s, to enquire the price of pepper, to buy fresh
provisions, and to know if our people might land in safety. But on
coming on shore, the governor durst not speak with us in private, on
account of wars then subsisting among them, owing to which they were
jealous of each other. The cause of these wars was this: The old King of
Acheen had two sons, the elder of whom he kept with himself intending
him as his successor, and made the younger King of Pedier; upon which
the elder made his father a prisoner, pretending that he was too old to
govern any longer, and afterwards made war on his younger brother.
Seeing that little good could be done here, and having refreshed with
fresh provisions, we weighed anchor on the 21st, and stood for Bantam.
That same day we took two praws, in which there was nothing but a little
rice. In one of these praws two of our men were sore wounded. Thinking
that all the people had leapt overboard, they boarded the praw; but two
of the natives had hidden themselves behind the sail, and as soon as
the two foremost of our men had entered, they came suddenly from their
concealment, wounded our men very severely, and then leapt into the
water, where they swam like water spaniels. Taking such things as we
liked from the praws, we left them without any farther harm.

We took a fishing boat on the 23d, and let her go again, as she had
nothing of value; only that one of her men was shot through the thigh,
as they resisted us at the first. The 25th we descried a sail, and sent
our shallop, long-boat, and skiff to see what she was, as neither our
ship nor pinnace was able to fetch her, being becalmed. On coming up
with her we desired her to strike, but she would not, so we fought with
her from three in the afternoon till ten at night, by which time our
pinnace came up, when she struck her sails and yielded. We made her fast
to our pinnace, and towed her with us all night. In the morning our
general sent for them to know what they were, and sent three of us on
board to see what she was loaden with. They told our general they were
of Bantam; for which reason, as not knowing what injury he might do to
the English merchants who had a factory at Bantam, and learning from us
that their loading was salt, rice, and china dishes, he sent them again
on board their bark, not suffering the value of a penny to be taken from
them. They stood on for Priaman, and we for Bantam. This bark was of the
burden of about forty tons.