Focusing on maritime Southeast Asia, particularly eastern Indonesia, with examples from Timor, Savu, Solor and Central and South Maluku, this essay deals with the perception of religion in official travel reports written by VOC representatives in the 17th and 18th centuries. The article reveals how religious matters interact with the attempts of the VOC to oversee and govern the dependent islands of the East Indies. Using the daily notes (Dagregisters) and travel reports that Dutch Residents and Commissioners kept when touring the dependencies of the East India Company, the study demonstrates that the Dutch officials attended rituals and ceremonies, and had to play along with local religious customs in order to fulfil their role as mediators and arbiters.