Dutch power, for, in the year 1655, they destroyed the Dutch establishment on Butung, in effecting the conquest of that island. In the year i660, the Dutch, determining to be revenged, sent a powerful force against the Ma- cassars, and, notwithstanding they were assist- ed by the Portuguese, defeated them in several actions, and dictated a peace to them. !No permanent establishment was at this time formed by the Dutch, and the Macassars being left without control, and weakened by their for- mer defeats, resolved to retrieve their losses, and fittod out a great fleet of boats and vessels, amounting to iOO, which carried an army of 20,000 men. This is the greatest maritime expe- dition of which I have heard in any period of the history of the Indian islands, and calculated to give us a high opinion of the power of the Ma- cassar state. It made an easy conquest of Butung and the XulJa Isles, and was on the point of at- tempting the conquest of the Moluccas, when it was encountered at Butung by a force fitted out at Batavia, under Admiral Speelman, and totally overthrown. Previous to this expedition the people of Boni had once more rebelled, and were once more defeat- ed. Many of the princes had fled the country and joined the Dutch, among whom the principal was Evja Falaka, afterwards kmg of Boni. A series
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