234i COMMERCE WITH secure the monopoly of trade at places too inconsi- derable to be settled as conquests is well described by Dampier from his own personal observation.
- For where/* says he, *' there is any trade to be
had, yet not sufficient to maintain a factory, or where there may not be a convenient place to build a fort, so as to secure the whole trade to themselves, they send their guard-ships, which, ly- ing at the mouth of the rivers, deter strangers from coming thither, and keep the petty princes in awe of them. They commonly make a shew as if they did this out of kindness to these people, yet most of them know otherwise, but dare not openly resent it. This probably causes so many petty robberies and piracies as are committed by the Malayans on this coast. The Malayans, who inhabit both sides of the straits of Malacca, are in general a bold people ; and yet I do not find any of them addicted to robbery, but only the pilfering poorer sort, and even these severely punished among the trading Malayans, who have trade and property. But being thus provoked by the Dutch, and hin- dered of a free trade by their guard-ships, it is pro- bable they, therefore, commit piracies themselves, or connive at> or encourage those who do ; so that the pirates who lurk on this coast seem to do it as much to revenge themselves on the Dutch for restraining their trade, as to gain this way what
