Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/130

 96 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO to enforce two distinct claims which the Dutch believed to be incompatible with their position in the Eastern Archipelago: a claim to trade in the nutmeg and clove islands of the Banda and Amboyna groups, and a claim to a fortified settlement close to the Dutch headquar- ters in Java. A glance at the map will show the significance of these claims. At the eastern end of the Archipelago lie two groups, represented for our present purpose by Amboyna, a clove island, and by the Banda, literally the " United/ ' nutmeg isles, including Lantor or Great Banda, Pularoon, Pulaway, and Rosengyn. 1 Not only did these islets produce the most valuable spices, but they might be approached from the southwest. If the English could establish themselves in Amboyna, Pula- roon, and Rosengyn, they would, so to speak, turn the flank of the Dutch positions commanding the Straits of Malacca and of Sunda. By keeping to the south of the line of long islands (Sumatra, Java, Flores, Timor, etc.) they could secure a direct access, not unattended indeed by nautical dangers, to the clove and nutmeg archipelago., These matters, which were hidden from King James and his councillors, were vital to the Dutch control of the spice trade. The Dutch directors in Hol- land understood them better; and while granting us 1 Amboyna is an islet 32 miles long with an area of about 280 square miles, to the south of the larger island of Ceram, which is itself one of the southern- most of the Moluccas or Spice Islands. The Banda group lies still further south than Amboyna, but Pularoon and Pulaway, although prominent in the struggle between the Dutch and English,, are so small as not to be shown on ordinary maps. They are not mentioned even in Vivien de St. Martin's great Dictionary of Geography (Paris, 1879).