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British Malaya; an account of the origin and progress of British influence in Malaya

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UCSB LIBRAIX

BRITISH MALAYA

BRITISH MALAYA

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF BRITISH INFLUENCE IN MALAYA BY SIR FRANK^,SWETTENHAM,K.C.M.G. LATE GOVERNOR &c. OF THE STRAITS COLONY & HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES WITH A SPECIALLY COMPILED MAP NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS RE- PRODUCED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 6f A FRONTISPIECE IN PHOTOGRAVURE

15>W(

LONDON i JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MDCCCCVH

Plymouth: william brendon and son, ltd., printers

PREFACE

IT is an article of popular belief that Englishmen are born sailors ; probably it would be more true to say that they are born administrators. The English- man makes a good sailor because we happen to have hit upon the right training to secure that end ; but, though the Empire is large and the duties of administra- tion important, we have no school where they are taught. Still it would be difficult to devise any responsibility, how- ever onerous and unattractive, which a midshipman would not at once undertake, though it had no concern with sea or ship. Moreover, he would make a very good attempt to solve the problem, because his training fits him to deal intelligently with the unexpected. One may, however, question whether any one but a midshipman would have willingly embarked upon a voyage to discover the means of introducing order into the Malay States, when that task was thrust upon the British Government in 1874.

The object of this book is to explain the circumstances under which the experiment was made, the conditions which prevailed, the features of the country and the character of the people ; then to describe the gradual evolution of a system of administration which has no exact parallel, and to tell what this new departure has done for Malaya, what effect it has had on the neighbour- ing British possessions. A comparison is also drawn between the progress made in the Malay States under British protection and the other States of the Peninsula,

vi PREFACE

whether independent or under Siamese control. In order to give the reader an intelh'gible account of these matters, it has been necessary to deal briefly with the early history of the Malays and of those Settlements forming the British colony of which the capital is Singapore.

The main idea is to set out accurately the important facts which led to the intervention of Great Britain in the domestic affairs of the countries now known as the Federated Malay States, and to record exactly the steps by which they have been led to their present position as Dependencies of the British Crown. The unique character of the experiment and the success which has attended it are sufficient reasons for describing the efforts which have raised the Malays to a condition of comfort and happiness never before known in their history, and have conferred benefits on Chinese, Indians, and British alike, while open- ing a new and valuable market to British manufacturers. A further incentive was supplied by the desire of the writer to tell truthfully a story never yet told, though the facts, as far as they concern the Federated States, are no discredit to the British nation, either as the paramount Power in Malaya, or simply as a friend who can sym- pathize with, and be generous to, a poor neighbour, with- out considerations of self-interest.

I have felt the disadvantage of writing from intimate knowledge of the events of my time, and, while I could not kill the personal pronoun, for it has a thousand lives and some uses, I have made an effort to scotch it.

My thanks are due to Mr. Basil H. Soulsby, F.S.A., of the Map Department of the British Museum, and to Mr. C. Atchley, I.S.O., Librarian of the Colonial Office, for their kind assistance.

F. A. S.

19 July, 1906.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

The Outward Appearance of the British Possessions

IN THE Straits of Malacca i

CHAPTER n Malacca— Early History 12

CHAPTER HI Pinang — Early History— Lord Minto's Expedition to

Java 33

CHAPTER IV Singapore — Early History— Sir Stamford Raffles . 62

CHAPTER V

The Straits from 1825-67 — The Arrangement made to Settle the Claims of the Sultan and Temenggong IN Regard to Johore 78

CHAPTER VI

The Straits from 1867-73 — Sir Harry Ord's Adminis- tration— Anarchy in the Malay States . . . 104

CHAPTER VII

The Malay : his Customs, Prejudices, Arts, Language,

AND Literature 133

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

PAGE

1874 — Sir Andrew Clarke — British Intervention in

THE Affairs of the Western Malay States . .173

CHAPTER IX

1875-6 — Sir William Jervois— British Resident of P^rak

Assassinated— Punitive Expedition . . . .194

CHAPTER X

The Evolution of the Residential System— Tin Mining — What the Malay States owe to Chinese Labour AND Enterprise — Roads— Railways . . . .216

CHAPTER XI

The Continued Evolution of the Residential System — Revenue Farms — Education — Land Settlement — Irrigation — Rubber Cultivation — Currency — Pahang 245

CHAPTER XII 1895-1906 — Federation and its Results .... 272

CHAPTER XIII

Concerning the Malay States which are not in- cluded IN the Federation 306

CHAPTER XIV

How the Development of the Malav States has af- fected THE NEIGHBOURING BRITISH COLONY, AND THE

Relations of Both with the Colonial Office — The Singapore Harbour and Docks— The Civil Service— The Malay Administrator— The Future OF British Malaya 33°

Index 347

ILLUSTRATIONS

Admiral the Hon. Sir Harry Keppel and the Author on a terrace of government house, singapore,

February, 1903 Frontispiece

From a photograph by Mr. A. W. Bean, of Singapore.

PAGE

Group of Tamil Women, Province Wellesley ... 4

From a photograph by Mr. L. Wray, i.s.o.

Malacca River 6

From a photograph by Mr. Alleyne Ireland.

Malay Village in Keppel Harbour, Singapore ... 8

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Government House, Singapore 10

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

The Real Malay Lion . 14

From a photograph by the late Mr. F. Duberly.

Chinese Actors 38

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

A Chinese Junk and a Malay Schooner 56

Photographed by the author.

CoLLYER Quay and Johnston's Pier, Singapore ... 66

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Entrance of Singapore River 82

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Cavenagh Bridge and Government Offices, Singapore . 102

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Indian Jugglers 108

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

PfiRAK Elephants 114

Tin Mines at Larut 116

The P£;rak Valley from the Cottage 118

From a photograph by Mr. L. Wray, i.s.O.

The Batu Caves, Selangor 124

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

X ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Group of Malay Sultans 128

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Malay Shawls 134

A Sarong Batek 136

Malay Gold Work 138

Malay Niello ib.

Malay Gold Work 140

Vessels of Suasa 142

A Niello Basin . 144

Some Specimens of Malayan Ornament 146

Starting for a Picnic 150

Kedah Plaited Work 152

A Malay Girl 154

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Malay Fabrics 156

A Trengganu Shawl 158

Malay Silver Ware 164

The Gamalan 168

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

A Malay House 186

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Elephants crossing P£rak River 202

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Weapons in PSrak Regalia 210

From a photograph by Mr. L. Wray, i.s.o.

Chinese Children 232

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Railway Construction 238

Railway Construction 240

Railway Construction 242

An old Mosque and a Malay Graveyard .... 252

From photographs by the author.

Kuala Lumpor in 1884 274

Taken for the author.

Government Offices, Kuala Lumpor 276

Government Offices, Kuala Lumpor ib.

From photographs by Lambert and Co.

Perak Railways, Gunong Pondok 280

ILLUSTRATIONS xi

PAGE

Victoria Bridge, PIirak 284

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

On the Residency Terrace, Kuala Kangsar .... 288

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Conference of Chiefs, 1903 292

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Football in Kuala Lumpor, 1903 298

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Kuala Lumpor and Back of Government Offices . . . 304

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Bull-Fighting, Kelantan 316

From photograph by the author.

Trengganu 320

Taken for the author.

A Cocoanut Plantation 330

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Smelting Works in Keppel Harbour, Singapore . . . 332

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

The Singapore River 334

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

Mr. G. p. Owen and a Singapore Tiger 338

From a photograph by Lambert and Co.

The pictures in this book are reproduced, by kind permission, from photographs by Messrs. G. Lambert and Co., of Singapore, by amateurs, who are duly named, and a few are from photographs taken at various times by direction of the Government of the Colony or the Federated Malay States. The pictures of Malay art ware are from vessels and fabrics in the possession of the author.

BRITISH MALAYA

CHAPTER I

THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA

FROM England to Pinang, by way of the Suez Canal, is a voyage of about eight thousand miles, and the last stage of it, from Colombo to Achin Head, the northern point of Sumatra, is practically due east. Turning that corner, the vessel steams down the east coast of Sumatra and then crosses to the Malay Peninsula, Pinang being a very small island at the northern end of the Malacca Strait, just off the coast of what used to be part of the Malay State of Kedah. The strip of territory facing Pinang was ceded to the East India Company a century ago ; it is now British, and is called Province Wellesley. A reference to the map will show the exact positions of Pinang and the Province, as well as of Malacca, Singapore, and the Federated Malay States, far better than could be done by any written description, but the reader should understand at once that the following pages are concerned with the British Crown Colony known as the Straits Settlements, comprising Pinang, Province Wellesley and the Bindings, Malacca and Singapore ; with Perak, Selangor, Negri

2 BRITISH MALAYA

Sambilan, and Pahang, which constitute the Federated Malay States ; with Johore and Trengganu, independent states, the former of which is under British protection ; and with a number of other states over which Siam claims suzerainty.

What strikes the traveller, as his ship rounds the northern end of Pinang, is the extraordinary beauty of the scene to which he is introduced with almost startling suddenness. On his right is the island, a vision of green verdure, of steep hills rising from the water's edge till they culminate in a peak 2500 ft. high. The sides of these hills are partly forest, partly cultivated, but everywhere green, with the freshness and colour of tropical vegetation washed by frequent rains. About the hills, at varying heights, are picturesque buildings nestling amongst the trees or standing on outcrops of grey rock, Down by the shore — a fascinating in-and-out shore of little sandy bays and little rocky promontories — there is a deep belt of palms, shading but not altogether concealing quan- tities of brown cottages. Then a broad ribbon of sand, sometimes dazzlingly white, sometimes streaked, or wholly tinted, with burnt sienna ; and so the sea, a very wonderful summer sea, blue or grey or pale gold, under different conditions of sunlight, often chequered by great purple and indigo cloud shadows. Along the beach lie boats and nets set out to dry ; black nets and brown nets, of immense length, stretched on a framework of poles ; quaint objects and infinitely picturesque, but not more so than the fishing stakes, the upper half of which stand above the water, many fathoms from the shore, on the edge of every sand bank. That is what you see as you round the north foreland, by the loftily-placed lighthouse ; and then, in a moment, there is the town, and the ship seems to be running into its main street. The white buildings and red roofs, which house a hundred thousand people, crammed closely together on the flat tongue of

THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 3

land that stretches, from the foot of Pinang Hill, right out into the Strait which divides it from the mainland, just as though the island were ever trying to get its foot back on to the opposite shore. And when the red roofs cease to catch the eye as a mass, they twinkle at you, here and there, from out the foliage of garden and orchard, till all is merged in green and purple against the background of that great hill.

Close in shore, beside the busy quays, are hundreds and hundreds of strange craft, a very forest of masts and rigging rising from acres of fantastically coloured hulls, of every form and every nationality the Further East pro- duces. There are Chinese junks, small and great, with painted eyes on their low, narrow bows, and quaint erec- tions on their high, wide sterns ; there are Malay schooners, and fast boats, and fishing boats, things so small and so crank that only an amphibious creature, like the Malay, would trust himself in them. There are huge, unwieldy cargo boats, manned by natives of Southern India, and propelled by immense heavy sweeps when there is no wind to fill their single square sail. There are wicked- looking Bugis vessels from Celebes, low in the water, with black hulls, fine lines, brown canvas or yellow palm-leaf sails ; clumsy old craft from Sumatra and the Malay States ; Chinese junks, piled high with firewood or palm thatch ; long rakish Chinese fishing boats, loaded with dark brown nets ; scores and scores of every eastern boat that swims, navigated by black and brown and yellow men, in every kind of dress and undress known from Japan to Jeddah.

These form the inner line, five or six boats deep, stretching as far south as the eye can reach. Then there are steam launches, of every colour and size, and every degree of cleanliness or dirtiness, rushing or crawling about the harbour, some full of passengers, some empty ; while a few ride silently at anchor, here and there, amongst

4 BRITISH MALAYA

the crowd of small coasting steamers, which puffand squeal, arrive or depart, take or discharge cargo, or simply rest between two voyages. And last the outer line, where, in midstream, a few large steamers and sailing vessels strain at cables. But,

There is another shore, upon the other side,

the shore of Province Wellesley, distant from the nearest point of Pinang, about two miles. Far to north and far to south, an endless grove of palm trees fringes the strip of yellow sand, which is sometimes land and sometimes sea. Behind the palms are acres of rice fields, villages, hamlets, and isolated huts ; then low hills, forest, and higher hills ; range upon range in ever rising steps, till the eye loses count in heat waves, mist, and distance. Nearly due north, a little inland, and distant about thirty-five miles, stands the sharp peak of Gunong Jerai, five thousand feet high. Almost in a line with this mountain, some hazily-blue islands seem to swim on the surface of the sea. Looking south, the coast line of Pinang curves, crescent-wise, to its extreme point, and in the land-locked space of water are islands, large and small, clad like the rest in green. What is called the South Channel is not often used now except by coasting steamers, but the approach to Pinang is even more attractive by this route than by the North Channel. The beauty of the place comes more gradually, sinks deeper into the appreciation, and leaves a picture of form and colour, a sensation of real warmth and real life, which only the East can offer. This feeling will be intensified if the traveller is fortunate enough to see what I have tried to describe under the glamour of a moonlit night.

Yet the pride of Pinang is the Hill, and those who reach the summit will not regret the effort. Looking westward, the eye travels over a wide expanse of jungle — covered slopes, and foot hills, pierced by narrow cultivated valleys, till it rests on the " measureless expanse of ocean." One

THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 5

may gaze for hours, fascinated by the ever-changing effects of sunlight and shadow playing on the mirror of the sea. Northward lie the islands, coast, and sharply outlined peak of Kedah ; while to the south are lower ranges of the main hill, the rice fields and the sinuous coast line of Pinang. Due west is the ship-board view reversed, only softened by height and distance. There are the woods, with their half-hidden dwellings, leading up to a flat but ever-narrowing plain, completely covered by white, red- roofed buildings, broken here and there by groups of dark trees. Then the shining stretch of water, carrying its burden of ships and boats, the smaller craft looking like queer black insects ; and last, the long coast line of Province Wellesley, with its palms and rice fields and winding rivers, the whole bounded by successive ranges of blue hills, the most distant summits lost in clouds.

Seventy miles south are just visible some islands off the coast of Perak, and the traveller who means to see Malacca, and prefers a journey by ship to one by rail, will appreciate their beauty on closer inspection. Mail steamers do not call at Malacca, so the voyage from Pinang, about two hundred and fifty miles, must be made in some humbler vessel. She will probably reach the roadstead before dawn, and the passenger will have the advantage of landing at the ancient port in the early morning. Even small vessels cannot get within less than two or three miles of the shore, and whilst covering that distance in a launch or more probably a Malacca boat, the visitor will first be struck by the curious spectacle of a town with its legs in the sea. The reason is that the houses which face the main street of Malacca have their backs to the shore, and the space between road and sea is so narrow that the Chinese, who love deep, narrow houses, have built out over the water ; this end of the building being supported upon high pillars of a peculiar red stone called laterite. The effect is strange but picturesque, and from the

6 BRITISH MALAYA

Malacca River, where Albuquerque and his men performed such deeds of valour, to the northern end of the town, every house on the sea side of the long main street has one foot on land and one in the sea. On the south side of the river, and close to it, is the landing-place ; further south still, a long pier with the end still in very shallow water. Beyond the fact that a sea-wall protects a broad strip of close green turf, with great ansenna trees planted at intervals along its edge, while a small hill, crowned by the ruins of an ancient church, shows well above the trees, there is nothing particular to be seen from the boat. Quite near the landing-place, and close to the left bank of the river, is the old Dutch Stadt House, a very solid old-world building, approached by flights of steps. The house is built round a square, stone-paved courtyard, with a double flight of stone steps leading up to the side of the hill, on the summit of which are the walls of the roof- less old Portuguese church. There is also on this hill the house of the Resident Councillor of Malacca, with a most attractive garden of very ancient date. The view from the hill is enchanting, whether one looks southward over the orchards and villages to Gunong Ledang, called Mount Ophir, or westward to the hill which has been appropriated by the Chinese as their fashionable burying-place; or over the dark red roofs of Malacca town, across the rice-fields and cocoanut groves to Cape Rachado in the north. Drive along any road in Malacca and you can feast your eyes on a picture which is typical of cultivated Malaya at its best. On either hand there will be rice fields : emerald- green when newly planted, golden with ripe grain, or brown when fallow. These are studded by topes of lofty palms shading a few brown huts. The distance is always shut in by hills of a marvellous blue. But of all roads the most lovely is that which runs along the very edge of the coast, passing through palm groves and villages, with vistas of rice fields and blue hills on one side, and

THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 7

on the other spaces of water, green or blue, grey or blood- red, molten silver or black, under the varying conditions of sunlight and shadow, of eastern day or eastern night. There are no Malay villages, no country scenes, more picturesque than those of Malacca; and if the visitor chances to meet a wedding party in bullock carts, or a Malay funeral procession ; if he witnesses a fleet of fishing boats putting out at sunset, or homing at dawn ; and has eyes to see and to appreciate the colours, the move- ment, the strange people with their strangely beautiful surroundings, the scene will live in his memory for all time.

Singapore is 120 miles south-east of Malacca, a few miles north of the southernmost point in Asia ; the island stands sentinel at the narrow gate which divides the Straits of Malacca from the China Sea. A dozen ocean-going steamers pass into or out of its harbours every day, and most of these vessels call at no other port in the Straits. By good fortune, it commonly happens that, owing to the dangers of navigation in such narrow seas, one arrives at dawn and leaves at sunset. In either case, the most un- observant must be struck by a scene as beautiful as it is unusual. Long before making the Karimun Islands (which are thirty-five miles from Singapore, on the right as you come from the west), the coast of the Malay Peninsula has been visible ; a low coast covered by mangroves growing out into the water. Ten miles from the narrow entrance to the harbour the vessel passes between the mainland (and later the shores of Singapore) and a succession of small islands, which gradually converge till they seem to bar further progress. Just when the space of water has so narrowed that the forts and guns, on either side of the channel, become visible to the practised eye, the bow of the vessel swings to the left, through jade-green eddying waters, and she slowly forces her way along a channel so narrow that it will only just admit the safe meeting of two

8 BRITISH MALAYA

large steamers. Still there are islands, quantities of islands, large and small, but only large by comparison. They are covered with foliage, with gardens, with cool pleasant-looking bungalows, with barracks and other military buildings. Near the water the soil, where you can see it, is more red than brown, and the rocks, where they come through the soil, are much more red than grey. But the water is always green, and clear, and swirling ; it looks and is very deep, and the foliage of the islands is re- peated on its surface, in dark green reflections. Then the passage widens somewhat, the shore of Singapore becomes one interminable line of wharves, against which lie an almost unbroken chain of ships, flying every known flag, but mostly the red ensign of Britain. The wharves, the warehouses, the docks, the coal-sheds, seem parts of some gigantic manhive, where men of every colour, in every conceivable garb, load and unload, gather and stack and store, every imaginable human production, from locomo- tives and lanterns, to mail bags and matches, pianos and pickaxes. Behind the ships, and wharves, and docks, and warehouses are roads, with a ceaseless traffic of people, carts, and carriages ; then villages and green hills, chequered by houses and gardens. Across the waterway there are still islands, far as the eye can reach ; but they are curving seawards, and whilst those nearest are covered, or partly covered, by buildings and chimneys, or groups of Malay huts straggling off the land right out into the water, as though they had walked there on stilts, there are others green with pineapples or jungle, and others still, away in the distance, like opals on the shining surface of the water. It is a thousand to one that the vessel, which brings the stranger from a distance, will tie up alongside the v/harves, and he will then enter the town by a drive along a dusty, crowded road. The more excellent way is that of the small steamer which, skirting the long line of wharves, makes for the roads and gives the traveller the best and most compre-

THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 9

hensive view of the Lion City, Queen of Far Eastern Seas.

Between the docks and the town, a bold headland, crowned by a battery, juts out into the water, and forms the southern horn of a crescent which embraces the whole city ; till the land curves round to a far distant point, where a thick grove of palms faintly indicates the northern horn. Singapore from the Roads is very fair to see. From Mount Palmer (the fortified headland), to the Singapore River — that is, about one-third of the crescent — there is an unbroken mass of buildings, shining and white, facing the sea. The next third is green with grass and trees, through which are caught glimpses of public buildings and the spires of churches, backed by low hills, on one of which, in the distance, stands white and stately the Governor's residence. The remaining third is again covered by closely packed houses, seen indistinctly through a forest of masts. The space enclosed by the beach and a line drawn from horn to horn of the crescent, would contain about 1 500 acres of water, and that is the real harbour of Singapore. Native craft, mainly Chinese junks, great and small, with hundreds of other vessels of every form, and size, and rig, lie crowded together in the northern half, while the southern half is occupied by numbers of small coasting steamers. Outside, in the deeper water, four or five miles from shore, is the man-of-war anchorage. As for launches and cargo boats, fishing boats, passenger boats, and pleasure yachts, their name is legion, and their goings to and fro, day and night, are ceaseless. The Singapore river is so tightly packed with hundreds of small craft that it is difficult enough to preserve a fairway to admit of passage. On shore it is the same ; the place is seething with life, and, to the unaccustomed eye, the vehicles to be met with in the streets are almost as strange as the boats in the harbour ; while such a medley of nationalities, such a babel of languages, surely finds no parallel in all the

lo BRITISH MALAYA

world. Of colour and life there is enough to satisfy the greediest ; of heat and dust and strange smells there are usually too much for the western visitor. Only the extraordinary novelty of the scene, the wonderful colour- ing, the unusual interest, will banish every other feeling — for a time.

Each of the three Settlements, which together form the Straits Colony, has attractions of its own, peculiar to itself, though all have much in common. Pinang has its hill, with that glorious view, and it also has Province Wellesley, where one can see the Malay and his rice fields, but not quite as they are to be found in Malacca. There is a romance of age, of experience, of a full life lived, which remains with Malacca to-day as the heritage of her history. Malacca has drifted out of the stream of endeavour, away from the struggle for riches and great- ness. She has drifted into the back waters of Time, and her attractions, for the dreamer, the lover of beauty and the student, may be greater than those of her sisters. Singapore has a history too, far more significant than and as full of thrilling incident as that of Malacca ; but of her former glory not a trace is left, not a stone remains to recall her ancient greatness, and little more than tradition to establish the fact that it ever existed. Yet it did exist, seven or eight hundred years ago, and perhaps not then for the first time ; and to-day it has come again, with new life, to flourish as never before. No stranger will approach this far eastern fortress, these wharves, and docks, and coalsheds, weaving stories of its long-forgotten past ; his eyes will glean unmeasured delight from the rich colours of ever-changing landscape and seascape, the countless islands and the wonderful harbour, half circled by a sunlit shore. But his mind will carry away an impression foreign to the east, a sense of hurry, of movement, of boats driven fast through the water, by steam or sail, of straining oars propelling deep-laden barges, of bustling

THE STRAITS OF MALACCA ii

crowds jostling each other in the streets, of white and yellow, brown and black men, intent on something that matters, that makes for money. That is the new Singa- pore, where the traveller and his kind are the only idlers.

CHAPTER II MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY

THE best recognized authority on the early history of the Malays is a book styled Sejdra Malay u, the Malay annals. The foundation for this work was a manuscript of Malay history, which somehow seems to have found its way to Goa, and about the year 1612 it was entrusted to an unknown scribe, who "edited" the book, and, in the process, no doubt did what he thought was necessary to invest it with importance and bring it up to date. The book, as it now appears, is so manifestly untrustworthy in details that it is difficult to place much reliance upon the general state- ments contained in it. Like the ramblings of the insane, who jumble up fact with fiction, there is truth in this record ; but as there is very little supporting testimony, and small means of winnowing the wheat from the chaff, it is impossible to do more than quote from the annalist those statements to which early European writers seem to have given a somewhat large credence. According to the Malay story, a certain Raja Bachitram Shah (afterwards known as Sang Seperba), with two followers, suddenly appeared at a place called Bukit Siguntang Maha Meru, in Palembang, Sumatra, and the Raja described himself as a direct descendant of Alexander the Great. The story was accepted, and Sang Seperba became the son-in-law of the local chief; but, not content with ruling over Palem- bang, he sailed to Java, to Bentan (where he left a son,

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 13

Sang Nila Utama), and finally back to another state in Sumatra, named Menangkabau.

Sang Nila Utama, having married the daughter of the Queen of Bentan, left that island and settled on the neighbouring island of Singapura, where he founded the Lion City in or about the year 1160.^ Singa is Sanskrit for a lion, and pHra for a city, and the fact that there are no lions in that neighbourhood nowadays cannot disprove the statement that Sang Nila Utama saw, in 1160 or thereabouts, an animal which he called by that name — an animal more particularly described by the annalist as " very swift and beautiful, its body bright red, its head jet black, its breast white, in size rather larger than a he- goat." That was the Lion of Singapura, and whatever else is doubtful the name is a fact ; it remains to this day, and there is no reason why the descendant of Alexander should not have seen something which suggested a crea- ture unknown either to the Malay forest or the Malay language. It is even stated, on the same authority, that Singapura had an earlier name, Tanidsak, which is ex- plained by some to mean a place of festivals. But that word, so interpreted, is not Malay, though it has been adopted, and applied to other places which suggest festi- vals far less than this small tropical island may have done, even so early as the year 1160. It is obvious that the name Singa-pura was not given to the island by Malays, but by colonists from India, and if there were an earlier name, Tamasak or Tamasha, that also would be of Indian origin. The fact proves that the name Singapura dates from a very early period, and strongly supports the theory that the Malays of our time are connected with a people who emigrated from Southern India to Sumatra and

^ Mr. J. R. Logan, a recognized authority, writing in 1848, thinks it prob- able that Singapflra was originally peopled from the island of Bentan, and that Sang Nila Utama, arriving from the coast of Sumatra, married the daughter of the then Raja of Singapura and settled in the island, becoming its ruler.

14 BRITISH MALAYA

Java, and thence found their way to the Malay Peninsula. It seems to be accepted that Sang Nila Utama founded or developed a famous city by the river and on the hill of Singapura, where he lived for many years, and died in 1208. He was succeeded by his lineal descendants, and the city grew and prospered, and attracted trade from West and East, till a jealous neighbour, the Raja of Majapahit, in Java, sent a great expedition to attack Singapura. The attack failed miserably, and the Javanese were beaten off; but in . 1252 — still according to the annalist — the then Raja of Singapura, one Iskandar, or Alexander, by name, publicly impaled one of his wives for a supposed offence, and the lady's father, a high official named the Bendahara, was so enraged, that he invited the people of Majapahit to come over, and promised to open the gates of the citadel for them. The Raja of Majapahit eagerly accepted this offer, sent over an immense fleet and army, and, the gates being duly opened in the dead of night, the Javanese entered and put most of the inhabitants to the sword. A few escaped from the city and the island, and after wandering through the Peninsula, settled at Malacca, where they founded a new city, from which their descendants were driven by Albu- querque and the Portuguese in 15 11.

In leaving for the present the Malay annals, it is inter- esting to record, in the words of the writer, the dire fate of the Bendahara who betrayed his master, even though the provocation was considerable. " By the Power of God Almighty," says the annalist, "the house of Sang Ranjuna Tapa (the Bendahara) became a ruin, its pillars fell, and rice was no longer planted in the land. And Sang Ranjuna Tapa, together with his wife, were changed into stones ; and these are the stones which may be seen lying by the river of Singapura."

In comparatively modern times, early in the last century, there was still lying by the river of Singapore

Mil. l;h.Al, MAI \\ IK IN

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 15

a strange stone with an inscription that was never deciphered. The stone has disappeared ; by an act of van- daHsm it was blown to pieces, and though some fragments were rescued and sent to the Calcutta Museum, the rest of it helped to fill the swamp on which the present town is built.

With the doings of Albuquerque and his expedition we are on somewhat safer ground, though the opinions of the Portuguese historians in regard to the Malay are open to serious question in the light of modern knowledge. An enthusiastic Englishman, Mr. John Crawfurd, a mem- ber of the East India Company's service, and one of the first Residents of Singapore, visited Malacca in 1821 and wrote : " We cannot, as Europeans, but survey with pride the spot on which stood the bridge by which Albuquerque, at the head of seven hundred Europeans, stormed walls and intrenchments that were guarded by thirty thousand barbarians." Unfortunately, it is more than probable that the seven hundred Europeans, the thirty thousand barbarians, and the walls and entrenchments were all equally imaginary. That Albuquerque, so soon after the discovery of the route round the Cape, and so immediately after his own arrival in India, should have undertaken two hazardous expeditions against such a distant and little known place as Malacca, clearly proves the courage and the foresight of this great adventurer ; but as to the amount of resistance he met with, in the absence of any record from Albuquerque himself, we may form a judgment from the fact that Malays do not build walls, and that Lewis Wertemanns, of Rome, writing of a voyage made by him in 1503, says:

" Sailing westward towards the city of Malacka, we arrived in eight days' sailing. Not far from this city is a famous river named Gaza, the largest I ever saw, containing twenty-five miles in breadth. On the other side is seen a very great island called Sumatra and is

i6 BRITISH MALAYA

of old writers named Taprobina.^ When we came to the city of Malacka (which some call Meleka) we were incontinent commanded to come to the Sultan, being a Mahomedan and subject to the great Sultan of China and payeth him tribute, of which tribute the cause is, that more than eighty years ago that city was builded by the Sultan of China for none other cause than only for the commodity of the haven, being doubtless one of the fairest in that ocean. The region is not every- where fruitful, yet hath it sufficient of wheat and flesh and but little wood. They have plenty of fowls as in Calicut, but the Popinjays are much finer. There is also found Sandilium and Tin, likewise elephants, horses, sheep, kyne, pardiles, bufflos, peacocks, and many other beasts and fowls. They have but few fruits. The people are of blackish ashe color. They have very large fore- heads, round eyes, and flat noses. It is dangerous there to go abroad in the night, the inhabitants are so given to rob and murder. The people are fierce, of evil condition and unruly, for they will obey to no Governor, being altogether given to rob and murder, and therefore say to their Governors that they will forsake country if they strive to bind them to order, which they say the more boldly because they are near unto the sea and may easily depart to other places. For these causes we spent no long time here, but hiring a brigantine, we sailed to the Island of Sumatra where in few days sailing we arrived at a city named Pidir, distant about eighty miles from the continent or firm land."

That was in 1503, and though the writer is far from accurate in his statements, and appears to have mis- taken the Strait of Malacca for the River of Gaza (by which name the River Muar, in Johore, appears to have once been known), he would surely have mentioned the fortifications if there had been any worth the name.

* Other writers give Taprobane as the ancient name of Ceylon,

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY \^

The following passage is from the Hon. E. J. Stanley's translation of the MS. attributed to Duarte Barbosa, but said by Mr. Stanley to be really the work of Magellan. It is specially interesting for the description of the Malays, so often regarded by ignorant people as savages. The MS. dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century : —

"This city of Malaca is the richest trading port and possesses the most valuable merchandise, and most numerous shipping and extensive traffic that is known in all the world. And it has got such a quantity of gold that the great merchants do not estimate their property nor reckon otherwise than by bahars^ of gold, which are four quintals each bahar. There are merchants among them who will take up singly three or four ships laden with very valuable goods and will supply them with cargo from their own property. They are very well made men and likewise the women. They are of a brown colour and go bare from the waist upwards, and from that downwards cover themselves with silk and cotton cloths, and they wear short jackets halfway down the thigh of scarlet cloth, and silk, cotton, or brocade stuffs, and they are girt with belts, and carry daggers in their waists wrought with rich inlaid work ; these they call querix.^ And the women dress in wraps of silk stuffs, and short skirts much adorned with gold and jewellery, and have long beautiful hair. These people have many mosques, and when they die they bury their bodies. Their children inherit from them. They live in large houses and have gardens and orchards and pools of water outside the city for their recreation. They have got many slaves who are married with wives and children. These slaves live separately and serve them when they have need of them. These Moors who are named Malays are very polished people, and gentlemen, musical, gallant, and well proportioned."

Whether Malacca, as Albuquerque found it in 151 1,

^ One bahar or bhara is equal to 400 lbs. av. ^ Kris.

i'8 BRITISH MALAYA

was a fortress or only a nest of pirates, it is certain that it was a place of great repute as a harbour and mart, and its fame, not only as an emporium for the immediate neighbourhood, but also as a convenient place of call and shelter, on the route to the furthest East, attracted Albuquerque to its conquest and occupation. There the Portuguese remained for 130 years; there they built the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, and there was the scene of the labours and supposed miracles of St. Francis Xavier. Let the travelled stranger stand, to-day on the summit of that hill, by the walls of that ancient church, and as he looks across the close turf —

Where Sun and Shadow chequer-chase the green, —

through the branches of the poinsiana — a flat, brown network, covered and high-piled with glorious crimson blossom, just edged with foliage — down to the shore close beneath him, out to the roadstead with its picturesque boats, an island here and there; and then across the blue water, away out to the horizon, where sea and sky meet in another blaze of brilliant colour; he will admit that the East has few fairer prospects, and that Albuquerque, and those with him, did well when they chose this spot as the site of the Church of Our Lady del Monte. But the authority of the Portuguese never reached beyond the confines of the town, and it is very doubtful whether Malacca in its palmiest days ever equalled the prosperity and importance of Singapore under the Malay rulers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

In 1641 the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Malacca, and at once proceeded to firmly establish themselves behind the strong fortifications. For all that, the fortunes of the place steadily declined, and early in the eighteenth century the population had dwindled to five thousand people all told. The Dutch made Malacca the head- quarters of their enterprise in the Malay Peninsula, and

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 19

opened trading stations — factories, as they were called — in Perak, Selangor, and other Malay States, where tin was bought and commodities bartered with the Malays, From about 1779 till 1795 (when Malacca was taken by the British) the trade of the place revived ; but the occupa- tion of Pinang by the East India Company and later, the establishment of an English station at Singapore, deprived Malacca of all importance as a great eastern market and port of call. Under the Treaty of Vienna, Malacca was handed back to the Dutch in 1818 ; but the place came finally into our possession under the treaty with Holland of 1824.

Curiously enough, it was only so lately as 1861, long after the days when the earliest English settlers in Singa- pore had done their best to collect all available information concerning the past history of the Malay Peninsula, that a manuscript, by Manuel Godinho de Eredia, written at Goa, in 16 13, and addressed to Philippe III, King of Spain, was discovered in the Royal Library at Brussels. This MS., while describing Malacca and many other parts of the Malay Peninsula, gives the writer some claim to be considered as one of the discoverers of Australia, not in his own person, but through a small expedition dispatched by him in 1610. The paper was only published in 1882, with all its maps and illustrations, together with a transla- tion in French by M. Leon Janssen, member of the Geographical Society of Brussels. The work is full of interest as regards Malacca and its neighbourhood, and claims respect from the fact that Godinho de Eredia was himself born at Malacca, on 16 July, 1563, being the son of de Juan de Heredia Aquaviva and a Malay lady, the daughter of the Raja of Supa, in Macassar. At thirteen years of age Godinho was sent to the Jesuit College at Goa, to be educated for the priesthood, but his passion for geography and exploration led him to abandon the religious life and devote himself to difficult and dangerous journeys

20 BRITISH MALAYA

of discovery in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. Godinho states that the name " Malacca " was only given in 141 1, and that it was derived from a tree; a likely enough supposition and one generally accepted. Twenty- five miles to the north-west of the town of Malacca is a rocky promontory, called, in Godinho's time and to this day, Tanjong Tuan by Malays, Cape Rachado by Euro- peans. The Malay name was given because Tanjong Tuan 1 is the burial place of the founder and first ruler of Malacca, and Godinho says that in 1600 the remains of his marble tomb were still to be seen on the promontory. Godinho is responsible for the statement that from this point there was, in the time of Claudius Ptolemy, A.D. 163, a very narrow isthmus to a place called Tanjong Balvala, in the island of Sumatra. He adds that the people of the Peninsula used to walk across this isthmus to Sumatra, or Samata, as it was first known, and he says the word Samata means Peninsula, and that Ptolemy called it the Golden Chersonese.

There have been great differences of opinion amongst old writers as to the derivation of the word " Sumatra." None of the suggested derivations are very convincing, but if Sumatra is, as Godinho states, a corruption of Samata — the name given in some of the old maps of the island — the explanation is not far to seek ; for the Peninsula Malay might say, Tdnah Sa-mdta, which means the land oppo- site, the land facing us. On a clear day the hills of Sumatra are visible from the lighthouse on Cape Rachado, and, if ever there was a narrow isthmus between the Peninsula and the island, it would be natural for the Malays of Malacca to call the land at the other end of that isthmus Tanah Sa-mata-mata. That suggestion rests on very slender grounds, and Sir Henry Yule says that Samudra(the spelling adopted by certain earlygeographers) is Sanskrit for the sea. In Godinho's time the Malay ^ Tanjong Tuan means " the Headland of the Master."

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 21

Peninsula was called Ujong Tanah — Land's End — whereas now it is called Negri Maldyu, i.e. the Malay Country, while Sumatra is called Pulau Percha, the torn island, as though it had been torn off the mainland, or Tdnah Sdbrang, the country across the water. There is a very similar instance in the case of Pinang. That island, now separated from the mainland by a wide and deep stretch of sea, is still called " Tanjong " by all Malays ; tanjong being the Malay for a promontory.

Again, it has been suggested that Sumatra is a corrup- tion of Samudra, the name of a small place on the east coast, which was probably frequented by early naviga- tors, and so gave its name to the whole island. That seems probable, for it is very doubtful whether the natives of the place have ever called the island " Sumatra," though they would understand that this was the name by which it was known to white men.

A careful examination of ancient charts, so far as they are to be found in the British Museum, shows that the first mention of Sumatra is to be found in Martin Waldsee- miiller's Carta Marina, dated 15 16, where the island is called Samotra. It appears under the same name in the Harleian Mappeinonde of 1536 (British Museum Add. MS. 5413), and in this map a very distinct shoal or bank is marked exactly at the spot where Eredia places the narrow isthmus of sand between Cape Rachado and Sumatra. Pierre Descelier's Mappemonde of 1546 and 1550 give Sumatra, and also indicate the shoal. It is also interesting to note that the first mention of Singa- pore on any ancient map is found in the Theatruni Orbis Terrarmn of Abraham Ortelius, dated Antwerp, 1570, where the island appears as Cincapura. All these author- ities give Taprobane as the ancient name of Sumatra, and by none of them is this island called the Golden Cher- sonese.

M. Henri Cordier, commenting on a passage in Odoric

22 BRITISH MALAYA

de Pordenone's Vqya^^es en Asie (temp. 1350), which alludes to the custom of branding with hot irons employed by certain tribes in Sinohara (Sumatra), says that this refers undoubtedly to one of the kingdoms of Sumatra, which has given its name to the whole island. He adds that the name Sumatra has been known from the earliest times, and was called by Chinese voyagers Sou-men-ta-la. M. Verbeck, in his Annals of the Extreme Orient (I, page 186), says that the real native name of the island is Poulo Pertjah — or Pulau Percha as we should now write it — and that is correct. M. Devic {Merveilles de I'Inde, page 235) quotes a curious legend from the Malay chronicles of Pasi — probably he means the Sijara Malayu already men- tioned— to account for the origin of the name Sumatra. It is to this effect : that one Marah Silou, while hunting with dogs in the north of the island, came upon a huge ant as large as a cat, which he caught and ate, and that he made his dwelling in that place and called it Samou- dra, which means a great ant. As a matter of fact Seniut is the Malay for ant ; but the story is far-fetched, and appears to have been invented by the annalist to give colour to the apparent resemblance between Semut and Sumatra. Pauthier, in a note on page 565 of his Marco Polo, says : " Sumatra, a name of Indian origin (Soumatra — excellent matter or substance), was given (to this island) without doubt at the time when the Buddhist religion was introduced there."

Godinho gives careful plans of the original Malacca fort, built by Albuquerque in 151 1, and of the much more elaborate works existing in 1605. The latter, which are minutely described, were in the shape of a pentagon, the base inland, the apex on the seashore with a strong tower on the water's edge. The circumfer- ence of the walls (partly stone and partly timber) was 655 brasses (one " brasse " being equal to ten hands, say five feet), and they contained the castle and palace of the

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 23

governor, the palace of the bishop, the hall of the Council of State, and that of the Brothers of Mercy. There were five churches within the walls, that of Our Lady of the Annunciation being inside the Jesuit College on the hill, while another was in the Convent of the Dominicans, and a third in that of the Augustins. The cathedral church was called Notre Dame de I'As- somption.

There were four gates in the walls of the fortress lead- ing to three "■ faubourgs I' or suburbs, the principal being styled Tranqueira, which is explained to mean palissade, on account of the proximity of a long rampart of stone. Godinho concludes his notice of the town with the state- ment that there lived in the fortress, besides the garrison, three hundred married Portuguese with their families. Within and beyond the walls there were 7400 Chris- tians, with four religious houses, fourteen churches, two hospitals with chapels, and several hermitages and oratories.

The Portuguese writer, whilst furnishing information on many other subjects, describes the flora and fauna of the Peninsula with minuteness and considerable accuracy, but he says there is a tree called the " snake tree " {cana- fistold), which is so powerful a protection against poison that when a venomous snake sees even the root of it he has to bow his head. Then, amongst the beasts of the land, he describes the armadillo, his scales, and his habit of tying himself up in a ball ; but what is most surprising is that the elephant has a deadly fear of this creature, because if attacked the armadillo fights, seizes the elephant by the trunk, and, " according to the wild tribes," remains fixed there for several days, until the elephant dies of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. There are snakes, too, which carry shining stones in their heads — bezoar stones, no doubt. Again, according to certain Malays, Godinho affirms that a stone was taken from the head of a snake

24 BRITISH MALAYA

and sold to some merchants from Mecca. "The stone was white, crystalline, with changing lights of red and blue, and sometimes it shed a light in the darkness of night, but not a strong light, because the stone was only the size of a partridge's egg." Godinho says the wild tribes of the Peninsula are convinced that these stones are found in the heads of some snakes and some beasts. He adds that in Corea there are centipedes of an amazing length, which carry a light strong enough to light a room ; and, warming to his subject, tells how, in 1594, the King of Bali, near Java, had in his palace a hare with four eyes, two for ordinary use, and two on the top of his head, which were so luminous that they sufficed to light the "King's palace at night. It is only fair to state that though Godinho was aware that the Malay forests con- tained tailless apes, he does not pretend that they were in any way related to the wild tribes who, he says, went about naked and resembled satyrs. Godinho states, with perfect truth, that Malay fortifications were always of wood, with a deep and wide outside ditch, in the bottom of which were placed sharpened sticks, termed caltrops. Godino quotes classic authorities to prove that there was, in A.D. 163, an established trade between Egypt and the Coromandel coast, and from the latter to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. The small isthmus already men- tioned was, he says, destroyed by violent tempests and the Malacca Strait formed. He traces the course of this trade as, by land, from Alexandria to Cairo (the ancient Bubalis), and thence to Suez, where ship was taken, and the merchants sailed down the Red Sea to Aden ; then coasting along the shores of Arabia, Persia, and Hindustan they made for the Coromandel coast and Taprobane, the ancient name of Ceylon. From there they sailed past the mouths of the Ganges to Ujong Tanah (the Malay Peninsula), and reached a port called Sabbara, in the Sabbara Sea, to the north of Tanjong Tuan and the

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 25

isthmus. Godinho suggests that Sabbara ^ (so called by Ptolemy) was the port of Calan (the present Klang, on the coast of Selangor), and he adds that from this place the merchants made their way to Tanjong Tuan, and thence by the isthmus to Sumatra — the Golden Chersonese. Or they might have sailed across the Sabbara Sea to Auro, or Aru, in Sumatra, and thence made their way by river to Tacola, or Tico, in the centre of the island. The return voyage was the same journey reversed. Pliny says that in the time of Caius Caesar, the son of Augustus, the navigation of the Red Sea to Arabia was well known, and after his time the extension of that voyage to Persia and Ceylon was recognized ; but, as Godinho points out, it is strange that before Ptolemy no writer mentions the journey to Ujong Tanah and Sumatra, while Marco Polo, who made his return journey from China by Sumatra and Ceylon in 1292, knew nothing of the Malay Peninsula. All this is very interesting, and seems to support Godinho's conten- tion that Malacca grew to importance subsequent to 1292. This view also accords with the statement of the Malay annalist that Singapore was destroyed in 1252, and Malacca was peopled by refugees from that city. Godinho fixes the date of Malacca's foundation as 141 1; but it was probably much earlier, though it may not have attained to any great importance till the time named. Speaking of the Malaka of his day, Godinho says : —

"This land is the freshest and most agreeable in the world. Its air is healthy and vivifying, good for human life and health, at once warm and moist. But neither the heat nor the moisture is excessive, for the heat is tempered by the moist vapours arising from the waters, at the same time that it counteracts the dampness of the excessive rains of all seasons, especially during the changes of the moon."

^ There is an island, off the east coast of Sumatra, almost exactly opposite to Tanjong Tuan, called Segaro. If this be merely a coincidence it is certainly a curious one.

26 BRITISH MALAYA

It is worthy of note that Godinho states that there were springs of mineral oil — minhat tanat he calls it, meaning no doubt minyak tdnah, the Malay for "earth oil." Such springs probably exist, and it would be a good thing for Malacca if they could now be located.

There is a chapter on " Gunoledam," which is the writer's method of spelling Gunong Ledang, the Malay name for a mountain near Malacca, known to Europeans as Mount Ophir. On this hill there were, and still are, a few aborigines called Orang Benua, and this is what Godinho says of them : —

" These Benua of the woods, in the same way and by the same methods and the use of the same words, trans- form themselves into tigers, lizards, crocodiles, and other animals ; they are thus enabled to communicate with the absent, like the Sorcerers of Tuscany who had power to show distant objects. In this regard I must again mention dom Georges de Santa Lucia, first Bishop of Malacca, who tried to put a stop to the evil done by these Forest Benua when, in the guise of tigers, they came by night to Malaca to kill unresisting women and children. The Bishop wished to excommunicate them and made public prayer in the Cathedral. Then, after High Mass and the procession of the fete of the Assumption of Our Lady of the Fortress, he solemnly excommunicated these tigers. Since that time they have never entered the villages, nor killed men, women, or children, and the Christians thank God for it. Many natives, struck by this miracle, were converted in the year 1560, as well as a number of idolatrous Chelis."

If any excuse is needed for these references to and quotations from the work of Manuel Godinho de Eredia, it must be found in the great interest which attaches to a record, written so long ago, by one who was born and bred in Malacca. Moreover, the manuscript has not, so far as

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 27

I am aware, received any attention from English writers on Malaya, though Godinho possessed and utilized oppor- tunities of research and observation which were not shared by better known authorities. Frangois Valentyn, for in- stance, whose great work on the East Indies was published at Dordrecht and Amsterdam in 1726, devotes a consider- able space to the Malay Peninsula, and especially to Malacca, which was then under the dominion of Holland. Speaking of Malacca, Valentyn says : —

" The country in which it is situated was called by Ptolemy and the Ancients, Terra or Regio Aurifera, or the gold-bearing country, and Aurea Chersonesus or the Golden Peninsula, the latter name being conferred on account of its being joined to the countries of Tana-Sery^ (Tenasserim) and Siam by a narrow neck of land. It is the southernmost country of the continent of India, and is separated from the island of Sumatra by a fine strait which is known by the name of the Strait of Malakka, and sometimes by that of the Strait of Singapoera (com- monly called Sincapoera) after a very ancient town on its shores. The strait has to be penetrated many miles before the important city of Malakka is reached."

This statement in reference to Ptolemy and the Golden Chersonese is at variance with that made by Eredia, whose contention, founded on Ptolemy's Map XI of Asia and other ancient charts, is that Sumatra was the Golden Chersonese of Ptolemy. The arguments of geographers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries must be weighed by the knowledge of those times ; but if Eredia was mistaken on this point, the error probably disposes of the story of the narrow isthmus between Cape Rachado and Sumatra ; for if the Malay Peninsula was Ptolemy's Golden Chersonese, then the isthmus was the

^ Malay, Tanah Sri, the fortunate land ; or perhaps Tanah Sireh, i.e. the country of the sireh vine.

28 BRITISH MALAYA

Isthmus of Kra, in the north of the Peninsula, between Southern Siam and Northern Malaya. The Sinus Saba- ricus would then have been the Gulf of Martaban or the Mergui Archipelago, and the Sinus Perimulicus the Gulf of Siam.

To return to Valentyn.

Continuing his account of Malacca, the historian says : —

" On the north-west side of the town there is a wall, a gate, and a small fortress ; a river also enters the sea here, the water of which is fresh at low water and salt at high water. It is full forty paces wide, and the stream is usually very strong. It is called the Crysorant. There is another river on the east side of the town. The land on the opposite side of the river is of average height with that of the town, to which it is joined by a wooden bridge; but that on the south-east side is very marshy, and is gener- ally flooded after rain,except a narrow strip along the beach, which is somewhat higher. There are several handsome and spacious streets in the town, but unpaved ; and many fine stone houses, the greater part of which are built after the Portuguese fashion, very high. They are arranged in the form of a crescent. There is a respectable fortress, of great strength, with good walls and bulwarks, and well provided with cannon, which, with a good garrison, would stand a hard push. Within the fort there are many strong stone houses and regular streets, all bearing tokens of the old Portuguese times ; and the tower which stands on the hill has still a respectable appearance, although it is in a state of great dilapidation.

" This fortress, which occupies the hill in the centre of the town, is about the size of Delfshaven, and has also two gates, with part of the town on a hill, and the outer side washed by the sea. It is at present the residence of the Governor, the public establishment, and of the garrison, which is tolerably strong. Two hundred years ago it was a mere fishing village, and now it is a handsome city.

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 29

" In former times the fort contained eleven or twelve thousand inhabitants, but now there are not more than two or three hundred, partly Dutch and partly Portuguese and Malays, but the latter reside in mere attap huts in the remote corners of the fort. Beyond it there are also many handsome houses and tidy plantations of cocoanut and other trees, which are occupied chiefly by Malays.

" This is a city remarkably well situated for trade, the Straits having been long frequented by shipping, especially from Bengal, Coromandel, Surat, Persia, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Siam, Tonkin, Tsjina (China), and many other parts, so that the gross revenue in the year 1669, consist- ing of import duty at 10 per cent, export duty at 3 per cent, with certain local taxes, amounted to 74,950.19.0 florins."

So Valentyn draws the picture of the Malacca of two hundred years ago, then the only European possession in Malaya ; but why the historian, whose work was published in 1726, should have gone to the year 1669 for his statistics is somewhat strange, especially as he gives a list of the Dutch governors of Malacca from 1641 to 1717. In leaving this famous authority, we must acknowledge our indebtedness for what is probably the first edition of a now well-known story. It is too good to be lost, or put in any words but his own : —

" People are not safe here (i.e. Malacca) from wild beasts when out in the forest. The Heer van Naarsen (a friend who himself related to me the occurrence) was once acci- dentally ran against by a tiger, and on several other occasions he encountered this animal, when his horse always became unmanageable. There are also many elephants and other beasts. This gentleman also related to me that he once saw a tiger spring upon a deer that had taken to the water to escape, but the deer got away, and the tiger was in the meantime pulled down by an alligator."

30 BRITISH MALAYA

This proneness to accept the marvellous tales of strange countries was not peculiar to Valentyn and Eredia. The latter seems to have gone to the Orang Benua when he wanted a new sensation, and they gratified him with stories of the Witch of GUnong Ledang — stories which they probably more than half believed themselves. But it seems rather unkind of the Heer van Naarsen, the man who "was accidentally ran against by a tiger," to have taken advantage of his personal friend, a minister of the gospel, to tell him that story about the tiger and the crocodile (it must have been a crocodile, for there are no alligators in Malaya), just because the good man had accepted the "accident " without question. Still, all things are possible, and if it was the same tiger which rubbed himself against van Naarsen's leg, and afterwards, by another accident, jumped into the crocodile's mouth, it was as good a way as any other for the author to get rid of the hero of his romance. The Portuguese explorer told us that the Malacca tigers of the middle of the sixteenth century were dealt with by excommunication ; a hundred, or a hundred and fifty years later, the Dutch historian leads them, by a chapter of accidents, to a sudden and painful end. There are some survivors still, and from time to time their adventures give colour to stories almost, if not quite, as strange as these. After all, it is these simple touches which make the dry bones of the dead live again for us ; and with the writings of these worthies before us, with some knowledge of the place and the people they describe, we can see first Eredia, then Valentyn, strolling round the walls of Malacca, passing through her gates, lingering in her streets, gossiping with her people, listening to the last thrilling tale, the latest marvel of the land or sea.

And in the evening, when the sun was setting and each, in his day had climbed to the top of that hill in the centre of the fortress, as the bells of the churches rang out the angeluSy or called the Hollander to his simpler worship,

MALACCA— EARLY HISTORY 31

they would gaze out through the green leafage, over the red roofs and level rice fields ; now to blue hills inland, and now to the summer sea, with its burden of strange craft, loaded with all the riches of the fragrant and mys- terious East. And each in turn — the son of Portugal and Malaya, not less than the reverend and learned Hollander — would dwell with pride on his country's coveted posses- sion of Malacca, famous city of romantic story, the goal of the earliest and most venturesome spirits of western adventure. As the Portuguese explorer did not dream that the Dutch would drive his countrymen from Malacca, so the historian was spared the mortification of knowing that Holland, in her turn, would have to yield her position in Malaya to England. Neither foresaw that the days of Malacca were already numbered ; and that, whatever flag waved over Portuguese Cathedral and Dutch Stadt House, the glory of Malacca was on the wane, and her place in the far eastern seas was to be taken, her commerce and importance increased a thousandfold, by the English occupation of the once famous, but then uninhabited, island of Singapore. So the ancient Singapura disappeared, struck down violently, betrayed and sacked in a night, and the survivors journeyed north-west and founded Malacca, drawing thither much of the trade and prosperity of their earlier home. Now again, after six hundred years, Singapore rises from its ashes and draws to itself the trade of all rivals within a thousand miles. Having regard to the position and circumstances of Singapore, the fact need cause no surprise. What is strange is that, in those six hundred years, there should have been no Portuguese, no Hollander, no Englishman, with curiosity and application enough to make himself acquainted with the ancient history of Singapore, and prescience enough to realize that the existence, which had been suddenly and violently stifled, would revive into a new and far more vigorous life the moment it was carefully and intelligently

^Z BRITISH MALAYA

treated. The opportunity was there always, but the hand to seize it, to make the most of it, was wanting. The fire of the ancient city was not dead, it smouldered. Sir Stamford Raffles came, nursed the ashes, fanned them with foresight, with infinite knowledge, with tact, and, above all, with firm determination. Almost at once the place blazed into life and fame ; and to-day Singapore, counted by the tonnage of her shipping, is the eighth largest port in the world, with a population of 250,000 people of forty different nationalities.

CHAPTER III

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY- LORD MINTO'S EXPEDITION TO JAVA

BETWEEN the disappearance of Malacca, as a serious commercial rival, and the rise of Singapore to the position of first importance in Malaya, a good many things happened to which reference must be made for a proper comprehension of succeeding events. Of these happenings the chiefest was the occupation of Pinang in 1786. Let it be re- membered that, at that date, the Dutch were still in possession of Malacca, and we had no foothold in the Straits. Our nearest station was Bencoolen, on the east coast of Sumatra. Now Bencoolen, where the East India Company founded a trading station in 1684, 's only notable for two incidents in a long but inglorious exis- tence. Its chief value to the Company was that it became a centre for the collection of pepper, and the directors in London wrote to their agent at Bencoolen desiring that the cultivation of white pepper should be encouraged to the exclusion of the black variety. The Board was bliss- fully ignorant of the fact that the vine produces pepper, and whether it goes to the market black or white depends on whether it is gathered before or after the fruit has ripened. This was pointed out to the authorities in Leadenhall Street, and for a time they were very con- siderate to their representative in Bencoolen. But they had their revenge. A serious shortage was discovered in the stock of silver dollars stored in the Bencoolen Trea-

D 33

34 BRITISH MALAYA

sury, and the agent reported that, after full inquiry, the loss could only be ascribed to the ravages of white ants. When next the Company had occasion to send stores to Bencoolen they included a parcel of steel files, and, being asked what they were for, the Board replied that they should be used to file the teeth of the white ants !

The Honourable East India Company, doing then a large business with China, had become alive to the value and importance of the trade of the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, from which the Company was shut out by Dutch exclusiveness. The Company had, therefore, given instructions to several likely men to look out for a suitable spot on which to found a station, the first object aimed at being a good anchorage and place of victualling, watering, and refitting for their vessels engaged in the China trade. One of the persons so commissioned was Mr. Francis Light, a shipmaster, who had considerable dealings with the Malay State of Kedah, on the west coast of the Peninsula, about three hundred miles north of Malacca. It appears that in 1771 Mr. Light had suggested to Warren Hastings the desirability of occupying the island of Pinang and the island of Salang (otherwise called Ujong Salang or Ujong Kalang, now corrupted into Junk Ceylon), two islands belonging to Kedah, lying, at some distance apart, off the coast of that State. Although Mr. Hastings favoured the plan, and steps were actually taken, in 1780, to raise a private subscription in order to secure Salang, war with France put a stop to the project. In 1786, however, Mr. Light opened negotiations at Kedah (where he was on excellent terms with the Sultan), for the cession of Pinang to the East India Company, and, meeting with a favourable reception to his proposal, he obtained a letter from the Sultan to the Governor- General, with which he proceeded to Calcutta. In a subsequent letter from Pinang, dated 18 June, 1787, addressed to Lord Cornwallis, Mr. Light says : —

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 35

"On my arrival at Calcutta (in 1786), I found Mr. Macpherson in the chair, who readily accepted the King of Queda's (i.e. Kedah) offer, but declined taking Salang, as it would have required a greater force than could with any degree of convenience have been sent. . . . Not only the commanders of the British vessels, but foreigners, continually complained of there being no place of safety east of the Bay of Bengal for ships to take shelter in and to refit at. Every one seemed to think it a duty incumbent on the English East India Company, they enjoying the greatest possessions and the readiest means for effecting it."

This time Mr. Light's suggestion was accepted, and he returned to Kedah the bearer of a favourable reply from the Company's chief representative. At Kedah he made his preparations, and on 14 July, 1786, in the afternoon, he sailed from that place and anchored at Pinang the next morning. The following days were spent in landing troops, stores, and guns, in clearing ground, pitching tents, building huts, lining out a fort, and setting up a flagstaff. On 11 August, 1786, Mr. Light hoisted the British flag in the presence of all his people and the captains of two of the Company's ships — the Vansittart and the Valentine — which had arrived the previous day, and he took formal possession of the island by the issue of the following proclamation : —

" These are to certify that agreeable to my orders and instructions from the Honourable Governor- General and Council of Bengal, I have this day taken possession of this Island called Pooloo Pinang now named the Prince of Wales Island, and hoisted the British Colours in the name of His Majesty George the Third and for the use of the Honourable East India Company, this eleventh Day of August, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Six, being the Eve of the Prince of Wales' Birthday.

" In the presence of the underwritten —

"(Signed) Francis Light."

36 BRITISH MALAYA

There was once a tradition, cherished by lovers of romance, that Light fell in love with and married a daugh- ter of the Sultan of Kedah, and that that potentate gave the island of Pinang to the lady as a marriage portion. There is no foundation for this story, Francis Light was a Suffolk man, and was adopted and educated by a rela- tive named William Negus, of Melton, who died in 1773. Light first joined the Navy ; he was a midshipman on board H.M.S. Arrogant in 1761, but he soon abandoned that service, sailed to the east, obtained the mastership of a trading vessel, and made his headquarters at the island of Salang, where, or in Siam, he probably met the lady who became the mother of his children. This lady is described, in Francis Light's will, as Martina Rozells, and it may be inferred that she was of Portuguese extraction. It is clear from what follows that she had not the remotest connexion with the cession of Pinang to the East India Company, though she no doubt went with Light to Pinang at the time of its occupation, or very shortly afterwards, and died there, but of the date there is no record. When Mr. Light made his first proposal, in 1771, the idea of occupying Pinang and Salang was probably his own ; but between 1780 and 1785 the Government of Bengal turned its attention to the acquisition of a station in the Far East, and from one of Mr. Light's letters it appears that they had already, by some other hand, unsuccessfully sought the island of Pinang from the Sultan of Kedah. Mr. Light, in reporting the result of his negotiations, says : —

" As I understand this Government had made applica- tion to the King of Kedah for the island of Pinang without success, with the consent of the Governor- General I made use of the influence and interest I had with the King and Ministry to procure a grant of the island of Pinang to the Honourable Company. The King of Kedah, who now solicits your friendship and alliance, has

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 37

sent by me a grant of the island of Pinang, and has annexed to the grant some requests."

Now that was the beginning of a great deal of trouble, of much heart-burning, much shedding of blood, and infinite misery to thousands of entirely innocent people. It was to result in an unprovoked attack on Kedah, when the country was wasted by fire and sword ; the people sub- jected to barbarous tortures, nameless horrors ; their Sultan, our ally, and many of his subjects driven into perpetual exile, and the country placed under a foreign yoke. The cause of these untoward events was the cowardice of the East India Company, ending in a breach of faith which sullied the British name and weakened its influence with Malays for very many years.

To relate the whole of the circumstances, and quote all the documents necessary for an exact appreciation of the case, would be of interest to very few readers to-day ; but enough of the story must be told to prevent, if that be possible, the repetition of proceedings so damaging to native belief in British honour and good faith. There is another, some think a better, reason for recalling these events, and that is expediency. An opportunity is offered to one generation, and it is declined, or lost, or muddled. But history repeats itself, and not infrequently the oppor- tunity comes again to another generation, and is some- times again neglected. Our position in the Malay States to-day is such that further mistakes would be inexcusable, though that fact alone is not sufficient to save us from them.

This is the letter from the Sultan of Kedah, containing the conditions on which he was prepared to cede the island of Pinang to the East India Company, and it is well to remember, in reading this and subsequent quotations from documents written at the time or when the events were fresh in men's minds, that apologists for the East India Company contend that the Sultan of Kedah was, and

38 BRITISH MALAYA

always had been, a vassal of Siam, and that as such he had no power to cede territory, no right to make treaties, no reason to expect that the Company would either pro- mise or give him protection against the power and prob- able wrath of his master.

The letter. Written on Tuesday, 24th Shawal a.h. 1199:—

" Whereas Captain Light, Dewa Raja, came here and informed me that the Raja of Bengal ordered him to request Pulau Pinang from me to make an English Settle- ment, where the Agents of the Company might reside, for the purpose of trading and building ships of war to pro- tect the island and to cruise at sea, so that if any enemies of ours from the East or the West should come to attack us, the Company would regard them as enemies also and fight them, and all the expenses of such wars shall be borne by the Company. All ships, junks, or prows, large and small, which come from the East or the West and wish to enter the Kedah river to trade, shall not be molested or obstructed, in any way, by the Company, but all persons desirous of coming to trade with us shall be allowed to do as they please ; and at Pulau Pinang the same.

" The articles of opium, tin, and rattans are monopolies of our own, and the rivers Muda., Prai, and Krian are the places from whence tin, rattans, canes, besides other articles, are obtained. When the Company's people, therefore, shall reside at Pulau Pinang, I shall lose the benefit of this monopoly, and I request the Captain will explain this to the Governor-General, and beg, as a com- pensation for my losses, 30,000 dollars a year, to be paid annually to me as long as the Company reside at Pulau Pinang. I shall permit the free export of all sorts of pro- visions, and timber for shipbuilding.

" Moreover, if any of the Agents of the Company make loans or advances to any of the Nobles, Chiefs, or Rajas of the Kedah country, the Company shall not hold me

CHINESIC ACIOKS

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 39

responsible for any such advances. Should any one in this country become my enemy, even my own children, all such shall be considered as enemies also of the Com- pany ; the Company shall not alter their engagements of alliance, so long as the heavenly bodies continue to per- form their revolutions ; and when any enemies attack us from the interior, they also shall be considered as enemies of the Company. I request from the Company men and powder, shot, arms large and small, also money for the purpose of carrying on the war, and when the business is settled I will repay the advances. Should these proposi- tions be considered proper and acceptable to the Governor- General, he may send a Confidential Agent to Pulau Pinang to reside ; but if the Governor-General does not approve of the terms and conditions of this engagement, let him not be offended with me. Such are my wishes to be made known to the Company, and this treaty must be faithfully adhered to till the most distant times."

There is no ambiguity about these " terms and condi- tions," and if Mr. Light had exceeded his instructions, if he had made any promises the Company were not prepared to endorse, this was the time to say so.

In forwarding the proposals of the Sultan of Kedah, Mr. Light added his own remarks, and, referring to the first condition, he wrote : —

" This article comprehends the principal and only reason why the King wishes an alliance with the Honourable Company, and the treaty must be worded with caution, so as to distinguish between an enemy endeavouring or aim- ing at his destruction or the Kingdom, and one who may simply fall into displeasure with either the King or his Ministers."

The Supreme Government accepted the grant, and addressed Mr. Light in these terms : —

40 BRITISH MALAYA

" It has been resolved to accept the King of Kedah's offer to the Company of the harbour and island of Pinang. This Government will always keep an armed vessel stationed to guard the island of Pinang and the coast adjacent belonging to the King of Kedah. The Governor- General and Council, on the part of the English India Company, will take care that the King of Kedah shall not be a sufferer by an English Settlement being formed on the island of Pinang."

Further, Sir John Macpherson, then Governor-General, wrote to the Sultan in reply to his letter, made no objection to the conditions, accepted the island, and said:

" Your friendly letter containing a grant of Pulau Pinang to the Honourable Company was delivered to me by Captain Francis Light, the i6th February, 1786. Captain Light also made known to me the requests of my friend and brother, which I, having the interest and friendship of my noble friend at heart, have already transmitted to England for the approbation of the King of England and the Honourable English Company. I have likewise ordered a ship of war for the defence of the island and pro- tection of the coast of Kedah."

This also is plain enough, and if any casuist can read two meanings into " the protection of the coast of Kedah," the words have only one for the ordinary intelligence of the plain man.

Mr. Light was authorized to occupy Pinang, and, as we have seen, did so. Only a month later, Mr. Light wrote to the Supreme Government : " The King of Kedah has reason to be afraid of such a tyrant (the King of Siam), and hopes to secure himself by an alliance with the Honour- able Company."

Therefore at the very outset the Company knew that the one condition on which the Sultan was willing to cede Pinang was, that his enemies should be the Company's

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 41

enemies, and that they should protect him. They accepted the condition and the protection alike, and their repre- sentative in Pinang gave them the particular information that the probable enemy whom the Sultan of Kedah had in his mind was the King of Siam. Further proof of these plain facts may seem needless, but in a letter to the Governor-General, dated 5 October, 1786, Mr. Light says : " I returned for answer " (to a letter the King addressed to him concerning an expected invasion from Siam) "that his best policy is to have as little communication as possible " (with the Burmans and Siamese), " but to put his country in a state of defence, and that while the English are here they will assist him if distressed."

The Governor-General, about the same time, seems to have thought it necessary to record, in a minute, his opinion both as regards the independence of the Sultan of Kedah and the reasons which influenced His Highness in coming to terms. The Governor-General writes : —

"The grant of Pinang seems, in fact, to have been pro- cured by the influence of the principal officer of the King of Kedah, with a view to secure himself a place of retreat against his numerous enemies, and the ostensible object of the King himself in making the grant, originated in the idea of supporting his own independence by the protection of the English, and his attachment to us will either be strengthened or changed into animosity, as that protection is granted or withheld. This protection, however, cannot be effectually given without involving us in disputes with the Burmans or Siamese, the latter of whom are the most powerful."

This shows that the highest British authority in the East, the one who had authorized the negotiation for Pinang, and accepted the terms without question, fully realized the situation and recognized the independence of Kedah.

42 BRITISH MALAYA

Pinang was taken possession of on ii August, 1786, and it was only in January, 1787, that the Supreme Govern- ment decided to decline the main condition on which the Sultan of Kedah had consented to the cession. That decision was communicated to Mr, Light in these terms : —

" With respect to protecting the King of Kedah against the Siamese, the Governor-General in Council has already decided against any measures that may involve the Com- pany in military operations against any of the Eastern Princes. It follows, of course, that any acts or promises which may be construed into an obligation to defend the King of Kedah are to be avoided. If, however, Mr. Light can employ the countenance or influence of the Company for the security of the King of Kedah, con- sistently with these rules, the Governor-General in Council has no objection to his adopting the measure, strictly guarding against any acts or declarations that may in- volve the honour, credit, or troops of the Company."

So Mr. Light found himself in the position in which other agents of the British Government have been placed, both before his time and since ; but it was rather late for the Company to be particular about its honour and credit.

On 7 May, 1787, nearly a year after the occupation of Pinang, the question of monetary compensation was thus raised in a letter from Mr. Light to the Government of Bengal : —

" There is a necessity for coming to some terms with the King of Kedah while the Siamese and Burmans are upon him ; and I have reason to believe that nothing will be acceptable without Government promising the King protection. This place will be subject to many incon- veniences without such an alliance as will oblige the King to furnish the Settlement at all times v/ith provisions, and preventing other European nations from settling in

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 43

any other part of his country. Should the Siamese be per- mitted to take possession of his country, we shall not only find an insolent and troublesome neighbour, but be under the necessity of assisting them in their wars or to go to war with them ourselves. I humbly conceive that it will be easier, and attended with less expense to the Honour- able Company, to declare at once the King of Kedah under our protection ; little else than the name of the Company will be wanted ; the longer it is delayed, the greater will appear the consequence of the island, and the more difficulty there will be in fixing a Settlement. The Danes, the Dutch, and the French have solicited permis- sion to have only a house in Kedah ; either of them will promise much, and should the King consider himself aggrieved or disappointed by the English, he may in despair seek for other alliance."

Finding the argument of right, and the faithful observ- ance of promises, of no avail, Mr. Light pleads the cause of expediency, but with no better success. The Company had secured the island, and they knew that no Malay power could dispossess them, and no attempt would be made to do so. Therefore Mr. Light, who was on the spot, could make the best of it, for, to people in Calcutta, the whole affair was of very trifling importance. From Mr. Light's point of view, however, the prospect had quite a different aspect. Pinang was a jungle-island with no means of supporting a population, and they depended upon Kedah for almost everything. But the Sultan of Kedah, as the Governor-General had foreseen when he wrote " his attachment to us will either be strengthened, or changed into animosity, as that protection is granted or withheld," now knew that he had lost the island, and the other party to the transaction did not intend to give the consideration for which he had bargained. Therefore he was somewhat outspoken in his expressions of opinion, and began to try if he could find some other power on whom more reliance

44 BRITISH MALAYA

could be placed. These proceedings Mr. Light character- ized as " duplicity and cunning," and he wrote as follows to Calcutta : —

" I should be extremely sorry, from any ill-grounded apprehension, to put Government to any unnecessary charge or trouble ; but it is impossible to say what may be the intentions of the Siamese. If they destroy the country of Kedah, they deprive us of our great supplies of provisions, and the English will suffer disgrace in tamely suffering the King of Kedah to be cut off. We shall then be obliged to war in self-defence against the Siamese and Malays ; should your Lordship resolve upon protecting Kedah, two companies of Sepoys, with four six-pounder field pieces, a supply of small arms and ammunition, will effectually defend this country against the Siamese, who, though they are a very destructive enemy, are by no means formidable in battle ; and it will be much less expense to give the King of Kedah timely assistance than be obliged to drive out the Siamese after they have possessed themselves of the country."

Mr. Light's appeals, as well to economy as to expediency, fell on deaf ears. Perhaps the Company thought the strength of the force required to maintain the independ- ence of the Sultan, and the open market in Kedah, was under-estimated ; probably they were beginning to be annoyed by the whole business. At any rate, they were not prepared to supply the two companies of Sepoys, the four guns, and the small arms, and Mr. Light had to continue his negotiations for a money payment, which, in default of protection, the Sultan was not prepared to accept. In July, 1789, after detailing the failure of his various attempts to settle this money question, Mr. Light wrote : —

" Being informed that he did not relish the idea of sell- ing the island, I asked him if he chose to accept four thou- sand dollars per annum for as long a time as the Honour-

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 45

able Company should continue in possession of the island. To this, after waiting a considerable time, he answered in the negative, at the same time by his letters and messen- gers he endeavoured to draw a full promise, that the Honourable Company would assist him with arms and men in case an attack from the Siamese should render it necessary. This I evaded by telling him no treaty, which was likely to occasion a dispute between the Honourable Company and the Siamese, could be made without approbation of the King of Great Britain."

In 1793, seven years after the occupation of the island, the Home Government sent out this definitive instruction: "No offensive and defensive alliance should be made with the Raja of Kedah." Mr. Light died in the latter part of the same year.

We may assume that the political relations between the Company and the Courts of Burma and Siam were such, that the Supreme Government considered it would be inexpedient to support Kedah against both her enemies, and thus perhaps induce them, always hitherto at feud, to combine against the Company. Pinang had been secured ; seven years of occupation had proved its value, and shown that it could be held, without difficulty, by a small garrison against Asiatics; Mr. Light, the original negotiator, was dead; a treaty, which said nothing about offensive or defensive alliances, had been concluded; the promises of 1785 and 1786 were forgotten or ignored; and the Sultan of Kedah might be left to settle accounts with his northern foes, as soon as the conclusion of their mutual quarrels should give them time to turn their attention to him.

As Mr. Light had pointed out, Kedah was safe as long as Siam and Ava believed that an attack on Kedah might involve a trial of conclusions with the British; but when it was publicly given out, that the assistance for which Pinang had been ceded could not be relied upon, would not in fact, be given, then the fate of Kedah became a

46 BRITISH MALAYA

mere question of time, the prospective conqueror, whether Siamese or Burman, a matter of chance.

It is perhaps not necessary to push the matter further, except as regards one point, and that is, how the Sultan of Kedah came to consent to two treaties, the first in 1791, and the second in 1800, without stipulating for that provision which, to him, was the sole reason for the cession of Pinang. Neither document provided for the protection of Kedah. By the first engagement the Company under- takes to pay to the Sultan six thousand dollars a year so long as the English remain in possession of Pinang. By the second, called a treaty of friendship and alliance — signed by Sir George Leith, Lieutenant-Governor of Pinang — it is provided, that the Company shall pay to the Sultan ten thousand dollars a year, so long as they occupy Pinang and the strip of territory opposite (now called Province Wellesley), and the Sultan agrees to give to the Company for ever the strip of mainland referred to, which is then roughly defined.

This apparently serious omission on the part of the Sultan need not surprise any one.

If a British officer, accredited by the British Govern- ment, makes, during the progress of negotiations with a Malay Raja, any promise on behalf of his Government, it would not occur to the Malay to doubt that such promise would be accepted, and honourably fulfilled by those who sent the envoy. Were such a promise given, and, on the strength of it, territory ceded to the British Government, the acceptance of the cession would be deemed by the Malay the acceptance of the promise, if nothing were then said or written to him, to the effect that his demand could not be complied with.

If, after five years' occupation of such ceded territory, a treaty were concluded, though that treaty did not contain the fulfilment of the promise, the Malay would not consider that the British Government was thereby released from

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 47

performing an engagement, on the faith of which the occupation had taken place.

If such a treaty were then, or afterwards, styled "pre- liminary," and it were necessary to obtain sanction from a distant Government, to important provisions, it is probable the Malay would be told that this particular request of his was still under consideration, and that, when instructions were received from that high and distant authority, a further and permanent treaty would be con- cluded with him.

Under these circumstances a Malay Raja, dealing with British officers, would accept their advice.

Lastly, if the British, having been in occupation of a strong position for five years, as the friends of a Malay Raja, proposed to conclude with him a treaty which was not all, or any thing, that he could have hoped for, it is difficult to see what the Malay would gain by refusal.

How all these matters appeared to the Sultan of Kedah (successor of him who ceded Pinang to the Company) will be seen from the following letter, addressed by His High- ness, on 24 December, 18 10, to Lord Minto, Governor- General of India, as he passed through Pinang on his memorable journey to the conquest of Java : —

" In the year 1199 of the Hegira, in the time of my late father, Mr. Light bearing on the head of submission the commands of the King of England, and the orders of the Governor-General, with various splendid presents, appeared in the presence of my late father, the Raja, and requested in the name of the King of England and of the Governor-General, the island of Penang, for the purpose of repairing their ships-of-war, highly extolling the greatness, splendour, power, wisdom, beneficence, of His Majesty, the prosperity of the Honourable Company and all those connected in the ties of friendship with them ; promising that the King and the Governor-General would assist my father in whatever might be required, and

48 BRITISH MALAYA

would prevent the enemies of Kedah engaging in pro- ceedings detrimental to the country. Moreover, that they should pay rent for the island 30,000 dollars per annum, and entered into sundry other engagements. My father, consulting with the Ministers, considering that the neigh- bouring Burman and Siamese nations were more powerful than Kedah and having reflected that the King of Europe (i.e., England) was greater and more powerful than either of those nations, and that by means of the friendship of the English Company, these powers would be pre- vented from violence or molestation, perceived that it would be very desirable to enter into alliance with the Company, because the Europeans were just and regular in conducting all their affairs, and should the Burman or Siamese powers unjustly attempt violence, the powerful aid and protection of the Company would enable my father to repel the aggression. My father was, therefore, extremely desirous of obtaining the friendship of the Company, under whose powerful shelter and protection, the country might be transmitted to his descendants increased in strength. For this country, being small and deficient in strength, would depend on the power of the Company to repel the attacks of the Siamese and Bur- mans. My father accordingly, impressed with a sincere desire to obtain the friendship of the Company, granted the island of Penang according to the request of Mr. Light, the Agent for the Governor-General, and a written engagement, containing my father's demands from the Company, was given to Mr. Light, for the purpose of being forwarded to the Governor-General. After some time, Mr. Light returned to settle on the island, bringing some Sepoys, and he informed my father that the Governor-General consented to his requests, and had sent people to settle on the island ; that the writing from my father had been transmitted by the Governor-General to Europe, for the purpose of receiving the royal seal and

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 49

sanction, and that it would be returned in six months. My father accordingly granted permission to proceed to settle on the island of Penang, and sent his people to assist in the work, and his officers to protect them from the pirates in the commencement. My father having waited some time, at the expiration of the year, requested the writing from Mr. Light, who desired him to wait a little ; at the end of six years no authentic writing could be obtained ; he received 10,000 dollars per annum, but Mr. Light refused to fulfil the remainder of his engage- ments, and in consequence of my father insisting upon having a writing, agreeably to his former stipulation, a misunderstanding arose between Kedah and Penang, after which a new treaty of alliance was concluded. Since that time, many Governors have been placed over Penang, but my father was unable to obtain a writing either from Europe, or from the Governor-General. In the year 121 5, my father left the government to my uncle, at which time the Governor of Penang, Sir George Leith, requested the cession of a tract of land on the opposite shore, alleging that the island being small, the Company's people were distressed for procuring timber, and the raising of cattle. My uncle being desirous of removing the uneasiness, granted a tract (of which the boundaries were defined) accordingly, placing entire dependence on the power of the Company to protect and defend him against his enemies, and Sir George Leith made a new treaty, con- sisting of fourteen articles, and constituting the two as one country. This, and the former treaty, are inscribed on the Company's records. During the whole govern- ment of my father and uncle, no injury or molestation of any consequence had been sustained, nor has any one ever offered to send my letter of supplication to the King or to the Governor-General. I consequently desisted, and only communicated with the several Governors of the islands in matters relating to the two countries, but no

50 BRITISH MALAYA

certain arrangement from Europe could be heard of, nor could I obtain any assurances on which I could depend.

" Moreover, so long as I have administered the Govern- ment of Kedah, during the time of the late King of Siam, his proceedings were just and consistent with former established custom and usage. Since the decease of the King, and the accession of his son to the throne, in the year 121 5, violence and severity have been exercised by the Siamese against Kedah, in demands and requisi- tions exceeding all former custom and usage, and which I cannot support for a length of time. The Rajas of Kedah have been accustomed to submit to the Siamese authority in matters clearly proper and consistent with the established customs of the governments, for the sake of the preservation of the country, being unable to contend with Siam, from the superior number of their people. During my administration, their demands have been beyond measure increased, and heavy services have been required of me, inconsistent with the custom of the country. These, however, I submitted to as far as I have been able, for the sake of the people, and to prevent the danger of a rupture with them ; how many services, un- precedented in former years, have I not performed, and what expenses have I not incurred in carrying into effect their requisitions ! Nevertheless, I cannot obtain any good understanding with them, nor any peace, nor any termination to their injuries and oppressions. They no longer confide in me, and seek to attach blame, alleging that I have joined with the Burmans, with whom this year they have made war, and their intention is to attack KSdah for the purpose of reducing the country under their government. I have in vain endeavoured to avert the enmity of Siam, but without any appearance of success. I have made known to the Governor of Penang, every circumstance with relation to this country and Siam, and have requested his advice and the assistance of

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 51

the Company, on which my father relied, because the countries of Kedah and Penang are as one country and as one interest. When, therefore, Kedah is distressed, it cannot be otherwise with Penang. The Governor advised me by all means to avoid coming to a rupture with Siam, alleging that it was not in his power to afford me assist- ance, for that the Supreme Government in Europe had forbidden all interference in the wars of the neighbouring powers. Perhaps this would be improper with respect to other countries, but Kedah and Penang are much dis- tressed by the labours necessarily imposed to avert the resentment of Siam, and every exertion on my part has been made to prevent coming to a rupture with that power, but I was unable to submit to demands exceeding all former precedent, which induced me to apply to the Governor of Penang for the Company's aid to enable me to repel their demands, for my father having transmitted to me his friendship and alliance with the Company, it would be otherwise a reflection upon the power of the King of England, who is accounted a Prince greater and more powerful than any other. I conceive that the countries of Kedah and Penang have but one interest, and perhaps the King and my friend may not have been well informed, and in consequence the Governor of Penang has not been authorised to afford assistance, and that should they be acquainted therewith, they would con- sider it impossible to separate the two countries. In con- sequence, I request my friend to issue directions, and to forward a representation to the King and to the Honour- able Company, of the matters contained in this letter. I request that the engagements contracted by Mr. Light with my late father, may be ratified, as my country and I are deficient in strength ; the favour of His Majesty the King of England extended to me, will render his name illustrious for justice and beneficence, and the grace of his Majesty will fill me with gratitude ; under the power and

52 BRITISH MALAYA

Majesty of the King, I desire to repose in safety from the attempts of all my enemies, and that the King may be disposed to kindness and favour towards me, as if I were his own subject, that he will be pleased to issue his com- mands to the Governor of Penang to afford me aid and assistance in my distresses and dangers, and cause a regulation to be made by which the two countries may have but one interest ; in like manner I shall not refuse any aid to Penang, consistent with my ability. I further request a writing from the King, and from my friend, that it may remain as an assurance of the protection of the King, and descend to my successors in the government. I place a perfect reliance in the favour and aid of my friend in all these matters."

I have not succeeded in ascertaining what answer was sent to the Raja, but that letter, addressed to the highest authority then known to the Malays, would appear to the Raja to exhaust his efforts at redress. An adverse reply would be conclusive of the futility of further representa- tions.

It was not till 1821 that the Siamese found leisure to attend to Kedah ; then the attack was sudden, the cruel- ties perpetrated barbarous to a degree, and the rout of the Malays complete. Without the slightest warning a large fleet of boats loaded with Siamese suddenly appeared in the Kedah river and landed at a fort, where they were civilly received. Several of the principal Kedah chiefs were present, and a large number of the Siamese having landed, their leaders threw off the mask, told the chiefs they had come to seize them, and they must submit to be bound. The Malays at once shouted, " We are betrayed, let us attack them furiously," and fell upon the Siamese, but were immediately cut down. The Siamese then pro- ceeded up river, carrying fire and sword wherever they went ; killing the men, outraging the women, pillaging, torturing, destroying all over the land. The Raja of

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 53

Kedah himself escaped with the greatest difficulty, and after infinite privations made his way into Province Wellesley and thence by water to Pinang, where he was hospitably received and well treated by the Governor. Not satisfied with their work in Kedah, the Siamese pushed on to Perak, attacked and subdued the people of that State, and made preparations to continue their con- quests in Selangor. The Sultan of Selangor was, how- ever, prepared for them, and, in face of his reputation and determined attitude, the Siamese decided to withdraw their forces and returned to Ligor, the Southern Siamese State, from which they had started. The Sultan of Kedah died in exile, while his favourite son was captured and sent in bonds to Siam. The principal minister was also captured, and after being kept in chains in Kedah for a long time, was carried away and poisoned on the road to Senggora.

These particulars and an immense number of other details were collected and published in the form of a pamphlet, under the authority of the Government of Pinang, by Mr. John Anderson, secretary to that Govern- ment, in the year 1824. Immediately after its publication the pamphlet was recalled and so carefully suppressed that Mr. Anderson was obliged to give his word of honour that he had not retained a single copy. One copy did, however, escape, and was republished in a Straits news- paper in 1835 ; this publication having become equally scarce, the paper was reprinted, in 1854, in the Journal of the Eastern Archipelago, of which very few complete copies are now in existence.

The only question which remains is whether Kedah, in 1786, owed any allegiance to Siam, or was subject to the control of that kingdom. It would be easy to give many proofs to the contrary, but one is sufficient. The East India Company negotiated with the Sultan of Kedah as an independent ruler in 1786, and made an arrangement

54 BRITISH MALAYA

with him for a cession of territory. The Company made treaties with the Sultan to confirm this arrangement in 1 79 1, and again, in 1800, for the cession of a considerable territory on the mainland and it was not till 1821 that the Siamese made an unprovoked and treacherous attack on the Malay State. These facts seem to prove the Sultan's absolute independence.

In the early history of Pinang there is one point of special interest to which reference should be made. It has been customary to give Sir Stamford Raffles the credit for insisting that Singapore should be a free port from its very foundation as a British Settlement. That birthright has been the main source of the extraordinary prosperity of this great eastern market, and no doubt Sir Stamford Raffles was responsible for this policy in regard to Singapore. It was not, however, a new idea in the British Settlements in Malaya in the year 18 19, for when Raffles was still in the nursery, Sir John Macpherson, then Governor-General of India, wrote as follows to Mr. Light, in regard to Pinang, only six months after the occupation of that island : —

" If the situation is favourable, the merchants will find their advantages in resorting with their goods to it, and as an inducement to them, we desire you will refrain from levying any kind of duties or tax on goods landed or vessels importing at Prince of Wales Island, and it is our wish to make the port free to all nations."

A year later another Governor-General asked Mr. Light how he proposed to meet the growing expenses of main- taining the Pinang administration. Mr. Light took six months to consider the matter, and then suggested, amongst other taxes, the following duties : —

5. That a duty of 4 per cent be levied upon all India goods imported on foreign vessels.

6. That a duty of 4 per cent be levied upon all goods

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 55

imported on Choolia vessels not immediately from any of the Company's Settlements.

7. That a duty of 6 per cent be levied upon all China goods without distinction.

8. That a duty of 6 per cent be levied upon all tobacco, salt, arrack, sugar, and coarse cloths the produce or manu- facture of Java or any other Dutch possession to the east- ward.

9. That a duty of 6 per cent be levied upon all Europe articles imported by foreign ships unless the produce or manufacture of Great Britain.

Mr. Light evidently did not like his own proposals, for he added : —

" To levy a general duty on all goods which come to this port would defeat the intention of Government in making remittances to China by the barter of the manu- factures of India for the produce of those countries. The present situation of the surrounding kingdoms, distracted by foreign and civil wars which deprive their inhabitants of the privilege of bringing the produce of their lands to this port, added to the various impediments thrown into the way of the English trade by the Dutch, who prevent the China junks and the Malay and Bugis prows from passing Malacca, while by threats they cause some of the Malay States and by force oblige others to desist from trading with the English, are obstacles too great to admit of the levying with success any general duties. . . . Few colonies, I believe, in America or the West Indies were capable of making returns in the course of seven years from their settling, and this island, it appears to me, ought to be treated as a colony, and the expense of maintaining it drawn from the lands and not from the trade, which should be encouraged as much as possible while subject to so many inconveniences, to the end that the export of manufactures of the Company's territories in India may

S6 BRITISH MALAYA

be extended, and the remittances to China by the sale of these manufactures increased."

The approval of Government was given to Mr. Light's proposals for raising revenue, but the effect of the import duties was so unsatisfactory that they were abolished one by one, and Pinang became again, and remains to this day, a free port to all nations as originally decreed by Sir John Macpherson.

While following up this record of the foundation of Pinang, so little flattering to our national pride, we have got far beyond the date (1795) when England first entered into possession of Malacca, and have even passed the occupation of Singapore in 18 19. The reader will under- stand that it is practically impossible to keep in constant touch with three Settlements like Malacca, Pinang, and Singapore, none of which were in our possession in 1785. One became ours in 1786, and is so still ; one we captured in 1795, restored in 1801, occupied for the second time in 1807, gave up in 18 18, and again took it over in March, 182$, in exchange for Bencoolen and other ports in Sumatra, while we occupied the third in 18 19 and have kept it ever since. For a time these Settlements were rivals, under different and independent control, but all subject to a supreme authority in Calcutta; then they became united as one Presidency, under a Government which itself must needs change, from the Honourable East India Company to the Government of India. Finally they were severed from Indian control, took rank as three Settlements forming one Crown Colony, under a governor, who was also commander-in-chief and vice-admiral within the borders of his own administration.

To maintain continuity it is necessary to return for a moment to Malacca. This place surrendered, in August, 1795. to the expedition under command of Captain New- come, of the Orpheus^ and Major Brown, of the East India Company's Service. From that time till its second

A CHINKSE JUNK

A MALAY SCHOONER

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 57

restoration to the Dutch in 1818, only two occurrences need be mentioned. In 1807, the ancient fortifications of Malacca, built by Albuquerque and strengthened by the Dutch, valued by the British Resident, Colonel Farquhar, at 700,000 Spanish dollars — that is, about ;^i 50,000 — were destroyed. One writer places the cost of destruction at 260,000 rupees, and another at ^70,000. In either case it was enormous, perfectly needless, and an act of unforgiv- able vandalism.

The other notable event, during the second occupation of Malacca by the British was that Lord Minto chose this place as the rendezvous for the British force which captured Java in 181 1. It was there that Raffles met the Governor-General ; there that plans were discussed and all preparations made, and from there, on the strong advice of Raffles, the fleet sailed by a route which the sailors considered risky and unwise, but the event proved that Raffles was right. In the Stadt House at Malacca there hung until recently a very interesting portrait of Lord Minto, which was probably painted about this time, for the background is unquestionably the old town of Malacca, but little changed from the appearance of the place as seen to-day.

None of the many English writers who have dealt with Malacca and its changeful and romantic history, appear to mention this eventful gathering for the conquest of Java. Less than a year after the first occupation of Malacca by the British, there was born there a Malay boy, named Abdullah, the son Abdulkadir, who in time became a Malay writer in the office of Colonel Farquhar, the Resident and Commandant. When this boy was about fifteen years of age, Raffles and his wife came to Malacca, to prepare for the arrival of Lord Minto. Raffles was soon attracted to the Malay boy, and made great use of him as a scribe. Thirty years later, at Raffles' request, Abdullah wrote a book of over four hundred pages, called the Hikaiat

58 BRITISH MALAYA

Abdullah, Abdullah's history, in which the writer tells, with great accuracy and detail, the story of his own life. Raffles inspired in the boy a very strong admiration and affection, and three chapters of the book are devoted to a minute description of Raffles' proceedings in Malacca ; the arrival of the transports with the troops ; the landing of the men, guns, and horses ; the camp life and the amazement of the good people of Malacca at the sight of so many strange warriors with their peculiar caste preju- dices. He describes a regiment of three hundred Indian horsemen, who rode without reins in order that they might be able to use the very numerous weapons with which they were armed, and tells how he went to see them at exercise ; and when the show was over, the English officer in command, who was quartered near the ground, disdained to ride through the gate of the garden surrounding his house, but preferred to jump his horse over the fence, to the great delight of an immense crowd of spectators. Abdullah says that this delightful person — whose name alas ! is lost — invariably came on to parade over the fence and returned by the same way — conscious, no doubt, of the admiration he excited. There need be no shadow of doubt as to the performance, but Abdullah says the fence was seven cubits high, and one may be permitted to wonder what was the length of the cubit. Abdullah's inquiring mind impelled him to make a personal visit to the camp of these horse-soldiers, and this is the account of the visit : — " I asked them, 'Where did the English bring you from ? ' And they replied, ' We are all from Delhi, the Nabab's men. The English came there and asked for men, and the Nabab gave three hundred of us. There are thousands of our companions still left there, all horse soldiers like ourselves.' Then I said, ' What are your wages per month?' And they answered, 'The Nabab pays us three hundred Sicca rupees a month, per man, and the English pay us the same amount, and they have

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 59

promised us that if they take Java, they will give us a present in addition to our wages.' " No doubt these Indian warriors could not resist the temptation of magni- fying their importance by enormously exaggerating the rate of their pay.

A Malay, born in the Malacca of 1796, after nearly three hundred years of European domination, is not quite the same being as a Malay whose people never saw a white face ; his point of view is different, but still it is interesting, and I have therefore translated the following passage from a chapter which Abdullah calls " Concerning Lord Minto." The Malay historian describes the arrival of the Governor- General in " a very swift black ship, low in the water, flying a special flag at the main." He tells of the landing, the quantities of troops paraded, the salutes, the bands, the whole populace in attendance ; and here, evidently written from the heart, is Lord Minto, as he appeared to one of the vast crowd of Malays who respectfully welcomed His Excellency to the Malacca of early Malay enterprise, the Malacca of Albuquerque, the Malacca which, with the departure of this great expedition, was to sink into the obscurity of those whose day is done.

" When I saw Lord Minto, and how he bore himself, I was amazed. For I had imagined to myself what he would be like, his height, his appearance, his dress. Then I thought of the Malay proverb which says, ' fair fame is better than a fine appearance,' and I bit my finger. To me he appeared to be a man of middle age, with a spare figure, charming manners, and a pleasant countenance. I said to myself that I did not think he could lift so much as 30 lbs. He wore a dark coat and dark trousers, and beyond that there was nothing to remark in his dress. And all the great men who were there to welcome him stood a long way off; and not one of them dared to offer his hand, they only raised their hats and perspired. Then the commander of the soldiers shouted an order, and every

6o BRITISH MALAYA

musket was brought to the salute. And as he (Lord Minto) came forward, he looked to left and right, and bowed to either hand, and then walked slowly through the guard of honour, while the guns kept thundering the salute, and he never ceased raising his hand in courteous acknow- ledgment of salutations. I could not see in him the slightest trace of hauteur or self-importance, he simply bowed without affectation, and regarded every one plea- santly. And as he came to a great crowd of people they saluted him ; and he stopped for a moment and raised his hand, to acknowledge the welcome of all those poor folk — Chinese, Malays, Tamils, and Eurasians — and he smiled as he returned their greeting. How the hearts of all God's servants expanded with joy, and how the people prayed for blessings on Lord Minto, when they saw how he bore himself, and how well he knew the way to win affection. Then I had a momentary hesitation, because I remembered the Malay proverb which says : ' Even though a snake passes close by the root of the tree which contains a cure against his bite, he does not lose his venom.' There is also a Chinese proverb which says : ' It is not the water in the full bucket which splashes about and makes a noise, it is that of the bucket which is only half full.' And so it is with great men. In these days the servants who wait at table have no rank, but their arrogance is lofty as Heaven. If a poor man, like myself, bids them good day, even three or four times, they pretend they do not see him. How much more is this the case when they have arrived at carriage rank ! As children say, ' If you give a monkey a flower he has no idea what to do with it, he simply pulls it to pieces and drops it on the ground.' Moreover, Malays say, 'However high the white padi bird may soar, he perches eventually on the back of a buffalo ' ; and however great men may become, in the end they go down into the dust.

" I make, however, ten thousand apologies to the great

PINANG— EARLY HISTORY 6i

man of whom I am writing. Let no one who reads this book think that I have written in envy, or depreciation of any one ; but we Hve on earth for a day or two, and if we do well, people speak well of us, if evil, the opposite. The Malays say : * A tiger dies and leaves his stripes ; an elephant dies and leaves his bones ; a man dies and leaves his name, to those who come after him.' But to get back to Lord Minto. After waiting a moment, to return the salutations, he walked on slowly, bowing to the people, until he reached the Stadt House and entered it. Then all the great people of Malacca, and all the great amongst those recently arrived, went to meet him ; and I noticed that amongst all those distinguished people it was Mr. Raffles who was bold enough to approach him, the others sat a long way off. A few moments later every one who had entered and met the Governor-General withdrew, and returned to their own quarters. Then the troops fired three volleys in succession, and they also returned to their camp."

CHAPTER IV

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY- STAMFORD RAFFLES

^ N incident, which must always be connected with /^L the history of Malacca, has introduced Raffles

/ — ^ as the leading figure in the final arrange- -X- ^L ments for the dispatch of Lord Minto's ex- pedition for the conquest of Java.

Stamford Raffles, who has written his name for all time in the book of great English Empire builders, was the son of the master of a West Indiaman, and the boy was born on board ship on 5 July, 1781. After a very brief schooling Raffles, at the age of fourteen, became a clerk in the offices of the East India Company in Leadenhall Street, and when only twenty-four he was sent to join the Pinang establishment as an assistant secretary. Raffles began to learn Malay on his voyage to the East, and from the moment he reached Pinang he devoted all his leisure to the study of the language and people with whom his lot was cast, and for whom he appears to have conceived a great sympathy and affec- tion. This characteristic not only won him the confidence of the Malays, but through the instrumentality of Dr. Leyden, who met him in Pinang, it brought his name prominently to the notice of Lord Minto, and laid the foundations of that knowledge of Malay affairs which so soon carried him to the front and established his fame as Lieutenant-Governor of Java, and later as the founder of Singapore.

62

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 63

About 1807 Raffles visited Calcutta, where he was re- ceived with great kindness by the Governor-General, and returned to the Straits with the title of Governor- General's Agent in the Eastern Seas. This appointment gave him a position of semi-independence, and enabled him to collect all the information necessary to determine the Government to dispatch an expedition for the capture of Java. We have seen how the force, six thousand British and six thousand Indian troops, in ninety vessels, rendez- voused at Malacca, from whence they sailed on 11 June, 181 1, under the personal direction of Lord Minto with Raffles as his chief Intelligence Officer, The army landed near Batavia on 4 August, occupied that place on the 9th, and on the 25th fought the decisive Battle of Cornells, where we lost five hundred men, and the enemy, under General Janssens, four thousand, while five thousand were taken prisoners.

Six weeks later Lord Minto returned, leaving Raffles as Lieutenant-Governor of the newly conquered, popu- lous and fertile island with all its dependencies. It is certainly remarkable that Raffles, with no family or other influence, and little education except what was due to his own industry, should, at the age of thirty, after only six years in the East, have found himself in a position of such honour and responsibility. The fact is immensely creditable to Raffles, and not less so to the discernment and sound judgment of the Governor- General.

It cannot but be interesting to have a description of such a personality at such a moment ; and the interest is all the deeper when the picture is drawn by one who was daily and hourly studying his subject with the alert intelli- gence of a bright Malay boy. Reference has been made to Abdullah's history, and this is Raffles, in 181 1, drawn by Abdullah's pen. I have only put the writer's words into English : —

64 BRITISH MALAYA

" Now as to the appearance of Mr. Raffles, I noticed that he was of medium height, neither tall nor short, neither stout nor thin. His forehead was wide, a sign of great power of organization, and the front of his head was large, a sign of ability. His hair was light, a sign of courage ; his ears were broad, to enable him to hear everything ; his eyebrows were strongly marked ; he had a cast in his left eye ; his nose was thin, the sign of a clever talker : his tongue was persuasive, his mouth large, and his neck of a good length. His complexion was not excessively fair ; he had a broad chest, a small waist, and feet of medium size. When he walked, it was with a slight stoop. As to his manner, he seemed generally to be absorbed in thought. He was extraordinarily courteous, with a pleasant face and word for every one, of every station, and a wide sympathy for all men. He was generous to the poor. He was very clever in repartee, and whenever he spoke it was always with a smile. He had a great power of getting out the details of long past events, and he never let a matter go till he had got to the bottom of it. He preferred quiet places, and he was for ever writing or reading books. Whenever he was studying or talking, it did not matter who came to his house, he would not see them till he had finished. I also observed that he did everything with method ; taking each in its turn, and never jumbling up one with another. I noticed also that in the evening, when he had had his tea with his friends, there were always ready, on a large table, pens, ink and paper, and two lighted candles. And when he was tired of walking up and down the room, he would lean right down on the table and shut his eyes like one weary and asleep. Two or three times I thought he was asleep, when suddenly he would start up and write, and then return to his former attitude. He would go on like that till eleven or twelve o'clock when he went to bed. That was his daily custom, except when he had friends. When he woke in the morning, he would read what he had

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 65

written the night before, walking backwards and forwards all the time. Out of ten pages which he read, he would give three or four to a clerk to copy into a book ; the rest he would tear up and throw away,"

This is not the place to speak of the remarkable work done by Raffles during his five years in Java ; but when he left the island in 18 16, it was to go to England for a much-needed rest. In 18 17 he was appointed Lieutenant- Governor of Bencoolen, in Sumatra, a miserable out-of- the-way place, to which he was sent by those who feared his restless energy. Raffles reached Bencoolen in March,

18 1 8, and in April he was already insisting upon the necessity of finding a suitable spot on which to estab- lish a British Settlement, to counteract the aggressive and exclusive policy of the Dutch.

The spot selected was the island of Singapore, at the southern extremity of the Straits of Malacca, and there a preliminary treaty was concluded with the local Malay chief, the Dato Temenggong of Johore, on 30 January,

1 8 19, and a more formal document was drawn up on 6 February, 1819, between Sir Stamford Raffles, on behalf of the Honourable East India Company, and Sultan Husein of Johore and the Dato Temenggong, How Singapore came to be chosen for the British Settlement and the steps which actually led up to the making of the treaties are questions which have been greatly argued. The interest which now attaches to these matters has grown out of the succession of controversies raised by different writers on the subject. The generally accepted version is that Raffles, having been to Calcutta and per- suaded the Supreme Government that his view of the situation was correct, returned to Bencoolen with authority to select and occupy, at the southern end of the Malacca Straits, a position which would act as a barrier to Dutch influence and open the door to the extension of British trade in the Malay Archipelago. At this very

66 BRITISH MALAYA

time Colonel Farquhar, the Resident of Malacca, was about to return to England, as Malacca was on the point of being handed back to the Dutch under the terms of the Treaty of Vienna. Whilst in Malacca Colonel Far- quhar had been under the Government of Pinang, and, by their instructions, he had attempted to secure a suitable position for a British Settlement on the island of Bentan, in the neighbourhood of Singapore. This attempt had failed (owing to the action of the Dutch, who had seized Rhio), and the Pinang Government abandoned the scheme as hopeless. Colonel Farquhar had, however, discharged his duties to the satisfaction of the authorities in Cal- cutta, and they, thinking that his experience and services would be very useful to Raffles, wrote to Colonel Farquhar directing him to postpone his departure, and to place him- self at the disposal of Raffles for the selection of a new station which, when occupied, would be placed under his charge.

Raffles was also entrusted with a mission to Achin, and his instructions were to deal first with that question and then proceed to the selection of the new Settlement. Raffles, apparently at the instance of the Government of Pinang, determined to let the Achin matter wait and immediately sailed down the Straits, picking up Colonel Farquhar somewhere — certainly not at Malacca — on the way. Raffles and Farquhar then visited and abandoned in turn Siak, on the east coast of Sumatra, and the Karimun Islands. Disappointed with these places, they sailed for Johore and, either by accident or design, landed at Singa- pore. Finding this place almost uninhabited and with great natural advantages. Raffles immediately determined to acquire it, and to that end made a preliminary arrange- ment with the local chief. This Malay chief was the Dato Temenggong of Johore, a high officer of the Sultan of Johore, who asserted that he had certain special rights over Singapore, though by his action, and by his other

*api

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 67

statements to the English officers, it was clear that any arrangement made by him must be subject to the approval and confirmation of the Sultan of Johore.

At this time, owing to intrigues and a variety of cir- cumstances needless to relate, the younger of two brothers had, on the death of their father and during the tem- porary absence of the elder and rightful heir, been persuaded to allow himself to be proclaimed Sultan of Johore. It was also known that this younger brother was under the influence of designing people with Dutch sym- pathies. Raffles, therefore, sent at once to Rhio for the elder brother, Tunku Husein, otherwise called Tunku Long, and on his arrival in Singapore he was duly pro- claimed Sultan of Johore. His title and authority were formally recognized by Raffles, on behalf of the East India Company, and a new treaty was made on 6 Feb- ruary, 1 8 19, between Raffles on the one hand and the Sultan Husein and the Temenggong on the other, by which the Malays granted to the British Government the right to settle on the island.

A further arrangement, dealing with administrative questions, was entered into on 26 June, 1819 ; yet another agreement was made in June, 1823 ; and the final treaty, by which Singapore is now held, is dated 19 November, 1824.

All this seems plain and simple enough, but seeing the immense success of Singapore under English rule, its rapid rise, its great natural advantages, its unique position and immense importance to the Imperial Government, the interest of many intelligent men who had a hand in its advancement was, years ago, aroused to ascertain and record the exact facts of its occupation as a British Settle- ment. In the course of the inquiries which began then and have continued spasmodically ever since, some claim has been made to give Colonel Farquhar at least a part of the credit for choosing Singapore as the new English

68 BRITISH MALAYA

station. That claim was asserted by Colonel Farquhar in his lifetime, but it found few supporters, and the theory generally accepted is the one just stated. To support it there are a number of official documents, a few statements in letters from Raffles — not very definite or positive state- ments— added to the general belief that Raffles alone was responsible for the selection of Singapore, as well as for the far-seeing and broad-minded policy on which the place was nurtured into greatness. A stronger proof than any- thing before advanced is probably to be found in the original Malay treaty, lately unearthed by the diligent inquiries of Mr. C. B. Buckley, a photographic copy of which is to be found in his interesting book, An Anecdotal History of Singapore. This is the treaty of 30 January, 18 1 9, between Sir Stamford Raffles and the Dato Temeng- gong of Johore, signed by Raffles and sealed by both the parties.

To those who have no special interest in the Straits the question may seem to be of small importance, but it is impossible to leave it without drawing attention to the fact that Abdullah, who in his History gives several most carefully written chapters to the search for a place on which to found a new British Settlement, and to the actual occupation of Singapore, not only does not men- tion that Raffles was present when the expedition landed at Singapore, but distinctly and several times says he was not there !

Some of these chapters were translated and published many years ago, and those writers who have referred to them, in connexion with this question, were satisfied to dismiss Abdullah's record with the statement that he admits he only went to Singapore four months after its occupation, and therefore that his account is all hearsay. A careful examination of the original Hikaiat Abdullah leaves the reader in doubt on this point, for several reasons which need not be gone into here. It might be argued

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 69

that the visit paid to the Settlement, when it was four months old, was not the first; but if it was, then Abdullah, long before mentioning that fact, has recounted several personal adventures of his own in Singapore which must of necessity have occurred subsequent to his arrival, and should have so appeared in his book. If there were no evidence available beyond Abdullah's History, it would be difficult to believe that Sir Stamford Raffles was present when Colonel Farquhar landed at Singapore. The pre- liminary treaty of 30 January, 1 8 19, with the Temenggong, the treaty of 6 February, 18 19, with the Sultan and Temenggong, both signed by Raffles, and the instructions which Sir Stamford addressed to Colonel Farquhar on 6 February, 1819, settle this question absolutely in a contrary sense.

Raffles' knowledge of Malay history, or tradition, would have made him acquainted with the fact that, six hundred years earlier, ages before Portuguese or Dutch had been heard of in the Far East, Singapore had been a thriving, populous city, the foremost in the Archipelago. Yet we know that Raffles' first idea was to found a station in the Straits of Sunda, and he actually did attempt to create such a place, but it was a failure. When he sailed down the Straits of Malacca in January, 18 19, and met Colonel Farquhar, it is probable that Raffles may have had Singa- pore in his mind as a suitable spot for his settlement, if he found nothing better. Colonel Farquhar, who had been some years at Malacca, where he had made friends with Tunku Husein, and probably discussed with him the possibility of finding a good station in the vicinity of Johore, ought to have known the neighbourhood much better than Raffles. Moreover, Colonel Farquhar had already visited Rhio at least once, and that journey must have taken him past the Johore side of Singapore, both going and returning. Siak was useless, and the Karimun Islands, which seem to have been the suggestion of Colonel

yo BRITISH MALAYA

Farquhar, were also unsuitable. Raffles' instructions from the Supreme Government were, that he was to negotiate for a firm position at Achin, in Sumatra, and endeavour to establish "a station beyond Malacca." The port of Rhio was specifically named, and failing that place, on account of its being previously occupied by the Dutch, Raffles was directed "to endeavour to establish a connexion with the Sultan of Johore," his instructions adding: "The position of Johore renders it nearly, or perhaps entirely, as convenient a post for our purposes as Rhio." It is therefore probable that the expedition was cruising along without a definite destination when, passing Singapore, the explorers decided to put in there and consult the Dato Temenggong, who had made Singapore his headquarters since 1811. The splendid roadstead and other natural advantages once seen, there would be no further doubt, and Raffles lost no time in coming to terms with the Malay chief whom he found on the spot ; though he realized at once that, to secure his title, he must have the consent of the Sultan of Johore. Tunku Husein's presence was a necessity; he was summoned from Rhio, proclaimed Sultan of Johore (a title to which he had an absolute right), and the more formal treaty of 6 Feb- ruary was then concluded. Raffles immediately sailed for Pinang and Sumatra to carry out his mission to Achin, and report to the Governor-General, the Marquis of Hastings; while Colonel Farquhar was left in charge of the infant Settlement. The exact facts are not of real importance; but it is more than probable that Raffles, by good luck and without assistance from others, selected Singapore as the site of his avowedly anti-Dutch pro- British Station. The idea of such a post was Raffles' own ; for it is probable that his instructions were drafted on information supplied by himself, and in that case it is noticeable that Rhio and Johore are indicated as likely places, but not Singapore; he went South with the

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 71

express object of carrying out his favourite scheme before his masters could have time to change their minds, or his rivals to anticipate his design. Colonel Farquhar was only there to help his senior, and it is certain that, if there had been no Raffles in 18 19, there would have been no British Singapore to-day.

The recognition of the value of Singapore island to meet all the requirements of the situation, and its acquisi- tion from those entitled to dispose of it, were very simple matters compared with the difficulty of retaining a hold upon it and of convincing the Governor-General, the Board of the East India Company, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the British Government, and the British people, that the island must on no account be given up. The Marquis of Hastings, under whose directions Raffles started with the special intention of occupying a position in Johore, wrote to the Governor of Pinang, less than two months later, to say that Raffles was not justified in sending Major Farquhar eastward in the face of a Dutch protest, and " if the post has not yet been obtained he is to desist from any further attempt to establish one " ! Fortunately the post had been obtained, and the weathercock-mind of the Governor-General veered round once again. The members of the East India Board were furious, and the ministers of the Crown were "excessively angry." Indeed, had it not been for Raffles, his insistence, his arguments, his labours to secure supporters for his scheme, it is certain that Singapore would have been abandoned by the British, and equally certain that it would now be a Dutch posses- sion. Raffles made it, and Raffles saved it ; but even he alone could not have kept the place if the interest of the English mercantile community had not been aroused, and they had not exerted their influence to retain Singapore. Raffles' genius and patriotism were rewarded by endless worry, by the disapproval of his employers, and by public censure from his country's ministers.

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The jealousy of the Pinang Government (which had failed in its own attempt to secure a Settlement at Rhio), even tried to wreck Raffles' scheme ; they refused to render assistance to Colonel Farquhar when he feared an attack ; suggested that he ought to withdraw all his people rather than risk an engagement, and advised the Calcutta authorities to abandon Singapore to the Dutch !

Time, mercantile influence, and the ever-growing success of the new station won the day. But fate seems to have been strangely malign, for with the assurance of the certain prosperity of his Settlement came the end of Raffles' career.

Raffles, the most assiduous worker, the most enthusiastic collector of everything which could advance the cause of knowledge and of science, sailed for England from Ben- coolen in a small vessel called the Fame on 2 February, 1824. The same evening the vessel caught fire, and those on board had barely time to get out of the ship into small boats before she was nothing but a mass of flames. Sir Stamford and Lady Rafflss and the rest of those saved from the Fame got back to Bencoolen with no little difficulty, but the fruits of many years' work in Sumatra and Singapore — the notes, the maps, the books, the collec- tions of every kind, including many wild animals and birds — had gone utterly and for ever. Raffles himself was already broken in health ; he had lost his first wife in Java and three children in Bencoolen, and when, two months later, he finally left Sumatra and the Far East, he had exhausted his energies in the service of the Company and his country. Two years of further worry in England, of charges and claims by his late employers, resulted in his death at the age of forty-five. Comparatively few people in England know the name of Stamford Raffles or what it stands for ; and yet to him we owe the possession of Singapore, the Gate of the Farther East, a naval base of the highest importance, a great commercial centre, and

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 73

the most prosperous of British Crown Colonies. In- directly, the foresight which secured Singapore for the British Empire led also to the extension of British in- fluence throughout the States of the Malay Peninsula, a territory which, under British protection and guidance, has not only far surpassed in rapid development the pro- gress of Raffles' Settlement, but has enormously con- tributed to the prosperity of both Pinang and Singapore, and proved itself to be, in proportion to its area, one of the richest countries in the world.

In all this, no British party and no British Government can claim to have taken any part, except by grudgingly assenting to what had been done, almost without their knowledge, entirely against their wishes. The man to whom the credit belongs gave his talents and his life to achieve an end which he believed to be necessary to the prestige, the power, and the trade of England in the Far East. He died on 5 July, 1826, and was buried in England, but no one knows where to find his grave.

The single consolation vouchsafed to Raffles was the knowledge that Singapore had succeeded beyond his fondest hopes, and that, in the esteem and affection of all classes and nationalities there, he held a place which he never could lose. When he left the island for the last time, in June, 1823, the European and native merchants presented him with an address which contains the follow- ing passage : —

" To your unwearied zeal, your vigilance, and your com- prehensive views, we owe at once the foundation and maintenance of a Settlement unparalleled for the liberality of the principles on which it has been established ; prin- ciples the operation of which has converted, in a period short beyond all example, a haunt of pirates into the abode of enterprise, security, and opulence.

" While we acknowledge our own peculiar obligations to you, we reflect at the same tim6 with pride and satisfac-

74 BRITISH MALAYA

tion upon the active and beneficent means by which you have promoted and patronized the diffusion of intellectual and moral improvement, and we anticipate with confi- dence their happy influence in advancing the cause of humanity and civilization."

Rafifles acknowledged this letter, and in the course of his reply, wrote : —

"It has happily been consistent with the policy of Great Britain, and accordant with the principles of the East India Company, that Singapore should be established as a free port ; that no sinister, no sordid view, no considera- tions either of political importance or pecuniary advan- tage, should interfere with the broad and liberal principles on which the British interests have been established. Monopoly and exclusive privileges, against which public opinion has long raised its voice, are here unknown, and while the Free Port of Singapore is allowed to continue and prosper, as it hitherto has done, the policy and liber- ality of the East India Company, by whom the Settlement was founded, and under whose protection and control it is still administered, can never be disputed.

" That Singapore will long and always remain a free port, and that no taxes on trade or industry will be estab- lished to check its future rise and prosperity, I can have no doubt. I am justified in saying thus much, on the authority of the Supreme Government of India, and on the authority of those who are most likely to have weight in the Councils of our nation at home.

" For the public and peculiar mark of respect which you. Gentlemen, have been desirous of showing me on the occasion of my departure from the Settlement, I beg that you will accept my most sincere thanks. I know the feel- ing which dictated it, I acknowledge the delicacy with which it has been conveyed, and I prize most highly the gratifying terms to me personally in which it has been expressed."

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 75

Raffles' whole connexion with Singapore extended from February, 18 19, to June, 1823, just over four years, and in that time he only visited the island three times ; but during those visits, by his personal influence and direc- tion and by the written instructioHS which he issued to the Resident, he laid the foundations of that liberal and enlightened administration which secured the immediate and lasting success of the Settlement. There is no need to detract from the credit due to others to increase Raffles' fame. His personality and his services were big enough to place him beyond the reach of comparison with men of his own time in eastern administration, but in matters of detail his judgment was sometimes hasty, and he did not like opposition. Singapore has to thank Farquhar and not Raffles for the splendid esplanade, which is one of the most attractive features of the island.

If we have no picturesque record of Raffles' first landing on the shores of Singapore, Abdullah has left us a very pathetic account of his own last hours with his master, and the latter's final departure from the place he had created and of which he was so justly proud. Abdullah writes : —

" On the day after all his things had been put on board the ship, he sent for me and I went to the room where he used to write. He said, ' Take this letter and keep it care- fully, with the one I gave you at Malacca. If hereafter any distinguished Englishman comes here, show him the letters and he will befriend you. Moreover, should you get work in the Court, show the letters to whoever is then at the head of affairs in Singapore, and you will receive a higher salarj^ than is usually paid to Malays. Do not grieve, for if I live I will surely return to Singapore ; but should I die, then good bye, and I charge you to diligently learn the English language until you know it well. Here is another paper ; take it, and when I have gone give it to Mr. Queiros, who will pay you two hundred dollars, which

76 BRITISH MALAYA

I ask you to accept from me. If I ever return, I want to write several books dealing with the countries in this neighbourhood ; in them I will mention your name and the great help you have given me in all Malay matters and everything that was within your knowledge, so that white men may know you and trust you.' I could not speak, but I took the papers while the tears streamed down my face without my being conscious of it. That day, to part with Sir Stamford Raffles was to me as the death of my parents. My regret was not because of the benefits I had received, or because of his greatness or attractions ; but because of his character and attainments, because every word he said was sincere and reliable, because he never exalted himself or depreciated others. All these things have remained in my heart till now, and though I have seen many dis- tinguished men, many who were clever, who were rich, who were handsome — for character, for the power of winning affection, and for talent and understanding, I have never seen the equal of Sir Stamford Raffles. Though I die and live again, I shall never find his peer. . . . When I had received the two letters. Sir Stamford and his lady went down to the sea accompanied by an immense crowd of people of every nationality. I also went with them, and when they reached the ship they went on board. A moment later preparations were made to heave up the anchor, and Sir Stamford sent for me. I went into his cabin, and saw that he was wiping the tears from his eyes. He said, ' Go home ; you must not grieve, for if I live we shall meet again.' Then Lady Raffles came in and gave me twenty-five dollars, saying, ' This is for your children in Malacca.' When I heard that my heart was more than ever fired by the thought of their kindness. I thanked her, and shook them both by the hand ; but I could not restrain my tears, so I hurriedly got into my boat and pulled away. When we had gone some distance I looked back and saw Sir Stamford gazing from the port. I saluted him and he

SINGAPORE— EARLY HISTORY 77

waved his hand. After some moments the sails filled and the ship moved slowly away."

The great administrator and his Malay protege were not to meet again, but the eastern did not forget his hero. Raffles' best epitaph is written in Malay ; and had he been buried in the country he loved so well, we should know where to find his grave.

CHAPTER V

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67— THE ARRANGE- MENT MADE TO SETTLE THE CLAIMS OF THE SULTAN AND TEMENGGONG IN REGARD TO JOHORE

IN January, 18 19, there were about 150 inhabitants on the island of Singapore ; a few of them were aborigines and the rest people who had accom- panied the Dato' Temenggong when he settled there eight years earlier. The Malays lived in boats and miserable huts on the left bank of the Singapore River, and they are supposed to have made a livelihood by piracy ; the place was quite uncultivated and covered by jungle, though Raffles, in an exuberance of enthusiasm, wrote that he could trace the fortifications of the ancient citadel, destroyed about six hundred years earlier. The supposed site of this citadel was a small hill (now called Fort Canning) on the left bank of the Singapore River, about a quarter of a mile from the shore. It was entirely overgrown, was called " the Forbidden Hill," and was treated by the Malays with superstitious veneration, as the spot once occupied by the palace of the Raja of Singapore. When cleared of jungle, it was found that there were a number of fruit trees on the hill, the stone foundations of buildings long destroyed, and also some very ancient Malay graves. So far as can now be ascertained, these were, with one exception, the only vestiges of Singa- pore's former inhabitants. The exception was a curious

78

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 79

stone found at the mouth of the river, when the right bank was cleared and levelled to prepare it for the site of the present town. A passing reference has already been made to this stone, but, having regard to its unique historic interest, it is well to translate Abdullah's con- temporary description of the finding, and subsequent treatment, of this ancient relic. He writes : —

" At that time there was found, at the end of the point, buried in jungle, a smooth, square-sided stone, about six feet long, covered with chiselled characters. No one could read the characters, for they had been exposed to the action of the sea water for God knows how many thousands of years. When the stone was discovered people of every race went in crowds to see it. The Hindus said the writing was Hindi, but they could not read it. The Chinese said it was Chinese. I went with Sir Stamford Raffles and the Reverend Mr. Thompson and others, and to me it seemed that the letters re- sembled Arabic letters, but I could not decipher them, owing to the ages during which the stone had been subject to the rise and fall of the tides. Numbers of clever people came to read the inscription ; some brought soft dough and took an impression, while others brought black ink and smeared it over the stone in order to make the writ- ing plain. Every one exhausted his ingenuity in attempts to ascertain the nature of the characters and the language, but all without success. So the stone remained where it lay, with the tide washing it every day. Then Sir Stam- ford Raffles decided that the writing was in the Hindi character, because the Hindus were the first people to come to these parts, to Java, Bali, and Siam, whose people are all descended from Hindus. But not a man in Singa- pore could say what was the meaning of the words cut on that stone; only God knows. And the stone remained there till Mr. Bonham became^ Governor of Singapore,

' 1S37-43.

8o BRITISH MALAYA

Pinang, and Malacca. At that time Mr. Colman was the Government Engineer at Singapore, and he, sad to tell, broke the stone. In my opinion it was a very improper thing to do, but perhaps it was due to his stupidity and ignorance, and because he could not understand the writ- ing that he destroyed the stone. It never occurred to him that there might be others more clever than himself who could unravel the secret ; for I have heard that there are those, in England, who are able to read such a riddle as this with ease, whatever the language, whoever the people who wrote it. As the Malays say: 'What you can't mend, don't destroy.' "

It almost passes belief that the only existing clue to the very early history of Singapore should have been ruth- lessly and quite needlessly destroyed, but so it is. The stone was deliberately blown to pieces ; a few of the fragments were collected by some of the more intelligent Europeans and placed in Government buildings, from whence they were eventually sent to the Asiatic Society's Museum in Calcutta. Lieutenant Begbie, writing in 1834, gives it as his opinion, that this stone is the one referred to in a story in the Malay Annals describing a contest of strength between a Singapura Samson, named Badang, and a rival from the Coromandel coast. Badang won the contest, and the annalist says that when Badang died, and was buried at the mouth of the Singapura River, the Coromandel King sent two stones to mark his grave. Lieutenant Begbie suggested that this was one of them.

It appears, however, that besides the fragments, a rub- bing of the unbroken stone had reached Calcutta. The wise men there gave up the attempt to decipher the inscription, but offered a pious opinion that it was written in Javanese, before the conversion of the Malays to Muham- madanism.

The conclusion is not very satisfying, but as there seems to be no means of raising the veil and getting at the

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 81

secret, we come back to the fact that Singapore, when Raffles fixed upon it as the place for his new station, was a jungle-covered island with 150 inhabitants whose business was, probably, piracy. It is almost impossible at this date to realize the bondage in which the Straits of Malacca, and especially the Johore Strait, were held by pirates, not only in 1820, but even in 1840 and later. Abdullah says that the skulls of hundreds of victims of piracy were, in 18 19, floating in the waters of Singa- pore harbour, and were collected and disposed of by the orders of Colonel Farquhar. The accounts of piracies and the measures taken, in the next twenty years, to put down the practice, are one long record of murder and robbery, the capture and sale of boys and girls, women and children, with severe measures of repression. The pirates often mistook the vessels of war for traders, and when too late they discovered their mistake, they seem to have fought with a desperate courage which almost invariably resulted in their annihilation. When Raffles left the East, the ques- tion of piracy was one which he pressed upon the most earnest attention of the Resident in Singapore, and nothing but a perusal of the official records of the time could convey any real idea of the extent of the evil, or the years that it took to eradicate it.

Meanwhile, in spite of this great difficulty, Singapore grew and prospered ; while the older settlements, Malacca and Pinang, the latter severely handicapped against its free-trade rival, were a serious charge on the resources of the East India Company. In 1825 the three settlements became a Presidency of India, and in 1827 Lord WilHam Bentinck, the then Governor-General, visited them in order to look into matters. He declared that he could not see what Pinang was like for the number of cocked hats which shut out the view, so he reduced the establish- ments, abolished the duties, and reorganized the Govern- ment. From 1829 the Straits ceased to be a Presidency

82 BRITISH MALAYA

and were placed under the Government of Bengal, but in 185 1 they passed to the control of the Supreme Govern- ment of India, and so remained until they became a colony in 1867.

When Raffles left Singapore, in 1824, the population of the settlement was stated to be about 10,000, and the ton- nage of the shipping 75,000. Newbold, writing in 1839, gives the following figures as the revenue and expenditure of ttje three Settlements in the years 1835-6, but the ex- penditure does not include the cost of either the military or the convict establishments, so the annual loss must have been very considerable.

Malacca

Pinang and Prov-

Revenue in Sicca Rupees.^ . 62,757 .

Expenditure. 160,057

Population. .. 37,706

ince Wellesley Singapore

• 178,930 . . 274,178 .

•• 253,328 . •• 222,333 .

.. 86,009 .. 29,984

The tonnage of the Singapore shipping for the same year was returned as 200,000 tons. In eleven years, there- fore, Singapore had trebled its population and almost trebled its trade, while in proportion to its population it was earning a far larger revenue than either of the other Settlements. The main source of revenue was an excise duty on the sale of opium and spirits, and in order to save the Government the trouble and expense of collecting and protecting this revenue, it was farmed out for a term of years to the highest bidders, so that the preparation of the raw opium for sale by retail dealers, the issue of licences to sell, and the whole trade in opium within the Straits Presidency, became a monopoly, held almost invariably by Chinese. In the earliest days of Singapore there was

^ It is impossible to avoid giving values in rupees and dollars, though, when it could be done with certainty, the sterling equivalent is also stated. The sterling value of both rupees and dollars has so constantly varied that, in many cases, such for instance as the cost of railways spread over many years and paid for in dollars, the amount cannot be rendered into sterling witli accuracy.

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 83

also a farm of the right to maintain public gambling establishments, but Sir Stamford Raffles set his face against this method of raising revenue, and he was sup- ported by the majority of the European mercantile com- munity. The Company was not so anxious to suppress a practice which had long been countenanced in Pinang, but Raffles' advice was adopted in 1829. Since that time, the question has been repeatedly argued and the weight of dispassionate opinion held that Sir Stamford Raffles was, in this instance, mistaken, and that the reasons he put forward in support of his views were neither sound nor logical. The fact remains that gambling in the Straits was prohibited, and has remained so, though the practice has been recognized and legalized in most of the neigh- bouring colonies of other nations, and in all independent States.

By the year 1864 the revenue of the Settlements had risen to ;^i92,ooo, and the civil expenditure to iJ"i 14,932, with a military charge of i^8 1,073 in addition. Two- thirds of the revenue were derived from the excise farms, ;^26,ooo from stamp duties, and only ^^6705 from lands and forests. The Governor's salary was ^^4200 (though the Governor of Pinang, many years earlier, had been in receipt of ^9000 a year), and the principal item of ex- penditure was the cost of constructing certain land defences which, at the time of their building, were recog- nized to be useless, and were of necessity abandoned.

During the period now so briefly reviewed, from 1825 to 1867, nothing of any importance occurred in Malacca beyond a difference with a very small border State called Naning. This quarrel resulted in the dispatch of two small military expeditions, which took many months to accomplish, at a cost of a million rupees, or ;^ 100,000, what should have been done in a week. The business began in August, 1831, and was completed in May, 1832, the troops taking ten weeks to cover the last twelve miles

84 BRITISH MALAYA

of a march, the goal of which was only twenty-two miles from the town of Malacca.

In Pinang there was no occurrence of any importance ; but just as the founding of this Settlement had taken much of the trade from Malacca, so, with the opening of a free port at Singapore under the enlightened direction of Raffles, Pinang lost much of her trade and prosperity. Indeed, it was freely and constantly stated in the fifties not only that Pinang was a financial failure, but that it was ridiculous to suppose that the Settlement could ever be self-supporting. Even in the seventies it was still held that Singapore surpluses paid for the deficiencies of Pinang and Malacca, though the people of Pinang de- clined to subscribe to that theory, the difference of opinion resting mainly on the apportionment of military and civil charges paid by the colony as a whole.

From the smallness of the land revenue, it will be understood that no great progress had been made in the cultivation of the soil. This was mainly owing to the extraordinarily illiberal land policy of the East India Company and its officers. In Singapore, however, with the poorest soil, the greatest efforts had been made and the largest success achieved. That was only for a very short time. Partly owing to the fact that three successive crops practically exhausted the land, and partly because of a blight which destroyed the spice trees, cultivation on anything like an extensive scale came to a sudden end, and the Chinese, who had been engaged in this industry, passed across the narrow Strait which divided the island from the mainland of Johore. When Singapore was occupied, in 1 8 19, it had no permanent inhabitants, and there was not an acre of cultivation on the island. It was the same in Johore, and that place obtained its first cultivators from Singapore, and grew to prosperity simply by reason of its proximity to the English Settlement.

The reader will remember that Raffles made his first

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 85

treaty with the Temenggong of Johore (a high officer of the Sultan), who, for his own reasons, happened to be on the island when Raffles arrived. The treaty was signed by the Temenggong, on his own account and on behalf of the Sultan of Johore, his master. Raffles sent to Rhio for the rightful claimant to this title, acknowledged him as Sultan, and made a new treaty with both Sultan and Temeng- gong, agreeing to pay certain allowances to each of them. In the course of time both these Malays died, and while the Temenggong's son immediately succeeded his father and was recognized by the Indian Government, that authority declined to recognize as Sultan of Johore the son of the man whom their own officer had, with their full approval, invested with the title. It is not a nice story, and it has never been told, yet it is necessary for the pur- poses of this book to give it. The East India Company is dead, but it is impossible to observe, in regard to that body, the kindly injunction, de mortuis nil nisi bonum. We have seen how that Company behaved to the Sultan of Kedah, to Mr. Light, and to Sir Stamford Raffles ; their treatment of Tunku Ali was no better, though in his case there were local influences which helped to his destruction. The tale, if it were all told, is a long one ; so I will spare the reader the proof of every statement, the quotation of all the authorities, and give the facts as shortly as possible, merely remarking that they are the result of weeks of incessant work, searching for and examining long-forgotten documents in the archives of Government offices.

Colonel Butterworth was Governor of the Straits from 1843 to 1855, and during the latter part of his rule consider- able friction had arisen between the Temenggong Ibrahim and Tunku Ali, the son and heir of Sultan Husein of Johore. Colonel Butterworth went on leave to Australia in November, 1 851, returning in November, 1853, ^^^d during his absence Mr. Blundell, the Resident Councillor of Pinang, an officer with great local experience, officiated for him.

86 BRITISH MALAYA

It is necessary to remember that the Sultan Husein of Johore, and the Dato' Temenggong, were living in Singa- pore as pensioners of the East India Company, because, as Johore was quite uninhabited, they had only a few personal followers, no subjects, and no revenues.

Dato' Temenggong Abdulrahman died in 1825, and was immediately succeeded by his second son Ibrahim, though the office of Temenggong in a Malay State is not neces- sarily an hereditary office. Sultan Husein died in 1835, and, though his eldest son, Tunku Ali, repeatedly asked that the Government of Bengal should recognize him as Sultan of Johore, the request was ignored or refused ; but a pro- clamation was issued in 1840 recognizing him as his father's successor " in every respect." That concession was evidently counted as of no value, and though Tunku All's case seems to have been urged on the Government, they replied with a curt negative on the ground that there was no plea of expediency. The plea was one of justice, and involved nothing but the title to which Tunku Ali had an undisputed claim. When, however, the spice plantations of Singapore failed, between 1835 and 1840, and Chinese began to settle in Johore, then, for the first time, that State developed a present and prospective value as a re- venue-producing property, and it became a matter of con- siderable moment to whom the revenue should be paid. On 21 October, 1 846, Governor Butterworth wrote as follows to the Under-Secretary to the Government of Bengal : —

" I cannot ascertain that any revenue is or ever has been derived from the territory of Johore, either by the late or present Sultan and Temenggong, beyond a trifling duty on timber — which is irregularly collected by the latter chief — but the late emigration of the Chinese to the opposite coast has induced the opium farmer to enter into an agreement with the Temenggong to extend the farm to that Settlement on payment to him of $300 per mensem, as reported in my letter under date the 14 September last,

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 87

No. 138, which I think should be equally divided between the Temenggong and Sultan, and I will, if the Honourable the Deputy-Governor of Bengal approve of it, endeavour to carry this arrangement into effect.

" I have little doubt that I could bring the Temenggong and the Bendahara of Pahang to accede to the young Sultan's formal installation, but the ceremony consequent on such an event would cost a considerable sum of money for which Tunku AH would look to the Government, as also for the means of supporting the dignity of his new position which neither his outward bearing nor his intellectual capacity would enable him to do against the powerful influence of the Temenggong of Johore."

It is noticeable here that the Governor styles Tunku AH " the Sultan ", that he says the small revenue of Johore had hitherto been irregularly collected by the Temeng- gong, that the Governor thought the ;^8oo a year offered by the farmer should be equally divided between the Sultan and the Temenggong, and that the latter was a person with " powerful influence." This influence could only have been derived from Europeans.

At the same time, precisely 25 August, 1846, the Resi- dent Councillor of Singapore wrote to the Governor : —

" The Temenggong appears to exercise exclusive and supreme control over the dominions of Johore. This arises in consequence of Tunku AH not having been regularly installed and recognized as Sultan."

There was no plea of "expediency," nothing for the Com- pany to gain, by acknowledging Tunku AH as Sultan ; quite the contrary ; for it was pointed out that his pension or allowance amounted to $115 a month, about i5^300 a year, and that he would not be able to support his title, his family, and his followers on that income. Therefore the Company turned a deaf ear to the representations of its officers.

88 BRITISH MALAYA

In 1852 Mr, E. A. Blundell was officiating as Governor, and he appears to have gone very carefully into this ques- tion. On 20 July he wrote as follows to the Government of India : —

" I deem it my duty to request that you will lay before the most noble the Governor-General of India in Council the subject of our present relations with the Chiefs of the country of Johore, of which the island of Singapore was at one time a dependency. My object in so doing is to endeavour to obtain a final settlement of various con- flicting rights and claims, regarding which the present disputes are causing violent family quarrels, and seem to me to tend towards disruption and bloodshed in the State.

" 2. The first question calling for decision is the claim of Tunku Ali, son of the late Sultan of Johore, to be in- stalled as Sultan of that country. The two Princes (the Sultan and Temenggong of Johore) who signed the Treaty of 2 August, 1824, with Mr. J. Crawford, are both dead. The eldest son of the Sultan wa,s a minor at the time of the death of his father, while the eldest^ son of the Temenggong was, soon after his father's death, duly in- stalled in the office of Temenggong. In 1846 Tunku Ali, eldest surviving son of the Sultan, applied to be acknow- ledged and installed as Sultan, and his application was transmitted to Government by Colonel Butterworth, with a letter dated 21 October, 1846, to which the reply of 23 January, 1847, was to the effect that unless some political advantage could be shown to accrue from the mea- sure the Honourable the President in Council declined to adopt it.

" 3. I am not prepared to state that any political ad- vantage would accrue at the present time from acknow- ledging Tunku Ali as the Sultan of Johore, but I certainly think it impolitic to allow such an apparently clear and undisputed claim to remain any longer in abeyance.

^ It was the second son.

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 89

" The Malayan laws of hereditary succession are bur- ened with many restrictions and conflicting rights and interests of other parties, which render it in some measure elective. Certain high officers of the State must concur in acknowledging the claim of a successor, who of course finds it necessary to bind them to his interests by hand- some presents and promises for the future. Until the sanction and approval of these State officers be obtained, no claim to the ' Musnud' is, in theory, held valid, and the natural consequence is that, in all Malayan States, when the supreme authority is weakened, the hereditary succes- sion is attended with disputes and bloodshed. In the case of Johore, the succession to the Sultanship requires the sanction of the Temenggong and the Bendahara. Of these two great officers, the first, the Temenggong, is a pensioner, and is dependent on the British Government, being the son of him who signed the Treaty of 1824 with Mr. Crawford, and receiving an allowance of 1350 a month for himself and his father's family. It would appear that the Governorship of Johore, under the Sultan, is, or was, an hereditary appanage of the Temenggong, and in virtue of this, the present man, while residing wholly at Singa- pore, has administered the Government of Johore and possessed himself of the entire revenue of the country, preventing (and in some instances forcibly) the young Sultan from exercising any of the rights of sove- reignty. . . .

" 5. I cannot deny that it seems better for our interests that the rule over the country of Johore should remain, as at present, wholly in the hands of the Temenggong. Owing to the notice extended towards him by the Govern- ment of the Straits, and by the Mercantile community of Singapore, he has become comparatively civilized, and is undoubtedly superior to the young Sultan in the capacity to govern the country of Johore in subservience to British interests, but I am bound to state it as my

90 BRITISH MALAYA

opinion that if the same degree of notice had been extended towards Tunku All, both by the Government and the community of Singapore, that is, had he in his youth been taken by the hand, his vices discouraged and his good quaHties fostered, he would have proved himself as good a ruler, and as valuable an ally, as the Temeng- gong. As it is, I agree with the resident Councillor at Singapore, in thinking that much confusion and trouble may ensue from recognizing him as the Sultan, but still I am impressed with the injustice of disregarding the claims of the son of the Prince from whom we obtained the island of Singapore, simply because it is less trouble- some, and perhaps more advantageous to us, that the rule should continue in the hands of a subordinate officer. . . . I doubt not that, at the instance of the British Govern- ment, the two great officers will do immediately what is required of them without insisting on the receipt of the customary presents. . . .

"7. . . . It consists of a letter addressed to me by Tunku Ali which was transmitted to the Resident Coun- cillor at Singapore, whose reply embodies the objections that may be urged against the recognition of Tunku Ali as Sultan. These objections seem founded solely on expediency, but I think myself if the principle of Justice towards all parties be recognized and followed, the evils that may result from the change of policy will soon be overcome.

" 8. . . . But if the Governor-General of India in Council should be pleased to think that, in justice towards this young Prince, we are bound to see him so installed, the expression of such an opinion, on the part of the Supreme Government of India, will remove most of the difficulties.

"9. . . . The present Temenggong who administers the affairs of the country (Johore) and enjoys the whole revenue, lives at Singapore as a British subject. . . ."

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 91

Mr. Blundell's appeal to the Government of India's sense of justice met with an unfavourable reply, but he returned to the charge with a letter dated 14 January, 1853, and the following are the most important para- graphs : —

" I have communicated to Tunku Ali, the son of the late Sultan of Johore, the decision of the Government of India not to interfere in installing him in his father's place as Sultan. . . .

" Granting that the Sultan brought forward to sign the Treaty of 1824 was a nullity, and that the whole Govern- ment of the country rested with the Temenggong, still we recognized a Sultan of Johore and paid to him considerably more money than to the Temenggong. The consequence of this is that the son of the Sultan claims a higher posi- tion and superior power to the son of the Temenggong. This claim is recognized by many of the natives of the country ; there is natural veneration for the title of Sultan, and among the European community of Singapore, where the rights and claims of both parties are much discussed, I am inclined to think that the only point in favour of the Temenggong is that he has been longer known to the community, has become familiar with many, and has allowed his sons to acquire a taste for English habits, manners, and dress. The Temenggong, who for fifteen years since his installation has ruled the country of Johore and enjoyed all its revenues, lives in Singapore as a British subject. These revenues arise chiefly from the proximity of his country to Singapore and the conse- sequent extension to it of our peculiar Excise laws. . . . But it appears to me unjust that one family should enjoy all the pecuniary advantages of this safe and easy mode of Government to the exclusion of the family of the Sultan. ... I have therefore recommended to the Temeng- gong that, provided Tunku Ali will engage not to inter- fere at any time with the Government of the country, he

92 BRITISH MALAYA

should agree to clear the way for his installation as Sultan, and make over to him half the revenue of the country, cal- culating that half at %joo per mensem for three years, at the expiration of which a new calculation to be tnade.

" To this arrangement both parties have agreed. I have now the honour to solicit a confirmation of it on the part of the Government of India."

We may not be able to follow Mr. Blundell's reasoning in the course he recommended to Tunku Ali, and that is why we cannot but wonder that he could not find some plea of expediency with which to satisfy the Government of India when he realized that it was useless to harp on the string of justice.

There is a striking similarity between this case and that of the Sultan of Kedah.

To secure Pinang the Government's Agent might promise almost anything, but when the end was gained the Company saw no need to redeem the promises. To gain Singapore the Agent was authorized to recognize a Sultan of Johore, who alone could give the Company a good title to the land. As no one had imagination enough to suggest how there might be a " political advan- tage " in recognizing the succession of their own Sultan's son, they declined to adopt the proposal as a mere matter of justice. If the son suffered, and the Temenggong gained by their lop-sided view of the duties of a para- mount Power, it was not their concern, for they stated quite openly — to their officers — that they only interfered when they were satisfied that some advantage would result. But it is well to let the Government of India speak for itself. In a letter to Governor Blundell, dated 4 March, 1853, the Secretary to that Government writes: —

" In reply, I am directed to inform you that the Govern- ment of India has no concern with the relations between the Sultan and the Temenggong. When it wished to con-

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 93

dude a treaty for the cession of Singapore, in 1824, it recognized the Sultan and the Temenggong as joint rulers in Johore. It styled them ' their Highnesses the Sultan and Temenggong of Johore.' But neither then nor at any subsequent period did the Government of India seek to define what share of authority belonged to either, or what proportion of revenue should be enjoyed by either. ... If the arbitration in question should be proposed, and the Temenggong should be willing to purchase entire sovereignty by a sacrifice of revenue in favour of the Sultan, the Governor-General in Council conceives that the measure would be a beneficial one to all parties."

Of course the Government of India "did not seek to define what proportion of revenue should be enjoyed by either" because, in 1824, there was no revenue to enjoy. But if the Government of India regarded the Sultan and Temenggong as "joint rulers in Johore" — without making any proper inquiries into their relative positions — it was surely a misuse of language, to talk of the Temenggong purchasing entire sovereignty by a sacrifice of revenue in favour of the Sultan, when Mr. Blundell had written that the Sultan and Temenggong were willing to divide the revenues, on an estimate of receipts for three years, at the expiration of which a new calculation would be made. That arrangement, already agreed to by the parties, and recommended by Governor Blundell, was the one approved in this letter from the Government of India.

It is very important to remember this fact, because, before Mr. Blundell acted on the sanction conveyed to his proposal, Colonel Butterworth returned from leave and took over the Government. It is probable that there would have been delay, for Mr. Blundell passed a good deal of his time at Pinang, and as he was only officiating for the substantive holder of the Governorship, he may have decided that he ought to leave this question to Colonel Butterworth, who would so soon be back at his post.

94 BRITISH MALAYA

The letter from the Government of India was dated 4 March, 1853, but, for reasons given, it was not till 22 December, 1854, more than a year after his return to Singapore, that Colonel Butterworth dealt with it, in the following dispatch, written at Pinang : —

"2. The Sultan and Temenggong sought my interven- tion soon after I came back from the Colonies, but the former had become entangled with an European merchant at Singapore, the gentleman adverted to by Mr. Church as holding possession of the Royal Seal, and it was not till Tunku AH had freed himself that I consented to arbitrate between the two Chieftains, when I proposed the terms laid down in the concluding paragraph of your letter, under date 4 March, 1853, viz. that the Sultan should resign the whole territory of Johore to the Temenggong, on receiving the sum of five thousand dollars on the ratifi- cation of the agreement, and five hundred dollars per mensem in perpetuity.

" 3. The Sultan, under the influence of his friends, declined the terms proposed by me, and I left Singapore for this station ; but the case was very shortly opened by him, through the Resident Councillor, with his expressed determination to abide by my decision, at the same time, however, soliciting permission to keep possession of the Kesang-Muar, a small tract of country between the Kesang and Muar rivers, the former being the southern boundary of the Malacca territory, as shown in the accom- panying outline sketch.^

" The Resident Councillor earnestly urges this conces- sion to Tunku Ali, if I may so designate the desire of the Sultan to retain the above portion of Johore, in which I am led to believe some of his ancestors are buried. Then the Temenggong objected, evidently, however, without any intention of finally rejecting the proposition, for on

' The sketch map was taken from Moore's Eastern Archipe/a^o.

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 95

receiving my reply, forwarded under cover to the Resident Councillor, to the effect that I had no wish to coerce him in any way, he immediately sent in his concurrence to the heads of the treaty now submitted."

In a question of such importance, which has had such far-reaching effects, not only on the principals and their descendants, but throughout the Malay Peninsula, the less the historian indulges in speculation the better. The documents available are, however, sufficient evidence on which to form a dispassionate judgment. Governor Blundell made a certain recommendation to the Govern- ment of India, and he stated that both Sultan and Temenggong accepted his proposal. It is probable that Mr. Blundell, when in Singapore, had personally con- ducted the negotiations. The Government of India approved, adding that it was no concern of theirs if the Temenggong chose to sacrifice revenue in order to gain complete sovereignty. Then Governor Butterworth re- turned, and being told that Tunku AH was "entangled with an European merchant at Singapore," declined to arbitrate, in a matter which was already settled, and went to Pinang. It is certain that the further negotiations were carried on by the Resident Councillor of Singapore, Mr. T. Church, and he succeeded in putting an entirely different complexion on the terms of agreement ; so that we have Governor Butterworth addressing the Government of India, purporting to quote from that Government's dis- patch of 4 March, 1853, terms which were never written, or ever imagined, and suggesting that, as a favour, Tunku Ali, when installed as Sultan of Johore, should be allowed to retain a small district called Kesang-Muar, and receive $500 a month in perpetuity. That is to say, the Govern- ment of India having approved Governor Blundell's recommendation of $300 a month, for three years, and then a new calculation of the value of the Johore revenues. Governor Butterworth, acting on the advice of Mr. Church,

96 BRITISH MALAYA

settles the matter by giving $5000 down, $500 a month in perpetuity, and allowing the Sultan to retain the district of Muar, on the confines of Malacca, not because it would yield an income, but because it contained the graves of the Sultan's ancestors !

A writer may hesitate to characterize these proceedings in plain language, but the reader will have no difficulty in arriving at a correct conclusion. Mr. Church's in- fluence in the final arrangement may be gathered from the following extracts from two letters written by him to the secretary to the Governor. The first is dated 28 April, 1854:—

"4. Translations of the terms proposed by Tunku AH and the Temenggong respectively, I beg to enclose for the information of His Honour the Governor, under whose sanction I have acted.

" 5. For Tunku Ali to accept without modifications the conditions propounded by the Temenggong would be a voluntary relinquishment, for himself and heirs for ever, of all power and influence as a chief, a position not likely to be adopted in any part of the world.

" 7. The relative position of the Sultan and Temeng- gong of Johore will be found accurately described in Mr. Crawford's able letter dated the 3rd August, 1824, to the address of the Government of India. The words are : * I have viewed the Sultan as possessing the right of para- mount dominion, and the Temenggong as not only virtu- ally exercising the power of government, but being, like other Asiatic sovereigns, de facto, the real proprietor of the soil.' . . . and (he) appropriates the entire revenues to his own use ; it is questionable whether the latter pro- cedure is consistent with Malay usage with reference to the heir and other members of the Sultan's family."

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 97

As regards the quotation in this letter from Mr. Crawford, formerly Resident of Singapore, I venture to disagree with his definition, Mr. Crawford must have known that the Temenggong was not a sovereign, for had he been so, there was no need to send to Rhio for Tunku Husein, and recognize him as Sultan in order that the Company might have a sound title for their occupation of the island. Indeed, it is difficult, without a smile, to think of the Temenggong, with his handful of followers, eking out a precarious existence in the creeks of Singa- pore as "an Asiatic sovereign, virtually exercising the power of government." It is, however, a question which Mr. Crawford has himself decided, and though the state- ment in his letter of 3 August, 1824, has often been quoted as the last word of authority, no one seems to have noticed that in his Account of Siam, published in 1830, he writes : " It was with this individual and the inferior chief already named, that a treaty for the cession of the island was concluded in August, 1824." The individual was Sultan Husein, and the inferior chief the Temenggong Abdulrahman.

Enclosed in the Resident's letter of 28 April, 1854, were the new proposals of Tunku Ali and the Temeng- gong Ibrahim, put forward in the course of their later negotiations with Mr. Church. Tunku All's proposals were these : —

1. " Inche Wan Ibrahim [that is, the Temenggong] must, in the first instance, recognize us and also assist in the installation of me as Sultan, together with the other chiefs, whenever we may be pleased to require it

2. " Inche Wan Ibrahim will govern a portion of Johore Empire, of which the limits will be hereafter defined, and to hold such government as a Minister under the authority of the Sultan of Johore.

3. " The revenues of the province placed under the authority of Inche Wan Ibrahim are to be divided in such

98 BRITISH MALAYA

a manner as may be considered equitable and proper, a deduction being made for the expenses of collection and other charges.

4. "The seal and chap of Inche Wan Ibrahim to be hereafter of the customary form and size which has been adopted by those of his rank and prescribed by Malay usage.

5. "When the terms are agreed to, Inche Wan Ibrahim is to pay to us the sum of $io,cxxD.

6. "The treaty of the 19th November, 1824,1 is in no way to be infringed by the present arrangement.

" Written at Kampong Glam on Saturday, 22 April, 1854."

The terms submitted by the Temenggong on 3 April, 1854, were as follows : —

1. " Dato Temenggong Sri Maharaja, at present re- siding at Teluk Blanga, Singapore, with his heirs and successors, to be recognized as the rightful rulers of Johore and Dependencies for ever, and that Tunku Ali, his heirs, successors, and relations, are not to interfere in the govern- ment of the country.

2. " Tunku Ali, his heirs and successors to be recog- nized as Sultan of Johore under an agreement to be drawn up, the Sultan and his relations engaging at the same time never to rule at Johore, or reside there, without previously informing the Temenggong of such intention.

3. " A stipulated amount of the revenues of Johore to be fixed in perpetuity to be paid by the Temenggong to Tunku Ali in accordance with an agreement drawn up last year."

The agreement drawn up last year was no doubt the one referred to by Governor Blundell as having been accepted by both parties.

^ A mistake for 3 August, 1824.

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 99

On 16 November, 1854, Mr. Church wrote to the Governor's secretary : —

"... The request made by Tunku AH to retain Muar (to be bounded by the Kesang and Muar rivers) is by no means unreasonable ; indeed, for the Temenggong to refuse to concede the point would have the appearance of avarice and a disposition to take advantage of and add to the humiliation, of Tunku Ali and his brothers. . . . The Temenggong has doubtless much reluctance there should be a semblance of a compliance with the demands of Tunku Ali."

Apparently there was not to be any compliance with the demands of Tunku Ali in regard to the only points which mattered, the government and the apportionment of the revenues of Johore. As to the reluctance of the Temeng- gong, it may be gathered from this letter to Governor Butterworth, dated 13 December, 1854.

" We have to acquaint our friend, with regard to Tunku All's request made to our friend. The left side of Sungei Muar, going up, will be Tunku Ali's according to the arrangement between our son Abubakar and Mr. Church, the Resident Councillor, wt^/i this arrangement we are much pleased. . . . Moreover we wish this matter to be settled under the auspices of our friend and to be finally terminated with our friend. . . . We have every hope for the settlement of this question."

About the same date, on 18 December, 1854, Tunku Ali wrote to Mr. Church : —

" We make known to our friend that, respecting our affairs with the Temenggong, we have desired our brother Tunku Jaffar to confer with our friend. Whatever he has mentioned to our friend and the terms and conditions arranged between him and our friend we will now accept. If our friend's further assistance cannot be obtained in

lOO BRITISH MALAYA

respect to our former letter, we have no other resource but to follow. Moreover, we have hitherto written with our seal duly affixed ; in this instance there is no seal. This matters not, for our seal is displeased. We make this explanation that our friend may not take it amiss."

The "reluctance" seems to have been on the part of Tunku All, who gained the empty title of Sultan of Johore, which was his by right, and lost all material advantage except ;^iooo down, an allowance of $500 a month, and the graves of his ancestors.

Governor Butterworth's letter to the Government of India, dated 22 December, 1854, was written directly after the above papers reached him in Pinang, and he reported later that the Treaty, between the Sultan and the Temeng- gong was concluded on 10 March, 1855. By that Treaty Tunku Ali, then, for the first time, twenty years after his father's death, was publicly acknowledged to be Sultan of Johore, on condition that he renounced all claim to the Government and revenues of that State. The Temeng- gong came into full possession of these advantages, and he undertook to pay to Sultan Ali, and his heirs and suc- cessors, $500 a month for ever, and to allow him to retain the district of Muar. It is said that, when the moment came for Sultan Ali to affix his seal to the Treaty, the seal — or chdp^ as Malays call it — was so " displeased," that it was only put upon the document under considerable pressure.

To avoid a further reference to an unpleasant subject, it may be mentioned here that the annual revenues of Johore have amounted to over a million dollars for some years, and they are now, probably, about $1,200,000, or, say, i^ 1 40,000. Sultan Ali is dead, and his son would still be in receipt of $500 a month from Johore (originally about £\200 a year), but the district of Muar has also passed away from him and his family to the Temenggong's succes- sors. When that further transfer took place, about twenty

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 loi

years ago, the allowance was, by the efforts of Governor Sir William Robinson, raised to $1250 a month, divided amongst the late Sultan's family. Lastly, it must be noted that, though the second condition in the terms sub- mitted by the Temenggong on 3 April, 1854, was " Tunku Ali, his heirs and successors to be recognized as Sultan of Johore" the son and heir of Sultan Ali was never more than Tunku Alam, while the son and heir of the Temeng- gong became the " Sultan of the State and Territory of Johore," and that is the title held by his grandson, the present Sultan. The grandson of Sultan Ali is to-day Tunku Mahmud. If Sultan Ali sold his birthright, in 1855, to secure the recognition of his title by the Govern- ment of India, he made a poor bargain. The Government of India loftily disclaimed any concern with the relations between the Sultan and the Temenggong ; however in- different that plea, it is one to which neither the local nor the British Government can lay any claim in their subse- quent proceedings.

In the year 1863 there was formed, in Singapore, the nucleus of a company, with a capital of only about ;^30,ooo, to construct wharves, docks, and warehouses on the shore of what was then known as New Harbour, but has since been very properly renamed Keppel Harbour, in honour of the late Admiral Sir Harry Keppel, G.C.B., who first sailed a ship through it. This small company, whose capital had to be considerably increased in 1865, built the famous Tanjong Pagar Docks, which are so much a part of the modern existence of Singapore — as a great coaling and refitting station and port of call for all vessels engaged in the Far Eastern trade — that the local Government decided, last year, to expropriate the proprietors, take over all the works and business, and spend a very large sum of money in providing further and better accommoda- tion of all kinds. Apart from other considerations, the development of railway enterprise in the Malay States

I02 BRITISH MALAYA

made this step very advisable ; for it is highly probable that in the near future the interests of the dock, as a private concern, would not be identical with the interests of the railways, which are Government property. It is clearly of great moment that both the docks and the rail- ways should be worked in the best interests of the colony and Malay States, rather than for private ends.

In 1857 the European population of the Straits began to agitate for severance from Indian control, and the grant of a separate and independent Government under the Crown. They petitioned the Houses of Parliament in a long statement of grievances which may be briefly sum- marized thus : That the Straits were too far from India for that Government to understand, and rapidly deal with, their wants ; that since the Indian Government had lost their monopoly of trade with China, they took very little interest in the Straits, and refused to consider the reason- able wishes of those most nearly concerned ; that the Straits were made a dumping-ground for Indian convicts of the worst type, and were over-burdened by troops, with an outrageous proportion of field officers, while the de- pendency was made to pay for both troops and convicts ; that as there was no Council of any kind, the community was not represented ; and, finally, that the Indian Govern- ment and its officers had altogether neglected the cultiva- tion of good relations with the neighbouring Malay States, so that while the Dutch, the French, and the Spaniards had seized almost every seizable place in the neighbour- hood, British interests had suffered and British influence had waned. The petition was duly presented in both Houses, was debated and shelved ; but the Times, in an article on the subject, wrote : —

" The true idea of the Settlement, Colony, or by what- ever name it may be called, is as the centre and citadel of British power in the Eastern Seas, and the great house of call between Great Britain and China."

THE STRAITS FROM 1825-67 103

That statement is quoted because that "idea" was really the root of the whole matter, and it was not to be expected that a supreme authority in Calcutta would either realize the position, or exert itself to see that the Straits gener- ally, and Singapore especially, fulfilled their manifest destiny. The Times realized in 1857 what English states- men will not admit even now — that Singapore is an imperial station ; though it was the insistence of people at the other end of the world, and not the foresight of the home authorities, which brought it into being.

After six years of ceaseless agitation. Sir Hercules Robinson was sent to the Straits to report whether they could afford to pay for the luxury of transfer to the Colonial Office, and then, after another decent interval of four years, the three settlements became, from i April, 1867, a Crown Colony.

CHAPTER VI

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73

SIR HARRY ORD'S ADMINISTRATION

ANARCHY IN THE MALAY STATES

THE first Governor selected by the Colonial Office to undertake the somewhat difficult task of introducing the colonial system into a group of settlements saturated with the tradi- tions of Indian methods of administration was Colonel Harry St. George Ord, C.B.,of the Corps of Royal Engineers. It is perhaps not very surprising that Colonel Ord, who came from the West Coast of Africa, made an indifferent impression on the white population of this Far Eastern Government, and his unpopularity continued as long as he held the office. He was regarded as masterful and overbearing; extravagant in his ideas of what constituted a suitable Government House and Governor's yacht, and he neither sought the advice of the community, nor showed himself much inclined to accept it when tendered without invitation. He brought with him the usual Crown Colony Constitution, which comprised an Execu- tive and Legislative Council, and in the latter the un- official element was usually in opposition to the Governor. On the other hand. Governor Ord was a man of strong character and ability ; he came to a dependency which had always been a burden on Indian finances, and he made it pay its way, and left it with a very respectable credit balance.

104

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 105

The returns of Revenue and Expenditure, and the Value of Trade, in what we may henceforth call the Straits Colony, have already been given for the year 1835-6, and the progress of the settlements, up to the date of the transfer, may be gathered from the figures on the next page, far as they are from being complete.

Having regard to these figures,^ and the fact that the Government of India asserted, that the annual cost of maintaining a military garrison in the Straits amounted to ;i^300,cx)0, to which the dependency was only able to contribute ;^63,ooo, it is not surprising that no great objec- tion was raised to the transfer of the Settlements to the control of the Colonial Office. This was more especially the case since Calcutta had lost interest in a place which had been acquired mainly for trading purposes. As India itself was to pass to the Crown, and be governed on new lines, it was no doubt decided that the India Office would have enough to do, without the additional responsibility of these small and distant Settlements.

Lord Canning, the Governor-General of India at the time when the agitation for transfer first began, expressed his views in an able minute in which he broadly stated the case for India and for the Straits. He wrote : —

" It must not be overlooked that the revenues of the Settlements have been steadily increasing, and that while the receipts have risen from 873,692 rupees, in 1854-55, to i>323,368 in 1858-59 (being an increase of 51 per cent in four years), the disbursements for civil charges, not includ- ing the cost of the foreign convicts, have in the same in- terval risen from 722,107 rupees to 821,913, being an increase of 14 per cent only. As there is no reason why the civil charges of the Settlements should be further in- creased, it may be anticipated that, if peace should happily

^ Kindly supplied by the India Office. The expenditure figures do not include the military charges, nor, perhaps, the cost of the Indian convict establishment.

00

Expendi- Value Revenue. ture. of Trade.

not available.

0

r~

10

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THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 107

be maintained between England and the great European Powers, the revenues of the Straits Settlements will, in no very long time, equal their full charges, Military as well as Civil. But even if it prove otherwise, and if it should be necessary for England to make some sacrifice in this respect, I hold a clear opinion that it ought to be made in justice alike to the Settlements and to India."

Lord Canning evidently held the clear opinion that neither India nor the Straits should be charged for the cost of a garrison which, when once the Straits had passed from Indian to Imperial control, would cease to be an Indian concern, and could not rightly be regarded as a colonial liability; for the Imperial, and not the Colonial, Government would decide what the constitution of the garrison should be, and where drawn from. If there is any truth in the saying, " Who pays the piper shall call the tune," it would follow that, who calls the tune shall pay the piper. Lord Canning held other views, equally excellent, which probably were not endorsed by the mem- bers of the Indian Civil Service. He expressed them in a later passage of the same minute, and they apply to-day to officers whose experience has been gained in African or Mediterranean colonies, as well as they did, in 1859, to officers with Indian training transferred for service in British Malaya. This is the passage : —

" But whether the main system of Government be altered or not, that under which officers are provided for service in the Straits is, so far as civil administration is concerned, a positive evil, which ought in any case to be remedied. Indian officers have no opportunities of ac- quiring experience of the habits or the language of either Malays or Chinese, and accordingly, when officers are sent to the Straits, they have everything to learn. The Government of India is unable to keep a close watch upon their efficiency ; the field is so narrow as to afford

io8 BRITISH MALAYA

little or no room to the Governor of the Settlements for exercising a power of selection in recommending to a vacant office ; and there is consequently so complete an absence of stimulus to exertion that it may well be doubted whether Indian Civil officers sent to the Straits ever become thoroughly well qualified for, or heartily interested in the duties they have to discharge. The character of the Chinese, the most important and at times a very unmanageable part of the population of the Straits Settlements, is quite different from that of any people with whom Indian officers have to deal. ... I am satis- fied that if the Straits Settlements are to remain under the control of the Indian Government, it will be abso- lutely necessary to devise a plan by which the persons employed in administering the Civil Government shall receive a special training ; and that without this the Indian Government cannot do justice to these Settle- ments."

It is curious how applicable these words of Lord Canning were to Colonel, afterwards Sir Harry, Ord ; for the real mistakes he made were due to ignorance of Malay customs and affairs. It might be difficult to say how far Sir Harry Ord was responsible for the policy by which England abandoned all her interests in Sumatra, and ignored her treaty responsibilities to the Sultan and people of Achin, in return for Dutch concessions, of doubtful advantage, on the West Coast of Africa. It is, however, certain that Sir Harry Ord used all his influence to have this arrangement carried out, with the result that we were immediately saddled with the Ashanti expedi- tion, which cost a good many lives and ;i^900,ooo ; while the Dutch entered, light-heartedly, into an attack on Achin which, after thirty-three years of fighting and enormous sacrifices in blood and treasure, is not con- cluded yet. This fact is worth remembering, in view of the attitude of the Dutch towards this country during the

^^" -"^-

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 109

recent war in South Africa, when the two main charges against England were, that she had, without provocation, attacked an inoffensive people, in order to possess their country and deprive them of independence ; and, secondly^ that it was a disgrace to British arms that the struggle should have lasted so long as it did. The last that has been heard of Dutch military operations in Achin was the slaughter of many hundreds of women and children, and the explanation given was that they were thrust to the front by the men, who sheltered themselves behind them, and, in any case, that the women were as desperate fighters as the men. If the last statement be true, it is a very significant testimony to the state of feeling of the Achinese, that their women should join the ranks and die, with their children, in hundreds, under the bullets of an enemy. It would probably be difficult to find a parallel ^ in all Malay history.

* Whilst this book was still in the press, a parallel to the incident referred to above has been supplied by a Dutch writer to the Times. I have never heard of tribal suicide as a Malay custom, and individual suicide is extremely rare. In any case, we may be thankful that the sacrifice described in the letter, here reprinted, did not take place in any Malay country under British influence.

"TRIBAL SUICIDE."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE "TIMES."

Sir, — May I by your courtesy be admitted to the hospitality of your columns to refute a statement I see in the Press ?

In consequence of the wording of a Reuter telegram, it is alleged that the Netherland troops in Bali (not Achin, that is 1700 miles away from Bali) slaughtered about 400 people, among them a majority of women and children.

The death of so many human beings is sad enough, without the imputation of cruelty against the Netherlands soldiers. What happened is this.

All students of Malay and Hindu history know that one of the most horrid customs in those countries is the "poopootan," what I should like to call the tribal suicide.

A Bali prince, with the instincts of his warrior race, declines to surrender, but prefers death, and he with all his people seek death. The Prince of Badoeng did this. He turned a deaf ear to all suggestion of a settlement,

no BRITISH MALAYA

This is not the place to discuss the acquisition of the Dutch Station on the West Coast of Africa. It may have been worth the Ashanti War and all that stands for; but it can be confidently asserted that the Gold Coast Colony, with its fatal climate and other drawbacks, would not compare in value with the position we held in Sumatra, if we had taken advantage of it, as Raffles intended that we should. Simply weighing the balance of advantages, they are with Sumatra, and the Dutch would not have been ready to make the exchange had they not felt convinced that they were getting the best of the bargain.

Both the Dutch and the British have paid dearly for the results of an arrangement in which those most nearly concerned were not consulted. But, apart from questions of gain, the Achinese were under the impression that we had treaty relations with them which did not admit of our withdrawal without cause and without notice. When they found themselves involved with the Dutch, the Sultan of Achin earnestly appealed to the Government of her late Majesty, but without avail. Even supposing that no question of prospective advantage was considered in making the exchange of rights (for we could not, perhaps, foresee that it meant a war between Holland and Achin, any more than the Dutch foresaw that we should be involved in a war with Ashanti), still, if the arrangement had not been made, the people of Northern Sumatra would have been spared thirty-three years of somewhat savage war- but he and all connected with him, men, women, and children, committed suicide.

Nearly the same thing happened in 1895 in Lombok, a neighbouring island. The old King had surrendered, but one of his sons, a cripple, walked out with all his relations, dressed in gorgeous garments, bedecked with all their jewelry, and with their swords and lances attacked the Dutch army, only to find the death they courted. Those who were not killed in the fight were afterwards found to have also killed themselves. I am. Sir, your obedient servant,

C. Thieme, London Correspondent of the

De Nieuwe Courant (The Hague). National Liberal Club, Sept. 25.

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 iii

fare, during which many innocent people must have suffered terrible hardships, though the tale of them does not reach the outer world. Sumatra is, unquestionably, one of the richest territories in the East, and Raffles' object was to secure for Great Britain the keys of the Straits of Malacca; Achin in the north, and Singapore in the south. It looks rather like the irony of fate, that the first Colonial Governor of Singapore should have devoted much of his time, and all his influence, to undo part of the work of the Founder of Singapore. His action is curious for another reason. Pinang was, in 1867, always had been since its early days, and is still, the principal market for the trade of Northern Sumatra. During the early years of Sir Harry Ord's administration there were several complaints from Pinang of native vessels from that Settlement being detained in the ports of Northern Sumatra, and even, in some cases, pirated by the subjects of Achin or the neigh- bouring States. Governor Ord remonstrated with the Sumatran chiefs, without great effect, and he may have thought that he would be relieved of trouble, and the Pinang traders of loss, if the Dutch authority was para- mount in Sumatra. If so, he was prepared to make great sacrifices for small cause, and it cannot be forgotten that the first British station was established, at Bencoolen, as long ago as 1684, and the various agents of the East India Company, who resided there, never had any particular trouble with the Sumatran Chiefs.

One of the grievances made by the Straits people, in their petition for severance from Indian control, was that Raffles' principal injunction, to cultivate friendship with all neighbouring Malay States, in Sumatra, the Peninsula, and the Archipelago, and to advance British interests by friendly intercourse, had been entirely neglected. Governor Ord was no doubt aware of that complaint, and, having secured a Government yacht, he made periodical visits to the Malay States on the east coast of the Peninsula, to

112 BRITISH MALAYA

Kedah on the west, and he even travelled as far as Siam and Java, the latter in connexion with those Sumatran affairs already alluded to. He does not appear to have made the acquaintance of the Sultans of Perak or Selangor till near the end of his term of office, but he befriended and took a very great interest in the Temenggong Abubakar of Johore a State, which by this time, had con- siderably developed, owing to the agricultural enterprise of wealthy Chinese in Singapore, who owned large and flourishing plantations in Johore, where they cultivated the pepper vine, and a shrub ca.\\ed gamdir, from the leaves of which is extracted a valuable dye.

In the history of the Straits, few things are more remark- able than the gradual loss of interest in, and knowledge of, the neighbouring Malay countries. We have seen that research into everything Malay was the guiding force of Raffles' life ; to know the people, their language, customs, and literature, were his greatest interest and delight ; in fact, his whole official career was divided between this study of the Malay and the determination to gain for his country a share of that trade and influence which every day was becoming more of a Dutch monopoly. Raffles' example seems to have stirred a good many other con- temporaries to similar pursuits, and men like Marsden, Crawford, Logan, and Braddell studied and wrote upon a great number of subjects affecting their immediate neigh- bourhood, and countries as far afield as Borneo, Siam, China, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Australia. This admirable enthusiasm continued till i860, by which time nearly all the leading contributors to what may be called the English literature of Malaya had disappeared from the Straits. Mr. Braddell alone remained, and was in the Straits during the whole of Sir Harry Ord's administration ; but his duties as Attorney-General occupied all his time, and left none for further research into those subjects to which he had formerly given his leisure.

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 113

In the first years of the colony's history, from 1867 to 1874, it is almost inconceivable how little was actually known of the independent Malay States in the Malay Peninsula. It would not be too much to say that in the colony there was probably not a European, and very few Malays, who could have given correctly the names of all the States in the Peninsula, from Singapore to the southern boundary of Siam. Similarly, no one could have stated, with approximate correctness, how all the States should be placed on a map, nor what were the real titles of their rulers. What was understood was that, in many of the States, there was going on some kind of domestic struggle between rival claimants to power who, from time to time, as they could raise funds or gain credit, sent to the colony for arms and ammunition to carry on a warfare which claimed comparatively few victims, and in which the for- tunes of the combatants varied with bewildering rapidity. Meanwhile the country was being depopulated more by emigration and disease than by the numbers slain, and only very rash people were so foolish as to thrust their heads into such a hornets' nest, in spite of wonderful tales of its mineral riches. Indeed, when some of those who had unwisely made advances of money or material to Malays and Chinese within the zone of disturbance, ap- pealed to the Government to assist them to recover their debts or their property, they were met with the reply : —

" If persons, knowing the risks they run, 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 tha British Government to be answerable if their speculation proves unsuccessful."

Johore, at this time, was tranquil ; indeed, it was only sparsely peopled, and it was too close to Singapore for the making of trouble. As already stated, Governor Ord took a great personal interest in the Temenggong, and he

114 BRITISH MALAYA

advised him on all important matters of administration, making it understood that the advice was to be followed, as indeed it was, almost invariably. Before Sir Harry Ord had been twelve months in the Colony the Temeng- gong wrote to him a letter suggesting that, as the inferior title of Temenggong was altogether inapplicable to the Sovereign Ruler of Johore, it should be abandoned. The Governor forwarded the request, with a strong recommen- dation that it should be granted, and on 20 May, 1868, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos replied : —

"... In reply, I have to instruct you to inform His Highness that Her Majesty's Government have much pleasure in acceding to his wishes that the title of Maha- raja of Johore should be adopted in the place of that of Tumongong, and you will consider yourself therefore at liberty to use that title in future."

The title "Maharaja" is common in India, but unknown as applied to Malay rulers.

A reference to the map will show that there are on the west coast of the Peninsula, between Kedah in the north and Johore in the south, three Malay States, namely Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sambilan, which means the nine States. The boundaries of these States have been altered since they came under British protection ; a tract of country called the Bindings, seventy miles south of Pinang, has become British territory, and a coast district, called Lukut, formerly under Selangor, is now a part of Negri Sambilan. These three states, counting the Negri Sambilan as a whole, had for years been given up to in- ternal strife, and it will be necessary to explain the causes of the various quarrels.

The outside world knew and cared very little about it, and if the combatants had confined their attentions to their own countries and refrained from molesting British subjects, it is quite possible that they might have killed each other to the last man without our interference.

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 115

Letters imploring assistance, and offers to hand over their States to the Company or the British Government, had been made at intervals ever since the occupation of Pinang. The former had been disregarded and the latter politely declined, partly because no one urged that any special advantage was to be gained by undertaking such responsibilities, partly because people in authority were always afraid of offending some other power, and partly because it was recognized that any such proposal would be declined by the home Government. Towards the end of Sir Harry Ord's administration, the disturbances in both Perak and Selangor began to affect persons and in- terests outside those States. In 1871 the piracy of a British trading boat by Chinese and Selangor Malays was reported, and when the Senior Naval Officer, in H.M.S. Rinaldo, went to the scene, and an endeavour was made to arrest persons identified as having taken part in the outrage, a struggle ensued, the Government vessels were fired upon by forts at the mouth of the Selangor River, and these forts were destroyed by the Rinaldo. Sir Harry Ord was then in England on leave of absence, but he returned to his post in 1872, and finding the state of affairs in Selangor as bad as could be imagined, he endeavoured to use his influence to secure a cessation of hostilities. In this, however, he failed. In Perak matters were even worse, though the trouble was not of such long standing. There was a Malay quarrel about the succession to the sultanship, and a continuing fight, with very heavy losses on both sides, between two factions of Chinese, who were struggling for the possession of valuable tin mines. Both sides had friends amongst the Chinese in Pinang ; these tried to furnish them with the sinews of war, and Pinang was invaded by two thousand wounded and starving people who had escaped from Larut, the district of Perak where the most serious fighting was taking place.

Ii6 BRITISH MALAYA

This was the condition of affairs in the end of 1872, and in the following months, up to the time when Sir Harry Ord's term of office expired, in the autumn of 1873, it grew much worse.

It is difficult, without wearying the reader, to give a comprehensive sketch of the causes which produced such a situation that the British Government reluctantly consented to authorize a new departure, and, forsaking the policy of rigid abstention, to make trial of some method by which peace and order might be introduced into the affairs of these unruly Malays, without committing the local or Imperial Government to any serious responsibility. The difficulty cannot be avoided ; for the principal aim of this narrative is to show the nature of the Malay case which British officers were set to deal with, how they handled it, and the result.

Perak is a large State, covering about eight thousand square miles of territory. Its back is towards a great range of hills, some of them eight thousand feet high, running down the centre of the Peninsula, whilst it faces the Straits of Malacca, with a coast line about eighty miles in length. Speaking very roughly, the northern boundary of Perak marches with Province Wellesley and Kedah, while the southern boundary is a considerable river, the Bernam, dividing the territories of Perak from the adjoining State, Selangor.

It will be understood that Perak and the other western States are drained by many large and small rivers, rising, for the most part, in the main range of mountains, and flowing, westward, into the waters of the Malacca Straits. Similarly the eastern States are drained by rivers, rising in the same mountain range, but flowing eastward into the China Sea. The principal river of Perak is a very fine stream, navigable to boats for about two hundred miles ; it bears the same name as the country, and it falls into the Straits of Malacca just south of the

LOOKING OVER THE MINKS IN I.ARUT

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 n/

Bindings territory. On this river and its tributaries live by far the largest proportion of the Malay inhabitants of the country. The river is deep and tidal, and for the first thirty miles of its length from the sea is navigable for steamers. The country on either side is flat, swampy, and low, and the shore of the State, except the Bindings, is lined con- tinuously with a broad belt of mangroves. At the time of which I am now writing, 1872-3, there were few Malays in this lower country ; but there were, dotted along the coast, villages of Chinese fishermen over whom no one exercised any particular control. Above that first thirty miles of the Perak River the water ran clear as crystal over its sandy bed, and it was for the most part very shallow, with deep pools at unexpected places. For the next hundred and fifty miles the width of the stream varied from about seven hundred yards to seven hundred feet or less ; it was dotted with islands, some of fair size, and, while the lower reaches were often bounded, on one side or the other, by long stretches of russet sand, the further the river was ascended, the higher became the banks, till they maintained a uniform height of about twenty feet from the ordinary level of the water. Throughout the whole of this river- length were villages, large and small, usually divided from each other by several miles of heavy forest, and each village was the residence of an important chief, or under his control. Fifty miles from the sea the conformation of the country changed ; small isolated hills were seen close to the river, while the spurs of ranges, rising to two thou- sand or three thousand feet, ran down to the water's edge. A hundred and fifty miles from its mouth the river forced its way through a succession of gorges and the navigation was difficult, on account of the numerous rapids. In the upper country, however, the villages were far apart and the population scanty. To the north of this great valley of the Perak River was a district called Larut, drained by an insignificant stream. North of that again was the Krian

ii8 BRITISH MALAYA

district, which marched with Province Wellesley and Kedah. In Krian there were a few agriculturists, and on the coast a few fishermen. Inland was a sub-district called Salama, where some tin mines were being worked, partly by Chinese and partly by Malays.

Larut was the great tin-mining district of Perak. It contained a population of about twenty thousand Chinese and two or three thousand Malays. The mines lay at the foot of a great range of jungle-covered hills (rising, in their highest point, to over five thousand feet), and were distant from the navigable estuary of the Larut River about ten miles, with another ten miles to the open sea. Speaking broadly, there were two groups of mines (all open-surface workings), about two miles apart, worked respectively by the Go Kuans (the five tribes) and the Si Kuans (the four tribes). In the whole of Perak, at this time, there was only one road, about twelve miles long, passing from the Si Kuan mines, through the Go Kuan village, down to the landing-place on the river estuary. From the middle of this road there was a branch of six miles to the village and residence of the Malay chief of the Larut district. This man was styled the Mantri, and he was one of the four high officers of State.

On the southern side of the Perak Valley there were three districts. First, Kinta, drained by a river of that name, which joined the Perak River some forty miles above the mouth of the latter stream. Kinta was well popu- lated by Malays, and had a few rich tin mines, some of which were worked by Chinese. Then came a district called Batang Padang, with a stream which also joined the Perak River a few miles below the Kuala Kinta, meaning the mouth of the Kinta River. There were very few inhabitants in the Batang Padang district, and fewer still in Bernam, which comprised a huge stretch of virgin forest on the left bank of a great river of the same name, the boundary between Perak and Selangor.

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 119

Will the reader try to realize the general appearance of this country before I tell him the nature of its rule, the condition of its people ? I can no longer refer him to the authority of others. All that follows was the result of my own observation, often of my very bitter experience ; and when I write of events in which I did not personally take a part I had, I believe, the best means of knowing what actually took place.

Here, then, was Perak, a " limitless expanse " of jungle ; miles upon miles of forest, broken only by silver streaks, where one might, from a very high place, catch glimpses of some river. A few patches of lighter green showed where there were, or more probably had been, clearings. Excluding the single district of Larut, there was not a yard of road in the country, and hardly a decent house ; there was not even a bridle path, only jungle tracks made by wild beasts and used by charcoal-burners and a few pedestrians. The commerce of the country was by the rivers ; they were the highways, and the people would not leave them, unless they were compelled to do so. The country folk moved about but little, for they knew the difficulties too well. A boat journey of a hundred miles down river would take a week, and back again a month or more. When people of consideration had to journey by land, they travelled on elephants, if they could get them, and cut their way through the jungle. Pedestrians had to foot it as best they might ; over the roots, through the thorns, wading or swimming rivers and streams, ploughing through miles of bog and mud in the heat and rain, stung by everything that stings (their name is legion), and usually spending two or three nights in the jungle with any kind of shelter that a chopper and the forest could supply. As for food, the traveller or his people carried it, and even in villages it was practically impossible to buy anything except an old hen. The Malay villages, always on the bank of a stream, were composed of palm-thatched

I20 BRITISH MALAYA

wooden huts raised above the ground. These huts were scattered about, without the smallest attempt at regularity, in orchards of palm and fruit trees, no attempt being made to clear the undergrowth of weeds and bushes.

There would be a mosque — perhaps two, if the village was large — and behind it, in a swamp, there were usually some rice fields. The people lived on what they could catch in the river or the swamp, on the fruit of their orchards, on such vegetables as would grow without tend- ing ; poultry and goats were a luxury. In the neighbour- hood of mines it was a little better, because it was possible there to sell what they had to Chinese. But there again was a drawback, for, like vultures to a carcase, all robbers, thieves, and murderers collected round the mines ready to despoil, by every means, any one who possessed anything worth taking. If there was a complaint (poor people knew better than to make one), and the parties were hailed before some chief or raja, or swash-buckler with a few determined followers, the result usually was that everybody concerned returned poorer than he went.

For authority and justice there ought to have been a Sultan, the seventeenth of his line, for Perak is a State which prides itself upon the antiquity and completeness of its rules and customs ; but, then, so do Pahang and Kedah, though it is certain that, in Perak, there has survived the most perfect organization of State officers, each with well- defined duties ; only, in 1872, the duties were ignored and the titles were simply used as a cover for the exercise of a large authority. As for Sultans there were three, and that was the root of the whole matter. Not even an indepen- dent Malay State can put up with three masters without a good many tears.

There was little fault to be found with the constitution of Perak ; the trouble was with the holders of office, the disappointed, the unruly, and the foreign freelances, who found the place exactly to their taste ; while the poor

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 121

groaned and sufifered, and there was no one to listen to their exceeding bitter cry. Ancient custom provided that the State should be ruled by a Sultan — if possible, the eldest legitimate son of a previous Sultan, and he was supported by two dignitaries, also of royal birth, the Raja Muda and the Raja Bendahara. The former of these was supposed to be the head of all those of Raja birth, and the latter was the Sultan's Wazir, his Prime Minister. There was another post, of no great import- ance, with the title of Raja di Hilir, that is, the Raja of the lower, or down-stream, country, and this office was, or ought always to have been, held by the eldest son of the reigning Sultan. The office of Raja Bendahara was held by the eldest son of the last Sultan, and that of Raja Muda by the eldest son of the Sultan before him. So, when a Sultan died, he was succeeded by the Raja Muda, and the Raja Bendahara and Raja di Hilir each moved up a step, the son of the new Sultan being in due time ap- pointed Raja di Hilir. By this means the country was always supposed to secure in its Sultan a man of con- siderable experience, who had held three high offices, who knew the State, its people, its customs, and its needs, and who, if he failed during the period of probation to prove his worth (in other words, if he turned out an irreclaim- able scoundrel), would be passed over and left in the stage at which he had arrived. Should that occur, as it some- times did, the son of the rejected did not necessarily suffer for the sins of his father, but might, in his turn, be ap- pointed Raja di Hilir, when his ultimate destiny would be in his own hands.

Under the Sultan and his two royal props — as Malays call them — were four great chiefs, of whom the Mantri (with Larut as his charge) was one, the Sri Adika Raja, or Chief of the Upper Country, another, and the Temeng- gong the last. Under these, again, were eight chiefs, at the head of whom was the Maharaja Lela (of whom there

122 BRITISH MALAYA

is more to tell later on), the Laksamana (the Admiral), the Shahandar (Port Officer), the Dato' Sagor, and others. Last of all were sixteen minor chiefs, with sufficiently high-sounding titles and real duties, if they had ever per- formed them. Besides all these, there were Court officials, priests, village head-men, and so on.

To come from the abstract to the concrete. It hap- pened that when the last Sultan but one, Sultan Jafar by name, died, and was succeeded by Sultan Ali, a certain Raja Yusuf, son of a previous Sultan, was passed over; his junior, Raja Abdullah, was created Raja Muda, and a foreigner, a man called Raja Ismail, whose mother only belonged to the Perak royal family, was created Raja Ben- dahara. It was said that Raja Yusuf was passed over on account of his unpopularity, and I can believe it, for I knew him very well. He retired to his own village in high dudgeon ; but as he could get no support there was nothing to be done. Then Sultan Ali died, and this time Raja Abdullah was passed over, and the foreigner, Ismail, was created Sultan by a certain number of chiefs, of whom the Mantri was the leader. The excuse given in this case was that Abdullah neglected to attend the burial of Sultan Ali, and as it was the custom that a dead Sultan could not be buried until his successor had been appointed, the chiefs present acknowledged Ismail. They also said that, when his wife was carried off by a Selangor Raja, Abdullah had neglected the opportunity offered him of revenging himself on the abductor and bringing his wife back again. As to the first plea, it is unsound ; for it had not been the invariable custom in Perak to install the successor before burying a deceased Sultan, and Abdullah had excuse for his non-attendance. The second plea was not publicly advanced.

The real reason why Ismail was acknowledged by a number of up-country chiefs (many of whom had just received, or been promised, office) was that the Mantri

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 123

willed it so. The Mantri, as already stated, was the chief of the Larut district, and owing to the extent of the tin- mining industry in that province, he was far the richest and most powerful individual in Perak. The Mantri himself was not a pure Malay ; he was partly Indian, and the Indian blood gave him a shrewdness and business capacity foreign to Malays. He, no doubt, calculated that if he could get his friend Ismail, a foreigner and an old man, elected Sultan, there was no special reason why he might not, in the fullness of time, step into his friend's shoes. The Mantri was a travelled person, with a house in Pinang, and he may have drawn his inspiration from observation of passing events outside Perak. In any case Ismail received a certain amount of acknowledgment, though Abdullah had a fair following in his own country, down-stream.

As may be supposed, Abdullah was beside himself with fury, but as he was not a very bold man, and did not possess sufficient resources to make a fight of it, he caused himself to be acknowledged Sultan by his own party, and at the same time made overtures to Raja Yusuf, the dis- carded, and appointed him Raja Muda. In doing this he, no doubt, thought that he would secure a fighter for his side (though Yusuf had neither means nor followers), and Abdullah sent him to Larut with a handful of men to support those who were in opposition to the Mantri. Then Abdullah wrote to the Governor of the Straits, stating what had happened, asking to be recognized as Sultan, and also requesting that a British officer might be sent to him to teach him the art of administration.

Whilst all this was going on, affairs in Larut had got into a desperate state. The rival factions of Chinese had quarrelled about the mines — some said about a woman. The cause is of no particular importance, but the result was a pitched battle, and three thousand men were said to have been killed in a single day. The villages and

124 BRITISH MALAYA

every isolated house had been burnt down, almost every mine had stopped work, and the combatants had stock- aded themselves in what they considered the most advan- tageous positions. The Mantri and his distant village were left unmolested, and, as his influence and authority were not sufficient to re-establish order, he espoused the cause of one side, the Go Kuans, and gave them all the assistance that he could. The Si Kuans had seized and stockaded positions between the Go Kuans and the sea, but as the Mantri owned two small steamers and was the recognized authority in Larut, he kept his friends supplied with food and arms, and attempted to starve the other side into submission. Amongst these miners were many criminals, pirates, and desperadoes from the South of China, and steps were at once taken to increase their number. The Si Kuans were probably the best fighters, and their friends in Pinang did all they could to help them. They sent Chinese junks, loaded with arms and food, to out-of-the-way places on the coast, and tried to get the supplies forwarded by creeks, rivers, and overland. All this was, of course, done secretly, but, in spite of such assistance as they could get, the Si Kuans were driven to the most desperate straits, suffered terribly, and took to piracy to relieve their necessities. As far as fighting went they would not give in, and their opponents had not the courage to attack them in their stockades and make an end.

Hoping to settle matters, the Mantri had bought some Krupp guns and engaged the services of Captain T. C. Speedy, of Abyssinian fame, to recruit a number of Indian warriors (mostly Punjabis, Afghans, and Sikhs), and they were in a stockade on the branch road, about four hundred yards from a Si Kuan stockade built at the junction of the roads.

There had been several naval engagements off the coast of Larut, between rival fleets of junks, and many

r.REAT CAVES AT BATU, SELANGOR

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 125

lives had been lost. The Si Kuans established a fort in the jungle, on the Larut River, and from this vantage ground they commanded the river, attacked all boats, and fired on the Mantri's steamers. As months went by, and this lamentable state of affairs continued, the Si Kuans fitted out a number of long and fast fishing-boats, which, with guns and fighting platforms, fore and aft, and double- banked oars, were used to prey upon all native craft navigating the Straits of Malacca in the immediate vicinity of the coast of Perak. No one was safe, all classes and nationalities were treated alike, and almost daily came in reports of vessels pirated and burnt, the crews murdered, and the cargoes stolen. A real panic was established, and not without cause. For months one or two of H.M.'s gunboats had patrolled the coast of Perak ; but, as these vessels could not approach the shore, owing to the immense mud banks which stretch far out to sea, manned and armed boats were sent away, for days and nights together, in search of the pirates. The duty was an excessively trying one, the men being exposed, without the smallest protection, to the terrible heat of the sun all day, with very often deluges of tropical rain all night. I tried it for three weeks, so I know what it was like. It was impossible to land, for the coast was nothing but mangroves and mud, with here and there a fishing village, inhabited, no doubt, by pirates or their friends, but with nothing to prove their complicity. These man- grove flats were traversed in every direction, by deep- water lagoons, and whenever the pirates were sighted, as not infrequently happened, and chase was given, their faster boats pulled away from their pursuers with the greatest ease, and in a few minutes the pirates would be lost in a maze of water-ways, with nothing to indicate which turn they had taken. The whole business became somewhat ludicrous when native craft were pirated (usually by night) under the eyes of the British crews,

126 BRITISH MALAYA

and when their boats got up to the scene of action there was not a trace to show what had occurred, or where the pirates had gone. Finally the boats of H.M.S. Midge were attacked in the estuary of the Larut River, and after a longish engagement the pirates were beaten off, having seriously wounded two British officers. The net result of these excursions was, that about fifty per cent of the crews of the gun-vessels were invalided, and not a single pirate boat or man had been captured ; but the Si Kuan stockade in the Larut River and several junks had been destroyed. It will be understood that honest people did not frequent either the land or the waters of Larut at this time, and, if necessity drove them that way, they went warily and, for their own sakes, shot at sight.

Not content with their exploits in Larut and the Straits of Malacca, the Si Kuans attacked British police stations at the Bindings and in Province Wellesley, and they, or their emissaries, blew up by night the Mantri's house in Pinang, hoping to rid themselves of the man who had taken the part of their enemies.

Now turn to Selangor. Whilst the Perak disturbances and quarrels had only been active for a few years, those of Selangor had been in progress for at least a generation. There had been intervals of comparative quiet, but the normal state of Selangor was robbery, battle, and murder. The people of the place rather prided themselves on their reputation, and the conditions of life had made all men fighters, while even the women would sometimes use deadly weapons under the spur of jealousy. As for the country it was divided into six districts, each drained by a river of the same name ; they were, from north to south, Bernam, Upper and Lower Selangor, Klang, Upper and Lower Langat, Lukut, and Sungei Raia. Except in Lukut and Sungei Raia, the rivers were all considerable, tidal in their lower reaches, where they were navigable to small steamers, and, above that, to cargo boats. Every river on

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 127

this coast, with one exception, has a shallow water bar; the exception is the Klang River, the mouth of which is protected by two long islands. As to the general appear- ance of the place, it was similar to Perak, but the low country was more extensive, there being but few ranges of low hills, while the distance from the sea to the foot of the main range was about forty miles, throughout the length of the State. The coast line of Selangor extended to a distance of about 140 miles until Lukut and Sungei Raia passed to the Negri Sambilan by a rectification of boundary.

Bernam was practically uninhabited, except for one small village on the Bernam River, some twenty-five miles from the sea. On the left bank of the Selangor River, by its mouth, was an old Dutch fort, on an isolated hill. At the foot of this hill, up river, and also on the right bank, were a few cocoanut plantations and rice fields with a scattered population of Malays. Seven miles up the Klang River there was a small town, guarded by a fort on a low hill. The town possessed a few streets, or roads, and one respectable house. On the coast were a few Chinese fishing villages, and the Sultan and his people lived in a miser-able swamp by the Langat River, while the Raja of Lukut had a dilapidated house in his own district. Up-country there were some tin mines (worked mainly by Chinese) at wide intervals along the foot hills of the main range, but, at a place called Kuala Lumpor, on the Klang River about seventy-five miles from its mouth, was a Chinese town, with two streets, and a con- siderable number of shops and houses, built of adobe and thatched with palm leaves. From this centre, Kuala Lumpor (now the principal town in the Malay States, and the head-quarters of the Government), there were a few miles of rough, unmetalled, cart-track, running north and south, to other smaller mining camps. For the rest there was unbroken forest and a very sparse population.

128 BRITISH MALAYA

Selangor had a Sultan, but practically no constitution. The Sultan was a very old man and quite a curiosity in his way. He was supposed to have killed ninety-nine men with his own hand, and did not deny the imputation. He had secured his position by violence, ousting a Raja with a better hereditary claim, and he had held the office for about thirty years by his uncompromising reputation. This was rather strange for, in 1872, he was living in retirement in a mud swamp on the bank of a melancholy tidal stream, and his manners were as mild as those of a missionary. He was then over sixty years of age, a small, spare, wizened man, with a kindly smile, fond of a good story, and with a strong sense of humour. His amuse- ments were gardening (in which he sometimes showed remarkable energy), hoarding money and tin, of which he was supposed to have a very large store buried under his house, and smoking opium to excess. He was not a rigid Muhammadan, for he was fond of snipe, and, as I lived in a Malay hovel in the swamp quite close by, I used to shoot snipe for him in the season, and all the Sultan asked was whether I had said '■'■ Bismtllah'' as I pulled the trigger. If I had, they were haldl, and he could eat them. I re- joice to think that, in spite of the difficulties of his position, he lived to the age of ninety-three — gardening and hoard- ing and smoking opium to the last — and died mourned, not only by his own people, but by all who knew him.

In the distressful times to which we must return, the Sultan of Selangor reminded one of Old Mother Hubbard. He not only had a large family (mainly grown-up sons), but they were singularly unruly, not to say wicked. Then there was a host of male relatives and connexions, also grown up, and the difficulty of finding employment and incomes for these aspirants to place and position was so great that, when they took to quarrelling, as they seem to have done at a very early age (or they perpetuated some older quarrel of their ancestors), the Sultan probably

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 129

decided that his own real tastes were agricultural. It was unfortunate that his example found no imitators ; for in all the Peninsula there was not a spot where life was so uncertain as in that mud swamp. It must have been the atmosphere of Selangor, as much as its ancient and evil reputation, which made all men fighters ; even the Chinese, first, no doubt, for their own protection, and after- wards for the excitement of the game, were almost as keen as the Malays. The one considerable body of Chinese lived in and around Kuala Lumpor, and as they were the only workers in the country, and their single means of communication with a market was by the Klang River, they had made friends with three Rajas (the sons of the Chief of Lukut), who held the village and forts of Klang. These brothers were driven from their position by three famous warriors, Raja Mahdi, Raja Mahmud, and Seyyid Mashhur, whose names were, to the western Malay States, what that of the Black Douglas was once to Scotland.

Just at this time the brother of the Sultan of Kedah married a very comely and intelligent daughter of the Sultan of Selangor, and as a marriage of this kind entails a long residence at the home of the bride, the Kedah Raja thought he could improve it by introducing order into the disordered household of his father-in-law. He therefore persuaded the latter to appoint him Viceroy of Selangor. That was all very well, and there the Sultan washed his hands of the business and returned to his garden ; but while the discomfited brothers were quite ready to acknowledge the new Viceroy, the other party laughed at him, took all the tin which came down the Klang River, and sent their friends to attack the Chinese at the mines. The Viceroy had supporters in the colony, both Europeans and Chinese, and, with their money and the countenance of the Straits Government, he succeeded in retaking Klang and relieving Kuala Lumpor. The

I30 BRITISH MALAYA

curious thing was that each party in turn and each in- dividual leader made periodical visits to the old Sultan, complained bitterly of the other side, and asked for tin or money, arms and ammunition. To all comers, from what- ever quarter, the Sultan seemed always to signify his approval, and, with strict impartiality, made gifts of some sort. All the combatants, therefore, declared that they were acting with the sanction and authority of the Sultan. Long afterwards I asked the Sultan what it meant, and His Highness explained, with a smile, that when people came and bothered him with long statements, to save dis- cussion and get rid of them quickly he said, " Benar, benar," which means " Right, right " ; but, he added, " I mean right from their point of view, not mine."

The fact that one or other party held this or that posi- tion was of no importance. Driven from Klang, the famous three retired to the Selangor River ; checked at Kuala Lumpor, they withdrew deeper into the forest, the better to make another spring. So the "war " waged back- wards and forwards, and just as the Mantri, in Larut, hired Indian mercenaries to fight for him, so the Viceroy of Selangor collected a cosmopolitan band of Europeans and Easterns, and sent them to hold the mines. Very few of them ever returned, for they were attacked and broke, followed false guides and were cut off in detail, or died miserably in the forest. About that time I paid my first visit to Kuala Lumpor ; it was a pleasure trip, not an official duty. I had a companion, and it took us three days and nights, poling up river, to reach Kuala Lumpor. On our return, after twelve hours' walking, miles of it up to our waists in jungle swamps, we reached a point on the Klang River where we got a boat to take us back to Klang. That was the jungle where the " foreign legion " was lost, and as they were all strangers it was not sur- prising.

The Chinese, under a very able captain, had their own

THE STRAITS FROM 1867-73 131

way of doing their part of the fighting. Standing before an open shed in the market-place of Kuala Lumpor, and pointing to a kind of table, the Captain said to me, " That is where I pay for the heads of the enemy ; every head brought in and placed on that table is worth $100, and sometimes it has been as much as I could do to count the money fast enough."

After borrowing and spending a great deal of money ; after months and years of struggle, with ever-varying for- tune, the Viceroy found himself deeply indebted, and no nearer success. As a last resource, he asked the Benda- hara of Pahang to help him, and that potentate, when the request was backed by Governor Ord, agreed to send three thousand men over the dividing range, to take the Vice- roy's opponents in rear. This move was generally success- ful, but it introduced into unhappy Selangor a new element of trouble.

Of the Negri Sambilan it is not necessary to say much. Behind Malacca, and between Selangor, on the north, and Johore, on the south, were nine little States, named Sungei Ujong,Rembau,Joh61,Jelebu, Jempol, Gemencheh,Sri Men- anti, Gunong Pasir or Inas, and Ulu Muar. In former times these places were a part of the ancient kingdom of Johore, but so long ago as 1773, owing to their peculiar customs and the trouble they gave, they were placed under the general control of a Raja from Menangkabau, in Sumatra, with the title Yang di Pertuan, the domestic government of each little State remaining with a local chief Several of the States were fertile and well cultivated, Rembau alone had ten thousand Malay inhabitants and Sungei Ujong was rich in tin. As all these places were inland, the inhabitants could only get to the Straits of Malacca by the Linggi River in the north, or the Muar River in the south. The Linggi River is the northern boundary of Malacca, and about five miles from its mouth divides into two branches, the northern branch draining Sungei Ujong,

132 BRITISH MALAYA

and the southern Rembau. The command of this water- way was everything to Sungei Ujong and Rembau, and there was constant fighting for its possession. During these periods both sides built stockades on the banks of the river, and levied toll on all passers-by, Malacca traders being the principal sufferers. By 1872 the nine States had drifted apart and had not even a nominal head ; there were two claimants to the post of Yang di Pertuan (the succession being, by Menangkabau custom, through the female line), and neither had influence enough to get himself recognized. In Sungei Ujong there were two chiefs, the Dato' Klana, or land chief, and the Dato' Bandar, the water chief. They were supposed to have equal authority over different divisions of the State, but the Klana, being a Seyyid, was trying to assume control over the Bandar, who refused to admit his pretensions. None of these circumstances made for peace and order ; and if it be added that a change in the holder of the chief office in each little State almost invariably resulted in a struggle amongst the claimants to the succession, some idea may be gathered of the conditions of life in the Negri Sambilan.

So when Sir Harry Ord left the colony, in 1873, there was not only the promise of trouble, it had arrived, in over full measure ; and in the brief period which elapsed between his departure in October, 1873, and the arrival of his successor, the plot so thickened that it might truly be said the western States of the Peninsula, from Perak to the borders of Johore, were given up to native warfare, with all the evils and miseries that follow in its train. At the same time, the Straits of Malacca were the scene of daily piracies, and all trade by means of native craft was paralyzed.

CHAPTER VII

THE MALAY: HIS CUSTOMS, PREJUDICES, ARTS, LANGUAGE, AND LITERATURE

IT will probably be most convenient to the reader if I now tell him something of the people whose country I have tried in general terms to describe. The Malay of Malacca, Pinang, and Singapore is a different being to the Malay of the Peninsula, of Perak, or Pahang, or any of the States that were independent in 1873, and it is to the latter that I propose to refer.

When Sir Harry Ord left the Straits to make way for his successor, Sir Andrew Clarke, there was not in exist- ence, so far as I am aware, any published account of the people of the Peninsula ; certainly no one in the neigh- bourhood was then in a position to give one, and what follows is the result of years of observation, made under circumstances of close intimacy with every class of Malay society. To acquire this information at first hand, it is necessary to speak, read, and write the language, to sym- pathize with the people — for without sympathy you can- not win the confidence of a shy and reserved race — to live in their houses, join in their festivities, be allowed to listen to their prayers, to attend the rites of marriage and of burial. The searcher after knowledge must journey with them by land, and river, and sea ; he must take the field with them, join in their sports, listen to their gossip, their complaints, their stories, tend them in sickness, help them when in difficulty, share their sorrows and their joys,

133

134 BRITISH MALAYA

respect their prejudices, be kind to their superstitions, and always treat them with consideration. If he does this, and exercises a great patience, he will gain his end, and the end is worth the effort. Only he must be able to make or seize the opportunities without which he cannot reach the innermost heart of the people.

The Malay is a brown man, rather short of stature, thickset and strong, capable of great endurance. His features, as a rule, are open and pleasant : he smiles on the man who greets him as an equal. His hair is black, abundant, and straight. His nose is inclined to be rather flat and wide at the nostrils, his mouth to be large ; the pupils of his eyes are dark and brilliant, while the whites have a bluish tinge ; his cheek bones are usually rather marked, his chin square, and his teeth, in youth, exceed- ingly white. He is well and cleanly made, stands firmly on his feet, and is deft in the use of weapons, in the cast- ing of a net, the handling of a paddle, and the manage- ment of a boat ; as a rule, he is an expert swimmer and diver. His courage is as good as most men's, and there is about him an absence of servility, which is unusual in the East. On the other hand, he is inclined to swagger, especially with strangers.

His dress is a loose jacket, loose trousers, and a sarong — a kind of tartan skirt fastened round the waist and reaching to the knee. This garment has many uses : it serves as a bathing or a sleeping dress ; fastened over one shoulder and under the other arm a man can carry all his luggage in it ; slung on two sticks it forms a very good litter. On his head a Malay commonly wears a coloured kerchief, and he knows how to tie it so that it shall be becoming. All these articles of clothing are made of cotton, of silk, of a mixture of the two, or of silk and gold thread, according to the means of the wearer and the circumstances under which they are worn.

In 1874 practically all Malays went about bare-foot,

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for shoes were useless in a roadless country. Nowadays they display a pretty taste in brown, or black, or patent leather, while the humble wear white canvas shoes, or a native pattern of sandal. In 1874 every Malay had as many weapons as he could carry : say, two daggers in his belt, two spears in his hand, a gun over his shoulder, and a long sword under his arm. The boys were usually con- tent with two or three weapons. Now, the men carry umbrellas, and the boys slates and books.

The umbrella, especially if made of yellow silk or cotton, is used as a royal emblem, and it is probable that both the umbrella and the idea that yellow is the royal colour were imported from China. According to Malay history, at least two Malay Sultans married Chinese prin- cesses. In some of the States of the Peninsula and of Sumatra both black and white are royal colours.

The Malay child wears no clothes and does as it pleases. When the parents are well-to-do there are always several people running about to attend to the child's wishes. I never saw a Malay child slapped, and they never seem to cry unless they are ill. They eat when they are hungry, and sleep when they feel inclined. The useful sarong, slung between two posts of a room, makes an excellent cradle or hammock. From about eight or ten years of age the boy is taught to read and write, and learns the Koran. Of course he cannot understand the Koran, because it is in Arabic ; but if he is a child of the upper class he has to read it through, and it will save his face and delight the ears and hearts of his parents if he can accept the challenge to take his turn when the book is read in the house after the first evening prayer.

Once out of the thraldom of the gurUy the teacher, the boy of 1874 ran wild and did a deal of mischief, much of which was regarded as a proper exhibition of spirit. If the son of a poor man, he had then to work — to help his father plant rice, fish in the river, tend goats, or collect

136 BRITISH MALAYA

jungle produce. The young Rajas and other gilded youths took to top -spinning, cock-fighting, gambling, opiunn-smoking love-making, and some of them to rob- bery, quarrelling, and murder.

A course of that kind of life might end abruptly, but more frequently it lasted long enough to induce a certain ennui as regards some of the pursuits. Marriage was inevitable, and was always supposed to make for reforma- tion, but the reform was seldom more than transitory. Then there would perhaps come some kind of office, which, of course, meant an opportunity for licensed oppression, and, if that proved lucrative, the man with advancing years would develop into a miser, with some simple and inexpensive vice like the smoking of opium.

The leading characteristic of the Malay of every class is a disinclination to work. Nature has done so much for him that he is never really cold and never starves. He must have rice, but the smallest exertion will give it to him ; and if he will not grow it, he can buy it for very little. Land had no value in the Malay States in 1874, and it was the custom for any one to settle where he pleased on unoccupied and unclaimed land, and leave it when he felt inclined. As a rule there would be a family cottage on a bit of land planted with palms and fruit trees, with an acre or two of rice land hard by. When the men of the family grew up and married, they would each in turn establish themselves near or far, while the old people and the girls remained in the original house till all the children were married or the parents died, or, more commonly, brought up grandchildren to inherit the usufruct of the land and occupy the house. No one was ever turned off the land, because it had no value, but sometimes a chief would lay claim to a productive orchard or a nicely-placed rice field, and the poor would find it impossible to resist the claim. All internal taxation was irregular, and the land was practically free. No culti-

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THE MALAY 137

vator had any title, but chiefs of districts and others with official positions — some, indeed, without — possessed written documents investing them with extraordinary powers over large and ill-defined areas. These documents were granted by the Sultan, but it was well recognized that they could be revoked or confirmed by his successor. It was, however, an accepted custom of the country that certain high offices, such as those held by the four and the eight chiefs in Perak, carried with them control over districts, or divisions of districts, and within those areas the chief claimed and exercised the powers of a land- lord.

Less than one month's fitful exertion in twelve, a fish basket in the river or in a swamp, an hour with a casting net in the evening, would supply a man with food. A little more than this and he would have something to sell. Probably that accounts for the Malay's inherent laziness ; that and a climate which inclines the body to ease and rest, the mind to dreamy contemplation rather than to strenuous and persistent toil. It is, however, extremely probable that the Malay's disinclination to exert himself is also due to the fact that, in the course of many genera- tions, many hundreds of years, he has learned that when he did set his mind and his body moving, and so ac- quired money or valuables, these possessions immedi- ately attracted the attention of those who felt that they could make a better use of them than the owner. The Malay is a philosopher and a fatalist, and he would reason that, if the world is made like that, it is useless to kick against the pricks. The practical lesson conveyed to him was that when a Chinese passed that way, it would only be thoughtful to relieve the infidel of anything of value which he might have about him, and if the man with the pigtail resisted — well, that was on his own head.

Whilst the Malay has no stomach for really hard and continuous work, either of the brain or the hands, if you

138 BRITISH MALAYA

let him take his own time he can produce most beautiful and artistic things. Perhaps I ought to say he has pro- duced, for, except in very rare instances, he does it no longer ; but I am convinced that if he were given the conditions which appeal to him, he would rise again to the height of his past achievements. Working in the precious metals, in gold and silver, in a mixed metal of gold and copper called sudsa, and in a combination of silver, gold, and enamel, Malays have made vessels and ornaments and jewellery as beautiful in form, as original in design, and almost as perfect in workmanship, as any- thing of a similar kind to be found in the East. All this work was done under conditions which no longer prevail in the western States ; it was done under a feudal system, where the workman and his family lived under the protec- tion and at the expense of his chief, with no anxiety as to his own needs, and no pressure to hurry on the work. He was supplied with the metals, the tools, everything he wanted, and a capable worker was held in high esteem. In the courtyards of successive Sultans and chiefs, the goldsmiths, the blacksmiths, and the carvers in wood and ivory produced exquisite specimens of their various handicrafts, and some of these may still be seen. In silver they made beautiful bowls and dishes in every size, boxes of quaint shape and attractive decoration, and vessels of every kind in use by the people. In gold there were gem-studded boxes to carry the folded sirek, scent-bottles which suggest early Greek work, chains and earrings, combs and brooches, hairpins, pillow ends, belt buckles, and the handles and sheaths of daggers. The most original and artistic work of all is called chiitam ox Jddam, and it was made originally in the Province of Ligor, which was conquered and absorbed by the Siamese many years ago. This chiltarn consists of a silver vessel on which a conventional pattern is hammered ; a thin sheet of gold is then overlaid and hammered into the pattern

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The depressions are filled with black enamel, the surface is polished, and a pattern is engraved with a sharp tool on that part of the gold which is exposed. Sometimes the gold is omitted altogether, and the product then resembles niello. The hinges and fastenings of the metal boxes are often both ingenious and decorative, and no two pieces of Malay metal work are ever exactly alike. The Malay silversmith appears to have carried on his trade throughout the Malay Peninsula, the Archipelago, and in Java and Sumatra. A little is still done in Treng- ganu, in Pahang, and in some of the islands under Dutch control.

The smiths were notably makers of spears, krises, all sorts of daggers, a very well-balanced and highly-tempered chopper of various patterns, spurs for fighting cocks, and a curious kind of scissor used for slicing the betel nut. All these were made in Perak, and some of them in most of the other States. Celebes, Sambaua, Java, Palembang, Achin, Petani, Rembau, and Trengganu were all noted for the manufacture of spears and daggers, while the best choppers were made in Perak and Kedah. Some of the wood-carving is excellent, and the best now found in the Peninsula is done in the Nine States, where it was, no doubt, introduced from Sumatra. In Perak, as well as in Pahang and the other East Coast States, the Malays make rough, unglazed pottery of good shapes, orna- mented with conventional patterns cut into the clay before it is fired.

Whatever the cause, the Malay of the Peninsula was, and is, unquestionably opposed to steady continuous work. And yet, if you can only give him an interest in the job, he will perform prodigies ; he will strive, and endure, and be cheerful and courageous with the best. Take him on the war-path or any kind of chase, or even on some prosaic expedition which involves travel by river, or sea, or jungle, something therefore which has a risk ;

I40 BRITISH MALAYA

then the Malay is thoroughly awake, and you will wish for no better servant, no more pleasant or cheery companion. Perhaps it is these qualities which, a hundred years ago, made him such a dreaded pirate, a life to which he was driven by the unpardonable proceedings of early European navigators and adventurers, especially the Portuguese and the Dutch.

The Malay is loyal, for loyalty is part of his creed. He is hospitable, generous, extravagant, a gambler, a cox- comb. He is of fair and quick intelligence, a ready imitator, good at most games and likes to excel, but more inclined to admire the greater skill of a rival than to be jealous of it. He is reserved with strangers, cordial and sympathetic to his friends ; he has a strong sense of humour, and makes an excellent companion, equally ready to talk or be silent. As a casual acquaintance he is politely uncommunicative ; he will ask a few questions: but seldom give direct answers. Once you have gained his confidence he will probably make no concealments, taking a pleasure in telling you all he can. If he knows you well, he will be almost sure to borrow money from you, and he will seldom find it possible to repay the debt ; but he will hold himself ready to undertake any service on your behalf, and you will probably realize in time that the obligation is rather on your side.

Privacy, as we understand it, is unknown in Malaya ; therefore, secrets which mean life and death and dis- honour are never confined to one or two people ; but it is to the credit of the race that the stranger will find it almost impossible to get from the poorest any information which they believe they are bound in loyalty not to dis- close. That is a highly honoured tradition on which their Rajas and chiefs rely with great confidence. The raiat will only speak when his Raja, or some one whom he regards in the same light, tells him to do so.

As a race Malays are guided more by their hearts than

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their heads. They will accept advice, follow a man to death, or go there at his bidding, not because he convinces them that it is the more excellent way, but simply because they like him. They will do the behest of a Raja or a chief because that also is part of the tradition of loyalty, the injunction of the men of old time ; the responsibility is his, but they are willing to obey him blindly, expecting that he will support them in the day of trouble, and pre- pared to suffer if that be necessary. To do otherwise would be drahka, treason, and the punishment for that crime is death and disgrace.

There was, in 1874, a very broad line indeed between the ruling classes in Malaya and the raiats, the people. The people had no initiative whatever ; they were there to do what their chiefs told them — no more, no less. They never thought whether anything was right or wrong, advantageous to them personally or otherwise ; it was simply, " What is the Raja's order ? " Wherever the Raja was recognized his order ran ; the only exception would be where some local chief defied or disputed the authority of the Raja and told the people that they were only to take orders from him. Such a case would happen but seldom.

By nature and education the Malay is singularly con- servative, and thirty years ago he held to customs and traditions with many of which Europeans could not easily sympathize. There was the practice of debt-slavery, a custom loathed by those who had to bear the burden of this iniquitous bondage, but upheld as a cherished privi- lege by the class which was benefited. And here it is necessary to emphasize the width and depth of the gulf which divided the governing from the working classes. The terms do not well fit the conditions of Malay society, for some of those who owned debt slaves did not pretend to authority in the affairs of the State, and from a European standpoint there were but few Malay labourers. At the time of which I am now writing there was not a wealthy

142 BRITISH MALAYA

Malay in the western States, for the Mantri, of Perak, who once had money, had spent it all in vain efforts to overcome the Si Kuans, and he was deeply indebted to Pinang Chinese, from whom he had borrowed funds to meet his necessities. But Perak was full of dnak Raja, men and women, boys and girls, who bore the title of Raja, by direct descent from an ancestor of Raja birth. All these people claimed that the State must provide for them, and that claim was generally recognized. As there was no Civil List, no Treasury, no regular collection of revenue, and, above all, no accounting for what was raised in the name of taxation, the members of this Raja class endeavoured to satisfy their wants either by the holding of some office which enabled them to impose taxation on the people of a district, a village, a river ; or they were given the right of collecting a particular tax in a particular place ; or they were granted a block of mining land, and they arranged with Chinese and Malay miners for a cer- tain percentage of all the tin and gold which came out of it ; or they were given authority over a tract of territory, and squeezed as much as they could out of those who inhabited it. Rajas holding high office usually maintained scores of relatives and hangers-on who, in return for this support, held themselves at the disposal of the master for any service he chose to command. It was the same with the chiefs, their families, and their retainers, and as no one had a hired servant or ever paid wages, it followed that all menial work was done by debt slaves and by a very few real slaves, either aborigines caught for that purpose or Africans who had been purchased. The Muhammadan law does not recognize that a Muhammadan can be a slave, though there was, practically, no difference between slavery and debt-slavery. It had, therefore, come to be recognized that it was the right of Rajas and chiefs to order and the duty of the people to obey. This rule had a practical observance whenever the Sultan, or any Raja

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or chief of sufficient authority, wanted labour for any public or private work — such as the clearing of a river, the building of a mosque or house, the manning of boats for a journey — for then all the men within reach were sum- moned, through the village head-men, to come and under- take this forced labour, for which no payment was ever made, and though the labourers were supposed to be fed as long as the work lasted, that was not always done.

It might be imagined that, under these circumstances, the Malay would welcome any change, but strange to say that was not the case, and centuries of Malay mis-govern- ment has produced a race which looked with suspicion upon every innovation, opposed it on principle, and only became reconciled to alteration when the feeblest intelli- gence was compelled to admit that there was no harm in it. Indeed, some voluntarily contracted debts when they knew perfectly that it would lead to bondage ; and when the whole system of debt-slavery was abolished, a certain number of the manumitted received the news of their freedom with regret, and hardly knew what to do with their new-found liberty.

It may seem curious that, living under such conditions, the ordinary Malay man should be extraordinarily sensi- tive in regard to any real or fancied affront, and yet that was, and is, characteristic of the people. I have already discussed this frame of mind, at some length, in another book,^ and will only say here that, when the Malay feels that a slight or insult has been put upon him which, for any reason, he cannot resent, he broods over his trouble till, in a fit of madness, he suddenly seizes a weapon and strikes out blindly at every one he sees — man, woman, or child — often beginning with those of his own family. This is the amok, the furious attack in which the madman hopes to find death and an end to his intolerable feeling of injury and dishonour. There can be little doubt that, except

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144 BRITISH MALAYA

in rare instances, those who are suddenly seized by this fury to destroy are homicidal maniacs, and a straw in the current of life gives the suggestion which alone was needed to impel them on their career of destruction.

The Malay has been a Muhammadan since the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah of Malacca, who flourished in 1276, and made his kingdom the third greatest in the Archipelago — Majapahit, in Java, being the first, and Pasi, in Sumatra, the second. It is unlikely that the Malay has ever been a religious bigot, it is not in his nature; and though he is a professing Muhammadan and ready to die for a faith which he only dimly understands, he has never entirely abandoned the superstitions of his earlier days. The origin of the Malay race is still a matter of doubt, but there are good reasons for believing that Malays are the descendants of people who crossed from the south of India to Sumatra, mixed with a people already inhabiting that island, and gradually spread themselves over the central and most fertile States — Palembang, Jambi, Indragiri, Menangkabau, and Kampar. From Sumatra they gradually worked their way to Java, to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, to Borneo, Celebes, the other islands of the Archipelago, and even to the Philippines, Sulu, the Caroline Islands, and perhaps to Formosa. The word Malay is said to be derived from a river of that name, the Sungei Malayu, which flows by the mountain Siguntang Maha Meru, in the State of Palembang, in Sumatra, but it is equally likely that it was carried by the first emigrants from the Mallia or Malaya country in Southern India. The Malay tradition, for which there is not only popular belief but the authority of the Malay Annals (whatever that is worth), is that the cradle of the Malay race is this Bukit Siguntang Maha Meru, now recognized as Gunong Dempo, and there appears to be there a stream with the name Sungei Malayu. People coming from that place would naturally

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describe themselves as Orang Maldyu, the name by which they are known to-day. To support the theory of their Indian origin we have not only places like Singapura, with purely Indian names, but, when Perak Malays go back to their old superstitions and endeavour to propitiate malign spirits, they use a form of incantation which they do not understand, but which can certainly be traced to a Sanskrit origin.

I have said the Malay is a professing Muhammadan, his life is ruled by the Muhammadan law, and he accepts the teaching and the injunctions of the Moslem priesthood, but, with rare exceptions, he cannot be called devout ; he does not pray five times a day, he does not rigorously observe a forty days' fast, he is not a regular attendant at the mosque. He is married and buried as a Muhamma- dan, he is circumcised and goes through the outward observances imposed by his Faith, yet, when he is hard pressed, he has a way of harking back to original sin, and the practice of witchcraft abhorred by the priesthood. This tendency to backsliding applies to all ranks of Malay society, from the highest to the lowest; but even when Malays take to devil-raising, to propitiating the spirits of earth and air and mountain, though many are implicit believers in the efficacy of the rites performed, some of the more intelligent enter into the game with extreme keenness, but with their tongues in their cheeks. If Malays are not inclined to work, neither are they greatly inclined to religious discipline or observance; still they are more tolerant than others whose lives are guided by a selection of higher moral principles.

Thirty years ago the Malay was not greatly impressed by the white man. Very few Malays of the Peninsula had ever seen any white men, and the popular impression was that they were people with loud voices, indifferent manners, and worse customs ; that they habitually used bad language in their conversation, and not infrequently

146 BRITISH MALAYA

drank to intoxication. That impression has now been removed — to a large extent — but it is easy to understand that these failings were specially abhorrent to the Malay mind. His nature is to be reserved and severely polite, and he deeply resents a curiosity which leads Europeans into indiscretion. It is not the custom to ask a Malay his name ; it is well to make the inquiry when he cannot hear it, but if you must know at once, you should ask some one else. Similarly you are not expected to express any curiosity you may feel about where he is going, or on what business, and it is specially advisable not to inquire after the health of his wife and daughters. It is a mistake to enthuse over the beauty or excellence of a Malay's possessions, for the Malay may feel it incumbent on him to ask you to accept what you so greatly admire. If that happens, the European should firmly but politely refuse the proffered gift, remembering that it is not a spon- taneous act, but the result of his own too pointed remarks. If a Malay is wearing a weapon, it is not the custom to ask to be allowed to look at it, and if this imprudence is committed and the owner hands you the kris, or whatever it is, you must not unsheath it without first asking for permission to do so, and then you must draw the blade very slowly indeed and sheath it in the same way. Thirty years ago a Malay never moved without his kris, when he bathed he took it with him and when he slept it lay by his hand. He gave it more attention than his wife, and probably put a higher value upon it. If it was a famous blade, of Bugis make, and perfect in all measurements and every other test, no money would buy it ; a common saying was, " money will buy gold, but it will not buy a lucky krisr The owner of the " lucky " dagger was sup- posed to get home on his adversary before the latter could touch him. Therefore for a stranger to try the point of the weapon on the wall, or the floor, was a grave insult to the owner. If it is urged that all these injunctions are

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THE MALAY 147

needless, and would naturally suggest themselves to persons with any pretence to good manners, I can only say that there are a number of people in the world who never get beyond the pretence, and I have seen Euro- peans, of whom you would not expect it, do all the things here mentioned as being serious offences to a Malay. He thinks that the white man's dress is very indelicate, but he will not tell him so, though the white man will, without hesitation, say, " Why do you wear this, or that ? " The dancing of white people is also inexplicable to the Malay, and unless he is prepared to bring his own ladies it is wiser not to invite him to that form of entertainment.

Though the Malay is hardly ever a bigot in matters of religion, he has the strongest possible objection to a Malay woman marrying or living with a Chinese, and this is another of those matters which have caused a great deal of trouble in the Protected Malay States. A fairly well-to-do Chinese, a small shopkeeper for instance, appears to make a satisfactory husband, and it has hap- pened that Malay women have preferred life with the Chinese infidel to a harder lot with a man of their own race and faith. The common result was, first a warning to the woman to leave the man of her choice, and if that failed the Chinese was killed, and sometimes the woman also. If the Chinese chose to become a Muhammadan these primitive measures would not be resorted to, but there was, and there is, a violent objection on the part of the Malay community to these domestic arrangements between the Celestial and the Malay woman. Of course no one was greatly shocked if a Malay man gathered a Chinese woman into his household, but the practice, seldom resorted to, was never regarded with favour.

The attitude of the Malay towards his women was not that which is observed in most Muhammadan countries. Married women seem to have always been allowed a very considerable liberty, and the man who tried to exclude his

148 BRITISH MALAYA

womenfolk from such amusements and social intercourse as was open to them was regarded as a jealous cur- mudgeon, and whatever happened to him the sympathies of society were with the ladies of the house and not with the master. On all festal occasions — a wedding, ear- piercing, the appointment of officers by the Sultan, and so on — it is the invariable practice to give great entertain- ments to large numbers of people. At these times those who are invited are expected to bring their wives, and often their daughters or other near relatives as well. All these ladies lend a hand in making the necessary preparations for a series of festivities, which may last from one or two days to several weeks, and it is they who organize, direct, and actually assist in all the cooking, which is the main feature of the entertainment.

The guests who come from a distance are accommo- dated in the house of the host, or of any of their own friends in the neighbourhood, and it is usual to give them a meal which would correspond to luncheon — some time between twelve and one o'clock — and a dinner as soon as it is dark — that is, about seven o'clock. The evening meal is the one of real importance. When it is ready, the host and his principal guests sit in a circle on the floor, on mats spread for the purpose, and a great variety of dishes of food are placed in front of them, within easy reach of every one. They are waited upon by girls who either belong to the house or have come in to help, and who are dressed in a sort of uniform, and in the house of the Sultan they carry a strip of embroidered yellow cloth on their right shoulders. As soon as the diners have taken their places vessels of water are handed round, and every one washes his right hand — that is, the hand with which he eats. Then great bowls of boiled rice are served, from which the guests help themselves with a spoon made of wood, or of the shell of the cocoanut. For the rest, each man helps himself from the dishes in front of him, and

THE MALAY 149

when all are satisfied the servants bring a course of sweets — things that are half cake, half pudding or jelly, very sweet and rather insipid. After that there is tea or coffee, another washing of hands, and then cigarettes. In old days the sireh box used to be passed round im- mediately after the meal, and all the older guests indulged in the delights of this astringent. Now the chewing of betel has gone so completely out of fashion that it is seldom seen. Sireh is the leaf of a vine on which a little lime is spread with the finger, a scrap of betel nut and a bit of gambir are then wrapped up in the leaf, and the packet put in the mouth and chewed.

Whilst the host and his friends were being served in a special corner of the room, usually on a higher level, numbers of men of lower degree would sit side by side all round the walls, and the servants would attend to their wants in exactly the same way as to those at the higher floor. Very shortly after the meal was over the guests would leave the house and visit all the various entertain- ments prepared for their amusement. These would usually consist of Malay theatrical performances, shadow plays, chesS) or gambling in one form or another.

As soon as the men have finished, the women take their meal ; but that is always behind the veil, in the women's apartments. When poor people are quite alone, the man of the house, his wife and children eat together, but in the case of Rajas and well-to-do people the master very seldom eats with the ladies of his family.

When there is no great gathering for a State function, or a ceremony, such as the wedding of the son or daughter of an important person, the Malay still does a great deal of quiet hospitality. Either he entertains his own friends who are visiting or passing that way, or some stranger comes with an introduction or recommendation which practically makes the offer of hospitality a necessity. Amongst those who know each other well it often happens

ISO BRITISH MALAYA

that no invitation is given in so many words ; the visitor is there, and, when a meal is served, he shares it as a matter of course. It is on such occasions that the privileged friend sees the real inner life of a Malay family ; for after dinner his host will invite him behind the curtain, where he will meet all the ladies of the household, and probably some of their relatives and friends as well.

Even in his most unregenerate days the Malay dearly loved a real picnic. He would go with a great party, on elephants, or by boat, to some charming spot in the depths of the jungle, a picturesque pool or waterfall on some clear mountain stream, and after a few hours of fishing, swimming, diving, rock-sliding or similar sports, fires would be made, rice cooked, fish roasted, and a most excellent meal improvised out of almost nothing, served on leaves of the wild plantain and eaten with fingers only. Here you would find men, women, and girls all mixing perfectly freely, and with very little pretence at shyness ; but it is true that the party would include no real strangers. There is something strangely attractive and fascinating about the primeval forest, and even now it is probable that to Perak Malays of every class, especially those of the Sultan's own household, nothing would appeal more than four or five days' journey, in boats or on elephants, into some part of the country which is still practically unex- plored. There is just such a place, full of the mysterious attraction of the unknown, straight inland from Pasir Panjang on the left bank of the Perak River. It is called the Folding Plains.

If I give to the Malay woman a space which is all in- adequate to her merits and influence on Malay society, it is not because I count her as a negligible quantity, but because, as a matter of history, she never had much to do with those affairs with which this book is mainly concerned. As a child she does not receive as much attention as a boy, but she is invested with the national garment, a tiny

THE MALAY 151

strong, rather earlier than he is. Whilst the boy is learn- ing to paddle a boat and help his father in any way he can, or is being taught the aliph-ba-ta (the Arabic alphabet) and the reading of the Koran, she is mostly in the house, helps her mother to carry water from the river, morning and evening, when all Malays bathe, and assists in the cooking, or any other household work. A Malay cottage is the embodiment of untidiness, and usually of dirt and insanitariness, but in this respect there has been a marked improvement of late years. The house is not cumbered by furniture or any attempt at decoration ; there are no tables or chairs, no whitewash, and very little paint. The floor, which is always raised four or five feet above the ground, is of planks, nibong, or split bamboos, and it is covered with mats ; the walls are of plank or palm leaves, bark or interlaced cane ; the thatch is of palm leaves. Every small Malay house is divided into three parts ; a narrow veranda in front, and the rest of the floor space under the main roof, form the house ; while, tacked on behind, is a small excrescence used as a kitchen. The same principle is carried out in more pretentious houses, only each of the three divisions is much larger and often forms a separate building, joined to the next one by a few feet of covered way. Strangers seldom pass beyond the veranda.

In some of the Malay States a great deal of weaving — often very beautiful — is done ; there almost every house has a loom, and the main occupation of the women of all classes is the making of silk or cotton fabrics.. In Perak they pride themselves on their skill in mat-making and embroidery, and not without reason. In Kedah the women plait the inner fibre of the pandanus into baskets of a marvellous fineness, and they also weave a cloth of mixed silk and cotton. Selangor was once famous for its sarongs of cloth of gold, but years of warfare destroyed the industry, and now they make nothing. In Pahang the women make excellent mats, of various colours, and very

152 BRITISH MALAYA

good silk cloth ; but the best and most beautiful weaving is done in Trengganu, an independent State on the east coast, and in Kelantan, its northern neighbour.

The girls of poor people share all the women's tasks from an early age, and, in the season, they do most of the lighter work in the planting, the reaping, the winnowing, husking, and pounding of rice. Many of them find time to learn to read and write, and nowadays, in the Federated Malay States, there are successful schools for Malay girls. A girl sometimes, but very rarely, marries at fourteen ; but from seventeen to twenty is a much more common age. Until she marries she is not supposed to have any conver- sation with men, and when out of doors (never alone, of course) she meets a man she covers her face with extreme ostentation. Sometimes the effort is so great that her face is for a moment entirely disclosed. It is no doubt the result of excessive modesty and nervousness.

Malay girls are sometimes surprisingly fair for Easterns, but they vary from all shades of light to dark brown. Their hair is always black and usually abundant ; their eyes are large and dark, their noses rather flat, mouths of moderate size but good shape, and teeth extremely white ; they have good foreheads, round chins, and their faces are rather wide than oval. They nearly always have strongly marked eyebrows and long curling eyelashes. The general effect is that of a pleasant and good-humoured face, with plenty of character but no great claim to beauty. In height they are short, cleanly made and well formed, with smooth skin, very small hands, and small but square-toed feet. They admire small waists but use no appliances to produce them. As a rule they have pleasant voices and seldom raise them. In the house they wear a sarong and a loose jacket, long or short, but when dressed to be seen they often wear two sarongs, one over the other, and a long jacket of silk or satin, fastened in front by three gold or jewelled brooches. Their hair is pulled off

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their foreheads and fastened in a knot behind with five or six jewelled pins. They are fond of rings, bracelets, and earrings, and not above the use of powder on their faces.

When the Malay States were entirely independent, it is probable that no girl was ever consulted as to her wishes in the matter of matrimony ; everything was arranged by her parents and relatives, and indeed the young man was usually treated in the same way. Now it is rather different, and the most enlightened Malay parents would not press a girl to marry if she expressed a strong objec- tion to the suitor. The wedding, especially in the case of the children of people of rank, is a very long, very tedious, and very expensive affair; all that need be said about it here is, that the wearing of orange blossoms and the throw- ing of rice are both Eastern customs and simply mean "be fruitful." The giving of wedding gifts, always money, is also a well-recognized custom amongst Malays. I have often known the Sultan of Perak — one of the most thought- ful of hosts — when he invited Europeans to witness the final and chiefest ceremony at the marriage of one cf His Highness's children, provide his guests with the wedding gift lest they should be taken unawares.

With poor people it is usual for the bride to accom- pany her husband to his own home very shortly after the conclusion of the marriage ceremony ; with Rajas and people of rank, the bridegroom often stays for months in the house of his wife's parents before they will let her go away. Not infrequently the husband goes and leaves his wife with her parents ; he may even return several times, making long or short visits, before he can persuade the parents to part with their daughter. When at last she does leave her home it is possibly only for an absence of a few months, and for years she may spend almost as much of her time with her parents as with her husband. A Malay, like other Muhammadans, is allowed by law to have four wives at the same time, and, if he can afford it,

154 BRITISH MALAYA

he usually takes advantage of the permission. It nearly always happens that one of these ladies, of the same social rank as the husband, is the principal wife, and she remains, while the others, or some of them, are divorced and replaced. When a man embarks on the luxury, or extravagance, of more than one wife it is always under- stood that he is prepared to provide a separate house and establishment for each additional lady, and it is his duty to treat them all alike, to pass the same amount of time with each, and, if he makes a present to one, to give an identical present to each of the others. It need not be assumed that all Malays are scrupulous to act up to the letter of this law, but some of them do so. Divorce is certainly easy, but it is by no means the man who alone seeks it, and when the tie has been finally loosed, and the hundred days of grace, or abstinence, have expired, the woman is almost as certain to re-marry as the man, especially if she is young. Women of good birth and of means sometimes marry for the third or fourth or n^^ time, when they are between fifty and sixty years of age, but as a rule Malay ladies do not count on their physical attractions after they have reached the age of forty. I have often discussed the position of married women with the leaders of Malay society, and I have been struck by the fact that they have only one complaint to make, and that is their strong objection to being one wife of several. To divorce, as it obtains with them, they seem quite reconciled ; but the idea of sharing a man with several other women is distinctly repugnant to them. Probably that opinion is very seldom expressed to a man, and never unless it is sought, but it is discussed by women.

Once a woman has married, and so obtained a certain amount of independence, she will, especially if she is of strong character, develop into a considerable power in her own household, and often exert her influence in many

A MALAY CIRI.

THE MALAY 155

directions beyond those narrow limits. She may earn a reputation as a good housewife, an excellent manager, a capital hostess, and even develop much business capacity. As the wife of an official she takes an interest in State affairs, and does her best to push her husband's claims to preferment and title; in this last ambition she has a special interest, for certain offices and titles held by the husband confer rank and title on his principal wife, and that helps greatly to assure her position. It is also the custom to grant offices, titles, and salaries to ladies connected with the Court, and in these cases, the husband, if there is one, is not concerned. Malay women of the better class, and most of those in the entourage of the Sultan and the leading Rajas, are distinctly intelligent if they cannot be called highly educated. They are usually of a cheerful temperament, capital company, witty and interesting, with a strong sense of humour; a man has to do his best to hold his own in their society. Both men and women are very quick and accurate in their estimate of strangers of any nationality, and especially of their social status. A Malay man hardly ever speaks of his food, either in anticipation of a meal or in criticism afterwards. Perhaps more curious is the fact that a Malay woman does not discuss another woman's clothes, either in praise or disparagement, but Malay men sometimes do it.

In illness Malays rely upon their own doctors, usually "wise women" with almost no real knowledge. Though the country is now supplied with many excellent hospitals, in the charge of able English surgeons, it is almost im- possible to persuade Malays to enter them, except in cases which require surgical treatment. With great diffi- culty, and the assistance of a legal enactment, the people have been compelled to submit themselves to vaccination, with the result that smallpox, once the greatest scourge of the country, is now almost unknown. This is one of the innovations the value of which the Malay gratefully recog-

156 BRITISH MALAYA

ni'zes. Cases of deformity, imbecility, and hesitation of speech are very rare, and the Malay has an instinctive dislike to persons so afflicted. As already mentioned, when a patient becomes dangerously ill, and the usual forms of treatment have failed to give any relief, it is common, especially in Perak, to call in a pdwang, a kind of wizard or witch, who tries by incantations and other forms of the black art to lure the evil spirit from his prey.

For any one who has to do with Malays a knowledge of the language is an absolute necessity. To acquire such a smattering of the tongue as will enable a person to carry on a very simple conversation with the various Eastern people to be met with in the Straits Settlements and the Malay States is an easy task; but to speak, read, and write Malay really well is a matter of great difficulty, and the knowledge can only be obtained by years of study, and constant intercourse with the most cultivated Malays of the Peninsula. The Malays had several written characters of their own before they became Muhammadans. Since that date they have used the Arabic character and alpha- bet, with the addition of six letters, which were necessary to express sounds not known in the Arabic language. On the other hand, thirteen of the letters are only used in the writing of words of Arabic origin, leaving twenty letters for writing purely Malay words. As in all languages which use the Arabic character, Malay, is of course, written from right to left, and what greatly increases the difficulty of reading it is, that, to the unskilled eye, there appear to be no divisions between the words, no beginnings or ends of sentences, no commas, semicolons, or full stops, and the vowels are often not written at all. For instance, the common word minta, which means "to ask", is always written mnt; the compound word ka-pdda, which means " to " is written kpd and the compound word sa-blas^ meaning "eleven" is written sbls. Nothing but practice

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THE MALAY 157

and the context will enable the reader to get over this difficulty and, when an unknown word is met with, the correct pronunciation can only be guessed, though a practised eye will probably divine the pronunciation without hesitation. The language is not burdened with much grammar and, for a long time, the study is mainly an effort of memory, to learn so many thousands of words and recognize them when met with in print and manuscript. All the real difficulties begin when ordinary conversation is no longer an effort. To speak Malay well, as Malays always talk to each other, is to speak in idioms which, as a rule, have no counterpart in European tongues. This, again, is an effort of memory and the result of constant practice. There is a step further. It is the delight of Malays, who recognize that they have made conversation a fine art, to talk in parables; to express what they mean by something which, to the uninitiated, would seem to have no connexion with the subject under discussion. The more difficult the riddle, the further the actual words from their implied meaning, the more subtle is the thrust and the more delighted the audience. If the less intelligent listeners find that some- thing is going on which they cannot in the least understand, so that they smile vacantly as people do when they fancy something witty has been said in a foreign tongue, that only adds to the enjoyment of the rest of the company. There is still a higher level of attainment, almost beyond ambition, and that is to be able to take part, on fair terms, in a conversation with bright and intelligent Malay ladies. This is difficult because they use words and expressions not found in dictionaries and story-books, and they do not make allowances for ignorance or pretend not to hear mistakes. Quite the contrary, they are merciless in ridicule, especially if they are young.

To write, I will not say exhaustively, but to write at all fully of the Malay language and literature would certainly

IS8 BRITISH MALAYA

be a matter of a volume or two, and the subject would probably appeal to a very limited circle. In the early part of the last century there were three recognized English authorities on the Malay language, Marsden, Raffles, and Crawford ; the last named having been already mentioned as Major Farquhar's successor in the Singapore Residency. There were also a number of distinguished Dutch writers, but they dealt rather with the Malay of Java and Sumatra, which is not quite the same language as that spoken in the Malay Peninsula. The researches of Marsden and Raffles were also conducted mainly in Sumatra, and of the three English writers, all of whom took up the subject with enthusiasm and studied it with great diligence, Crawford wrote with probably the highest authority. The following extracts from a lecture and a paper by Crawford, both printed in 1848, are of special interest as the thoughtful and reasoned views of a writer fully qualified to deal with the subject of the Malay language and the sources which carried it over so vast an area.

" Distinct and unequivocal traces of a Malayan^ language have been found from Madagascar to Easter Island, and from Formosa to New Zealand, over 70 degrees of lati- tude, and 200 of longitude."

" To account for this remarkable dissemination of a language, singular for its extent, among a people so rude, it has been imagined that all the tribes within the wide bounds referred to constitute, with the exception, however, of the Papuas or Negroes, one and the same race, and that the many tongues now known to be spoken by them were originally one language, broken down, by time and dispersion, into many dialects. This is the theory adopted by Mr. Marsden, Sir Stamford Raffles, and the Baron William Humboldt, as well as by many French and

^ "I use this word as a common term for all that belongs to the Archi- pelago. "

A TRENGGANU SHAWL (IF WOVEN SILK AND COLD IIIKEAD. THE CENTRE IS IN SHADES OF IIELIOTRi )I'E AND RED WITH A CONVENTIONAL I'ATIERN IN GOLD. THE IJOKDER AND ENDS ARE GOLD ON A GROUND OF MALAY

RED

THE MALAY 159

German writers, but I believe it to be wholly destitute of foundation. . . .

" A brief examination, phonetical, grammatical, and verbal, or glossarial, of some of the principal languages will, I think, clearly show that they are generally distinct tongues, not derived from a common stock, and that the Malayan words they contain have been engrafted on them as Teutonic words have been on the continental languages of Europe of Latin origin ; or as French words have been on our own Anglo-Saxon, although, indeed, the course through which this has been effected has been, in general, very different.

" The languages from which, in my opinion, the words so engrafted have been for the most part derived, are those of the two most civilized, numerous, and adventurous nations of the Archipelago, the Malays and Javanese. The Malayan words found in each language that has received them will, I think, be found not only numerous, but correct in sound and sense in proportion to the facilities, geographical, navigable, and lingual, possessed by the parties adopting them of communicating with the parent countries of the Malay and Javanese nations.

" The dissemination might be direct from Sumatra and Java, the parent countries in question, or indirectly from some nearer country ; and it would happen through commerce, piratical expeditions ending in settlement and conquest, or by the fortuitous wreck of tempest-driven vessels, to all of which I shall, afterwards, more particularly allude

" When European nations first visited the Indian Archi- pelago, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they found the Malays and Javanese conducting the first stage of that commerce in the clove and nutmeg, by which these then much valued articles found their way, first into the markets of Continental India, and eventually into those of Arabia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome — that is,

i6o BRITISH MALAYA

making trading voyages which extended from the western bounds of the Archipelago. The spices in question were found in the Roman markets of the second century of our era ; and the great probabiHty, therefore, is that the Javanese and Malay trade alluded to had, when Europeans first observed it, been going on for at least fourteen centuries, . . .

" Respecting the probable era of such adventures, we have just one faint ray of light. With the Malayan there came in a few words of Sanscrit, such as are popular in the Malay and Javanese. From this it may be fair to infer, that the chance migrations I have supposed, whether they had before taken place earlier or not, may have taken place, at all events, as early as the epoch of the connec- tion of the Hindoos with the Indian Archipelago — a connection, the commencement of which cannot, I think, be placed later than the birth of Christ. . . .

"Within the Malayan Archipelago the Malay and Javanese languages have been communicated to others by conquest, settlement, or colonization, and commerce ; while to Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific they have been communicated by the accidents of tempest- driven praus or fleets of praus.

" The insular character of the whole region over which a Malayan language has been disseminated, and the periodical winds prevailing within it which, on a super- ficial view, appear obstacles, are, in truth, the true causes of the dissemination, for had the region in question been a continent, stretching north and south like America, or lain within the latitudes of variable wind and storms, no such dispersion of one language could have taken place.

" Such is the most rational explanation I can render of a fact in the history of our race, mysterious without ex- planation, and wonderful enough even with it. . . .

" The use of letters has been immemorially known to

THE MALAY i6i

all the more civilized nations of the Indian Archipelago, of the brown-complexioned, lank-haired race, and many- alphabets, at once distinct from each other, and not borrowed from any foreign source, are to be found among them, from Sumatra to the west, to Celebes and the Philippines to the east.

" Modern writers have supposed that the earliest writing was pictorial or hieroglyphic, and that in process of time this became vocal or phonetic, ending in literal alphabets- Of the truth of this theory, however, no evidence is to be discovered in the insular languages. Hieroglyphic writing is nowhere to be seen on any ancient monuments — the letters of the numerous alphabets which exist bear no resemblance to any object of nature, animate or inanimate — the names of the letters simply express their sounds, and the word for an alphabet consists, as with ourselves, only of an enumeration of a few of the first letters in order of which they are composed.

" The Javanese is certainly the most perfect alphabet of the Archipelago, and a brief account of it will give a general notion of the rest which, although they differ in form, bear it, in principle, a common resemblance. It has a distinct and invariable character for every sound in the language, and so far, therefore, it is a perfect system. . . .

" We have then, in all throughout the Archipelago, no fewer than nine distinct alphabets, every one of which appears to be a separate and a native invention. But they are not only distinct from each other ; they differ equally from all foreign alphabets.

" Some, indeed, have fancied that the Malayan alphabets may have been borrowed from the Hindus, but there is assuredly no solid ground for such an hypothesis. Some improvements in details, there is no doubt, they did receive from this source, but on examination they are not found to be essential. The most striking of them is the

i62 BRITISH MALAYA

organic and rhythmical classification. But two of the alphabets of Sumatra, the obsolete alphabet of Sumbawa, and the Javanese alphabet have not adopted this arrange- ment. The last of these is the most remarkable instance, for it was the one of all the characters of the Archipelago most amenable to Hindu influence, as is sufficiently attested by the greater number of Sanskrit words in the language of Java, and by the existence in that island of numerous Hindu monuments, including inscriptions in the Dewanagri, side by side with those in the ancient native writing. . . .

" In fact, the main characteristic of the Malayan letters, their differing among themselves, and then differing equally from all foreign letters, leads to the inevitable conclusion that each alphabet was a separate and inde- pendent invention, made, in all likelihood, in the localities in which we at present find them. If this be the case, the kind of fertility of invention which the fact evinces is a curious contrast to the utter absence of it in rude and early Europe, which never invented an alphabet, although in substantial civilization it is not to be imagined that the natives of Java and Sumatra two thousand years ago were superior to the energetic inhabitants of Germany, Gaul, and Briton.

" What causes conduced to this early invention of letters among Malayan nations, and at so many different and distant points, it is not very easy to say. It is certain that the discoveries must have been preceded by a very considerable advancement in civilization, such as would afford leisure to some class of men to attend to such things. That class was unquestionably a priesthood of some kind, and the first and earliest use of letters would assuredly be, not for the common conveniencies of life, or even for its amusement, as in a more advanced stage, but for the sheer purpose of conjuration or in- cantation.

THE MALAY 163

" The development of a civilization in which the inven- tion of letters would spring up would require that the natural circumstances of a country should be favourable. The territory must be sufficiently large, and sufficiently fertile and easy of cultivation, to produce a population numerous enough for its own defence, and, therefore, to afford sufficient leisure to any class of its inhabitants. No respectable amount of civilization has ever risen, and no letters have ever been invented, in any country of the Archipelago destitute of these advantages.

" The nine alphabets of the Archipelago are the produce of five large islands only, out of the innumerable ones which compose it. The most fertile and civilized island, Java, has produced the most perfect alphabet, and that which has acquired the widest diffusion. The entire great group of the Philippines has produced, and that in its greatest and most fertile island only, a single alphabet ; even this one is less perfect than the alphabets of the Western nations, in proportion as the Philippine islanders, when first seen by Europeans, were in a lower state of civilization than the nations of the west of the Archipelago.

"The Malayan Peninsula and Borneo, extensive as they are, have never given rise to an indigenous civilization sufficient to raise their inhabitants beyond the condition of small and miserable communities, and hence no in- digenous alphabet can be traced to them. Their more civilized inhabitants are invariably stranger emigrants. This must be owing to the absence of a certain kind of fertility in the land available to the rude and feeble efforts of a native industry, such as elsewhere gave rise to a con- centrated population, to leisure and to letters.

" No kind of native writing can be traced to the Spice Islands, which, notwithstanding their rich native produc- tions, are incapable of yielding corn, iron, or cattle, the rough staples of early civilization, and without the pre- sence of which letters have never been invented or existed.

i64 BRITISH MALAYA

In the great island of New Guinea, with its savage negro population, and with the same deficiencies, the presence of any kind of writing is not reasonably to be looked for.

" No trace of a written character has been found in the wide extent of the islands of the Pacific. Most of them are, probably, too small to have furnished a population, at once sufficiently numerous and concentrated, to generate the amount of civilization requisite for the purpose. In the great islands of New Zealand, with their comparatively energetic race of inhabitants, the discovery of letters would, most probably, have been made, as among the rude nations of Sumatra, had the civilization necessary not been precluded by the absence, as in the smaller islands, of the larger animals for labour, and of all the cereal grasses for food.

" The facility with which materials to write on are obtained in the countries occupied by the Malayan nations has, probably, contributed something towards the early discovery of the art of writing. The want of them, on the contrary, is known to have proved a great obstacle to the progress of letters, and, probably, was to their inven- tion in temperate regions. The absence of a good material in ancient Europe hindered the invention of printing, and its presence in China, no doubt, contributed largely to its early discovery in that country.

"The Indian islanders write on palm leaves, which have received no other preparation than that of being dried, and cut in slips — on the inner bark of trees, a little polished only by rubbing — on slips of the bamboo cane, simply freed from its epidermis, and on stone, metal, and finally on paper.

" The palm leaf employed is that of the lontar, or boras- sus flabelliformis. The Malay word is most likely a cor- ruption of two words : ron, a leaf in Javanese, and tal, the proper name of this palm in Sanskrit. This seems cor- roborated by the Javanese name, which is written rontal.

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THE MALAY 165

From the use of this word it might, at first sight, be imagined that the practice of writing on palm leaves was derived from the Hindus, But it happens that this word, with many others wholly or partly Sanskrit, belongs to the ceremonial and factitious dialect of the Javanese language, a genuine native name, kropyak, existing for it, in the ordinary one, so that no safe conclusion can be drawn from this etymology.

The instrument for writing with on the palm leaf, bark, and the bamboo is an iron style, and their writing is, in fact, a rude engraving, which is rendered legible by rub- bing powdered charcoal over the surface which falls into the grooves, and is swept off the smooth surface.

" The Javanese alone understand the manufacture of a kind of paper. This is evidently a native art, and not borrowed from strangers, as is plain from the material, the process, and the name. The plant, in the Javanese language, is called gluga {Brouponotia papyri/era), and the article itself ddluwaii changed into ddlanian for the polite language. The process is not the ingenious one of China, India, Persia, and Europe, but greatly resembles that of making the Egyptian papyrus, and still more closely the preparation of the South Sea cloth, the raw material being, indeed, exactly the same. The true bark, cut in slips, is long macerated and beaten, and after being thus treated, slips of it are joined to each other over a smooth surface, and defects made good by patching. The fabric thus obtained is of a brownish-grey colour, unequal in its texture, rigid but strong.

" With the exception of the Javanese, it does not seem that the natives of the Archipelago ever wrote with ink before they were instructed by the Arabs, no doubt from the absence of paper. The Javanese have a native name for 'pen' and 'ink' — sua and man si ; but with the other nations the only ones are Arabic — kdlam and ddwat, often, indeed, greatly disfigured, as in the example of the

i66 BRITISH MALAYA

Bugis who convert them into kalah and dawak. The pen generally used is not reed, as on the Continent of Asia, or a quill, as in Europe, but a stub obtained from the Aren palm {Saguerus sacchariferd).

" Even paper is generally known to the Indian islanders by the Arabian name of kartas, so that it is probable that a true paper was imported long before the arrival of Europeans, although the natives were never taught the art of preparing it. At present European paper is in general use by all the more civilized nations, to the ex- clusion of Asiatic."

I have quoted these extracts because of their authority, their interest, and the soundness of the reasoning by which Mr. Crawford supports his conclusions. Since the time of Marsden, Raffles, and Crawford, no Englishman has publicly discussed the same questions, and established with his contemporaries anything like the same reputa- tion for Malay scholarship. It is certain that all the three writers named used great industry in their studies, but it is a pity that they confined their work to research into, and criticism of, the published results of what they and the Dutch authorities had already gleaned from the field of Malay letters. Some of the dictionary work is inaccurate ; the original collector has gone wrong, and his mistakes have been perpetuated by the simple process of repetition. All the books by English writers are very incomplete, probably because the few who had an inclina- tion for this form of study lacked opportunities for making thorough inquiry, and never realized how many and rich were the sources of information. Raffles' active mind was busy with too many important matters to allow him to give the necessary time for a careful study of the Malay language. Marsden's researches were mostly, or wholly, confined to Sumatra, and Crawford failed to go to the Malays themselves, from whom alone he could have gained a thorough and accurate knowledge of their

THE MALAY 167

language. In later years, with the opening of the Pen- insula to Europeans, and with the special opportunities given to Government officers of exploring out-of-the-way- places in all the States where English influence now pre- vails, and even beyond those limits, it has been possible to learn far more of the Malays and their language than ever was known by Englishmen before. These reasons in- duced Mr. Hugh Clifford (formerly British Resident in Pahang) and the writer to collaborate in the compilation of a Malay dictionary, in the hope that we might push the work done by our predecessors a little nearer to the distant goal of completeness. The scheme was, however, too expensive and exacting for unaided effort, and as it did not meet with any encouragement from the Govern- ment, we were obliged to abandon it, after putting only one-third — about five hundred pages — through the press. It is some consolation to know that Mr. R. J. Wilkinson, of the Straits Civil Service, has carried out a less ambitious programme, and produced a Malay dictionary which establishes his industry and scholarship, and does much to remove the reproach that no Englishman had attempted to compile such a work for nearly a hundred years.

Malays possess very few writings which can be dignified by the name of literature, and that is curious considering how well they know, and how diligently the most in- tellectual of them read, the best-known works when they can get them. As books written in the best style and of the greatest repute amongst Malays the following may be mentioned: the Scjdra Malayu (the Malay Annals already referred to), the Hikaiat Hang Tuah (the history of a famous Malay warrior who flourished in the sixteenth century), the Taj Al-saldtin (otherwise called the "Crown of Kings"), the Hikaiat Iskandar Muda (the history of an Achinese Sultan), the Bestdnia7n and the Hoja Manun. There are also a number of less important works which

i68 BRITISH MALAYA

are translations of Indian and Persian stories. In modern times the only book of any note written by a Malay is Abdullah's History. As already stated, this writer's style is far from classic, and his biography is not much read outside the Straits Settlements Colony.

Malays of both sexes, in their youth, are given to the writing of verses, like love-sick damsels and swains in other latitudes. These effusions are called pantun ; they consist of verses of four lines, the first and third and the second and fourth rhyming ; their peculiarity is that the first two lines often mean little or nothing, and have no real connexion with the last two, which alone embody the writer's message. Three examples are enough to give an idea of the style of these love ditties.

Nyior tinggi chondong ka-kota, Kain solok di-makan api. Abang datang men-dapat kita Ka-mana nak di-tolak lagi %

A lofty cocoanut palm leans towards the fort ; The cloth of Sdlok make is burned in the fire. If my beloved comes to seek me, How can I send him away ?

Senudoh kayu di rimba, Benang karap ber-simpul puleh. Sunggoh dudok ber-tindeh riba, Jangan di-harap kata-kan biileh.

The seniidoh bush grows in the forest ;

The strings of the loom are in a tangled knot.

It is true that I sit on your knee,

But do not hope for any further advantage.

Brapa tinggi puchok pisang, Tinggi lagi asap api. Brapa tinggi giinong me-lentang Tinggi lagi harap hati.

However high the stem of the banana, The smoke of fire goes higher still. However high the mountain range, My heart's desire is higher still.

THE MALAY 169

On any moonlit night, when the river shines Hke burnished silver, you may see a long, narrow dug-out, black against the water, with a Malay youth in the stern, poling up stream or paddling down, bellowing these pantun to the soft Eastern night ; to relieve his feelings and, possibly, in the hope that they may reach the ears of his innamorata. If she is within half a mile she can hardly fail to hear him, and he is rather an attractive person the Malay boy.

Reference has been made to the Malay's fondness for proverbs, for epigrams and wise saws ; in his conversation he never fails to introduce one or other, when he sees an opportunity for their fitting application. The following specimens of this " wisdom of the many and wit of one " will give the reader a good idea of the habit of the Malay mind, and how the people draw, from their surroundings and the common things of everyday life, ideas, metaphors, and injunctions with which to season their conversation.

" To hang without a rope " ; said of a woman who is deserted but not divorced.

" It is in sugar that you see the dead ant" ; those who give themselves up to pleasure find death in the pot.

" What is cracked must break " ; said of two people who are seeking for an excuse to sever their connexion.

" The house is finished, but there is still the sound of the chisel"; trying to reopen a m.atter which ought to be settled.

" The owl sighing for the moon " ; hankering after the impossible.

" Like writing on water" ; wasted energy.

"Like a crow returning to his own country" ; to return as you came, no richer nor poorer.

" To move like a wounded snake " ; said of a very lazy person.

" As inseparable as the quick and the nail " ; the closest friends.

I/O BRITISH MALAYA

" The elephant makes a wide track through the jungle without killing the ants on which he treads"; said of a person very particular in certain observances but ignoring defects in himself which are patent to every one.

" Out of concern for the sarong to throw away the jacket"; probably losing both. It is said of a man who wishes to get rid of one wife in order to secure another.

" To light a fire on the roof" ; to pretend to be very use- ful while really doing the extremity of harm.

" The bean forgets its pod " ; ingratitude.

" Four is odd and five even " ; a definition of untrust- worthiness.

A house where the wife rules is spoken of as "a boat steered from the bow."

" To love one's children one must weep for them some- times, to love one's wife one must leave her sometimes."

" You may bale out a sinking boat, but in a shipwreck of the affections the vessel founders."

" A wound heals, but the scar remains " ; one forgives but does not forget.

"In full daylight, he still carries a lighted torch"; a definition of the upright man who has nothing to conceal

" Bored with life, but unwilling to die" ; said of a very lazy and useless person who is only a burden to others.

"Will a man put his salt out in the rain ?" ; will a man publish his own dishonour?

" Can you cover the sun with a sieve ? " ; a great crime cannot be concealed.

" Poison is harmless when handled by experience " ; hatred and prejudice cannot hurt those who know how to deal with them. So on a day when the atmosphere seems all sunshine, one sees a great kite fall like a stone into a swamp and, instantly rising again, fly slowly to the top of some high tree carrying a snake in his talons, but so held that the reptile is quite powerless. Then, at his leisure, the kite makes a meal of his enemy.

THE MALAY 171

" Standing like a pawned spear " ; said of the awkward person, who moves about uncomfortably instead of sitting down at his ease and joining in the conversation.

" Enmity with a wise man is better than friendship with a fool " ; the former may change, the latter can never be of value.

" Don't borrow from new-made men, or visit the newly married " ; in either case you will make a mistake.

" To pole down stream makes crocodiles laugh " ; the height of absurdity.

" People help to prop up what is firm and stamp on what is down " ; human nature wishes to be on the winning side.

" When the key is wicked, the box may turn traitor." If a man is unfaithful, he can't be surprised if his wife betrays him,

" If you smack water in a dish, some of it is sure to fly in your face " ; curses come home to roost.

" A year's drought is washed away by a day's rain " ; an hour's joy drives out the memory of months of sorrow.

" Those who quarrel with the well must end by dying of thirst " ; life is hard enough, do not add to its bitterness by refusing all that makes for happiness.

" While you carry the Raja's burden on your head, do not forget to keep your own bundle under your arm." Duty to your country and King come first, but your own affairs have a claim on your attention.^

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that the Malay language has a peculiarity which is found in other eastern tongues. Certain special words are used when speaking of people of royal birth which are never applied to persons of lower rank. For instance, when referring to the eating, sleeping, bathing, dwelling, journeying, or com- mands of a Raja, terms are employed which are never

^ In the selection of these proverbs some use has been made of the collec- tion published by the late Sir William Maxwell in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

1/2 BRITISH MALAYA

used in the case of ordinary mortals. Ceremonial is strictly observed between persons of different classes and different ages, and this is specially the case in the use of the personal pronouns, of which there are many forms, each with its recognized application as between those of different social status and on varying degrees of familiarity. Even children in their play never employ the wrong word.

CHAPTER VIII

1874 SIR ANDREW CLARKE— BRITISH INTERVEN- TION IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE WESTERN MALAY STATES

Major-General Sir Andrew Clarke, r.e., K.C.M.G., the new Governor, Commander-in- Chief,and Vice-Admiral of the Straits Settle- ments, arrived in Singapore on 4 November, 1873. The very lamentable state of Malay affairs had, from time to time, been reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Sir Harry Ord, while he made no suggestion for dealing with the situation, had expressed his regret that, as he was precluded from interference, he could do nothing to improve matters beyond offering advice that the various disputants should meet and settle their differences. If I have been able to give any idea of the conditions which then prevailed in the western states, it will be obvious that this advice was not, nor was it likely to be, accepted. Where all classes and nationalities are in arms fighting for different causes or different leaders ; where neither life nor property have any safe- guard, except the owner's strength and will to defend them ; where robbery, or murder, or any other crime, meets with neither inquiry nor punishment, peace and order will not be restored by any voice from inside the disturbed regions, and the wisest counsels, unsupported by power to enforce them, will be given in vain.

173

174 BRITISH MALAYA

Lord Kimberley had, however, furnished Sir Andrew Clarke with instructions of the first importance, showing a disposition to make an entirely new departure, and to recognize the duty forced upon England, as the dominant Power, to interfere in the Malay States and put a stop to a disgraceful state of affairs. The duty was imperative from motives of humanity alone ; but it was equally cer- tain that to undertake it would be highly beneficial to British interests and British trade, though these pleas had hitherto been dismissed as of no importance. The most timid British taxpayer will probably admit that it is not wholly unjustifiable to define more clearly an existing responsibility, in order to create and to keep a trade which is wholly, or almost wholly, British, and worth ;£" 1 2,000,000 annually.

Neither Lord Kimberley, nor Sir Andrew Clarke, nor any one else, could see so far into the future as to guess the result for which those figures speak, and it is safe to say that, while the Colonial Secretary desired to use British influence to save the Malays from themselves and give them the blessings o

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