The Dutch traders of the early seventeenth century who made
good their position in the East Indies against our own merchants were bold and resolute fellows. Typical of their experiences is the Memorable Description of the East Indian Voyage, 1618-25, by Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe, which has been translated from the Dutch by Mrs. Bodde-Hodgkinson and Professor Geyl and is now published in the " Broadway Travellers " series (Routledge, 7s. 6d.). Bontekoe on the way out suffered shipwreck, but with seventy men in the long- boat and very little food or water he made land after a fort- night and served for years in semi-piratical cruises planned by the famous Coen, who founded Batavia in 1618. The Dutch enslaved all the Chinese whom they captured at sea, and then were surprised at the refusal of the Governor of Amoy to trade with them. Bontekoe's journal is as vivid as it is genuine. He was nearly lost on the way home because the cargo of pepper worked loose and clogged the pumps.
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