VALENTYN’S ACCOUNT OF MALACCA. 237 
lery, since but 5,025 tahils of the said jewellery were taken 
over by the Queen, and this amounted only to guilders 60,300, 
since Her Majesty said, first that it was not right to transfer 
to the living the debts of the dead and besides that the said 
jewels could not be worn with a Queen’s dress and that the 
King had squandered much money and drained his country 
to purchase them, with a hundred other excuses too many to 
recount. From which it may be seen how dangerous it is to 
trust to fickle Indian princes in such matters, the more so as 
there was here nowhere else to send the goods to and they 
must either be sent back to the Netherlands with great loss or 
else sold at a loss. 
The Queen reigned very peacefully, but she did nothing 
without the knowledge of her four chief Counsellors, who made 
a secret alliance, never to be ruled by a foreign King, and in 
order to realise that purpose, and to prevent a marriage of 
the Queen with a foreign Prince, they had inserted in the 
said treaty of peace, concluded with the King of Djohor, the 
express condition, that they should never send Ambassadors 
to each other, but that each of them should remain within the 
boundaries of his or her territory and refrain from all hosti- 
lities. This peace, therefore, was not at all disadvantageous 
for Djohor, its jurisdiction being properly and legally settled, 
whilst the averting of Ambassadors became a tacit excuse 
for being exempted from paying homage to the Atsjien crown 
generally, the first and chief cause of war between the 
said two Kings. But fearing that Djohor might get annoyed 
by the Queen’s letter to us, in which the proud Achinese 
nature made it appear as if we had asked pardon for the 
crime committed by Djohor, we refuted this misrepresentation 
immediately in the presence of the Achinese and Djohor 
Ambassadors, and we sent, moreover, the Shabandar JAN JANS- 
ZOON MENIE with a letter to the Laksamana of Djohor, in 
which we made a clear report of the matter and of the 
arrogance of the Achinese to which we added, that it ever 
had been and would be our principal aim to maintain peace 
between these two Princes. (Time, however, will show if 
Djohor will keep peace.) 
