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the most precious produce in the East. No sooner had the Dutch power in the Malayan Archipelago attained to sufficient proportions than a descent was made upon Amboyna, which was captured by Van Nek in 1599, al- though the Portuguese had a fort on Tidor. Two years later the Portuguese sent a fleet under André Furtado, "to expel the rebel Hollanders," and for the moment Amboyna was retaken. Aided by the Spaniards, who were now strongly established in the Philippines, the Portuguese tried in 1603 to annex Ternate, but the at- tempt failed, and in 1605 the Dutch made another swoop upon the Moluccas, their leader, Van der Hagen, driving the Portuguese not only out of Amboyna but also out of Tidor. Two years later Pedro de Acuña, the Spanish Governor of the Philippines, attacked the Dutch and de- prived them of all their possessions in the Moluccas, ex- cept Amboyna.

Meanwhile, in 1606, the Dutch under Matelief laid seige to Malacca itself, thus striking at the very heart of the Portuguese power in Southeastern Asia, and it is to be noted that the Sultan of Johor took part in the cam- paign against the successors of Dalboquerque. It was in these latter years that the Portuguese began to reap the crop of hatred which they had sown among the natives of the East during the preceding century. The Portuguese Viceroy, Martin Affonso de Castro, sailed from Goa to the relief of Malacca with the greatest armada which had ever quitted that port. In the first instance he attacked Acheh, whose king had, as usual, befriended the enemies of Portugal, and was heavily repulsed. He then passed