Travels in India (Tavernier) 156.1.10

156.1.10

He received no further reply from me than that which I had already given, that the rekenings were at Bantam, and that I should have them sent for, provided he returned my money, on which he told me that for what I had disbursed, when I was about to leave, he would give me an order from himself and the Council to be paid in Holland by the Company. Some days passed without the matter being mentioned to me, save that once or twice I met the Fiscal, who asked me whether I had not yet obtained the rekenings from Bantam. My last reply was that I had written about them to the English President, who had my box in his house, and that I had asked him to send them to me ; but that he had replied that I must go for them in person, or at the least should send a man with an order in my own hand, and without that he could not send back my box. The truth was that it would have been difficult for him to send them, for the whole were with me, and I wished to see whether the time would not come when I should be asked no more about them. However, all those who had purchased these rekenings, merchants as well as captains and other persons who were returning this year, were put in prison, and the Council took from them, by force, all their papers, deposed them from their offices, and they were sent to Holland as common soldiers.