The town
of Johor was founded in 1511, by the Malays who were then expelled
from Malacca by the Portuguese. Johor was not an island, but part
of the mainland: the text probably refers to one of the islands off
its coast on which a Dutch post may have been located; some of these
islands are still possessed by the Dutch.
[28] Apparently a corruption of the name Masulipatam, a city on the
Coromandel coast of India--not, as Heredia calls it, an island.
[29] This last paragraph decides the authorship of this document,
plainly indicating that of Pedro de Heredia, who filled the post
he mentions in the last sentence, and captured the Dutch commander
van Caerden.
[30] Evidently a reference to the hospital at Los Banos (see
_Vol_. XIV, p. 211).
[31] _Achotes [hachotes] para los faroles_: A large wax candle, with
more than one wick, or a union of three or four candles, which was
used for the lanterns.
[32] The bahar (from _bahara_, a word of Sanscrit origin) has long been
in quite general use in the East. The word is found variously spelled,
"bahare," "bare," and "vare." Its value varies in different localities,
there being two distinct weights--one, the great bahar, used for
weighing cloves, other spices, etc.; and the small bahar, about 150
kilos or 400 pounds avoirdupois, used for weighing quicksilver, various
metals, certain drugs, etc. John Saris, writing of the commerce of
Bantam, says: "A sacke is called a Timbang, and two Timbanges is one
Peecull, three Peeculls is a small bahar, and foure Peeculls and an
halfe a great Bahar, which is foure hundred fortie fiue Cattees and
an halfe.
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