ntire title of this article, in the Pilgrims of Purchas, is, "A
Discourse of Java, and of the first English Factory there, with divers
Indian, English, and Dutch Occurrences; written by Mr Edmund Scot,
containing a History of Things done from the 11th February, 1602, till
the 6th October, 1605, abbreviated."
[Footnote 119: Purch. Pilgr. I. 164. Astl. I. 284.]
It is to be observed, that February, 1602, according to the old way of
reckoning time in England, was of the year 1603 as we now reckon, for
which reason we have changed the date so far in the title of the
section. Mr Edmund Scot, the author of this account of Java, was one of
the factors left there by Sir James Lancaster. He became latterly head
factor at that place, and returned from thence to England with Captain
Henry Middleton, leaving Mr Gabriel Towerson to take charge of the trade
in his room; doubtless the same unhappy person who fell a sacrifice,
seventeen years afterwards, to the avarice, cruelty, and injustice of
the Dutch. This article may be considered as a supplement to the voyage
of Sir James Lancaster, and is chiefly adopted as giving an account of
the first factory established by the English in the East Indies. Being
in some parts rather tediously minute upon matters of trifling interest,
some freedom has been used in abbreviating its redundancies. The
following character is given of it by the editor of Astley's
collection.--E.
"The whole narrative is very instructive and entertaining, except some
instances of barbarity, and affords more light into the affairs of the
English and Dutch, as well as respecting the manners and customs of the
Javanese and other inhabitants of Bantam, than if the author had dressed
up a more formal relation, in the usual way of travellers: From the
minute particulars respecting the Javanese and Chinese, contained in the
last sections, the reader will be able to collect a far better notion of
the genius of these people, than from the description of the country
inserted in the first; and in these will be found the bickerings between
the Dutch and English, which laid the foundations of these quarrels and
animosities which were afterwards carried to such extreme length, and
which gave a fatal blow to the English trade in the East
Indies."--_Astl._
* * * * *
Sec. 1. _Description of Java, with the Manners and Customs of its
Inhabitants, both Javanese and Chinese_.
Java Major is an
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