Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/424

 380 HISTORY OF CELEBES. limited and imperfect. Javanese dates will carry us back with tolerable certainty for GOO years'; we cannot presume on going any farther than four hundred with the history of Celebes. The Bugis tribes had a peculiar kalendar, but no era until they adopted that of the Christians and Mahomedans. It seems to have been their practice, like the Chi- nese, to reckon time by the reigns of their mo- narchs. The first positive date to which we can refer, is that of the arrival of the Portuguese in 15 1£, the year after they conquered Malacca. Of the kings of Goa Macassar, there have reigned in all, down to the year 1809, thirty-nine sovereigns, which, by the rule of assignmg twenty years to each, adopted in European calculation, would indeed carry us back no less than seven hundred and eighty years. So long a duration for each reign in the barbarous state of society on Celebes, and with the turbulent and elective monarchies which obtain, will, on examination, be found far too great. Among the 28 sovereigns who have reigned at Goa Macas- sar since the arrival of the Portuguese for example,^ three were deposed, two resigned their crowns, three abdicated, and o/ze was assassinated. From the acces- sion of the first prince, the commencement of whose reign is accurately determined to the year 1588, down to 1809, there have reio;ned 1 7 kings, the average of whose reigns gives exactly 13 years, which, making allowance for the circumstances of the country, is.