n the spot where the
deputies should meet and concert terms of accommodation; until at length
the parties, grown weary of their fruitless contests, resolved to place
themselves respectively under the dependence and protection of the
company. The fortified villages, in some parts of the country named
dusun, and in others kampong, are here, as on the continent of India,
denominated kota or forts, and the districts are distinguished from each
other by the number of confederated villages they contain.

GOVERNMENT.

The government, like that of all Malayan states, is founded on principles
entirely feudal. The prince is styled raja, maha-raja, iang de pertuan,
or sultan; the nobles have the appellation of orang kaya or datu, which
properly belongs to the chiefs of tribes, and implies their being at the
head of a numerous train of immediate dependants or vassals, whose
service they command. The heir-apparent has the title of raja muda.

OFFICERS OF STATE.

From amongst the orang kayas the sultan appoints the officers of state,
who as members of his council are called mantri, and differ in number and
authority according to the situation and importance of the kingdom. Of
these the first in rank, or prime minister, has the appellation of
perdana mantri, mangko bumi, and not seldom, however anomalously,
maharaja. Next to him generally is the bandhara, treasurer or high
steward; then the laksamana and tamanggung, commanders-in-chief by sea
and land, and lastly the shahbandara, whose office it is to superintend
the business of the customs (in sea-port towns) and to manage the trade
for the king. The governors of provinces are named panglima, the heads of
departments pangulu. The ulubalang are military officers forming the
bodyguard of the sovereign, and prepared on all occasions to execute his
orders. From their fighting singly, when required, in the cause of the
prince or noble who maintains them, the name is commonly translated
champion; but when employed by a weak but arbitrary and cruel prince to
remove by stealth obnoxious persons whom he dares not to attack openly
they may be compared more properly to the Ismaelians or Assassins, so
celebrated in the history of the Crusades, as the devoted subjects of the
Sheikh al-jabal, or Old Man of the Mountain, as this chief of Persian
Irak is vulgarly termed. I have not reason however to believe that such
assassinations are by any means frequent. The immediate vassals of the
king are