i6 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



Bruni the Sulu marauders who had sacked the town. 

 A few years later the ungrateful king transferred his 

 allegiance to China, and not long afterwards, with 

 calculating humility, paid tribute ^ to Mansur Shah, 

 who had succeeded to the throne of Malacca in 



1374 A.D. 



An extraordinary incident occurred at the be- 

 ginning of the fifteenth century, which again — and 

 for the last time — draws our attention to the Chinese 

 court. The great Mongol conquerors, Genghis and 

 Kublai Khan, had little to do with the Malay 

 Archipelago, though the latter sent an unsuccessful 

 expedition against Java in 1292. But the Ming 

 emperors, who were of Chinese blood, came to 

 power in 1368 and soon developed the maritime 

 influence of the empire. For a few years there 

 was a continual stream of East Indian embassies. 

 During the last twenty years of the century, 

 however, these became more rare, and in 1405 the 

 Chinese emperor found it necessary to send a 

 trusted eunuch, by name Cheng Ho, to visit the 

 vassal states in the south. This man made several 

 journeys, travelling as far as the shores of Africa, 

 and his mission bore immediate fruit. Among 

 others, Maraja Kali, king of Puni, although Cheng 

 Ho does not appear to have called on him in person, 

 sent tribute in 1405 ; and so pleased was he with the 

 embroidered silk presented to him and his wife in 

 return, that he visited the Son of Heaven three 

 years later. Landing in Fukien, he was escorted 

 by a eunuch to the Chinese capital amid scenes of 

 great rejoicing. The emperor received him in 

 audience, allowing him the honours of a noble of 

 the first rank, and loaded him with gifts. The same 

 year, having accomplished his one great ambition of 

 '* seeing the face of the Son of Heaven," this 

 humbled monarch died in the imperial city, leaving 



^ Sejarah Malaya, edited by Shellabear, Singapore, 1896, p. 106. 



