1832.] 
PO ADAM. 
127 
for an enormous kris, the blade of which was of the finest poHshed 
steel, and the handle and scabbard of the finest gold, bespangled 
with diamonds. 
This intelligent, and, in all respects, remarkable rajah, seemed 
to pride himself that he was a native of the city of Acheen. The 
king of this city considers many of the tribes and inhabitants of 
, the island, particularly of the west coast, tributary to him, and 
liege subjects of his crown ; but this pretension and this power, 
as will be seen hereafter, are but the shadow without the sub- 
stance. No one respects his power, nor holds himself tributary 
when he can, by any means, even by force, resist the collection 
of- revenue, which is occasionally demanded and enforced in 
proportion to the power of the crown ; the principal revenue or 
tribute to the crown being, however, by one means or another, 
collected from the pepper coast. The king has several vessels 
of war carrying guns of small calibre, which are sent . along the 
coast every year to receive the per centage on the sales of pepper. 
The system of administering the revenue laws may be inferred 
from the following circumstance of an interesting character, which 
we received from an authentic source. 
During the month of August, following the capture of the 
Friendship, the brother of the King of Acheen visited, among 
other places, the port of Quallah-Battoo, for the annual collection 
of dues ; intending, of course, to dem.and of Po Adam his tax, 
when matters should be settled with the Rajah of Quallah. The 
vice-king, however, had scarcely arrived, when the rajah and people 
of that place hastened to inform him of the part Po Adam had 
taken in the late affair of the captured ship ; stating, that had it not 
been for his interference, they would have had it in their power 
to have presented their sovereign, the King of Acheen, with a fine 
vessel, taken from the Americans. The vice-king, for so he was 
called, was there in command of a schooner of one hundred 
tons, carrying twelve six-pounders, and a crew of sixty men. He 
appeared greatly incensed at the loss his brother had sustained, 
and threatened immediate vengeance on Adam, as the author of 
this disappointment. He seized the moment when Adam was 
absent as an agent for a French brig, seeking a cargo of pepper 
(he would hardly have dared so much had this gallant rajah been 
at home ; but now there was no danger), and proceeded, with his 
