— 37 — 



time the iihperial envoys were just in the country of the eastern king, and 

 when the soldiers of the western king cnterecl the marketplace , 170 of their 

 followers were killed by these; on this the western king became afraid and 

 sent envoys to ask pardon. The Emperor gave them an edict reproving 

 him severely and ordered him to pay sixty thousand thails of gold as a 

 fine. In the year 1408 Chêng Ho was sent again to this country and the 

 western king presented ten thousand thails of gold ; the officers of the Board 

 of Rites observed that the amount was not complete and wanted to imprison 

 the envoys who brought it, but the Emperor saicl: //What I want from 

 //those peoplc avIio live far away, is that they acknowledge their guilt, but 

 //I do not want to enrich myself with their gold", and on this he remitted 

 the whole fine. From this time they brought tribute continually , sometimes 

 once in two years and sometimes more than once a year, and the eunuchs 

 Wu Pin ( ] ) and Chêng Ho visitecl their country repeatedly. 



At that time Palembang ( 2 ) was under the domination of Java and 

 the king of Malacca falsely pretended that he had an order from the Emper- 

 or to claim this possession. When the Emperor heard this, he gave an edict 

 saying: //When lately the eunuch Wu Pin came back, he reported that 

 //you (king of Java) had treated the imperial envoys in the most respectful 

 //way; now I have heard lately that the king of Malacca has claimed the 

 //country Palembang from you and that you have been very much astonished, 

 //fearing that this was my will; but I treat people in the most upright way 

 //and if I had allowed him to do so, I certainly would have sent an open 

 //order, therefore you have no reason to be afraid and if bad men make use 

 //of false pretences, you must not lightly believe them." 



In the year 1415 the king adopted the name Yang Wi-si-sa ( 3 ) and 

 sent envoys to thank the Emperor for his kindness and to bring as tribute 

 products of the land. 



About that time some followers of the imperial envoys had been driven 

 by a storm to the country Pantsur f 1 ), and a Javanese, hearing this, paid a 

 ransom for them and brought them to the place where the king lived. In 



O - f£^ wfe K\i-kang, or the Old river, by which name the Chinese call it up to the pre- 

 sent day. 



O ^ÏE ^£ 7t» pvobably Fansur or Fantsur mentioned by Marco Polo on the westcoast 

 of Snmatra. 



