Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra17181886roya).pdf/231

 very rich, and gave orders to dress up a scaffold or funeral pile in the market-place or bazaar of Malacca, splendidly adorned with rich silks and cloth of gold, the middle of the pile being composed of a vast heap of aromatic wood of high price. The entire street from his dwelling to the pile was strewed with sweet-scented herbs and flowers, and adorned with rich hangings, corresponding to the magnificence of the pile. Having collected all his friends, and clad himself and family in splendid attire, he went in solemn procession to the bazaar, where he mounted the scaffold and made a long harangue, in which he protested his innocence, and declared that he had always served the Portugnese with the utmost zeal and fidelity. Having ordered the pile to be fired, and seeing the whole in flames, he declared that he would now mount to heaven in that flame and smoke, and immediately cast himself into the flaming pile, to the great admiration of all the beholders.

At this time the king of Campar had gone home, intend- ing to return to assume his office of Bendara, but was hindered by MAHMUD and the king of Bintang, who fitted out a fleet of 70 sail with 2,500 men under the command of the king of Lingga, and besieged Campar, in the harbour of which town there were 8 Portuguese vessels and some native praus, under the command of GEORGE BOTTELLO. Observing this squadron to be somewhat careless, the king of Lingga fell suddenly with his galley on the ship commanded by BOTTELLO, followed by the rest of his fleet; but met with so warm a reception that his galley was taken, so that he had to leap overboard, and the rest of the enemy's fleet was put to flight. The siege was now raised, and BOTTELLO conveyed the king of Campar to Malacca, where he exercised the office of Bendara with so much judgment and propriety, that in four months the city was visibly improved, great numbers of people resorting thither who had formerly fled to MAHMUD to avoid the oppressions of NINACHETU. Perceiving the growth of the city under the wise administration of ABDELA, MAHMUD determined to put a stop to this prosperity by means of a fraud peculiar to a Moor. He gave out secretly, yet so that it might spread abroad, that his son-in-law had gone over to the Portuguese at Malacca with his knowledge and consent,