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 NO. 23Z33 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023141306 
 
ABOUT PERAK 
 
 FRANK ATHELSTANE SWETTENHAM, 
 
 iMI'ANlON DF THE MOST DjslI No\' I SHE JJ ORUBR OF 
 
 St. Michael anjj St. Gi;ok<tE. 
 
 SlNGAPORj:; 
 
 STRAITS TUJi^: l^f^LSS 
 
 1893. 
 
 ^ 
 
VRfiSrJlh AMI PUBLISHED 
 BY THE 
 STRAITS TIMES PEBSS 
 STNOAPOEE. 
 
 iU 
 
 K 
 
UKyKtNIKIi FKilil I'lIK STHAIT-^ ■rlUKH. 
 
 ABOUT i'KK-AK 
 
PKUVTJilJ A\Ji VUBI.IKHED 
 BY THE 
 S'['KA.ITS TIMES PRESS 
 SINOA.PORK 
 
 
HKi'KlN'i'Kli l-'limi 'I'H^' UTRAIi-, '/'(MKS. 
 
 ABOUT 1'ERaK 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I Geographical and Historical ... 
 
 II The Detblopment op the Eesidentiad System 
 
 III Further Developments ... .. ... ... 13 
 
 j'lBUSHKR'S MOTE:- 
 
 T I, is hook is reprinted from the 20 
 
 ■■Straits Times," withoivt the 
 crNtlwr having had any oppor- 
 fu.nifv tocorreet or revise the 
 proofs. ... ... 26 
 
 VI Mining 31 
 
 VII Ageiculttjre and the Eise of Townships ... ... 87 
 
 VIII The Eeal Malay 45 
 
 IX European Society 
 
 X The Future 74 
 
ABOUT P:feRAK. 
 
 I.— GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. 
 
 " The truth, 
 
 God only knows.*' 
 
 Taamt. 
 
 WENTY years ago, it is probable there were not half a 
 dozen Europeans who knew where Perak was or anything 
 at all about it. In those years, however, the Straits 
 Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society has published several maps 
 of the Malay Peninsula, and on those maps Pcrak occupies a 
 position that, if not immovable, is pretty generally North of Singapore, 
 Malacca, and Selangor, and South of Siam, Kedah, and Province 
 Wellesley. 
 
 That is a sufficiently precise description for people in the Straits, 
 without going into degrees of latitude and longitude; but, to 
 enquirers west of Suez, it is safer to say, that, between India and 
 China, there are two seas joined by a narrow stretch of water 
 called the Straits of Malacca, and on the mainland which borders the 
 northern side of those Straits is Perak. That you will find is a 
 definition in all respects sufficient to satisfy geographical entnusiasm 
 or any further interest in Perak. That is, generally speaking,— there 
 possibly will \w cxceptiuiis. but it is well to remember that to W 
 
GEOGRAFHIOAL AND HI8T0BICAL. 
 
 encyclopaedic in giving information i.s inevitably to become a bore. 
 Speaking of Perak, it will not help the enquirer to tell him it is near 
 Penang, because Peuang is not so well known as Perak, except to a 
 few people of sixty years old and upwards. Early in the seventies. 
 Sir Arthur Birch re-discovered Penang aud made it known to his 
 friends, but his interest in the Island was but fleeting, and it takes 
 a good deal to make a lasting impression on the minds of the English 
 people. Since that time there has been a little war in Perak, but 
 nothing of special importance has taken place in Penang. 
 
 Do not either pin your faith on the magic of the Colony's name. 
 Some years ago I was ridiii"- to a meet of hounds in the North of 
 England, aud was joined on the road by a man of years, a hard rider 
 and good judge of hoises. and this is what passed : — 
 
 " Let me see, you have to do with some Colony have you not." 
 
 ■' Yes. the Straits Settlements." 
 
 " That is Canada is it not 'r " 
 
 " No, it is not Canada." 
 
 " I thought Straits Settlements was another name for Canada, 
 surely that is so :■ "' 
 
 ■•No." 
 
 " Do you use horses 'r " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 ■' What do they eat 9 " 
 
 " Grass." 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. 
 
 " Have you no hay r " 
 
 •• No." 
 
 ■ Well, have joi\ any silos there, because I am interested in silos ? " 
 ■' No, none.'' 
 
 ■' Could I do anything in the way of introducing silos r " 
 
 ■■ I fear not." 
 
 ■' Ah ! then I'm not interested in the place," and my friend 
 quickened his pace and left me. He is a wealthy man and a great 
 authority — on silos, 
 
 This little incident is typical, but it is British not to know, and 
 also British not to wish to know. Perhaps it is as well ; too many 
 
 questions are often trying. 
 
 y Once upon a time, before the Malays were converted to the 
 Faith of Islam, Perak was called Kastan Zorian, that was several 
 
 hundred years ago (in 1276 to be precise) ; and it "has had nineteen 
 Muhammadan Sultans since, of whom the last is His Highness 
 
 Sultan Idris Mershedil Aathim Shah, k.o.m.o., a highlv educated, 
 Icindly, and polish d gentleman, who ha.s travelled in Europe and 
 profited by what he has seen. Duing the longer and shorter reigns 
 of his predecessors there is little to chronicli; until 1826, when tlie 
 Honourable East India Company made a Treaty with Siam,by which 
 that kingdom promiserl to cease from harassing (he State of Perak. 
 In the same vear, the Compiuiy (then e.slnbllshel In the f: traits of 
 
I aEOGBAPHICAL AND HISTOBICAL. 
 
 Malacca) made a Treaty with the Sultan of Perak by which the Islands 
 of Panglcor and the Bindings (on the coast of Perak) were ceded to 
 the Company, in order that the latter might be able to protect 
 Tessels passing through the Straits of Malacca from the pirates who 
 
 infested the coasts of Perak and the other Malav States. 
 
 J 
 
 In 1867, the Indian G-ovemment, which liy this time, represented 
 
 the old Company, gave up its Straits Possessirms, and the then Presi- 
 dency became the Colony of the Straits Settlements. Prior and sub- 
 sequent to this date, nearly all the western States of the Peninsula had 
 been the scene of severe intestine struggles and these culminated, in 
 Perak, in a fierce faction fight between rival tribes of Chinese who 
 had been attracted to the State, or rather to one of its Provinces. 
 Larut, by the wealth of its tin deposits. Three thousand persons are 
 said to have been killed on the first day of the struggle. 
 / The Malay authority was too weak to deal with the Chinese, the 
 
 state of internal affairs was complicated by rival claims to the Sul- 
 tanship, and meanwhile the necessities of the combatants drove them 
 to seek supplies in the Straits of Malacca, where almost daily acts 
 of piracy threatened to destroy the carrying trade in native craft. 
 Even steamers were attacked, the boats of H. M.'s ships \^ere fired 
 on, isolated British Pohce Stations attacked, and finally the Penang 
 house of the Chief of the Province of Larut was blown up. The 
 reiterated determination of H. M.'s Governnifut not to interfere in 
 Ihi' afa'rs of the Malay States broke down under these somewhat 
 trying circumstau(e5, and with these events there was suffered to 
 lapse tlif eelelirated warning to the Straits merchants that ;— ■ if 
 
OEOGBAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. 
 
 persons, knowing the risks they ran, owing to the disturbed state of 
 these countries, choose to hazard their lives and properties for the 
 sake of the large profits which accompany successful trading, they 
 must not expect the British G-overonient to be answerable if their 
 speculation proves unsuccessful." 
 
 The story of British interference in Perak, and subsequently in 
 the other Malay States, is one of more than passing interest and has 
 yet to be written, liut here it i< sufficient to say that while the 
 circumstances alone made that interference the diity of the para- 
 mount power, Raja Abdullah, who was believed to be the rightful 
 claimant to the throne of Perak, besought the assistance of the 
 Governor of the Straits to introduce order into Perak, to control 
 the Chinese, and to send him an experienced Officer to aid him 
 in properly administering the Government of the Coimtry 
 
 All these reqiiests were complied with bv Governor Sir Andrew 
 
 J 
 
 Clarke, R. E., who, by the Perak Engagement of January, 20th 1874, 
 
 acknowledged Abdullah as Sultan of Perak. That Treaty also provided 
 for the appointment of a British Resident and determined the nature 
 of the authority he should exercise ; it settled two bovmdary questions 
 between the Colony and Perak and secured peace between the con- 
 tending factions of Chinese. To those who knew the Straits of 
 MiilfM'ca in 1872-73. or who choose to look up the old files of llio 
 local joiirn.als, it will probably seem a notable achieven ent that uo 
 piracy has ever taken place in these waters since the British Govern- 
 n.ent abandoned the policy of inaction for the policy of protection. i 
 
 Matters did not prd^ncss smoothly in Perak after the Pangkor 
 
GEOGBAPHIOAL AND HIBTOBICAL. 
 
 Engagement. Mistakes were made, there was regrettable delay in the 
 sending of a Resident to Perak and the diffirulties of thp problem 
 were not understood, as indeed it was hardly likely they would be. 
 
 The Colonial Secretary of the Colony, Mr. J. W. W. Birch, was 
 appointed Resident of Ptrak, with Captain Speedy as his assistant in 
 Larut, and a small body of undisciplined Sikhs was distributed be- 
 tween them as a guard. 
 
 / 
 In the ten months that Mr. Birch ppi-tormed the duties of British 
 
 Resident in Perak, he saw so much of the country and the people and 
 took up so many important questions that his successors have always 
 been filled with admiration for his fearless energy and ability. Of 
 his kindness to the Malays there are still many who will speak, and 
 his assassination at Paser Sala ou the 2nd November. 1875, was a 
 political murder in which there was no semblance of personal feeling 
 The loss of his valued life was an infinite gain to Perak, for the con- 
 siderable Military expedition which followed, and the subsequent 
 short occupation of the State by British Troops did more to seciu-e 
 pennanent tranquillity than ten or fifteen years of " advice " )iv a 
 British Resident could have done without it. 
 
 The expe lition was oiitively successful and the work was done 
 
 qiiickly and thoroughly ; as might be exjiected, with General Sir F. 
 Colborne and Brigadier General J. Ross in command of the Troojis. 
 Captains Rullcr and Stirling with the Naval Brigade, and Colonel 
 Dunlop, R.V., as Civil C'ommissioner wi'h Uie Forces, Moreover, and 
 
GEOGUAFHIGAL AND HISTORICAL. 
 
 this does not always happen in the east, every man concerned directly 
 and most of those concerned indirectly in the murder of the Resident 
 was either arrested and punished, killed, or died in the jungle. The en- 
 tire cost of this expedition was recovered from Perak. 
 
 - A Commission consisting of Mr. (now Sir G.) Philippo and the 
 late Mr. C. B. Plunket collected evidence concerning the complicity of 
 Sultan Abdullah, Ex-Sultan Ismail and other chiefs, and these were 
 all banished from the State, the Eaja Muda Jusuf succeeding first as 
 Regent and later as Sultan of Perak. 
 
 With this brief record of events ends the first chapter in the 
 history of British Protection, and it will be interesting to examine a 
 little more carefully the means by which, from such an apparently un 
 favourable beginning, the Residential seedling has developed into the 
 flourishing plant of to-day. 
 
II.— THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 " The King said j — ' Verily we stand in need ot a man of sufficient iuteUUgeUL-e wJio is able 
 to carry on the administiratioii of the government,' * He replied ; — * It is a sign of sufficient 
 intelligence not to engage in such matters.' 27ie GvUMan ofSa'adi. 
 
 It may be questioned whether iiny moie iuterestiug ex^jeriuieut 
 in admiuistratioii was ever undertaken than that initiat€d bv the 
 Pangkor Engagement in January, 1874. Given a beautiful, fertile 
 State, rich in minerals, splendidly watered, almost within shout of 
 the Equator : imagine it sparsely inhabited by a jjeculiar. sensitive, 
 courageous, superstitious, passionate, and conservative people ; sup- 
 pose that not six white men had penetrated into this countrv within 
 memory ; that there were only twelve miles of cart road in the State. 
 and those only in one Province where the Chinese outnumbered the 
 Natives of the land l.iy ten to one ; add that these Chinese had for 
 over a year been in open warfare with each other i^uuring everv 
 authority ; that they had burnt down ever\ house ; that all mining- 
 had ceased ; and that the only positions occupied were forts full of 
 armed men, and coast villages, the head quarters of pirates. Then, 
 consider that, in this country, there were two claimants to the ehief 
 authority, each of whom had assumed the title of Sultan, while vet 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM. S 
 
 another claimant was in the field with at least equal pretensions, and 
 a fourth chief had for years been playing a skilful game to secure 
 the reversion of power to himself. Of wheels within wheels the number 
 was infinite, but it may 1 )e mentioned that Upper Perak was the scene 
 of an open conflict between two aspirants to the post of Sri Adika 
 Raja, while every Malay of any consideration in the State, who 
 could muster twenty followers, sat down on the bank of some river 
 and exacted toll from every passing boat. 
 
 Perhaps, it is hardly surprising that, under these circumstances, 
 Raja Abdullah asked for the assistance of the Governor of the 
 Straits Settlements to send him an Officer to teach him how to rule this 
 unruly country. It is more surprising to find the task accepted with 
 alacrity and each difficulty disposed of by one man's energy and insis- 
 tence, until the Chiefs, so long unaccustomed to any form of control, 
 rebelled against this white man's attempt to put an end to the in- 
 famies daily brought before his eyes, and determined to get rid'of him, 
 in the firm belief that no penalty would be exacted and that no suc- 
 cessor would venture to trust himself again to Perak hospitality. 
 
 ^ When Mr. J. W. Birch first took up the post of British Resident 
 
 in Pei-ak, the State was divided practically into two parts — Larut, 
 the place of tin mines and Chinese, and the valley of the Perak 
 River where, for ages, the Malay had lived unvisited by any step, 
 and uncontrolled by any voice from the outside world. Here, 
 debt- slavery with all its attendant horrors was an ever- spreading 
 sore ; here, too, a Chinese life was of no more account than that of 
 
10 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 a beawt. Murders wim-c uiipnuihihcil, robbery unnotieeil, whole villages 
 defied the avithority of tlicii- own Rajas, and the will of the strongest 
 was i lie law of the land. It wmr specially with this portion of the 
 State that the first Resident conci-rued himself, and here he met with 
 many unpleasant experiences. Visiting one village, the inhabitants 
 threatened to shoot him if he landed ; at others, the sale of every kind 
 of food was declined^uot only to the Resident but also to all his party. 
 Guides and means of transport could never be found, distances and 
 difficulties were enormously exaggerated, and everything was done 
 to keep him in the dark and misrepresent the state of affairs, the 
 position of places, the resources of the country, and the real views 
 and intentions of its people. 
 
 In Larut, the Assistant Et-sideut, Captain Speedv. had a much 
 easier task. A commission had disposed of the Chinese difficulty 
 and settled the boundaries of disputed mining land. After months 
 of fighting and privation, the Chinese were glad enough to resume 
 work, the mines were reopened, villages built, and at once a new 
 tide of prosperity, stronger than ever known before, flowed over the 
 Province of Larut. 
 
 At the time of these events, the revenue of what was then called 
 " Perak Besar," i. e. the Perak River Valley, was about §80,000 a 
 year, every import, each i;up or saucer, the most insigniticaut article 
 as well as such things as rice, sail, tobacco, opium etc.. beino- 
 subject to duty. In Larut, there was no revenue at all. As the 
 result of the first year of the Residential system. Lanit yielded a 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BESIBENTIAL SYSTEM. 11 
 
 revenue of $300,000, while Perak gave its $80,000. Many of the 
 most vexatious duties were soon abolished and, as the revenue grew, 
 a few European officers were appointed to assist Captain Speedy 
 m Larut. But, in Perak, the Resident was alone, except for a fjuard 
 of about 80 Indians, who gave him a good deal of trouble and 
 proved imreliable when asked to justify their existence. 
 
 In those ten months during which the Resident lived in a boat, 
 travelling about the State and collecting materials to enable him to 
 introduce measures for the better government of the country, it was 
 impossible for him to actually organize any administrative reform. 
 He had no matei'ial power to enforce an order, and, as there were 
 still two Sultans, each exercising a certain amount of authority in 
 different parts of the State and each utterly opposed to the other, 
 any concerted action was impossible. The position, to a man of 
 energy and capacity, was well nigh untenable. More might have 
 been done had Sultan Abdullah loyally supported the Officer sent 
 to him by his own request, but he was too weak, too shifty 
 and untrustworthy, and too easily influenced by unscrupulous advisers, 
 who thought it their interest to thwart the Resident in every endeavour 
 he made to introduce order into bewildering chaos, 
 
 A few sadly oppressed individuals obtained some amelioration 
 of their lot by the assistance of the Resident, some crimes were 
 prevented perhaps, some " squeezes " were put a stop to, but Mr. 
 Birch's main achievement was the extraordinary amount of information 
 he collected, and the able measvires he framed to lay the foundations 
 of a righteous government. 
 
12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 It is difficult to speak of Perak alone in describing the gradual 
 evolution of that system of administration which now obtains 
 throughout the Malay States; for, though the circumstances of 
 none of the other four States, now vmder British protection, were 
 similar to those I have described, yet, in the advancement that has 
 taken place in the past twenty years, each has learnt something from 
 the other, and to no State alone belongs the credit for all that it can 
 boast of achievement to-day. 
 
 It is certain that the difficulties in Perak were exceptional, Our 
 national pride would no doubt say that, out of such unpromising 
 material, no other nationality would with a few men have carved 
 so creditable a monument, There is Egypt, true, but even Egypt, 
 a magnificent testimony to British capacity for governing, was a 
 different place from a roadless Malay jungle, inhabited by a people 
 of whose eccentricities almost everything had to be learnt. What 
 has been done in Egypt^is like the result obtained by a brilliant 
 financier who had tmdertaken what appeared to be a hopelessly 
 bankrupt business, and proves what business management can do. 
 In the Malay States, something- that did not exist has been called into 
 being under trying climatic circumstances ; where everytliing had to 
 be learnt, where there was no experience of any similar experiment 
 to guide, and where the success gained, though practically unkno^vn 
 in the west, is not a little remarkable. 
 
]3 
 
 III.— FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 " Curse me them from thence." 
 
 Num. XXIII. 13. 
 
 In the Pangkor Engagement are two clauses that practically 
 placed the whole administration of Perak in the hands of the Eesident. 
 They are these: — 
 
 y^ " Clause VI. That the Sultan receive and provide a suitable 
 residence for a British Officer to be called Eesident, who shall be 
 accredited to his Court, and whose advice must be asked and 
 acted upon on all questions other thim those touching Malay re- 
 ligion and custom." 
 
 " Clause X. That the collection and control of all revenues 
 and the general administration of the country be regulated under 
 the advice of these Residents." 
 
 It is evident that the collection and control of all revenue and the 
 tendering of advice which must be acted upon cover all executive 
 authority. In August, 1876, however, the Secretary of State's in- 
 structions were sent to the Residents of Perak and Selangor, and it 
 was added " you will observe that in continuing the Residential system 
 Her Majesty's Government define the functions of the Resident to 
 be the giving of influential and responsible advice to the ruler * * *. 
 The Residents are -not to interfere more frequently or to a 
 greater extent than is necessary with the minor details of Grovernment 
 &c., &c," 
 
14 FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 / In May, 1878, a further circular was despatched to the Eesidents 
 of three Protected States warning them that " the Eesidents have 
 been placed in the Native States as advisers, not as rulers, and if they 
 take upon themselves to disregard this principle they will most as- 
 suredly be held responsible if trouble springs out of their neglect of it." 
 The Secretary of State said the circular was " lioth necessary and 
 judicious in its terms," lint he also wrote : ' I fully recognise the de- 
 licacy of the task imjsosed on Ihe Eesidents and am aware that 
 much must be left to their discretion on occasions when prompt 
 and firm action is called for." 
 
 This, naturally, threw the entire responsibiUty on the Eesident, 
 and whether he failed in character and firmness, or whether he shewed 
 excessive zeal and anxiety to remove abuses and advance the in- 
 terests of the State, he did so with the knowledge that he could not 
 run with the Treaty and hold with the instructions. Perak is the 
 only State where these special Treaty powers are conferred on the 
 Eesident, but, as every one knows, not only there but also in all the 
 States the Eesidents have, by force of circumstances, gone beyond the 
 instructions and carried on the administration with a wider authoritv, 
 bu.t much on the same lines as though the States had formed 
 an integral portion of the Colony. From the earliest days of protec- 
 tion, it was laid down, and necessarily so, that the Native States, in 
 their relations with the neighbouring Colony, would look to the 
 G-overnor as the controlling authority behind the Eesidents. and 
 that in all other respects each Native State would sujjply its own 
 machinery of Government. 
 
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 15 
 
 111 the gradual education of that staff of ofRiors which has 
 grown up to assist the Residents, the experience of the Straits 
 Settlements has been largely drawn upon for i-ules and orders in the 
 conduct of affairs. Similarly, Colonial and Indian laws have been 
 adapted to deal with circumstances that had a parallel in those 
 places ; but in Perak there are prevailing- circumstances utterly un- 
 known in the Colony, and, to meet these, local knowledge aloiie 
 could safely be employed. 
 
 During and after a brief occupation of a few posts by English 
 Troops, the late Mr. J. Gr. Davidson was British Eesident in Perak, 
 He, however, had never liked Perak, accepted the post with the ut- 
 most hesitation under great pressure, and very shortly resigned to 
 resume his own profession. His successor came from Labuan as Mr. 
 Low and left as Sir Hugh Low, g.c.m.g., after eleven years of most 
 difficult, tactful, and successful administration. I am not dealing with 
 individuals but with the growth of a system, and I do not propose to 
 here attempt to enumerate the services of Sir H. Low or any other 
 officer, nor what Perak owes to each individually. To realize the na- 
 ture of the task accomplished, it is necessary to appreciate the circum- 
 stances that obtained when first a British Officer was appointed to be 
 Resident in Perak. As a protest against what we call civilization, 
 the people of Perak assassinated him. Then followed a military ex- 
 pedition and some punishment, which those who felt it naturally 
 resented, and though the subsequent occupation gave the Resident 
 an authority which Mr. Birch never possessed, yet he had to deal 
 with a people of strong character, of the Muhammadan religion, 
 
16 PUIitHEB DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 nearly all tliu most influential of them being bitterly (ipposed to 
 British methods of administration or indeed to anything- that inter- 
 fered with the exereise of their own inclination. 
 
 A State Council was established, and in this Council sits tlic 
 Sultan, the most important of the Malaj' chiefs, and some Chinese. 
 It deals with all legislation and with the appointments of all Native 
 Headmen, with their allowances, and with the Civil List. It has 
 been a wonderful safety valve, and to be a member is considered a 
 very high privilege in Perak. 
 
 Slavery and debt slavery were both abolished within a few 
 years ; but, in making that simple and apparently natural statement, 
 no idea is conveyed of the burning nature of this question and the 
 exceedingly delicate handling that it required and received. 
 
 In 1874, no Perak Malay man was ever seen unarmed. The man 
 usually carried from three to eight weapons, and boys of a few years 
 old two or three. The carrying of arms was gradually forbidden 
 and is now unknown, A kris, which used to be a Malay's most prized 
 possession, has now vei-y little value. 
 
 The Resident's Guard has develojjed into a highly discipUned 
 regiment of Sikhs ; communications have I leen opened in every 
 direction ; all most important questions, laud, mines, labour, etc 
 dealt with ; posts, telegraphs, railways established ; the countr\- 
 divided into Districts and Divisions with all the usual administrative 
 machinery ; and Courts of Justice are found at every routre ot 
 population. 
 
 Small pox and cholera used to decimate the Malays of Perak and 
 
FUBTHEB DEVELOPMENTS. 17 
 
 the fear of those scourges amounted to a bad form of panic. 
 Vaccination, sanitation, and the ministrations of qualified m.edical 
 practitioners liave, however, altered all this, — but the Malay still 
 declines to become an in-patient of those excellent Hospitals which 
 are found all over the State. Other nationalities have no such scruples. 
 
 Then, of course, there are prisons ; very creditable institutions 
 they are and they will bear the closest scrutiny. Education, too, 
 has of late years received some of the attention it deserves and the 
 results are promising. And whilst such evidences of sound govern- 
 ment may be treated as matters of coui se, Perak has spent large sums 
 of money on what some may regard as articles of luxury : — a 
 Museum, Experimental Gardens, and a Trigonometrical Survey. 
 Lastly, in the twenty years of " advice " the population has more 
 than doubled itself, the Revenue is close on three millions of 
 dollars, and the Trade, real imports and real exports, consumed 
 iu or produced by the State, is valued at over twenty millions. 
 
 All this soiuids well enough, and any enquiring mind can by 
 personal observation see that much has been done and well done. No 
 greater mistake could be made, however, than to suppose that the 
 result might not have been extremely different. Our neighbours, 
 the Dutch, have had in Sumatra an experience as unpleasant as it 
 has been eostl}^ Even now, to imagine that Perak or any other 
 Native State can be treated like a British Colony is culpable 
 ignorance. I have spoken of the Eesidential system, but iu reality 
 there was no system ; what tliero is now has grown of experience 
 gained iu attempting the untried. A British Officer, acting under 
 
18 FURTHER BEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 the iustructions of a distant Governor, is sent to "advise" a 
 Malay Ruler and his Chiefs. The (jtti(-er is told he is resijonsible 
 for everything Ijvit he is not to interfere in (l(,'tiiils. His advice 
 must Ije followed, but he iimst not attempt to enforce it and so on. 
 He must keep the peace, see that justice is administered, respect vested 
 interests, abolish abuses, raise a i-evenue, foster British interests, do 
 his best for the State, and obey the instructions he receives from 
 Singapore, and with it all he is at his peril to remember that he is 
 only the adviser of the Malay Euler ! Out of that somewhat difficult 
 )30sition has grown the present administration, — and the main reason 
 why success has been secured is twofold : first, because a succession 
 of Governors have trusted their Residents and supijorted them ; and, 
 secondly, because of that very possession of large authority which 
 is at once the strength and the weakness ' of the Residential idea. 
 Had the authority been less, the results to-day would certainly have 
 been very far short of those achieved ; but, for all that, it may be 
 safely affirmed that, whilst the power for good is immense, the power 
 for mistakes, for exti-avagance, for favouritism, or for what can be 
 described as " bullying " is greater than should be placed in any 
 single hand. This is the real flaw and it would be possible to 
 shew that the danger is far from imaginary. It is curious that 
 while, in the past few years, much has been said and written of 
 the need for change in existing arrangements, the reasons given have 
 been so wide of this — which is the vital weakness, To enable 
 members of the Straits Bar to [)ra(^tise in tlio Native States 
 Courts, to be able to compel the Native States to contribute to the 
 
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 19 
 
 cost of Imperial Troops stationed in Singapore, to induce English 
 speculators ' to invest money and safeguard their transactions hv 
 English laws, to make huge properties obtained by concession 
 from an independent Malay Eaja raluable by declaring the 
 land British territory — these are some of the grounds advanced 
 for breaking faith with the Malays, who are now perfectly satisfied 
 with existing arrangements wherein they have an influence and in- 
 terest of which they would certainly be deprived by annexation. 
 
 True, the voice of a public ojsinion is wanting and that can only 
 come with a public to express it ; true, also, the Magistrates are 
 inexperienced and give curious decisions, but that is not peculiar to 
 the Malay States ; while, as for the security for invested capital, if 
 there be any real doubt on this point, it could be met by strengthen- 
 ing the Bench. The want is, however, a better control of the 
 Resident who, in his capacity of adviser to the Sultan, of actual head 
 of the executive and sole means of communication with the 
 Grovernor, possesses a power probably without parallel. 
 
 Of course, it would be easy to criticise in other directions ; but 
 they would not be criticisms of a system and would apply equally 
 to any form of G-overnment as well as to that of a Protected Malay 
 State. All over the world, stupid, extravagant, and partial things 
 are done in the name of government, and, if the truth be told, 
 Perak, while making wonderful -progress, through freedom from the 
 trammels of red-tape and many councillors, is still in danger of 
 shipwreck on the rock of personal authority. 
 
20 
 
 IV.— THE OPENING OF COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 Is any one afraid of change ? I would gladly know what can be done without it - and 
 what is dearer and more suitable to the universal nature? iiarrm' Anrdiiis. 
 
 In a State having an area of 10,000 square miles, where the 
 only means of communication were rivers navigable for native boats 
 and jungle paths without bridges, it was natural that the first effortR 
 of intelligent administration should be directed to the construc- 
 tion of roads. The only existing cart road in the State, from 
 Taipeng to the Port of Matang (^Larut District), was first jjut 
 in order. Then it was continued to Kamunting, and within the 
 last few years that extension has been carried South West through 
 the agricultural District of Krian to join the Colony's road over the 
 Krian pontoon bridge into Province Wellesley, and North West 
 through an undulating country to Selama, where the promise of 
 successful tin lode-mining has not been fulfilled. 
 
 Whilst the needs of the miners in the neighbourhood of Taipeng 
 were thus met, Kuala Eangsar (the seat of the Sultan on the Perak 
 Eiver and, for many years, the principal residence of the British 
 Resident) was put in communication with Taipeng bv means of a. 
 cart road, which joined the Taipeng — Matang road at Simpaug. This 
 highway crosses the range dividing the valleys of the Perak and 
 Larut Eivers, and, for years, the road through the pass was 
 hardly fit for vehicles, until the Ceylon Pioneers to(ik it in hand 
 and made it into one of the best sections of road in the State. 
 
 Meanwhile, to encourage mining in Kinta, the Town of Gropeng 
 
THE OPENING OF COMMUNICATIONS. 21 
 
 had been put in touch with the Kinta Eiver by means of 10 miles of 
 indifferent road, and, in the last six years, Kuala Kangsar has been 
 joined to Kinta by an excellent road which, crossing the Perak River 
 by a pontoon bridge, follows an agricultural and mining country to 
 Ipoh, and, thence, traversing the Kinta district by way of Gropeng, 
 skirts the western base of the mountain, Bujang Malaka, and, pas- 
 sing Ihrough Tapah and the Batang Padang District as far as 
 Kuala Lipis, will eventually join the Selangor main trunk road at Tan- 
 jong Malim on the Bernam Eiver. 
 
 The most recently constructed roads art' : — one to open the 
 Larut Coast District, and eventually give Setiwan and Lumut com- 
 munication with the Perak road system ; a hill road by Waterloo 
 Estate to shew what attractions the high lands of Gnnong Ijau offer 
 to planters ; a branch striking due North of the Kuala Kangsar 
 road to Kota Tampan to be continued, it is understood, to the 
 northern boundary of the State ; and a number of branches from the 
 Kinta main roads to open promising mining fields. All these are 
 cart roads, and it is matter of common notoriety that they have been 
 well constructed with very flat gradients and that they are almost, 
 without exception, in excellent order. 
 
 The system is briefly a main trunk road through the widest part 
 of the State from Province Wellesley to Selangor, — the geupral 
 direction being from North West to South East. — with a northern 
 road to TJpijer Perak and a southern road to Trong, (which is in 
 the Matang District of Larut) and thence parallel to the coast 
 to Bruas and Setiawan. The total length of the first class roads 
 
THE OPENING OF COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 finished is about 300 miles, coastnicted at a cost of over two and a 
 half millioQ dollars whilst, if immetalled cart roads and bridle-roads 
 be added, the total length is 750 milcK. 
 
 The opening of long sections of cart road have given some 
 very interesting and instructive results of a kind that, some years 
 ago, would hardly have been credited by persons interested in these 
 States. The main lesson taught is that 60 miles of good, flat cart 
 road between a port and a busy centro of production and consump- 
 tion is not regarded as at all an excessive length of transport for 
 bullock carts, aul. over this distance, that form of carriage appears 
 to pay consumers and cart owners. At present, there is nothing to 
 shew that, under the same conditions, the length of transport might 
 not be extended to 100 miles, and tlie carts still be able to compete 
 successfully with difficult river carriage or with a railway charging 
 high rates of freight. The reason is mainly because the carts load 
 from or into the ship, and discharge at or take from the door of 
 the consignee or exporter. The handling is the smallest possible 
 and therefore the clipapest, whilst the risk of breakage is also 
 proportionately small. It is significant that, where a read between 
 a market and a port runs parallel with a short line of railway 
 charging very low rates of carriag-e. the carts surcessfully com])etc 
 with the line. 
 
 Again, time to a native is apparently not money, is only leisure, 
 and it rarely happens either that the native passenger is in a hurry, 
 or that it matters to him whether his goods are two or three hours 
 or two or three days on the road. Money on the contrary is 
 
THE OPENING OF , COMMUNICATIONS. 2y 
 
 every thing-, aud the means nf transport that ci)sts least, takijig 
 into consideration everything, {^xcept time, is the one that 
 recommends itself to him. There ii,re numbers of bullock busses 
 running on the main road in Perak now that carry passengers 2:j 
 miles for fifty cents a head, a rate which, under the strain of 
 competition, was reduced to ten cents. It is needless to say that 
 a horse coach, although subsidized by the Government, was unable 
 to live with such opposition. The natural conclusion is that a 
 railway in a Native State will only pay well when there is no effectual 
 competition, — either no road at all, or when it is so hilly, in such 
 bad repair, or so round-about, that, practically, the railway has no 
 serious opposition to contend with. Bullocks cost comparatively 
 Uttle to buy, very little to keejj ; and the carts are rough and 
 inexpensive, the harness nil, and the drivers are usually also the 
 owners, and a very small sum will support them. The only thing 
 they have to fear is a murrain amongst the cattle, an accident of not 
 infrequent occiu-rence in years gone by, but from which they have 
 had almost absolute immimity for some time. 
 
 To thoughtful jjeople interested in the Native States, these 
 considerations are of great importance, for they very seriously 
 affect all questions of railway construction while they prove, as it has 
 been proved in Perak where alone there so far exist the circumstances 
 necessary, that a really good cart road, even a long onu', will sup- 
 ply almost if not quite all the Native needs, and that, probably, 
 at a cheaper rate than can be done by the much more expensive 
 railway. On the other hand, the railway is a far quicker and 
 
THE OPENING OF COMMUNIVATIONS. 
 
 pleasauter means of transport for travellers ; and, to those who find 
 the cajjital for roads and railwiLvs (and that in Perak is the Goveru- 
 nient) the former give no direct returns while they an.' a constant 
 and serious expense tor upkeep. 
 
 The first railway ever construc-ted in the Peninsula was that 
 between Port Weld and Taipeng, and the immediate reason for it was 
 a murrain which destroyed almost all the draught cattle and 
 threatened very serious difficulty. 
 
 The line, 8 miles long, has since been extended through thi; 
 nearer mines to Ulu Sapetang or Blanda Mabok on the Selama Eoad. 
 The line is now 17 miles long and the receipts exceed the expenditure 
 by a sum equivalent to S"/^ on the capital expended. In this case, 
 there is a parallel road competition with an opposition port at Ma- 
 tang, and the line, whilst very convenient, will probably never yield 
 a large revenue unless extended to, or towards Kuala Kaugsar, 
 
 Another line, 50 miles long, from Teluk Anson on the Perak 
 Kiver to Ipoh near the head of the Kiuta Valley, is partly open 
 and will be finished by the close of next year. As Kinta is now 
 the largest tin-producing district in Perak, is capable of considerable 
 development, and the line will also serve another rich district. Batang 
 Padang, the railway will probably pay -vvell. Almost the only 
 competition it will have to face is boat carriage hx a very difficult 
 and shallow river, that will be practically abandoned as a highway 
 when the railway is opened. The fact that the main road runs 
 parallel to the railway foi- a portion of Its length is of no moment 
 whatever, because the goods to l>e carried are all imported into or 
 
THE OPENING OF COMMUNICATIONS. 25 
 
 exported from the State. Ouce iu the train, they will not leave 
 it until they i-eaeli, in tme case, the point nearest the dwelling 
 of the consignee, and, iu the other, the port of shipment. The 
 only elfeutive opjjosition, therefore, will be the existing line of 
 transport between Peuang and Matang by sea and the 56 miles 
 of road that join Mataug with Ipoh and so with the rest of the Kinta 
 District. If the sea carriage from Penang or Singapore to Teluk 
 Anson and the 60 miles of rail cannot hold their own, it will 
 certainly be curious. 
 
 Speaking generally, it may be said that there is no important 
 village or mining centre in tbe State of Perak that is not now in 
 communication with every other similar place by means of a first 
 class road. Port Weld is in railway communication with Taipeng, 
 the principal town in the State, and Teluk Anson, the other 
 principal port, will shortly be iu railway communication with Ipoh, 
 the town of next consideration. The conception of the roads is 
 systematic, comprehensive, and good. The Larut railway is 
 convenient and may yet grow into a line of importance ; the Kinta 
 Valley railway has been wanted for years, will enormously benefit 
 the Kinta and Batang Padang Districts, will give a fillip to 
 Teluk Anson, and will prove a financial success. 
 
26 
 
 v.— PORTS AND WATERWAYS. 
 
 " Lo, as ilie bark that hath discharged her fraught 
 Eeturn3'with'precioii8*lading to the bay 
 From whence at first she weigli'd her anchorage." 
 
 Having described the internal communications by road and 
 rail, a few words ou the Ports and Waterways of Perak will not be 
 out of place. 
 
 Beginning from the northern boundary of the State, there are 
 eleven navigable rivers used by coasting steamers and native craft 
 trading with Perak. First, there is the Krian river, iu its upper course 
 dividing Perak from the Malay State of Kedah ; but, for the last 
 few miles before it reaches the sea, wholly in British Territoi-y. This 
 considerable stream is only navigable for native boats in the upper 
 reaches, practically as far as Selama, while nothing larger than 
 a steam launch can cross the bar except at high water. There are 
 only seven feet ou the bar at the top of spring tides. Nevertheless, 
 there is a daily steam launch service from Peuang to Nibong Tebal 
 in Province Wellesley ; and, before the pontoon bridge wus con- 
 structed, these launches ascended to Parit Bimtar, the principal 
 station of the Krian District of Perak and a place of some im- 
 portance as the centre of a large rice and sugar producing country. 
 There is a very considerable trade carried by native craft between 
 Parit Buntar and Penang. A little further south, is the Gula 
 
 river giving access to the large sugar estate of that name ; and, 
 further south, yet, is the Kurau river, navigable for steam launches 
 
PORTS AND WATERWAYS. 27 
 
 and native craft. But, here again, the shallowness of the water on 
 the bar is a diffioultv. There is a large fishing village at the moiith 
 of the Knrau river and, higher up, are Sungei Siilkap and Bagan Serai, 
 both thriving places, while the banks of the river are covered with 
 splendid sugar canes as far as the eye can reach. This river is 
 fringed by the nipah palm of which ' atap' (thatch) is made ; and, 
 from the head waters, are floated down quantities of valuable 
 timber that find their way to Penang. 
 
 Still going southward, there are the Silensiug and Lanit river.s, 
 by either of which vessels can reach Port Weld and Matang — the 
 former the terminus of the Larut Railway, the latter the terminus of 
 the Taipeng-Matang road. 
 
 Between Port Weld and Penang, there is daily communication 
 by coasting vessels of small draught, while Matang is much patronised 
 by native sailing craft. Prom Port "Weld to Taipeng, the principal 
 town of Larut and also of the State, there is no cart road, — only a 
 railway and bridle road. But, by taking their goods to Matang and 
 loading them in biillock carts, Native traders find that they can get 
 them more cheaply and, sometimes with less breakage, to their own 
 doors in Taipeng, Kuala Kangsar. or Kinta, than by shipping in 
 steamers, discharging into the railway at Port Weld and then having 
 to resort to the bullock cart to get them to their destination. 
 
 Port Weld is interesting from the fact that, in spite of its 
 position as the spot where ' wheel meets keel' ; in spite of its com- 
 parative proximity to Penang (40 miles); its daily arrival and de- 
 
28 POBTB AND WATERWAYS. 
 
 parture of steamers and its fresh water supply from the Larut hills, 
 it remains an absolute failure as a Settlement. The inhabitants 
 of Port Weld are Government employes and half a dozen petty shop- 
 keepers to supply their wants and those of a neighbouring fishing 
 village. The lesson taught is one that should not be thrown away, 
 for the Q-overnment has spent very considerable sums in building 
 good wharves, bunding out the sea, making roads, and laying on 
 pure water. The fact is, however, that Port Weld is simply a place 
 of transit, a station at which to walk from ship to train or vice versa, 
 and everything that has to be done there can be done perfectly 
 without the presence of the people who find it pleasanter and more 
 profitable to live in Taipeng or elsewhere. The very facilities afforded 
 by the Grovemment, a few yards of planking dividing train from 
 steamer, conduce to this result. And if a business man thinks it 
 necessary to go to Port Weld to superintend the discharge of ship- 
 ping of goods, if he will not trust the railway or steamer people, or 
 has no one to send, why should he stay at a disagreeable place when 
 twenty minutes, training will take him home again ? ISTo, Port Weld 
 is a type of such places ; and none of them will develop into the 
 Singapores and Hongkongs of the future — because the circumstances 
 are totally different. 
 
 Between the Larut and Perak Rivers there are the Trong. 
 Jarum Mas, Bruas, and Binding ; but, though each is frequented bv 
 a few native craft, they are, none of them, worth more than passing 
 mention. 
 
PORTS AND WATEBWAY8. 29 
 
 Tlie Perak Eiver, has, for years, been of importance ; because, by 
 this river and its tribiitary, the Kinta, was, until recently, the only 
 access to the Districts of Kinta, Batang Padang, and Lower Perak. 
 Kinta is the greatest tin-producing District in Perak. Batang 
 Padang promises to follow in its footsteps, and Lower Perak is a coun- 
 try capable of great agricultural development which, until two years 
 ago, did a large trade in atap nipa with Sumatra ; and, since the 
 prospects of tobacco are reviving-, may do so again. 
 
 But, now, on the Perak River, forty miles from its mouth, has 
 grown out of the jungle an important and prosperous town called 
 Teluk Anson. This town is the terminus of the Kinta Valley Rail- 
 way, the value of which undertaking has already been explained. 
 The entrance to the Perak River is well lighted, the bar oifers no 
 difficulties to coasting steamers, the river as far as Teliik Anson is 
 wide and deep ; and, while there is a daily steamer service to Penang, 
 there is communication every other day with the coast ports to the 
 southward ending with Singapore. Teluk Anson is the market of the 
 Lower Perak District and, as such, occupies a very different position 
 from a port without trade of its own ; moreover, it has no rival to 
 fear ; for, if, as seems unlikely, a railway should be constructed from 
 Kinta to the Dinding River, Tehik Anson would still remain the 
 port of Lower Perak, Batang Padang, and the wide stretch of coun- 
 try between these places and the boundary with Selangor. 
 
 The Bernam River, from source to mouth, forms the southern 
 boundary of Perak. Once the bar is crossed, and that can be done 
 
30 PORTS AND WATEJtWAYS, 
 
 at half -tide, the river is navigable for steamers for afeout seventy 
 miles, but at present the population is very small, and their needs are 
 supplied by native vpsscIs. 
 
 Practically, then, the trade of Perak with the outside world is 
 carried on through two ports — Teliik Anson and Port Weld; and, 
 when it is considered that the trade is worth roughly twenty millions 
 of dollars annually, and that almost all passengers are dependent 
 on the steamers which carry it, something more than a mild sur- 
 prise may be expressed at the character of the accommodation which is 
 offered. From Port Weld to Penang is forty miles, and from Teluk 
 Anson to Penang 130 miles. But, diwing the south-west monsoon, 
 the weather, thoiigh not quite what is met with in the English 
 Channel, is still sufficiently unpleasant to make anyone hesitate to 
 attempt even so short a journey on vessels, whose owners seem fully 
 satisfied if they can get safely from port to port in any length of 
 time, carrying as heavy a cargo and as many deck passengers as pos- 
 sible ; neither cargo nor passengers being the pleasantest of com- 
 panions in even the calmest weather. The vessels are said to be all 
 owned in Singapore or Penang, where some of them were built, 
 when and by whom would probably puzzle the • oldest in- 
 habitant ' to tell. 
 
31 
 
 VI.— MINING. 
 
 " And, as a miner delves. 
 
 For hidden treasure bedded deep in stone, 
 
 So seek ye and find the treasure patriotism 
 
 In lands remote." 
 
 ir. M. Ilfiatetti. 
 
 The name of this State, that is the inoderu uame, means silver, 
 and though galena an 1 silver have been found in Perak these 
 minerals do not compare in frequency with the oxide of tin which, 
 usually black, is as brilliantly white as silver when smelted. That 
 is not the origin of the State's name given by Malays, but it is 
 probably the correct one. Alluvial tin ore is so widely distributed 
 that it is but little exaggeration to say it can be found anywhere 
 within a few miles of the hills. Lodes have been discovered and 
 prospected; but, so far, without favourable result, no well defined 
 continuous vein of the metal having been met with. 
 
 It seems as though the main rock formations and disconnected 
 boulders of the hills had contained the ore in greater or less quantity 
 and that, by erosion and the ordinary action of sun and rain, the heavy 
 mineral particles had found their way into mountain streams and 
 so down into the valleys, where in the course of ages they had ac- 
 cumulated and been covered by an overburden of soil. Not in- 
 frequently, this process has taken place more than once and a jfirst 
 stratum of tin-bearing sand and gravel, — wash-dirt as it is call- 
 ed — is followed by a second overburden of earth and a second and 
 richer deposit of tin ore, usually lying amongst waterworn boulders 
 
32 MINING. 
 
 (>u a foundatiou of fine white clay aud that on the bed rock. It 
 is the uueveuuess of these deposits that makes alluvial tin mining sc > 
 risky a venture. The risk of hjss Ijut possibility of large profit 
 attracts the gambling instincts of the Chiue.se, but this insecurity 
 deters Europeans whose ways are not the ways of the Celestial. 
 It might naturally be thought that careful boring would show ex- 
 actly where the tin is, how thick the wash-dirt and how extensivf 
 its area. Theoretically this is so, practically the opening of the 
 ground alone gives certainty. The boring tools will not shew tin 
 where there is none, but in this water-charged, gravelly soil, the in- 
 strument, in passing through a thin layer of wash-dirt, often carries 
 down with it, to a considerable distance, the stones and heavy parti- 
 cles of ore, so that, when the tube is with-drawn, it shews traces of 
 tin through a much greater depth than that of the actual tin-beaiing 
 stratum. European companies founded on the results given bv 
 boring tools have had occasion to regret the hope.-; built on the per- 
 formances of this instrument. No doubt, careful handling will do 
 much and the reverse is largely responsible for unreliable results, but 
 the fact remains that boring alone is not a perfect test of the groiuid. 
 Now, this makes all the difference Ijetweeu the work of Chinese 
 aud Euroi:>eans. I do not wish to go into Chinese mining methods ; 
 but, as the Malay Peninsula is. l.y far, the largest tin producer iu 
 the world, as labour is sufficiently cheap here to enable us to work 
 for prices that would probably close all other mines except those in 
 
 Netherlands India, and as iu Singapore there are smelting works twice 
 as large as any other such works in the world, there is a certain 
 
MINING. 33 
 
 aiiiouat of interest attaching to this question. It is, however, enough 
 to say that a Malay Pawang (medicine-man) has tlie same sort oi" 
 uose for tin that a triifHe dog has for truffles. At least that is so 
 with the Perak Pawaug and, what is of more importance, thi; 
 CMiinaman believes in him. Usually, too, the Malay proves his own 
 confidence in his own powers by digging a small hole and shewing 
 the ore. That is more than enough for a Chinaman who straightway 
 buys, or more commonly, agrees to take the laud on tribute. He 
 finds the capital and a palm shed where the labourers, who usually 
 have an interest in the mine, live. Before any pumping machinery 
 is necessary, it has usually been ascertained, by the removal of the 
 overburden, what tiie wash-dirt is worth. If the whole thing is 
 a failure the capitalist loses a little and the ruolies make noth- 
 ing ; if there is even a small qiiantity of ore, the capitalist loses 
 nothing. But the total failures are very rare, and it mostly hap- 
 pens that, when tlie advancer has recovered all his exj^euses and 
 his interest and his commission and his, the lion's share of the 
 profits, there will still Ije a fair amount to divide amongst the la- 
 bourers. Two very significant facts prove this ; one, that this form 
 of work is mightily popular, and the other that disputes between 
 advancer and i;oolies are very uncommon. That is Chinese tin 
 mining; but tlio Europeau, what of him and his methods y Well 
 it might not be altogether inexact to describe them as " contrariwise," 
 except in the case of those who try to emulate the almond-eyed 
 Celestial. The European first bores. I have said it is not an alto- 
 gether reliable plan but it may, if carefully done, be almost as sue- 
 
34 MINING. 
 
 LX'ssrul as complete trust in the Malay Pawaiig. Tlioi, usually, 
 European ininiuy is done liy couijjanies, ai](i company s mojiey is 
 almost like Government money. It is not of too nii.ii;]j account 
 because it seems to belong to no one in pai-ticular, and is given 
 by Providence for the support of deserving expert and often 
 travelled individuals. Several of these are necessary to fairlv start 
 a European mining venture, and tliey are nKjstly engaged long 
 before they ai-e wanted. There is the manager and the sub- 
 manager, the accountant, the engineer, the smelter — but do ive not all 
 know the oft told tale that never seems to point any moral at all. 
 Machinery is bought, houses are built, in fact the cajjital of the 
 company is spent — no doubt that is what it was subscribed for, 
 and the shareholders shall not be disappointed if the management, 
 the experts and the employes can help it. And then — if ever things 
 get so far — some Chinese are employed on wages or contract, the 
 former for choice, to remove the overburden. After possiljly a se)-ies 
 of great hardships to the staff and disasters to the company, it is 
 found that the tin raised is infinitesimal in value when compared 
 with the rate of expenditure, and that the longer the work goes 
 on the greater will be the losses. This is usually discovered when 
 the paid up capital is all but exhausted. The company is wound 
 up and the State gets a bad name with investors, and the only jjeople 
 who really enjoy themselves are the neighbouring Chinese miners 
 who buy the mine and plant for an old song and make several 
 large fortunes out of working on their own ridiculous and 
 primitive methods, 
 
MINING. 35 
 
 This is a State where exactly such things have happened more 
 than once and, however badly its name may smell in the nostrils of 
 investors, it produces more tin than ever it did and more than any 
 other State in the Peninsula. 
 
 The quantity exported in 1892 is given as 16,638 tons. 
 
 A little careful enquiry will satisfy the curious that the most 
 successful Chinese miners — Capitan Ah Kwi for instance — do not owe 
 the bulk of their wealth to tin, but tn other adventitious cir- 
 cumstances, such as the holding of Revenue Farms and the various 
 re.sfiun.'Ps of that business which is covered In' the term ' Thavke 
 labour ' or Mining Advancer. But even where a European will work 
 intelligently, where lie does not insist that which he has learnt else- 
 where must be the only correct plan here, where his gi-ound is good 
 and he works skilfully, honestly, and economically, even should he 
 be the only European on the mine, he is denied the avenues of 
 profit open to the Chinese advancer, and his salary alone would 
 mean a fair profit to a Chinaman. 
 
 Such men are also to be found in Perak and, under the most 
 favourable circumstan(;es, they have shewn that Europeans nee<l 
 not fail, but they do not properly belong to the family of Mining 
 Experts. I say family, because Ihey possess <-ertain family 
 characteristics and they have a habit of speaking despitefully of 
 each other which is suggestive of near relationship. There are 
 different types of the ' Expert," as they love to call themselves, luit 
 traits of resemblance are seldom wanting. There is the man who 
 " knows what he wants and means to have it," and there- is the man 
 
36 MINING. 
 
 who knows what you want and means to let you hare it, — as 
 an extraordinary favour for a price you will some day regret. There 
 is the man who will not open his lips till he has looked behind 
 every door and out of every window to see if there is a pnssilile 
 listener, because he knows how i-pporter^ hang upon bis words 
 and brokers seek to furtively surprise his secrets ; and there is the 
 man who has friends to tell you that, if you wish to see him, it is 
 well to call before noon, for, aftpr that, vou are not likelv to gel 
 anything out of him. So you hurry to him lief ore noon and, if ]]c 
 is in a good humour, he will get something out of row. And tLcn 
 there are the men who know but wi/uld not sell (heir puijilo^'crs. and 
 the men who know their employers rather like being sold. There 
 is the sanguine, jovial man, who, under the influence of vour com- 
 pany, becomes extraordinarily communicative and then begs vou 
 earnestly to forget what he has said and. on no accoiuit, to tell your 
 friends ; while, on the other hand, there is the .silent retiring 
 pessimist who, when he murmurs a hint of possibilities, carries to vour 
 mind conviction more certain than Holy Writ. Lastly there are the 
 "^honest men — but why speak of them f Were not all the Cities of the 
 Plain destroyed for the want of a fi'w righteous persons r Be satis- 
 fied that all those you will ever meet will surely be honest men 
 and remember that, as a class, a deeply-interesting, mu.ch-trusted 
 mysterious class, the mining experts stand as Diplomacy's first line 
 of Reserve and might be to the Foreign Office what the Mercantile 
 Marine is to Her Majesty's Navy. I am certain that Pythagoras 
 or poor tormented Malvolio would have said that the soul of a. mining 
 expert might haply inhabit the body of an ambassador. la it a 
 questionable apotheosis r 
 
37 
 
 VII.— AGRICULTURE AND THE RISE OF 
 TOWNSHIPS. 
 
 Each to his task of toil— not heavy, though 
 Needful: the earth is younj, and yields us kindly 
 Her fruit with little lahour. 
 
 Byron's Cam. 
 
 It was natural that in tlie centre of each group of mines 
 should spring up a town and market. The first of these was Taipeng, 
 originally hnilt in one long street of attaji huts, again so rebuilt in 
 1874 to lie twice burnt down and rebuilt, first in wood and tlinii in 
 brii-k. From the ruins of the last fire in 1880, has risen the pre- 
 sent town with its wide Ansenna-shaded streets, Markets, Eall- 
 way Station and public liulldinj-i, environed by Barracks, Prisons, 
 Museum, Hospital and all the dwellings of the European community. 
 The site of the town and buildings is on flat land, most of it already 
 mined, eight miles from Port Weld, about thirteen from the sea 
 coast, and a mile from the foot of the Ijau range of hills, which here 
 rises to a height of over .5,0()t) feet and affords an excellent 
 water supply. 
 
 The Town contains 14,000 inhabitants, but, as mining is still 
 going on all round it and within a few feet of some of the roads, 
 the numbers who daily frequent the streets of Taipeng ai-e very 
 much larger than the actual inhabitants. 
 
 Kamunting, three miles by road and rail to the North, is a 
 village of the same date as its neighbour. For many years, tin- 
 mining in Perak was praetieally confined to the neighbourhood of 
 
38 AGBICULTUnE AND THE RISE OF TOWNSHIPS. 
 
 these two places. Now the best ground appears to have been worked 
 out, and the superior attractions of Kinta have drawn to that district 
 a great hody of the Larut miners. 
 
 Had not the Government dcciili'd to fix its Head Quarters at 
 Taipeng and erected here its principal buildings, the probability is that 
 the Town would already have sunk into a village of small importaneiv 
 
 In the immediate neighljourhood of Kuala Kangsar, th;_' s 'at 
 of His Highness the Sultan, there are no mines and though there i.s a 
 small, neat village built originally as the base of supply for the 
 Salak mines, eight miles distant and across the Perak Riv(;r, it is 
 the absence of the Chinese elenrent that, with the extj-eme Vitality 
 of the jjace, makes Kuala Kangsar so attractive. It is tlie very 
 paradise of Malays ; a wide, shallow, clear river with high banks 
 covered for miles with picturesque villages, hidden under a wealth 
 of palms and fruit trees. Behind these villages are rice fields, easily 
 irrigated and annually enriched liv the overflow of the great river, 
 while, on either side, a range of hills shuts in the valley. Here the 
 Malay lives under his sireh-vine and durian tree ; from his door he 
 looks out on the river which supplies him with fish, his dug-out is, or 
 used, to be, his carriage ; and, where his orchard ends, his riee fiel<l 
 begins. The sale of his fruit supplies him with money, and, if he is 
 ambitious, he either opens a plantation of pepper or coffee or acquires 
 a block of mining land and lets it out to Chinese on tribute. 
 
 The Salak mines are now almost abandoned, but the new road 
 running Northward, parallel to the Perak River, never more llian 
 about three miles from its right, bank, has (lyiened an untried and 
 
AGBICULTUBE AND THE BISE OF TOWNSHIPS. 39 
 
 uxtensive iniiiiBg field for which Kuala Kaugsar, the head quarters 
 oi' this large district, will furnish the base of supply. 
 
 It was at Kuala Kangsar that the Grovernment first began its 
 experimental gardens, to be followed by the Ai'abiau coffee estate ou 
 Arang Para (3,200 feet), the tea garden at a lower elevation of 
 the same hill, and a pepper plantation at the foot. Then Waterloo, 
 on the Ijau range, was taken over and has now develoj^ed, in t\u; 
 hands of Sir Graeme Elphinstone, into an extensive and flourishing- 
 coffee estate ; while, under the auspices of Government, the 
 cultivation of pepper has been introduced and many successful gardens 
 are found all over the Kuala Kangsar District. The road that 
 joins Kuala Kangsar with Ipoh, (the highest point of the Kinta 
 River navigable to cargo boats) passes , the Kamuning estate of 
 Mr. T. H. Hill, the pioneer planter in the Protected States. On the 
 flat land, between hills of black limestone, there are here about 300 
 acres of as fine Liberian coffee as can well be seen ; the estate borders 
 the road, is capable of great development, and, when the Kinta 
 Valley railway is completed, will have excellent communication with 
 the Straits Markets. 
 
 Ipoh is, in its way, a wonderful instance of the ra23id growth of 
 a mining town. Five years ago a small collection of huts, — to-dav, 
 it is a town of well built brick houses daily increasing and has a 
 population of at least S,000 people. As the centre of a rich mining 
 district, the focus of a number of roads and the present terminus 
 of the Kinta Valley Railway, its importance is second to that of no 
 other town in the State. It is peculiar in one respect — that, while 
 
40 AGIilCULTURE AND THE RISE OF T0WN8HIPS. 
 
 the town is essentially a place of Chinese, the other bank nf the 
 nver is inhabited by Malays, who ai'e almost as keen miners and 
 traders as the ineii with tails, 'i'hey do not actually work in the 
 mines, but they prospect, they find the tin, they acquire tJic land 
 and let it on tribute, while the wealthier of them (and that ram, 
 avin, the wealthy Malay, is found here in quantity) advance to 
 Chinese labourers, build houses and make money by all the means 
 ope a to them. The largest owner of house property in Ipoh is 
 the Malay Chief of the district. 
 
 Along the twelve miles of road that divide Ipoh from Batu 
 G-ajah are several mining villages of some importance, each with its 
 Police Station, Market, and Theatre. 
 
 Batu Gdjah, the official Head Quarters of the district, occupies 
 a small table-land on the right bank of the Kinta River, which 
 it overlooks with a magnificent, view of the Valley and the great 
 chain of mountains that divides Perak f i-om Kelautan and Pahang. 
 
 Batu Gajali is a very smart 1 ttle Station with imposing jjublic 
 offices. Barracks, Hospital, Prison, Roman Catholic Chajiel, and the 
 usual neitly kept gardens and dwelling housts, but the native village 
 is a mile away on the river bank. There ai'e mines all round Batu 
 G-ajah, but none of I hem very close. 
 
 Gopeug is the only other important town in the Kinta l>)strict, 
 twelve miles by road from Ijjoh. It is the centre of a group ol 
 mining fields, lies on the main road through the State and it is 
 probably here that the first mining was done iu Kinta. 
 
 Further south again i« the Kampar Division, where a French 
 
AGRICULTURE AND THE RISE OF TOWNSHIPS. 11 
 
 Compauy is miniug. It is believed that Kampar will develop iuto 
 oue of the richest fields iu Kinta. 
 
 Following the uew road which skirts the western base of Bujang 
 Malaka, the last place of auy importauce on it is Tiipah, the head 
 quarters of the Batang Padang District. At present, Tapah is more 
 a G-overnment Station than anything else, for there are no mines in 
 its immediate vicinity, but there is known to be plenty of good land 
 in tlie neighbourhood. The progress of this district should be 
 materially assisted by the opening of the Railway, with which 
 Tapah is iu communication by five miles of road. It is difiicult 
 for agricuhure to make much headway with such a rival as mining, 
 across the road as it were, but Sumatran Malays have planted a 
 quantity of Liberiau coffee iu Kinta, and Batang Padang offers 
 great attractions to an agriculturist. 
 
 There are only two other townships in Perak that need mention, 
 ard neither of them owes its existence to mining for they are both 
 the centres of agricultural districts — Kriau and Lower Perak — and 
 while both Parit Buntar, the Head Quarters of Krian, and Teluk 
 Anson io Lower Perak, have been called iuto life within the last 
 fifteen years, there is this diifereuce between them that, whereas, in 
 that time, the country for miles round Parit Buntar has been conver- 
 le<l from jungle iuto fields of sugarcane and padi, there was already 
 existing iu Lower Perak, though not at Teluk Anson, a considerable 
 resident population of Malays. There is this resemblance between 
 them that they both owe their existance mainly to the energy of one 
 man, Mr. Noel Denison. 
 
12 AGBUIULTUBE AND THE RISE OF TOWNSHIPS. 
 
 The Perak district of Kriau in 1874 was a roadlesb jungle with 
 .1 few padi fields aud one or two isolated fishing villages on the 
 coast. Now, ni(5st "t the country between the Krian and Kurau 
 Rivers aud even lieyoud the latter, is an unbroken extent of rice 
 and cane fields, the former cultivated by Malays and Tamils, the 
 latter owned bv Chinese and culti\ated Ij}' their euuntrymen or by 
 Tamil labourers. There is also in this district the extensive iud 
 flourishing Gula Estate belonging to a Shanghai Company, managed 
 by Europeans with Tamil labour. The machinery on this Estate 
 contains the most modern improvements, whilst several of the Chinese 
 owners are not much behindhand. 
 
 Parit Buntar village is only a small place, but it is sufficient for 
 the wants of a widely scattered agricultural population, and another 
 village has arisen at Bagan Serai on the Kurau River that, from its 
 central position, may eventually become the principal trading place in 
 Krian. The district is now well roaded and what it wants is 
 irrigation to make the rice-growers independent of drought and flood, 
 and to supply theiu with a constant supply of g'ood drinking water. 
 A scheme with this object has been 2.)repared. If it can be success- 
 fully carried out, the Grovernment of Perak will be able to point to 
 Krian as the greatest agricultural achievement in the Protected States. 
 
 Teluk Anson, forty miles from the mouth of the Perak River, 
 liere 60 feet deep and about 1,700 feet wide, is built on the left bank 
 of the stream. Until adopted as the site for the port of Lower 
 Perak, the place was a swampy forest. Now, it is a well laid out town 
 of brick aud plank houses containing about 6,000 people, besides 
 
AGRICULTURE AND THE RISE OF TOWNSHIPS. 43 
 
 possessing the public buildings necessary- for the chief station of a 
 large district, Above and below Tcluk Anson, the banks of tlic river 
 are fringed by Malay villages and padi iields, and Teluk Anson 
 supplies the market where produce is sold and the necessaries and 
 luxuries of life purchased. Up till very recently, the whole of the sup- 
 plies for the mines of Kinta and Batang Padang have been imported 
 from Penang and Singapore to Teluk Anson by .sea. and conveycrl 
 up country by boats using the difl&cult and dangerous rivers leading 
 to these districts. Similarly, all the tin has found its way tn Teluk 
 Anson for shipment to the Straits ports. Now, the railway will 
 supersede the river transport and as the carriage will be quicker, 
 safer, and possibly cheaper, trading facilities will be improved and 
 Teluk Anson may be expected to benefit thoreliy. This place also 
 has suffered from the want of pure drinlcing water, but extensive 
 works are in course of construction to bring water from a source of 
 supply at Changkat Jong, eight miles distant. 
 
 AU the land in this neighbourhood is suitalile for the cultivation 
 of every form of low-country tropical produce, but rice, sugar, and 
 c oconu ts ar e speci ally, successful. At Setiawan, on the boundary of 
 the Colony's territory at the Bindings, Mr, Denison, in the last few 
 years of his life, succeeded in planting a settlement of foreign Malays 
 which promises, if carefully niirsed in the days of its struggling in- 
 fancy, to grow into another Krian: 
 
 Nothing has been said of the natvire of land tenure in Porak, 
 because even a brief description would only weary the general reader 
 
44 AGBICULTUBE AND THE BI8E OF TOWNSHIPS. 
 
 andwould not satisfy the intending planter, who can obtain all the 
 information he wants by applying to the Government. 
 
45 
 
 VIII.— THE REAL MALAY 
 
 " He wag the mildest mauuer'd man 
 That ever scuttled hhip or cut a throat." 
 
 Byron — Bon Juan. 
 
 To begin to understand the Malay you must live in his country, 
 speak his language, respect his faith, he interested in his interests, 
 humour his prejudices, sympathise with and help him in trouble, and 
 share his pleasures and possibly his risks. Only thus can you hope to 
 win his confidence. Only through that confidence, can you hope 
 to understand the inner man, and this knowledge can therefore 
 only come to those who have the opportunity and use it. 
 
 So far the means of studying Malays in their own country 
 (where alone they are seen in their true character) have fallen to 
 few Europeans, and a very small proportion of them have shewn an 
 inclination to get to the hearts of the people. There are a hundred 
 thousand Malays in Perak and some more in other parts of the 
 Peninsiila ; and the white man, whose interest in the race is strong 
 enough, may not only win confidence but the devotion that is ready 
 to give life itself in the cause of friendshipi. The Scripture says : — 
 " there is no greater thing than this," and in the end of the Nineteenth 
 Century that is a form of friendship! all too rare. Fortunately this 
 is a thing you cannot buy, but to gain it is worth some effort. 
 
 The real Malay is a short, thickset, well-built man with straight 
 black hair, a dark brown complexion, thick nose and lips, and bright 
 intelligent eyes. His disposition is generally kindly, his manners 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 are polite and easy. Never cringing, he is reserved vpith strangers 
 and suspicious, though he does not shew it. He is courageous and 
 trustworthy in the discharge of an undertaking ; hut he is ex- 
 travagant, fond of borrowing monev, and very slow in repaying it. 
 He is a good talker, speaks in paraWes. quotes proverbs and wise 
 saws, and is very fond of a good joke. He takes an interest in tin- 
 affairs of his neighbours and is consequently a gossip. He i,-i a 
 Muhammadan and a fatalist, but he is also ycvy .superstitious. He 
 never drinks intoxicants, he is rarely an opium smoker. But he is 
 fond of gambling, cock-fighting and kindred sports. He is by na- 
 ture a sportsman, catches and tames elephants, is a skilful fisherman, 
 and thoroughly at home in a boat. Above all things, he is conser- 
 vative to a degree, is proud and fond of his country and his people, 
 venerates his ancient customs and traditions, fears his Rajas and has 
 a proper respect for constituted authority — while he looks askance 
 on all innovations and will resist their sudden introdu(/tion. But if 
 he has time to examine them carefully and they are not thrust upon 
 him, he is willing to be convinced of their advantage. At the same 
 time he is a good, imitative learner, and, when he has energy and 
 ambition enough for the task, makes a good mechanic. He is, 
 however, lazy to a degree, is without method or order of any Irind, 
 knows no regularity even in the hours of his meals, and considers 
 time as of no importance. His house is untidy, even dirty, but he 
 bathes twice a day and is very fond of personal adornment in the 
 shape of smart clothes. 
 
 ■ A Malay is intolerant of insult or slight ; it is something that to 
 
THE BEAL MALAY. 
 
 him should be wiped out in blood. He will brood fiver a real or fancied 
 stain on his honour until he is jiiossessed by the desire for revenge. 
 If he cannot wreak it on the offender, he will strike out at the first 
 human being that comes in his way, male or female, old or youug. 
 It is this state of blind fury, this vision of blood, that produces the 
 amok. The Malay has often been called treacherous. I question 
 whether he deserves the reproach. He is courteous and expects 
 courtesy in return, and he understands only one method of wiping 
 out personal insults. 
 
 The spirit of the clan is also strong in him. He acknowledges 
 the necessity of carrying out, even blindly, the orders of his hereditary 
 chief, while he will protect his own relatives at all costs and make 
 their quarrel his own, 
 
 In his youth, the Malay Ijoy is often beautiful, a thing of 
 wonderful eyes, eyelashes and eyebrows, with a far-away expression 
 of sadnessand solemnity, as though he bad left some better place for 
 a compulsory exile on earth. Unlike the child of Japan, he never 
 looks as if his nurse had forgotten to wipe his nose. He is treated 
 with elaborate respect, sleeps when he wishes, and sits up till any 
 hour of the night if he so desires, eats when he is hungry, has no 
 toys, is uever whijjped, and hardly ever ciies. 
 
 Until he is fifteen or sixteen, this atmosphere of a better world 
 remains about him. He is often studious even, and duly learns to 
 read the Koran in a language he does not understand. 
 
 Then, well then from sixteen to twenty-five or later, he is to 
 be avoided. He takes his pleasure, sows his wild oats like youths 
 
48 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 of a bigher civilization, is extravagant, opeu-liaude J, gambles, gels 
 into debt, runs away with his neighbour's wife, and generally 
 asserts himself. Then, follows a 2'i*ri<id when he either adopts this jjath 
 and j3ursues it, or, more eouimouly, he weans himself gradually from 
 an indulgence that has not altogether realized his expectation — and 
 if, under the advice of older men, he seeks and obtains a position of 
 credit and usefulness in society from which he begins at last to earn 
 some profit, he will from the age of forty probably develop into an 
 intelligent man of miserly and rather grasping habits with some 
 one little pet indidgenee of no very expensive kind. 
 
 The Malay girl child is not usually so attractive in appearance as 
 the boy, and less consideration is shewn to her. She runs wild till 
 the time comes for investing her in a garment, that is to say when 
 she is about five years old. From then, she is taught to help in the 
 house and kitchen, to sew, to read and write, perhaps to work in the 
 padi field, but she is kept out of the way of all strange menkiud. 
 When fifteen or sixteen, she is often almost interesting ; verv shv, 
 very fond of i^retty clothes and ornaments, not uncommonly much 
 fairer in complexion than the Malay man, with small hands and 
 feet, a happy smiling face, good teeth, and wonderful eyes and 
 eyebrows— the eyes of the little Malay boy. The Malay girl is 
 proud of a wealth of straight, black hair, of a sjjotless olive complexion, 
 of the arch of her brow, — "like a ouc-day-old moon" — of the curl tif 
 her eyelashes, and of the dimples in cheek or chin. 
 
 Malays, though Muhauimadans by profession, though they 
 would, individually, suffer crucifixion sooner than deny their faith, 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 49 
 
 are not verv bigoted, and not rery strict in the observance of religious 
 forms and ceremonies. Unmarried girls are taught to avoid all men 
 except those nearly related to them. Until marriage, it is considered 
 unmaidenly for them to raise their eyes or take- any part or interest 
 in their surroundings when men are present. This leads to an 
 affectation of modesty which, however overstrained, deceives nobodv. 
 After marriage, a woman sets a. considerable amount of freedom 
 which she naturally values. In Perak a man, who tries to shut his 
 womankind up and prevent tlieir intercourse with others and ,i 
 participation in the fetes and pleasures of Malav s<^cii'ty, is looked 
 upon as a jealous, ill-conditioned person. 
 
 Malays are extremely particular about questions of rank and 
 birth, especially when it comes to marriage, and misalliances, at! 
 understood in the West, are with them very rare. 
 
 The general characteristics of Malay women, especially those of 
 gentle birth, are powers of intelligent convci-.-iiitidu, rpiickness in 
 repartee, a strong sense of humour and an instant appreciation of the 
 real meaning of those hidden sayings which are hardly ever absent 
 from their conversation. They are fond of reading such literature 
 as their language offers, and they use uncommo i words and ex- 
 pressions, the meanings of which are hardly known to men. For the 
 telling of secrets, they have several modes of sjieech not understanded 
 of the people. 
 
 They are generally amiable in disposition, mildly — sometimes 
 fiercely — jealous, often extravagant and, up to aliout the age of fori v. 
 evince an increasing fondness for jewellery and smart clothes. In 
 
50 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 these latter days, they are dereloping a pretty taste for horses, car- 
 riages, and whatever conduces to luxury and display, though, in their 
 houses, there are still a rugged simplicity and untidinpss. alisolutely 
 devoid of all sense of order. 
 
 A Malay is allowed by law to have as many as four wives, to 
 divorce them, and replace them. If he is - well off and can aiford so 
 much luxury, he usually takes advantage of the power to marry 
 more than one wife, to divorce and secure successors, but he .seldom 
 undertakes the responsibility of four wives at one time. The 
 woman on her part can, and often does, obtain a divorce from her 
 husband. Written conditions of marriage " settlements " of a kind, 
 are common with people in the upper classes and the law provides for 
 the custody of children, division of property, and so on. The ancient 
 maiden lady is an unknown quantity, so is the Malay public woman ; 
 and, as there is no society bugbear, the people lead lives that are 
 almost natural. There are no drunken husbands, no hobnailed boots, 
 and no screaming viragoes, — because a word would get rid of them. 
 All forms of madness, mania, and brain-softening are extremely rare. 
 
 Some idea of what Malays are in their own country may best be 
 conveyed by taking the reader in imagination through some scenes 
 of the Perak Malays' life. The tiger, for instance, is not deliberately 
 sought, if he kills a buffalo a spring gun is set to shoot him when 
 he returns for his afternoon meal, but sometimes the tiger comes 
 about a village and it is necessary to get rid of so dangerous a 
 visitor. Let me try to put the scene before you. 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 51 
 
 But how describe an Eastern dawn ? Sight alone will give a 
 true impression of its strange beauty. Out of darkness and still- 
 ness, the transition to light — intense brilliant light — and the sounds 
 of awakened life, is rapid .and complete, a short half hour or less 
 turning night into tropical day. The first indication of dawn is 
 a grey haze, then the clouds clothing the Western hills are shot 
 with pale yellow and in a few minutes turn to gold, while- Eastern 
 ranges are still in darkness. The light spreads to the Western 
 slopes, moves rapidly across the valleys and suddenly the sun, a great 
 ball of fire, appears above the Eastern hills. The fogs, which have 
 risen from the rivers and marshes and covered the land, as with a 
 pall, i-ise like smoke and disappear, and the whole face of the land 
 is flooded with light, the valleys and slopes of the Eastern ranges be- 
 ing the last to feel the influence of the risen sun. 
 
 That grey half-light which precedes dawn is the signal for 
 Malays to be stirring. The doors are opened and, only half awake 
 and shivering in the slight breeze made by the rising fog, they 
 leave their houses and make for the nearest stream, there to bathe 
 and fetch fresh water for the day's use. A woman dressed in the 
 " sarong," a plaid skirt of silk or cotton, and a jacket, walks 
 rapidly to the river carrying a long bamboo and some gourds 
 which, after bathing, she fills and begins fro walk home 
 through the wealth of vegetation that clothes the whole face of 
 the country. She follows a narrow path up from the bed of the clear 
 stream, the jungle trees and orchards, the long rank grasses and 
 tangled creepers almost hiding the path. Suddenly, she stops spell- 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 bound, lior knees give way under lier, tlie vessels drop from licr 
 uei-volesa hands and a siDeechless iV^ai- turns ter Ijlood to water, 
 for (here, in front of her, is n great blaek and yellov? head witli 
 cruel \i'llo\v eves and a half oj^eu mouth shewing a red tongue 
 and long ivhite teeth. The shoulders and fore feet of the tii^ei- 
 stand elear of the thick foliage and a hoarse low roar of sui-jjrise 
 and anger comes from the open mouth. An exceeding great fear 
 chains the terrified woman to the spot and the tiger, thus faced, 
 sulkily and with more hoarse grumbling slowly draws back into the 
 jungle and disappears. Then, the instinct of self preservation re- 
 turns to the woman and, with kuces still weak and a cold hand on 
 her heart, she stumbles, with what speed she may, back to the river, 
 down the bank and to the friendly shelter of the nearest dwelling. 
 It takes little time to tell the stoi'y and the men of the hiju.'^e, armed 
 with sjjears and krises and an old rusty gun, quickly spread 
 the news throughout the ' kampoug ' as each cluster of huts and or- 
 chards is called. Everyone arms himself with such weapons as he 
 possesses, the boys of sixteen or seventeen climb into trees from which 
 they hope ti.i see and be able to report the movements of the beast. 
 The men, marshalled liy the ' ka tua kampoug.' the village chief, 
 make their plans for surrounding the spot where the tiger was seen, 
 and word is sent ijy messenger to the nearest Police Station and 
 European officer. Whilst all this is taking place, the tiger, probably 
 conscious that too many j^eople are about, leaves his lair and 
 stealthily creeps along a path which will lead him far from 
 habitations. But, as he does so, he passes under a tree where sits one of 
 
THE HEAL MALAY. 53 
 
 the young watchmen, and the boy, seizing liis opportunity, drops a 
 heavy spear on the tiger as \w passes and gives him a serious wound. 
 The Least, with a roar ol' pain, leaps into the jungle carrying the 
 spear with him ; and, after what ho considers a safe interval, the boy 
 climbs down, gets back to the circle of watchers, and reports what 
 has occurred. For a long time, there is silence, no one caring to go 
 in and seek a wounded tiger — but this monotony is broken rudely 
 and suddenly by a shot on the outskirts of the wide surrounding 
 ring of beaters where a young Malay has been keeping guard 
 over a jungle track. Instantly the nearest rusk to the spot only 
 to find the boy badly wounded, after firing a shot that struck the 
 tiger but did not prevent him reaching and jiuUing down the youth 
 who fired it. Hardly has a party carried the wounded man to shel- 
 ter, than news arrives that, in trying to break the ring at another, 
 point, the tiger has sprung upon the point of a spear held in rest 
 liy a kneeling Malay, and, the sjiear, passing completely through 
 the beast's body, the tiger has come down on the man's back and 
 killed him. The old men say it is because, regardless of the wisdom 
 of their ancestors, fools now face a tiger with spears unguarded, 
 whereas in the olden time it was always the custom to tie a crosspiece 
 of wood where blade joins shaft to prevent the tiger ' running up 
 the spear ' and killing his opponent. The game is getting serious 
 now and the tiger has retired to growl and roar in a thick isolated 
 copse of bushes and tangled undergrowth from which it seems impossi- 
 ble to draw him, and where it would be madness to seek him, 
 
 By this time, all the principal people in the neighbourhood have 
 
54 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 beeu collected. The copse is surrounded and two elephants are ridden 
 at the cover, in the hope of driving the wounded tiger from liis 
 shelter. A vain hope, for, when the huge beasts get inconvenient Iv 
 near to him, the tiger with a great roar springs on to the shoulder of 
 the nearest elephant and brings him to his knees. The terrified oc- 
 cupants of the howdah are thus deposited on the ground, but lose no 
 time in picking themselves up and getting away. The elephant with a 
 scream of terror whirls round, throwing off the tiger with a broken 
 tooth, and, accompanied by his fellow, rushes from the place and will 
 not be stopped till several miles have been covered and the river is 
 between them and the copse. 
 
 Severe maladies want desperate and heroic remedies. After a 
 short consultation, a young Malay Chief and several of his friends, 
 armed only with spears, expi-ess their determination to seek the tiger 
 where he lies. They immediately put the plan into ciecutiou. 
 Shoulder to shoulder and with spears in rest, they advance to the 
 copse. They have not long to wait in doubt for the wounded and en- 
 raged beast, with open mouth and eyes blazing fell purpose, charges 
 straight at them. There is the shock uf flesh against steel, an awful 
 snarling and straining of muscles and the already badly wounded 
 tiger is pinned to the gromid and dies under the thrusts of many 
 spears. The general result of a tiger hunt, under such circumstances, 
 is the death or serious injury of one or two of the pursuers. 
 
 Now come to a Malay picnic. Again, it is early morning, the 
 guests have been invited overnight and warned to come on their 
 elephants and bring " rice and salt." By the time the sun is well uj) 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 55 
 
 there are fifty or sixty people, (of whom about half are women) 
 mounted on twelve or fifteen elephants, and some boys and followers 
 are prepared to walk. The word is given to make for a great limestone 
 hill rising abruptly out of the plain, for, close rotmd the foot of this 
 rock, eating its way into the vmexplored depths of subaqueous caves, 
 flows a clear mountain-bred stream and, in the silent pools which lie 
 imder the shadow of the cliff, are the fish which, with the rice and 
 salt, will make the coming feast. The road lies through six or seven 
 miles of open country and virgin forest, and it is 9 or 10 a. m. before 
 the river is reached, the elephants hobbled, and the men of the party 
 ready for business. In days gone by, the method would have been 
 to " tuba " the stream above a pool, but this poisoning of the water 
 affects the river for miles, and dynamite, which is not nearly so destruc- 
 tive, is preferred. The plan is to select a large and deep pool round 
 which the men stand ready to spring in, while the women make a 
 cordon across the shallow at its lower end, ready to catch the fish that 
 escape the hands of the swimmers. Two cartridges of dynamite with 
 a detonator and a piece of slow match are tied to a stone and thrown 
 into the deepest part of the pool, there is an explosion sending up a 
 great column of water, and immediately the dead fish come to the 
 surface and begin to float down stream. Twenty men spring into the 
 pool and with shouts and laughtef struggle for the slippery- fish ; those 
 which elude the grasp of the swimmers are caught by the women. It 
 will then be probably discovered that no very big fish have been taken ; 
 and, as it is certain that some at least should be there, the boldest and 
 best divers will search the bottom of the pool and even look into the 
 
56 THE SEAL MALAY. 
 
 water-filled caves of the rock that there rises sheer out of the stream. 
 Success rewards this effort and, from the bed of tlie pool, some sixteen 
 or eighteen feet deep, the divers bring up, two at a time, great silvery 
 fish weighing ten to fifteen poimds each. There is much joy over the 
 capture of these " Kla " and " tengas," the best kinds of fresh water 
 fish known here, and, if the total take is not a large one, tlie operation 
 will be rejjeated in anothei- and yet another pool until a snificient 
 quantity of fish have been secvired and everyone is tired of the watcv. 
 There is a general change of wet garments for dry ones, no difiicult 
 matter, while, long before this, fires have been made on the bank, rice 
 is boiling, fish are roasting in split sticks, grilling, frying, and the 
 hungry company is settling itself in groups ready for the meal. It is 
 ii matter of honour that no plates should be used, so everyone has a 
 piece of fresh green plantain leaf to hold his rice and salt and fish, 
 while nature supiDlies the forks and spoons. Whether it is the exercise, 
 the excitement or the coldness of the two hoiT's' bath that is mo.^it 
 responsible for the keen appetites is not worth enquiry, but thorough 
 justice is done to the food ; and if you, reader, should ever be fortunate 
 enough to take part in one of these picnics, you will declare that you 
 never liefore realized how delicious a meal can lie made of such simple 
 -ingredients. Some one has smuggled in a few condiments and thev 
 add largely to the success of tlic Malay ' bouille-abaisse,' but jseople 
 affect not to know they are t]u'r(^ and you go away assured tliat rice 
 and salt did it all. That is part of the game. 
 
 And now it is time to return, the sun has long passed tlie meridian 
 and there is a mile or two of forest before getting into the open 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 country. The timid amongst the ladies feign alarm (Malays art' 
 sensible people who take only the yo\nig to picnics and leave the old 
 to mind the hnnaes) and a desire to gt^t away at onec, but there are 
 others who know what is in store for them. The elephants are brought 
 up and each pannier is found to be loaded with jungle fruit, large 
 and small, ripe and unripe, hard and soft, but generally hard as 
 stones. Everyone knows the meaning- of this and, as the elephants 
 kneel down to take their riders, you may observe that usually two 
 men sit in front, two women behind, and the latter are anxious 
 about their umbrellas and shew a tendency to open them here where, 
 in the gloom of the forest, they are not needed. The first two or 
 throe elephants move off quickly, and, having turned a corner in the 
 path, disappear. It is necessary to proceed in Indian file, and us 
 the next elephant comes to this corner he and his company are as- 
 sailed by a perfect shower of missiles (the jungle fruit) from the riders 
 of the first section of elephants who are slily waiting here to surprise 
 those behind. The attack is returned with interest and the battle 
 wages hot and furious. The leaders of the rear column try to force 
 their way past those who dispute the path with them, and either 
 succeed or put the enemy to flight only to find a succession of ambus- 
 cades laid for them, each resulting in a deadly struggle, and so, 
 throughout the length of the forest, the more venturesome pushing 
 their way to the front or taking up an independent line and making 
 enemies of all comers, until, at last, the whole party clears the jungle 
 and, taking open order, a succession of wild charges soon gets every- 
 
THE SEAL MALAY. 
 
 one into the fray and, the supply of ammunition having run out, 
 there is nothing left but to count the damage done. 
 
 It is principally in broken umbrellas which hare been used as 
 shields, but some garments are stained, and there may be a few 
 bruises treated with much good htimour, and, by the time the party 
 has straightened its dishevelledness, it is found that the miles of 
 otherwise tedious journey have been passed and everyone is home 
 ere the lengthenin^f shadows suddenly contract and tell the sun has set. 
 
 One afternoon, in last year, a foreign Malay named Leng- 
 gang, who made a living by hawking in a boat on the Perak Eiver. 
 left Bota with his usual cargo and |100 which his cousin, the son 
 of the Penghtilu, had been keeping for him, He was alone in the 
 boat and dropped down stream saying he would call at some of 
 the villages that line at intervals the banks of the river. The next 
 day this man's dead body, lying partly under a mosqiiito curtain, was 
 discovered in the boat as it drifted past the village of Pulau Tiga, 
 The local headman viewed it but saw nothing to arouse his suspicions, 
 for the boat was full of valuables and a certain amount of money, 
 while nothing in the boat seemed to have been disturbed and there 
 were no marks of violence on the corpse which was duly buried. 
 
 When the matter was reported enquiries were made but they 
 elicited nothing. Some months later the relatives of the dead man 
 appeared at Teluk Anson, and said they had good reason to believe 
 that he had met with foul play, indeed that he had been murdered 
 at a place called Lambar— a few miles below Bota and above Pulau 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 59 
 
 Tiga. An intelligent Malay Sergeant of Police proceeded to the spot, 
 arrested a number of people, who denied all knowledge of the affair, 
 and took theui to Toluk Anson. Arrived there, these people said 
 they were able to give all the necessary information if that would 
 procure their release, as they had only promised to keep their mouths 
 shut so long as they themselves did not suffer for it. 
 
 The details of the story as told in evidence are as follows, and 
 they are very characteristic of the Malay : — 
 
 It appears that the hawker duly arrived in his boat at Lambar, 
 and there tied \ip for the night to a stake, about twenty feet from 
 the bank of the river. Shortly afterwards a Malay named Ngah 
 Prang, stopped three of his acquaintances walking on the bank, asked 
 them if they had seen the hawker's boat, and suggested that it 
 would be a good thing to rob him. They said they were afraid, and 
 some other men coming up asked one of those to whom the pi'oposal 
 had been made what they were talking about, and, being told, advised 
 him to have nothing to do with the business and the party dispersed. 
 
 That evening, at 8 p. m. several people heard cries of " help, 
 help, I am being killed " from the river, and five or six men ran out 
 of their houses down to the bank, a distance of only fifty yards, 
 whence they saw, in the brilliant moonlight, Ngah Prang and two 
 other men in the hawker's boat, the hawker lying flat on his back 
 while one man had both hands at his throat, another held his wrists, 
 and the third his feet ; but it is said that those on the bank heard a 
 noise of rapping as though feet were kicking or hands beating 
 
60 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 quickly the deck of the boat. It only lasted for a moment and then 
 there waa silence. 
 
 As those who had been roused by the i;ries came down the bank 
 they called to the men in the boat, barely twenty feet away, and 
 lighted at their work by the brilliance of an Eastern moon, to know 
 what they were doinj^ ; they even addressed them by their names, but 
 they gave no answer, and, getting up from off the hawker, untied 
 the boat, one taking a pole and another the rudder and disapj)eared 
 down the river. The hawker did not move. He was dead. 
 
 The witnesses of this tragedy appear then to have returned to 
 their homes and slept peacefully. Several of them naively remarked 
 that they heard the xiext day that the hawker had been found dead 
 in his boat, and it appears that when one of these witnesses, on the 
 following day, met one of the murderers, he asked him what he was 
 doing in Lenggang's boat, and the man replied that they were rob- 
 bing him, that he held the hawker by the throat, the others by 
 the hands and feet, but that really they had got very little for their 
 trovible. Meanwhile the thi-ee murderers told several of the eye- 
 witnesses of the affair that, if they said anythiufj'. it would be the 
 worse for them, and nothing ^jarticvilar occui'red till a notice was pos- 
 ted in the Mosque calling upon any one who knew anythinii: about 
 Lenggang's death to report it to the village Headman. Then Ngah 
 Prang, who apparently was the original instigator of the job, as so 
 often happens, thought he would save himself at the expense of his 
 friends, and actually went himself to make a report, and, meeting on 
 the way one of the eye-witnesses goiut; on a similar errand, he per- 
 
THE SEAL MALAY. 61 
 
 suaded him to give a qualified promise to help in denying Ngah 
 Prang's complicity while convicting the others. 
 
 Needless to say that, from the moment the fresh disclosure 
 was made and communicated to the Police, resulting in the arrest 
 of a number of those who had actually witnessed the crime, every 
 smallest detail was gradually brought to light, the hawker's jtroperty, 
 even his owii clothes, gradually recovered, the money stolen from 
 him traced and no single lint left wanting in a chain of evidence 
 strong- enough to convi(^t and hang the guilty men. That indeed 
 was the result. 
 
 I ha\ e told the story of this crime, which is devoid of sen- 
 sational incident, because it will give some idea of the state of feeling 
 in a real Malay kampong of poor labouring people far from any 
 outside influence. The man murdered was a Malay, the idea that he 
 was worth something which could be obtained by the insignificant 
 sacrifice of his life seems to have at once suggested that Providence 
 was putting a good thing in the way of poor people, and those who 
 were not afraid determined that the opportunity was not to be lost. 
 The murder is discussed practically in public, it ie executed also in 
 public, in the presence of a feebly expostulating ojaposition and then 
 livery one goes to bed. The only further concern of the community 
 in the matter is as to how much the murderers got. For them the 
 incident ends there, and, if anyone has any qualms of conscience, 
 they are silenced by the threats of the men who so easily throttled 
 the hawker. It is only when enquiries are pushed and things are 
 
(J2 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 made generally unpleasant for everyone that the truth is unwillingly 
 disclosed, and tliL' jjeualty paid. 
 
 The Malays of Pei-ak occasionally indulge themselves in a 
 form of amusement which, I believe, is peculiar to them. Though 
 of ancient origin, it is not well known even here, and, as new sen- 
 sations are the desire of our time, I offer it to the jaded pleasure- 
 seekers of the West. 
 
 Given a fine sunny morning, (and that is what most mornings 
 are in Perak,) you will drive four or five miles to the appointed place 
 of meeting, and there find a crowd of one or two hundred Malay 
 men, women, and children, who have been duly bidden to '■ meng- 
 lunchor " and to take part in the picnic which forms a recognised 
 accompaniment to the proceedings. A walk of a couple of miles 
 along a shady jungle path brings the pleasure seekers to the foot 
 of a spur of hills, whence a clear mountain stream leaps down a 
 succession of cascades to fertilize the plain. There is a stiff climb 
 for several hundred feet until the party gains a great granite rock 
 in the bed of the stream, large enough to accommodate a much more 
 numerous gathering. In a "spate" this rock might be covered, but 
 now the water flows round it and dashes itself wildly ovei the falls 
 Ijelow. Up-stream, however, thej-e is a sheer smo(.itli face of grauiU'. 
 about sixty feet long, inclined at an angle of say 45^^, ami, while the 
 main body of water finds its way down one side of this rock and 
 then across its foot, a certain quantity, only an inch or two deep, 
 flows steadily down the face. The depth of water here can be in- 
 creased at will by bamboo troughs, leading out of the great pool 
 
THE BEAL MALAY. fi3 
 
 which lies at the head of the waterfall. At the base of the rock, is an 
 inviting lyun not more than four feet deep. On either side, the river 
 is shut in by a wealth of jungle foliage through which the sun 
 strikes at rare intervals, just sufficiently to give the sense of warmth 
 and colour. It is delightfully laicturesquc with all these people in 
 their many-coloiired garments, grouped in artistic confusion, on bank 
 and rock. They only sit for a brief rest after the climb, to col- 
 lect wood, make fires and get the work of cooking started, and 
 you will not be left long in doubt as to the meaning of meng-lunchor. 
 It is to glide and the game is to " toboggan " down this waterfall in- 
 to the lynn at its base. A crowd of little boys are already walking 
 up the steep, slippery rock. They go to the very top, sit down in the 
 shallow water with feet straight out in front of them and a hand on 
 either side for guidance, and immediately begin to slide down the 
 sixty feet of height, gaining, before they have gone half way, so 
 great a speed that tlie final descent into the pool is like the fall of a 
 stone. They succeed each other in a constant stream, those behind 
 coming on the top of those who have already reached the lynn. But 
 now the men, and lastly the women, are drawn to join the sliders and 
 the fun becomes indeed both fast and furious. The women begin 
 timidly, only half way up the slide, but soon grow bolder, and mixed 
 parties of four, six, and eight in rows of two, three, or four each, start 
 together and, with a good deal of laughter and ill directed attempts at 
 mutual assistance, dash wildly into the pool which is almost constantly 
 full of a struggling, screaming crowd of young people of both sexes. If 
 you understand the game, the slide is a graceful progress, but, if you 
 
•>!• THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 don't, if you fail to sit erect, if yon do not keep your feet together, 
 above all if you lose your balance and do not remain absolutely 
 straight on the slide, then your desoent will hi; far from graceful, it 
 may even be slightly painful and the final plunge into the lynn will be 
 distinctly undignified. It is well to leave your dignity at home, if 
 VdU go to meng-lunchor with a Malay party, for those who do not 
 weary themselves with tobogganing become alisolutoly exhausted with 
 laughing at the sliders. Tlie fascination of the thing is extraordinary 
 and, to read this poor description, you would think it impossible that 
 any sane person would spend hours in stnitrt^'lini;- vip a steep and 
 slipipery rock to slide down it on two inches of water ; and, having 
 gained a starting velocity, leap into a shallow pool where half a dozen 
 people will be on you before you can get out of the way. And yet I will 
 guarantee that, if your joints are not stiff with age and vliu are not 
 afraid of cold water, or ridicule, or personal damage (and jow will 
 admit none of those things) you wouJd meng-hmchor with the best of 
 them, nor be the first to ci-y ' hold, enough.' 
 
 It is usual for the men, when sliding down the rock, to sit upon a 
 piece of the thick fibre of the plantain called ' upei.' It is perhaps 
 advisable, b\it the women do not seem to want it. It is surprising- 
 that there are so few casualties and of such small importance — some 
 slight abrasions, a little bumping of the heads, at most the loss of a 
 tooth, will be the extent of the total damage, and with a little care 
 there need be none at all. 
 
 By 1 p. m., everyone will probably be tired, dry garments are 
 donned, and a very hungry company does ample justice to the meal. 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 An hour will be spent in smolsing and gossip and, as the shadows 
 begin to lengthen, a long procession will slowly wend its way back, 
 down the slippery descent, across the sunny fields, and through the 
 forest, to the trysting-place where all met in the morning and whence 
 tliey now return to their own homes. 
 
 Mention has been made of the Malay " Amok,' and. as what, 
 with our happy faculty for misproniineiation and misspelling of the 
 words of other languages, is called "running amuck" is with many 
 English people their only idea of the Malay, and that a very vague 
 one, it may be of interest to briefly describe this form of homicidal 
 mania. Meng-amok is to make a sudden, murderous attack, and 
 though it is applied to the onslaught of a body of men in war time, 
 or where plunder is the object and murder the means to arrive at it. 
 the term is. more commonly used to cleseribe the action ot an individual 
 who. suddenly and without apparent carisf, seizes a weapon and strikes 
 out blindly, killing and wounding all who come in lu's way, regardless 
 of age or sex, whether they be friends, strangers, or his own nearest 
 relatives. 
 
 Just before sunset on the eveiiint;- of the 11th February, 1891, a 
 Malay named Imam Mamat (that is Mamat the priest i came quietly 
 into the house of his brother-in-law at Pasir Graram on the Perak River, 
 lurrying a spear and .i golok, i.e. a sharp, pointed cutting knife. The 
 Imam went up to his brother-in-law, took his hand and asked his 
 pardon. He then approached his own wife and similarly asked her 
 pardon, immediately stabbing her fatally in the abdomen with the 
 golok. She fell, and her brother, rushing to assist her, received a 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 mortal wound in the heart. The brother-in-law's wife was in the 
 house with four children, and they managed to get out before the Imam 
 had time to do more than stab the last of them, a boy, in the back as 
 he left the door. At this moment, a man, who had heard the screams 
 of the women, attempted to enter the house, when tlie Imam rushed at 
 him and inflicted a slight wound, the man falling to the ground and 
 getting away. Having secured two more spears which he found in 
 the house, the murderer now gave chase to the woman and her three 
 little children and made short work of them. A tiny girl of four 
 years old and a boy of seven were killed, while the third child 
 received two wounds in the back ; a spear thrust disjiosed of the 
 mother — all this within one hundred yards of the hnusf . The Imam 
 now walked down the river bank where he was met by a friend 
 named Uda Majid, rash enough to think his unarmed influence woiild 
 prevail over the other's madness. He greeted the Imam respectfullv. 
 and said " You recognise me, don't let there be any trouble." The 
 Imam replied " Tes I know you, but my spear does not," and im- 
 mediately stabbed him twice. Though terribly injured. Uda Majid 
 wrested the spear from the Imam who again stabbed him twice, this 
 time in lung and windpipe, and he fell. Another man coming up ran 
 unarmed to the assistance of Uda Majid, when the murderer turned 
 on the new-comer and pursued him ; but, seeing Uda Majid get up 
 and attempt to stagger away, the Imam went back to him and, with 
 two more stabs in the back, killed him. Out of the six wounds 
 inflicted on this man thi-ee would have proved fatal. The murderer 
 now rushed along the river bank and v,'as twice seen to wade far 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 67 
 
 out into the water and return. Then, he was lost sight of. By this 
 lime the news had spread up sti-eaiu and down, and every one was 
 aware that there was abroad an armed man who would neither give 
 nor receive quarter. 
 
 For two days, a body of not less than two hundred ai-med men 
 under the village chiefs made ceaseless but unavailing search for the 
 murderer. At 6 p. m. on the second day, Imam Mamat suddenly ap- 
 peared in front of the house of a man called Lasam who had barely 
 time to slam the door in his face and fasten it. The house, at that 
 moment, contained four men, five women, and seven children, and 
 the only weapon they possessed was one spear. 
 
 Lasam asked the Imam what he wanted, and he said he wished 
 to be allowed to sleejj in the house. He was told he could do so 
 if he would throw away his arms, and to this the Imam replied by 
 an attempt to spear Lasam through the window. The latter, how- 
 ever, seized the weapon and, with the help of his son, wrested it tiul 
 of the Imam's hands, Lasam receiving a stab in the face from the 
 golok. During this struggle, the Imam had forced himself half way 
 through the window, and Lasam, seizing his own spear, thrust it into 
 the thigh of the murderer who fell to the ground. In the fall, the 
 shaft of the spear broke off leaving the blade in the wound, 
 
 It was now pitcli dark, and, as tlie people of the house did no 
 know the extent of the Imam's injury or what he was doing, a man 
 wont out by the back to spread the news and call the village Headman. 
 (_)ii his a,n-ival the light of a torch sliewsd tli<' Imam lyinj.;' im the 
 
•18 THE REAL MALAY. 
 
 yTOund with his weapons out of reach, and the Headman promptly 
 pounced upon him and secured liini. 
 
 The Imam was duly handed over to tlie Policr ajid conveyed to 
 Teluk Anson, but he died frdui loss of blood within tweiily-four 
 hours of receiving his wound. 
 
 Here is the official list of the killed and wounded — 
 Killed. 
 Alaug Rasak, wife of Iiuam Mauiat, aged oo 
 
 Bilal Abu, brother- in-law of do. . . :jo 
 
 Ngah Intan, wife of Bilal Abii , , , „ ol 
 
 Puteh, daughter of Bilal Abu ,., „ 4 
 
 Mumin, son of Bilal Abu ... „ 7 
 
 Uda Majid ... .. 3.j 
 
 Wounded 
 Kasim, son of Bilal Abu , . , aged 1 1 
 
 Teh, daughter of Bilal Abu ... . li 
 
 Mat Sail ' io 
 
 Lasam 
 It is terrible to have to add that both the women were far 
 advanced in pregnancy. 
 
 Imam Mamat was a man of over forty years of age. of good 
 repute with his neighbours, and I never heard any cause suggested 
 why this quiet, elderly man of devotional habits should suddenly, 
 without apparent reason, develope the most inhuman instincts and 
 brutally murder a number of men, women, and children, his nearest 
 relatives and friends. It is however quite possible tliat the man 
 
THE REAL MALAY. 69 
 
 was suffering under the burden of some real or fancied wrong which, 
 after long brooding, darkened his eyes ami possessed him with this 
 insane desire to kill. 
 
 An autopsy was performed on the murderer's body and the 
 published report of the Surgeon says: — "I hereby certify that I 
 " this day made a postmortem examination ni the body of Imam 
 " Mahomed and find him to have died from haemorrhage from a 
 ■' wound on the outer side of right thigh ; the internal organs were 
 " healthy except that the membranes of the right side of brain were 
 " more adherent than usual." 
 
70 
 
 IX. —EUROPE. IN SOCJET) '. 
 
 "lam sick of eudleKs biiusliine, sick of blofesoni-ljiirdeued liou^li, 
 
 Give me back the leafless woodlauds when the winds of sjiringtime range. 
 
 Give me back one day iu England, for it's spring in England now." 
 
 Rudijfii-0 KijilAiui. 
 
 European society in Perak is composed of Grovei-nmeut officials 
 aud a small propoi-tioii of meu engaged in planting, mining, bank- 
 ing, contracting and so on. There are also their wives and families, 
 for Perak, though so close to the equator, is a place where the 
 European woman can, with an occasional visit to a more temperate 
 climate, exist as well as the man. Compiaring the climate of the 
 Peninsula with that of the islands of Singapore and Penang, it is 
 generally agreed that while the sea breezes make the islands cooler 
 in the day, the nights there are very noticeably hotter than in the 
 Native States. 
 
 The number of Europeans iu Perak make, all-told, but a hand- 
 ful, and, as these aie distributed throughout the different stations. 
 there are nowhei'e enough uf them to induce the formation of 
 cliques. There is, however, another reason for this, and it is that 
 each station has its club which, formed under G-overnmeut auspices, 
 is more of a public than a private institution and. as it is praeticallv 
 open to all, they meet here on terms of equality aud as often as 
 they please. Those Clubs, which combiue reading, billiard, and card 
 ruoms with cricket and lawn tennis grounds, are fi'equentcd b\ the 
 
EUROPEAN SOCIETY. 71 
 
 ladies of the oonnntinity as regularly as hv men, and are a feature 
 of the Native States not found in the neighbouring colony. Even- 
 ing entertainments, concerts, dances, theatricals are also given in 
 these Clubs, and it will therefore be understood that they become 
 centres of the European social systeiii. 
 
 In Taipeng and Kinta. there are Sp^rtint;- Clubs ; tliPiv is a 
 good course with all the n(»cf>ssary buildings at tlie former sta1i(-ii 
 and a less good one at Balu G-ajah. The meetings are annual 
 and attract horses from Selangor and the Colony. There arc 
 ("'tlier avenues of amusement open to men. big game shdotiiin', 
 elephant, rhinoceros, l)ison, tiger, black leopard, samb)ir, jiig. 
 crocodile, and. in their season, most excellent snipe and jiigemi 
 shooting is got in Peralc. July and August are the best months 
 for elephant, rhinoceros, and bison, while the snipe season lasts 
 from September to April ; and the Krian District yields i he biggest 
 bags though there is capital shooting on the islands in the Pei-ak 
 river during November and December. March and April are 
 probably the best months for green pigeon and, though there is no 
 driving, the sport nearly resembles the shooting of driven partridges ; 
 pigeon in flocks probably fly faster and are perhaps more difficilt 
 to stop. 
 
 GroM is played, but, while cricket retains its present popularity, 
 the game of weird terms and strange implements is not- likely to 
 take very strong hold in Perak. There is an impression, outside tlie 
 State, that proficiency in cricket is the surest road to Crovernment 
 preferment, but that must be an exagge/ation for, with very few ex- 
 
EUROPEAN SOCIETY. 
 
 (•rptio]is, the heads of nil Distrirts and Government Departments, 
 are non-cricketers. It is a fact, however, that the peoj^ile of Peralr 
 are proud of the suci-ess they have obtained in the cricket field. 
 The feeling is not unnatural. 
 
 Perak possesses some very cnvialile health resorts, duly ap- 
 preciated and patronised by the Europeans of the State, but hardly 
 ever visited by strangers. That is cvirious, for, on G-tinong Ijaii and 
 Arang Para (the Hermitage), vrill be found a climate, little if at 
 all inferior to that of the Eiviera. The thermometer varies between 
 .59° F. in the early morning and abont 73° F. in the heat of the 
 day, — that is in the shade of course, — (piite cold enough for fires ; the 
 scenery is magnificent, the air balmy and heavy with the scent of 
 roses and violets which, with many other flowers of temperate climes, 
 bloom here in profusion all the year round. From Jnne to August 
 specially ; liut, also in other months, the jungle about 3,000 feet 
 above sea level i.s carpeted with wild forest flowers, the harebell, 
 anemone, and primrose of the Malay jungle, while groimd and 
 tree orchids in great quantity ]i)ossoiii at the same time, a.s well 
 as the wonderful magnolia wliicli grows wild in the higher altitudi-s 
 of Ijau. In the dark recesses of these hill forests are silent 
 birds of wonderful [plumage, troop of monkeys are also some- 
 times seen, but they do not appear to appreciate the cold of these 
 altitudes. In any open sun-lit clearing, quantities of brilliant 
 coloured butterflies are certain to be found and if, on a still evening-, 
 a lantern be put out on the top of Ijau, immense numbers of rare 
 moths and flying in.sects of all sorts will be attracted to the light. 
 
EUROPEAN SOCIETY. 73 
 
 There is a good mountain road, nine or ten miles long to the top of 
 either hill. Ou G-unoug Ijau the Resident has a cottage, and there 
 are two bungalows at a lower elevation, our '4AW and the other 
 2,100 feet above the sea. 
 
 lu the Kinta District there is a sauitorium' ou G-uuoug Kledaug, 
 and, with the comjoletiou of the railway, this will be accessible also 
 to the people of Bataug Padang and Lower Perak. 
 
 There is a great dearth of hotels iu Perak, I believe there is 
 one such establishment in Taipeng, but the Government has built 
 Best Houses all over the State and they offer better shelter to man 
 and beast than the average Dak Bungalow of India. Hospitality in 
 the Native States is, however, proverbial, though it has been often 
 sorely tried, and no true sportsman or good fellow need hesitate to 
 visit Perak even without an introduction. 
 
 Perak is one of those places for the moral and religious being 
 of whose European society the S, P, G-, has cared, It possesses a 
 popular English Church clergyman, a small Church, and a 
 Parsonage — all mainly supported by the voluntary contributions of 
 the community. There are also at least two Roman Catholic Chapels 
 under the charge of devoted pastors. The graveyard is a necessity, 
 and you will find a lovingly cared for G-od's Acre at each station, 
 where already lie not a few of those who, like Henry Lawrence 
 . have, in their more humble way, tried to do their duty, and can very 
 badly 1 )e spared from the email European society of this the land 
 of their exile. 
 
X.—THE FUTURE. 
 
 Be quoi deraain aera-t-il fait 't 
 L'homme aujourd'hui seme la cause 
 Bemaiu Bieu fait mCirir I'eifect, 
 
 I have told a little of the past, more of the present ; the future 
 uo mau kuoweth. I have no ambitiou to attempt the role of a 
 prophet, but, looking to the dangers passed and the rocks ahead, it 
 may be possible to suggest a course by which to steer the ship of State. 
 I heard the late Sir Frederick Dickson say that, in his belief, 
 Perak would develop into a greater and more valuable possession 
 than Ceylon. It is possible ; he had a wide experience of the Isle 
 " where every prospect pleases,'' and certainly Perak has great 
 capabilities, but it will want a deal of develoj)ment before it can 
 successfully rival the premier Crown Colony. Looking back over the 
 last twenty years, the time seems short indeed and it has not 
 been wasted, but looking forward to five Ijrief intervals of twenty 
 years each seems a very far L-ry. In that time, perhaps even in 
 less, the alluvial tin deposits might be exhausted, but, long before 
 then, lode mining may have taken its place. Gold and galena are 
 known to exist and will surely be worked, while other valuable 
 minerals will probably be discovered when the country is better 
 cleared and systematic prospecting undertaken ; meanwhile wisdom 
 suggests the encouragement of agriculture, both in the low and hill 
 
THE FUTURE. ^h 
 
 country, the improvement of the labour supply, and the employment 
 of every reasonable means to induce European and native planters 
 to convert some of the vast stretches of forest land into plantations 
 of those tropical products which experiment has proved will thrive 
 and yield a proiit. So only will it be possible to secure revenue 
 independent of those mineral resources which may not last for ever, 
 and the working of which cannot alone ensure real and permanent 
 prosperity. When that day comes, the extension of railways to meet 
 i lie wants of planters will give the State another and better source of 
 revenue than some of those on which it now depends. Meanwhile, 
 the capital of the country is being taken out of it, but fortimately 
 some of it, that which is paid in export duty and that which indirectly 
 belongs to the working of tin for it is contributed by the miners, i.s 
 being wisely spent in the construction of roads, railways, telegraphs, 
 and waterworks, all of which contribute directly or indirectly 
 to the revenue, while they do more for the permanent advancement 
 of the country than any other form of expenditure. 
 
 What has been said in earlier chapters proves that the ad- 
 ministration of Perak and the other States und^'r British Protecticn 
 has been stvikins:,'ly su.ccessful. But can it crmtimic on the same 
 lines ? That is the quesiton for the immediate Futiu-H. The problem 
 is not an altogether simple one, and on its solution depends that 
 remoter future which only some of us will live to see. 
 
 The natural enquiry is ' why not let well alone ? ' and the an- 
 swer is given in a previous chapter. The States have out-grown 
 their long clothes. There are now too many valuable interests at 
 
7(! THE FUTURE. 
 
 stake, too many Europeans, too large an official service, too many 
 important legal (juestions to (lecide, too many difforent industries. 
 and too many laws required to protect or control ioo large a 
 population for all these matters to be left practically in the hands of 
 one man, even when that one man's authority is limited to the State 
 of Perak with the Grovernor of tlie Straits Settlements behind him, 
 and then, even supposing that all this were for the best, what is the 
 position of the Resident after all r In. the face of existing 
 instructions, it would be difficult to define. There are other excellent 
 reasons, outside those given and outside the State, to explain why 
 the existing regime has hitherto answered so well and to lead 
 thinking people to fear that it cannot safely he perpetuated. The 
 wise man forewarned will do what he can to prevent the possibility 
 of difficulty, and if it be granted that there is reasonable ground for 
 a new departure, or ffir a more exact definition of authority, 
 which ever you like to call it, the only question is the direction it 
 should take. 
 
 A feeling is gaining ground that the dircrtion should be not 
 annexation but the federation of all the Protected States under one 
 Control, either subordinate to or independent of the (governor of the 
 Straits Settlements. 
 
 Without deliberately lireakiun' faith with the Malays, annexation 
 is impossible. With the chiefs, and through them with the people, 
 such a step would be exceedingly unpopular ; to ignore this fact is 
 to fail to appreciate the premises. British Territory means British 
 law ; and native prejudices, ancient native customs, the privileges of 
 
THE FUTURE. 
 
 liereditary chiefs, cannot live beside it. British Grovernment also 
 means a considerable amount of circumlocution that would not 
 advanc(? the interests of the States and, like all the very liest things, 
 it means exjoense. It is fairly certain that, setting aside the feelings 
 of the Malays and treating our enga^^empnts with them as expedients 
 which had answered their ]iurpose, tlie annexation of the Malay 
 States would be a lilunder, and, while the advancement of these 
 jilaces would be (■herked, the trade of the neighbouring Colony 
 would suft'er in sympathy. 
 
 It may lie asked, if not annexation whv tV'dcration ? The re])ly is 
 that federation, while it disturbs no existing arrangement, breaks no 
 promises, does not alter the status of the Malay Rulers and chiefs, 
 may be made to clearly define the positions of the Residents, to give 
 them a controlling chief who, by his constant presence in the States, 
 will know as much about them as the Residents themselves and will 
 thus enable him, or through him the G-overnor, to exercise a closer 
 supervision over the affairs of each State. 
 
 But federation means a great deal more than this. If intelligently 
 brought about with due consideration sheivn for the feelings of the 
 Native Rulers, and p)rudently worked in cordial accord with all 
 the Residents, it would mean that these States united would possess 
 resources enough to deal with rebellious Malays or turbulent Chinese 
 without any extraneous helj:) ; it .should mean a Cli ivernment Note 
 issue for all the States ; it would mean that rich States could help 
 pool- ones to their mu.tual benefit, tha.t uniformity and continuity 
 of policy would he secured, that experience gained in one State 
 
Tft 
 
 THE FVTUBE. 
 
 would he utilized in the others, and that laws, regulations, and me- 
 thods of administration would he as far as possihle idi'uticul 
 throuf^hout the federation, A small State might not have the funds 
 to build a modern Prison or pay the the salary of an English 
 Judge, but it might easily share in these benefits at a comparatively 
 small coat, while every State would feel the effect of the best available 
 ability and experience brought to bear on the administration of its 
 affairs. Federation would also mean the consolidation of the Nativi' 
 States Civil Service and tlie general advantage of its members. 
 
 I have gone lieyond Perak, but it is impossible to disassociate 
 the other States from a right consideration of this question, and 
 its determination will give a surer indication of her future and 
 theirs than the vision of any latter-day prophet. 
 
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