Javanese element, and Hindu work in gold has been discovered buried in
the island of Pappan, situated between Labuan and Brunai. Mr. INCHE
MAHOMET, H. B. M.'s Consular Agent in Brunai, was good enough to procure
for me a native history of Brunai, called the _Telselah Besar_, or
principal history. This history states that the first Mahomedan
Sovereign of Brunai was Sultan MAHOMET and that, before his conversion
and investiture by the Sultan of Johor, his kingdom had been tributary
to the State of Majapahit, on the fall of which kingdom the Brunai
Government transferred its allegiance to Johor. Majapahit[8] was the
last Javanese kingdom professing Hinduism, and from its overthrow dates
the triumph of Mahomedanism in Java. This occurred in A.D. 1478, which,
if the chronicle can be trusted, must have been about the period of the
commencement of the Mahomedan period in Brunai. Inclusive of this Sultan
MAHOMET and of the late Sultan MUMIM, who died in May, 1885,
twenty-three Mahomedan Sultans have reigned in Brunai and, allowing
eighteen years for an average reign, this brings us within a few years
of the date assigned to the overthrow of the kingdom of Majapahit, and
bears testimony to the reliability of the chronicle. I will quote the
first few paragraphs of the _Telselah_, as they will give the reader an
idea of a Brunai history and also because they allude to the connection
of the Chinese with Borneo and afford a fanciful explanation of the
origin of the name of the mountain of Kinabalu, in British North
Borneo, which is 13,700 feet in height:--

"This is the genealogy of all the Rajas who have occupied the
royal throne of the Government of Brunai, the abode of peace,
from generation to generation, who inherited the royal drum and
the bell, the tokens from the country of Johore, _kamal
almakam_, and who also possessed the royal drum from
Menangkabau, namely, from the country of Saguntang.

"This was the commencement of the kingdom of Brunai and of the
introduction of the Mahomedan religion and of the Code of Laws
of the prophet, the beloved of God, in the country of
Brunai--that is to say (in the reign of) His Highness Sultan
MAHOMET. But before His Majesty's time the country of Brunai was
still infidel, and a dependency of Majapahit. On the death of
the Batara of Majapahit and of the PATIH GAJA MEDAH the kingdom
of Majapahit fell, and Brunai ceased to pay tribut