II. (continued 3)

To qualify an individual to be a director in the chambers of the North Quarter it was necessary to own shares to the value of £250 sterling, and double that amount to be a director in any of the other chambers. The directors were to be bound by oath to be faithful in the administration of the duties entrusted to them, and not to favour a majority of the shareholders at the expense of a minority. Directors were prohibited from selling anything whatever to the Company without previously obtaining the sanction of the states provincial or the authorities of the city in which the chamber that they represented was situated.

All inhabitants of the United Provinces other than this Company were prohibited from trading beyond the Straits of Magellan, or to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, during the period of twenty-one years, for which the charter was granted, under penalty of forfeiture of ship and cargo. Within these limits the East India Company was empowered to enter into treaties and make contracts in the name of the states-general, to build fortresses, to appoint governors, military commanders, judges, and other necessary officers, who were all, however, to take oaths of fidelity to the states-general or high authorities of the Netherlands, who were not to be prevented from making complaints to the states-general, and whose appointments were to be reported to the states-general for confirmation.

Historical Sketches.

For these privileges the Company was to pay £12,500 sterling, which amount the states-general subscribed towards the capital, for the profit and at the risk of the general government of the provinces. The capital was nominally furnished in the following proportions: Amsterdam one-half, Zeeland one-fourth, the Maas one-eighth, and the North Quarter one-eighth; but in reality it was contributed as under:—

£s. d.

Amsterdam307,202100

Zeeland106,304100

The MaasDelft38,88034

Rotterdam14,546168

The North Quarter Hoorn22,36934

Enkhuizen47,38034

Total working capital 536,683 6 8

The share of the states-general 12,50000

Total nominal capital 549,183 6 8

The capital was divided into shares of £250 sterling each. The shares, often sub-divided into fractions, were negotiable like any other property, and rose or fell in value according to the position of the Company at any time.

The advantage which the State derived from the establishment of this great association was apparent. The sums received in payment of import dues would have been contributed to an equal extent by individual traders. The amounts paid for the renewal of the charter—in 1647 the Company paid £133,333 6s. 8d. for its renewal for twenty-five years, and still larger sums were paid subsequently—might have been derived from trading licenses. The Company frequently aided the Republic with loans of large amount when the State was in temporary need, but loans could then have been raised in the modern method whenever necessary. Apart from these services, however, there was one supreme advantage gained by the creation of the East India Company which could not have been obtained from individual traders. A powerful navy was called into existence, great armed fleets working in unison and subject to the same control were always ready to assist the State. What must otherwise have been an element of weakness, a vast number of merchant ships scattered over the ocean and ready to fall a prey to an enemy’s cruisers, was turned into a bulwark of strength.

Influence of Amsterdam.

In course of time several modifications took place in the constitution of the Company, and the different provinces as well as various cities were granted the privilege of having representatives in one or other of the chambers. Thus the provinces Gelderland, Utrecht, and Friesland, and the cities Dordrecht, Haarlem, Leiden, and Gouda had each a representative in the chamber of Amsterdam; Groningen had a representative in the chamber of Zeeland; Overyssel one in the chamber of Delft, &c. The object of this was to make the Company represent the whole Republic.

Notwithstanding such regulations, however, the city of Amsterdam soon came to exercise an immoderate influence in the direction. In 1672 it was estimated that shares equal to three-fourths of the whole capital were owned there, and of the twenty-five directors of the local chamber, eighteen were chosen by the burgomasters of the city. Fortunately, the charter secured to the other chambers a stated proportion of patronage and trade.

Such was the constitution of the Company which set itself the task of destroying the Portuguese power in the East and securing for itself the lucrative spice trade. It had no difficulty in obtaining as many men as were needed, for the German states—not then as now united in one great empire—formed an almost inexhaustible reservoir to draw soldiers from, and the Dutch seaports, together with Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, furnished an adequate supply of excellent seamen. It sent out strong and well-armed fleets, capable of meeting any force the enemy had to oppose them, and of driving him from the open seas.

Historical Sketches.

The first of these fleets was sent out in two divisions, one of three large ships, under Sebald de Weert, which sailed on the 31st of March 1602, and the other of eleven large ships and a yacht, under Wybrand van Waerwyk, which followed on the 17th of June. Sebald de Weert directed his course to the island of Ceylon, and cast anchor in the harbour of Batticaloa on the eastern shore. The maharaja of Kandy was then the most powerful ruler in the island, and was at war with the Portuguese. Spilbergen had been to visit him, and now De Weert followed, he and his attendants riding inland on elephants. He was received with great state by the maharaja and the people. An agreement was made of close friendship and commercial intercourse, and a plan of operations against the Portuguese was arranged. De Weert returned to Batticaloa, and proceeded to Atchin for assistance, from which place he came back with seven ships.

But now a great blunder was made. No meat was to be purchased, and as some cows were seen a party of men went ashore and shot them, in absolute ignorance of the Buddhist belief in the transmigration of souls and the commandment not to take life.[35] Full payment was offered, but was indignantly refused, and a complete revulsion of feeling towards the Dutch took place. De Weert could not imagine the cause of this, but prepared to give the maharaja, who was on his way to the coast, a splendid reception on board his ship. Meantime four Portuguese vessels were captured, and their crews were released and sent away. One of the maharaja’s sons was a prisoner in the hands of the Portuguese, and he thought to obtain his liberty in exchange for the Portuguese officers. When the captives were released without an exchange having been effected the prince’s rage knew no bounds. On the 1st of June 1603 De Weert and forty-six others went ashore unsuspicious of danger, when they were suddenly attacked by the maharaja’s order, and all were put to death. This ended commercial intercourse for a time, but in 1610 another treaty of friendship was entered into with the ruler of Kandy.

Establishment at Bantam.

Wybrand van Waerwyk with the principal division of the fleet cast anchor before Bantam in the island of Java, and in August 1603 concluded an arrangement with the sultan for the establishment of a permanent factory or trading station in that town. A strong stone building was procured for the purpose, goods were landed and stored, and an officer named François Wittert was placed in charge with a staff of assistants. This factory at Bantam was for several years thereafter regarded as the principal establishment of the Dutch in India. Another, but much smaller one, was soon afterwards formed at Grésik in the same island.

Though the Dutch were soon in almost undisputed possession of the valuable Spice islands, they were never able to eject the Portuguese from the comparatively worthless coast of South-Eastern Africa. That coast would only have been an encumbrance to them, if they had secured it, for its commerce was never worth much more than the cost of its maintenance until the highlands of the interior were occupied by Europeans, and the terrible mortality caused by its malaria would have been a serious misfortune to them. It was out of their ocean highway too, for they steered across south of Madagascar, instead of keeping along the African shore. But they were drawn on by rumours of the gold which was to be had, and so they resolved to make themselves masters of Mozambique, and with that island of all the Portuguese possessions subordinate to it. In Lisbon their intentions were suspected, and in January 1601 the king issued instructions that Dom Alvaro d’Abranches, Nuno da Cunha’s successor as captain of Mozambique, was on no account to absent himself from the island, as it might at any time be attacked by either the Turks or the Dutch.

Historical Sketches.

On the 18th of December 1603 Steven van der Hagen left Holland for India with a strong armed fleet, consisting of the Vereenigde Provincien, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Hoorn, and West Friesland, each of three hundred and fifty tons burden, the Gelderland and Zeelandia, each of two hundred and fifty tons, the Hof van Holland, of one hundred and eighty tons, the Delft and Enkhuizen, each of one hundred and fifty tons, the Medenblik, of one hundred and twenty-five tons, and a despatch boat named the Duifken, of thirty tons burden. In those days such a fleet was regarded as, and actually was, a very formidable force, for though there were no ships in it of the size of the great galleons of Spain and Portugal, each one was much less unwieldy, and had its artillery better placed. There were twelve hundred men on board, and the equipment cost no less than £184,947 6s. 8d.

Van der Hagen arrived before Mozambique on the 17th of June 1604. Fort São Sebastião had not at the time its ordinary garrison of one hundred soldiers, owing to a disaster that had recently occurred. A great horde of barbarians, called the Cabires by the Portuguese, had entered the territory of the monomotapa, and were laying it waste, so the captain Lourenço de Brito went to the assistance of the Kalanga chief, but was defeated and lost ten or twelve Portuguese and part of his stores. Sebastião de Macedo was then in command at Mozambique. He sent a vessel with fifty soldiers to De Brito’s assistance, but on the passage she was lost with all on board. None had yet arrived to replace them, but the resident inhabitants of the island had retired to the fort with everything of value that they could remove, so Van der Hagen considered it too strong to be attacked and therefore proceeded to blockade it. There was a carrack at anchor, waiting for some others from Lisbon to sail in company to Goa. The boats of the Dutch fleet cut her out, in spite of the heavy fire of the fort upon them. She had on board a quantity of ivory collected at Sofala and other places on the East African coast, but nothing else of much value.

First Siege of Mozambique.

On the 30th of June a small vessel from one of the factories, laden with rice and ivory, came running up to the island, and was too near to escape when she discovered her danger. She was turned into a tender, and named the Mozambique. Then, for five weeks, the blockade continued, without any noteworthy incident. On the 5th of August five pangayos arrived, laden with rice and millet, and were of course seized. Three days later Van der Hagen landed on the island with one hundred and fifty men, but found no sign of hunger, and saw that the prospect of the surrender of the fort was remote. He did no other damage than setting fire to a single house, and as night drew on he returned on board.

He was now anxious to proceed to India, so on the 12th of August he set fire to the captured carrack, and sailed, leaving the Delft, Enkhuizen, and Duifken, to wait for the ships expected from Lisbon. These vessels rejoined him, but without having made any prizes, soon after his arrival at Amboina, which was assigned as the place of meeting. He then attacked the Portuguese fort on that island, which was surrendered to him on the 23rd of February 1605. Having placed a Dutch garrison in the fort, and thus secured possession of this valuable island, he sailed to Tidor, where the Portuguese had a fortress. This stronghold he gained in May 1605, but in March 1606 it was recovered by the Portuguese, who at the same time overran a great part of the island of Ternate, where Van der Hagen had obtained trading privileges. In 1605 a factory was also established by the Dutch on the island of Banda.

Historical Sketches.

On the 12th of May 1605 Cornelis Matelief sailed with eleven ships for India. One of the most important strongholds of the Portuguese in the East was Malacca, as it commanded the navigation of the strait of the same name. Matelief entered into a treaty with the sultan of Johor at the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula, and with his assistance endeavoured to obtain possession of the stronghold, which was bravely defended by André Furtado de Mendoça. The first blockade of Malacca lasted four months, and ended by Matelief’s being obliged to retire from a very superior naval force sent from Goa. The second blockade was shorter, but though seven Portuguese ships were taken and five hundred Portuguese soldiers were killed, it was unsuccessful. At Amboina, Matelief strengthened the garrison of the Dutch fort, and gave the soldiers and sailors there permission to marry native women. He did not get possession of the Portuguese castle on Ternate, but he built Fort Orange on another part of the island, and left an effective garrison in it.

On the 28th of January 1608 Matelief sailed from Bantam in the Oranje to return home. On the 12th of April he put into Table Bay, as he was badly in want of meat, and hoped to obtain as much as he needed here. In this he succeeded, for he bartered thirty-four oxen, five calves, and a hundred and seventy-three sheep from the Hottentots for pieces of old iron hoop and rings, valued at less than a halfpenny for each animal. His description of the Hottentots is one of the best of that time, and is accurate in all its details. The greatest plague in Table Valley he found to be the flies, which from this and other accounts appear to have been even more troublesome then than they are to-day. On Robben Island he killed about a hundred seals for the sake of their skins, and as he had more sheep than he needed, he left twenty there to breed. He remained in Table Bay longer than two months, and with a crew thoroughly refreshed he set sail for Holland on the 22nd of June.

Second Siege of Mozambique.

Another attempt to get possession of Mozambique was made in 1607. On the 29th of March of that year a Dutch fleet of eight large ships—the Banda, Bantam, Ceylon, Walcheren, Ter Veere, Zierikzee, China, and Patane,—carrying one thousand and sixty men, commanded by Paulus van Caerden, appeared before the island. The Portuguese historian of this event represents that the fortress was at the time badly in want of repair, that it was insufficiently provided with cannon, and that there were no artillerymen nor indeed regular soldiers of any branch of the service in it, its defence being undertaken by seventy male inhabitants of the town, who were the only persons on the island capable of bearing arms. But this statement does not agree either with the Dutch narrative or with the account given by Dos Santos, from which it appears that there were between soldiers and residents of the island one hundred and forty-five men in the fortress. It was commanded by an officer—Dom Estevão d’Ataide by name—who deserves a place among the bravest of his countrymen. He divided his force into four companies, to each of which he gave a bastion in charge. To one, under Martim Gomes de Carvalho, was committed the defence of the bastion São João, another, under Antonio Monteiro Corte Real, had a similar charge in the bastion Santo Antonio, the bastion Nossa Senhora was confided to the care of André de Alpoim de Brito, while the bastion São Gabriel, which was the one most exposed to assault on the land side and where the stoutest resistance would have to be made, was entrusted to the company under Diogo de Carvalho. The people of the town abandoned their houses and hastily took shelter within the fortress, carrying their most valuable effects with them. Van Caerden, in the Banda, led the way right under the guns of São Sebastião to the anchorage, where the Sofala packet and two carracks were lying. A heavy fire was opened on both sides, but, though the ships were slightly damaged, as the ramparts were of great height and the Portuguese guns could not be depressed to command the Dutch position thoroughly, no one except the master of the Ceylon was wounded. Two of the vessels at anchor were partly burned, but all were made prizes after their crews had escaped to the shore.

Historical Sketches.

On the 1st of April Van Caerden landed with seven hundred men and seven heavy guns, several of them twenty-eight-pounders, in order to lay siege to Fort São Sebastião. The Portuguese set fire to the town, in order to prevent their enemy from getting possession of spoil, though in this object they were unsuccessful, as a heavy fall of rain extinguished the flames before much damage was done. The Dutch commander took possession of the abandoned buildings without opposition, and made the Dominican convent his headquarters, lodging his people in the best houses. He commenced at once making trenches in which the fortress could be approached by men under shelter from its fire, and on the 6th his first battery was completed. The blacks, excepting the able-bodied, being considered an encumbrance by both combatants, D’Ataide expelled those who were in the fort, and Van Caerden caused all who were within his reach to be transported to the mainland.

From the batteries, which were mere earthen mounds with level surfaces, protected on the exposed sides with boxes, casks, and bags filled with soil, a heavy fire was opened, by which the parapet of the bastion Santo Antonio was broken down, but it was repaired at night by the defenders, the women and others incapable of bearing arms giving assistance in this labour. The musketeers on the walls, in return, caused some loss to their opponents by shooting any who exposed themselves. The Portuguese historian makes special mention of one Dutch officer in a suit of white armour, who went about recklessly in full view, encouraging his men, and apparently regardless of danger, until he was killed by a musket ball.

Second Siege of Mozambique.

The trenches were at length within thirty paces of the bastion São Gabriel, and a battery was constructed there, which could not be injured by the cannon on the fortress owing to their great elevation, while from it the walls could be battered with twenty-eight pound shot as long as the artillerymen took care not to show themselves to the musketeers on the ramparts. The Dutch commander then proposed a parley and D’Ataide having consented, he demanded the surrender of the fortress. He stated that the Portuguese could expect no assistance from either Europe or India, as the mother country was exhausted and the viceroy Dom Martim Affonso de Castro had been defeated in a naval engagement, besides which nearly all the strongholds of the East were lost to them. It would therefore be better to capitulate while it could be done in safety than to expose the lives of the garrison to the fury of men who would carry the place by storm. Further, even if the walls proved too massive for cannon, hunger must soon reduce the fortress, as there could not be more than three months’ provisions in it. The Portuguese replied with taunts and bravado, and defied the besiegers to do their worst. They would have no other intercourse with rebels, they said, than that of arms.

During the night of the 17th some of the garrison made a sortie for the purpose of destroying a drawbridge, which they effected, and then retired, after having killed two men according to their own account, though only having wounded one according to the Dutch statement. A trench was now made close up to the wall of the bastion São Gabriel, and was covered with movable shields of timber of such thickness that they could not be destroyed by anything thrown upon them from the ramparts. During the night of the 29th, however, the garrison made a second sortie, in which they killed five Hollanders and wounded many more, and on the following day they succeeded in destroying the wooden shields by fire.

Historical Sketches.

In the meantime fever and dysentery had attacked Van Caerden’s people, and the prospect was becoming gloomy in the extreme. The fire from the batteries and ships had not damaged the walls of the fortress below the parapet, and sickness was increasing so fast that the Dutch commander could not wait for famine to give him the prize. He therefore resolved to raise the siege, and on the 6th of May he removed his cannon.

War between nations of different creeds in those days was carried on in a merciless manner. On the 7th of May Van Caerden wrote to Captain d’Ataide that he intended to burn and destroy all the churches, convents, houses, and palm groves on the island and the buildings and plantations on the mainland, unless they were ransomed; but offered to make terms if messengers were sent to him with that object. A truce was entered into for the purpose of correspondence, and six Hollanders dressed in Spanish costume went with a letter to the foot of the wall, where it was fastened to a string and drawn up. D’Ataide declined the proposal, however, and replied that he had no instructions from his superiors, nor intention of his own, except to do all that was possible with his weapons. He believed that if he ransomed the town on this occasion, he would only expose it to similar treatment every time a strong Dutch fleet should pass that way.

Van Caerden then burned all the boats, canoes, and houses, cut down all the cocoa-nut trees, sent a party of men to the mainland, who destroyed everything of value that they could reach there, and finally, just before embarking he set fire to the Dominican convent and the church of São Gabriel. What was more to be deplored, adds the Portuguese historian Barbuda, “the perfidious heretics burned with abominable fury all the images that were in the churches, after which they treated them with a thousand barbarous indignities.” The walls of the great church and of some other buildings were too massive to be destroyed by the flames, but everything that was combustible was utterly ruined.

Retirement of Van Caerden.

On the morning of the 16th of May, before daylight, the Dutch fleet set sail. As the ships were passing Fort São Sebastião every gun that could be got to bear was brought into use on both sides, when the Zierikzee had her tiller shot away, and ran aground. Her crew and the most valuable effects on board were rescued, however, by the boats of the rest of the fleet, though many men were wounded by the fire from the fort. The wreck was given to the flames.

In the second attempt to get possession of Mozambique the Dutch lost forty men, either killed by the enemy or carried off by fever, and they took many sick and wounded away. The Portuguese asserted that they had only thirteen men killed during the siege, and they magnified their slain opponents to over three hundred.

After his arrival in India Van Caerden obtained possession of a couple of Portuguese forts of small importance, but on the 17th of September 1608 he was taken prisoner in a naval battle, and was long detained in captivity.

As soon as their opponents were out of sight of Mozambique the Portuguese set about repairing the damage that had been done. In this they were assisted by the crews of three ships, under command of Dom Jeronymo Coutinho, that called on their way from Lisbon to Goa. The batteries were removed, the trenches were levelled, the walls of the ruined Dominican convent were broken down, and the fortress was repaired and provided with a good supply of food and munitions of war. Its garrison also was strengthened with one hundred soldiers landed from the ships. The inhabitants of the town returned to the ruins of their former habitations, and endeavoured to make new homes for themselves. These efforts to retrieve their disasters had hardly been made when the island was attacked by another and more formidable fleet.

Historical Sketches.

It consisted of the ships Geunieerde Provintien, Hollandia, Amsterdam, Roode Leeuw met Pylen, Middelburg, Zeelandia, Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Arend, Paauw, Valk, and Griffioen, carrying in all between eighteen and nineteen hundred men, and was under the command of Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself after Admiral Heemskerk’s death in the famous battle in Gibraltar Bay. Verhoeff left the Netherlands on the 22nd of December 1607, and after a long stay at the island of St. Helena where he waited for the westerly winds to take him past the Cape of Good Hope, on the 28th of July 1608 arrived at Mozambique. He was under the impression that Van Caerden had certainly obtained possession of the fortress, and his object was to lie in wait for Portuguese ships in the Channel; but he was undeceived when his signals were answered with cannon balls and a flag of defiance was hoisted over the ramparts.

In the port were lying four coasting vessels and a carrack with a valuable cargo on board, ready to sail for Goa. In endeavouring to escape, the carrack ran aground under the guns of the fort, where the Dutch got possession of her, and made thirty-four of the crew prisoners. These were removed, but before much of the cargo could be got out the Portuguese from the fortress made a gallant dash, retook the carrack, and burned her to the water’s edge. Two of the coasters were made prizes, the other two were in a position where they could not be attacked.

Within a few hours of his arrival Verhoeff landed a strong force, and formed a camp on the site of the destroyed Dominican convent. Next morning he commenced making trenches towards the fortress, by digging ditches and filling bags with earth, of which banks were then made. The Portuguese of the town had retired within the fortress in such haste that they were unable to remove any of their effects, and the blacks, as during the preceding siege, were now sent over to the mainland to be out of the way. Some of the ships were directed to cruise off the port, the others were anchored out of cannon range. A regular siege of the fortress was commenced.

Third Siege of Mozambique.

In the mode of attack this siege differed little from that by Van Caerden, as trenches and batteries were made in the same manner and almost in the same places. But there were some incidents connected with it that deserve to be mentioned. At its commencement an accident occurred in the fortress, which nearly had disastrous consequences. A soldier, through carelessness, let a lighted fuse fall in a quantity of gunpowder, and by the explosion that resulted several men were killed and a fire was kindled which for a short time threatened the destruction of the storehouses, but which was extinguished before much harm was done.

On the second day after the batteries were in full working order the wall of the fortress between the bastions Santo Antonio and São Gabriel was partly broken down, and, according to the Portuguese account, a breach was opened through which a storming party might have entered. “If,” says the historian Barbuda, “they had been Portuguese, no doubt they would have stormed; but as the Dutch are nothing more than good artillerymen, and beyond this are of no account except to be burned as desperate heretics, they had not courage to rush through the ruin of the wall.” That this was said of men who had fought under Heemskerk leads one to suspect that probably the breach was not of great size, and the more so as the garrison was able to repair it during the following night. It is not mentioned in the Dutch account, in which the bravery of their opponents is fully recognised.

On the 4th of August Verhoeff sent a trumpeter with a letter demanding the surrender of the fortress. D’Ataide would not even write a reply. He said that as he had compelled Van Caerden to abandon the siege he hoped to be able to do the same with his present opponent. The captain of the bastion São Gabriel, however, wrote that the castle had been confided by the king to the commandant, who was not the kind of cat to be taken without gloves. Verhoeff believed that the garrison was ill supplied with food, so his trumpeter was well entertained, and on several occasions goats and pigs were driven out of the gateway in a spirit of bravado.

Historical Sketches.

Sorties were frequently made by the besieged, who had the advantage of being able to observe from the ramparts the movements of the Dutch. In one of these a soldier named Moraria distinguished himself by attacking singly with his lance three pikemen in armour at a distance from their batteries, killing two of them and wounding the other.

D’Ataide was made acquainted with his enemy’s plans by a French deserter, who claimed his protection on the ground of being of the same religion. Four others subsequently deserted from the Dutch camp, and were received in the fortress on the same plea. Verhoeff demanded that they should be surrendered to him, and threatened that if they were not given up he would put to death the thirty-four prisoners he had taken in the carrack. D’Ataide replied that if the prisoners were thirty-four thousand he would not betray men who were catholics and who had claimed his protection, but if the Portuguese captives were murdered their blood would certainly be avenged. Verhoeff relates in his journal that the whole of the prisoners were then brought out in sight of the garrison and shot, regarding the act in the spirit of the time as rather creditable than otherwise; but the version of the Portuguese historian may be correct, in which it is stated that six men with their hands bound were shot in sight of their countrymen, and that the others, though threatened, were spared. Until the 18th of August the siege was continued. Twelve hundred and fifty cannon balls had been fired against the fortress, without effect as far as its reduction was concerned. Thirty of Verhoeff’s men had been killed and eighty were wounded. He therefore abandoned the effort, and embarked his force, after destroying what remained of the town.

Third Siege of Mozambique.

On the 21st a great galleon approached the island so close that the ships in the harbour could be counted from her deck, but put about the moment the Dutch flag was distinguished. Verhoeff sent the ships Arend, Griffioen, and Valk in pursuit, and she was soon overtaken. According to the Dutch account she made hardly any resistance, but in a letter to the king from her captain, Francisco de Sodre Pereira, which is still preserved, he claims to have made a gallant stand for the honour of his flag. The galleon was poorly armed, but he says that he fought till his ammunition was all expended, and even then would not consent to surrender, though the ship was so riddled with cannon balls that she was in danger of going down. He preferred, he said to those around him, to sink with his colours flying. The purser, however, lowered the ensign without orders, and a moment afterwards the Dutch, who had closed in, took possession. The prize proved to be the Bom Jesus, from Lisbon, which had got separated from a fleet on the way to Goa, under command of the newly appointed viceroy, the count De Feira. She had a crew of one hundred and eighty men. The officers were detained as prisoners, the others were put ashore on the island Saint George with provisions sufficient to last them two days.

On the 23rd of August the fleet sailed from Mozambique for India. There can be little question that this defeat of the Dutch was more advantageous to them than victory would have been, for if their design had succeeded a very heavy tax upon their resources and their energy would have been entailed thereafter. After this siege Fort São Sebastião was provided with a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, and some small armed vessels were kept on the coast to endeavour to prevent the Dutch from communicating with the inhabitants or obtaining provisions and water, but their ships kept the Portuguese stations in constant alarm.

Historical Sketches.

On his arrival in India Verhoeff entered into a treaty of alliance with the ruler of Calicut against the Portuguese, in which he secured commercial privileges. In May 1609 he and twenty-nine of his principal officers, when holding a conference with some Bandanese, were murdered on the island of Neira, and all the Dutch at Lonthor shared the same fate. This led immediately to the conquest of Neira, and the erection of the strong fort Nassau in a commanding position on the island. On the 10th of August 1609 a treaty of peace was concluded with the Bandanese government, in which the sovereignty of Neira was ceded to the Dutch, and a monopoly of the spice trade in all the islands dependent on Banda was secured. In June 1609 a treaty was concluded with the ruler of Ternate, by which that island and all its dependencies came under the protection of the Dutch, and a monopoly of the spice trade was secured. In September 1609 a factory was established at Firato in Japan, where the Dutch obtained from the emperor liberty to trade. On the 25th of November 1609 the Portuguese fort on Batjan, one of the Molucca islands, was taken, and became thereafter Fort Barneveld.

V. The Truce with Spain and English Rivalry.

Conquest and Trade in the East.

By this time the Dutch had factories or trading stations at Masulipatam, Pulikat, and two smaller places on the eastern coast of Hindostan, they had liberty to trade at Calicut, they had entered into a new treaty with the maharaja of Kandy in Ceylon, they had factories at Bantam and Grésik in Java, and in November 1610 they entered into a treaty with the ruler of Jakatra in the same island, in which they secured the site of the future city of Batavia, they held the protectorate of Ternate, although the Portuguese still had a fort there, Neira was theirs with a monopoly of the spice trade of all the Banda islands, Batjan was theirs also, as was Amboina, they had factories at Patani on the eastern coast of the Malay peninsula, established in 1604, and at Johor at its southern extremity, also at Achin in Sumatra, at Landok in Borneo, on the island of Celebes, and in the empire of Japan. The foundation of the vast realm which they subsequently acquired in the eastern seas was thus established on the ruins of the gigantic dominions of Portugal, though much fighting was still to be done before it should be fully built up.

A great defect appeared to be the want of some local authority to control the conquests and supervise the trade. To meet this want the assembly of seventeen resolved to establish a strong government in the East, though the seat of authority was not fixed upon. On the 21st of November 1609 Pieter Both was appointed first governor-general of Netherlands India, and councillors, consisting of the principal officials, were named to assist him. He left Texel on the 30th of January 1610 with a fleet of eight ships. In a great storm off the Cape his ship got separated from the others, so he put into Table Bay to repair some damages to the mainmast and to refresh his men. In July 1610 Captain Nicholas Downton called at the same port in an English vessel, and found Governor-General Both’s ship lying at anchor and also two homeward bound Dutch ships taking in train oil that had been collected at Robben Island. The governor-general arrived at Bantam on the 19th of December 1610, and in the factory at that place, in a town belonging to an independent though friendly sovereign, an authority, soon to eclipse that of any Indian prince, was first established.

Historical Sketches.

The great successes of the Dutch in the eastern seas caused the Spaniards to desire peace, and they were prepared to acknowledge the independence of the United Provinces if two conditions only could be obtained: the right of Roman Catholics to worship in public and the prohibition of the Indian trade. The archduke Albert made the first advance by sending two secret agents to the Hague at the close of 1606. The Dutch people were divided in opinion: one party, under the leadership of the prominent statesman Johan van Olden-Barneveld, favoured peace on reasonable terms, the other, under Maurits of Nassau, desired to continue the war until Spain should be thoroughly humiliated. The peace party was in the majority, and as the other European governments were urgent that hostilities should be brought to an end, in April 1607 an armistice was agreed to for eight months from the 4th of May, in order that negotiations might be entered into.

Just at this time an event occurred which greatly promoted the desire of the Spaniards for peace. A fleet of twenty-six small ships of war and four tenders, under Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk, had recently been sent by the states-general to cruise in the Atlantic. Heemskerk came to learn that a Spanish war fleet of ten great galleons and eleven smaller vessels, under command of Don Juan Alvarez d’Avila, was lying at anchor in Gibraltar Bay under the guns of the fortress. Notwithstanding the tremendous disparity of force, he determined to attack the enemy, and on the 25th of April 1607 he stood into the bay and boldly grappled with the monster galleons. It was like a fight between giants and pygmies, but so daring were the Dutch sailors that every galleon was destroyed. Before nightfall nothing of the Spanish fleet but burning fragments could be seen floating in the bay or stranded on the shore. It was one of the most brilliant naval victories ever recorded, and it was won against such odds that it seemed to be due to God alone. Heemskerk fell in the battle, killed by a cannon ball, leaving a deathless name of glory behind him. The Spanish admiral also was killed in the engagement. Unfortunately the victory was tarnished by a ferocious massacre of all the Spaniards that could be laid hold of, for which barbarous act Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff, captain of the admiral’s ship, was chiefly responsible.

Conclusion of a Long Truce.

The Dutch now rejected the two Spanish conditions with disdain, and had it not been for the intervention of the agents of other governments, the negotiations would have been broken off. As it was, they were continued, but such difficulties were experienced in coming to terms that it was necessary to prolong the armistice from time to time, and it was not until the 9th of April 1609 that matters were finally arranged and a treaty was signed at Antwerp. Even then it was not a final peace that was concluded, but only a truce for twelve years, during which time each party was to retain whatever territory it possessed on that day, and could carry on commerce freely with the other.

The republic of the United Netherlands thereafter consisted of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen, Overyssel with Drenthe except the town of Oldenzaal, which was held by the archduke, and about three quarters of ancient Gelderland, which retained that name. In this, however, the town of Groenlo or Grol was held by the archduke. South of the Schelde the republic was in possession of Sluis and Axel, with the forts along the river in Flanders, which with Flushing gave it control of the navigation of the stream and enabled it to stifle Antwerp. South of the Maas it possessed in Brabant all the territory belonging to the marquisate of Bergen op Zoom, the barony of Breda, and the land of Grave with Kuik. This territory in Flanders and Brabant was governed directly by the states-general, being of course detached from the provinces to which it properly belonged. The seven provinces were in one sense seven sovereign states, as they voted separately in the states-general, and no one of them was bound by any act to which it did not individually consent. It was the weakest form of a federal government, being rather a loose alliance than a firm union. That was its great defect, which, however, was not remedied until nearly two centuries more had passed away.

Historical Sketches.

The provinces that remained under the government of Albert and Isabella covered much more ground than the present kingdom of Belgium.[36] France always coveted them, and never lost an opportunity to gnaw portions of them away. By the treaty of the Pyrenees on the 7th of November 1659 Louis XIV obtained a strip of territory containing Thionville, Montmedi, Damvilliers, Ivoix, and Marville. By the treaty of Aix la Chapelle on the 2nd of May 1668 he obtained Lille, Douai, Courtrai, and Charleroi. On the 17th of March 1677 Valenciennes was taken by the French, and on the 5th of April 1677 Cambrai fell into their hands. By the treaty of Nymegen on the 17th of September 1678 France was recognised as the owner of a slice of Belgian territory containing these cities, and by the treaty of Ratisbon on the 15th of August 1684 she acquired part of Luxemburg.

Partition of Belgian Territory.

Thus before the close of the seventeenth century Belgium had lost to France two entire provinces—Artois and Lille with Douai and Orchies—and part of Flanders containing Dunkirk, Gravelines, and Menior, part of Hainaut, containing Valenciennes, Bavay, Maubeuge, Conde, Marienbourg, and Philippeville, part of Namur containing Charlemont, part of Luxemburg containing Thionville and Montmedi, and the city and bishopric of Cambrai, which then ranked as a duchy. The present boundary between France and Belgium was not fixed until 1814.

By the treaty of Utrecht the portion of Gelderland that remained subject to Albert and Isabella in 1609, excepting the town of Venlo, which passed to the republic, and the town and district of Roermonde, which went to Austria, was ceded to Prussia and became the circle of Düsseldorf. Roermonde was added to the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1831. Luxemburg was divided into two portions by the treaty of London in 1839, one of which is now part of the German empire, and the other remains a province of Belgium. By the same treaty Limburg was divided into two sections, one of which remained to Belgium, the other became part of the kingdom of the Netherlands.

By the treaty of Munster on the 30th of January 1648, in which the king of Spain recognised the independence of the United Netherlands, the present province of North Brabant went to the republic,[37] as did also the city and jurisdiction of Maastricht and a small portion of Flanders. A map of Belgium as it is to-day is thus very different from one in 1610, but it contains the province of Liege, which did not then belong to it.

Historical Sketches.

The trade of the Dutch with India now increased rapidly, but South Africa was hardly affected by it, except through the visits of passing ships and occasionally the residence of parties of Europeans for a short time on its shores.

In May 1611 the Dutch skipper Isaac le Maire, after whom the straits of Le Maire are named, called at Table Bay. When he sailed, he left behind his son Jacob and a party of seamen, who resided in Table Valley for several months. Their object was to kill seals on Robben Island, and to harpoon whales, which were then very abundant in South African waters in the winter season. They also tried to open up a trade for skins of animals with the Hottentots in the neighbourhood, but in this met with no success, as those barbarians needed all the peltry they could obtain for their own use.

In 1616 the assembly of seventeen resolved that its outward bound fleets should always put into Table Bay to refresh the crews, and from that time onward Dutch ships touched there almost every season. A kind of post office was established by marking the dates of arrivals and departures on stones, and burying letters in places indicated. But no attempt was made to explore the country, and no port south of the Zambesi except Table Bay was frequented by Netherlanders, so that down to the middle of the century nothing more concerning it was known than the Portuguese had placed on record.

The Dutch had now to fear the competition of the English in the East much more than that of the Portuguese. Our countrymen were equally enterprising and courageous, and however friendly the two nations might be in Europe, in distant lands they were animated by a spirit of rivalry which on some occasions went so far as to cause them to act unscrupulously towards each other. It will not be necessary to relate here the proceedings of the English in the eastern seas, but some references to their visits to Table Bay in those early times must be made.

English Visitors to South Africa.

They too had established an East India Company, whose first fleet, consisting of the Dragon, of six hundred tons, the Hector, of three hundred tons, the Ascension, of two hundred and sixty tons, and the Susan, of two hundred and forty tons burden, sailed from Torbay on the 22nd of April 1601. The admiral was James Lancaster, the same who had commanded the Edward Bonaventure ten years earlier. The chief pilot was John Davis, who had only returned from the Indies nine months before. On the 9th of September the fleet came to anchor in Table Bay, by which time the crews of all except the admiral’s ship were so terribly afflicted with scurvy that they were unable to drop their anchors. The admiral had kept his men in a tolerable state of health by supplying them with a small quantity of limejuice daily. After his ship was anchored he was obliged to get out his boats and go to the assistance of the others. Sails were then taken on shore to serve as tents, and the sick were landed as soon as possible. Trade was commenced with the Hottentots and in the course of a few days forty-two oxen and a thousand sheep were obtained for pieces of iron hoop. The fleet remained in Table Bay nearly seven weeks, during which time most of the sick men recovered.

On the 5th of December 1604 the Tiger—a ship of two hundred and forty tons—and a pinnace called the Tiger’s Whelp set sail from Cowes for the Indies. The expedition was under command of Sir Edward Michelburne, and next to him in rank was Captain John Davis. It was the last voyage that this famous seaman was destined to make, for he was killed in an encounter with Japanese pirates on the 27th of December 1605. The journal of the voyage contains the following paragraph:—

“The 3rd of April 1605 we sailed by a little island which Captain John Davis took to be one that stands some five or six leagues from Saldanha. Whereupon our general, Sir Edward Michelburne, desirous to see the island, took his skiff, accompanied by no more than the master’s mate, the purser, myself, and four men that did row the boat, and so putting off from the ship we came on land. While we were on shore they in the ship had a storm, which drove them out of sight of the island; and we were two days and two nights before we could recover our ship. Upon the said island is abundance of great conies and seals, whereupon we called it Cony Island.”

Historical Sketches.

On the 9th of April they anchored in Table Bay, where they remained until the 3rd of the following month refreshing themselves.

On the 14th of March 1608 the East India Company’s ships Ascension and Union sailed from England, and on the 14th of July put into Table Bay to obtain refreshments and to build a small vessel for which they had brought out the materials ready prepared. The crews constructed a fort to protect themselves, by raising an earthen wall in the form of a square and mounting a cannon on each angle. They found a few Hottentots on the shore, to whom they made known by signs their want of oxen and sheep, which three days afterwards were brought for barter in such numbers that they procured as much meat as they needed. They gave a yard (91·4 centimetres) of iron hoop for an ox, and half that length for a sheep. After bartering them, the Hottentots whistled some away and then brought them for sale again, which was not resented, as the English officers were desirous of remaining on friendly terms with the rude people. For the same reason no notice was taken of the theft of various articles of trifling value.

Boats were sent to Robben Island to capture seals, as oil was needed, and many of these animals were killed and brought to the fort. After cutting off the oily parts the carcases were carried to a distance as useless, but for fifteen days the Hottentots feasted upon the flesh, which they merely heated on embers, though before the expiration of that time it had become so putrid and the odour so offensive that the Europeans were obliged to keep at a great distance from it.

English Visitors to South Africa.

Great quantities of steenbras were obtained with a seine at the mouth of Salt River, and three thousand five hundred mullets were caught and taken on board for consumption after leaving. The object of refreshing was thus fully carried out, as was also that of putting together the little vessel, which was even made larger than the original design, and which when launched was named the Good Hope.

Mr. John Jourdain, an official of the East India Company, who was a passenger in the Ascension, and from whose journal this account is taken, with some others ascended Table Mountain. From its summit they saw the same sheet of water on the flats which Antonio de Saldanha a hundred and five years before had mistaken for the mouth of a great river, and which Mr. Jourdain now mistook for an inland harbour with an opening to the sea by which ships might enter it. He, however, unlike his Portuguese predecessor, had an opportunity afterwards of visiting the big pond and ascertaining that his conjecture was incorrect.

Mr. Jourdain was of opinion that a settlement of great utility might be formed in Table Valley. In words almost identical with those of Jansen and Proot forty years later he spoke of its capabilities for producing grain and fruit, of the hides, sealskins, and oil that could be obtained to reduce the expense, of the possibility of opening up a trade in ivory, as he had seen many footprints of elephants, and of bringing the Hottentots first to “civility,” and then to a knowledge of God.

After a stay of little more than two months, on the 19th of September the Ascension and Union sailed again, with the Good Hope in their company.

From this date onward the fleets of the English East India Company made Table Bay a port of call and refreshment, and usually procured in barter from the Hottentots as many cattle as they needed. In 1614 the board of directors sent a ship with as many spare men as she could carry, a quantity of provisions, and some naval stores to Table Bay to wait for the homeward bound fleet, and, while delayed, to carry on a whale and seal fishery as a means of partly meeting the expense. The plan was found to answer fairly well, and it was continued for several years. The relieving vessels left England between October and February, in order to be at the Cape in May, when the homeward bound fleets usually arrived from India. If men were much needed, the victualler—which was commonly an old vessel—was then abandoned, otherwise an ordinary crew was left in her to capture whales, or she proceeded to some port in the East, according to circumstances.

Historical Sketches.

The advantage of a place of refreshment in South Africa was obvious, and as early as 1613 enterprising individuals in the service of the East India Company drew the attention of the directors to the advisability of forming a settlement in Table Valley. Still earlier it was rumoured that the king of Spain and Portugal had such a design in contemplation, with the object of cutting off thereby the intercourse of all other nations with the Indian seas, so that the strategical value of the Cape was already recognised. The directors discussed the matter on several occasions, but their views in those days were very limited, and the scheme seemed too large for them to attempt alone.

In their fleets were officers of a much more enterprising spirit, as they were without responsibility in regard to the cost of any new undertaking. In 1620 some of these proclaimed King James I sovereign of the territory extending from Table Bay to the dominions of the nearest Christian prince. The records of this event are interesting, as they not only give the particulars of the proclamation and the reasons that led to it, but show that there must often have been a good deal of bustle in Table Valley in those days.

English Visitors to South Africa.

On the 24th of June 1620 four ships bound to Surat under command of Andrew Shillinge, put into Table Bay, and were joined when entering by two others bound to Bantam, under command of Humphrey Fitzherbert. The Dutch had at this time the greater part of the commerce of the East in their hands, and nine large ships under their flag were found at anchor. The English vessel Lion was also there. Commodore Fitzherbert made the acquaintance of some of the Dutch officers, and was informed by them that they had inspected the country around, as their Company intended to form a settlement in Table Valley the following year. Thereupon he consulted with Commodore Shillinge, who agreed with him that it was advisable to try to frustrate the project of the Hollanders. On the 25th the Dutch fleet sailed for Bantam, and the Lion left at the same time, but the Schiedam, from Delft, arrived and cast anchor.

On the 1st of July the principal English officers, twenty-one in number,—among them the Arctic navigator William Baffin,—met in council, and resolved to proclaim the sovereignty of King James I over the whole country. They placed on record their reasons for this decision, which were, that they were of opinion a few men only would be needed to keep possession of Table Valley, that a plantation would be of great service for the refreshment of the fleets, that the soil was fruitful and the climate pleasant, that the Hottentots would become willing subjects in time and they hoped would also become servants of God, that the whale fishery would be a source of profit, but, above all, that they regarded it as more fitting for the Dutch when ashore there to be subjects of the king of England than for Englishmen to be subject to them or anyone else. “Rule Britannia” was a very strong sentiment, evidently, with that party of adventurous seamen.

Historical Sketches.

On the 3rd of July a proclamation of sovereignty was read in presence of as many men of the six ships as could go ashore for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony. Skipper Jan Cornelis Kunst, of the Schiedam, and some of his officers were also present, and raised no objection. On the Lion’s rump, or King James’s mount as Fitzherbert and Shillinge named it, the flag of St. George was hoisted, and was saluted, the spot being afterwards marked by a mound of stones. A small flag was then given to the Hottentots to preserve and exhibit to visitors, which it was believed they would do most carefully.

After going through this ceremony with the object of frustrating the designs of the Dutch, the English officers buried a packet of despatches beside a stone slab in the valley, on which were engraved the letters V O C, they being in perfect ignorance of the fact that those symbols denoted prior possession taken for the Dutch East India Company. On the 25th of July the Surat fleet sailed, and on the next day Fitzherbert’s two ships followed, leaving at anchor in the bay only the English ship Bear, which had arrived on the 10th.

The proceeding of Fitzherbert and Shillinge, which was entirely unauthorised, was not confirmed by the directors of the East India Company or by the government of England, and nothing whatever came of it. At that time the ocean commerce of England was small, and as she had just entered upon the work of colonising North America, she was not prepared to attempt to form a settlement in South Africa also. Her king and the directors of her India Company had no higher ambition than to enter into a close alliance with the Dutch Company, and to secure by this means a stated proportion of the trade of the East. In the Netherlands also a large and influential party was in favour of either forming a federated company, or of a binding union of some kind, so as to put it out of the power of the Spaniards and Portuguese to harm them. From 1613 onward this matter was frequently discussed on both sides of the Channel, and delegates went backward and forward, but it was almost impossible to arrange terms.

Proposed Alliance of English and Dutch.

The Dutch had many fortresses which they had either built or taken from the Portuguese in Java and the Spice islands, and the English had none, so that the conditions of the two parties were unequal. In 1617, however, the king of France sent ships to the eastern seas, and in the following year the king of Denmark embarked in the same enterprise, when a possibility arose that one or other of them might unite with Holland or England. Accordingly each party was more willing than before to make concessions, and on the 2nd of June 1619 a treaty of close alliance was entered into at London between the two Companies, which was ratified by their respective governments.[38]

It provided that all past differences should be forgotten, and all persons, ships, and goods detained by either side be immediately released. That the servants of each Company should act in the most friendly manner towards those of the other, and give them assistance when needed. That commerce in all parts of India should be free to both. That joint efforts should be made to reduce the price of products in India to a fixed and reasonable rate, and that a selling price in Europe should be agreed upon from time to time, below which it should not be lawful for either party to dispose of them. That pepper should only be purchased in Java by a commission representing both parties, and be equally divided afterwards between the two Companies. That the Dutch Company should have two-thirds of the trade at the Moluccas, Banda, and Amboina, and the English one-third. That twenty ships of war from six to eight hundred tons burden, armed with thirty heavy cannon, and carrying one hundred and fifty men each, should be maintained in the eastern seas for the protection of commerce, half by each Company. And that a council of defence should be established, consisting of four of the principal officers on each side, to appoint stations for the ships and to engage and pay land forces.

Historical Sketches.

There were thirty-one articles in all, of which the above were the principal, the others referring to matters of less importance, but dealing with them in the same spirit. The treaty was intended to bring the two East India Companies into as close a union as that existing between the different provinces of the Netherlands republic.

The rivalry, however,—bordering closely on animosity—between the servants of the two companies in distant lands prevented any agreement of this nature made in Europe being carried out, and though in 1623 another treaty of alliance was entered into, in the following year it was dissolved. Thereafter the great success of the Dutch in the East placed them beyond the desire of partnership with competitors.

While these negotiations were in progress, a proposal was made from Holland that a refreshment station should be established in South Africa for the joint use of the fleets of the two nations, and the English directors received it favourably. They undertook to cause a search for a proper place to be made by the next ship sent to the Cape with relief for the returning fleet, and left the Dutch at liberty to make a similar search in any convenient way. Accordingly on the 30th of November 1619 the assembly of seventeen issued instructions to the commander of the fleet then about to sail to examine the coast carefully from Saldanha Bay to a hundred or a hundred and fifty nautical miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, in order that the best harbour for the purpose might be selected. This was done, and an opinion was pronounced in favour of Table Bay. In 1622 a portion of the coast was inspected for the same purpose by Captain Johnson, in the English ship Rose, but his opinion of Table Bay and the other places which he visited was such that he would not recommend any of them. The tenor of his report mattered little, however, for with the failure of the close alliance between the two companies, the design of establishing a refreshment station in South Africa was abandoned by both.

Disasters in Table Valley.

Perhaps the ill opinion of Table Bay formed by Captain Johnson may have arisen from an occurrence that took place on its shore during the previous voyage of the Rose. That ship arrived in the bay on the 28th of January 1620, and on the following day eight of her crew went ashore with a seine to catch fish near the mouth of Salt River. They never returned, but the bodies of four were afterwards found and buried, and it was believed that the Hottentots had either carried the other four away as prisoners or had murdered them and concealed their corpses.

This was not the only occurrence of the kind, for in March 1632 twenty-three men belonging to a Dutch ship that put into Table Bay lost their lives in conflict with the inhabitants. The cause of these quarrels is not known with certainty, but at the time it was believed they were brought on by the Europeans attempting to rob the Hottentots of cattle.

An experiment was once made with a view of trying to secure a firm friend among the Hottentots, and impressing those people with respect for the wonders of civilisation. In 1613 two Hottentots were taken from Table Valley on board a ship returning from India, one of whom died of grief soon after leaving his home.[39] The other, who was named Cory, reached England, where he resided six months and learned to understand and speak a little English. He was made a great deal of, and received many rich and valuable presents from benevolent people. Sir Thomas Smythe, the governor of the East India Company, was particularly kind to him, and gave him among other things a complete suit of brass armour. He returned to South Africa with Captain Nicholas Downton in the ship New Year’s Gift, and in June 1614 landed in Table Valley with all his treasures. But Captain Downton, who thought that he was overflowing with gratitude, saw him no more. Cory returned to his former habits of living, and instead of acting as was anticipated, taught his countrymen to despise bits of copper in exchange for their cattle, so that for a long time afterwards it was impossible for ships that called to obtain a supply of fresh meat.

Historical Sketches.

Mr. John Jourdain, when returning from India to England, put into Table Bay on the 25th of February 1617. A few lean calves were obtained on the day the ships anchored, but nothing whatever afterwards, though at one time about ten thousand head of cattle were in sight. Mr. Jourdain and a party of sixty armed men went a short distance into the country, and he was of opinion that through the roguery of “that dogge Cory” they would have been drawn into a conflict with some five thousand Hottentots if they had not prudently retired. Thereafter he believed no cattle would be obtained except at dear rates, for the Hottentots no longer esteemed iron hoops, copper, or even shining brass. A fort, he considered, would be the only means of bringing them to “civility.” On this occasion Mr. Jourdain remained in Table Bay eighteen days, of which only four were calm and fine.

According to a statement made by a Welshman who was in Table Bay in August 1627, and who kept a journal, part of which has been preserved,[40] Cory came to an evil end. The entry reads: “They” (the Hottentots) “hate the duchmen since they hanged one of the blackes called Cary who was in England & upon refusall of fresh victuals they put him to death.”

English Convicts sent to Table Valley.

It has been seen what use the Portuguese made of convicts when they were exploring unknown countries, or when there were duties of a particularly hazardous or unpleasant nature to be performed. The English employed criminals in the same manner. In January 1615 the governor of the East India Company obtained permission from the king to transport some men under sentence of death to countries occupied by savages, where, it was supposed, they would be the means of procuring provisions, making discoveries, and creating trade. The records in existence—unless there are documents in some unknown place—furnish too scanty material for a complete account of the manner in which this design was carried out. Only the following can be ascertained with certainty. A few days after the consent of the king was given, the sheriffs of London sent seventeen men from Newgate on board ships bound to the Indies, and these were voluntarily accompanied by three others, who appear to have been convicted criminals, but not under sentence of death. The proceeding was regarded as “a very charitable deed and a means to bring them to God by giving them time for repentance, to crave pardon for their sins, and reconcile themselves unto His favour.” On the 5th of June, after a passage from the Thames of one hundred and thirty-two days, the four ships comprising the fleet arrived in Table Bay, and on the 16th nine of the condemned men were set ashore with their own free will. A boat was left for their use, and to each a gun with some ammunition and a quantity of provisions was given.

Of some of these convicts the afterlife is known. Two were taken on to India by Sir Thomas Roe, one of whom, Duffield by name, returned with him to England, where he requited the kindness shown to him by stealing some plate and running away. Of those set ashore in Table Valley, one, named Cross, committed some offence against the Hottentots shortly after the ships sailed, and was killed by them. The other seven[41] escaped to Robben Island, where their boat was wrecked. They lived five or six months on the island, when an English ship put into the bay, and four of them made a raft and tried to get to her, but were drowned on the way. The next day the ship sent a boat to the island, and took off the other three. They behaved badly on board, commenced to steal again as soon as they reached England, and were apprehended and executed in accordance with their old sentences.

Historical Sketches.

In one of the ships that brought these convicts in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe, English envoy to the great Mogul, was a passenger. A pillar bearing an inscription of his embassy was set up in Table Valley, and fifteen or twenty kilogrammes weight of stone which he believed to contain quicksilver and vermilion was taken away to be assayed in England, but of particulars that would be much more interesting now no information whatever is to be had from the records of his journey.

Again, in June 1616, three condemned men were set ashore in Table Valley from a fleet under Commodore Joseph on its way to the East. A letter signed by them is extant, in which they acknowledge the clemency of King James in granting them their forfeited lives, and promise to do his Majesty good and acceptable service. Terry, who was an eye witness, says that before they were set ashore they begged the commodore rather to hang them than to abandon them, but he left them behind. The Swan, one of the vessels of the fleet, however, was detained in Table Bay a day or two longer than her consorts, and she took them on to Bantam in Java.

Scanty Information supplied by Englishmen.

There may have been other instances of the kind, of which no record is in existence now, but this seems unlikely. It is certain that no information upon the country, its inhabitants, or its resources was ever obtained from criminals set ashore here.

No further effort was made by the English at this time to form a connection with the inhabitants of South Africa, though their ships continued to call at Table Bay for the purpose of taking in water and getting such other refreshment as was obtainable. They did not attempt to explore the country or to correct the charts of its coasts, nor did they frequent any of its ports except Table Bay, and very rarely Mossel Bay, until a much later date. A few remarks in ships’ journals, and a few pages of observations and opinions in a book of travels such as that of Sir Thomas Herbert, from none of which can any reliable information be obtained that is not also to be drawn from earlier Portuguese writers, are all the contributions to a knowledge of South Africa made by Englishmen during the early years of the seventeenth century. Though our countrymen were behind no others in energy and daring, as Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert, Davis, Hawkins, and a host of others had proved so well, not forgetting either the memorable story of the Revenge, which Jan Huyghen van Linschoten handed down for a modern historian to write in more thrilling words, England had not yet entered fully upon her destined career either of discovery or of commerce, the time when “the ocean wave should be her home” was still in the days to come.

Historical Sketches.

The Danes were the next to make their appearance in the Indian seas. Their first fleet, fitted out by King Christian IV, consisted of six ships, under Ove Giedde as admiral. On the 8th of July 1619 this fleet put into Table Bay, where eight English ships were found at anchor, whose officers treated the Danes with hospitality. Admiral Giedde remained here until the 5th of August, when his people were sufficiently refreshed to proceed on their voyage. On the 30th of August 1621 he reached Table Bay again in the ship Elephant on his return passage from Ceylon and India, and remained until the 12th of September. Before leaving he had an inscription cut on a stone, in which the dates of both his visits were recorded.