— 133 — 



which their king was reproved, and Malacca received instructions to raise 

 soldiers and resist by force, whenever it was attacked by Annam. 



Some time afterwards the Emperor sent two officers with a commis- 

 sion to invest the son of the late king, Ma-ha-mu-sa (*), as king of the 

 country. These two officers were lost at sea, on which the Emperor ap- 

 pointed officers to sacrifice to them and took care of their families ; for their 

 suite sacrifices were performed by the officials on the sea-coast and their families 

 were also provided for. Two other envoys were then sent in their place, of 

 whom one again died at Canton , on which the Emperor ordered the Govern- 

 or of Canton to select one of his officers to succeed the deceased, in order 

 to finish this investiture. 



In the year 1508 an envoy called Tuan Hadji ( 2 ) came to present 

 tribute. His interpreter was a Chinese from the province of Kiang-si, who 

 had run away from China in order to escape punishment for a crime and 

 ned to their country. This man , along with other Chinese , made a plan to 

 kill and rob the envoy and then to run away to the west-coast of Borneo 

 in order to seek for treasures ; accordingly he made a quarrel with his people , 

 when they had returned to Canton, and with the assistance of his fellow- 

 conspirators he killed all of them, taking away everything they had. When 

 this event became known , the guilty parties were soon arrested and brought 

 to the capital, where the interpreter was cut to pieces, others were decapi- 

 tated, one fined three hundred picols of rice and the rest banished, whilst 

 the officials of the Board of Rites , who had allowed themselves to be bribed , 

 were all punished. The prime ministers at that time, considering that this 

 crime had been committed by a man from Kiang-si, diminished the annual 

 number of graduates for this province with fifty and no man from this prov- 

 ince got an appointment in the capital. 



Afterwards the Franks (Portuguese) came with soldiers and conquered 

 the country ; the king Sultan Mamat ( 3 ) ran away and sent envoys to inform 

 the imperial government of this disaster. At that time the Emperor Shih- 

 tsung sat on the throne; he issued a decree upbraiding the Eranks, told 

 them to go back to their own country and ordered the kings of Siam and 

 other countries to assist their neighbour in his need; none of these obeyed 

 however and so the kingdom of Malacca was destroyed. 



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