of them. Cloves, though said to be originally the produce of Machian or Bachian[1] a small island far to the eastward, and fifteen miles north of the line, from whence they were when the Dutch came here disseminated over most or all of the eastern isles, are now entirely confined to Amboyna and the neighbouring small islets; the Dutch having by different treaties of peace with the conquered kings of all the other islands, stipulated that they should have only a certain number of trees in their dominions; and in future quarrels, as a punishment, lessened their quantity, till at last they left them no right to have any. Nutmegs have been in the same manner extirpated in all the islands, except their native Banda, which easily supplies this world, and would as easily supply another, if the Dutch had but another to supply. Of nutmegs, however, there certainly are a few upon the eastern coast of New Guinea, a place on which the Dutch hardly dare set their feet, on account of the treachery and warlike disposition of the natives. There may be also both cloves and nutmegs upon the other islands far to the eastward; for those I believe neither the Dutch nor any other nation seem to think it worth while to examine at all.
The town of Batavia, though the capital of the Dutch dominions in India, is so far from being peopled with Dutchmen, that I may safely affirm that of the Europeans inhabiting it and its neighbourhood, not one-fifth part are Dutch. Besides them are Portuguese, Indians and Chinese, the two last many times exceeding the Europeans in number. Of each of these I shall speak separately, beginning with Europeans, of which there are some, especially in the troops, of almost every nation in Europe. The Germans, however, are so much the most numerous, that they two or three times exceed in number all other Europeans together. Fewer English are settled here than of any other nation, and next to them French; the politic Dutch (well knowing that the English and French, being maritime powers, must often have ships in the East Indies, and will demand and obtain from them the subjects of their
- ↑ Bachian, off the south-west coast of Gilolo, is really south of the equator.
