— 102 — 



In the year 1406 the king sent his minister to the court, with a 

 tribute of products of the country. The Emperor made presents of embroid- 

 ered silk to the king and his wife. 



It is told that the present king is a man from Pukien , who foliowed 

 Chêng Ho when he went to this country and who settled there; for this 

 reason there is a stone with a Chinese inscription near the king's palace. 



In former years this country has been attacked by the Portuguese; 

 the people retired into the interior and threw poison into the river, which, 

 floating clown with the current, killed a large number of their enemies; 

 on this they went away and attacked Manilla. 



Eormerly their city had a stone wall and a wooden wall; the stone 

 wall was demolished in order to fill up the island Ch'ang-yau (*) and simt 

 out the sea; the wooden wall exists untü now. 



The king shaves his head and wraps around it a cloth embroidered 

 with gold; he has two swords at his side and when he goes out, he 

 walks and is foliowed by more than 200 men. His relatives are called Pa- 

 ngeran ( 2 ) and are only second in rank to the king himself. 



The king has a golden seal, weighing 16 taels; on the seal are 

 Chinese seal-characters and on the top is the image of an anirnal; it is said 

 to be a present from the time of Yung-lo (1403 — 1424); when the natives 

 marry, they ask for an impression of this seal on their backs. I fear how- 

 ever that it is only represented as a present from the Emperor, in order to 

 impress the people, but that it has not come from China at all. 



In their temples they always sacrifice living animals. 



The people are not allowed to eat pork; who does so is punished 

 with death. 



In this country are the Mau-su ( 3 ), who go to all places as pirates; 

 half of the goods and the men they bring back with them is given to the 

 king. 



In this country there is a temple ( 4 ) in which three men are wor- 

 shiped as deities, who were superintendents of public works and of the 



(') ^BÉ IÜf* ÖM ^. ^ ie l on o"l°i Jie d island, perliaps Pulu Muara before the Brunei-river. 



(*) ^5 "pQ* HÜ Pang-ki-lan. In our days all the relatives of the king in Brunei have 

 this same title. 



(') ^ v@m ^ S ^ as a * ^ e ^ me * ue common name of the Chinese for the Borneo pirates , 

 but we are not able to lind out origin. 



(") ïhis temple is called f^L $jfa ^ J|| the temple Fow-na-chiau. 



