[73r] The island of Brunei, which is presently ruled by Sultan Nur Alam, who while prince went by a different name, Sultan Rijal, is 280 leagues to the southwest of Manila. It is an island oriented north-east to south-west. It is large, being more than 350 leagues in diameter. As one approaches from Manila, the first part of it that can be sighted is a headland called Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, which means ‘headland of the pirates’. The said king has his seat of government and palace, as have all of his predecessors, on the banks of a river called the Brunei, after which the island and realm are named. The river is approximately 35 leagues down the coast from the headland of the pirates. There is an inlet before entering the river that is twelve leagues in diameter. The entire inlet and coast of this side of the island is silty and the floor of the inlet is smooth, and thus there are not many breakers or waves, even when the wind blows hard. The entire coast of Brunei is 20 to 30 fathoms deep and thus one can throw anchor at any point. The inlet is clean and shallow, being at most two or three fathoms deep, except at the heads of two channels, which are no more than half a league distant from each other. At these locations the water is deeper. These two channels are called muara besar, which means ‘big estuary’, andmuara darmit, which means ‘little estuary’. These names are taken from two small islands that lie at the heads of the two channels that bear the same names. Two leagues from the inlet toward the sea is an inhabited islet called Labuan, or, alternatively, Bancolasi, named after a village called Bancolasi on the same island. The King of Brunei’s

​

[73v] palace and seat of government is a league and a half up river from the coast; as I have mentioned, this main river is called the Brunei. This city has about 8,000 households. And because it was built on water, the only way to travel in the city is in small boats called bangkas, of which they have a great quantity to supply this need. Outlying the capital there are many other towns on up the rivers and along the coast; indeed, the island is heavily populated, especially the interior. All the houses are made of timber and are thatched with nipa leaves. They are constructed very close together, and hence the people are wary of fires. The city’s waterways are all salty, thus the city is more an arm of the sea than a river, though it is true that there is fresh water two leagues upriver. This arm of the city is approximately 250 paces wide. The city is protected on two sides by high mountain ranges. The inhabitants go to great lengths to bring the fresh water they con- sume to their houses at low cost. It flows day and night into a kind of basin, as follows. There is an abundance of very good water in these two mountain ranges. They take big bamboo canes, split them and place supports under them so that they function like troughs that carry the water from the two mountain ranges to their houses. The jurisdiction of this realm extends to a river that is near the end of this island of Borneo; the river, called the Sambas, runs toward the south-west. It once belonged to this kingdom but is now in the possession of the queen of Java because she seized it. There are many other islands besides this one that are subject to the said kingdom, such as the island of Jolo on the opposite coast. All these islands obey and pay tribute to Brunei. It should be made clear that the kingdom of Brunei is not native, but is foreign. Thus there are two kinds 

​

[74r] of people on the island. The first are the old natives, whom we call Visayans, although it is not their custom to tat- too their bodies like the people of Cebu. In their own language they are called bagangan. They do not follow the Koran and they keep lots of pigs in their villages, eating both domesticated and wild ones, for the island abounds with them. These Visayans live mainly in the interior. They cultivate and harvest all of their own foodstuffs except for wheat, which is grown on the island of Luzon. They [the merchants of Luzon] bring wheat to sell to the city of Brunei and to other surrounding regions where there is need for it. These Visayans have no lord who governs them or to whom they make obeisance. However, each village has leading men who act as chieftains because they are wealthy and come from respected families, and thus amongst them there are almost always divisions. They render homage to the king of Brunei and pay him tribute, which they call upeti. And they pay this tribute more out of force than good will. They are enemies of the Bruneians and wish them evil and kill them whenever they catch them off guard. And this is very common, for whenever they are presented with an occasion to do so they do not waste it. And when the said Visayans sue each other at the law, they present their cases to the Bruneian judges to administer justice. And this is only because the Visayans submit to it, for were they not to do so, the king would never compel them to appear before his judges. The other people that live in this realm are known as islams, meaning people who do not eat pork; we call them Bruneians. These are the people who follow the Koran, and who are outsiders. And their origin and lineage are as follows. They say that 300 years ago—a little more or less—there arrived the lord of a city called Cavin, located in those regions and provinces where the Malay language is spoken, on the Mecca side. This man’s name was Sultan Yusuf, who was reportedly king of the city of Cavin. He left his kingdom, bringing 

​

[74v] a multitude of people with him in many ships. And after coming here, he discovered many lands, always retaining his title of king and lord over all the people, calling them his slaves. And continuing his voyage, he reached this island of Borneo, where he fought several battles with the native Visayans who inhabited them. And because their endeavor had a favorable outcome, they remained a few days, making inquiries concerning the land and fruits they found there, including camphor, which in our day is not known to exist anywhere else but in this kingdom and is highly prized among the Visayans, as it is among many other nations. They also found goldmines and placers above the southern boundary, as well as several pearl fisheries. Not content with this, and being youthful and given to exploration, he deter- mined to push ahead in search of more lands, and taking to his ships again with all his people, he sailed north by north-east. And after a few days he made port in the land of China, and requesting permission to go ashore, he disembarked and went to see the Chinese Emperor, whom he recognized as the supreme king. This Chinese emperor conferred on him the title of king and authorized his use of his royal insignias and coat-of-arms, which the king of Brunei possesses to this day. And seeing that this Sultan Yusuf was a bachelor, he gave him a Sangley woman to wife, who, as it is told to this day in this realm, was a relative of the Chinese Emperor. This Sangley woman was the ruler of a city called Nantay in the kingdom of China. After the wedding, Sultan Yusuf bade farewell to the Chinese Emperor and, taking his wife and entourage with him, returned to Borneo, leaving someone behind in the city of Nantay to keep accounts of the revenues and estates belonging to his wife. And so today, even though the kings of Brunei have no dealings with the residents of 

​

[75r] Nantay, they still consider themselves lords of the city of Nantay, and they say that they have treasured up the revenues over all these years in the event that some king of Brunei comes asking for them.

After Sultan Yusuf arrived in Borneo, he settled in with his slaves or vassals and subjugated the native Visayans of the island, forcing them to pay tribute to him. He bore children on the island by his aforementioned wife. He died a very old man and bequeathed his throne to his eldest son, according to custom. At his death he left a golden tablet behind that was reportedly thin and which measured a fathom square; he ordered that the names of all the kings who descended from him be set down in writing on it. And thus they have been recorded on this tablet, which the king himself kept and on which he wrote his name with his own hand. This tablet was lost when Francisco de Sande sacked Brunei while governor of these islands. It is surmised that the old king, the father of the present king, who had possession of the tablet, buried it or threw it into the sea. And because this king died around that time and left no clues as to the fate of the tablet, the names of the past kings of Brunei are not known, save those who have been preserved by memory, which are as follows. The great-grandfather of the current king was named Sultan Sulaiman, and his grandfather was Sultan Salan. And the father of the present king, the one who lost the plate, was called Sultan Aril Lula. The current king, as I have said, is Sultan Nur Alam, and his son, who has been named his successor, is called Raja Berunai. The kings who have reigned in Brunei have always been legitimate heirs to the throne without interruption, but the eldest sons have always been the successors, and this has been the manner of succession from Sultan Yusuf and his wife. Their usual 

​

[75v] order of succession is for the eldest male child to inherit the realm, even if he is absent, and not a daughter, though she may be the eldest child. The rest of the estate is divided equally among the legitimate children, and if the father gives them property while he still lives, this property is not taken into account. If he has bastard children, the king can bequeath something to them during his lifetime, provided it is not treasure that he is known to have inherited from his parents; it must rather be goods acquired by him alone. At his death his bastard children inherit the property he acquired in his lifetime in equal shares with his legitimate children. The rest of the royal household, which are called pengiran, meaning ‘titled lords’, receive equal parts of their inheritance, be they male or female; no mejora is given, not even to the legitimate offspring. And the father may also bestow whatever he wishes on his children while he is alive, as I have noted, provided that it is not excessive. And if he has bastard children, he can give them something as long as it is not family treasure which is known to have been inherited from his parents, as I have indicated. And at his death his bastard children inherit their part of the estate that he has acquired; this part of the estate is called the kalakal, which means that which he has earned. This same pattern is followed by some of the free people, of which there are few; most of the com- moners are considered slaves of the king, and when they die, the king appropriates their property and, if they have children, he distributes half of it to them so they can make their way in life. He keeps the other half for himself by way of common inheritance, which belongs to him. If they have no children, the king takes all of it, and the decedent cannot leave any bequest or gift to a brother or other relative. And if in his lifetime he gives something to a relative, and the king discovers it, he confiscates it. And if any man or woman of these Bornean slaves is a virgin 

​

[76r] or marries an alien or a native or some free Visayan, when he or she dies, the king inherits half of the estate, the other half being divided up equally among whatever children they may have had without following the free womb law; the other half of the property falls to the free descendants. And of the portion that falls to the king, he takes half for him- self and distributes the other half to the children of the slaves. These customs of inheritance are understood among the Borneans who obey the Koran. And among the Visayans, if a free person dies, his estate is divided into equal parts. The king of Brunei has four judges who administer justice in a way that resembles an audiencia. Their titles as judges are as follows: bendahara, temenggung, pengiran degaron, shahbandar. All of these are pengiran, though I have not included this term with these titles. The cases heard by each of these judges are clearly defined. The pengiran bendahara, which means ‘titled nobleman’ and ‘governor’, and his partner, the pengiran temeng- gung, which means ‘titled nobleman’ and ‘companion of the governor’—these two are the judges over all suits and cases that arise among the households and natives of the kingdom. The pengiran degaron, which is to say ‘titled noble-man’ and ‘overseer of the royal treasury’, is judge over the royal treasury and all the king’s slaves and all the people who are engaged in royal service, which means they are dock and foundry workers. And finally, there is the pengiran shahbandar, which means ‘titled nobleman’ and ‘Lord of the Harbor’. He is the Lord of the Harbor and the judge over all foreigners, as well as all weights and measures in the kingdom. These judges, together and separately, can have people hung and executed without the involvement of the king, because in his absence

​

[76v] they represent, collectively and separately, the person of the king. When these four judges meet as a body, they enjoy a certain amount of free- dom. If the superior judge—since they have ranks—wishes to take a case from a lower judge, he can do so with it as he sees fit without committing a crime. The pengiran bendahara is the chief judge, and the second is the pengiran temenggung, and the third the pengiran degaron, and the fourth and least of all is the pengiran shahbandar. These positions are never filled by anyone but the brothers or sons of the king, and thus those who currently occupy the two top judgeships are the legitimate brothers of the king. And the pengiran degaron is the king’s cousin (his son-in-law through a different line), and the pengiran shahbandar is a bastard brother of the king and older than he. The cases heard by these judges are not presented for appeal before the king, because the king sanctions their decisions, be they good or bad. These judges always hear cases in the same city where the king is residing. And when the king sends a captain to towns of the Visayans to collect tribute, or to other towns subject to the king, he has permission from the governor to hear their cases. These judges have numerous bailiffs, which are called patih69 in their tongue. They do not nor- mally carry a staff or wear an insignia of any kind. They arrest criminals and generally take people with them who act as constables. The king of Brunei also has three officials who administer the royal treasury; they are similar to a fac- tor, an accountant and a treasurer. These are known collectively and individu- ally as orang kaya degaron, which is to say ‘officials who have charge over the royal treasury’. Of these three, the first oversees royal expenditures, the second arms and the third has charge over

​

[77r] the rest of the treasury. The three of them collaborate on important business matters. Of these three royal officials, the pengiran degaron is the judge, and it is he who commands the others what to do, and they can do nothing without reporting to him. The kingdom of Brunei has no jails whatsoever, much less clerks for record- ing the cases heard by the judges. Thus it would be most astonishing if a trial lasted longer than the first hearing before the judge. And if one of the parties is absent, the trial is extended to a second session, which takes place the following day at the latest. The aforementioned bailiffs are charged with guarding [the defendants] in their houses. And when they appear before the judge and new evidence is presented, the sentence is pronounced orally, not in writing. And thus no trial ever lasts more than two days. Their investigations proceed as follows. If an accusation placed before the judge is denied by the defendant, the accuser is ordered to present his evidence, which he does orally; he is then sentenced. And if no evidence is to be presented and the other party denies the charges, the judge asks them if the complaint should be withdrawn. And if the plaintiff says no, the matter is left to be decided by ordeal. Their ordeals and investigations are as follows. Two candles are fashioned of equal weight and size, without fraudulence. They are lit at the same time, and the first one to be consumed loses. Another ordeal consists of both parties holding their heads under water, and the first to come up for air loses. Another ordeal is to fight with or without weapons, and the vanquished party loses the trial. If the matter being decided by these ordeals is a debt or a theft, the vanquished party must pay, and if there has been a verbal brawl, and a request has been made to verify what the person has been called (for example, one person may have called another a 

​

[77v] sorcerer, which among these people is extremely demeaning), or has said other insulting words, the judge orders that before they come to the ordeal they must come to an agreement regarding the fate of the defeated party, and whatever is agreed must be carried out; even if they are slaves belonging to the same king and they agree that the defeated party should die, he must die. The judge does not typically stand in the way of any of these agreements, and the ordeal is carried out according to will of the defendant and not according to that of the judge.76 If the accuser does not want to participate in the ordeal chosen by the defendant, the latter is released; and if it happens that the defendant does not want to choose an ordeal, the judge decides what it will be. If neither party wants to undergo an ordeal, the accusation is voided.

The sentences for various crimes are as follows. A person who steals from the royal treasury or counterfeits money dies by impalement for his crime and loses all his property, and his slaves are confiscated by the king. The same sen- tence is meted out to the head of household or the foreigner who flees from the kingdom without permission of the king or the judges. If someone wounds another person, unless the wounded party pardons the other by request or by payment, the judge orders that he himself be wounded, and this must be done after the wounded party has healed, because if the latter should die from his wound, there is no alternative but that he too should die without appeal. They also sentence a person to death if he is instrumental in the death of another. They cut off the right hand of a thief; hence it is quite rare to find a thief in their midst. A debtor must pay what he owes or render service to his creditor until he has the wherewithal to pay. The different manners of execution are as follows: beheading, which is called sembaleh; hanging, which is called gantung; impaling, which is called susuran. There is another method: they seat the victim, whether male or female, on the ground woman-fashion

​

[78r] and a leaf is placed on his or her left shoulder; a dagger three spans long is inserted through the leaf and the shoulder until the tip reaches the victim’s lower right side; the dagger is then extracted with a curving motion so that it cuts towards the heart as it is removed. They call this kind of death salang, and as a method of execution it is used more than any other. They have another one called pakukan, mean- ing to nail, which is as follows: the victim is stretched out on a board to which his feet are fastened with two nails, his hands with another two nails and his thighs with another two. And he is put on a tall pole in such a way that he is upright. A kind of roof is then built over his head to shield him from the sun, and there they let him remain without letting him eat until he dies. Another method called kepitan, meaning to pierce with hooks, consists of inserting a meathook under the person’s chin next to his throat and hanging him from it until he dies. There is another newly invented method, created in the year ’88, and it is as follows. Two wooden crosses are constructed as thick as a man’s wrist and four spans taller than a man’s height. The part that is longer than the man is sunk into the ground, and the crosses are placed together the distance of the size of the man who is to be executed. He is then inserted between the two crosses so that one of them is pressed up against his back and the other against his chest. And while he is secured between the crosses, harquebuses are fired at him until he dies. It is the practice in the kingdom of Brunei for a man who discovers his wife with another to do her no harm whatsoever unless he first kills the adulterer; and if he injures or kills her first, he dies for it. But once the adulterer is dead, he can kill his wife wherever he finds her, provided it is not in the presence of the king 

 

[78v] or his judges. And so that the cuckolded husband can kill them, it is the practice in Brunei for him to ask for assistance in killing the adulter- ous man, or—if he has already killed him—his adulterous wife, and all those who see and hear him must help him, and if they do not, they are severely punished by the king It may even happen that a father will render assistance in the killing of his own son, or a master in the killing of his slave. And the cuckolded husband can also have the adulterous man killed by a third party if he dares not do it himself, without the third party or the husband who orders it being charged with a crime. And if the adulterous man kills the cuckolded hus- band or another person while defending himself, and then flees, the adulter- ous wife is put to death for the crime because she was instrumental in causing the death. But if the adulterous man flees without killing anyone, the husband cannot inflict any harm on his wife, though he can divorce her and take the dowry he had given her without giving any of it to her. It is the practice of the king and all his nobles to take just one wife, whom they call their bini sungguh, meaning ‘true wife’. But in addition to this one, it is their custom to have as many mistresses as possible, according to the means of each man. These they call gundek, meaning ‘concubine’. They bring them into their houses and lie with them in front of their wives because they all sleep together in the same room where he sleeps. And whenever he wants, he arises from his bed, because in his bed he is not to do anything except with his wife, and goes over to their canopy, because they all sleep together, and there he does whatever he wants without his wife scolding him or them. This is according to ancient practice, for she has seen her own mother pass through the same thing. They are allowed to kill anyone who is found in the house of another person, which is not a crime. The king of Brunei now marries his children to the children of the king of Jolo, who is his first cousin

​

[79r] and brother-in-law. This has been the prac- tice for three generations. Before this, the kings would marry their sons to the daughters of neighboring foreign kings. The king’s children marry their first cousins,98 and sometimes their aunts and nieces; thus only their sisters are exempt.99 The king and his people also marry their sisters-in-laws. It is the practice among the nobility that their daughters marry as virgins, and if the man approaches the woman during the courtship, even if the marriage is arranged, they are both put to death for the crime. All adulterous women who are sentenced to death, and many others, even though they are women, are executed with the aforementioned dagger, which, as I have said, is thrust into their shoulder; this method of execution is called salang. Weddings are not held in the mosque if the woman is not a virgin. After the marriage is arranged and agreed, the families invite many people to a feast, during which they announce that so-and-so will marry so-and-so. And the family then holds a cockfight, which they and their guests consider a great festivity. After the feast is over, the wedding is complete. The groom gives a dowry to the bride, not the bride to the groom, although not the dowry. . . . This dowry is then held by the bride’s parents until the couple has children, at which point they turn it over to her, although many times they abscond with it. And the groom must also give several small gifts to the bride’s parents and rela- tives. And if the marriage is with a virgin, one more thing is added to all these, namely that the bride does not appear in public, but is kept under a canopy in bed for about a week, during which time there is a daily feast for the groom, his father-in-law, and the latter’s relatives. It is as if because of her shame she must remain shut in with other women and several virgins like her. They call this practice nananatin. When this period is over and the feasts come to an end, they are married. As far as annulling a marriage is concerned,

​

[79v] the wife does not have the power to annul the marriage if the man does not want to, and if the hus- band wants to annul the marriage, he can do so for very little cause, even if it is only that his wife quarreled with him. And to annul a marriage, there is no formality beyond the man throwing his wife out of the house and saying “I don’t want you to be my wife anymore.” And the man can do this because he loses the dowry he gave her. It is also common for couples to annul their marriages voluntarily when such is the desire of both parties; in these cases a couple agrees to divide the dowry between them, as well as custody of the children, if they have any. And then each one can marry whomsoever they wish. They have a mosque, which they call a masjid, and there they meet to commend themselves to Allah, which is what they call God, and to Muhammad, whom they say is their advocate with God. Commoners are not heavily pressed to go to mosque, and the women never go, but the men do. They have water at the door of the mosque for washing their feet. There are three kinds of religious, though they are not differentiated by the habits they wear. The members of these orders are known as khatib. Of these three kinds of khatib, the great- est is just one man, who they say is like a bishop, and this one is known as the khatib besar,  which means ‘great monk’. The other religious that are called khatib are simply those responsible for preparing the mosque and saying the days of the week, and for performing circumcisions. They also attend to the funeral rites of the dead and the sacrifices and rogations that are performed at some of the tombs of those who they consider to be saints, as I shall explain in due course. These khatib marry and have mistresses just like those who are not khatib; in this they are completely unscrupulous. They go to mosque during the week, not on Sunday; 

​

[80r] they call this day jumat, which is Tuesday in our system. In the morning, they carry out their rogations in the mosque until eleven o’clock. They stand silently with their heads bowed, exchanging nary a word amongst themselves while the khatib performs his ceremonies, which consist of raising his hands while invoking Allah and saying other words that they have for prayers. And when the khatib finishes at around noon, they return to their homes. They do not return to the mosque, except the chief monk. Like a chaplain, he goes to the king’s house to perform his ceremonies. It is customary for both men and women to be circumcised, which they call masok sunat. Everyone is circumcised in the mosque, the royal children as well as the commoners. To circumcise a woman, they attach a small clamp to her superfluity in the middle of the projection and make a small cut, which does bleed however. And on a man, they cut the entire hood. People are circumcised at eight years of age or older, and for this116 they celebrate great feasts; they kill the birds or goats by slitting their throats. It is their custom to drink wine in all of their feasts, and at other times, too, without any qualms whatsoever. There is another religious order among them whose members are known as siak; these men are like teachers of their law, and there are precious few of them. It would be most unusual to find more than two or three of them at the same time. As I have said, these are known as siak. When one of them dies, he is buried, and those who have been his disciples and many others who are invited go to his tomb three days after his burial, because they say that if he was a perfect teacher of their sect, Muhammad, being his friend, will have come for his body and taken it away to keep it with him. And if he was not a perfect siak, his body will be found there. And when they open the tomb, they are amazed

​

[80v] that the body of this teacher of their sect is not found. And from that time forward he is held in the greatest veneration; these teachers are considered advocates with Muhammad. It is not the custom of the Bruneian people to bury their dead in their mosques, and thus the nobility have houses of interment for this purpose where they and their relatives are buried. Those that have no house for this purpose or relatives to bury them are wrapped in wattling and thrown in the river without a weight so the ebb tide will carry them out to sea.

They do not teach each other the Koran unless they pay for it, and hence to a man they are all eager to listen to and ask about not only their law but also the law of others. They take shrouds that they call saput and write their names and a prayer on them in which they commend themselves to Muhammad, asking that he recognize them as people who were obedient to his sect. The shrouds are made from the thinnest and best white linen they can find. They do not pressure anyone to join their sect, and they mock those that do, because they say that they must not know anything because they abandoned it [their previous religion]. Their custom for mourning is that the women shave their heads and stop eating rice, consuming only certain kinds of seeds or legumes; they do this for over two months. The men follow the same diet while their wives are pregnant; they let their hair grow until their wives have given birth. These people make obeisance and exact obeisance, as follows. When the king is seated, all those who approach him within approximately forty paces place their hands together and raise them over their heads in a gesture of obei- sance, even if they are behind him. And if they are passing by, they bow their faces to the ground, never turning their back on

​

[81r] the king until they are a good remove from him. And if a man is a brother of the king or a nobleman who has business with the king, he enters after making this kind of obeisance, always facing him; he then takes his seat, without displaying any gesture of courtesy to the others present. And after he takes his seat, he makes the same obeisance for the second time, even if the king is not looking at him. And if the king looks at him, whether speaking at the same time or not, he repeats the same obeisance; as many times as the king looks at him he must do this, at least as many times as he or the king commences or finishes speaking. The king usually keeps his face elevated, and only very rarely does he look at someone unless he intends to ask a question. And this same manner of making obeisance is exacted by all of the king’s relatives and all the nobles of their inferiors; if they are lower than captain in rank, it is a lack of courtesy to remain standing, and thus inferiors always squat in the presence of their superiors. Whether they are in the street or in the river, until their superior passes, they must remain in a squatting posture. And when they come even with their superior, they must place their hands together and raise them in a token of obeisance. And if a superior should bestow a gift on one of his inferiors, as the latter receives it he must raise it above his head. He then has to set it down beside him and make the obeisance described above, that is, by raising his hands. And when the peo- ple are of equal rank, they make in a way the same obeisance to each other. And if a man should return after having been away, he must wait two days before seeing another person; if they are a superior or an inferior, the inferior makes obeisance to the superior and the superior embraces the inferior. If they are equals, they embrace, while clasping their right hands as long as it takes to say a Credo; as they disengage 

​

[81v], each man grasps his own beard, like those who swear an oath, after which they begin conversing, but not before. The different titles they hold are as follows: sultan, meaning ‘king’; raja, meaning ‘prince’; pengiran, meaning ‘titled nobleman’; orang kaya, meaning ‘noble’; mentiri, meaning ‘captain’; orang baik, meaning ‘honorable man’; manlica, meaning ‘freeman’; lashkar, meaning ‘slave’; orang berkelahi, meaning ‘fighting man’. The usual clothing worn by the Bruneians is a cloth called a tapi, which covers them from the waist down, and shorts; some wear white baggy trousers underneath, almost like trunks, and a simple small cloth they call a baju, and a headdress which in their language is called a destar. Around their waist they wear a fastened sash, which they call a calicut. The women wear the same clothing, minus the destar and the sash, and on their heads they wear a cloth in the manner of a shawl. The cloth covers the women from the waist all the way to the ground, but on the men it only reaches to their shins. Neither the men nor the women wear a covering of any kind on their feet or legs. They do not normally sit in chairs, but rather on the ground on very fine petates that they have for just this purpose. They observe their ranks when they sit, the superiors sitting in front; if they are equals, they sit at the same level, shoulder to shoulder. And if they are equal in rank but not in age, the older one sits in front. Legitimate children are always given preference over bastards. The king’s legitimate children are not allowed to appear before the king unless they are in his house, and bastards are not allowed to appear before him anywhere. The king does this so they will be more respected and better obeyed by his people.

Noble women do not go out in public 

​

[82r] or make private visits unless they are with their husbands, and in their banquets, even among relatives, the men eat at one end and the women at the other. Men serve men and women serve women. They eat on small round tables that are a little less than half a vara tall; two or three people eat at each one, and the king eats alone. They do not use tablecloths but rather place water nearby so they can wash their hands frequently while they eat. They eat many kinds of stews, and in none do they add fat or pork because they do not eat it. It is their custom to pledge allegiance to the prince, and they do so in the following manner. The king takes his seat in a theater that they call a balai sa-bandong. It has a high platform and on it sits the king with the prince at his side. All the noblemen who fit in the theater take their seats according to rank, and the rest sit on the floor. The theater has two stairways for those who wish to go up. And then the governor, who is the pengiran bendahara ulal, instructs the chief religious, whom they call the khatib besar, to say loudly enough for all to hear that the king, who is present, commands that everyone obey his son the prince as their lord, because as eldest son he is to inherit the kingdom. And then the khatib besar says it. And then the governor stands and approaches the prince, presenting him with an offering such as gold, silver or precious gems, which he carries on his head as a sign of obeisance. And when he reaches the prince, he squats down and lays the offering he is carrying at the prince’s feet. He then raises his hands in a sign of obeisance and then lowers them together to his face with his thumbs close to his nose and lowers his face in a gesture of kissing the prince’s feet. And then, while raising his face, he raises his hands a second time and says “I am your slave.” This being said, he stands up and without turning his back toward the prince 

​

[82v] returns to his place. In in this manner all the others proceed to pay obeisance, according to their rank; the four judges are first, followed by the king’s other sons or relatives and the common people, everyone making offerings according to their means. The king has a mint inside his fortress. The coins they mint are smelted, and they are not made of silver or gold, although in ancient times they were made of silver, each of which weighed four and a half reales. This coin was called a batguin,148 which had the stamp of the king of Brunei on one side, which was as follows ______, and on the other side there is ______. And because the foreigners who went there to conduct trade removed these coins from the kingdom, and because there were no coins of small value, the common people were poor and in debt. He gathered all these coins together and devalued them, and ordered that two kinds of coin be minted by pouring them into two separate molds. The first, made of tin or lead, is the size of half a real; they call it a pitis, which is worth 322 tomines,which they call a laksa. The other coin is made of copper alloyed with silver in the manner of Castilian blancas, except that they are thicker and weigh twice as much. These coins are called paku; he assigned them the value of ten of these two-real coins such that each paku was worth 32 pitis. He minted these coins so that foreigners who conducted trade there would not remove them from the kingdom, but would rather use them for things that are found in the kingdom. Buying and selling is done with weights and measures that are stamped with the seal of the Lord of the Harbor, whose responsibility it is to be a commercial arbiter. The balances used for weighing heavy objects are like Roman steelyards. These balances are called chinantas. The heaviest weight they have

​

[83r] is a bahar. The bahar is divided into three parts, each of which is known as a picul, and a picul is divided into ten parts, which are known as catty Each catty is divided into sixteen parts, and each part is called a tael. Each tael is divided into three parts, called batguin. The batguin is exactly equivalent to 42 Castilian reales. These kinds of weights are understood with every kind of balance. Gold is always weighed with this system of weights. And when something light is to be weighed the tael is divided into sixteen parts, which are called mace. Each mace is divided into three parts, each of which is called a kupang. Light objects are also weighed with scales called timbangan. And the measure they call gantang probably weighs half again as much as the gantang in Manila. Whenever possible, they fill containers to be weighed to the brim, not levelling them off. They are not a people who mea- sure things by the vara, and hence they do not use it. They have a market or fair that they call a bazaar, which they normally hold twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. All kinds of their customary food are sold there, as well as other things they have to sell. And since the city is built on water, they travel in small vessels called bangkas, and in each of these bangkas is a man hawking his wares. There are a great number of these bangkas, more than 500 of them gathering at market. And when they want to return home, they walk the streets hawking their wares. Nothing is sold at a fixed price; everyone sells at whatever price he can get; this is because the native Visayans of the island, 

​

[83v] who are the laborers, bring whatever they have to the city to sell, and so there is enough of everything in the city. There are women who make their living by publicly selling their bodies. They do not make their living at home but rather by boating through the city at night in their bangkas, of which there are many. In each bangka a woman who can play the tambourine and sing does so, unaccompanied by any men. And their bangkas are equipped with canopies. And as they make their way through the city and streets they yell out orang laki membeli perempuan muda, which means ‘male persons buy young women!’ And then the man who feels so inclined calls out to the bangka and chooses a woman according to his pref- erence. And if he wants to have congress with her in the bangka, he climbs into her canopy, and if not, he takes her up to his house. Afterwards, her com- panions come around to collect her, and before daybreak they all retire to their houses, because the women who engage in this practice are unmarried, and most of them are slaves who work for their masters by day. And when they engage in this kind of business they do so with permission from their masters, to whom they give half their earnings. They have no set price, charging as much as they can. This business is called pelachur. The men are unsuited for work, especially walking, and because of their lack of exercise; most of the day they sit on the ground woman-style. The weapons they use are poniards three or four spans long, which they wear instead of swords, and another smaller dagger that they carry in lieu of a bigger one. Some the men wear cutlasses and blowguns with which they fire darts, the tip of which is a 

​

[84r] fish tooth instead of iron. They daub them with poison so that even if only a drop of blood is drawn, the wound is mortal in the absence of an antidote. This is their weapon of choice, and they have such good aim that they never miss their target. They attach a very fine lance to one end of the blowgun that they make use of if they fall to hand-to-hand combat with their foes. They make frequent use of throwing spears made of either fire-hardened shafts or of iron. They use bows and arrows and har- quebuses, with which the king and his vassals are well trained. And every day they fire at targets in the presence of the king. They use harquebuses very little here. They use bucklers and quilted ichcauipilli. On their ships they use artillery, although it is not very heavy, since it is nearly all service artillery, such as falcons and falconets, as well as and large and small versos. And they have a great quantity of this kind of artillery because they import a great deal of metal from the kingdom of Patani and are constantly casting artillery. And their navy, which protects their inland city, consists of 100 ships, divided between galleys, galliots and foists. Their ships are so prepared that within six minutes185 of the city being called to arms they are all ready to go at the enemy. And that is why each captain has his armed galley next to his house, and the oarsmen186 and soldiers at the ready so that each man can run speedily to his ship. The galleys are suspended above the water, fitted on fifteen or twenty crossbeams of timber, each crossbeam being tightly lashed at its midpoint, and when they want it to be lowered into the water, they simultaneously cut the cables the crossbeams are tied to, and the galley drops immediately into the water. And this is done so quickly that in the time it takes to say two Credos the galley is in the water. These crossbeams, called salang gunting, serve as sliding baulks. And this is why 

​

[84v] their fleet can be launched so quickly. And during those times when he suspects there are enemy pirates, he sends these galleys out cruising for them; they go on the look-out up to twenty or thirty leagues from the city, and every week these guards are replaced. There are numerous cargo ships that are used for conducting trade and commerce with other kingdoms; they are not utilized for fighting. On their voyages they make use of maritime compasses like ours, with the eight winds, which are called as follows: north, hilaga; north-east, amihan; east, silangan; southeast, timor; south, selatan; southeast, habagat; southwest, barat tepat sa araw; northwest, utara barat laut. Camphor is found in a very big and thick tree that is probably more than a fathom in diameter. In order to obtain the camphor from this tree, called the kauyo kapur, they cut it down at its base and split it down the middle. In its heart are found two or three small boxes or receptacles containing the camphor. One ounce at most is found in each of these trees. This camphor consists of several small congealed pieces that are found in the aforementioned little boxes, which are as thick as a half-real piece, and the biggest piece is no bigger or thicker than a half-real piece. It has the color and texture of rock candy, except a little whiter. The camphor that is removed from these gall boxes smells something like fir resin, since they are one and the same and serve the same purpose. And three names, three species and three prices all stem from the same substance. The biggest pieces, which are considered the best, are called kapul kepala, meaning ‘chief camphor’, which sells for 30 pesos per catty. The other kind consists of smaller pieces the size of the fingernail of a little finger, or a little bigger, called kapul tengah, meaning medium size camphor. 

​

[85r] This kind sells for between twenty and twenty-two pesos per catty. The last kind consists of a few very small pieces, almost like flour, and this is called kapul dikit, meaning small camphor. It is worth fifteen pesos per catty. It is a highly prized substance; indeed, people come seeking it from all over. The planks sawn from these trees are very good for building ships because they resist shipworms and they do not rot for a very long time. And thus all the ships in this realm are made with these planks. The king customarily grants encomiendas to the leading citizens, who are the titled lords and captains who have served him well in the past and continue to do so. And he does not grant these encomiendas according to the number of people, but rather by the province or the town. And he grants the encomiendas together with an income, such that they return half or a third to him. These encomiendas that he grants are made up of Visayans. When the king goes out, he takes a guard of more than twenty captains who go before him, carrying cutlasses on their shoulders. And when he sits on his dais, these captains have their cutlasses unsheathed, especially if a foreigner is present. And when the king goes out and a pengiran accompanies him, the pengiran does not go with the guards, but rather behind the king. Messengers who are sent to him are well received, and if they are in need of something he orders they be given it. It is the custom for the messenger who delivers the letters to the king to place them in a vessel that looks like a lidded cup covered with a cloth out of respect for the letters, which he places on top of his head; this is how they approach the king. The messenger does this so he can do obeisance, for the letters he carries 

​

[85v] are from his king and ruler. And after arriving at the feet of the king in this manner, he places the vessel on the ground. The king then orders their bishop to take this vessel and open it and take the letters out and read them in public. The king has a cheerful countenance. He is a stout man, and in the year 1589 he was 58 years old. And when he goes out in a boat, he takes a cushioned dais with him that is laid on top of the boat, together with a vessel like a large lidded cup covered with a cloth, and a pike lying crosswise underneath with a long band, and two large screens, one on one side and another on the other side, raised on a long tikin in the middle of the prow. No other boat can carry any of these things except the one the king travels in, even though he is absent, except the tikin, which can be borne by one who is a pengiran, but not if he is not a pengiran. These people have years, months and days like we do, as well as weeks. Their days of the week are the following: arbaa; Monday, canis; Tuesday, jumat; Wednesday, sapto; Thursday, ahat; Friday, ysnayan; Saturday, salasa. Their first day of the week is Tuesday, which as I have said they call jumat, because it is their feast day, and the rest of the days follow, as indicated here. The months of the year are as follows, the first of which is the month of January, as with us: almoharram; February, safarron; March, rabiolagual; April, rabiolaher; May, jumarilagual; June, jumarilaher; July, rajap; August, saavan; September, camalam; October, 

​

[86r] sagual; November, rulcayrat; December, rulija.

​

​

​