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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.

His confidence in the power of Allah, and his submission to his will when in distress, are praised, and his character is contrasted with that of the cruel Mangku Bumi, who put two of his wives to death for the most trifling offences, such as neglecting to offer him his coffee.

It is believed that the latter was unable to prevent his adherents from quarrelling with and attacking the Dutch; but the fact is, the Mangku Bumi, finding himself unable to resist the united forces of Mangku Nagara and of the Dutch, found means to effect a reconciliation with the latter, and by their mediation received from the Susunan Zaku Buwana nearly a half of the Empire of Mataram, assumed the title of Sultan, and fixed his residence at Jotjokarta, the susunan residing at Solo, or Surakarta.

In the latter he fought for some time in alliance with Mangku Bumi, a younger brother of the susunan. After a time, however, this personage made terms with the Dutch on his own account, and Mangku Nagara, thus deserted, was compelled to submit to the susunan, and accept a modified territory for his administration.

His efforts were at first successful, and Mangku Nagara made peace with the Dutch, and declared war against Mangku Bumi; but this state of things did not continue long. War soon recommenced between the Dutch and Mangku Nagara, from some cause which does not fully appear.

This division of the empire took place in A.D. 1755. From this epoch the power of the unfortunate Mangku Nagara declined. Mangku Bumi made common cause with the Dutch and the susunan against him, and the desertion of several of his adherents, who now joined his relentless enemies, left him no rest.

His soldiers, and those of Mangku Bumi, who was at one time his ally, were steady adherents of the rites of Islam, so far as they were enabled to observe them, such as ablutions, prayer, the fast of Ramadan, and other practices of the Moslem.

It is also not unusual, at a convention held on business of importance, to change the galar of one or two of the principal personages to others of superior estimation; though it is not easy to discover in what this pre-eminence consists, the appellations being entirely arbitrary, at the fancy of those who confer them: perhaps in the loftier sound, or more pompous allusion in the sense, which latter is sometimes carried to an extraordinary pitch of bombast, as in the instance of Pengunchang bumi, or Shaker of the World, the title of a pangeran of Manna.

The one that Mangku Bumi did not restore appears to have been especially a favourite of Mangku Nagara, whose grief and resentment were aggravated by some other offences; and the Dutch Governor of Samarang took advantage of this disposition to urge him to forsake the cause of Mangku Bumi.

The bangun of pambarabs and proattins is to be divided between the pangeran and pambarabs one half; and the family of the deceased the other half. The bangun of private persons is to be paid to their families; deducting the adat ulasan of ten per cent to the pambarabs and proattins. If a man kills his slave he pays half his price as bangun to the pangeran, and the tippong bumi to the proattins.