734 ^he EXP ED IT 10 N 
a Place of more Profit for us, tho 5 it coft us 3000 Rials 
for a Licence to trade there. Thereupon, I fent one to 
found the Sabandar, in order to know what his Demands 
might be. The Sabandar told him, the Dutch and En- 
glijh had offered the King two Ships laden with Goods, for 
the Priviledge of an eight Years Factory at Ticow, and 
that if I would give him four thoufknd Rials, and make 
the King a Prefent of 20,000 Rials, he would procure me 
a Factory for two Years. Hearing this extravagant De- 
mand, I perceived the Sabandar to be a Villain, and re- 
folded to make my Addrefs to Orankay Laxemane. Ac- 
cordingly I gave him a Vifit, and reprefented to him, that 
I had been along Time there, without making any Pro- 
grefs in my Bufinefs *, that the Pepper was fo dear at Achen , 
that I could not buy it there without a confiderable Lofs ; 
that Licow was the molt proper Place for me within 
the King’s Dominions. That forafmuch as I could not 
Trade at 'ticow , without the King’s Licence, I thought 
it the fafeft Way to have recourfe to him, knowing, 
that if he favoured me, the King would certainly grant 
it, and that out of a grateful Senfe of fuch Favours, I 
would make him a Prefent of 400 Rials, and another to 
the King, of four iron Guns, weighing 3500 /. each. Up- 
on this he advifed me not to defire any fuch thing of the 
King, who had a great Affedtion for me, and was defi- 
rous of Lading my Ship with his own Pepper. I replied, 
that I was infinitely obliged to the King, but could not 
come up to the Price that the Dutch had offered him. 
Then he told me, that I did not know what the King 
would do on my Behalf, and that the Guns I mentioned 
wCre not a proper Prefent for the King, who had more al- 
ready than he knew what to do with. 
The twenty-third I interceded with the King for the 
Redemption of four Portugueze Chriftians, that were his 
Captives at Negapatan. Their Ranfom came to 650 Ri- 
als, 128 of which I was forced to advance, retaining one 
of the Men for my Security, the reft of |he Money being 
gathered by a charitable Contribution from the People of 
Negapatan. There were five of thofe Slaves for whofe 
Redemption I interceded, but the King would needs de- 
tain one to bleed him, or any of his Family upon Occa- 
fion j for all of them not only knew how to open a Vein, 
as indeed moft of the Portugueze in the Indies do, but 
likewife pradtifed fome fort of Surgery to earn their Bread 
in the Time of their Captivity. The Sabandar. and an 
Eunuch came next Day to acquaint me, that the King 
wanted to (peak with me. In Obedience to his Com- 
mands I went, and found him very much out of Humour, 
and giving Orders for torturing five or fix Women. To 
my great Mortification, I faw thefe poor Creatures tor- 
tured in his Prefence, to the laft Degree, for three Hours, 
and the King’s Wrath increafing in Proportion to their 
Torment. After the torturing was over, he ordered their 
Hands and Legs to be cut off, and their Bodies to be 
thrown into the River. The Occafion of this Execution 
was as follows : 
On the preceeding Night there being five or fix of his 
Women in a Room adjoining to his, one of them gave a 
hideous Shriek,, upon which the King enquired into the 
Matter, and at firft they all told him there was nothing 
in it : But after many Threats, (he that had cried out, 
confeffed, that fome body came in the Night-time, and 
pricked her in the Thigh with a Dagger, through the 
Reeds, upon which they lay. Upon which fhe faid, fhe 
cried out, and awaked the reft ; but the reft did not agree 
in their Anfwers, fome faying that they heard a Noife, 
and others that they heard nothing. However, the Dag- 
ger was found, but no body would own it. After all, 
the King having afked them who it was that came with 
the Dagger, and why they did not tell him the Truth at 
firft, and finding they .would give him no Anfwer, was 
lead into the Sufpicion of a Defign againft his Life, carried 
on by his own Mother* who, as he imagined, had alarm- 
ed thefe Women, that their Outcry might induce the King 
to come out of his Chamber, which would have afforded a 
favourable Opportunity to the Affaffins. Thinking to ex- 
tort a whole Confeffion of the Matter by Torture, he put 
all the Women upon the Rack ; but their Refolution, 
Courage and Conftancy was invincible j for notwith- 
of Commodore Beaulieu Book I. 
(landing the King’s frequent Offers of Pardon, in cafe 
they would difcover the Plot, and the repeated Intreaties 
of the Cady of Achen, and the whole Court, who begged 
of them to be kind to themfelves, yet they did not fhrink 
or relent. One of them being very old, and fwooning 
away from Time to Time, the King took Compaffion up- 
on her, and gracioufly ordered her to be put to Death. 
Upon which fhe affumed a gay Countenance, and thank- 
ed the King for his Grace and Mercy, wifliing him, in 
Recompence for his Favour, a long and happy Life of 
one thoufand Years. In a word, all of them ftood out 
undaunted to the laft Galp, and even after their Hands and 
Legs were cut off, one of them had the Courage to fay, 
that for the Space of ten Years they had longed for this 
happy Hour, that delivered them from the Drudgery of 
the Caftle. When the Execution was over, the King 
afked me what I thought of it ? Tho* the Spedtacle was 
very mortifying to me, yet I diffembled upon the Matter, 
and anfwered, that without the Execution of Juftice no 
Kingdom could fubfift. 
Then the King told me in a long Difcourfe, that if the laft 
Night’s Adlion had paffed with Impunity, his very Life 
had been in Danger. That his Orankays were foolifli and 
unthinking Men, who charged him with Cruelty, not con- 
fidering that it was their Wickednefs that drew upon them 
the Anger of God, who made ufe of him as an Inftrument 
to punifh their Impiety ; that they had no Occafion to com- 
plain of him, who fuffered them to poffefs their Wives, 
their Children, and Slaves, and competent Eftates to 
maintain them, who maintained their Religion, and pre- 
ferved them from the Captivity of neighbouring Kings, and 
the Robberies of Strangers : That in former times Achen was 
a Neft of Murderers and Robbers, in which the weaker 
were oppreffed by the ftronger, and no Man was fafe, all 
of them being obliged to keep off the Robbers with Arms 
by Day, and barracade themfelves in tjieir Houfes by 
Night ; whereas at prefent they had no Occafion neither 
for Arms in the Day, or Doors to their Houfes at Night. 
That his Nobles hated him becaufe he fuppreffed Extor- 
tion, Maffacres and Robberies •, that they longed to fet 
up Kings at Pleafure, and murder them when difobliged : 
That his Mother was in the fame Intereft, and wanted to 
make away with him, in order to prefer another that would 
give way to their Infolence. 
This he delivered with fo much Vehemency and Paf- 
fion in his Looks, that all his Courtiers threw themfelves 
upon the Ground, imploring his Mercy, and among them 
even the Cadey, a Man of above eighty Years of Age, for 
whom every body had a vaft Veneration, and who could 
boaft of the nobleft Defcent in Achen. In fine, the Cruelty 
of this Prince is unparalleled j notwithftanding that all his 
Tortures could extort no Difcovery, yet he imprifoned his 
own Mother, and put her upon the Rack, and put to 
Death five of the principal Lords of his Court, whom he 
fufpedted of favouring his own Mother. He barbaroufly 
murdered his own Nephew the King of Johor’s Son, fay- 
ing, his Mother meant to prefer that young Prince to the 
Throne. He put to Death the Son of the King of Ban- 
tam , as well as the Son of the King of Pan , who were both 
his Coufins. ? 
Fie has not left one of the Royal Family but his own Son, 
who has been thrice banilhed the Court, but now begins to 
return in favour, and is only fafe for being more cruel than 
his Father, and by being hated by all the World. He has 
extirpated all the ancient Nobility, and raifed a new Set of 
Orankayes, who, in my Opinion, would live much happier 
in a meaner Capacity. In fine, his Cruelty is without a 
Parallel ; he takes Advice of no body, and never lived a 
Day, while I was at Achen, without the Execution of one, 
and fometimes feveral of his People. 
28. The 28th the King fent for me to fee two Elephants 
fight : After I came two Elephants were brought into a large 
Court, each of them having a Cable faftened about their 
hind Feet ; then came feveral Men with long Pikes, bar- 
bed at their Heads. The two Elephants fell upon one an- 
other with a prodigious Roaring ; but all of a fudden the 
King was taken ill, and the Fight was interrupted on ac- 
count of that Accident. Having prefented the Orankay 
Laxemane with an enamelled Ring, which he again pre- 
fented 
