— 68 — 



tion lias been foliowed , because these names were written down at court and not 

 carried to China by merchants from southern China; we are however but very insuffi- 

 ciently acquainted with the pronunciation of that period and so our transcription may 

 often not be quite correct. This is perhaps one of the causes why many of these names 

 look so strange and cannot be brought back to their original native sound. Tor the 

 same reason we have omitted the names of the different envoys , which are all given 

 in the Chinese text; as they could not be identified, they were of no use and would 

 only have bewildered the reader. 



The house of Sung was driven from the throne of China by the Mongols who 

 reigned under the name of Yuan , but it seems that these did not occupy themselves 

 any more with the southern countries, after their unsuccessful expedition against Java ; 

 the history of this dynasty says nothing of the other islands and it was only after 

 its expulsion from China that the former official intercourse was resumed again. 



History of the Ming dynasty (1368—1643). Book 324. 



San-bo-tsai (*) , formerly called Kandali, for the first time sent envoys 

 with tribute in the reign of the emperor Hsiau-wu of the former Sung dynasty 

 (454 — 464) ; during the reign of the emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty 

 (502 — 549) they came repeatedly and in the time of the second Sung (960 — 

 1279) they brought tribute without interruption. 



In the year 1370 the emperor sent an envoy to command the pre- 

 sence of this country, and in the next year the king , who was called Maha- 

 radja Prabu ( 2 ) , sent envoys with a letter written on a golden leaf and bringing 

 a tribute of black bears, cassowaries, peacocks, parrots of various colours, 

 different kinds of perfumes, pi-cloth ( 3 ) , blankets of Avoollen cloth ( 4 ) and 

 many other articles. The Emperor ordered to give them a copy of the 

 imperial calendar and pieces of silk according to their rank. At the same 

 time the Board of Revenue reported that a vessel with merchandise, belonging 

 to them, had arrived at Ch'üan-chou and wanted to make it pay duties, but 

 the Emperor gave orders not to let it pay ( 5 ). 



O ZH ^& #, see abovc p. 62. 



O >% ^ M Mj A M h ) Ma-ha-la-cha-pa-la-pu. 



0) jnu Ml[ TOc « ^°"^° blaiikets; the same word, with the first eliaracter changed into 



is now used fov Spanish stripes. 

 ( 5 ) Wc have here a direct, proof that the envoys who brought tribute, were at the same time 

 eugaged in trade. 



