HISTORY OF BORNEO 19 



stopped the annual payment to Majapahit of one 

 jar of pinang juice, a useless commodity though 

 troublesome to collect. During his reign the 

 Muruts were brought under Bruni rule by peaceful 

 measures,^ and the Chinese colony was kept in 

 good humour by the marriage of the Bruni king's 

 brother and successor to the daughter of one of 

 the principal Chinamen. 



Alak ber Tata is said to have gone to Johore,^ 

 where he was converted^ to Islam, given ^ the 

 daughter of Sultan Bakhei and the title of Sultan, 

 and was confirmed in his claim to rule over Sarawak 

 and his other conquests.^ 



Sultan Mohammed was succeeded by his brother 

 Akhmad, son-in-law of the Chinese chief, and he was 

 in turn succeeded by an Arab from Taif who had 



^ This is said to have been accomplished by Alak ber Tata's brother, 

 Awang Jerambok, the story of whose dealings with the Muruts is well known 

 both to Brunis and Muruts. He set out one day for the head of the river 

 Manjilin, but lost his way after crossing the mountains. After wandering for 

 three days he came upon a Murut village, whose inhabitants wished to kill 

 him. He naturally told them not to do so, and they desisted. After some 

 time, which he spent with these rude folk, then not so far advanced into the 

 interior, he so far won their affections that they followed him to Bruni, where 

 they were entertained by the sovereign and generously treated. These Muruts 

 then induced their friends to submit. 



^ Founded after the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese, 1 5 12 A.D. 

 (Crawfurd, Descriptive Dictionary). Sultan Abdul Krahar, great-great-grandson 

 of Sultan Mohammed's younger brother, died about 1575 A.D. From this 

 fact and the statement that Mohammed stopped the Majapahit tribute, we may 

 infer that the latter sat on the throne of Bruni in the middle of the fifteenth 

 century ; if this inference is correct, the story of his visit to Johore must be 

 unfounded. 



^ Some say he was never converted, others that he was summoned to Johore 

 expressly to be initiated into Islam. 



* He is also alleged to have seized the lady in a drunken freak. It is stated 

 that the Sultan was so much enraged at this that he proposed to make war 

 on Bruni. His minister, however, suggested that enquiries should be made 

 into the strength of that kingdom before commencing operations. He was 

 accordingly sent to Bruni, where he was so well received that he married and 

 remained there, with a number of followers. Word was sent to Johore that 

 the princess was treated as queen and was quite happy with her husband. 

 This appeased the Sultan's wrath. An old friend of ours belonging to the 

 Burong Pingai section of Bruni, that is to say, the old commercial class, says 

 that his people are all descended from this Pengiran Bandahara of Johore, and 

 that the name Burong Pingai is derived from the circumstance that their 

 ancestor had a pigeon of remarkable tameness. 



^ Cf. with Dalrymple's account of the origin of the Sulu Sultanate, /<?Mr«a/ 

 Indian Archipelago, iii. 545 and 564. See also Lady Brassey's Last Voyage, 

 p. 165. 



