110 SOME OLD MALAY MSS. 
And for that you do affirm in them, that the Sultan of A frangie is your 
enemy, and an enemy to your people, in whatsoever place he be, from the 
first until now ; and for that he hath lift up himself proudly, and set himself 
as the king of the world: Yet, what is he besides his exceeding pride, and 
haughty mind? Inthis therefore is our joy increased, and our Society con- 
firmed; for that he and his company are our enemies in this world, and in the 
world to come ; so that we shall cause them to die, in what place soever we 
shall meet them, a public death. 
And moreover you do affirm, that you desire peace and friendship with 
us: To God be praise and thanks for the greatness of His-grace! This 
therefore is our serious will and honourable purpose truly in this writing, 
that you may send from your people unto our Bandar, to trade and to 
traffic: And that whosoever shall be sent unto us, in your Highness name, 
and to whomsoever you shall prescribe the time, they shall be of a joint 
company, and of common privileges: for this Captain and his company, 
so soon as they came unto us, we made them of an absolute society. .And 
we have incorporated them into one Corporation and common dignity: And 
we have granted them liberties, and have showed them the best course of 
traffic. And to manifest unto them the love and brotherhood between us _ 
and you in this world, there is sent, by the hand of this Captain, according 
to the Custom, unto the famous city, a ring of Gold beautified with a ruby, 
richly placed in his seat ; two vestures woven with Gold, embroidered with 
Gold, inclosed in a red box of Tzin. * 
Written in Tarich of the year 1011 of A/ahomet. Peace be unto you. 
(B) is also in the Bodleian library at Oxford, and is 
numbered MS. Douce Or. e. 4. This is undoubtedly an original 
document, for it bears the stamp of Sultan ‘Ala’u ’d-Din Shah of 
Acheen, and is evidently in the handwriting of a native. The 
letter is not dated, but being a letter of authority to Captain 
“Harry Middleton” for trading purposes, we are able to fix 
the date with some certainty, for we know that Sir Henry 
Middleton went out with Sir James Lancaster in 1601, and was 
appointed at Acheen to the command of a vessel named the 
“Susan” and sent to Priaman, a place a few miles north of the 
present town of Padang on the west coast of Sumatra, whence 
he carried home a cargo of pepper. His return was minuted 21 
June 1603, which was nearly two months before the arrival of 
Sir James Lancaster. Moreover this letter bears strong 
internal evidence of being written at the same time, if not by 
the very same person as the original letter from which A. was 
copied, and the fact that they both belong to the Douce mss. 
would lead to the conclusion that they both came from the same 
source. The similarity of spelling will be seen to be quite 
* or China. 
