galleys, without counting
vessels of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the
fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the Malayan
district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta territory through
which it takes its course), a letter was sent on shore addressed to the
refractory chiefs, summoning them to give proof of their allegiance by
appearing in the king's presence, or threatening the alternative of an
immediate attack. After much division in their councils it was at length
agreed to feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal
fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds. One of the
chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some fresh coconuts, of
the delicate species called kalapa-gading, into which a drug had been
secretly introduced. The king observing these directed that one should be
cut open for him, and having drunk of the juice, became affected with a
giddiness in his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the
upas, but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death).
Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on shore,
and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions for being
conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next day. The remainder
of the fleet continued off the coast during five or six days longer, and
then returned likewise without effecting the reduction of the place,
which the chiefs had lost no time in fortifying.

About two years after this transaction the king, under pretence of
amusement, made an excursion to the country lying near the source of the
river Achin, then under the jurisdiction of a panglima or governor named
Muda Seti; for it must be understood that this part of the kingdom is
divided into three districts, known by the appellations of the
Twenty-two, Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were
governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and Perbawang-Shah (or
Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the entire control of the country,
and when their views were united they had the power of deposing and
setting up kings. Such was the nature of the government. The king's
expedition was undertaken with the design of making himself master of the
person of Muda Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his
followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted for the
night the fruits of the earth were all devo