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//rules, and as you are the eldest son of his first wife, the people of the country 

 //belong to you and it is fit that you should succeed him, in order to satisfy 

 //the people. I therefore appoint you eastern king of Sulu; you must more 

 //and more cultivate your feelings of loyalty and respectfully folio w the way 

 //prescribed by Heaven , to assist my loving disposition and continue the inten- 

 //tions of your father. Respect this." 



In the year 1420 the western king sent an envoy to bring tribute. 



In the year 1421 the rnother of the eastern king sent to court a 

 brother of her late husband, called Paduka Su-li (*); he presented as tribute a 

 large pearl, weighing more than seven taels. 



In the year 1423 the concubine of the late eastern king returningto 

 her country, she was sent away with liberal presents. The next year they 

 sent tribute again, but did not come any more afterwards. 



During the period Wan-li (1573 — 1619) the Franks attacked them 

 many times, but as their towns were naturally fortified by mountains, they 

 could not subdue them. 



We have no information about this country in former times. 



The soil is poor and rice and barley are not abundant; the people 

 all eat fish and shrimps; they make salt by boiling seawater and wine by 

 fermenting the juice of the sugar-cane; the outer fibres of the bamboo are 

 woven into cloth. The weather is always hot. 



There is a pond with pearls in it and at night their liglit is seen on 

 the surface of the water; the natives sell pearls to the Chinese and on the 

 large ones enormous profits are made. When the (Chinese) merchant-vessels 

 leave, a few of their men are detained as hostages for their coming back 

 again. 



Near Sulu there is a country called Kau-yoh, from Avhere tortoise- 

 shell comes. 



Iu addition to the above article we find the fohWing in the 



Tung Hsi Yang K'au (1618). Book V. 



Of the three kings who came to China in 1417, the eastern king 

 is the first, the western king the second, and the king of the Mountain 

 the third. 



o *\ « m m m. 



