— 106 — 



Merchant-vessels who have been there, speak of a city lying on a high 

 steep mountain, this is probably the capital of the king of the Mountain 

 (Klaibatangan). 



Trade is carried on in the following way. Wlien a ship arrivés 

 there, natives take all the goods and carry them for sale into the interior, 

 whüst they sell also to the neighbouring countries, and when they come back, 

 the native articles are delivered to out merchants as payment. When many 

 pearls have been found during a year and our traders get large ones, they 

 make a profit of many hundred percent; but even if there are only a few 

 pearls, still a profit of a hundred percent is made. 



The natives are always afraid that our ships will not come there, and 

 whenever a ship leaves , they detain some men as hostages to make sure that 

 the ship will call again. 



The above accounts of Sulu do not require any further explanation; it only 

 deserves attention that, whüst Brunei is called the country of the pirateson page 102, 

 this accusation is not at all brought against those of Sulu, who in later days have become 

 so notorious on this account; their attack on the west-coast of Borneo however, nien- 

 tioned on page 103 , looks much lik e a piratical expedition. 



Trom the sailing-directions given in the Tung Hsi Yang K'au, it seems that 

 Chinese vessels going to Sulu , first went over to the Philippines and made the voyage 

 along the different islands of that group. 



Bandjermasin O. 

 History of the Ming dynasty (1368—1643). Book 323. 



At Bandjermasin they have a city with walls of wood, one side of which 

 lies against a mountain. The chief of this country keeps several hundreds 

 of finely dressed girls and when he goes out he rides on an elephant and 

 is foliowed by these girls carrying his clothes , shoes , knive, sword and betel- 

 tray ; if he goes in a boat , he sits cross-legged on a couch and these girls 

 sit on both sides with their faces turned towards him, or are employed in 

 poling the boat; his state is always very great. 



Many of the people make rafts of trees bound together, and build 

 houses on the water in which they live, just as it is done at Palembang. 



Men and women use a piece of cloth with many colours for wrapping 

 round their head ; their back and breast are generally bare, but soinethnes they 



o >C J$ n s». 



