In Gilolo or Batochina,[36] three leguas from the fort maintained there by the Spaniards, the Dutch maintain that of Tabori, with one alférez and fifty soldiers; and three leguas farther on is another fort, with one lieutenant and twelve soldiers.
In Amborino [i.e., Amboina],[37] eighty leguas from Terrenate, is a large fort, with a watered moat capable of floating a galley without its oars. Its garrison consists of a commandant with one hundred soldiers.
In Siao, thirty leguas from Terrenate, the Dutch own Sagu Maruco [Marico—MS.]. A Spanish alférez was there with five soldiers in the year 614 for a certain purpose. The Dutch came, and after driving out the Spaniards, fortified themselves in that place, as they always crave what España possesses. A sergeant was stationed there with sixteen soldiers, although it is not a post of importance.
They have two forts in Banda: Moçovia and Belgio, each one with one hundred and twenty soldiers. Although the natives are hostile, those presidios are kept up with the hope of reducing them, and because of the nutmeg which is gotten there, which is but little.
In Java Major there are three factories, namely, in Baatan, Jacava, and Japara. Bantan is the chief stronghold that the Dutch have in India. The governor or prefect lives there, in whose charge are all the forts of the Orient. There is kept account of all that is laden and of the ships, so that it is the accountancy and register of their trade. There are two galleys and more than thirty barks, armed and garrisoned, in which they cross to Jacatra, which is the arsenal and dockyard where their ships are repaired, as it is the first and last station that they make on leaving and on entering by the straits of Sincapura and Sonda. It is one day’s journey from Bantan. However, the English, in confederacy with the Jaos, a few years ago seized certain of those ports. In the year 629, the king of Matalan [i.e., Mataram] besieged Jacatra, where he remained for five months. They destroyed the city, and killed three hundred of the Dutch, and the latter only retained their fortress.
In Borneo, which is the most westerly of the Filipinas, and the largest, being five hundred leguas in circumference, the Dutch do not possess fort or factory, but they are allowed to trade there.
In the island of Hermosa, between the Filipinas and China, they have established a presidio and seized a port. España has another fort there, each on its own point, as the island is long. That has caused anxiety, as the island lies on the way to China. Accordingly, the governor [of Filipinas] has been ordered to endeavor to drive the Dutch away.
In the island of Sumatra, at the city of Jambo in the strait of Sincapura, they have a factory for the pepper trade, which is of great importance to them.
In the kingdom of Patan, they have another factory, which ranks with that of Jambo; another in that of Sian; another in Camboxa; and another in Cochinchina. They have no entrance into China; on the contrary, they are the declared and common enemy [of that country] because of the great piracies that they have committed against those natives. They have a factory in Japon, from which they get food and ammunition, which is worth not a little to them.
They have other ports, which they have abandoned as it was convenient for them to do so—as that of Gemalanor, in Gilolo; the forts of Bouson, Solor, and Timor; the factories of Gresco in Java, and that of Asqueo, because of a war which they had with their king. They abandoned another in Macasar, in the island of the Celebes, where they got a quantity of sago [segu], which is the bread of the country, and a quantity of rice. Accordingly, they tried to return there, but were unable.