The 31st December, our general came on shore, and being accompanied by all the merchants who were in sufficient health, and by several others, he went to court with the king's letter, which he delivered along with the following present: A fair basin and ewer, with two handsome standing cups, and a spoon, all of silver parell gilt, and six muskets with their furniture. The general employed two or three days following in visiting our chiefest friends, as the sabander, the admiral, and the rich Chinese merchant, making them presents, which they thankfully received. We then fell to work to pack up goods for the Moluccas; but as our men recovered from the scurvy they fell ill of the flux, so that it seemed quite impossible for us to accomplish our business. The 7th January, 1605, the Dutch fleet, being nine tall ships,[126] besides pinnaces and sloops, set sail for Amboyna and the Moluccas, so that we were long in doubt of getting any loading in those parts this year for our ships, so many having gone before us; nor was it possible for ours to go earlier, owing to their weakness. The 10th January, our two ships that were to go home began taking in pepper, but were so oppressed with sickness that they could make no dispatch. The other two having taken in all the goods we thought meet for those parts, set sail on the 18th of January for the islands of Banda, their men being still weak and sickly; but how they spent their time till their return to Bantam, I must refer to their own reports. Immediately after the departure of these ships under the general, the protector sent to us for the custom, which we thought had been quite well understood, by what was paid when the ships were here before; but he demanded many duties of which we had never heard formerly, and because I refused payment, he ordered the porters not to carry any more pepper for us. To prevent, therefore, this hindrance in loading our ships, I was forced to pay him in hand, as had been done on the former occasion, and to let the full agreement remain open till the return of our general. [Footnote 126: This expression, _tall ships_, so often used in these early voyages, evidently means square-rigged vessels having top-masts; as contradistinguished from low-masted vessels, such as sloops and pinnaces.--E.]