Dutch occupation of the Dindings, etc
This brief note by W.E. Maxwell reports on newly discovered documents in the Malacca records that illuminate the Dutch occupation of Pulau Dinding (Pulau Pangkor) and the re-establishment of their post on the Perak river.
Maxwell provides a chronological précis of orders issued by the Governor-General and Board of Administration of the United East India Company between 1661 and 1748, tracing the initial timber-cutting order at Pulau Dinding (1661), the construction of a wooden stronghold (1670), the garrison’s withdrawal after a massacre by Panglima Coelop (1693), the erection of a commemorative stone pillar, and the brief re-fortification under Baron van Imhoff in 1745 before the garrison was again removed for insalubrity in 1748 (p. 169). He further fixes the date of the re-establishment of the Perak river post, identifying a 1746 mission by under-factor Ary Verbrugge that led to the agreement of 25 July 1747 with the King of Perak, granting the Company exclusive tin delivery rights at 26 ducatoons per bhara of 375 lbs. and permission to build a fort at the river mouth (p. 170). The note closes with an addition to the list of Dutch Opperhoofden in Perak drawn from Valentyn (p. 170).