f which there is an English translation in Harris; but it is
possible he may, in this instance, have been amused by a plausible tale
from the grandson of this monarch, with whom he had much intercourse.
John Davis, an intelligent English navigator whose account I have
followed, might have been more likely to hear the truth as he was at
Achin (though not a frequenter of the court) during Ala-eddin's reign,
whereas Beaulieu did not arrive till twenty' years after, and the report
of his having been originally a fisherman is also mentioned by the Dutch
writers.)

He says that, upon the extinction of the ancient royal line, which
happened about forty years before the period at which he wrote, the
orang-kayas met in order to choose a king, but, every one affecting the
dignity for himself, they could not agree and resolved to decide it by
force. In this ferment the cadi or chief judge by his authority and
remonstrances persuaded them to offer the crown to a certain noble who in
all these divisions had taken no part, but had lived in the reputation of
a wise, experienced man, being then seventy years of age, and descended
from one of the most respectable families of the country. After several
excuses on his side, and entreaties and even threats on theirs, he at
length consented to accept the dignity thus imposed upon him, provided
they should regard him as a father, and receive correction from him as
his children; but no sooner was he in possession of the sovereign power
than (like Pope Sixtus the Fifth) he showed a different face, and the
first step after his accession was to invite the orang-kayas to a feast,
where, as they were separately introduced, he caused them to be seized
and murdered in a court behind the palace. He then proceeded to demolish
their fortified houses, and lodged their cannon, arms, and goods in the
castle, taking measures to prevent in future the erection of any
buildings of substantial materials that could afford him grounds of
jealousy. He raised his own adherents from the lower class of people to
the first dignities of the state, and of those who presumed to express
any disapprobation of his conduct he made great slaughter, being supposed
to have executed not less than twenty thousand persons in the first year
of his reign.

From the silence of the Portuguese writers with respect to the actions of
this king we have reason to conclude that he did not make any attempts to
disturb their settlement of M