Hendrick Noorden and His Long Road To Freedom

4 Safari 23:33 Sat Nov 18 eee =9 ¢ 100% =
‘We Thanked God for Submitting Us to Such Sore but

Tolerable Trials’
Hendrick Noorden and His Long Road to Freedom
NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE
The happy celebration of Professor Ts’ao Yung-ho's eightieth birthday in Taipei

coincided with the presentation of the fourth and final volume of the Zeelandia
Castle Diaries. This series of source publications may well be called Prof. Ts'ao’s
brainchild as not only did he act as co-editor but was also animator of this
monumental project. Editing sources can, however, be rather a painful job if
editors are constrained to make a strict selection of the documents and decide
which documents should be put in and which should be left out. The diary of
Hendrick Noorden was originally selected to be included in Volume IV as it
provides the reader with an interesting supplement to the two Zeelandia diaries
that cover the period when the castle was besieged by the troops of Chinese war-
lord Zheng Chenggong, from April 1661 to 1 February 1662. Both Zeelandia
diaries, especially the rather fragmentary final journal, consist of a variety of
inserted notes and letters, concentrating on the major events that occurred in the
Tayouan area in the southeastern plain of Formosa. In contrast, Noorden’s
writings provide an eyewitness account of the dire straits in which several scores
of Company servants, who happened to be stationed on the southwestern coast
of Taiwan, found themselves when Coxinga invaded the island. Much to the
regret of Professor Ts'ao and his fellow editors, Noorden’s text, on the
publishers’ implacable orders, had to be left out, because of the exigencies of
space. Therefore we seize this opportunity to publish Noorden's story with both
hands, as a tribute to our wise and amiable teacher.
At first sight what strikes the reader most is that the author of the diary
seems to be well acquainted with the indigenous peoples (often designated as
inwoonders (inhabitants) in the Company sources) he encounters on his
wanderings. Evidently he is familiar with their languages. This aspect clearly
marks the importance of this document. It differs from other Dutch sources,
which, because of their emphasis on the trade with the Chinese, as a rule only
partially satisfy the curiosity of scholars interested in the indigenous peoples of
Formosa. In addition this diary reads like nothing less than a Steven Spielberg
adventure film depicting a hero who squared his shoulders and faced up to the
turmoil that occurred directly after Coxinga’s landing. We will come to that later,
but first let us take a look at the author himself.
AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA
Just like so many other military employees in the service of the Dutch East
India Company Hendrick Noorden was a native of a German state. He was born
in Hamburg and travelled to Asia in 1643 on board the Company ship the
Malakka, fitted out by the Amsterdam Chamber, with the humble military rank of
musketeer. Obviously he must have received some schooling in his youth
because later in his life he was enlisted as a schoolteacher in Taiwan. From 1654
he emerges from the Company sources as a schoolteacher and interpreter in the
southern languages, residing in the village of Verovorongh.! In the early 1630s
the pioneering missionaries Robertus Junius and Georgius Candidius had
already set up a network of teachers to introduce the Christian Gospels to the
Siraya peoples of those villages in the western plains that had been pacified by
the Company. The mission in the so-called southern villages, which became the
allies of the Company in the 1640s proved less successful because of their
unhealthy climate. Belonging to the so-called southern villages, the group of
southern Siraya villages situated to the south of the Tamsuy River (present-day
Kaoping River), Verovorongh was considered to be the central village. Situated
directly to the north, parallel to the river, lay such settlements as Tapouliangh,
Akouw, Swatalauw and Tedackiangh with villages like Netne, Cattia and Pang-
soya situated a little further to the south. As already mentioned this region was
notorious for its debilitating climate. As a matter of fact, the majority of
Company officials who were sent out to serve in that area died within a few
weeks of their arrival from ‘hot fevers’. Consequently hardly anyone was willing
to be stationed in the south. This was especially true of the ministers of the Dutch
Reformed Church who tried their best to eschew the inspection visit one of them
had to carry out each year under Company orders.2 Only a few officials took no
account of the region’s bad name and somehow even managed to become
immune to the diseases, Hendrick Noorden obviously belonged to this category.
The Company authorities at Zeelandia Castle must therefore have been quite
pleased to find in Noorden someone willing to serve in Verovorongh.
From the mid-1650s when Noorden served as administrator, a by no means
peaceful situation prevailed in the southern part of the island. Many entries in
the Zeelandia Diary show that internecine warfare between the villages, which
the Company had been trying to put an end to for many years flared up time and
again. The men on the spot were complaining that the villages were taking up
1 J.L. Blussé, W.E. Milde, en Ts’ao Yung-ho eds, De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia, Taiwan,
1629-1662 11I: 1648-1655 (Den Haag 1996) 432; J.R. Bruyn, F.S. Gaastra, I. Schoffer eds, Dutch Asiatic
Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries 11 (Den Haag 1979) 90.
2 See: Leonard Blussé & Natalie Everts, The Formosan Encounter, Notes on Formosa’s Aboriginal Society: A
Selection of Documents from Dutch Colonial Sources 11 (Taipei 2000) 148-149, 553; W. Campbell ed., Formosa
under the Dutch, described from contemporary records (Taipei 1992) 275, 287. '
244
their traditional headhunting practices again without them being able to bring
this pernicious custom to a halt because the Company no longer disposed of
either the means or the soldiers to send out a punitive expedition.3
In November 1655 Hendrick Noorden was commissioned to provide the
ministers with some language teaching. Later, in July 1657, he was provisionally
promoted to the rank of political administrator or chief resident over the
southern territories by Governor Frederick Coyett after the sudden death of his
predecessor, Johannes Olario. Noorden displayed a talent for the local languages
which must have contributed to his career. However, from a letter in which
Coyett informs his superiors, the High Government in Batavia, about Noorden'’s
appointment, we know that the saying ‘behind every successful man stands a
womar', certainly applied to him. Coyett writes that he filled Olario’s place: ‘by
one Hendrick Noorden, who possesses the capacities required for the office and
whose wife is a native woman’.4 It was not unusual for Company employees,
especially schoolteachers who as a rule were living in the midst of their pupils, to
marry a converted village girl. In this instance, the fact that Governor Coyett
mentions this particular detail leads us to suspect that Noorden’s wife, Maria®,
somehow played an active part in the network of relations between the Company
personnel and the indigenous population. Was she the one who taught her
husband to speak the language of her people so well? We can conclude that she
originated from Pangsoya or one of the villages situated nearby from the very
interesting detail we find in the diary on May 4%. That day Noorden reports that
some Pangsoya warriors had followed them when they fled into the mountains,
in order to try to convince the women to leave their Dutch partners and come
back with them to the plains villages to join their kinfolk. Their admonitions
however fell on deaf ears and Noorden's mother-in-law, who appeared some
time later, had climbed the mountain all by herself after having decided to join
her daughter and son-in-law and her grandchildren on their flight. Unfortunately
both women merely have a walk-on part in the remainder of the diary, though
Noorden must have had them in mind when he was praising the women’s
courage during the crossing of the central mountain range of Formosa on the
road to a place of refuge on the eastern shore.
3 J.L. Blussé, N. Everts, W.E. Milde, en Ts'ao Yung-ho eds, De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia,
Taiwan, 1629-1662 IV: 1655-1662 (Den Haag 2000) 43, 55-56, 64-65, 255.
4 Dagregisters Zeelandia, 111, 432; Formosa under the Dutch, 311.
5 We learn of her Christian name from the registration of the baptism of her and Noorden’s son,
Ulrich, on 14 April 1659 at the castle, Baptismal Register Tayouan, 1655-1661, Centraal Bureau voor
Genealogie, The Hague.
245
This brings us to the actual contents of the Diary. The text starts on 1 May 1661
when a message from the governor in Tayouan containing the alarming news of
the landing of Coxinga’s invasion force was delivered. In accordance with a
resolution, which had been issued out beforehand on March 6, 1660, mandating a
set of precautionary measures in case of such a landing, Coyett ordered Sr. Noor-
den to summon up all Dutchmen in his jurisdiction together with their wives and
children immediately and to leave for Tayouan. It should be noted that the
orders that Noorden the political administrator received differed somewhat from
those that were given to his colleagues stationed in the northwestern plains
villages. They were to draw up a force together with all indigenous warriors, and
engage the common enemy in battle. Noorden, however, was ordered to leave
his place of residence because ‘the southern inhabitants are not to be trusted’ .6
After having talked with two Pangsoia messengers Noorden realized right
away that the route back to Tayoaun was already being cut off by a host of
Chinese. Besides, the understanding dawned upon him that not only the
villagers from Verovorongh were already acting rebelliously, but that all the
people of the nearby villages indeed had turned out to be disloyal the moment
they had received the news of the landing, as they were contemplating going
over to Coxinga. This left Noorden with no choice but to guide his little group of
Dutchmen, their wives and a few Chinese tenants, taken along as hostages, up
into the mountains in an attempt to seek refuge in the village of Pimaba (or Pijma,
in the present-day Taitung area), a long-time ally of the Company, in Puyuma
territory on the eastern side of the island.”
On 7 May at night, after having experienced that (apart from the friendly
chief of Potnongh) the Paiwan mountain-dwellers whom they cam across on
their journey were by no means to be trusted, Noorden received a letter from the
schoolteacher Steven Jansen Bos. Contrary to his superior’s orders, Bos had
personally decided to surrender himself to Coxinga in return for being pardoned.
On behalf of Coxinga himself, Bos urged Noorden and his men to come over to
the warlord’s headquarters in Saccam in order to do the same, adding that the
fortress Provintia already had also been surrendered. Was it simply playing for
time that made Noorden determined to turn down without a second thought
what seemed to be quite a generous offer from Coxinga? Whatever his motives
may have been, eventually this turned out to be a very wise decision indeed.
After their arrival safe and sound in Pijma, Noorden and his party were
immediately confronted with trouble. The regent or local ruler, if not his subjects,
felt suspicious about their true intentions, while the soldiers from the local
Company garrison proved themselves to be most unwilling to share their frugal
6 G.C. Molewijk ed., ‘t Verwaerloosde Formosa, of Waerachtig verhael (Zutphen 1991) 194-198.
7 See for the origins of this alliance: Formosan Encounter, 11, 191-200.
246
ration of rice with the newcomers. As a matter of fact, they had to employ the
Company’s stock of cangangs, (multicoloured cotton shawls from India which
were traded with the Formosan people), to barter for extra rice. Moreover, ru-
mours about the imminent arrival of Chinese soldiers made the situation even
more tense. On 29 May Noorden received two identical letters from the bailiff
and from the former commander of the fortress Provintia, Jacobus Valenthijn,
written on behalf of Coxinga. Although Noorden obviously did manage to retain
his sense of humour by corrupting Zheng Chenggong’s honorary title Lord Pom-
poan to ‘Lord Pompoen’ (pumpkin in Dutch), he was surely fully aware of the
seriousness of the situation® He knew perfectly well that turning down this
second and final offer for submission would greatly endanger his people. He
therefore tried to gain time by sending a competent and reliable envoy over to
Saccam. Under the pretext of requesting a safe conduct, this inhabitant of the
mountain village Siroda, who was familiar with the Chinese language, was to
make inquiries about the situation in Tayouan and find out if any ships had been
sent from Batavia yet. Although Noorden and his people managed to hold out
for another month, alarming messages about Chinese troops advancing towards
the southern parts of the island continued to be spread by the people from the
neighbouring villages. Apart from another threatening message from the
turncoat Bos, Noorden did not obtain any trustworthy information from
Tayouan and therefore planned to put up camp in Lolongh, one of the small
satellite villages of Pimaba.
However, just when the situation in Pimaba began to grow precarious for the
party of refugees, on 17 August a hopeful message arrived from the interpreters
sent to Potnong (a small village situated on the western mountain slope over-
looking the western plains and the sea) indicating that foreign ships.had been
seen sailing close to the southwestern shore. A little later it became clear these
were VOC vessels that commuted between Zeelandia Castle and the island of
Lamey (Hsiao Liuchu) to fetch coconuts and collect cattle and any other food that
could be found to relieve the besieged castle. Having heard this news, Noorden
and some of his men went to a place along the Formosan coast where they would
be able to attract the attention of the Dutch crews. Upon their arrival in Potnong
on 10 November, the chief or captain, to whom they owed a great deal, told them
that, though he himself thought otherwise, the plains people considered it impos-
sible the Company ever would regain possession of the land. Moreover, he
revealed the appalling fate that had befallen almost all Company servants who
had submitted themselves to Coxinga: they had simply been massacred. Was it
this terrible news that led to the bold attempt of three men (interpreter Willem
8 See: Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 369.
247
Paulus and his brother-in-law who was a native of Pangsoya together with Jan
Francis) to paddle to the ships that had been seen anchoring off Lamey in a small
raft, as we read in the diary??
Noorden managed to send a message and make a deal for a possible rescue
operation. We do not want to give away the plot of Noorden'’s story. We suggest
you should read it yourself. Even to those of you who are already familiar with
the contents of the Zeelandia Diaries, and thus with the outcome of this episode,
we commend this diary as it reads like a film script.
Diary for the political officer Hendrick Noorden started 1 May 1661
May 1st around noon a horseman arrives with a letter from the Honourable
Governor, dated April 30th, [informing us] that a large host of Chinese junks was
appearing in His Excellency’s view to the north-west of Zeelandia Castle,
[ordering us] therefore to come to Tayouan as soon as possible and in good order.
After receiving this, I immediately forwarded a copy of His Excellency’s letter by
runners to all personnel residing in the South, summoning them to the village
Vorovoron.
The same day around two o’clock in the afternoon two Pangsoians arrived.
These persons I had sent last 29th to the Honourable Governor with a letter, They
reported that they had been attacked near Saccam south of the bridge by the
Hagenaers Wood by a large multitude of Chinese who had already taken the
spear of one of them by force, before these Pangsoians decided to flee away. It
seems that the afore-mentioned Chinese did not approach these indigenous men
so much to assail them, as to assault a certain [Dutch] gamekeeper who came
riding on a cart after those Pangsoians, because the Chinese had attacked this cart,
even though it was going at full tilt, with all their might and had grabbed the
draught animal and brought it to a standstill. The gamekeeper, however, having
jumped off the cart and taken flight, had caught up with the Pangsoians and in
their company arrived at the Teyckens Wood, a region situated about three hours
from Vorovoron, where he found some [other] gamekeepers, with whom he
lodged, ordering the afore-mentioned Pangsoians to let me know what had
happened to them and to inform me that I should expect them in Vorovoron
before long. Having received this message, I dispatched some Tapoloians to help
those musketeers across the Tapoloiang River, but having arrived there the
messengers did not find any gamekeepers, which led me to believe that they had
possibly been taken by surprise by some Chinese, or had been driven away from
there.
9 See: Dagregister Zeelandia, IV, 702.
248
Shortly afterwards the two runners whom I had sent to the beach at Tamsuy,
returned, reporting that two large junks with enemy forces had landed at
Tamsuy. On account of this information, I have dispatched all the men of the
entire village of Vorovoron, fully armed, to the Tamsuy River to oppose the
enemy when they landed, instructing the captains from Vorovoron to send two
runners back to me as soon as they had arrived on the beach, upon which I
would join them with our Dutchmen and with them attack our common enemy
together. The captains promised to obey this order. At this time I was firmly
expecting our Dutchmen to arrive from the neighbouring villages in Vorovoron,
who indeed did come trickling in one after the other, except the schoolmaster
Steven Jansen. The whole night we spent fully armed, firmly convinced that the
Vorovoron captains, according to their promise, would send us back two of their
runners. When nobody appeared, I suspected that they might well have treated
us treacherously. Daybreak was rapidly approaching and Steven Jansz. still did
not appear. From some schoolmasters, I learnt that the afore-mentioned Steven
Jansz. had intimated that, if at some time he was informed of the Chinese
enemies, he would not come to Vorovoron like last year, but would leave for
Tayouan via Souatanauw on his own.
At daybreak I stuck a written note on our gate, in which all Dutchmen who
might arrive could read where they could find me. Subsequently we started a
well-disciplined march with thirty Dutch hands, besides wife and children, and
four Chinese tenants [taking along] cangangs, ammunition, medicines, to the
village of Pangsoia, expecting these [villages] to be more loyal than the people of
Vorovoron. When passing the villages of Kattia and Nettene, their captains
promised me that we would meet with the people from their villages together
with the Pangsoians on the beach and that they would attack the enemies and
drive them from the shore.
The 2nd around noon I arrived in the village of Panghzoia with my company.
The villagers pretended to be prepared to withstand the enemy, but from their
lax wait-and-see attitude and because of some loudmouths, I felt that something
was amiss and that they were not sincere.
The 3rd. The horseman from Saccam was vigorously urging me to send him back
with an answer to the Honourable Governor, highly praising the merits of his
horse, claiming that he would get through, no matter how many enemies were in
the land. I allowed myself to be persuaded and sent four Pangzoyans with him,
fast runners, promising them a generous present. The horseman I provided with
two sets of arms. Furthermore, I sent our women and children, the crippled and
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the sick with the interpreter for the mountain [people], Willem Paulsz., to the
mountain village Potnongh to await further orders there.
The same day around midnight the horseman carrying the letter and his
company returned to Pangsoya reporting that fifteen Dutch musketeers were in
the village of Kattia, who had told him that they had clashed with a party of
Chinese in and around the Lange Bos and that, after losing two of their men and
killing several Chinese, they had fled to the village of Kattia in order to join our
group. Having received this report, I immediately sent the schoolmaster Gerrit
Roelofsen to the village Nettene to fetch a Bible from there, and, at the same time,
to notify the gamekeepers who were now in the village of Kattia, that if they
wanted to join me, they should hurry with him to the village of Pangsoia. Just
before daybreak the schoolmaster I had dispatched returned home to Pangsoia,
reporting that the gamekeepers would soon join us. For his voluntary service I
presented the schoolmaster with ten reals.
The 4th May in the morning after sunrise two runners arrive, sent by the captain
of Kattia, carrying a letter from him addressed to me (to what purpose only God
knows) [saying] that he together with the captains of Nettene and Vorovoron had
made a pact with the Chinese enemy, that it was true that the fortress of
Provintia had fallen and that they, the captains, had left for Saccam to confirm
this pact before Cocxinha, offering as justification [of their behaviour] that the
enemy was too powerful to withstand. When I asked these runners about the
gamekeepers, they claimed ignorance of them. I immediately sent these
messengers back with oral instructions to tell their captain that I would send him
a reply shortly through others. I kept the contents of this letter secret for all my
people and ordered them to get ready to march immediately.
And so we left Pangsoia in good order for the mountain village of Potnongh,
leaving everything behind, except ammunition, medicines and a part of the
cangangs, bringing with us thirteen Chinese tenants, whom I had taken from the
villages, some with their consent, others against their will, depending on their
reactions. We would have liked to take some rice to Potnongh, but the people
from Pangsoia refused. On the way to Potnongh we were overtaken by fourteen
Dutchmen (those after whom we had made the inquiries), who had someone
from Pangsoia as guide. From them I heard that one Joost de Ruyter, former
corporal of the watch in Tanckoia, had stayed behind in Pangsoia because of
badly injured feet. Therefore I ordered their guide, who was returning to the
village, to instruct the captains that they should send this Joost de Ruyter after us
to Potnongh.
In the evening of that day we arrived in Potnongh.
250
That same evening four people from Pangsoia came to Potnongh to tell our
women that the captains of the villages were informing them that they should
return to their villages and their kinsfolk and that they should leave us. Even
before they had gone back down the mountain, my housewife’s mother arrived
in order to flee together with us. She told us that they were chasing us
everywhere and would run us down. Also that she had met the aforementioned
Joost de Ruyter, who was almost naked, only wearing a pair of trousers, near the
village of Pangsoia.
The 5th we stayed in Potnongh and rested.
The 6th we left Potnongh and marched to the mountain village of Peyls,
accompanied for a remuneration by one hundred Vorongetters. One of our
company, Jan Cristiaensen, who was ill and heavily built, the mountain people
refused to carry. The Potnongh captain, whom I trusted, promised me to hide the
said Jan Cristiaensen in his house and have him carried after us at the first
opportunity. This captain also provided us with food in return for payment and
we were very well treated. We informed him of our predicament but kept it a
secret from all the other mountain people.
In the afternoon of that day we arrived in Peyls. In this village we were also
treated well, just some malicious scoundrels among them took possession of the
well and demanded payment from my people for drawing water from it. When I
was told of this I was inflamed with anger and I went to clear the way with three
musketeers, but the occupiers upon seeing me made a hasty retreat.
The mountain people asked time and again what the reason for this journey
was. I answered that I left for Pijma on the orders of the Honourable Governor
and that this mass of Dutchmen was accompanying me there. However, they
could not really believe that, because we did not take the direct or usual route
The 7th of May at dawn two of our Chinese have run away. I immediately put a
prize of one cangang on their head, dead or alive, but the people of Peyls did not
want to hunt them down, saying bluntly that they felt sorry for the Chinese.
The same day, early in the morning, accompanied for a remuneration by one
hundred mountain people, we started out our march to Koeloelauw where we
arrived towards evening along a miserable road across several high mountains.
In this village we were welcomed with food and drink in their customary fashion.
The captain of the village of Toesihaddangh came to greet us in Koeloelau with
some liquor. During the night I received a note sent to me via Peyls by the
schoolmaster Steven Janssen., dated the 5th of this month, from the village of
Tapolian. The contents were that he, the said [Janssen.], (praise the Lord) had
251
visited Saccam and had personally spoken to Cocxinja, from whom he had
received a pardon and who had also promised him that he would not even lose
one needle of his possessions and that he had allowed him to live freely either in
the countryside or in Saccam, or to sail to Batavia; and he trusted that should I
surrender with my people and return, I would receive similar mercy from
Cocxinja. He was awaiting our reply to this. Furthermore, he informed me that
the fortress Provintia had been surrendered on the 3rd of this month, without
even one shot being fired at it, and that Tayouan would have to yield within two
or three days. And [it] was signed: Your friend and servant Steven Jansen Bos.
With it he sent a Chinese document blotted with large letters, serpents and
other diabolical figures making it obvious from whom it came, together with yet
another smaller piece of Chinese writing. All these letters I kept hidden from my
people, with the exception of two or three persons, whom I knew to be discreet,
showing them these texts.
The 8th we were told by the mountain people that a junk was seen sailing south
on the sea off Karatongen. Therefore I quickly sent a note to the Dutch in Pimaba
by runners from the mountain people to warn them to be on their guard and to
tell them that I would join them soon.
Here, however, two of the Chinese escaped. I put a prize of one cangang on
their heads, but to no avail.
The 9th we set off and started on the difficult road to the village of Terredick,
accompanied by fifty mountain people. We thanked God that He made our
difficulties bearable, because in climbing the high mountains with their children
in their arms, our women were indeed as brave, without distress, as we our-
selves.
The 10th around noon we arrived under (in the vicinity of) the village of
Terredick. Many of us had very sore feet. Here we received a friendly welcome as
in the other villages.
The 11th we broke camp in Terredick and started our march to the village
Sarraranden where we arrived in the evening, exhausted and soaked with rain
and wind. Here we found two Dutchmen, soldiers from Pimaba, who were sent
to meet us.
The 12th we broke camp from Sarraranden accompanied by [...] local people and
towards evening we arrived in Pijma [on the east coast of the island], wet from
the rain and tired. Several small villages are situated on this route and fifteen of
252
our people stayed behind there because of sore feet, in order to follow more
easily tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
In this village Pijma there were three hundred bullets among our Dutchmen
and we brought eight hundred. We were abundantly supplied with powder. The
Dutch in Pijma were eighteen strong and we were forty-seven, including the
interpreter in Lonckiauw [near the southern tip of Formosa). The regent in
Pijmaba was wondering greatly what the purpose of this journey was. I had the
answer conveyed to him that some of the Chinese raiders had landed in the west
and were causing the population there great tribulation, and that we had
therefore come to Pijma to help protect them against those raiders.
The 13th I sent a letter to Lonckiauw addressed to the interpreter of the mountain
[languages] Dirck Horstman, who was still there together with one soldier,
telling him to come to us in Pijma, with instructions to bring the tenants from
there with him in case of trouble.
That day the inhabitants of Pijma built a guardhouse for our people as well
as a small house for our married couples. From now on we started to have our
meals together, for food using the Company rice that had been sent from
Tayouan by junk as rations for the Dutch who were stationed here. We also used
the beef of the Company cows here for our side-dish.
The 22nd Jan Cristaense, whom we had left in the village of Potnong on the 6th of
this month, was brought to us in Pijma. We paid the bearers with cangang.
The same day the interpreter Dirck Horstman and his companion arrived in
Pijma. He said that a man called Frans Michielsz had been captured when he was
alone in the tenant’s house on the beach and taken by sea to the village of
Karattongan where he was tied to a tree near the communal well, while three
Chinese were placed with him as guards. Nevertheless, this Frans Michielsz was
able to free himself (which was miraculous) and to escape back to Lonckiauw.
Furthermore, this interpreter told us that the mountain villages Tockobol and
Karattongan had come to an agreement with the Chinese enemy and had sent
their captains to Saccam. Also that the fortress Provintia had been lost, that the
Captain Thomas Pedel and three hundred men [sic!] were slain on the sandbar
Backsomboy, that one of the Company’s ships had been blown up, the wreckage
of which had drifted to Lonckiauw, where the interpreter had seen it lying on the
beach.10
Some of the Dutch inhabitants of Pijma were already beginning to moan that
we were helping to consume and thus eating into the rice that had been sent to
them as ration. I satisfied them with proper and stern words, promising them to
10 See Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 354-356.

buy rice and other necessities in again. They asked me what with, and I answered
them with the cangangs that had been sent there partly by the Company and
partly by others. This too was not to the liking of the more immoderate among
them, but because necessity dictated, they had to content themselves with it.
The 25th we were told by de regent of Pijma that he had received a message that
Company’s soldiers were fighting the Chinese fiercely on the terrain of Saccam,
which was reason for us to send the interpreter of the mountain [languages] with
ten musketeers to the mountain village of Potnongh to obtain definite
information from the plains.
The 29th the party dispatched returned home and the interpreter reported he had
learnt in Terredick that the whole mountain region was in Chinese hands and not
safe for us, that all the captains of the mountain villages had been to Saccam and
had been rewarded by Pincqua, that they were promised seven cangangs for
each Dutch head, and that the people from the Vorongit villages had intended,
when our people passed by their villages, to ambush and kill them.
In order to curb the mountain people somewhat, I planned an attack on the

peoples of Peyls and Vongorit, but those who had to carry it out, having arrived
in Zararandan, were prevented from doing so because of two letters from His
Excellency the Baliliff Jacobus Valenthijn that were handed to them there and
with which they returned to Pijma, handing them over to me, reporting that one
hundred Chinese warriors had arrived in the mountain village Kallenet.
One of those letters from His Excellency the Bailiff was dated the 8th of this
month, sent from the district of Provintia to the soldiers in Pimaba, the other
addressed to the Dutch who might still be somewhere in the south, dated the
13th of this month, from the district of Provintia. The contents of both letters
were the same, that the fortress Provintia had been surrendered to Lord
Pompoen with the permission of the government in Tayoan, the soldiers had
marched out fully armed on condition that they would be provided by this lord
with the necessities of life and accommodation in Provintia until the coming
month of December, when they would leave fully armed for Batavia with the
Company ships, if available, or if not, with lord Pompoaen’s junks. The soldiers’
muskets, however, will be stored away until their departure. His Excellency was
informing us of this at the request of Lord Pompoaen, and conveying this lord’s
offer that we would be allowed the same terms on condition that we come to
Provintia, but should we refuse, this lord would send his troops and have us all
killed, and so on.
June. The 1st of the month, taking the opportunity to gain time, I have replied to
those letters, on the one hand to hear whether Zeelandia Castle was still safe, on
the other hand to find out whether by any chance ships had arrived from Batavia,
because it was our intention to have this letter delivered by a cunning fellow,
born and still living in the mountain village of Siroda, situated near the plains,
who had been in chains in Tayouan in the past and had some knowledge of the
Portuguese and Chinese languages. In our message we demanded a pass from
this lord [Coxinga] allowing us to travel safely through the mountains,
complaining that the mountain people would trouble us in coming down, and
also a letter of safe-conduct allowing us to move unmolested with our arms past
all his soldiers in order to reach Saccam. Although it was put in this way, we did
not have any hope of receiving such a pass, but we had to write something in to
gain time, because we had no word of how things were at the castle. So we sent
this letter and instructed the messenger to pay careful attention to all
circumstances in Saccam, promising to reward him with a whole cangang (if he
brought back word). For the time being we presented him with half a cangang.
We also sent out some people to learn whether there were as many Chinese
soldiers in the village of Kallenet (as was rumoured).
In the meantime, we had been looking for a defendable place, but could not find
any that suited us. Therefore we considered it advisable to garrison the village of
Zappat with Dutchmen once more, and to use these northern quarters as a retreat
in case of an emergency.
The 4th of that month we sent ten Dutchmen to Zappat. Through them we
summoned the people from those quarters to bring our ammunition, cangangs
and salt as well as some of the sick, the women and children to that place.
The 19th, at six bells in the early evening we saw six of our Chinese run off,
whom we immediately pursued with some inhabitants from Pijma and some
Dutch, because they were fully informed about our situation. We caught the
three fleetest of them, three that were crippled have escaped through the Taroma
gorge up the mountain and into the wilderness (insofar as we were able to track
them), from where, we reckoned, it would be impossible for them to reach their
people, but [where] they will surely perish from hunger or will be killed by
hostile mountain people.
The 24th of the month some of [the inhabitants of] the mountain village Talanger
came to Pijma (as customary) to carry out their statute labour for the regent. They
informed us that the captain of the village Roedackas, called Kappan, was calling
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for the interpreter of the mountain [languages] Dirck Horstman to discuss some
thing and another with him.
The 26th the Pijma regent came to warn us that we should beware of the
Roedackas captain and his people, because he had been positively informed that
this man and his brother, called Padongdong, who had mastered the Chinese
language, were making common cause with the Chinese enemy and had offered
that the afore-mentioned Padongdong would lead them along the coast to Pijma.
He had told the Chinese who had been in his village: “Over there lies Pijma, it
will take us only one night, to arrive the next day in Pijma”. He also promised the
Chinese to try and get hold of some Dutchmen by stealth, who were great
comrades of his, and to hand them over to the Chinese.
Lately I had grown aware that in order to maintain our ground we will need a
large batch of cangans for use as payment for messengers, escorts, spies and also
for food and sustenance for all of us. Therefore, I ventured to persuade the Dutch
who were normally stationed in Pijma, with all kinds of reasons, making it clear
how necessary it was to suspend their usual board wages, consisting of cangangs,
from now on (provided that care would be taken that they would not suffer a
shortage of food). That hit a nerve that did not want to be touched, nevertheless I
succeeded in winning over some of the more sensible among them, who also
could recognise the necessity of it and together with them I imposed the decision
to suspend the board wages, with promises to them all that, hopefully after we
had made our way back, I would inform the authorities about it lest their board
wages be charged to their current account. This more or less met with their
approval, at least as long as they were sober, but as soon as they were drunk
grumbles could be heard. Nevertheless, this was what had to be done, because
necessity dictated. .
The 7th of July we had planned a raid on thé Roedackas captain and his brother,
Padondong, with seven Dutch and 120 men from Pijma to play a trick on him, as
he had planned for us, but this was foiled partly through misunderstanding or
fear on the part of men from Pijma, partly because of the presence of a certain
Chinese in that village carrying a letter from His Excellency the Bailiff, with
almost the same contents as the last one we received, and also another one signed
by Steven Janss. Bos, Barent Houthuysen, former stableman, and Pieter
Christiaensz., former schoolmaster in Thilaosent. They had written very
menacingly. So I sent them a sharp retort, though tinged with caution so as not to
provoke our enemy, because we could not know how things would turn out.
The 12th of the month, after prayers, I submitted to the consideration of the
whole community that we were different people, placed under different
headmen, some not even having a proper head, which might be a cause for
disorder, as has already been obvious daily. Therefore, would it not be essential
that we all form one body under one chief until the time things took a different
course. They agreed unanimously and deliberated for a while to whom they
wanted to offer this supreme authority. Eventually they chose my person. I
accepted, however on the condition that all the other officers would be duly
respected and obeyed in [the exercise of] their office and that anyone who was
found to behave in an unseemly manner would submit obediently to the
punishment that would be fairly imposed on him. This they all promised.
The 17th the Pijma regent came to declare his innocence stating that we should
not think he would make peace with the Chinese and hand us over to them (an
odd story, because we had never accused him of anything like it); also that his
brother’s son (who has a larger following in Pijma than the regent himself) had
made it known that his ancestors had made peace with the Company, but that he
now wanted to make peace with the Chinese. However, the regent said: “That is
of no importance, let him make peace, when he returns to the village thereafter, I
will have him shot”. These remarks that the regent uttered without our
prompting aroused some susp1c1on
The 21st the Pijma regent came to inform us that a large force of Chinese enemies
had reached the gorge of Terredick, which would arrive at the village of
Zararaudaen tomorrow night and the next day in Pijma. It was difficult to decide
what to do in this situation. The rivers in the north were wide and impossible to
cross. We could not send our cangangs, salt, the sick men, wives and children
ahead because there were no people available to help them cross the rivers. We
did not have a place where we could defend ourselves. The aforementioned
regent refused to put two locals at our disposal for payment to help us take a keg
of gunpowder to a rock one hour away. We were too weak to engage in battle
against a large force. There was no possibility of escaping. We could not trust the
people of Pijma. We were ignorant of how matters stood at the Castle [of
Zeelandia]. Finally, after heated argument, we decided that it was the most
advisable to come to an agreement with the arriving force, that is to say if they
were prepared to come to fair terms with us, confirmed in writing, in the same
way the agreement with fortress Provintia had been concluded. In the meantime,
we would fall back on the village of Longelong and bide our time there until we
had our proposed conditions returned and confirmed in writing or signed. Some
of our people drank themselves silly, they did not want to accept an agreement
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claiming that they could eat grass and get their nourishment there from and find
their food in the wild. Indeed some became very brazen, saying we might even
be able to walk through a wall using our heads. Finally we sent three volunteers
with some clauses, identical to the Provintia contract, to the approaching enemy
demanding that the messengers were to return to us with an answer. These then
knew when and where to find us.
The 23rd we received a note from the messengers [stating] that there were no
Chinese in or around the gorge of Terredick, but that a large force of Chinese had
fought Lonckiauw and, after losing a number of their people, had tricked the
Lonckiauw commanders into an agreement and having got hold of them, had
killed them all and destroyed and sacked the village of Lonckiauw.
The 24th our messengers returned home safely, which pleased us very much.
The 26th in the evening the Pijma regent told corporal Jan Engel Hartsteen that
Padongdong, the brother of the Roedackas captain, whom we have mentioned
before, had informed him, the regent, that the Chinese enemy would not come to
Pijma, unless the political officer of Voravoron [Noorden] were there, but should
they took the head of the afore-mentioned political officer and handed it to the
Chinese, these would pay ten cangangs and seven pans for it, and that then the
remaining Dutch soldiers could go on living peacefully in Pijma as before. When
this strange proposal of the regent was presented to me by the said corporal, it
alerted me for carrying out shortly what we had hitherto failed to do, for fear of I
do not know what, namely to take the cangang, salt, scrap iron, half the
ammunition, women, children and sick to safety in the northern villages and to
establish an unassailable position in the mountains with all the supplies
necessary for several months lest we would again suffer a dearth in time of need
(as has happened before).
The 28th the soldier Albert Tolver of Hamburg has died.
The 29th I set off with all the cangangs, salt and part of the ammunition to the
northern villages, taking along all the women and children, the sick and the
crippled. I had already sent ahead a surgeon under the supervision of Sergeant
Pieter Gerritsz. with written orders to build some storehouses in Palangh or
Out Arang (being inaccessible places), to buy rice, barley, beans and yams, and
have these [foodstuffs] taken up there. On my departure, I left orders in Pijma for
Corporal Jan Engel Hartsteen (who is regarded as the most experienced in these
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parts) that he should spare no expense to obtain information from the mountain
region in the west.
The 1st of August I arrived in the north in the village of Zilarangh.
The 2nd I sent two Dutchmen to the villages of Zappat, Zerriool, Dorkop South
and Dorkop North with twelve lengths of cangang to barter for rice. In the course
of this trading we gauged the capacity of these villages and found that in all
these villages there were not enough provisions to last us all for five tc six
months. The 4th of this month I have therefore sent Sergeant Pieter Gerritsz. to
the village of Zappat to inquire among the inhabitants after the journey to
Herman Broeckmans [in Terraboan] and condition of that road in order to retreat
there if the worst came to the worst.
The 6th we have a letter from Pijma that word was going round that relief from
Batavia had arrived in the roadstead of Tayouan last month and that the Castle
was still in our hands. Hearing this news we stopped (trying to establish a base
in the northern mountains), in the hope that we could soon make the western
mountains choose to side with us again. Therefore I rushed back to Pijma and,
having arrived there the 8th, I found that the interpreters Dirck Horstman and
Willem Paulus with eight musketeers had been sent to the village of Terredick to
inquire about the truth regarding this relief [force].
The 11th of this month the soldier Carel Geus has died in the village Zilarangh.
The 14th we received word through two people from Dackop that the said
interpreters had moved on to the village of Toesikaddangh; also that the villages
in the western plains were still full of Chinese; that no relief had yet arrived or
been seen, only that one night our people had made a sortie from the Castle and
had attacked Zaccam with small craft, defeating some of the Chinese, taking
several of them to the Castle as prisoners.
That same day, however, the regent of Pijma came to tell us that a large
number of Chinese enemies, who had come to besiege us here in Pijma, had
arrived in the mountain village of Tockobol but this information failed to alarm
us as easily as before, because our cangangs, salt, ammunition and the infirm had
been taken to safety in the north.
The 17th we received a letter from our interpreters in the village of Potnong,
dated the 15th of this month, and also a note from a local, the captain of Kattia,
called Caraboan Taveyo. Our people wrote that relief must have definitely come
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from Batavia, because from where they were in the mountains they had seen
ships at sea. Also that a large force of Chinese had made camp in the plain under
Potnongh, so close that they could be seen and heard in Potnong; and that the
mountain villages in these parts had blocked the paths and had decided that they
wanted to keep the Chinese out of their villages although they would not make a
hostile raid on them (with whom they had made peace earlier). The note from the
local was nothing more than a complaint about their situation, that the Chinese
were robbing them of everything so that they feared they would die of hunger;
that the Castle was still safe; that they, the people of the plains, felt great affection
for us and were missing us. They warned us to keep good guard and watch all
passages and roads, because the Chinese were threatening to come and get us in
Pijma when the rice was in bloom.
I have sent the afore-mentioned captain a written reply boasting about and
exaggerating our Pijma and Dutch force and [telling him] that we had been
awaiting the Chinese impatiently for a long time. Also that all the food of the
villages around Pijma had been transferred to inaccessible places deep in the
mountains, that we kept ourselves at the ready and that we were eagerly
awaiting the enemy to take them on. What was more, we now were powerful
enough to be able to help them, but that I was not sure that they could be trusted,
and also that up to now the rivers had been an obstacle in reaching them.
I wrote to our interpreters to be careful not to be deceived and captured by
the mountain people.
This day the soldier, Jan Rutgers of Naarden, travelling from the north, had
a fatal accident in the River Pijma and drowned (even though he was
accompanied by one of the locals). We have not been able to recover his body.
September the 8th I sent Corporal Philip Garinie with a soldier and two cangangs
to Potnong to our interpreters. |
Our rice supply in Pijma having been finished we bought as much rice as could
be obtained for cangangs in the neighbouring villages.
The 11th of the month I set out for the northern villages together with Corporal
Jan Engel Hartsteen and one soldier, to accompany all our people back to Pijma
and then to march with a company of the most able-bodied to Potnong hoping to
send a letter from there to the Company ships.
The 13th we arrived in the village of Zilarang.
The 15th the soldier, Jan Haack, passed away in Pijma.
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When I was in the northern villages, it had been pouring with rain night and day
so that the rivers were impassable and we were forced to stay in the north until
October 14th, plagued by burning fevers.
October 14th I received a note from our interpreters in Potnong that as usual a
ship had come to anchor at sea off the island Lamey and that it had been there for
some time now. This gave us great hope of sending a letter in some way or
another to our ships and therefore we hurried to Pijma.
The 19th we arrived in Pijma where I found the interpreters, who had come
down from the mountains because of hardship and illness. One Cornelis van der
Heyden, having escaped from Chinese captivity, had come along with our
interpreters to Pijma.
The 23rd we heard that the men of Pijma had cut off some heads of the villagers
of Roedackas, mentioned before several times, and rumour had it that they
intended to take more heads in the west. Therefore, I tackled the Pijma regent
about it, forbidding him to do so. I also sent two soldiers and two inhabitants
from Pijma to the villages located in and around the gorge of Terredick to forbid
them under penalty of corporal punishment to engage in hostilities against the
villages on the other side, because it was of vital importance to us to have a free
passage to Toesikaddang in order to reach the [western] plains.
The 26th I started out on the journey to Toesikaddangh with twenty-eight

musketeers and one sergeant, taking along two of our Chinese to use as rowers in
a sampan that we hoped to capture. Having reached the village of Terredick we
received word that 2000 Chinese who intended to attack us in Pijma had arrived
in Lonckiauw. I asked the messengers from where they had this information.
They answered from Toesickaddangh. Questioned further whether in that case
there were Chinese in the plains, they answered no, and that none of them had
come here in the last month. Furthermore, [asked] whether Dutch ships had been
spotted at sea, they answered yes, and that at this moment a ship was anchored
off Lamey. What road had those 2000 taken to Lonckiauw? They replied they did
not know. From all this we concluded that the arrival of the Chinese was a
fabricated rumour. Nevertheless, we immediately reported it to Pijma, to the rest
of our people, who had been left there [warning them] to be on their guard. We
also gave instructions to have one of our soldiers stay in Terredick to send a letter
after us quickly if need be. We decided to travel to Toesikaddangh to find out
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whether there was any truth in it and to have a letter delivered to our ships if
there was an opportunity.
The 30th we arrived in the village Toesikaddang where we were told that there
were no Chinese in the plains or in Lonckiauw. We also thought that we could
see a ship near the island Lamey. Immediately after arriving, we had ten paddles
made by the people of Toesikaddang for a fee, we also bought some hemp and
together made it into a rope suitable to be used as a halyard for a Chinese
sampan sail.
On November 1st with this gear we marched from Toesikaddang to the plains
and from there onwards to the coast. Three of the most audacious and eager
Toesikaddangers we have persuaded with money to help us carry our gear to the
coast. The following night we arrived on the shore without being discovered. We
were, however, so exhausted that we did not dare do anything. Therefore, we
went into a grove on the coast near Karattongan to have a rest. We kept proper
guard and though we had our rest, we did not have any food to satisfy our
hunger. The men from Toesikaddang stayed here with us, on promise of
receiving double payment.
The 2nd in the evening we broke camp and went looking for the Karattongan
tenant’s sampan, which we found, but it was unusable as it was smashed to
pieces. This attempt having failed, our people were very disheartened. I
encouraged them as much as I could, admonishing them to march back this very
night so that we would not be detected, because that would impede us later in
our other attempts. So we marched back along the coast, the same way we had
come.
Eight Pangsoians bumped into us unexpectedly on the beach because of the
darkness of the night, whom I addressed in their own language, saying: “Friends,
do not be afraid and do not run”. But without answering they fled like lightning
into the brushwood beside us and we marched on for another hour or two up the
gorge where we stayed for the night mounting good guard.
The 3rd we continued our march to Toesikaddang where we arrived in the

evening. Our men had been very troublesome during this journey, I suspect
mainly because our attempt had failed.
The 5th I sent the sergeant back to Pijma with the men while I stayed in
Toesikaddang with two musketeers and the interpreter, Willem Paulus, with the
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intention of devising other solutions. Two other soldiers who had walked
themselves lame during the journey also stayed behind in Toesikaddang.
The 6th I proceeded with two musketeers and the afore-mentioned interpreter to
the village of Peyls, and the 7th to Potnong. Rumour had it that a host of Chinese
had come to Pangsoia.
A ship that appeared near the Tamsuy inlet, was taken for a big junk by the
mountain people, but we identified it as a ship.
The 10th a Pangsoian (the brother-in-law of the interpreter Willem Paulus, who
served as our spy in the plains) came to us in Potnong saying that five ships had
been at anchor at the Tamsuy inlet, of which the crews had landed, set fire to
some Chinese houses and seized some rice. Also that Vorovoroners had killed
one of the Dutch landing party and cut off his head. Furthermore, that three of
the said ships were now lying off the island of Lamey and that there were no
Chinese in the villages.
Therefore I deliberated with the interpreter and his brother-in-law about
whether it would be feasible to paddle a raft to the ships lying off Lamey. They
thought so and the interpreter Willem Paulus and Jan Francis volunteered to be
employed for that purpose on condition that the brother-in-law of the interpreter
could be convinced to embark on the raft with them as helmsman (as he was
used to handling a raft). So I talked to the Pangsoian and he complied. I reached
an agreement with him to pay eight cangangs. What was lacking now was
bamboo and men to carry the bamboo to the beach. The Pangsoian explained that
his fellow-villagers, the people of Pangsoia, bore a serious grudge against the
people of Potnong because they had allowed us into their village and were
helping us with all sorts of provisions for payment and passed on to us
everything they heard.
The Potnong captain stated that the Chinese had promised him a basket full
of cangang if he would cut off my head, but he despises, or so he says, their
promises and threats, knowing full well that the Company will try and regain the
upper hand. The people living in the plains, according to this captain, consider it
impossible that the Company would regain possession of the land. The
Pangsoians, as the captain informs us, and which was confirmed by the
brother-in-law of the interpreter, are persecuting us furiously, monstrously
murdering women and children who had been handed over to them by the
enemy to be used as slaves. Also that the Chinese had beaten to death with rods
all the Dutch they had taken prisoner and had kept alive only the former bailiff
and two or three others.
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The 11th we sent for a Prince’s [i.e. Dutch] flag and four paddles from the village
Toesikaddangh.
The 12th we went to the village Vongorit, where - thanks to the mediation of the
Potnong captain - we persuaded some men with money to cut dry bamboo
suitable for a raft and take it to the beach.
The 12th, as above, I went to the woods with two musketeers, the interpreter
Willem Paulus and his brother-in-law, and fifteen men from Vorongit, there we
cut as much suitable bamboo as we thought we would need, and rattan for
binding. With this gear, paddles and a Prince’s flag we went to the beach,
avoiding the direct route as much as possible in order not to be detected,
resulting in the fact that we wandered around for almost half the night, but
finally we reached the beach, and prepared a raft on which Willem Paulus and
his brother-in-law and also Jan Fransis embarked. The sea being calm and the
water unruffled in our presence they quickly paddled away to the island Lamey.
We wished them God speed and returned. At a guess it was now two and a half
hours before daybreak and the moon was bright. On the way back the men from
Vorongit wanted to take the same road we had wandered there, but I and my
companion wanted to go straight back. Not being able to reach an agreement, we
parted company, hoping that we would meet up again after daybreak, but it did
not turn out as we had wished, because I and my companion strayed from the
right path into the brushwood where no path could be found and we were
wandering through it until daybreak. Finally we reached the foot of the Vorongit
mountains where we went into the woods to have a rest and fell asleep until we
were overtaken by the evening so that we had to stay the night there.
The 14th early in the morning we climbed the mountains and arrived in the
village of Vorongit around noon. The people there were surprised that we came
alone thinking that their men might have been killed by the people of the plains,
but we put their minds at rest, saying that they had probably gone hunting. From
there we set off for Potnong.
The 15th the Vorongeters we had left behind returned home explaining that the
Pangsoians had been chasing them for one and a half days, forcing them to take a
route through the mountains of Pavarau.
The 21st some people from Dalisio arrived in Potnongh on foot to inform the
captain there that the captain of Kattia, called Caraboan Taveyo (mentioned
before several times), had personally come to their village of Dalisiou together
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with seven men and had sent them to summon the Potnong captain in order to
discuss a few things with him. The Potnong captain refused, saying “if he were
sincere, he ought to come to or near my village and not keep such a distance”. I
too became suspicious, fearing betrayal; I immediately girded on my sword and
cartridge box and took my flintlock in my fist. I noticed that this alarmed the
Dalisiou people which made me even more suspicious than before. The Potnong
captain told the messengers that they should inform him [the Kattia captain] that
he could not come to Dalissiou. These messengers are close relatives of the
Potnong captain. So they went away promising to let us know the answer of the
Kattia captain the next day. About an hour after their departure, they came
walking back, reporting that fifty men from Kattia and Nettene with their
captains and followers had been hiding in the brushwood near the Kattia captain,
who had now emerged, all being armed with Chinese backswords. Now some
other Dalisiou people came to invite the son of the Potnong captain to their
village for a drink. He went there and returned home the 22nd, bringing with
him a gourd full of massichauw or strong liquor, and after he had spoken with his
father for some time, he invited me for a drink, which I gladly accepted, hoping
to get more information about our situation thanks to this liquor. We were
merrily drinking each other’s health and chatting about our soldiering. The
Potnong captain got drunk and revealed to me all that was going on; that also the
people of Kattia, Nettene and Dalisiou were after me and through his son had
been trying to persuade him to take part in this murder, threatening if he refused,
to attack his village of Potnongh from all sides and reduce it to ashes; and that
they would be here this coming night. This announcement startled me more than
a little, because there were only the two of us. Nevertheless, I appeared cheerful,
saying: “Then the captain of Kattia will be the first one to die, as I will surely take
his life and one other before I shall die too”. So the evening came and [ and my
companion lay down as if we were sleeping. Two or three hours later in the
evening we noticed that the Potnong captain and all his men were keeping guard
fully armed at a bench or meeting place in the village. So now was the time to be
on the alert. We took our arms and kept guard next to them. The captain asked
me why we did not continue to sleep. I replied that it was not our custom to sleep
while others kept guard. And so we were eagerly awaiting daybreak. In the
morning [ reflected that it would be proper to avoid this trouble, which I
confided to the captain. I put before him the idea of whether or not it would be
better were I to leave, because after my departure the Dalisiou people, most of
whom were his relatives and servants, and the Kattia captain who was his
greatest friend, would leave his village unmolested. He answered that it was not
necessary for me to leave, he declared to be perfectly able to cope with them all,
but I did not like it. I persisted in my resolve and told him plainly that I wanted
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to leave. He replied saying: “If you indeed want to leave, do not stay in
Vongorith, but travel on further to Peyls”.
So I left with my companion.
The 23rd we arrived in the village of Peyls.
The 27th. As we heard that the men of Tockobol had shown up in the gorge to
fight against the people here (because they were accommodating us), we did not
dare trust [our safety] here any longer and left today for Toesikaddangh.
The 29th eight musketeers, whom we had summoned from Pijma to assist us in
Toesikaddangh arrived. Now we considered ourselves strong enough to be able
to defend ourselves.
December 9th. The ships off Lamey having departed and until now not having
received word from those I had sent out with the raft, I really started to doubt
whether they were safe. Therefore I went back to Pijma in person, leaving the
interpreter Dirck Horstman in Toesikaddangh with nine musketeers with orders
that as soon as ships were seen anchoring at sea, they should send us a message
through runners.
The 25th of that month I received a letter from our interpreter in Toesikaddangh
that three ships had anchored off Lamey.
The 28th I proceeded to Toesikaddargh with twenty-eight men, Sergeant Pieter

Gerrits and Corporal Jan Gouloos, dividing the men among them in two equal
groups.
January 1662, on the 1st of the month we arrived in Toesikaddangh.
The 3rd we, thirty-five Dutchmen and eighteen men from Toesikaddang, set off
for the gorges where we stayed the night.
The 4th, early in the morning we cut a bundle of dry bamboo in the Vongorit
forest and carried this to the beach. Having arrived on the beach, we saw a ship
lying at anchor off Karattongan. We made haste to build a reliable raft. In the
meantime the ship set sail, tacking [a] northerly [course]. Our people were
subjecting me to heavy pressure that some of them might set sail with the raft,
thinking that they could catch up with the ship by paddling, but I could not
allow this at all, the more because the evening was drawing near. Nevertheless
their votes prevailed, which I had rather seen otherwise, but it was of no avail. So
they set sail with the raft and after a while it was obvious that they could not
catch up with the ship. Meanwhile, some armed Pangsoians turned up at the
beach, some of whom were stealing along a creek to take a closer look at us. At
this time it was twilight. I sent some [men with] flintlocks along the creek and
brushwood to capture them, but they saw our men and retreated. We had a
flowing river behind us and the sea in front of us and the flat beach on both sides,
therefore a reliable and defendable place to camp. After some time our people
returned to the beach from the sea with the raft, which delighted us all very
much.
Soon after the ship anchored right in front of us. Now was the time to put
out to sea again. We devised a plan to tie a musket on the raft and set burning
fuses along to fire it as soon as they thought the ship could hear a shot from the
raft. Jan Lodewijks, Jan Jans van Leyden and Jan Pieters took it out to sea and
before long reached the ship, because before long a gunshot was fired on board,
then the fire for a beacon was lighted and the boat came ashore. I and our
surgeon went on board instructing our people and officers to keep a watchful eye
on the Pangsoians, [saying] that I would join them again before long.
On board I met the captain, Monsignor Van Outhoorn!!, with whom I
discussed what had to be done. As it was planned to remove the garrison of
Quelang to reinforce the castle at Tayouan, His Excellency deemed it advisable
that we too moved to the castle, this being the best option, because we did not
have a fortress. Therefore I wrote His Excellency the Governor [a letter] dated the
5th of this month that I, with the consent of Captain Van Outhoorn, would break
camp in Pijma with all our people and see to it that we would be at the beach
where we were now on the 28th day after today, etc.12
At our request the captain provided us with twenty-five pieces of half
beautas'3> and twenty-four cangangs from Surat, one piece of salempoeris,’* 900
musket bullets, two cartridges of gunpowder, three bundles of Dutch fuses and
several bundles of straw fuses, some medicine and twenty-five lbs. of salted
meat.
From the captain I heard that last night he had handed a letter from His
Excellency the Governor to the Karattongan man to deliver to us in Pijma, but as
I knew that there were some Chinese in Karattongan, I very much doubted
whether the letter would be sent on.
11 Harmen van Oudthoorn, commander of the military on board the relief fleet of Admiral Jacob
Caeuw.
12 See Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 629, 626-628.
13 Bafta, a kind of calico.
14 Salempoory, a kind of chintz
267
Then I hurried back to shore to our people. Ashore we saw several fires
around us, and we also heard dogs barking, so I assumed that all the Pangsoians
were around us. Shortly after my return to shore we noticed some people at the
river behind us, lying hidden in the brushwood there. With four musketeers I
crept up on them and we took aim simultaneously, but then they started to talk
and called out to our Toesikaddanghers. We asked: “What people”? They
answered: “From Voronget”. We let them come over to us on a raft. [ knew some
of them and, although it was obvious to me that they had been sent by the
Pangsoians as spies, I nevertheless welcomed them warmly, letting them stay
with us and presenting each of them with a cangang cloth there on the beach.
Then dawn was breaking and we started to march, ready to fight. The
Toesickkaddangers who were marching ahead came running back hastily,
shouting: “We are going to die”. We were pushing up a hill where we saw all the
Pangsoians coming at us, but as soon as we fired a few shots at them during our
advance they fell back. At this time, we had to cross a river overgrown with thick
brushwood. Here we were held up for a long time and the Pangsoians were
trying to drive us into a corner, but we put heart into each other and defended
ourselves on all sides so that we all crossed the river safely. The Pangsoians
pursued us and we turned round once in a while (when they came too close) and
fired at them so that they finally left us. With drums beating we marched back to
Toesikkaddang. I sent some cangangs to the captains of Vorongit and Potnong,
informing them that these gifts were sent to them on the instructions of His
Excellency the Governor for the loyalty shown us. I also presented the
Toesikkaddang captain with a small gift.
The 5th, in the evening, we arrived in Toesikkaddangh.
The 8th we broke camp at Toesikkaddangh and departed once more for Pijma. I
left the interpreter Dirck Horstman and eight musketeers in Toesikkaddangh so
as to be kept informed.
The 11th we arrived in Pijma again and prepared everything we needed for our
journey.
The 23rd I convened all the chiefs of Pijma in the Company House and had them
informed through interpreters that the Honourable Company was sufficiently
sure of the loyalty of the Pijma inhabitants and that therefore the Governor
(resenting that we were spending our time in Pijma in idleness) had summoned
us all to the beach at Pangsoia to construct a fortress there, and that His
Excellency was certain that they, people of Pijma, would offer a helping hand in
bringing the lame and the sick. These people agreed to the proposal without
suspicion. We handed fifty pieces of cangangs together with all the other goods
still in Pijma over to them with the request they take good care of the goods and
the cattle and that these goods be returned next April or maybe earlier, handing
these over to the Dutchmen the Governor might order back to Pijma.
Furthermore, we presented the chiefs with some cangangs. So we parted from
Pijma in friendship and marched to the mountains. The Pijma regent sent three
men from his village with us, requesting that they be taken to Tayoan, perhaps to
collect a present there.
When we arrived in the mountains, we had to tell a different story. We
fobbed these people off the best we could, pretending that we were bringing
women and children, the lame and sick on board in order to attack the Chinese
enemy afterwards all the more freely, and that we would march back to the
mountains with them (as was agreed), with cangangs, salt and ammunition.
However, those people did not accept our explanation and told us bluntly that
we were not telling them the truth and that we intended to go on board all of us
together. In order not to be deprived of their assistance and to convince them to
believe our explanation, we all handed in some goods, which we left in
Toesikkaddangh for safekeeping, while also paying cangangs to several
Toesikkaddangers to provide us with bark of trees to twist fuses upon our return.
Then we summoned men from several villages to accompany us to the beach,
assuming that people from different villages would not be able to work easily in
unison to play a roguish trick on us.
February 1st we marched from Toessikaddangh to the plains and in the evening
we selected a place to rest, about two and a half hours from the beach.
The 2nd of the month. This was the agreed day on which we were expecting the
ships off the coast. In the morning at cockcrow we broke camp and started our
march to the beach where we arrived about nine in the morning, but as far as the
eye could see no sail or anything like it could be spied at sea, causing great
consternation among our people. Some suspected that I had made a mistake and
had let the time slip by and they started to say: “The one whose fault it is that we
came here and did not find any ships should not be allowed to live”. But I was
worried that the castle might have fallen. I talked to the people and tried to
reassure them as best as I could, easing my conscience with the knowledge that I
had not made a mistake.
Some Pangsoians were keeping guard on the beach in a guard house, but
seeing us they fled. A Chinese pennant was flying at this guard house on a long
bamboo [cane], which we took down and raised the prince’s flag instead,
269
deciding to stay there on the beach until halfway through the afternoon to see
whether perhaps a ship would appear at sea. Having stayed there for some time
we saw a few hundred armed natives coming at us. Also we saw large beacon
fires in the villages in the plains. We sent ten to twelve men towards the enemy
and drove them back a good distance, but the enemy came at us once again, even
stronger than before. We assumed that they were just trying to keep us busy until
the evening. Now we sent a party of forty musketeers towards them. These drove
the enemy back at least a mile and shot several of them, but it was to no avail
because as soon as our men turned back the enemy pushed forward once again.
Now it was obvious that they were only trying to keep us busy until
nightfall, and we did not have sufficient fuses to be on a state of alert the whole
night. Therefore we decided, as it was now already three hours into the afternoon,
to set out for the mountains again, which took place in good order. The sun was
hot and we saw the brushwood around us burning so that we were forced to
light opposing fires in order not to be surrounded by the enemy’s fire. The
enemy now assumed that we were in fear of them and made so bold as to press
us hard. In response, we had some of our men with firelocks and flintlocks hide
in the brushwood, which resulted in the death of several of them so that they
finally left us, or so we presumed. After that we marched for one and a half
hours at least, without being troubled, but then some audacious fellows came up
unexpectedly pressing us hard from behind. However, as soon as we had all
turned around together and made a stand against them, they took flight.
In the evening we again reached the foot of the mountains and there we
pitched camp, keeping a good watch and saving our fuses as much as possible.
Now we deliberated what to do. We decided to return to Pijma, to assault the
village of Zappoerangh, to settle there and to provide for ourselves with growing
crops and with our weapons, awaiting whatever deliverance God would grant
E
The 3rd early in the morning we ordered two of our men to climb the top of a
mountain to keep a look-out to see whether there were any ships at sea. The
look-out called: “A sail, a sail hard by the shore”. Now everyone of us wanted to
return to the beach, but the mountain people refused to assist in bringing our sick
and our children back to the beach. Our people wanted to move on, but I did not,
unless each and everyone of us was taken along. They pretended to be prepared
to carry the sick, but nobody lifted a finger. So I placed forty of the most capable
under the command of a sergeant whom I sent to the beach with a note,
requesting some sailors to carry our sick down from the foothills. I stayed there
with the most infirm, but before long the ones I had dispatched had sent some of
their men back to me two or three times, with the request that I too would come
270
marching down with the infirm, but I stuck to my decision and ordered them to
tell [the others] that they should march on according to their instructions. Finally,
before long, the whole bunch came back to me. I grew angry and addressed them
with harsh words, which set them off marching again, but they sent some of
them back requesting that I would march on with the infirm. This delayed us so
long that it was now already noon. Therefore I appealed to the mountain people
asking that after all they would assist in bringing our infirm to the beach, that I
would make a payment here and that, having arrived on the beach, I would fetch
cangangs from the ships to pay them an extra amount. Some of the more greedy
started to accept this offer and, as they were watching each other, the result was
that we got many men, more than we needed. Without any more delay we
marched down to the beach, prepared to get on board or to die. The hostile
inhabitants thought to deceive us through a ruse, but we were prepared, because
they showed themselves at some water we had to cross, challenging us, and as
soon as we charged at them they fled hastily (they had constructed a reliable
bridge across that water), probably thinking that we would chase them headlong
like yesterday. However, the convenience of the bridge was what gave their plan
away, so we did not break rank and with ease removed the mantraps they had
placed on the other side of the bridge and thus we all arrived on the beach
unharmed, where we fired three volleys as a signal to the ships, that answered
with gunshots and sent their boats to the shore.
From Master Jan of the yacht Anckeveen 1 requested twelve lengths of
cangang as payment for the people who had accompanied us. Thereupon I had
the women and children, together with the sick, put on board and we turned
towards the enemy. We received the requested cangangs which I distributed
among the people who had escorted us, at the same time informing them that we
were prepared to return with them, but that the commander of the ships had
ordered that we should all embark. These people were afraid to return on their
own, because the hostile inhabitants appeared very powerful. Therefore I
promised them to march against the enemy and to keep them occupied for some
time so that in the meantime they could get away through the brushwood back to
the mountains, which they did. And so it came about that they left in friendship,
unhindered, and that we went on board.
On the way to Tayoan, near the cape of Tanckoya we were met by a Chinese koia
or boat with a Dutchman on board bringing the news that Fort Zeelandia had
been surrendered to the enemy on the 2nd of this month.
The number of us who went on board after the hard times we had endured, also
counting wives and children, maids and boys, and Chinese, was eighty-seven
271
souls, sixty of whom were Dutch, servants of the Company. The Chinese and two
native women with a child were put ashore at Tayouan on the orders of the High
Authorities.1s
This is a summary of what I have recorded about our adventures.

On board the yacht Anckeveen, February 10th, 1662.
Was signed: Hendrick Noorden
Tallies with the original.

Batavia, at the Castle, December 25th 1662.
P. Marville
15 See Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 672, 676.
272

Hendrick Noorden and His Long Road To Freedom

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4 Safari 23:33 Sat Nov 18 eee =9 ¢ 100% =

‘We Thanked God for Submitting Us to Such Sore but

The happy celebration of Professor Ts’ao Yung-ho's eightieth birthday in Taipei

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

8 See: Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 369.

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

9 See: Dagregister Zeelandia, IV, 702.

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

The 5th we stayed in Potnongh and rested.

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

10 See Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 354-356.

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

In order to curb the mountain people somewhat, I planned an attack on the

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

The 28th the soldier Albert Tolver of Hamburg has died.

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

The 1st of August I arrived in the north in the village of Zilarangh.

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

The 13th we arrived in the village of Zilarang.

The 15th the soldier, Jan Haack, passed away in Pijma.

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

The 26th I started out on the journey to Toesikaddangh with twenty-eight

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

The 3rd we continued our march to Toesikaddang where we arrived in the

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

The 23rd we arrived in the village of Peyls.

The 28th I proceeded to Toesikaddargh with twenty-eight men, Sergeant Pieter

January 1662, on the 1st of the month we arrived in Toesikaddangh.

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

The 5th, in the evening, we arrived in Toesikkaddangh.

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

NATALIE EVERTS & WOUTER MILDE

AROUND AND ABOUT FORMOSA

This is a summary of what I have recorded about our adventures.

Tallies with the original.

15 See Dagregisters Zeelandia, IV, 672, 676.

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