m in expelling the Portuguese, but also against the
inhabitants of the Moluccas, whenever they have attempted to revolt;
by which means the company has acquired the whole trade of this part
of the world. In consideration of this, the inhabitants of Bootan
enjoy many privileges that are denied to all other Indians: As, for
instance, they are allowed to come into any of the Dutch forts armed,
which is never allowed even to the natives of the countries in which
the forts are situated. Some time before this voyage, the king of
Bootan sent his eldest son ambassador to the governor-general
of Batavia, where he was received with every mark of honour and
distinction. It would not have been easy to have known this prince for
an Indian, had he not worn a triple-rowed turban, richly adorned
with gold and precious stones, as the rest of his dress was entirely
European, and he wore a sword instead of a cutlass, which no Indian
had done before. His train was numerous and splendid, all dressed
in the Indian manner: Twelve of them were armed with cuirasses and
bucklers, carrying each a naked sword resting on his shoulder. At this
time there was a prodigious mortality in Batavia, which carried off
500 of the attendants of this prince, and destroyed no less than
150,000 persons in one year, besides vast numbers of beasts. This
mortality was occasioned by a malignant pestilential fever, which
attacked indiscriminately all the inhabitants of Batavia, Europeans,
natives, Chinese, and blacks. It spread also through Bengal and all
the dominions of the Great Mogul, where it made incredible ravages,
and extended even to Japan in the most extreme violence, where numbers
fell down dead in the streets, who had left their houses in perfect
health. This dreadful malady was supposed to have arisen from
excessive drought, as no rain had fallen during the space of two
years, whence it was conceived that the air was surcharged with
mineral vapours.

Leaving the island of Bootan, and passing through the channel of
the Moluccas, or between the S.W. leg of Celebes and Salayr
islands, during which course the crews of the two vessels suffered
inexpressible miseries, by which the greatest part of them were
carried off, Roggewein arrived on the coast of Java towards the close
of September 1722.

SECTION VII.

_Occurrences from their Arrival at the Island of Java, to the
Confiscation of the Ships at Batavia._

Roggewein came to anchor immediately in t