was counterpoised by the influence of
the orang-kayas or nobility, who are described as being possessed of
great wealth, living in fortified houses, surrounded by numerous
dependants, and feeling themselves above control, often giving a
licentious range to their proud and impatient tempers.

The late monarch's daughter and only child was married to the king of
Johor,* by whom she had a son, who, being regarded as heir to the crown
of Achin, had been brought to the latter place to be educated under the
eye of his grandfather. When the general (whose name is corruptly written
Moratiza) assumed the powers of government, he declared himself the
protector of this child, and we find him mentioned in the Annals by the
title of Sultan Buyong (or the Boy).

(*Footnote. The king of Achin sent on this occasion to Johor a piece of
ordnance, such as for greatness, length, and workmanship (says
Linschoten), could hardly be matched in all Christendom. It was
afterwards taken by the Portuguese, who shipped it for Europe, but the
vessel was lost in her passage.)

1588.

But before he had completed the third year of his nominal reign he also
was dispatched, and the usurper took formal possession of the throne in
the year 1588, by the name of Ala-eddin Rayet-shah,* being then at an
advanced period of life.

(*Footnote. Valentyn, by an obvious corruption, names him Sulthan Alciden
Ryetza, and this coincidence is strongly in favour of the authenticity
and correctness of the Annals. John Davis, who will be hereafter
mentioned, calls him, with sufficient accuracy, Sultan Aladin.)

The Annals say he was the grandson of Sultan Firman-shah; but the
Europeans who visited Achin during his reign report him to have been
originally a fisherman, who, having afterwards served in the wars against
Malacca, showed so much courage, prudence, and skill in maritime affairs
that the late king made him at length the chief commander of his forces,
and gave him one of his nearest kinswomen to wife, in right of whom he is
said to have laid claim to the throne.

The French Commodore Beaulieu relates the circumstances of this
revolution in a very different manner.*

(*Footnote. The commodore had great opportunity of information, was a man
of very superior ability, and indefatigable in his inquiries upon all
subjects, as appears by the excellent account of his voyage, and of Achin
in particular, written by himself, and published in Thevenot's
collection, o