alacca; and it even appears that some
persons in the character of ambassadors or agents from that power resided
at Achin, the principal object of whose policy appears to have been that
of inspiring him with jealousy and hatred of the Hollanders, who in their
turn were actively exerting themselves to supplant the conquerors of
India.

1600.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century they began to navigate these
seas; and in June 1600 visited Achin with two ships, but had no cause to
boast of the hospitality of their reception. An attempt was made to cut
them off, and evidently by the orders or connivance of the king, who had
prevailed upon the Dutch admiral to take on board troops and military
stores for an expedition meditated, or pretended, against the city of
Johor, which these ships were to bombard. Several of the crews were
murdered, but after a desperate conflict in both ships the treacherous
assailants were overcome and driven into the water, "and it was some
pleasure (says John Davis, an Englishman, who was the principal pilot of
the squadron) to see how the base Indians did fly, how they were killed,
and how well they were drowned."* This barbarous and apparently
unprovoked attack was attributed, but perhaps without any just grounds,
to the instigation of the Portuguese.

(*Footnote. All the Dutchmen on shore at the time were made prisoners,
and many of them continued in that state for several years. Among these
was Captain Frederick Houtman, whose Vocabulary of the Malayan language
was printed at Amsterdam in 1604, being the first that was published in
Europe. My copy has the writer's autograph.)

1600.

In November 1600 Paulus van Caarden, having also the command of two Dutch
ships, was received upon his landing with much ceremony; but at his first
audience the king refused to read a letter from the Prince of Orange,
upon its being suggested to him that instead of paper it was written on
the skin of an unclean animal; and the subsequent treatment experienced
by this officer was uniformly bad. It appears however that in December
1601 the king was so far reconciled to this new power as to send two
ambassadors to Holland, one of whom died there in August 1602, and the
other returned to Achin subsequently to the death of his master.

1602.

The first English fleet that made its appearance in this part of the
world, and laid the foundation of a commerce which was in time to eclipse
that of every other Eur