THE VAULTING AMBITION
Adown the stream, whence mist like steam
Arises in early morning,
'Mid shout and singing they bear me swinging
A mark for the people's scorning.
By long hair hanging, amid the clanging
Of drums that are beaten loud,
I am borne—the Head of the ghastly Dead,
That ne'er knew coffin nor shroud!
But I swing there, nor greatly care
If the Victor jeers or sings,
Nor heed my foe, for now I know
The worth of these mortal things.The Song of the Severed Head.When the Portuguese Filibusters descended upon the Peninsula, they employed
—so says the native tradition—the time-worn stratagem of the Pious Æneas;
and, having obtained, by purchase, as much land as could be enclosed by the
hide of a bull, from the Sultân of Malacca, they cut the skin up into such cunning
strips that a space large enough to build a formidable fort was won by them. This
they erected in the very heart of the capital, which, at that time, was the head and
front of the Malay Kingdoms of the Peninsula. Thence they speedily overran the
State of Malacca, and, though the secret of making gunpowder, and rude match-
locks, was known to the Malays, native skill and valour was of no avail when
opposed to the discipline and the bravery of the mail-clad Europeans. Thus, the
country was soon subdued, and, in 1511, Sultân Muhammad, with most of his
relations and a few faithful followers, fled to Pahang, which, at that time, was a
dependency of Malacca. Here he founded a new Dynasty, his descendants
assuming the title of Bĕndăhâra, and doing homage and owing allegiance to the
Sultân of Daik, whose kingdom, in its turn, has since fallen to the portion of the
Dutch.