[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 146 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 146: CHAPTER XIX · Concerning the Kingdom of Macassar and the Dutch Embassy to China Travels in India (Ball) 146 - **Language:** English ### CHAPTER XIX · Concerning the Kingdom of Macassar and the Dutch Embassy to China ### [146.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.1) The Kingdom of Macassar, otherwise called the Island of Celebes, commences at the 5th degree of south latitude. The heat is excessive during the day, but the nights are fairly temperate, and as for the land it is beautiful and very fertile ; but the people of this island do not know how to build well. The capital town bears the same name as the kingdom, and is situated close to the sea. The port is free ; and the vessels which carry thither a quantity of merchandise from the neighbouring islands do not pay any custom dues. The inhabitants poison their weapons, and the most dangerous poison which they use is made of the juice of certain trees which grow in the island of Borneo ; they temper it according to the effect, whether slow or quick, which they wish the poison to produce. It is said that the King alone knows the secret of weakening its effect, and he boasts of having some of it so quick that there is no remedy in the world capable of neutralising it. One of my brothers, whom I had taken to India, and who died there, one day witnessed a remarkable proof of the quickness with which this poison takes effect. ### [146.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.2) An Englishman, when in a rage, having killed one of the subjects of the King of Macassar, and this Prince having forgiven him, all the Franks, English as well as Dutch and Portuguese, who were in Macassar, fearing if this murder was left unpunished the islanders would take their revenge by attacking some of them, besought the King to execute the Englishman, and urged him so strongly that at length he consented. My brother was much beloved by the King, who invited him to take part in all his amusements, and especially when drinking was in question. The death of the Englishman having been decided on, the King told my brother that he would not allow the victim to languish long, and in order to prove at the same time the extraordinary power of his poison, he would wound the criminal himself with one of his arrows. These are small poisoned arrows which are fired with a sampitan and the King, in order to show his skill, asked my brother in what part of the body he wished him to strike the criminal. My brother, who was anxious to see if what the King had told him of the rapid effect of his poison were true, asked him to strike him on the great toe of the right foot, this the King did exactly and with wonderful skill. Two surgeons, one English and the other Dutch, were ready to cut the toe well below the wound, but they were unable to accomplish it so skilfully but that the poison, more rapid, had reached the heart, and the Englishman died at the same moment. ### [146.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.3) All the kings and princes of the East similarly cherish with care the strongest poisons, and the King of Achin one day made a present of fifteen or twenty of these poisoned arrows to M. Crocque, Envoy-General of Batavia, who was subsequently Chief of the factory at Surat. It was already some years since he had received these arrows without having thought of trying them, and one day when I was with him we shot many squirrels which fell dead immediately on being struck. ### [146.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.4) The King of Macassar is a Muhammadan, and he allows none of his subjects to become Christians. The Jesuit fathers in the year 1656 had found means to build a fairly good church at Macassar, but in the following year the King ordered it to be thrown down, as also that of the Dominican fathers, who performed mass for the Portuguese traders in the kingdom. The parochial church, which was conducted by some secular priests, remained standing until the Dutch attacked Macassar with a powerful fleet, and by force of arms they compelled the King to drive all the Portuguese out of his territories. The bad conduct of this Prince was partly the cause of this war, to which the Dutch were also driven by the resentment they felt in consequence of the Portuguese Jesuits having crossed their embassy to China. Besides which they had committed serious outrages against the Dutch at Macassar, having even flung on the ground the hat of one of the envoys who had come to conclude a treaty with the King. Thus the Dutch, unable to avoid resenting this affront, resolved to unite their forces with the Bugis who were in rebellion against their King, and to avenge, at whatever cost, so gross an insult. On the other hand, as I have said, the Dutch had been much ill-used by the Portuguese Jesuits, who by their intrigues prevented the Deputy whom the former sent to the King of China from accomplishing what he desired, and it happened in this way ; — ### [146.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.5) Towards the end of the year 1658 the General of Batavia and his Council sent one of the chiefs of the Dutch Company to the King of China. Having arrived at the Court with splendid presents, he sought to obtain access to the Mandarins, who are the great nobles of the kingdom, so that by their credit he might obtain permission to trade in China. But the Jesuits, who knew the language and were acquainted with the nobles of the Court, in consequence of the long sojourn they had made in the country, in order to prevent the Dutch Company from gaining a footing, to the prejudice of the Portuguese nation, represented many things to the King’s Council to the disadvantage of the Dutch. They told them that in Ceylon they had broken the promise they had given to the King of that island to make over to him the places which they jointly captured from the Portuguese ; that they were not people of good faith ; and that they had likewise fooled the King of Achin after the capture of Malacca, and many other Princes in the Molucca islands ; that after having taken, by terms of capitulation, the country of some of them together with their persons, promising to maintain them all their lives according to their dignity, they had not treated them with any further consideration once they got them into their power, but had transported them as slaves to the Island of Maurice to cut ebony wood. ### [146.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146.6) All these things and many others of the same kind having been represented to the King’s Council, the Dutch deputy was immediately dismissed, and left China without having accomplished anything. Having learnt from a letter which a spy had written to him after his departure, the bad turn which the Portuguese Jesuits had played him, on his return to Batavia he reported it to the General and his Council, who were much annoyed, and resolved to take strong vengeance. According to the accounts which the Deputy handed in, the cost of the voyage amounted to 50,000 écus and the Council reflected on the means whereby they could reimburse themselves with double that amount from the Portuguese. They were aware of the trade which the Jesuit fathers engaged in annually in the island of Macao and the Kingdom of Macassar, and that they fitted out on their own account as many as six or seven vessels laden with all kinds of Indian as well as Chinese goods. The Dutch calculated the time when these vessels should arrive at Macassar, and on the 7th of June 1660 there appeared at that port two of the Company’s vessels, which came in advance to facilitate the withdrawal of the Dutch who were on land. The Dutch fleet was composed of more than thirty sail, and anchored at the island of TANAKEKE, at 7 leagues from Butagne. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.146) · Pramāṇa