BRITISH BORNEO. 67 
“when the dragon went forth to feed, ONG SUM PING 
‘seized the precious stone and put the lamp in its place and 
‘the dragon mistook it for the precious stone. Having now 
‘obtained possession of the precious stone all the junks set 
“sail for China, and when they had got a long way off from 
“ Kinabalu, ONG KANG asked ONG SUM PING for the stone, 
‘‘and thereupon a quarrel ensued beetwen them. ONG KANG 
“continued to press his demand for the precious stone, and 
“ ONG SuM PING became out of humour and sullen and refused 
“to return to China and made his way back to Brunai. On 
‘arriving there, he espoused the Princess, the daughter of 
“ Sultan MAHOMET, and he obtained the title of Sultan 
“ AHAMAT. 
“The Sultan AHAMAT had one daughter, who was remark- 
“ably beautiful. It came to pass that a Sheriff named ALLI, 
“a descendant of AMIR HASSAN (one of the grandchildren 
“ of the prophet) came from the country of Taif to Brunai. 
“Hearing of the fame of the beauty of the Sultan’s daughter, 
“he became enamoured of her and the Sultan accepted him 
“as his son-in-law and the Government of Brunai was hand- 
“ed over to him by His Highness and he was styled Sultan 
‘“ BERKAT. He enforced the Code of Laws of the beloved 
‘of God and erected a mosque in Brunai, and, moreover, 
“ordered the Chinese population to make a stone fort.” 
The connection of the Chinese with Brunai was an import- 
ant event in Borneo history and it was certainly to them that 
the flourishing condition of the capital’ when visited by 
PIGAFETTA In 1521 was due. They were the sole planters of 
the pepper gardens, the monopoly of the trade in the produce 
of which the East India Company negotiated for in 1774, 
when the crop was reported to the Company to have been 
4,000 pikuls, equal to about 240 tons, valued on the spot at 174 
Spanish dollars per pikul. The Company’s Agent expressly 
reported that the Chinese were the only pepper planters, 
that the aborigines did not plant it, and that the produce 
was disposed of to Chinese junks, which visited the port 
and which he trusted would, when the exclusive trade in 
this article was in the hands of the Company, be diverted 
