ROM'S VOYAGES IN THE MOLUCCAN ARCHIPELAGO.

LIEUTENANT EOLFF'S narrative consists of three distinct parts. The first is a sketch of the author's warlike services in the national and colonial marine of Holland. The second contains the account of a voyage in the colonial brig Dourga, to visit the abandoned out- stations of' the ci-devant Dutch East India Company, and if' possi- ble to reknit the ties which bound the inhabitants of the Serwatty, Tenimber, and Arru groupes of islands to Holland. The remainder of the volume is occupied by a subsequent voyage in the same brig to explore the Southern and South-western coasts of New Guinea, and to extend the connexions of Holland with the natives. The time consumed in these two exploratory voyages did not admit of such minute observations as might have enabled the expeditions to add materially to our geographical knowledge of the almost unknown portion of the globe which was traversed. Nor does Lieutenant Kor.rr appear to have been furnished with the requisite instruments, or to have possessed the. requisite talents, for making the necessary observations. His statements regarding local posi- tions, distances, currents, soundings, Ike. are few and vague ; and, what is worse, the subsequent voyages of Lieutenant MODERA in the Dutch corvette Triton (1828) and Lieutenant Kim. in the schooner Postilion (1835)have proved them to be incorrect. Even the notices of the inhabitants, productions, and commerce of' the islands, given by Lieutenant EOLPF, must be cautiously received, and only in so far as his own eyesight enabled him to judge ; for both himself and his interpreters seem to have been wofully defi- cient in the power of understanding the natives and making them- selves understood.

With all these drawbacks, however, the book is not altogether worthless. Previous to Lieutenant KoLrr's publication, we cannot (and what is more to the purpose, the translator Mr. Wransos EARL, could not) discover that any account of the countries visited in these voyages had previously been made public, with the excep- tion of some observations ill VALENTYN'S "Oude en nicuw Oost Indien." Where nothing is known, the smallest oozing of intel- ligence is thankfully received. But, in addition to this recom- mendation, Lieutenant Kor.rr unconsciously communicates to us a great deal of information respecting the condition and manage- ment of Dutch settlements and Dutch trade in the Eastern Archi- pelago, and that of a kind jealously suppressed by the Dutch Go- vernment, and which he would have been the last man alive know- ingly to have published. Both voyages of the Dourga were politi- cal. The attempt to form a British settlement in Melville Island, in 1824, had made the Dutch Government feel alarmed for the continuance of that monopoly of the Eastern Archipelago which it has so anxiously sought to establish. Mr. KOLFP'S delegated duty was, on the one hand, to go through certain ceremonies in order to furnish his Government with a pretext for excluding other nations front the commerce of the Eastern Islands ; and on the other, to scatter such ambiguas voees among the simple natives as might in- dispose them to hold intercourse with any Europeans except the Dutch. He performed his task in a manner calculated to elicit expressions of satisfaction from the colonial authorities at Am- boyna : and his book, professedly written at the instigation of relatives and friends, bears everywhere marks of being published for ulterior purposes,—in the first place, to conciliate the good- will of the Dutch Government by contributing to spread an impres- sion of its wisdom, humanity, and strong position in the Moluccas; in the second place, delicately to remind the same Government of the many good services rendered to it by the author. 'The concep- tion is "super-subtle Italian," but the execution is unmitigated Dutch. Lieutenant KOLFF'S book might be entitled—and this is its chief recommendation —" The Dutch Machiavelli in the Eastern Archipelago, painted by one of themselves."

The Dutch settlements in the eastern part of the Archipelago, at

the time of the Dourga's voyage, were seven in number,—on the island of Ceram, Amboyna and Bandit; on Celebes, Macassar and Monado ; on Gillolo, Ternate ; on Sumawah, Bimalt ; on Timor, Coepang. To these it was deemed necessary to add settlements on the Serwatty, Tenimber, and Arru groupes of islands, which stretch in succession front the eastern extremity of Timor to the western coast of New Guinea. By this means, and by a settlement on the coast of New Guinea, subsequently effected by the Triton in 1828, it was intended to draw a line of Dutch settlements round three sides of the Archipelago between latitudes 50 North and

10" South and longitudes 95" and 135° West. The settlements on Banka and the west coast of Borneo formed a similar line on the north-west ; and the object of the Dutch Government was to lay claim to the exclusive right of navigating the waters and trading with the natives included within these boundaries. The British settlements at Penang and Singapore precluded the closing of the route to China through the Straits of Malacca and the Chinese Sea; but this route only skirted the north-west extremity of the Archi- pelago.

We are attributing to the Dutch Government no designs which are not frankly expressed in the language of its agents and in its own acts. " When we can succeed," says Lieutenant Koerr, " in pre- venting the direct importation to the islands, of calicoes and other articles from Singapore, and even from Manilla and Bengal, the prosperity of Amboyna and Banda would be greatly increased by the exclusive trade they would enjoy, particularly if a Dutch ship of war were occasionally to show herself among the groupe." Independent Chinese colonies have long been settled in the mining districts of Borneo. In 1780, and again in 1823, the Dutch endeavoured to ob- tain a monopoly of the rich minerals of that territory. Failing in their attempt to subject the Chinese either by cajolery or fear, they had recourse to a plan described by Mr. W. EARL in his Eastern Seas. The Dutch had previously effected a settlement in Pontiana, to the south of the Chinese settlers : " A sum of money was paid by the Dutch to the Sultan of Sambas for permission to form a settlement at that place, and to monopolize the duties : the Chinese territory consequently became enclosed on two sides by the settlements of the Dutch ; and the intermediate coast being blockaded by their gun-boats, the Chinese could neither leave the country nor carry on their accustomed intercourse with any foreign nation. The Chinese held out during several years, think- ing that their enemies would not incur so much expense for any length of time merely for the gratification of revenge ; but they I were eventually obliged to come to terms, and agree to trade through the medium of the Dutch ports." But the grasping monopoly, which rendered the Dutch so odious i of yore, is not confined to the Malayans or Chinese. European vessels, not Dutch, are only allowed to trade with Dutch posses- sions at the stations Batavia, Surabaya, and Samarang. In 1824, an import-duty of 25 per cent, was imposed upon all foreign cottons and woollens from the westward of the Cape, and of 35 per cent. upon all foreign settlements to the eastward of the Cape, whether in Dutch or foreign bottoms. In 1834, the duty was raised at Ma- cassar to 70 per cent.; awl in 1835 the trade in British goods was prohibited altogether. This was done in defiance of the treaty between Great Britain and Holland concluded at London on the 17th March 1824; in the fourth article of' which it is expressly declared, that nothing shall be done by either party to "impede a free commerce of the natives in the Eastern Archipelago with the ports of the two Governments ;" and in the second article of which it is agreed, that "the subjects and vessels of one nation shall not pay upon importation or exportation at the ports of the other, any duty at a rate beyond the double of that at which the subjects and vessels of that nation to which the port belongs are charged." We do not advert here to the juggling attempt to evade this article, to which Lord PALMERSTON'S tardy representations have driven the Dutch Government to have recourse. Neither is it our object at present to denounce the erroneous commercial policy and breach of treaty of the Dutch Government : it is simply to show the efforts of that Government to make the islands and waters of the Eastern Archipelago a sort of Protestant Paraguay ; and from the unconscious revelations of one of our Dutch Jesuits to show the sort of pseudo civilization which they are inoculating upon their subjects. For this latter purpose we now turn to the pages of Lieu- tenant Kospr.

"Mr. Ram," we are told, "a clergyman, was attached to the ex- pedition, his object being to promote the interests of Christianity, and to arrange all matters connected with church affairs and pub- lic instruction." It was not, however, pure and unmixed attach- ment to Christianity that dictated this missionary accompaniment. "As I have already stated, a similarity in religious belief forms our strongest bond of' union with the people of these islands." And again—" Those natives who have embraced Christianity have much more fidelity towards the Indian Government than the others." Accordingly, the Reverend Mr. RAM sets about baptizing on a wholesale scale unprecedented since the days when Frank and Saxon armies were christened en masse after the example of their leaders. Sometimes the numbers admitted to the initiatory rite are vaguely stated as great or many; but at Demme, where it is admitted that, having had no teachers for upwards of half a century, the converts (Weyer there were any) had relapsed into heathenism,

we are told that Mr. 11Asr, "during our short stay, baptized more than two hundred and fifty people, old as well as young;" who, "although extremely ignorant, appeared to entertain the greatest reverence thr the Christian religion." We have endeavoured to collect from scattered passages what this broadcast sower of the gospel looked upon as sufficient knowledge of Christianity ; and here is the fruit of our research. " The firm resistance they have made to the endeavours of Mahonunedan priests to convert them, 3s very praiseworthy ; these never meeting with the least success in their exertions. The people of Tcnimber could never, I think, be prevailed on to abstain from pork and spirituous liquors ; and it !s possible that this ;s one of the reasons of their aversion to Islam- ism." That a love for spirituous liquors is the groundwork of

Dutch Moluccan Christianity, is not, however, a matter of mere in- ference. One of' Mr. Koiser's officers, who had previously visited these islands, told him—" One of them (the islanders) demanded of me where this All-ruling Reing took up its abode ? I answered, that the Deity was present everywhere, not only among us, but in

every plant that through his goodness and power he has furnished up for our food. This idea was too abstruse for the Arafuras; for one of them answered, Then, this God is certainly in your arrack,

for I never feel happier that when I have drunk plenty of it.'" Upon this hint Messrs. RAM and KOLFF seem to have acted ; for wherever they landed, the natives got first a sermon, and then

bumpers of arrack to wash it down. Another mode of attack upon their heathenism is through their love of dress. The converted natives are encouraged and assisted to array themselves in black cotton garments, cut after a European fashion, or in "a three- cornered hat, a black coat of cloth or cotton, smallclothes of the same materials, with shoes and black silk or cotton stockings." But the distinction between Christian and Heathen is not merely in outward show or appearance. At Lette, "the unconverted natives consider themselves as the subjects of the Christian in- habitants." At Wetta, "a crowd of unconverted natives, who re- cognized the Christian chiefs as rulers," are mentioned. "At Moa, as well as on most of the other islands, the population is divided into two classes, Christians and Heathens, which may be considered as standing in the same relation to each other as masters and sub- jects." This superiority of the Christians Mr. Koerr tries hard to attribute to "an irresistible belief on the part of the Heathens in the moral superiority of the Christians ;" but he is obliged to admit that it may be "partly attributed to the superior consideration in which the Christians are held by our Government." This is all; for in most of the islands there are no books and no teachers of Christianity. Even where teachers exist, they can do little. They are chiefly "young natives of Amboyna," whom "the hope of being relieved and settled at Amboyna, after having been employed as missionaries for a few years, renders very willing to undertake this office." Of their qualifications the following passages convey some idea. First—" The teachers pride themselves on their descent as Ambovnese, and are uncommonly neat in their dress : I never saw one otherwise than well clad, wearing a three-cornered hat, a black coat of cloth or cotton, smallelothes of the same materials, with shoes, and black silk or cotton stockings." Second—" Some of the teachers (at the Arru Islands) appeared to me as not being on the most friendly fboting with the natives; which I be- lieve was owing greatly to their presuming too much on the pro- tection of time Government, and wishing to be masters in reality."

Third and last—" The new schoolmaster (at Damma) had been provided with a prayer-book, with some pens, ink, and paper ; and

before our departure, he had already commenced instructing the inhabitants." On the whole, we feel warranted in coning to the conclusion, that the Dutch missionary efforts are a mire trick of

state policy—that they put what they call Christianity into the heads of the natives, as they put batons with gilded knobs, into the hands of their•chiefs, as toys to amuse and tame the childishness of barbarism.

The object of the Dutch Government, we repeat it, is to make the Eastern Archipelago a Dutch Paraguay. Where their power is con-

firmed, the nations are advancing along the same path of emasculat- ing quasi-civilization as the Indians under the rule of the Jesuits— with this eminently Dutch peculiarity, that arrack is made what Friar John of' the Funnels would have called "matter of breviary." Brandy has long been recognized as "Dutch courage ;" it would seem that it is Dutch Christianity also. The character super- induced upon the inhabitants, where the Dutch sway is acknow- ledged, is fertile in grotesque phaenomena. Some dim foreboding of the possibility of a higher knowledge of Divine things—some relish for an existence secured by laws—may have been intro- duced; but the manliness of humanity is broken. In enterprise they are inferior to the unsubdued tribes ; in childish hankering after tasteless adornment they exceed them. A few pictures, more grotesque than the wildest extravaganzas of Callot, justify this assertion.

SMOKE-DRIED RAIMENT.

On this island we had a still stronger proof than on the others of the great attachment the natives show to our customs and mode of dress. At the ge- neral meeting, all the inhabitants present, men, women, and children, were clad in their t'estive dresses, and some of their costumes were of the drollest description. About twenty of the men wore old felt hats with broad brims, not unlike those used by the Westphalian peasants. According to their own account, these hats had been given to their forefilthers by the first Europeans who arrived here and built the fort, the remains of which we had seen. Others wore extremely old-tlishioned coats, without any under covering for their bodies, these garments being so ancient and threadbare, that they appeared as if a bard shake would cause them to fall to pieces. These antiquated vestments had been preserved, like Westphalian hams, by being hung up in the smoke over their fireplaces, and after being sufficiently dried, had been kept in small chests, by which means they had remained uninjured by damp or insects.

CURTAIN wORSII1P, AND THE ADVENTURE OF TILE BREECHES.

On the previous day 1 hail remarked that the pulpit was ornamented by a curtain formed of a piece of silk. By way of giving the congregation an agree- able surprise, I caused the teacher to suspend in its place a large covering of tine silk, ornamented with the arms of the King of the Netherlands. The sight of this, on their entering the church, had a great effect on the people, who loudly expressed their thanks for this attention ; so that I became con- vinceit that this present of the Government could not have been put to a better use.

During the morning, several of the seamen asked my permission to attend the church, that they might become baptismal witnesses to sonic of the natives

Ito had requested their services ; this 1 willingly allowed, cautioning them, however, to maintain the strictest propriety at conduct. On entering the church, where a large congregation was assembled, we found chairs and benches prepared for our accommodation. The Upper Orang Kays and his wife re- quested me to stand godfather to their daughter, who was to be christened Diderika Ilendrika : indeed, nearly all the congregation underwent this cere- mony, even people who had attained the age of forty years. Among those who were milted in matrimony-, were many couples who had already lived for a long period in a state of wedlock ; in fact, several cases occurred in which parents and children were married at the same time. On only one occasion was there any confusion, and this was caused by a ludicrous accident happening to the dress of a young bridegroom, who had arrayed himself for the ceremony in some old, worn-out, and smoke-dried clothes, which above all were too small for him. This was too much for gravity to endure, and the young ladies espe- cially could not restrain their merriment ; but a friendly hand tendered the unlucky youth a sarong, in which he would gladly have enveloped himself en- tirely to conceal his confusion. To add to the solemnity of the orca,ion, se- veral German flutes had been brought to accompany the psalms ; the lodives, especially the women, being extremely fond of the music of this instrument. fit the request of)!. Kam, my Amboy nee piper attended to play second; but although the poor youth did all he could with hand, aid feet, he was unable to keep in tune, so that we were soon obliged to put a ,top to the disconcert.,

1. he ceremony was extremely long, but the attent ion shown by the audience was truly exemplary : indeed, in the mother-country I have seen a congrega- tion asleep from weariness at a much shorter service ; so ilea in this mvspect our countrymen and countrywomen may learn an example from the simple inha- bitants of the Arru islands.

Now we are by no means inclined to deny, that even among this buflbonery the seeds of better things have been sown and are ger- minating. Low though the Dutch stand in European culture, they are immeasurably above the Moluccans. Before people can ad- vance, they must be set in motion. To get a new idea, though worthless in itself, is always a gain : it sets the mind working— shakes it out of the vegetating condition into which it is apt. to subside. We freely concede to Mr. Koi.re, that the Moluccans have learned and gained something by coming in contact with the Dutch. The object of our exposition has been to show how very little that something is—how untenable the conclusion, that because the Dutch have done so much for the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago, therefbre no other Europeans ought to inter- fere between them—that these waters and islands should remain a sealed book for the rest of Europe. Twenty settlements (some of them consisting of little more than a corporal's guard) scattered over a tract of sea and land extending from the 9:411 to the 140th degree of East longitude and from the tith of North to the 10th of South latitude, inhabited by dense, enterprising, civilized popula- tions, are not sufficient, according to the rules of international law, to confer sovereignty and the power of excluding visitors; nor will the invention of smoke-dried garments, and the realization of RA- BELAIS' oracle of the holy bottle, induce moralists to wink at such a stretching of an insufficient title, lest the interests of humanity should suffer. Lieutenant KOLFF has not succeeded in painting his Arcadia so winningly as to induce all Europe to taboo it front the approach of rude sailors and calculating traders.

To make a practical application of' our Shandyish sermon on the book of Kosrs:—Holland is endeavouring to shut out every other European nation from the Eastern Archipelago. France has some notion of going snacks with her. Captain Drsnesv D'Uavssiss of the Astrolabe writes from Mindanao, on the 30th of' July 1839—

4‘ Our navigation, since the 2d of July, the day of our departure

from Singapore, has been fertile in results. We have touched at Sambas in the island of Borneo ; closely reconnoitered the islands of Natunas, Balambangan, 13anguey, and the Northern portion of Borneo. Finally, we have passed four days in the road of Sooloo. The people of these places have acquired from our communica- tions clearer notions in relation to the flag anti power of France ;

they de.sire much to see the rest (f our ships." What, meanwhile, is

Britain doing ? We do not wish the Government of this country to emulate the dog-in-the-manger policy of Holland, in appro- priating lands which it cannot use profitably itself', and will not allow others to use.* We do not Nv sh the British Government, in emulation of France, by a factitious stimulus to spur its people on to efforts of' trade and colonization which they have not of them- selves energy enough to take. But we do wish to see the enter-

* Time settlements of Holland in the Eastern Archipelago do not exceed twenty ; and of these not above half-a-dozen embrace any extent of territory. Lieutenant KOLTI labours hard to prove that the Dutch sway is popular. Some of his proofs are rather curious. Of an old chief in 1,1”:,It, say...,—" Ills joy was not feigned; Ibr, in ninny conversations I afterward, held with him, he gave most unequivocal proofs of his earnest attachment to the I bitch Government ; and the sincerity of his 1■2elings was undoubted, as, although he is wq,seel trill, he Vet fmre i.rof!A ;peat «yr haring impaired hi:: uuderstasilling ll 'Viol he would ban, hi en unable It he (7, his duplleilq 014,11 had Ow/ g This chief of Ewena " frequently :es tired Ins, that the submission of tis. Tenindweese was not to be depended upon, and only anise from the great (herd they ehter- taMed of the Company ; but I thoto;ht I had reason -for placing no belief in what he stated." And after this proem, the Lieutenant proceeds to narrate an incident demonstrative of the correctness of the diiers statement. Ile is everywhere astonished that the lapse of fifty years, during which ilt natives hind hem left to themnselves, had not cooled their attachment to the Dat eh. In the hatred evinced towards his countrymen, in those situations whence their settlements have not been withdrawn, la might love seen that this lapse of time was nec,,sary to make them lose their dislike. Ofa piece with the rest of his in- conclusive reasoning, is his winding-up of the unsuccessful campaign of n.,24, iii which the Dutch were beaten in every part of Celebes, with the remark, "that the expedition had produced no other useful effect than that of alftwding a new roof of the total inability of the natives to withstand the courage and skill of Europeans." The truth is, that we doubt much whether the natives, who are represented as acknowledging the Dutch Government, understood what was going on. Captain Dumoyc D'Utivii.LE's letter, quoted ohm, contains a striking commentary on the alleged devotion of the Moluccans to the Dutcht sway—" they desire much to sec the rest of our ships." But not only is the Dutch authority in the Eastern Archipelago confined within narrow territorial limits, the profits accruing to Hollantl from its possessions there are illusory. "What profitable trade is carried on is mainly in time hands of British and Chi- lies°. The opium and salt monopolies are the sources whence Government and the Dutch trading company (of whieh the King of Bolland is one of the largest shareholders) derive their gains. The condition of this copartnery between the State and a company of virtual monopolists, may be inferred from the latest in- telligence received from Batavia—that the Bank of Java had been obliged to impend cash payments, owing, it was believed, to the large advances it had made to Government. Upon these grounds do we accuse the Dutch of at- tempting to pursue in the Eastern Archipelago a "dog-in-the-nonger policy." prising British subjects, swarming in the Eastern Archipelago, re. ceive frosts their Government that watchful guardianship to which they. are entitled. Singapore is the principal emporium of these countries. The ships of the native merchants are in the majority of instances navigated by British subjects. Lieutenant Kosra complains of the impossibility of preventing the English from " smuggling " with the independent natives. At Batavia, the British-born subjects and Chinese, in spite of every discourage. ment, engross the culture and manufacture of' the sugar of Java. One British company alone possesses twelve hundred square miles of landsd property in that island. Ana what attention does the British Governtnent pay to this important portion of the British community? From 1824 to 1839, British merchants have in vain represented to Government the Dutch violations of treaty, in consequence of which they have been robbed of' upwards of a million sterling by overcharges on imported goods. bt consequence principally of' these violations of treaty, the trade of Singapore, which in 1829 \ VaS \Milled at 4,44:2,000/., sunk in 1836 to 2,888,000/. Some months previous to Lieutenant Kosre's visit to Baba in 1811, the natives of that island had cut off' the crew of an English trading brig, and plundered and burned the vessel. In 1824, another English trading, vessel had met the same fate at Timor Laut. At page 229 of his ivork, Lieutenant Kosrs states—" According to the informa. tion of the natives, an English vessel, having pilots from Enneka on board, carried on a brisk trade with the coast (of New Guinea) in the year 1824. I heard that the English subsequently suffered SOW' punishment from the Cenunese for this breach of their right of monopoly." This inclination to perpetrate acts of violence on Europeans not Dutch seems to be encouraged by the authorities of' Holland. " Front their questions it appeared that they con- sidered the Oraszeump«ilia (the Dutch) only as true White people, and that they were unacquainted with other Europeans. They asked me if the English were not the inland mountaineers, or Orang Gan. Ming, like the inhabitants of Timor Laut and other barbarous people ?" It is to be regretted that Lieutenant Koss e has not thought it necessary to give his answer to this question. With all these calls upon its attention and protection, the British Government has done nothing hut make two ill-calculated and unsuccesslid attempts at settlement on the North coast of Australia. Of what use could a settlement be there, in reference to the Eastern Archipelago? The market for the greater part of its products is China. what we need in these seas, is another Singapore. Its position should be such as to furnish an entrepAt between China and the Eastern Archipelago—a spot where the Bugis, the subjects of Macassar, the Ceramese, and Arruans, might bring their trepang and tortoise- shell, where the Chinese might receive these commodities and give their gongs and porcelain in exchange, and where both might provide themselves with British goods. Such a settlement is at this moment forced upon us by the state of' affitirs in China. As has been demonstrated in a recent article in the Colonial Ga:ette, it is not by warlike demonstrations, but by the establishment of' such an entrepiit within reach of' their junks, that we are to seEsitablish and extend our commercial dealings with the Chinese. Though too much cant has been lavished on the opium-trade, it is nevertheless true that it was an artificial and precarious trade. The cultivation and preparation of opium was a Government mono- poly in the bands of the East India Company—the meaus of' extract- Mg, not fair commercial profits, but tribute from India. The trade in opium was merely winked at in China, always the source of em- barrassments, and finally it may be of ruin to many. A North- eastern Singapore would be the scene of' a fair and healthy commerce bet ween Eutope, the Eastern Archipelago, Chinn, and eventually our Australian and New Zealand settlements ; in which British traders, l'rom their greater enterprise and greater capital, would be the chief' gainers. It would be the centre and the source of a higher and snore universal civilization in those regions.

To return to the book we have in hand. 'lime translation is well told neatly executed. An unusual number of typographical errors, Ivc are inclined to attribute to the absence of the translator, Mr, .WIND::ort Emu., whose preface is dated on board the Alligator at Sydney. We could have wished that he had specified the autho- rities upon which he has constructed the map of the Arafura Sea, prefixed to the volume. It is more correct than the observations of Lieutenant Kossr could have enabled hint to make it ; and con- tains, we perceive, some of the details observed in the subsequent voyage of the Triton. We hope Mr. Emu, intends to follow up the present publication by a translation of the voyage of Lieutenant Moosas in 1828. Two such translations, in addition to his own instructive voyages in the Eastern Seas, would render the British public snore indebted to him for information respecting that inter- esting portion of the globe, than to any previous writer.