Nathaniel's nutmeg
Neira remains the 'capital' of the Banda Islands, home to a couple of stores, a fish market, two streets and two cars. A wander through the town reveals a Dutch church (the hands of its clock stuck at 5.03, the exact time of the Japanese invasion), a handful of crumbling villas and the former Dutch governor's residence which today lies empty and abandoned, its baroque chandeliers slowly shedding their crystal-glass finery. The only other 'sight' is the pentangle-shaped Fort Belgica which occupies a commanding position on a bluff of rock above the port — impregnable to all but volcanic boulders and Captain Cole's intrepid troops. The castle has recently received a much-needed face-lift but the restorers have been over- zealous in their work, rendering walls and installing doors. The ghosts that were until recently said to trudge its ramparts have been forced to flee to other castles in the archipelago — rambling, ivy-clad places where one can still scoop musket-shot from the sand-filled dungeons.
Unlike the central group of Bandas — connected to each other by prahus or native canoes — the outlying island of Run can only be reached by twin-engined powerboat. Even so, the journey is a treacherous one, especially when the monsoon whips up a storm and sends mountainous waves roaring through the ten-mile channel that separates Neira and Run. As our boat smashes its way through these waters in defiance of nature, we slowly catch a fragrance in the wind — the sweet, odoriferous scent of nutmeg blossom.
We land on the island's northern shoreline — the point at which Nathaniel Courthope landed 381 years previously — which is sheltered from the monsoon by the island's precipitous cliffs. A couple of fishermen glance at this newly arrived stranger while their womenfolk wander off to fetch us some coconut milk, but otherwise nothing stirs. The island's small wooden settlement is a soporific place; a village of swept alleys, tidy gardens and shaded verandas lined with flowerpots.
No one here knows anything of the extraordinary history of their island, even though they are forever turning up coins and musket-shot in their vegetable plots. Nor are they aware that their home - just two miles long and half a mile wide — was once considered a fair exchange for a very different island - Manhattan - on the far side of the globe.
Yet they are unmoved when told of the cruel blow that fortune has dealt them, happy to see out their days on this unknown and unspoiled atoll. For although their flickering televisions allow them a glimpse of America through reruns of Cagney and Lacey and Starsky and Hutch, they will tell you that the view from their windows is infinitely more magnificent than Manhattan's glittering skyline.
For there on the cliffs, high above the translucent sea, the willowy nutmeg tree is once again setting its roots, bursting into flower each spring and filling the air with a heady, languorous scent.
Bibliography
Nathaniel's Nutmeg has been drawn largely from original journals, diaries and letters. A brief glance at this bibliography will reveal the author's indebtedness to Samuel Purchas who collected the writings of East India Company adventurers and transcribed them into his monumental Purchas His Pilgrimes. The 1625 edition is now extremely rare and even the twenty-volume 1905 reprint is only to be found in specialist libraries.
The Hakluyt Society is the other source for original writings but most of these volumes are also long out of print. They can be found in the British Library's Oriental and India Office Collections, along with many original manuscripts.
Those wishing to delve further into the letters written by overseas factors, or to read the official Company documents, will need to turn to the East India Company archives and Colonial State Papers - a task not for the lighthearted since they run to forty-five volumes. The relevant editions are listed below.
The two standard works on the Dutch East India Company are K. J. Johan de Jonge's thirteen-volume De Opkomst, a collection of journals written in old Dutch; and Franfois Valentijn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien. Full details are to be found below.
Contemporary journals and diaries
Borough, Stephen, in Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, 1599.
Chancellor, Richard, in Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, 1599.
Courthope, Nathaniel, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Davis, J., Voyages and Works of, Hakluyt Society, 1880.
Dermer, Thomas, in Purchas His Pilgrimes-, see also I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1922.
Downton, Nicholas, Voyage to the East Indies, ed. Sir William Foster, Hakluyt Society, 1939; see also Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Drake, Sir Francis, The World Encompassed by Drake, Hakluyt Society, 1854; see also New Light on Drake, ed. Z. Nuttall, Hakluyt Society, 1914.
Finch,William, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Fitch, Ralph, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 2).
Fitz-Herbert, Sir Humphrey, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Floris, P. W, His Voyage to the East Indies in the Globe, ed. W. H.
Moreland, Hakluyt Society, 1934; see also Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Hakluyt, R., The Principall Navigations, 1599.
Hawkins, William, in The Hawkins Voyages During the Reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I, ed. C. Markham, Hakluyt Society, 1878. (This is the journal kept by the William Hawkins who sailed with Edward Fenton.)
Hawkins, William, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1). (This is the William Hawkins who lived in India.)
Hayes, Robert, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Hudson, Henry, Henry Hudson the Navigator, Hakluyt Society, 1860. See also Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 3).
Jourdain, John, The Journal of, ed.W. Foster, Hakluyt Society, 1905.
Keeling, William, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Lancaster, Sir James, Voyages of Lancaster to the East Indies, Hakluyt Society, 1877.
Michelborne, Sir Edward, in Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Middleton, David, In Purchas His Pilgrimes, (vol. 1).
Middleton, Sir Henry, Voyage to Bantam and the Maluco Islands, Hakluyt Society, 1855; Voyage to the Moluccas, 1604-6, ed. Sir William Foster, Hakluyt Society, 1943.
Roe, Sir Thomas, Embassy to the Great Moghul (2 vols), Hakluyt Society, 1899.
Saris, John, Voyage to Japan, 1613, Hakluyt Society, 1900; see also Purchas His Pilgrimes (vol. 1).
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, in Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, 1599.
Letters and state papers
Calendar of State Papers: Colonial (vols 1-9), ed. W. Noel Sainsbury, 1860-93.
Chalmers, George, A Collection of Treaties between Great Britain and Other Powers, 1770.
Collections of the NewYork Historical Society (vol. 1), 1841.
East India Company, Calendar of the Court Minutes of, 1640-79 (11 vols), ed. Ethel B. Sainsbury, 1907-38.
East India Company, The Daum of British Trade to the East Indies ..., 1599-1603, ed. Henry Stevens and George Birdwood, 1886.
East India Company, The English Factories in India, 1618-1669 (13 vols), ed. William Foster, 1906-27.
East India Company, Letters Received from its Servants in the East (6 vols), ed. F. C. Danvers and William Foster, 1896-1902.
East India Company, Register of Letters etc. of the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies, 1600-1619, ed. George Birdwood and William Foster, 1892.
East India Company, Selected Seventeenth Century Works, 1968.
East India Company, A True Relation of the Unjust, Cruel and Barbarous Proceedings against the English at Amboyna, 1624. The Answer unto the Dutch Pamphlet made in Defence of the Unjust and Barbarous Proceeding against the English at Amboyna, 1624. A Remonstrance of the Directors of the Netherlands and the Reply of the English East India Company, 1624.
A General Collection ofTreatys, etc. (4 vols), 1732.
Reference works
Borde.A., Fyrst Boke of Introduction to Knowledge. Early English Texts Society edition of 1870 (ed. F.J. Furnivall) contains Borde's Dyetary of Helth.
Chaudhuri, K. N., The
English East India Company 1600-40, 1965. Crawfurd, John, A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent
Countries, 1856. Danvers, F., Dutch Activities in the East, 1945. Dodwell, H. H. (ed.), Cambridge History of India, vol. 4, 1929. Elyot, Sir Thomas, The Castel of Helth, 1541.
Flick, Alexander (ed.), History of the State of NewYork (10 vols), 1933. Foster, W., England's Quest of Eastern Trade, 1933. Foster,W., Company, 1926. Gerard, J., Gerard's Herbal, 1636.
Hanna,Willard A., Indonesian Banda, 1978. Hart, Henry, Sea Road to the Indies, 1950.
Jonge, Johan K. J. de., De Opkomst van het Nederlandsch Gezag in Oost
Indie (13 vols), 1862-88. Keay,J., The Honourable Company, 1991.
Khan, Shafaat Ahmad, The East India Trade in the Seventeenth Century, 1923.
Loon, Hendrik van, Dutch Navigators, 1916. Masselman, George, The Cradle of Colonialism, 1963. Murphy, Henry C., Henry Hudson in Holland, 1909. Parry, J. W., The Story of Spices and Spices Described, 1969. Penrose, Boies, Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance, 1952. Phelps Stokes, I. N., The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1922. Pinkerton, J., A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages, 1812.
Powys, Llewelyn, Henry Hudson, 1927.
Rink, Oliver, Holland on the Hudson: An Economic and Social History, 1986.
Rosengarten, F., The Book of Spices, 1969. St John, Horace, The Indian Archipelago (2 vols), 1853. Valentijn, Francis, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (5 vols in 8 bindings), 1724—6.
Van der Zee, Henri and Barbara,^ Siveet and Alien Land: The Story of
Dutch New York, 1978. Van Rensselaer, Schuyler, History of the City of New York in the
Seventeenth Century, 1909. Venner, Tobias, Via Recta ad Vitam Longam, 1637. Vlekke, Bernard, The Story of the Dutch East Indies, 1946. Willson, Beckles, Ledger and Sword, 1903. Wilson, F. P., Tlte Plague in Shakespeare's London, 1927. Wright, Arnold, Early English Adventurers in the East, 1917.
Index
A
Achin 7, 39, 83-92 Achin, Sultan Ala-uddin of 7,
39-40, 85-92 Aden 203,204
Ai Island: description of 112-13; secret deal with English 156; English factory on 161,194, 254; deals with English for nutmeg 192, 254; Dutch defeated on 255-56; Dutch fort on 257, 262, 293; Dutch determination to regain control of 258; Castleton deserts islanders 261; Dutch regain control 262; English prisoners mistreated on 293-94 alcohol 80
Alexander VI, Pope: division of
world by 28, 42 Amboyna: Portuguese seize 23; Portuguese fort on 68, 107-8; Middleton at 106-8; Dutch at 107-8; clove trees 108, 319; Jourdain at 246-47; English escape to from Run 307; importance of 318—19; massacre of 318-42; Dutch castle on 319,321; unlikelihood of English campaign against 319; English factory on 320; Dutch fiscal
on 322, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330, 331,333,340,341; Japanese tortured on 322; English tortured on 324 32, 334; executions 337-39; reactions to massacre 339-42, 344; compensation for victims 356
Amsterdam 52, 139, 141, 166, 170
Amsterdam 60, 61, 64
Anglo-Dutch Wars 355-56, 357, 362
Arctic: passage to East Indies via 9-40
Ascension 72, 82, 92, 102, 105, 108, 130, 144
astrolabe 55
B
back staff 55
Baffin, William 67
Bali 64
Ball, George 252, 253, 254, 285, 286
Banda Islands: seventeenth-
century map of 4; Portuguese first visit 23; description 110—13; cloths wanted by 121; and Dutch 121, 136-45, 144-90, 347-50; localised wars 138; most productive period 348; setders, quality of
Banda Islands continued: 349-50, 368; slaves on 349-50; English gain control of 366-68; decline of 368-70; natural disasters 368-69; nutmeg seedlings transplanted 368; and Second World War 370—71; present-day obscurity of 371—72; present-day means of reaching 372 see also under names of individual islands Bantam: Houtman at 61, 62, 63; Lancaster at 92-94; reputation for loose women and lax morals 97-98; Middleton (Henry) at 105-6, 149,217; ransacked by Michelbome 114-20; Japanese at 116-19; damage caused by Michelbome's savagery 120; van Neck at 134-36; Middleton (David) at 148; Keeling at 154, 263; life in 230-32, 236; fires 233-34; Jourdain at 248-50, 251; decline of the English in 249; replaced as Eastern headquarters of Fast India Company 354 Barents, William 12, 165-66, 167, 168
Barker, Edmund 46 Batavia 300, 309, 339, 343, 344 Bear 35
Bedwell, William 92 Bencoolen 368 Beomont,John 324, 325—26,
329-30, 333, 337 Bergel, Hendrik van 191, 192, 193
Best, Thomas 249-50 Black Lion 297 'bloody flux' 17, 120
Bona Esperanza 10, 11, 14 Bonnie Bess 226, 227 Borde,Andrew 18-19 Brazil 59
Breda, Treaty of 363-64 Brown, Robert 324, 326, 327 Bruin, Jan de 160 Brund, Captain William 76, 82,
96
Brunei, Oliver 162 Butung, King of 149-50
C
Cabot, John 23, 224 Cabot, Sebastian 181,224 Cambello 324 Cane, Mistris 293 cannibals 1, 196 Cape Cod 179 Cape Corso 361 Cape of Good Hope 47 Cape Verde Islands 58 cardamon 18 Carel,Jan 53
Carleton, Sir Dudley 225, 226, 341
Carpentier, Pieter de 339-40, 344 cassia 20
Castleton, Samuel 259-61, 261-62
Cavendish, Thomas 41, 42, 67 Cecil, Robert 146 Celebes 149
Ceram 7, 23,194, 195, 247, 280,
281,295 Ceylon 141,368 Chancellor, Richard 9, 10, 11,
12,15-16 Charles I, King of England 345 Charles II, King of England 355, 362
Charles V, King of Spain 25, 28, 29
Cherry, Francis 163 China 240, 312
Churchman, Bartholomew 293, 294
cinnamon 18, 20 Cirne 82
Clarke, John 324, 328-29 Clarke, William 287 cloves: value of 7; and earache
18; trade in 20 Cochin 240 Cockayne, Richard 67 Cockayne, William 352 Coen, Jan: meeting with Middleton 247-48; letters about English 256—57; warns off Jourdain 259; background 266-69; posts declaration of war against English 286; on English conflision 287; attitude towards prisoners 29—95; confronted by Dale and retreats 298-300; demands release of Black Lion 298; castigates Company 301; and Jourdain's death 302; orders Jourdain's death 302; in control of Banda Islands 309; portrait 310; and Treaty of Defence 311—12; heads massive expedition in Bandas 312; attacks and defeats Great Banda 314; brutality against Bandanese 317; sails for Batavia and Holland 318 Cokayne, George 252, 253, 254 Cole, Captain 366-68 Coleman, John 181 Collins, Edward 324,326-27,333 Colthurst, Captain 110, 112, 113, 144
Concord 252, 259 Coney Island 179, 180
Confidentia 11, 12, 14-15 Consent 148, 150,153 Constantinople 3, 20: Sultan in 207
Cook, Captain James 79 Copland, Patrick 47 Coree 147-48
Coulson, Samuel 324, 328, 331,
333-35, 336 Council of State 353-54 Courthope, Nathaniel: arrival at Run 1, 272; background 202; capture in Mocha 206, 213; at Bantam 217, 230, 240, 244; at Sukadana 242-44; purloining of the Company's goods 242; . appointed commander of two ships 271; sent to Run 271; and siege of Run 272-306; and Run's defences 275—76, 281; discusses Banda Islands' filture with Read 284; stands firm against Dutch 288; prevents mutiny 295; refusal to surrender 304; boat attacked 305; death 306; mystery about death 308 Cow 228
Cozucke, Sophany 242, 243-44,
252,254, 258,281,282 Cromwell, Oliver 352, 353, 354, 356
cross staff 53,54 Cumberland, Earl of 73 cumin 20
D
Dale, Sir Thomas 296-302, 303 Darling 201, 202, 203, 206-7,
208,213, 218,247,250 David, Cassarian 289, 293 Davis, John 65, 67, 75-76, 85, 115, 116, 221,280,283
Dedel, Cornelis 278, 281 Defence 271, 272, 282, 293 Dekker, Thomas 102 Deptford Shipyard 347, 350 Dermer, Thomas 222—24, 226 Digges, Sir Dudley 219, 221 Dorset, Earl of, Charles Sackville -19
Doughty, Thomas 30-31 Downton, Nicholas 202, 203,
209,214,231 Drake, Sir Francis 29-33, 39, 42 Dryden,John 340 Ducy, Mr 346-7 Dutton, Captain John 357—58, 359