In 1985, while I had completed compiling half of the dictionary, there was no budget to continue this project. Because the typing of the draft-catalogue of the LUB MSS, now using a computer, had not yet been completed, I proposed to the KITLV that I describe the Malay MSS in its collection. This was agreed upon. But soon after I had begun, a dignitary from the sultanate of Brunei, with whom I had the honour to make acquaintance during my stay in Malaysia before, made a stopover in Amsterdam on his way home from London in August. When I was in Malaysia in the 1960s he had invited me to come over to Brunei to make arrangements for the setting up the future Universiti Brunei Darussalam. This invitation was made because of the experience I had acquired with the founding of Universitas Syiah Kuala in Aceh in 1959, of which the opening was performed by the late President Soekarno. But soon thereafter the political situation between Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia became tense, and the plan was abandoned. But in 1985 the situation was different, and this time the same Brunei dignitary came to see me and disclosed that the planned university had to be inaugurated in October 1985 and invited me to come over to Brunei as soon as possible. I had to disappoint him because the description of the KITLV MSS was not yet completed, but I promised him to accept the offer as soon as the description of these MSS was ready, around October 1986. Besides I had started writing a book, periodizing classical Malay literature, which would be the first of its kind. Three chapters, the Riau period, the Palembang period, and the Aceh period, were ready. The reason for this was the fact that writings of these periods are not difficult to date. But for the other periods this is rather a puzzle, because most of the works are not dated. In view of the fact that the periodizing of Malay literature is based on a cultural approach, perhaps my presence in the Malay world and observing the cultural differences which could have been reflected in their literature might solve the problem. In October 1986, before my departure to Brunei, the description of KITLV Malay MSS was completed. The description of the Leiden collections was ready, covering more than my original commitment was in 1976. My work was deposited at the KITLV under supervision óf its secretary, Dr J.J. Noorduijn. He agreed to look after the functioning of the project and the work of the assistant during my absence, for which I am grateful. Since he was a prominent scholar in Indonesian Studies I was convinced that, besides his task as secretary of KITLV, he would be able to provide excellent supervision of the catalogue project. During my sabbatical leave in 1988 I was back in Leiden and found out that the typing of the description for the catalogue was not yet completed. So I started describing the KIT MSS, continuing until it was finished. Because the typing was still not completed, from that time I took two months leave each consecutive year to continue describing Malay MSS in the collections of the Military Academy at Breda, the Ethnological Museum at Breda, the Library of the University of Amsterdam, the Ethnological Museum at Nijmegen and other collections. During this period I could make use of the facilities provided by the Documentatiebureau