OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. 409 scenes of rapine and cruelty were exhibited. Kings were made and dethroned, executed and expatriat- ed at the caprice of those petty tyrants of the Mo- luccas. The natives were unwillingly driven to re- sistance, and the long period in question was almost wholly one scene of hostility and anarchy. The two short years of the administration of the heroic and virtuous Galvan form the only ex- ception ; for with this slight deviation, every succeeding governor ^as worse than his predeces- sor. The Portuguese writers are ashamed of the crimes of their countrymen in the Moluccas, and would fain have us believe that these crimes had not their origin in the national character, but were confined to the *' knot of villains^* who happened ac- cidentally to represent their country in those distant parts ; but their uniform continuance during so long a period, and the successive depravity of every new chief, though nominated from the su- preme seat of government, must convince us, that the vices which entailed misery on the Moluccas, were those of the age and nation of the Portuguese, aggravated in this particular instance by the tempta- tions which their distance from control, the weak- ness and simplicity of the natives, and the seduc- tions of avarice peculiar to the situation held out. *
- Maffcei, Ilistoria Indica. — Lafitau, Histoires des deoou-
vertes et conquetes des Portugais dans le nouveau monde. — Histoire General des Voyages. — Modern Universal History.
