The Rajah, as a token of peace, drew some blood out of his left arm, and marked his body, face, and the top of his tongue with it. The Spaniards, to win his regard, imitated his example. The people went perfectly naked, and occupied themselves chiefly in cock-fighting.
The voyagers here first met with arrak, which the natives distil from rice. Having obtained a pilot, the Spaniards crossed over to the large island of Borneo, and on the 8th of July they came to an anchor off a city which was said to contain twenty-five thousand houses. They were built within high water mark, and raised on posts. When the tide was full, the people communicated by boats going about from house to house.
Soon after they dropped anchor, the Rajah, who was a Moor, of considerable power, sent handsome presents on board, and invited the Captains to visit him.
On landing, the Spaniards found two elephants, covered with silk trappings, ready to conduct them to his palace. In front of it a feast had been prepared, consisting of meat, fowl, and fish, placed on the floor, round which they sat on mats. The natives, after each mouthful, sipped arrak from porcelain cups, and used golden spoons to eat their rice. The feast being over, it was announced to the Captains that the Rajah was ready for them. On their way they passed through a large saloon, in which were a number of courtiers, and from thence into an anteroom, where three hundred guards, armed with poniards, were drawn up. At the farther end of the apartment was a curtain of brocaded silk, and on this being pulled aside, the Rajah, a stout man of about forty, was seen seated at a table, with a little child by his side, and chewing betel, while behind him stood his female attendants, who were supposed to be the daughters of the chief men and to govern his household.
As the courtiers—who were naked, with the exception of
a piece of ornamented cloth round their waists—approached, they raised their hands, clasped, three times over their heads; then, lifting up their feet one after the other, they kissed their hands before speaking. They wore numerous rings on their fingers, and daggers with gold hilts set with gems. The Rajah, as the gifts of the Spaniards were presented to him, bowed slightly, and returned others of brocade and cloth of gold and silver. While in his presence the explorers observed the way in which suitors made their petitions, none being allowed to address him personally.
The suitor, having arrived at an outer chamber, presented his petition to a courtier, who repeated it to one of higher rank, and he again passed it on to a person of still greater importance, who then whispered it through a hollow cane fixed in the wall, reaching the inner chamber, into the ear of the chief officer of state, by whom it was conveyed to the Rajah himself.
The Captain heard that the Rajah possessed two pearls the size of hens’ eggs, and that when placed on a polished table they kept continually moving.
The ceremony of introduction being over, and permission to trade being granted, the curtain was again drawn aside to allow of their exit, and the Captains retired. So great was the confidence established that they remained in the palace during the night. Their sleeping-apartment was lighted by two wax candles in silver candlesticks, and two large lamps, with four lights to each, were kept burning all night, being attended by two men to trim them.