IV.

OUR EARLY CONNECTIONS WITH BALI AND LOMBOCK.

The 2nd April 1595 was the all important day when the first Netherlands fleet started from the Texel for the East Indies, where the foundation was laid of that matchless kingdom, which is the most precious gem in Netherlands, crown.

The origin of our power over Insulinda was very insignificant. Only three ships, the Mauritius, Hollandia and Amsterdam and a yacht, the Duyfke, with 250 men in all, formed the first fleet.

No less remarkable than the insignificance of the fleet were the elements which composed it: "rough and disorderly young men, regular ne'er-do-wells," as de Jong tells us, "sons of respectable, rich parents, wanting less in courage, boldness and strength of mind than in love of discipline and duty, and whose absence from home was more desirable than their presence there."

After two years of hardship and adventure and having lost several of their respective crews they reached Bali, where they hoped to find water and victuals. Here they made permanent friends and during the month spent in the bay, paid several visits to the island. Aernout Lintgens of the Hollandia has left an interesting account of his experiences; he gives many details of the customs, government and produce of the island, etc.

"On the 9th February 1597, I received orders to go ashore and towards evening I landed with John the Portuguese (a slave they had bought at Bantam); I met Manuel Roedenborrich with the Keyloer, who asked why Pauweles van Caerden never visited the island now as he had promised to come again. I informed him that we had understood that the king was anxious to see other men of our nation, which was the reason of my visit; this explanation satisfied him.'

The acquaintance was made.... when our friend announced his wish to have an audience of the king, he was immediately questioned as to what presents he had brought for His Majesty. Pauweles van Caerden, besides what he had already given, had promised the king some "yellow velvet"; this would account for the disappointment of the Keyloer, when he saw an empty-handed stranger!

All difficulties were removed when van Caerden offered glass beads, coral and coins for the king, who would surely be pleased to see European money; and he promised to send the "yellow velvet" next day. The king was "a short thick-set man, with 200 wives and looked very simple and good-natured. He took great pleasure in coming on the beach to see our ship and he liked to hear the guns fired off." He used to come in a sort of wooden vehicle, drawn by two white buffaloes; he drove himself and always carried a long whip in his hand."

Besides riding in this "state-carriage," the king had another fad; he had collected about "fifty dwarfs, who from their infancy had their arms and legs bound fast and these deformities looked like figures on the hilt of a poniard." However the king was able to concentrate his attention on less childish things and displayed great interest in us Dutchmen and asked many questions about our country. By the express desire of H. M. we showed him a globe and a map of the world, explaining to him the positions of different countries; to impress the king with the size of our country, we took the liberty af annexing "Germany, Austria, Norway and a slice of Muscovy," which had the desired effect of making him feel that his own little island was not a very important possession.

After a further interchange of courtesies and presents (amongst the latter, "an ugly dwarf from the king of Bali for king Maurice of Nassau as a token of friendship") the "Hollandia's" crew took their leave of this hospitable coast; two remained behind, Emanuel Roodenburch and Jacob Claes van Delft.

The road to the East Indies was found, the barrier was broken and competition was open to the entire nation! We may perhaps condemn the manner in which our forefathers planted our country's colours in the East Indies, but we are bound to admire the gigantic efforts made in the short period of 17 years to equip 15 ships and send out men to make treaties, to establish factories and even attack the proud Spaniards and Portuguese in their rightful possessions.

In 1601 Prince Maurice despatched Heemskerck to Bali with a letter and presents for the king, who was much flattered; not to be behindhand in compliments, H. M. also sends presents and a letter to the Prince.

There was a personal present for Heemskerck, consisting of a beautiful "Balinese lady."-At a loss what to do with her not daring to refuse the gift for fear of offending the king he suggested that she should have her liberty; the lady herself refused to take advantage of this act of generosity, so there was nothing to be done, but receive her graciously and take her home.

The King's letter to the prince, dated 7 July 1601, gives leave for

all Dutchmen to trade in Bali like the natives themselves and the King's great desire is "to see Bali and Holland one!"

How delightfully simple of that old Balinese King!

In gratitude, the envoys said that they would call Bali "Young Holland"!

Like many other things in this world this "friendship" was not a lasting one.

Our ancestors were not long in making acquaintance with the sister island and the report runs:

"Lombock is East of Bali and on the maps is called Little Java there is an abundance of rice, which is very cheap; quantities of it are sent to Bali, only a day's distance; a good deal of cotton is grown on the island, which is ruled by the King of Bali."-This is the King's version of the case; as we shall see, others claimed possession of this country.-"The Javanese do a large trade here in slaves, cotton, cloth and rice and make large profits."

For some unaccountable reason the relations between Holland and

Lombock were very unimportant; and matters with Bali were at a standstill. Efforts were made by Governor-General Hendrik Brouwer in 1633 to enter into closer connection with Bali. He wanted the king of Bali to take part in hostilities against the Susuhunan of Mataram, who was causing endless annoyance to the East India Company, notwithstanding his having been defeated in his two attacks on Batavia.

On the 7th February 1633 the Governor-General wrote to the Directors of the Gen. East India Company:

"We have decided to send a special mission to the king of Bali who is engaged in continual warfare with the Susuhunan of Mataram; it would be to our advantage to keep the latter busy in his own country, and with this object in view we propose sending assistance to the King of Bali in his struggle against our mutual enemy.

"Amongst the many presents to H. M., are a fine Persian horse, some red cloth, a vat of wine, a gilt chair, two gilt candelabras! A flattering letter accompanied these gifts, which were gratefully accepted by the King! Very precise instructions were given to Oosterwijck and the other envoys, regarding their attitude to the king; the rules of the East India Company were once more thoroughly explained to them-they contained those principles, which insured the rapid progress of the Company and have not yet lost their value, although the fact is frequently lost sight of. The Governor-General for some reason best known to himself recalled Oosterwijck, who was replaced by a military envoy, Jochem Roeloffsen van Deutecom, who was given the title of "Commander":

Finally a third envoy was sent to the King of Bali, the well-known missionary Justus Heurnius.

"The "commander" was especially instructed to urge the king in a friendly way to continue the war against Mataram; the advantages he would secure in return for this act of friendliness to the Honourable Company were very great. For one thing they mentioned "that they were distressed to hear that the King of Macassar had seized Bima, belonging to Bali" and that they were ready to assist the King of Bali against his new enemy.

They did not ask the king for any land for the good services they rendered, but would be quite satisfied with some of the inhabitants of the conquered territory, (they wanted slaves from 15 to 25 years of age) a yearly subsidy of rice and a few boats. . . .

How discreet the Honorable Company was in its claims!

Unfortunately all this metaphorical bowing and scraping ended in failure this time; none of the envoys were ever admitted to the king's presence. As a set-off against their generous offerings, the king sent them: 8 sacks of rice, two oxen, two pigs, two suits of clothes and 3000 pitjis! (small coins).

They tried to discover what the king king thought of the proposals contained in the letter addressed to him-but they could learn nothing beyond the fact that he had understood the contents! With this crumb of comfort they were obliged to go home.

In those days human nature was pretty much what it is now and no end of abuse was heaped upon H. Brouwer; however in 1639 the king of Bali applied to the Governor-General for help against the Susuhunam, who had invaded his territory. At this date we were trying to negociate with Mataram, so the reply to the request was somewhat cool. Matters not progressing as rapidly as we desired with Mataram, we befriended Bali again; and so things went on. However in 1647 we were on good terms with Mataram, for in that year, the Susuhunan bought weapons at Batavia to fight the King of Bali." Naturally enough this transaction aroused the anger of the Balinese King, who was our ally, and it is not surprising that our traders were treated less cordially and that prices were raised.

It is impossible to follow the Honorable Company in all their early transactions with Bali; it is time to see how we first came into touch with Lombock or Salamparang, as the island is more generally called. During the first half of the seventeenth century the power and brilliancy of Macassar was indisputable; when the Portuguese landed there in 1512 the natives were very rough, but greatly attached to the customs of their ancestors. The invaders introduced gunpowder and a little civilization and after encountering a spirited resistance the followers of the Great Prophet succeeding in establishing their religion there at