He Spends His Whole Time In Eating And Drinking With His
Women, Or In Cock-Fighting.
Such is the king, and such are his subjects;
for the whole land is entirely given to such habits of enjoyment.
[Footnote 40: Areka is the nut, and betel the leaf in which it is
wrapped, along with chunam, or lime, called sharp-chalk in the
text. - E.]
While, in all parts of Christendom, it is the custom to uncover the head
in token of reverence, it is here the direct contrary; as, before any
man can come into, the presence of this king, he must put off his shoes
and stockings, coming before him bare-footed and bare-legged, holding
his hands joined over his head, bowing his body, and saying dowlat;
which duty performed, he sits down, cross-legged, in the king's
presence. The state is governed by five principal officers, his
secretary, and four others, called sabandars, in whom are all the
authority of government, and who have inferior officers under them. The
will of the king is the law: as there seemed to be no freemen in all the
land, the lives and properties of all being at the king's pleasure. In
punishing offenders, he makes no man happy by death, but orders their
hands and feet to be cut off, and then banishes them to an island called
Pulo Wey. When any one is condemned to die, he is either trodden to
death by elephants, or empaled. Besides those in jails, many prisoners
in fetters are seen going about the town. The king has three wives, and
many concubines, who are very closely kept, and his women are his chief
counsellors.
The king has many gallies, an hundred, as I think, some of them so large
as to carry four hundred men. These are all made like wherries, very
long, narrow, and open, without deck, forecastle, or poop, or any upper
works whatever. Instead of oars, they have paddles, about four feet
long, made like shovels, which they hold in their hands, not resting
them on the gunwales, or in row-locks, as we do. The gallies have no
ordnance; yet with these he holds all his neighbours under subjection.
His admiral is a woman, as he trusts no man with that high office. Their
weapons are bows and arrows, javelins, swords, and targets, having no
defensive armour, and fighting entirely naked. They have a great many
pieces of brass ordnance, which they fire lying on the ground, using no
carriages. Some of these are the greatest I ever saw, and the metal of
which they are made is said to be rich in gold. The great dependence of
his land-force is in the elephants.
These people boast of being descended from Abraham, through Ismael, the
son of Hagar, and can distinctly reckon the genealogies in our Bible.
They follow the Mahometan religion, and use rosaries, or strings of
beads, in praying, like the papists. They bring up their children in
learning, and have many schools. They have an archbishop, and other
spiritual dignitaries. There is a prophet in Acheen, who is greatly
honoured, and is alleged to have the spirit of prophecy, like the
ancients. This person is distinguished from all the rest by his dress,
and is in great favour with the king. The natives are entirely addicted
to commerce, in which they are very expert; and they have many mechanics
or artisans, as goldsmiths, cannon-founders, shipwrights, tailors,
weavers, hatters, potters, cutlers, smiths, and distillers of
aquavitae, [arrak,] which is made from rice, as they must drink no wine.
Every family or tribe has its own particular place of burial, which are
all in the fields. The bodies are all deposited in graves, with the
heads laid towards Mecca, having a stone at the head, and another at the
feet, curiously wrought, so as to designate the rank and worth of each
person. In the burial-place of the kings, as we were told, every grave
has a piece of gold at the head, and another at the feet, each weighing
500 pounds, curiously embossed and carved. I was very desirous to see
this royal cemetery, because of its great riches, but could not obtain
permission; yet am disposed to believe it to be true, as the reigning
king has made two such costly ornaments for his own grave, which are
almost finished. They are each of gold, a thousand pounds weight
a-piece, and are to be richly ornamented with precious stones.[41]
[Footnote 41: In the Portuguese Asia is a story which confirms this
report. George Brito, who went in 1521 to Acheen with six ships, and
three hundred men, having been informed, by an ungrateful Portuguese,
whom the king had relieved from shipwreck, that there was a great
treasure of gold in the tombs of the kings, and having made other
inquiries on this subject, picked a quarrel with the king, and landed
with two hundred men in order to seize it: But being opposed by the
king, at the head of a thousand men, and six elephants, he, and most of
his men, were slain; a just reward of injustice, ingratitude, and
avarice. - Astl. 1. 260. a.]
The people who trade to this port are from China, Bengal, Pegu, Java,
Coromandel, Guzerata, Arabia, and Rumos. Rumos is in the Red-Sea,
whence Solomon sent his ships to Ophir for gold; which Ophir is now
Acheen, as they affirm upon tradition; and the Rumos people have
followed the same trade from the time of Solomon to this day.[42] Their
payments are made in different denominations, called cash, mas, cowpan,
pardaw, and tayel. I only saw two sorts of coin, one of gold, and the
other of lead: The gold coin, or mas, is of the size of a
silver-penny, and is as common at Acheen as pence are in England. The
other, of lead, called cash, is like the little leaden tokens used in
London by the vintners:
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