deadly enemies to the Portuguese and Spaniards, and as weary now of the Dutch dominion.  In these fortified stations in Machian, when I was there, the Dutch had 120 European soldiers; of whom eighty were at Tafasoa, thirty at Nofakia, and ten at Tabalola.  The isle of Machian is the richest in cloves of all the Molucca islands; and, according to report, yields 1800 bahars in the great monsoon.  The Dutch have one large fort in the island of Bachian, and four redoubts in the isle of Moteer.  The civil wars have so wasted the population of these islands, that vast quantities of cloves perish yearly for want of hands to gather them; neither is there any likelihood of peace till one party or the other be utterly extirpated.

Leaving them to their wars, I now return to our traffic, and shall shew how we traded with the natives, which was mostly by exchanging or bartering the cotton cloths of Cambaya and Coromandel for cloves.  The sorts in request and the prices we obtained being as follows:  Candakeens of Baroach six cattees of cloves; candakeens of Papang, which are flat, three cattees; Selas, or small bastas, seven and eight cattees; Patta chere Malayo sixteen cattees; five cassas twelve cattees; coarse of that kind eight cattees; red Batellias, or Tancoulas, forty-four and forty-eight cattees; Sarassas chere Malayo forty-eight and fifty cattees; Sarampouri thirty cattees; Chelles, Tapsiels, and Matafons, twenty and twenty-four cattees; white Cassas, or Tancoulos, forty and forty-four cattees; the finest Donjerijus twelve, and coarser eight and ten cattees; Pouti Castella ten cattees; the finest Ballachios thirty cattees; Pata chere Malayo of two fathoms eight and ten cattees; great Potas, or long four fathoms, sixteen cattees; white Parcallas twelve cattees; Salalos Ytam twelve and fourteen cattees; Turias and Tape Turias one and two cattees; Patola of two fathoms, fifty and sixty cattees; those of four fathoms and of one fathom at proportional prices; for twenty-eight pounds of rice, a dollar; Sago, which is a root of which the natives make their bread, is sold in bunches, and was worth a quarter of a dollar the bunch; velvets, sattins, taffetics, and other silk goods of China were much in request.  This may suffice for the trade of the Moluccas.

Proceeding on our voyage, it was calm all day on the 16th of April, but we, had a good breeze at night from the west, when we steered N.N.W.  In the morning of the 17th, we steered north, with the wind at E. by S. but it afterwards became very variable, shifting to all points of the compass, and towards night we had sight of land to the northwards.  On the 18th we had calms, with much rain, and contrary winds at intervals, for which reason I resolved to go for the island of Saiom, which was to the