HISTORY OF BORNEO 21 



brother of his own. He even sent an expedition 

 to Manila, and on the second attempt seized that 

 place. Tribute poured into his coffers from all 

 sides. His wife was a Javanese princess, who 

 brought many people to Bruni. These intermarried 

 with the Bisayas, and from them it is said are 

 sprung the Kadayans, a quiet agricultural folk, 

 skilled in various arts, but rendered timid by con- 

 tinual oppression. Some have settled recently in 

 the British colony of Labuan, and others in Sarawak 

 round the river Sibuti, where they have become 

 loyal subjects of the Rajah of Sarawak. 



Nakoda Ragam's capital at Buang Tawa was on 

 dry land, but when he died, killed accidentally by 

 his wife's bodkin, the nobles quarrelled among 

 themselves, and some of them founded the present 

 pile-built town of Bruni. It was to this Malay 

 capital and court that Pigafetta paid his visit in 

 152 1 with the surviving companions of Magellan. 

 His is the first good account from European sources 

 of the place which he called Bornei, and whose 

 latitude he estimated with an error of less than ten 

 miles.^ 



It is easy to see from Pigafetta's narrative ^ that at 

 the date of his visit the effects of Nakoda Ragam's 

 exploits had not evaporated. The splendour of the 

 Court and the large population the city is said to 

 have contained were presumably the result of the 

 conquests he had made in neighbouring islands. 

 The king, like the princes of Malacca before 

 the conquest, had his elephants, and he and his 

 courtiers were clothed in Chinese satins and Indian 

 brocades. He was in possession of artillery, and 

 the appearance and ceremonial of his court was 

 imposing. 



^ He puts the longitude 30° too far east ; but in his day, of course, there were 

 no chronometers. 



2 Cited in full by Crawfurd, Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands. 

 Article, " Brunai." 



