Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/280

 Q64> commeuce with be urged as a moral duty. In selecting fit situa- tions for such colonies there is ample room for choice, many of the islands containing commodious harbours, and fertile lands, while they are situated in the direct route of the intercourse between the most civilized tribes of the Archipelago itself, as well as in the tracts of the navigation between the great nations of the east and west. The most ci- vilized and commercial tribes of the Archipelago are situated towards the western part of it, and the principal avenues, as well as great thorough- fares, are also in this quarter. Perhaps the most happy situation for an European colony in this di- rection is the island of Banca, which has fine har- bours and an extensive territory, occupied only by a few straggling mountaineers, of peaceable and inoffensive character. The strait which divides it from Sumatra is the safest and best route for the trade of all the western world, with the principal parts of the Archipelago itself, and with every country lying to the north or east of it from Siam to Japan, all of which are only conveniently acces- sible through it. In the navigation from the coun- tries on the shores of the Bay of Bengal through the Straits of Malacca to the same countries it is scarcely out of the way. In a word, taking all its advantages into consideration, it may safely be pre- dicted, that the European colony of a commercial people, formed under favourable auspices, in Banca,