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and burned. Houtman then set sail across the Indian Ocean, doubled the Cape, and reached the Texel in Au- gust, 1597, having with him only eighty-nine men out of the company, 249 strong, which had shipped with him little more than two years earlier.

His voyage is chiefly interesting because it illustrates. the different policy adopted from the beginning by the Dutch, as compared with that of the Portuguese. The methods of the latter we have already examined: the qualities which characterised the Dutch system may be summed up in a few words. To begin with the Hollan- ders had in view a single object—trade. They evinced no desire to proselytise, or to insult the religious or social prejudices of the natives. They made no attempt at fili- bustering; behaved with considerable self-restraint in very trying circumstances at Bantam; and their generally peaceful and orderly behaviour made a deep impression on the Orientals who had become used to the license of the Portuguese. This favourable view of the newcomers was confirmed at a later period by better acquaintance with the Dutchmen, and Pyrard de Laval, for instance, tells us that at Bantam "the king had an affection to- wards them and the people loved them." Their claim upon the good will of the natives rested also to no small extent upon their open hostility to the Portuguese, and though they were guilty of many acts of piracy, they tried to make a distinction between the property of their European enemies and that of Asiatic traders. Speaking generally, both the Dutch and the English were well re- ceived in the East, principally because they were not