mall buffalo. I
enquired the price of it, and was told five guineas: This was twice as
much as it was worth; however, I offered three, which I could perceive
the man who treated with me thought a good price; but he said he must
acquaint the king with what I had offered before he could take it. A
messenger was immediately dispatched to his majesty, who soon returned,
and said that the buffaloe would not be sold for any thing less than
five guineas. This price I absolutely refused to give; and another
messenger was sent away with an account of my refusal: This messenger
was longer absent than the other, and while I was waiting for his
return, I saw, to my great astonishment, Dr Solander coming from the
town, followed by above a hundred men, some armed with muskets and some
with lances. When I enquired the meaning of this hostile appearance, the
Doctor told me that Mr Lange had interpreted to him a message from the
king, purporting that the people would not trade with us, because we had
refused to give them more than half the value of what they had to sell;
and that we should not be permitted to trade upon any terms longer than
this day. Besides the officers who commanded the party, there came with
it a man who was born at Timor; of Portuguese parents, and who, as we
afterwards discovered, was a kind of colleague to the Dutch factor; by
this man, what they pretended to be the king's order was delivered to
me, of the same purport with that which Dr Solander had received from
Lange. We were all clearly of opinion that this was a mere artifice of
the factors to extort money from us, for which we had been prepared by
the account of a letter from Concordia; and while we were hesitating
what step to take, the Portuguese, that he might the sooner accomplish
his purpose, began to drive away the people who had brought down poultry
and syrup, and others that were now coming in with buffaloes and sheep.
At this time I glanced my eye upon the old man whom I had complimented
in the morning with the spying-glass, and I thought, by his looks, that
he did not heartily approve of what was doing; I therefore took him by
the hand, and presented him with an old broad-sword. This instantly
turned the scale in our favour; he received the sword with a transport
of joy, and flourishing it over the busy Portuguese, who crouched like a
fox to a lion, he made him, and the officer who commanded the party, sit
down upon the ground behind him. The people