HISTORY OF BORNEO 13 



consider Puni to have been on the west coast of 

 Borneo. This state is mentioned several times 

 in the annals of the Sung dynasty, which, though 

 only ruling over Southern China, had a complete 

 monopoly ^ of the ocean trade for three centuries 

 (960 to 1279 A.D.). Puni was at that time a 

 town of some 10,000 inhabitants, protected by a 

 stockade of timber. The king's palace, like the 

 houses of modern Bruni, was thatched with palm 

 leaves, the cottages of the people with grass. 

 Warriors carried spears and protected themselves 

 with copper armour. When any native died, his 

 corpse was exposed in the jungle, and once a year 

 for seven years sacrifices were made to the departed 

 spirit. Bamboos and palm leaves, thrown away after 

 every meal, sufficed for crockery. The products of 

 the country, or at least such as were sent as tribute, 

 were camphor, tortoiseshell, and ivory.' 



In the year 977, we are told, Hianzta, king of 

 Puni, sent envoys to China, who presented tribute 

 with the following words : *' May the emperor live 

 thousands and tens of thousands of years, and may 

 he not disapprove of the poor civilities of my little 

 country." The envoys presented a letter from the 

 king. This was written on what looked like the 

 very thin bark of a tree ; it was glossy, slightly 

 green, several feet long, and somewhat broader 

 than one inch ; the characters in which it was 

 written were small, and had to be read horizontally. 

 In all these particulars the letter resembled the 

 books of magic which are still written by the Battas 

 of inland Sumatra.^ The message ran : "The king 

 of Puni, called Hianzta, prostrates himself before the 

 most august emperor, and hopes that the emperor 

 may live ten thousands of years. I have now sent 

 envoys to carry tribute ; I knew before that there 



^ E. H. Parker, Chinas p. 33. ^ Groeneveldt, loc. cit. 



^ Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 383. 



