About the 5th September there came a junk full of men from the island of Lampon in the straits of Sunda, who are great enemies to the Javans, and yet so very like them as not to be distinguishable. These men, having their junk in a creek near Bantam, and being in all points like the Javans, used to come boldly into the town and into the houses, even at noonday, and cut off the people's heads, so that for near a month we had little rest for the grievous lamentations of the towns people. After a time, many of them becoming known, were taken and put to death. They were men of comely stature, and the reason of their strange procedure was, that their king rewarded them with a female slave for every head they brought him, so that they would often dig up newly-buried persons at Bantam and cut off their heads, to impose upon their savage king.
About this time, we got notice from the admiral and other friends to be much on our guard, as some of the principal natives in respect to birth, though not in wealth or office, had conspired to murder us for the sake of our goods, and then to give out that it had been done by the Lampons. These devils came several times in the intention to execute their horrid purpose, but seeing always lights about our house, which we had set up that we might see them, and hearing our drum at the end of every watch, their hearts failed them for fear of our small arms, both which and our murderers [blunderbusses] we had always ready for their reception. At length they fell out among themselves and dispersed.
By our continual alarms, and the grievous outcries of men, women, and children, who were nightly murdered around us, our men were so wrought upon, that even in their sleep they would dream of pursuing the Javans, and would suddenly start out of bed, catch at their weapons, and even wound each other before those who had the watch could part them; but yet we durst not remove their weapons, lest they should be instantly wanted, of which we were in constant dread. Being but few of us, I had to take my regular turn of watch with the rest, and have often been more in fear of our own men than of the Javans, so that I had often to snatch up a target when I heard them making any noise in their sleep, lest they might treat me as they did each other. So terrified were we on account of fire, that though, when we went to sleep after our watches were expired, our men often sounded their drum at our ears without awakening us, if the word fire had been spoken, however softly, we would all instantly run from our chambers; so that I was forced to warn them not to talk of fire in the night without urgent occasion. I do not mention these things to discourage others from going hereafter to Bantam: for we were then strangers, but have now many friends there, and the country is under much better regulation, and will more and more improve in government as the young king grows older. In three months time, the town on the east side of the river was five times burnt down; but, God be praised, the wind always favoured us; and although the Javans often set it on fire near us, it pleased God still to preserve us, as there was little wind, and the fire was put out before it got our length.
SECTION 3. Differences between the Hollanders, styling themselves English, and the Javans, and of other memorable Things.
About this time there was again a great outcast between the Hollanders and the natives, owing to the rude behaviour of the former, and many of them were stabbed in the evenings. The common people did not then distinguish between us and the Hollanders, calling both of us English, because the Hollanders had usurped our name on first coming here for trade, in which they did us much wrong, as we used often to hear the people in the streets railing against the English, when they actually meant the Hollanders; so that, fearing some of our men might be stabbed instead of them, we endeavoured to fall upon some plan to make ourselves be distinguished from them. And as the 17th of November drew nigh, which we still held as the coronation-day of queen Elizabeth, knowing no better, we dressed ourselves in new silk garments, and made us scarfs and hat-bands of red and white taffeta, the colours of our country, and a banner of St George, being white with a red cross in the middle. We, the factors, distinguished ourselves from our men, by edging our scarfs with a deep gold fringe.
When the day arrived, we set up our banner on the top of our house, and, with our drum and fire-arms, marched up and down the yard of our house; being but fourteen in number, we could only cast ourselves in rings and esses in single file, and so plied our shot. Hearing our firing, the sabander, and some others of the chief people of the land, came to see us, and enquired the cause of our rejoicing; when we told them that our queen was crowned on that day forty-seven years ago, for which reason all Englishmen, in whatever country they might then happen to be, were in use to shew their joy on that day. The sabander commended us mightily, for shewing our reverence to our sovereign at so great a distance from our country. Some of the others asked, how it happened that the Englishmen at the other house or factory did not do so likewise; on which we told them that they were not English but Hollanders, having no king, and their land being ruled only by governors, being of a country near England, but speaking quite a different language.
The multitude greatly admired to see so few of us discharge so many shots, for the Javans and Chinese are very inexpert in the use of fire-arms. In the afternoon, I made our people walk out into the town and market-place, that the people might see their scarfs and hat-bands, making a shew that the like had never been seen there before, and that the natives might for the future know them from the Hollanders; and many times the children ran after us in the streets, crying out, Orang Engrees bayk, Orang Hollanda jahad: The Englishmen are good, the Hollanders are bad.
The 6th December two Dutch ships came in, that had taken a rich Portuguese carak near Macao, by which they got great plunder, and were enabled so to bribe the regent, that he began to listen to their desire of being permitted to build a handsome house. About this time the regent sent for me to lend him 2000 pieces of eight, or at least 1000; but I put him off with excuses, saying we had been left there with goods, not money, that the natives owed us much which we could not get in, and that we were under the necessity of purchasing pepper to load our ships, which we were expecting to arrive daily.
The 6th February, 1604, Robert Wallis, one of our company, died, and several others of our men were very weak and lame, owing to the heat of the pepper, in dressing, screening, and turning it; so that we were in future obliged to hire Chinese to do that work, our own men only superintending them. The 16th of that month there came in a great ship of Zealand from Patane, which made us believe that General Warwicke was coming to load all his ships here; for which reason we immediately bought up all the good and merchantable pepper we could get. This ship had made some valuable prizes, but they had sworn all the English mariners on board to tell us nothing, on pain of losing their wages, which we took as very unkind. There was at this time in Bantam three houses of the Hollanders, all upon separate accounts, which all bought up as much pepper as they could get.
The 5th March, the regent sent again to borrow 1000 pieces of eight in the name of the king; and I was forced to lend him 500, lest he might have quarrelled with me, which would have given much pleasure to the Hollanders. In this country, when a Javan of any note is to be put to death, although there is a public executioner, yet the nearest of kin to the criminal is generally allowed to execute the office, which is considered as a great favour. The 14th March, Thomas Tudd, who had been left here as chief factor for Banda, departed this life, having been long sick; so that of seven factors left here for Bantam and Banda, two only were in life, besides several others of our men having died; we being now only ten men living and one boy.