Now at the hour of Asr there arrived a ship from Djedda which cast anchor. The master came on shore. He was called Sidi Abd-el-Aziz. He said his prayers on the shore of Malaka. The inhabitants, astonished at the sight, said:
"Why does he stoop so and prostrate himself so?"
And to see him better, the people pressed around, leaving no spot vacant, and making a great tumult.
The noise reached the palace, and the King mounted an elephant and came in haste, accompanied by his grandees. He saw the master making all the ceremonies of his prayer, and all was in evident accord with the dream.
"It is exactly as in my dream," he exclaimed to the bendahari and the grandees.
When the master had finished praying, the King made his elephant stoop, and took up the master with him and carried him to the palace. The bendahari and the grandees all became Mussulmans, and by command of the King so did all the population, men and women, great and small, young and old. The master taught the King the ceremonies of prayer, and gave him the name of Sultan Mahomet Chah. The bendahari received the title of Sri Ouak Radja; that is to say, "Paternal Uncle of the King," which he was in fact. And that is the first title of the bendahari.
Sultan Mahomet regulated the ceremonial customs of the court. He was the first to prohibit yellow for the clothes of the person strange to the court, for handkerchiefs, borders of curtains, pillow-cases, mattresses, coverings of all kinds, ornaments of every nature, as well as for the decoration of houses.
Furthermore the use of only three kinds of garments was permitted—the kain, the badjoa, and the destar. It was also forbidden to construct houses with projections sustained upon pillars not touching the ground, or with pillars extending beyond the roof or with observatories. The prahos could have no windows in front. It was forbidden to carry clasps or ornaments of gold on the kris. No one strange to the court could have gold rings nor pins nor jingling bangles of gold and silver. Nobody without the royal consent had the right to wear on his clothes gilding of any sort; but the authorization once granted, one might wear it indefinitely. When a man presented himself at the palace, if he had a vesture falling beneath the girdle, if his kris was not attached in front, if he was not clad in a sabec, he was not admitted, whatever might be his distinction. If anyone entered with his kris attached behind, the officer took it away from him.
Such were formerly the prohibitions of the Malay kings. Whoever transgressed was guilty of lese-majeste and was condemned to pay a fine of one to five katis. White parasols were held in higher esteem than yellow ones, because they could be seen at a greater distance. That is why they were ranked higher; the first were for the King and the second for the princes. The objects of the king's private use, such as the spittoon, the ewer for his ablutions, the fan, and other like objects, had no fixed place, except the betel-tray and the sword, which they kept at the right and left of the sovereign. At the arrival and departure of an ambassador, the servitors of the King brought from the palace dishes and basins which were received by the head of the bataras and deposited near the bendahari. They gave a dish and a scarf to the bearer of the letter. If the missive came from Pasey or from Harau, it was received with all the royal pomp—drum, flute, trumpet, kettledrum, and two white parasols together; but the bugle did not figure at this reception. The ministers preceded the elephant bearing the message, the bataras followed it with the sida-sida. The letter was borne by the chief of the bedaouenda, and they placed the elephant at the extremity of the balei. For the kings of these two countries were equal in greatness to the King of Malaka. Younger or older, all gave the salaam.
Having reached the audience-chamber, the letter was received by the chief of heralds of the right, the one of the left being charged with transmitting the words of the King to the ambassador, and the herald of the right transmitted the answer. If the message came from another country than Pasey and Harau, they suppressed part of the men. The cortege included only the drum, the flute, and a yellow parasol. They took, as was suitable, now an elephant, now a horse, and they halted outside the first exterior gate. When the message came from a more considerable sovereign, they employed the flute and two parasols, one white and one yellow. The elephant passed through the exterior gate, for formerly the royal entrance included seven fortifications. At his departure, the ambassador received a complete investiture, even were he only a simple ambassador of Rakan. The same gift was offered to our own ambassadors at the moment of their departure.