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his religious zeal could yield to considerations of policy.

We possess, unfortunately, no details concerning Da- breu's voyage, though there seems to be some reason to believe that he penetrated sufficiently far to the south- east to lay up his ships for refitting at the island of Am- boyna, which lies to the south of the western extremity of the island of Ceram. This would lead us to the infer- ence that the southern coast of Borneo was skirted by Dabreu's fleet, and that the islands of the Celebes and Molucca groups were visited and explored in so far, at any rate, as their principal ports were concerned. More- over, if Dalboquerque's instructions were obeyed, this voyage of exploration was conducted with a policy and in a spirit which were little common among the adven- turers of the early sixteenth century, its object being to attract trade to Malacca instead of the commission of acts of piracy and pillage, wherefore the Portuguese, who had earned a great reputation as warriors, must have been free from molestation, and since they were in no aggressive mood must have sailed whither they would. without let or hindrance. This voyage, then, although we possess such scant details concerning it, is an event of importance in the history of exploration in south- eastern Asia, and to its pacific character is largely to be attributed the rapidity with which during the succeeding fifty years the Portuguese traders spread themselves through the ports of Malaya, a matter which we shall have to examine more particularly in the following chapter.