Travels in India (Tavernier) 147.3

147.3

As the articles of the treaty were to be ratified at Batavia by the General and his Council, the King of Macassar equipped his galleys and sent there eleven of the grandest nobles of his court with a following of 700 men, and the chief of this embassy was the brother of the late Prince Patinsaloa. They were to present to the General of Batavia 200 loaves (pains) of gold to redeem the royal fortress, and had orders to submit to all the conditions which the Dutch proposed to them, provided that they did not affect the law of Muhammad. The General having received this embassy, which was a great honour for him, and profiting by the opportunity, and the good fortune of his arms, he himself prepared the terms of the capitulation, which were signed by the ambassadors of Macassar and were strictly observed. For immediately all the Portuguese left the country, some passing to the Kingdoms of Siam and Cambodia, and the remainder withdrawing to Macao and Goa. Macao, which was some years ago regarded as one of the most famous and richest towns of the East, was the principal object of the Dutch embassy to China, and as it was the best port which the Portuguese then had in these regions, the design of the Dutch was to ruin it completely. To-day this town, which is at the 22° of north latitude, in a small peninsula of the Province of Canton, which is a part of China, has lost much of its former renown.