— 119 — 



When a girl marnes , they bu}' large quantities of Chinese cups , which 

 they paint outside; rich people buy many hundreds to show their wealth. 



When they have a feast, they pat down two large bowls with wine, 

 and every two men have a cup, which they dip into it and so drink; the 

 fullgrown men rise up and perform a native dance, whilst the young men 

 stand around looking at it, but do not venture to enter the circle. 



In the above accounts the Moluccos are taken as a whole, and it is not stated 

 in what special part the king or chief lived; we may take it for granted however 

 that the king of Ternate was meant , whom we know to have been the most powerful 

 chief in those parts, when the Europeans first arrived there, and whose capital has 

 been the theatre where many fights between Spaniards, Portuguese and Dutch have 



been fought. 



THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



Tun-sun c 1 ). 

 History of the Liang dynasty (502 — 556). Book 54. 



More than 3000 li to the south of Fu-nan ( 2 ) (Siam) there is the 

 country of Tun-sun ; it is situated on a peninsula , more than a thousand li 

 in extent, and the capital is ten li (about three miles) away from the sea. 

 There are five kings, who all acknowledge the supremacy of Siam. 



The eastern frontier of Tun-sun extends as far as Kiau-chou ( 3 ) and on 

 the west it borders on India ( 4 ). The different countries beyond the Ganges ( 5 ) 

 all come to trade here, the reason of this being that if from Tunsun you 

 put out to sea for more than 1000 li, you still have a vast ocean before 

 you, which no ship has ever been able to cross ( 6 ). To its market people 

 come from east and west, and it is visited daily by more than 10000 men. 

 All kinds of valuable goods are found here. 



o % &. 



o gr A. 



( e ) This passage is not very clear and seems to have become corrupted. We shall try to 

 explain it at the end of tlüs account. 



