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diff --git a/3412.txt b/3412.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55bd60c --- /dev/null +++ b/3412.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11815 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither +by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This book scanned and processed for Project Gutenberg by Beth +Sullivan, e-mail bsulliva@lycos.com, from the 1892 G.P. Putnam's +Sons edition. + + + + + +THE GOLDEN CHERSONESE AND THE WAY THITHER + +BY ISABELLA L. BIRD (Mrs. Bishop) + + + + +PREFACE + + + +In presenting to the public the last installment of my travels in the +Far East, in 1879, I desire to offer, both to my readers and critics, my +grateful acknowledgments for the kindness with which my letters from +Japan were received, and to ask for an equally kind and lenient estimate +of my present volume, which has been prepared for publication under the +heavy shadow of the loss of the beloved and only sister to whom the +letters of which it consists were written, and whose able and careful +criticism, as well as loving interest, accompanied my former volumes +through the press. + +It is by her wish that this book has received the title of the "Golden +Chersonese," a slightly ambitious one; and I must at once explain that +my letters treat of only its western portion, for the very sufficient +reason that the interior is unexplored by Europeans, half of it being +actually so little known that the latest map gives only the position of +its coast-line. I hope, however, that my book will be accepted as an +honest attempt to make a popular contribution to the sum of knowledge of +a beautiful and little-traveled region, with which the majority of +educated people are so little acquainted that it is constantly +confounded with the Malay Archipelago, but which is practically under +British rule, and is probable destined to afford increasing employment +to British capital and enterprise. + +The introductory chapter, and the explanatory chapters on Sungei Ujong, +Selangor and Perak, contain information of a rather more solid character +than is given in my sketches of travel, and are intended to make the +letters more intelligible and useful.* The map by Mr. Daly is the result +of the most recent surveys, and is published here by permission of the +Royal Geographical Society. +[*These chapters are based upon sundry reports and other official +papers, and I have largely drawn upon those storehouses of accurate and +valuable information, Newbold's "British Settlements in Malacca," and +Crawfurd's "Dictionary of the Indian Islands."] + +As I traveled under official auspices, and was entertained at the houses +of officials everywhere, I feel it to be due to my entertainers to say +that I have carefully abstained from giving their views on any subjects +on which they may have uttered them in the ease of friendly intercourse, +except in two or three trivial instances, in which I have quoted them as +my authorities. The opinions expressed are wholly my own, whether right +or wrong, and I accept the fullest responsibility for them. + +For the sketchy personal descriptions which are here and there given, I +am sure of genial forgiveness from my friends in the Malay Peninsula, +and from them also I doubt not that I shall receive the most kindly +allowance, if, in spite of carefulness, I have fallen into mistakes. + +In writing to my sister my first aim was accuracy, and my next to make +her see what I saw; but beside the remarkably contradictory statements +of the few resident Europeans and my own observations, I had little to +help me, and realized every day how much truth there is in the dictum of +Socrates--"The body is a hindrance to acquiring knowledge, and sight and +hearing are not to be trusted."* +[*Phaedo of Plato. Chapter x.] + +This volume is mainly composed of my actual letters, unaltered, except +by various omissions and some corrections as to matters of fact. The +interest of my visits to the prison and execution ground of Canton, and +of my glimpses of Anamese villages, may, I hope, be in some degree +communicated to my readers, even though Canton and Saigon are on the +beaten track of travelers. + +I am quite aware that "Letters" which have not received any literary +dress are not altogether satisfactory either to author or reader, for +the author sacrifices artistic arrangement and literary merit, and the +reader is apt to find himself involved among repetitions, and a +multiplicity of minor details, treated in a fashion which he is inclined +to term "slipshod;" but, on the whole, I think that descriptions written +on the spot, even with their disadvantages, are the best mode of making +the reader travel with the traveler, and share his first impressions in +their original vividness. With these explanatory remarks I add my little +volume to the ever-growing library of the literature of travel. + +I. L. B. +FEBRUARY, 1883 + + + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER + +The Aurea Chersonesus--The Conquest of Malacca--The Straits +Settlements--The Configuration of the Peninsula--A Terra Incognita-- +The Monsoons--Products of the Peninsula--The Great Vampire--Beasts +and Reptiles--Malignant and Harmless Insects--Land and Water Birds-- +Traditions of Malay Immigration--Wild and Civilized Races--Kafirs-- +The Samangs and Orang-outang--Characteristics of the Jakuns-- +Babas and Sinkehs--The Malay Physiognomy--Language andLiterature-- +Malay Poetry and Music--Malay Astronomy--Education and Law--Malay +Sports--Domestic Habits--Weapons--Slavery and Debt Bondage-- +Government--"No Information" + + +Canton and Saigon, and whatever else is comprised in the second half of +my title, are on one of the best beaten tracks of travelers, and need +no introductory remarks. + +But the Golden Chersonese is still somewhat of a terra incognita; there +is no point on its mainland at which European steamers call, and the +usual conception of it is as a vast and malarious equatorial jungle, +sparsely peopled by a race of semi-civilized and treacherous +Mohammedans. In fact, it is as little known to most people as it was to +myself before I visited it; and as reliable information concerning it +exists mainly in valuable volumes now out of print, or scattered +through blue books and the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of +Singapore, I make no apology for prefacing my letters from the Malay +Peninsula with as many brief preliminary statements as shall serve to +make them intelligible, requesting those of my readers who are familiar +with the subject to skip this chapter altogether. + +The Aurea Chersonesus of Ptolemy, the "Golden Chersonese" of Milton, +the Malay Peninsula of our day, has no legitimate claim to an ancient +history. The controversy respecting the identity of its Mount Ophir +with the Ophir of Solomon has been "threshed out" without much result, +and the supposed allusion to the Malacca Straits by Pliny is too vague +to be interesting. + +The region may be said to have been rediscovered in 1513 by the +Portuguese, and the first definite statement concerning it appears to +be in a letter from Emanuel, King of Portugal, to the Pope. In the +antique and exaggerated language of the day, he relates that his +general, the famous Albuquerque, after surprising conquests in India, +had sailed to the Aurea Chersonesus, called by its inhabitants Malacca. +He had captured the city of Malacca, sacked it, slaughtered the Moors +(Mohammedans) who defended it, destroyed its twenty-five thousand +houses abounding in gold, pearls, precious stones, and spices, and on +its site had built a fortress with walls fifteen feet thick, out of the +ruins of its mosques. The king, who fought upon an elephant, was badly +wounded and fled. Further, on hearing of the victory, the King of Siam, +from whom Malacca had been "usurped by the Moors," sent to the +conqueror a cup of gold, a carbuncle, and a sword inlaid with gold. +This conquest was vaunted of as a great triumph of the Cross over the +Crescent, and as its result, by the year 1600 nearly the whole commerce +of the Straits had fallen into the hands of the Portuguese. + +Of the remaining "Moorish", or Malay kingdoms, Acheen, in Sumatra, was +the most powerful, so powerful, indeed, that its king was able to +besiege the great stronghold of Malacca more than once with a fleet, +according to the annalist, of "more than five hundred sail, one hundred +of which were of greater size than any then constructed in Europe, and +the warriors or mariners that it bore amounted to sixty thousand, +commanded by the king in person." The first mention of Johore, or Jhor, +and Perak occurs about the same time, Perak being represented as a very +powerful and wealthy State. + +The Portuguese, by their persevering and relentless religious crusade +against the Mohammedans, converted all the States which were adjacent +to their conquests into enemies, and by 1641 their empire in the +Straits was seized upon by the Dutch, who, not being troubled by much +religious earnestness, got on very well with the Malay Princes, and +succeeded in making advantageous commercial treaties with them. + +A curious but fairly accurate map of the coasts of the Peninsula was +prepared in Paris in 1668 to accompany the narrative of the French +envoy to the Court of Siam, but neither the mainland nor the adjacent +islands attracted any interest in this country till the East India +Company acquired Pinang in 1775, Province Wellesley in 1798, Singapore +in 1823, and Malacca in 1824. These small but important colonies were +consolidated in 1867 into one Government under the Crown, and are now +known as the Straits Settlements, and prized as among the most valuable +of our possessions in the Far East. Though these settlements are merely +small islands or narrow strips of territory on the coast, their +population, by the census of 1881, exceeded four hundred and twenty-two +thousand souls, and in 1880 their exports and imports amounted to +32,353,000 pounds! + +Besides these little bits of British territory scattered along a +coast-line nearly four hundred miles in length, there are, on the west +side of the Peninsula, the native States of Kedah, Perak, Selangor, and +Sungei Ujong, the last three of which are under British "protection;" +and on the east are Patani, Kelantan, Tringganu, and Pahang; the +southern extremity being occupied by the State of Johore. The +interior, which is scarcely at all known, contains toward its centre +the Negri Sembilan, a confederation of eight (formerly nine) small +States. The population of the native States of the Peninsula is not +accurately known, but, inclusive of a few wild tribes and the Chinese +immigrants, it is estimated at three hundred and ten thousand; which +gives under nine inhabitants to the square mile, the population of the +British settlements being about four hundred and twenty to the square +mile. + +The total length of the Peninsula is eight hundred miles, and its +breadth varies from sixty to one hundred and fifty miles. It runs down +from lat. 13 degrees 50' N. to 1 degree 41' N. The northern part, +forming the Isthmus of Kraw, which it is proposed to pierce for a ship +canal, runs nearly due north and south for one hundred and forty miles, +and is inhabited by a mixed race, mainly Siamese, called by the Malays +Sansam. This Isthmus is under the rule of Siam, which is its northern +boundary; and the northern and eastern States of Kedah, Patani, +Kelantan, Pahang, and Tringganu, are more or less tributary to this +ambitious empire, which at intervals has exacted a golden rose, the +token of vassalage, from every State in the Peninsula. Except at the +point where the Isthmus of Kraw joins Siam, the Peninsula is surrounded +by the sea to the east by the China Sea and the Gulf of Siam, and to +the south and west by the Straits of Malacca and the Bay of Bengal. The +area of the mainland is conjectured to be the same as that of Britain, +but the region occupied by the Malays does not exceed sixty-one +thousand one hundred and fifty square miles, and is about half the size +of Java. + +Its configuration is not very well known, but a granitic mountain +chain, rising in Perak to ascertained heights of eight thousand feet, +runs down its whole length near the centre, with extensive outlying +spurs, and alluvial plains on both sides densely covered with jungle, +as are also the mountains. There are no traces of volcanic formation, +though thermal springs exist in Malacca. The rivers are numerous, but +with one exception small, and are seldom navigable beyond the reach of +the tides, except by flat-bottomed boats. It is believed that there are +scarcely any lakes. + +The general formation is granitic, overlaid by sandstone, laterite or +clay ironstone, and to the north by limestone. Iron ores are found +everywhere, and are so little regarded for their metallic contents +that, though containing, according to Mr. Logan, a skillful geologist, +sixty percent of pure metal, they are used in Singapore for +macadamizing the roads! Gold has been obtained in all ages, and +formerly in considerable quantities, but the annual yield does not now +exceed nineteen thousand ounces. The vastest tin fields in the world +are found in the western Malay States, and hitherto the produce has +been "stream tin" only, the metal not having been traced to its veins +in the rock. + +The map, the result of recent surveys by Mr. Daly, and published in +1882 by the Royal Geographical Society, shows that there is a vast +extent, more than half of the Malay Peninsula, unexplored. Its most +laborious explorer confesses that "of the internal government, +geography, mineral products, and geology of these regions, we do not +know anything," and, he adds, that "even in this nineteenth century, a +country rich in its resources, and important through its contiguity to +our British possessions, is still a closed volume." "If we let the +needle in, the thread is sure to follow" (meaning that if they let an +Englishman pass through their territories, British annexation would be +the natural sequence), was the reason given to Mr. Daly for turning him +back from the States of the Negri Sembilan. + +The climate is singularly healthy for Europeans as well as natives, +although both hot and moist, as may be expected from being so close to +the equator. Besides, the Peninsula is very nearly an insular region; +it is densely covered with evergreen forests, and few parts of it are +more than fifty miles from the sea. There are no diseases of climate +except marsh fevers, which assail Europeans if they camp out at night +on low, swampy grounds. + +In 5 degrees 15' N., about the latitude of the northern boundary of +Perak, at the sea-level the mean annual temperature is nearly 80 +degrees, with a range of 20 degrees; at Malacca in 2 degrees 14' N. it +is 80 degrees, with a range of 15 degrees; and at Singapore, in lat. 1 +degree 17', it is 82 degrees, with a range of 24 degrees. Though the +climate is undeniably a "hot" one, the heat, tempered by alternating +land and sea breezes, is seldom oppressive except just before rain, and +the thermometer never attains anything approaching those torrid +temperatures which are registered in India, Japan, the United States, +and other parts of the temperate zones. + +The rainfall is not excessive, averaging about one hundred and ten +inches annually, and there is no regular rainy season. In fact it rains +in moderation all the year round. Three days seldom pass without +refreshing showers, and if there are ten rainless days together, a rare +phenomenon, people begin to talk of "the drought." Practically the year +is divided into two parts by the "monsoons."* The monsoon is not a +storm, as many people suppose, from a vague association of the word +"typhoon," but a steady wind blowing, in the case of the Malay +Peninsula, for six months from the north-east, bringing down the +Chinamen in their junks, and for six months from the southwest, +bringing traders from Arabia and India. The climate is the pleasantest +during the north-east monsoon, which lasts from October to April. It is +during the south-west monsoon that the heavier rains, accompanied by +electrical disturbances, occur. The central mountain range protects the +Peninsula alternately from both monsoons, the high Sumatran mountains +protecting its west side from the south-west winds. The east side is +exposed for six months to a modified north-east monsoon. Everywhere +else throughout the almost changeless year, steadily alternating land +and sea breezes with gentle variable winds and calms prevail, +interrupted occasionally on the west coast during the "summer" by +squalls from the south-west, which last for one or two hours, and are +known as "Sumatrans." Hurricanes and earthquakes are unknown. Drenching +dews fall on clear nights. +[*This word is recognized as a corruption by Portuguese and British +tongues of the Arabic word "musim," "season."] + +The Peninsula is a gorgeous tropic land, and, with its bounteous +rainfall and sunshine, brings forth many of the most highly prized +productions of the tropics, with some that are peculiar to itself. Its +botany is as yet very imperfectly known. Some of its forest trees are +very valuable as timber, and others produce hard-veined woods which +take a high polish. Rattans, Malacca canes, and gutta are well known as +among its forest products; gutta, with its extensive economical uses, +having been used only for Malay horsewhips and knife-handles previous +to 1843. The wild nutmeg is indigenous, and the nutmeg of commerce and +the clove have been introduced and thrive. Pepper and some other spices +flourish, and the soil with but a little cultivation produces rice wet +and dry, tapioca, gambier, sugar-cane, coffee, yams, sweet potatoes, +cocoa, sago, cotton, tea, cinchona, india rubber, and indigo. Still it +is doubtful whether a soil can be called fertile which is incapable of +producing the best kinds of cereals. European vegetables are on the +whole a dismal failure. Conservatism in diet must be given up by +Europeans; the yam, edible arum, and sweet potato must take the place +of the "Irish potato," and water-melons and cucumbers that of our peas, +beans, artichokes, cabbages, and broccoli. The Chinese raise coarse +radishes and lettuce, and possibly the higher grounds may some day be +turned into market gardens. The fruits, however, are innumerable, as +well as wholesome and delicious. Among them the durion is the most +esteemed by the natives, and the mangosteen by Europeans. + +The fauna of the Peninsula is most remarkable and abundant; indeed, +much of its forest-covered interior is inhabited by wild beasts alone, +and gigantic pachyderms, looking like monsters of an earlier age, roam +unmolested over vast tracts of country. Among this thick-skinned family +are the elephant, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Malayan tapir, and the +wild hog; the last held in abomination by the Malays, but constituting +the chief animal food of some of the wild tribes. + +A small bear with a wistful face represents the Plantigrade family. The +Quadrumana are very numerous. There are nine monkeys, one, if not two +apes, and a lemur or sloth, which screens its eyes from the light. + +Of the Digitigrada there are the otter or water-dog, the musang and +climbing musang, the civet cat, the royal tiger, the spotted black +tiger, in whose glossy raven-black coat the characteristic markings are +seen in certain lights; the tiger cat, the leopard, the Java cat, and +four or five others. Many of these feline animals abound. + +Among the ruminants are four species of deer, two smaller than a hare, +and one as large as an elk; a wild goat similar to the Sumatran +antelope; the domestic goat, a mean little beast; the buffalo, a great, +nearly hairless, gray or pink beast, bigger than the buffalo of China +and India; a short-legged domestic ox, and two wild oxen or bisons, +which are rare. + +The bat family is not numerous. The vampire flies high, in great +flocks, and is very destructive to fruit. This frugiverous bat, known +popularly as the "flying fox," is a very interesting-looking animal, +and is actually eaten by the people of Ternate. At the height of the +fruit season, thousands of these creatures cross from Sumatra to the +mainland, a distance never less than forty miles. Their strength of +wing is enormous. I saw one captured in the steamer Nevada, forty-five +miles from the Navigators, with wings measuring, when extended, nearly +five feet across. These are formed of a jet black membrane, and have a +highly polished claw at the extremity of each. The feet consist of five +polished black claws, with which the bat hangs on, head downward, to +the forest trees. His body is about twice the size of that of a very +large rat, black and furry underneath, and with red foxy fur on the +head and neck. He has a pointed face, a very black nose, and prominent +black eyes, with a remorseless expression in them. An edible bat of +vagrant habits is also found. + +Ponies are imported from Sumatra, and a few horses from Australia, but +the latter do not thrive. + +The domestic cat always looks as if half his tail had been taken off in +a trap. The domestic dog is the Asiatic, not the European dog, a leggy, +ugly, vagrant, uncared-for fellow, furnishing a useful simile and +little more. + +Weasels, squirrels, polecats, porcupines, and other small animals exist +in numbers, and the mermaid, of the genus Halicore, connects the +inhabitants of the land and water. This Duyong, described as a +creature seven or eight feet long, with a head like that of an elephant +deprived of its proboscis, and the body and tail of a fish, frequents +the Sumatran and Malayan shores, and its flesh is held in great +estimation at the tables of sultans and rajahs. Besides these (and the +list is long enough) there are many small beasts. + +The reptiles are unhappily very numerous. Crawfurd mentions forty +species of snakes, including the python and the cobra. Alligators in +great numbers infest the tidal waters of the rivers. Iguanas and +lizards of several species, marsh-frogs, and green tree-frogs abound. +The land-leeches are a great pest. Scorpions and centipedes are +abundant. There are many varieties of ants, among them a formidable- +looking black creature nearly two inches long, a large red ant, whose +bite is like a bad pinch from forceps, and which is the chief source of +formic acid, and the termes, or white ant, most destructive to timber. + +The carpenter beetle is also found, an industrious insect, which +riddles the timber of any building in which he effects a lodgment, and +is as destructive as dry rot. There are bees and wasps, and hornets of +large size, and a much-dreaded insect, possibly not yet classified, +said to be peculiar to the Peninsula, which inflicts so severe a wound +as to make a strong man utter a cry of agony. But of all the pests the +mosquitoes are the worst. A resident may spend some time in the country +and know nothing from experience of scorpions, centipedes, +land-leeches, and soldier ants, but he cannot escape from the mosquito, +the curse of these well-watered tropic regions. In addition to the +night mosquito, there is a striped variety of large size, known as the +"tiger mosquito," much to be feared, for it pursues its bloodthirsty +work in the daytime. + +Among the harmless insects may be mentioned the cicada, which fills the +forest with its cheery din, the green grasshopper, spiders, and flies +of several species, dragon-flies of large size and brilliant coloring, +and butterflies and moths of surpassing beauty, which delight in the +hot, moist, jungle openings, and even surpass the flowers in the glory +and variety of their hues. Among them the atlas moth is found, +measuring from eight to ten inches across its wings. The leaf insects +are also fascinating, and the fire-flies in a mangrove swamp on a +dark, still night, moving in gentle undulations, or flashing into +coruscations after brief intervals of quiescence, are inconceivably +beautiful. + +The birds of the Peninsula are many and beautiful. Sun-birds rival the +flashing colors of the humming-birds in the jungle openings; +king-fishers of large size and brilliant blue plumage make the river +banks gay; shrieking paroquets with coral-colored beaks and tender +green feathers, abound in the forests; great, heavy-billed hornbills +hop cumbrously from branch to branch, rivaling in their awkward gait +the rhinoceros hornbills; the Javanese peacock, with its gorgeous tail +and neck covered with iridescent green feathers instead of blue ones, +moves majestically along the jungle tracks, together with the ocellated +pheasant, the handsome and high-couraged jungle cock, and the glorious +Argus pheasant, a bird of twilight and night, with "a hundred eyes" on +each feather of its stately tail. + +According to Mr. Newbold, two birds of paradise (Paradisea regia and +Paradisea gularis) are natives of the Peninsula,* and among other +bright-winged creatures are the glorious crimson-feathered pergam, the +penciled pheasant, the peacock pheasant, the blue pheasant partridge, +the mina, and the dial bird, with an endless variety of parrots, +lories, green-feathered pigeons of various sizes, and wood-peckers. +Besides these there are falcons, owls, or "spectre birds," sweet-voiced +butcher birds, storks, fly-catchers, and doves, and the swallow which +builds the gelatinous edible nest, which is the foundation of the +expensive luxury "Bird's Nest Soup," frequents the verdant islands on +the coast. +[*Mr. Newbold is ordinarily so careful and accurate that it is almost +presumptuous to hint that in this particular case he may not have been +able to verify the statements of the natives by actual observation.] + +Nor are our own water birds wanting. There are bitterns, rails, +wild-duck, teal, snipes; the common, gray, and whistling plover; green, +black, and red quails; and the sport on the plains and reedy marshes, +and along the banks of rivers, is most excellent. + +Turtles abound off the coast, and tortoises, one variety with a hard +shell, and the other with a soft one and a rapid movement, are found in +swampy places. The river fish are neither abundant nor much esteemed; +but the sea furnishes much of the food of both Malays and Chinese, and +the dried and salted fish prepared on the coast is considered very +good. + +At European tables in the settlements the red mullet, a highly prized +fish, the pomfret, considered more delicious than the turbot, and the +tungeree, with cray-fish, crabs, prawns, and shrimps, are usually seen. +The tongue-fish, something like a sole, the gray mullet, the +hammer-headed shark, and various fish, with vivid scarlet and yellow +stripes alternating with black, are eaten, along with cockles, "razor +shells," and king-crabs. The lover of fishy beauty is abundantly +gratified by the multitudes of fish of brilliant colors, together with +large medusae, which dart or glide through the sunlit waters among the +coral-groves, where every coral spray is gemmed with zoophytes, whose +rainbow-tinted arms sway with the undulations of the water, and where +sea-snakes writhe themselves away into the recesses of coral caves. + +Nature is so imposing, so magnificent, and so prolific on the Malay +Peninsula, that one naturally gives man the secondary place which I +have assigned to him in this chapter. The whole population of the +Golden Chersonese, a region as large as Great Britain, is not more than +three-quarters of a million, and less than a half of this is Malay. +Neither great wars, nor an ancient history, nor a valuable literature, +nor stately ruins, nor barbaric splendors, attract scholars or +sight-seers to the Peninsula. + +The Malays are not the Aborigines of this singular spit of land, and, +they are its colonists rather than its conquerors. Their histories, +which are chiefly traditional, state that the extremity of the +Peninsula was peopled by a Malay emigration from Sumatra about the +middle of the twelfth century, and that the descendants of these +colonists settled Malacca and other places on the coast about a century +later. Tradition refers the peopling of the interior States to another +and later migration from Sumatra, with a chief at its head, who, with +all his followers, married Aboriginal wives; the Aboriginal tribes +retreating into the jungles and mountains as the Malays spread +themselves over the region now known as the States of the Negri +Sembilan. The conquest or colonization of the Malay Peninsula by the +Malays is not, however, properly speaking, matter of history, and the +origin of the Malay race and its early history are only matters of more +or less reasonable hypothesis. It is fair, however, to presume that +Sumatra was the ancient seat of the race, and the wonderful valley of +Menangkabau, surrounded by mountains ten thousand feet in height, that +of its earliest civilization. The only Malay "colonial" kingdoms on the +Peninsula which ever attained any importance were those of Malacca and +Johore, and even their reliable history begins with the arrival of the +Portuguese. The conversion of the Sumatra Malays to Mohammedanism arose +mainly out of their commercial intercourse with Arabia; it was slow, +not violent, and is supposed to have begun in the thirteenth century. + +A population of "Wild Tribes," variously estimated at from eight +thousand to eleven thousand souls, is still found in the Peninsula, and +even if research should eventually prove them not to be its Aborigines, +they are, without doubt, the same races which were found inhabiting it +by the earliest Malay colonists. + +These are frequently called by the Malays "Orang Benua," or "men of the +country," but they are likewise called "Orang-outang," the name which +we apply to the big ape of Borneo. The accompanying engraving +represents very faithfully the "Orang-outang" of the interior. The few +accounts given of the wild tribes vary considerably, but apparently +they may be divided into two classes, the Samangs, or Oriental Negroes +or Negritos and the Orang Benua, frequently called Jakuns, and in Perak +Sakei. By the Malays they are called indiscriminately Kafirs or +infidels, and are interesting to them only in so far as they can use +them for bearing burdens, clearing jungle, procuring gutta, and in +child-stealing, an abominable Malay custom, which, it is hoped, has +received its death-blow in Perak at least. + +The Samangs are about the same height as the Malays, but their hair, +instead of being lank and straight like theirs, is short and curly, +though not woolly like that of the African negro, and their +complexions, or rather skins, are of a dark brown, nearly black. Their +noses, it is said, incline to be flat, their foreheads recede, and +their lips are thick. They live in rude and easily removable huts made +of leaves and branches, subsist on jungle birds, beasts, roots, and +fruits, and wear a scanty covering made from the inner bark of a +species of Artocarpus. They are expert hunters, and have most ingenious +methods of capturing both the elephant and the "recluse rhinoceros." +They are divided into tribes, which are ruled by chiefs on the +patriarchal system. Of their customs and beliefs, if they have any, +almost nothing is known. They are singularly shy, and shun intercourse +with men of other races. It has been supposed that they worship the +sun. + +The Orang Benua or Orang-outang, frequently called Sakeis or Jakuns, +consist of various tribes with different names, thinly scattered among +the forests of the chain of mountains which runs down the middle of the +Peninsula from Kedah to Point Romania.* In appearance and color they +greatly resemble the Malays, and there is a very strong general +resemblance between their dialects and pure Malayan. They have +remarkably bright and expressive eyes, with nothing Mongolian about +their internal angles, and the forehead is low rather than receding. +The mouth is wide and the lips are large, the lower part of the face +projects, the nose is small, the nostrils are divergent, and the cheek +bones are prominent. The hair is black, but it often looks rusty or +tawny from exposure to the sun, against which it is their only +protection. It is very abundant and long, and usually matted and curly, +but not woolly. They have broad chests and very sturdy muscular limbs. +They are, however, much shorter in stature than the Malays, the men in +some of the tribes rarely exceeding four feet eight inches in height, +and the women four feet four. Their clothing consists of a bark cloth +waist-cloth. Some of the tribes live in huts of the most primitive +description supported on posts, while others, often spoken of as the +"tree people," build wigwams on platforms, mainly supported by the +forking branches of trees, at a height of from twenty to thirty feet. +These wild people, says Mr. Daly, lead a gregarious life, rarely +remaining long in one place for fear of their wives and children being +kidnapped by the Malays. They fly at the approach of strangers. As a +rule, their life is nomadic, and they live by hunting, fishing, and on +jungle fruits. They are divided into tribes governed by elders. They +reverence the sun, but have no form of worship, and are believed to be +destitute of even the most rudimentary ideas of religion. Their weapon +is the sumpitan, a blow-gun, from which poisoned arrows are expelled. +They have no ceremonies at birth, marriage, or death. They are +monogamists, and, according to Mr. Syers, extremely affectionate. One +of their strongest emotions is fear, and their timidity is so great +that they frequently leave the gutta which they have collected at the +foot of the tree, not daring to encounter the trader from whom they +expect some articles in exchange; while the fear of ridicule, according +to Mr. Maxwell, keeps them far from the haunts of the Malays. +[*I was so fortunate as to see two adult male Jakuns and one female, but +my information respecting them is derived chiefly from Mr. Syers, +Superintendent of Police in Selangor, and from Mr. Maxwell, the +Assistant-Resident in Perak.] + +The Rayet, or Orang Laut, "subjects," or men of the sea, inhabit the +coast and the small islets off the coast, erecting temporary sheds when +they go ashore to build boats, mend nets, or collect gum dammar and +wood oil, but usually living in their boats. They differ little from +the Malays, who, however, they look down upon as an inferior race, +except that they are darker and more uncouth looking. They have no +religious (!) beliefs but in the influence of evil spirits, to whom at +times they perform a few propitiatory rites. Many of them become +Mohammedans. They live almost entirely upon fish. They are altogether +restless and impatient of control, but, unlike some savages, are +passionately fond of music, and are most ingenious in handicrafts, +specially in boat-building. + +The Chinese in the Peninsula and on the small islands of Singapore and +Pinang are estimated at two hundred and forty thousand, and their +numbers are rapidly increasing, owing to direct immigration from China. +It is by their capital, industry, and enterprise that the resources of +the Peninsula are being developed. The date of their arrival is +unknown, but the Portuguese found them at Malacca more than three +centuries ago. They have been settled in Pinang and Singapore for +ninety-three and sixty-three years respectively; but except that they +have given up the barbarous custom of crushing the feet of girls, they +are, in customs, dress, and habits, the exact counterparts of the +Chinese of Canton or Amoy. Many of them have become converts to +Christianity, but this has not led to the discarding of their queues or +national costume. The Chinese who are born in the Straits are called +Babas. The immigrant Chinese, who are called Sinkehs, are much despised +by the Babas, who glory specially in being British-born subjects. The +Chinese promise to be in some sort the commercial rulers of the +Straits. + +The Malays proper inhabit the Malay Peninsula, and almost all the coast +regions of Borneo and Sumatra. They all speak more or less purely the +Malay language; they are all Mohammedans, and they all write in the +Arabic character. Their color is a lightish, olive-tinted, reddish +brown. Their hair is invariably black, straight, and coarse, and their +faces and bodies are nearly hairless. They have broad and slightly flat +faces, with high cheek bones; wide mouths, with broad and shapely lips, +well formed chins, low foreheads, black eyes, oblique, but not nearly +so much so as those of the Chinese, and smallish noses, with broad and +very open nostrils. They vary little in their height, which is below +that of the average European. Their frames are lithe and robust, their +chests are broad, their hands are small and refined, and their feet are +thick and short. The men are not handsome, and the women are decidedly +ugly. Both sexes look old very early. + +The Malays undoubtedly must be numbered among civilized peoples. They +live in houses which are more or less tasteful and secluded. They are +well clothed in garments of both native and foreign manufacture; they +are a settled and agricultural people; they are skilful in some of the +arts, specially in the working of gold and the damascening of krises; +the upper classes are to some extent educated; they have a literature, +even though it be an imported one, and they have possessed for +centuries systems of government and codes of land and maritime laws +which, in theory at least, show a considerable degree of enlightenment. + +Their religion, laws, customs, and morals are bound up together. They +are strict Mussulmen, but among the uneducated especially they mix up +their own traditions and superstitions with the Koran. The pilgrimage +to Mecca is the universal object of Malay ambition. They practice relic +worship, keep the fast of Ramadhan, wear rosaries of beads, observe the +hours of prayer with their foreheads on the earth, provide for the +"religious welfare" of their villages, circumcise their children, offer +buffaloes in sacrifice at the religious ceremonies connected with +births and marriages, build mosques everywhere, regard Mecca as the +holy city, and the Koran, as expounded by Arab teachers, as the rule of +faith and practice. + +Much learning has been expended upon the origin of Malayan, but it has +not been reliably traced beyond the ancient empire of Menangkabau in +Sumatra. Mohammedanism undoubtedly brought with it a large introduction +of Arabic words, and the language itself is written in the Arabic +character. It has been estimated by that most painstaking and learned +scholar, Mr. Crawfurd, that one hundred parts of modern Malayan are +composed of twenty-seven parts of primitive Malayan, fifty of +Polynesian, sixteen of Sanskrit, five of Arabic, and two of +adventitious words, the Arabic predominating in all literature relating +to religion. Malay is the lingua franca of the Straits Settlements, and +in the seaports a number of Portuguese and Dutch words have been +incorporated with it. + +The Malays can hardly be said to have an indigenous literature, for it +is almost entirely derived from Persia, Siam, Arabia, and Java. Arabic +is their sacred language. They have, however, a celebrated historic +Malay romance called the Hang Tuah, parts of which are frequently +recited in their villages after sunset prayers by their village +raconteurs, and some Arabic and Hindu romances stand high in popular +favor. Their historians all wrote after the Mohammedan era, and their +histories are said to contain little that is trustworthy; each State +also has a local history preserved with superstitious care and kept +from common eyes, but these contain little but the genealogies of their +chiefs. They have one Malay historical composition, dated 1021 A.H., +which treats of the founding of the Malay empire of Menangkabau in +Sumatra, and comes down to the founding of the empire of Johore and the +conquest of Malacca by Albuquerque in 1511. This has been thought +worthy of translation by Dr. Leyden. + +Their ethical books consist mainly of axioms principally derived from +Arabic and Persian sources. Their religious works are borrowed from the +Arabs. The Koran, of course, stands first, then comes a collection of +prayers, and next a guide to the religious duties required from +Mussulmen. Then there are books containing selections from Arabic +religious works, with learned commentaries upon them by a Malay Hadji. +It is to be noticed that the Malays present a compact front against +Christianity, and have successfully resisted all missionary enterprise. + +They have a good deal of poetry, principally of an amorous kind, +characterized, it is said, by great simplicity, natural and pleasing +metaphor, and extremely soft and melodious rhyme. They sing their poems +to certain popular airs, which are committed to memory. Malay music, +though plaintive and less excruciating than Chinese and Japanese, is +very monotonous and dirge-like, and not pleasing to a European ear. The +pentatonic scale is employed. The violin stands first among musical +instruments in their estimation. They have also the guitar, the +flageolet, the aeolian flute, a bamboo in which holes are cut, which +produce musical sounds when acted upon by the wind, and both metallic +and wooden gongs. + +They have no written system of common arithmetic, and are totally +unacquainted with its higher branches. Their numerals above one +thousand are borrowed from the Hindus, and their manner of counting is +the same as that of the Ainos of Yezo. + +Their theory of medicine is derived from Arabia, and abounds in mystery +and superstition. They regard man as composed of four elements and four +essences, and assimilate his constitution and passions to the twelve +signs of the zodiac, the seven planets, etc., exaggerating the +mysterious sympathy between man and external nature. The successful +practice of the hakim or doctor must be based on the principle of +"preserving the balance of power" among the four elements, which is +chiefly effected by moderation in eating. + +They know nothing of astronomy, except of some meagre ideas derived +through the Arabs from the Ptolemaic system, and Mr. Newbold, after +most painstaking research, failed to discover any regular treatise on +astronomy, though Arabic and Hindu tracts on interpretations of dreams, +horoscopes, spells, propitious and unpropitious moments, auguries, +talismans, love philters, medicinal magic and recipes for the +destruction of people at a distance, are numerous. They acknowledge the +solar year, but adopt the lunar, and reckon the months in three +different ways, dividing them, however, into weeks of seven days, +marking them by the return of the Mohammedan Sabbath. They suppose the +world to be an oval body revolving on its axis four times within a +year, with the sun, a circular body of fire, moving round it. The +majority of the people still believe that eclipses are caused by the +sun or moon being devoured by a serpent, and they lament loudly during +their continuance. The popular modes of measuring distance are +ingenious, but, to a stranger at least, misleading. Thus Mr. Daly, in +attempting to reach the interior States, received these replies to his +inquiries about distance--"As far as a gunshot may be heard from this +particular hill;" "If you wash your head before starting it will not be +dry before you reach the place," etc. They also measure distances by +the day's walk, and by the number of times it is necessary to chew +betel between two places. The hours are denoted by terms not literally +accurate. Cockcrowing is daybreak, 1 P.M., and midnight; 9 A.M., Lepas +Baja, is the time when the buffaloes, which cannot work when the sun is +high, are relieved from the plough; Tetabawe is 6 P.M., the word +signifying the cry of a bird which is silent till after sunset. The +Malay day begins at sunset. + +They are still maritime in their habits, and very competent practical +sailors and boat-builders; but though for centuries they divided with +the Arabs the carrying trade between Eastern and Western Asia, and +though a mongrel Malay is the nautical language of nearly all the +peoples from New Guinea to the Tenasserim coast, the Malays knew little +of the science of navigation. They timed their voyages by the constant +monsoons, and in sailing from island to island coasted the Asiatic +shores, trusting, when for a short time out of sight of land, not to +the compass, though they were acquainted with it, but to known rocks, +glimpses of headlands, the direction of the wind, and their observation +of the Pleiades. + +They have no knowledge of geography, architecture, painting, sculpture, +or even mechanics; they no longer make translations from the Arabic or +create fiction, and the old translations of works on law, ethics, and +science are now scarcely studied. Education among them is at a very low +ebb; but the State of Kedah is beginning to awake to its advantages. +Where schools exist the instruction consists mainly in teaching the +children to repeat, in a tongue which they do not understand, certain +passages from the Koran and some set prayers. + +As to law, Sir Stamford Raffles observed in a formal despatch, "Nothing +has tended more decidedly to the deterioration of the Malay character +than the want of a well-defined and generally acknowledged system of +law." There are numerous legal compilations, however, and nearly every +State has a code of its own to a certain extent; there are maritime and +land codes, besides "customs" bad and good, which override the written +law; while in Perak, Selangor, and Sungei Ujong an ill understood +adaptation of some portions of British law further complicates matters. +"The glorious uncertainty" of law is nowhere more fully exemplified +than on this Peninsula. It is from the Golden Island, the parent Empire +of Menangkabau, that the Malays profess to derive both their criminal +and civil law, their tribal system, their rules for the division of +land by boundary marks, and the manner of government as adapted for +sovereigns and their ministers. The existence of the various legal +compilations has led to much controversy and even bloodshed between +zealots for the letter of the Koran on one side, and the advocates of +ancient custom on the other. Among the reasons which have led to the +migration of Malays from the native states into the Straits +Settlements, not the least powerful is the equality of rights before +English law, and the security given by it to property of every kind. In +the Malay country itself, occupied by Malays and the Chinese associated +with them, there are four Malays to the square mile, whilst under the +British flag some one hundred and twenty-five Malays to the square mile +have taken refuge and sought protection for their industry under our +law! + +Cock-fighting, which has attained to the dignity of a literature of its +own, is the popular Malay sport; but the grand sport is a tiger and +buffalo fight, reserved for rare occasions, however, on account of its +expense. Cock-fighting is a source of gigantic gambling and desperate +feuds. The birds, which fight in full feather and with sharpened steel +spurs, are very courageous, and die rather than give in. Wrestling +among young men and tossing the wicker ball, are favorite amusements. +There are professional dancing girls, but dancing as a social amusement +is naturally regarded with disfavor. Children have various games +peculiar to themselves, which are abandoned as childish things at a +given age. Riddles and enigmas occupy a good deal of time among the +higher classes. Chess also occupies much time, but it is much to be +feared that the vice of gambling stimulated by the Chinese, who have +introduced both cards and dice, is taking the place of more innocent +pastimes. + +The Malays, like other Mohammedans, practice polygamy. They are very +jealous, and their women are veiled and to a certain extent secluded; +but they are affectionate, and among the lower classes there is a good +deal of domesticity. Their houses are described in the following +letters. The food of the poorer classes consists mainly of rice and +salt-fish, curries of both, maize, sugar-cane, bananas, and jungle +fruits, cocoa-nut milk being used in the preparation of food as well as +for a beverage. As luxuries they chew betelnut and smoke tobacco, and +although intoxicants are forbidden, they tap the toddy palm and drink +of its easily fermented juice. Where metal finds its way into domestic +utensils it is usually in the form of tin water-bottles and ewers. +Every native possesses a sweeping broom, sleeping mats, coarse or fine, +and bamboo or grass baskets. Most families use an iron pan for cooking, +with a half cocoa-nut shell for a ladle. A large nut shell filled with +palm-oil, and containing a pith wick, is the ordinary Malay lamp. Among +the poor, fresh leaves serve as plates and dishes, but the chiefs +possess china. + +The Malay weapons consist of the celebrated kris, with its flame-shaped +wavy blade; the sword, regarded, however, more as an ornament; the +parang, which is both knife and weapon; the steel-headed spear, which +cost us so many lives in the Perak war; matchlocks, blunderbusses, and +lelahs, long heavy brass guns used for the defense of the stockades +behind which the Malays usually fight. They make their own gunpowder, +and use cartridges made of cane. + +The Malays, like the Japanese, have a most rigid epistolary etiquette, +and set forms for letter writing. Letters must consist of six parts, +and are so highly elaborate that the scribes who indite them are almost +looked upon as litterateurs. There is an etiquette of envelopes and +wafers, the number and color of which vary with the relative positions +of the correspondents, and any error in these details is regarded as an +insult. Etiquette in general is elaborate and rigid, and ignorant +breaches of it on the part of Europeans have occasionally cost them +their lives. + +The systems of government in the Malay States vary in detail, but on +the whole may be regarded as absolute despotisms, modified by certain +rights, of which no rulers in a Mohammedan country can absolutely +deprive the ruled, and by the assertion of the individual rights of +chiefs. Sultans, rajahs, maharajahs, datus, etc., under ordinary +circumstances have been and still are in most of the unprotected States +unable to control the chiefs under them, who have independently levied +taxes and blackmail till the harassed cultivators came scarcely to care +to possess property which might at any time be seized. Forced labor for +a quarter of the laboring year was obligatory on all males, besides +military service when called upon. + +Slavery and debt bondage exist in all the native States; except in +Selangor and Sungei Ujong, where it has recently been abolished, as it +is hoped it will be in Perak. The slaves of the reigning princes were +very easily acquired, for a prince had only to send a messenger bearing +a sword or kris to a house, and the parents were obliged to give up any +one of their children without delay or question. In debt slavery, which +prevails more or less among all classes, and has done a great deal to +degrade the women of the Peninsula, a man owing a trifling debt +incurred through extravagance, misfortune or gambling, can be seized by +his creditor; when he, his wife, and children, including those who may +afterwards be born, and probably their descendants, become slaves. + +In most of the States the reigning prince has regular officers under +him, chief among whom are the Bandahara or treasurer, who is the first +minister, chief executive officer, and ruler over the peasantry, and +the Tumongong or chief magistrate. Usually the throne is hereditary, +but while the succession in some States is in the male line, in others +it is in the female, a sister's son being the heir; and there are +instances in which the chiefs have elected a sultan or rajah. The +_theory_ of government does not contain anything inherently vicious, +and is well adapted to Malay circumstances. Whatever is evil in +practice is rather contrary to the theory than in accordance with it. +The States undoubtedly have fallen, in many ways, into evil case; the +privileged few, consisting of rajahs and their numerous kindred and +children, oppressing the unprivileged many, living in idleness on what +is wrung from their toil. The Malay sovereigns in most cases have come +to be little more than the feudal heads of bodies of insubordinate +chiefs, while even the headmen of the villages take upon themselves to +levy taxes and administer a sort of justice. Nomadic cultivation, +dislike of systematic labor, and general insecurity as to the +boundaries and tenure of land, have further impoverished the common +people, while Islamism exercises its usual freezing and retarding +influence, producing the fatal isolation which to weak peoples is slow +decay. + +When Sir A. Clarke was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements in +1873 he went to the Curator of the Geographical Society's library in +quest of maps and information of any kind about the country to which he +was going, but was told by that courteous functionary that there was +absolutely no information of the slightest value in their archives. +Since then the protectorate which we have acquired over three of the +native States and the war in Perak have mended matters somewhat; but +Mr. Daly, on appearing in May last before the same Society with the map +which is the result of his partial survey, regrets that we have of half +of the Peninsula "only the position of the coast-line!" Of the States +washed by the China Sea scarcely anything is known, and the eastern and +central interior offer a wide field for the explorer. + +The letters which follow those written from China and Saigon relate to +the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca, and to the native +States of Perak, Selangor, and Sungei Ujong, which, since 1874, have +passed under British "protection." The preceding brief sketch is +necessarily a very imperfect one, as to most of my questions addressed +on the spot and since to the best informed people, the answer has been, +"No information." The only satisfaction that I have in these +preliminary pages is, that they place the reader in a better position +than I was in when I landed at Malacca. To a part of this beautiful but +little known region I propose to conduct my readers, venturing to hope +for their patient interest in my journeyings over the bright waters of +the Malacca Straits and in the jungles of the Golden Chersonese. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER I + +The Steamer Volga--Days of Darkness--First View of Hong Kong--Hong Kong +on Fire--Apathy of the Houseless--The Fire Breaks Out Again--An Eclipse +of Gayety + + +S.S. "VOLGA," CHINA SEA, Christmas Eve, 1878. + +The snowy dome of Fujisan, reddening in the sunrise, rose above the +violet woodlands of Mississippi Bay as we steamed out of Yokohama +harbor on the 19th, and three days later I saw the last of Japan--a +rugged coast, lashed by a wintry sea. + + +THE PALACE, VICTORIA, HONG KONG, December 27. + +Of the voyage to Hong Kong little need be said. The Volga is a +miserable steamer, with no place to sit in, and nothing to sit on but +the benches by the dinner-table in the dismal saloon. The master, a +worthy man, so far as I ever saw of him, was Goth, Vandal, Hun, +Visigoth, all in one. The ship was damp, dark, dirty, old, and cold. +She was not warmed by steam, and the fire could not be lighted because +of a smoky chimney. There were no lamps, and the sparse candles were +obviously grudged. The stewards were dirty and desponding, the serving +inhospitable, the cooking dirty and greasy, the food scanty, the +table-linen frowsy. There were four French and two Japanese male +passengers, who sat at meals in top-coats, comforters, and hats. I had +a large cabin, the salon des dames, and the undivided attention of a +very competent, but completely desponding stewardess. Being debarred +from the deck by incessant showers of spray, sleet, and snow, and the +cold of mid-winter being unbearable in the dark, damp saloon, I went +to bed at four for the first two days. On the third it blew half a +gale, with a short violent sea, and this heavy weather lasted till we +reached Hong Kong, five days afterward. During those cold, dark, noisy +days, when even the stewards could scarcely keep their feet, I suffered +so much in my spine from the violent movements of the ship that I did +not leave my cabin; and besides being unable to read, write, or work, +owing to the darkness, I was obliged to hold on by day and night to +avoid being much hurt by the rolling, my berth being athwart ships; +consequently, that week, which I had relied upon for "overtaking" large +arrears of writing and sewing, was so much lost out of +life--irrecoverably and shamefully lost, I felt--as each dismal day, +dawned and died without sunrise or sunset, on the dark and stormy +Pacific. No one, it seemed, knew any more English than "Yes" and "No;" +and as the ship knocked French out of my memory, I had not even the +resource of talking with the stewardess, who told me on the last day of +our imprisonment that she was "triste, triste," and "one mass of +bruises!" + +In this same gale, but on a dry day, we came close up with the mainland +of Eastern Asia. Coasts usually disappoint. This one exceeded all my +expectations; and besides, it was the coast of Asia, the mysterious +continent which has been my dream from childhood--bare, lofty, rocky, +basaltic; islands of naked rock separated by narrow channels, majestic, +perpendicular cliffs, a desolate uninhabited region, lashed by a heavy +sea, with visions of swirling mists, shrieking sea-birds, and Chinese +high-sterned fishing-boats with treble-reefed, three-cornered brown +sails, appearing on the tops of surges, at once to vanish. Soon we +were among mountainous islands; and then, by a narrow and picturesque +channel, entered the outer harbor, with the scorched and arid peaks of +Hong Kong on one side; and on the other the yet redder and rockier +mainland, without a tree or trace of cultivation, or even of +habitation, except here and there a few stone huts clustering round +inlets, in which boats were lying. We were within the tropic of Cancer, +but still the cold, coarse bluster continued, so that it was barely +possible to see China except in snatches from behind the deck-house. + +Turning through another channel, we abruptly entered the inner harbor, +and sailed into the summer, blue sky, blue water, a summer sun, and a +cool breeze, while a tender veil of blue haze softened the outlines of +the flushed mountains. Victoria, which is the capital of the British +colony of the island of Hong Kong, and which colloquially is called +Hong Kong, looked magnificent, suggesting Gibraltar, but far, far +finer, its peak eighteen hundred feet in height--a giant among lesser +peaks, rising abruptly from the sea above the great granite city which +clusters upon its lower declivities, looking out from dense greenery +and tropical gardens, and the deep shade of palms and bananas, the +lines of many of its streets traced in foliage, all contrasting with +the scorched red soil and barren crags which were its universal aspect +before we acquired it in 1843. A forest of masts above the town betoken +its commercial importance, and "P. and O." and Messageries Maritimes +steamers, ships of war of all nations, low-hulled, big-masted clippers, +store and hospital ships, and a great fishing fleet lay at anchor in +the harbor. The English and Romish cathedrals, the Episcopal Palace, +with St. Paul's College, great high blocks of commercial buildings, +huge sugar factories, great barracks in terraces, battery above +battery, Government House, and massive stone wharves, came rapidly into +view, and over all, its rich folds spreading out fully on the breeze, +floated the English flag. + +But dense volumes of smoke rolling and eddying, and covering with their +black folds the lower slopes and the town itself made a surprising +spectacle, and even as we anchored came off the rapid tolling of bells, +the roll of drums, and the murmur of a "city at unrest." No one met me. +A few Chinese boats came off, and then a steam launch with the M. M. +agent in an obvious flurry. I asked him how to get ashore, and he +replied, "It's no use going ashore, the town's half burned, and burning +still; there's not a bed at any hotel for love or money, and we are +going to make up beds here." However, through the politeness of the +mail agent, I did go ashore in the launch, but we had to climb through +and over at least eight tiers of boats, crammed with refugees, mainly +women and children, and piled up with all sorts of household goods, +whole and broken, which had been thrown into them promiscuously to save +them. "The palace of the English bishop," they said, was still +untouched; so, escaping from an indescribable hubbub, I got into a +bamboo chair, with two long poles which rested on the shoulders of two +lean coolies, who carried me to my destination at a swinging pace +through streets as steep as those of Varenna. Streets choked up with +household goods and the costly contents of shops, treasured books and +nick-nacks lying on the dusty pavements, with beds, pictures, +clothing, mirrors, goods of all sorts; Chinamen dragging their +possessions to the hills; Chinawomen, some of them with hoofs rather +than feet, carrying their children on their backs and under their arms; +officers, black with smoke, working at the hose like firemen; parties +of troops marching as steadily as on parade, or keeping guard in +perilous places; Mr. Pope Henessey, the Governor, ubiquitous in a chair +with four scarlet bearers; men belonging to the insurance companies +running about with drawn swords; the miscellaneous population running +hither and thither; loud and frequent explosions; heavy crashes as of +tottering walls, and, above all, the loud bell of the Romish cathedral +tolling rapidly, calling to work or prayer, made a scene of intense +excitement; while utterly unmoved, in grand Oriental calm (or apathy), +with the waves of tumult breaking round their feet, stood Sikh +sentries, majestic men, with swarthy faces and great, crimson turbans. +Through the encumbered streets and up grand flights of stairs my +bearers brought me to these picturesque grounds, which were covered +over with furniture and goods of all descriptions brought hither for +safety, and Chinese families camping out among them. Indeed, the Bishop +and Mrs. Burdon had not only thrown open their beautiful grounds to +these poor people, but had accommodated some Chinese families in rooms +in the palace under their own. The apathy or calm of the Chinese women +as they sat houseless amidst their possessions was very striking. In +the broad, covered corridor which runs round the palace everything the +Burdons most value was lying ready for instantaneous removal, and I was +warned not to unpack or take off my traveling dress. The Bishop and I +at once went down to the fire, which was got under, and saw the wreck +of the city and the houseless people camping out among the things they +had saved. Fire was still burning or smouldering everywhere, high walls +were falling, hose were playing on mountains of smouldering timber, +whole streets were blocked with masses of fallen brick and stone, +charred telegraph poles and fused wires were lying about, with half +burned ledgers and half burned everything. The colored population +exceeds one hundred and fifty-two thousand souls, and only those who +know the Babel which an eastern crowd is capable of making under +ordinary circumstances can imagine what the deafening din of human +tongues was under these very extraordinary ones. In the prison, which +was threatened by the flames, were over eight hundred ruffians of all +nations, and it was held by one hundred soldiers with ten rounds of +ammunition each, prepared to convey the criminals to a place of safety +and to shoot any who attempted to escape. The dread of these +miscreants, which was everywhere expressed, is not unreasonable, for +the position of Victoria, and the freedom and protection afforded by +our laws, together with the present Governor's known sympathies with +colored people, have attracted here thousands of the scum of Canton and +other Chinese cities, to say nothing of a mass of European and Asiatic +ruffianism, much of which is at all times percolating through the +magnificent Victoria prison. + +On returning, I was just beginning to unpack when the flames burst out +again. It was luridly grand in the twilight, the tongues of flame +lapping up house after house, the jets of flame loaded with blazing +fragments, the explosions, each one succeeded by a burst of flame, +carrying high into the air all sorts of projectiles, beams and rafters +paraffine soaked, strewing them over the doomed city, the leaping +flames coming nearer and nearer, the great volumes of smoke, +spark-laden, rolling toward us, all mingling with a din indescribable. +Burning fragments shortly fell on the window-sills, and as the wind was +very strong and setting this way, there seemed so little prospect of +the palace being saved that important papers were sent to the cathedral +and several of the refugees fled with their things to the hills. At +that moment the wind changed, and the great drift of flame and smoke +was carried in a comparatively harmless direction, the fire was got +well in hand the second time, the official quarter was saved, and +before 10 P.M. we were able for the first time since my arrival at +mid-day to sit down to food. + +Most people seem much upset as well from personal peril as from +sympathy, and all parties and picnics for two days were given up. Even +the newspapers did not come out this morning, the types of one of them +being in this garden. The city is now patrolled night and day by strong +parties of marines and Sikhs, for both the disposition to loot and the +facilities for looting are very great. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER II + +A Delightful Climate--Imprisoned Fever Germs--"Pidjun" English--Hong +Kong Harbor--Prosperity of Hong Kong--Rampageous Criminal +Classes--Circumspice! + + +THE PALACE, VICTORIA, December 29. + + +I like and admire Victoria. It is so pleasant to come in from the dark, +misty, coarse, loud-tongued Pacific, and the December colorlessness of +Japan to bright blue waters crisped by a perpetual north wind--to the +flaming hills of the Asian mainland, which are red in the early +morning, redder in the glow of noon, and pass away in the glorious +sunsets through ruby and vermilion into an amethyst haze, deepening +into the purple of a tropic night, when the vast expanse of sky which +is seen from this high elevation is literally one blaze of stars. +Though they are by no means to be seen in perfection, there are here +many things that I love,--bananas, poinsettias, papayas, tree-ferns, +dendrobiums, dracenas, the scarlet passion-flower, the spurious banyan, +date, sago, and traveler's palms, and numberless other trees and +shrubs, children of the burning sun of the tropics, carefully watered +and tended, but exotics after all. + +It is a most delightful winter climate. There has not been any rain for +three months, nor will there be any for two more; the sky is cloudless, +the air dry and very bracing. It is cold enough at night for fires, +and autumn clothing can be worn all the day long, for though the sun is +bright and warm, the shade temperature does not rise above 65 degrees, +and exercise is easy and pleasant. At night, even at a considerable +height, the lowest temperature is 40 degrees. It is impossible to +praise the climate too highly, with its bright sky, cool dry air, and +five months of rainlessness; but I should write very differently if I +came here four months later, when the mercury ranges from 80 degrees to +90 degrees both by day and night, and the cloudy sky rests ever on the +summits of the island peaks, and everything is moist, and the rain +comes down continually in torrents, rising in hot vapors when the sun +shines, and people become limp and miserable, and their possessions +limp and moldy, and insect life revels, and human existence spent in a +vapor bath becomes burdensome. But the city is healthy to those who +live temperately. It has, however, a remarkable peculiarity. Standing +in and on rock, one fancies that fever would not be one of its +maladies, but the rock itself seems to have imprisoned fever germs in +some past age, for whenever it is quarried or cut into for foundations, +or is disturbed in any way, fever immediately breaks out. + +Victoria is a beautiful city. It reminds me of Genoa, but that most of +its streets are so steep as to be impassable for wheeled vehicles, and +some of them are merely grand flights of stairs, arched over by dense +foliaged trees, so as to look like some tropical, colored, deep +colonnades. It has covered green balconies with festoons of creepers, +lofty houses, streets narrow enough to exclude much of the sun, people +and costumes of all nations, processions of Portuguese priests and +nuns; and all its many-colored life is seen to full advantage under +this blue sky and brilliant sun. + +This house is magnificently situated, and very large and airy. Part is +the Episcopal Palace, and the rest St. Paul's College, of which Bishop +Burdon is warden. The mountainous grounds are beautiful, and the +entrance blazes with poinsettias. There are no female servants, but +Chinese men perform all the domestic service satisfactorily. I learn +that for a Chinese servant to appear without his skull-cap is rude, but +to appear with his pig-tail wound round his head instead of pendent, is +a gross insult! The "Pidjun English" is revolting, and the most +dignified persons demean themselves by speaking it. The word "pidjun" +appears to refer generally to business. "My pidjun" is undoubtedly "my +work." How the whole English-speaking community, without distinction of +rank, has come to communicate with the Chinese in this baby talk is +extraordinary. + +If you order a fire you say something like this: "Fire makee, chop, +chop, here, makee fire number one," chop being quick, and number one +good, or "first-class." If a servant tells you that some one has called +he says, "One piecey manee here speak missey," and if one asks who he +is, he very likely answers, "No sabe," or else, "Number one, tink," by +which he implies that the visitor is, in his opinion, a gentleman. +After the courteous, kindly Japanese, the Chinese seem indifferent, +rough and disagreeable, except the well-to-do merchants in the shops, +who are bland, complacent, and courteous. Their rude stare and the way +they hustle you in the streets and shout their "pidjun" English at you +is not attractive. Then they have an ugly habit of speaking of us as +barbarian or foreign devils. Since I knew the word I have heard it +several times in the streets, and Bishop Burdon says that before his +servants found out that he knew Chinese, they were always speaking of +him and Mrs. Burdon by this very ugly name. + +[Victoria is, or should be, well known, so I will not describe its +cliques, its boundless hospitalities, its extravagances in living, its +quarrels, its gayeties, its picnics, balls, regattas, races, dinner +parties, lawn tennis parties, amateur theatricals, afternoon teas, and +all its other modes of creating a whirl which passes for pleasure or +occupation. Rather, I would write of some of the facts concerning this +very remarkable settlement, which is on its way to being the most +important British colony in the Far East. + +Moored to England by the electric cable, and replete with all the +magnificent enterprises and luxuries of English civilization, with a +population of one hundred and sixty thousand, of which only seven +thousand, including soldiers and sailors, are white, and possessing the +most imposing city of the East on its shores, the colony is only forty +years old; the island of Hong Kong having been ceded to England in +1841, while its charter only bears the date of 1843. The island, which +is about eleven miles long, from two to five broad, and with an area of +about twenty-nine square miles, is one of a number situated off the +south-eastern coast of China at the mouth of the Canton river, ninety +miles from Canton. It is one of the many "thieves' islands," and one of +the first necessities of the administration was to clear out the hordes +of sea and river pirates which infested its very intricate +neighborhood. It lies just within the tropic of Cancer in lat. 22 +degrees N. and long. 114 degrees E. The Ly-ee-moon Pass, the narrow +strait which separates it from the Chinese mainland, is only half a +mile wide. Kowloon, on the mainland, an arid peninsula, on which some +of the Hong Kongese have been attempting to create a suburb, was ceded +to England in 1861. The whole island of Hong Kong is picturesque. The +magnificent harbor, which has an area of ten square miles, is +surrounded by fantastic, broken mountains from three thousand to four +thousand feet high, and the magnificent city of Victoria extends for +four miles along its southern shore, with its six thousand houses of +stone and brick and the princely mansions and roomy bungalows of its +merchants and officials scrambling up the steep sides of the Peak, the +highest point of the island, carrying verdure and shade with them. Damp +as its summer is, the average rainfall scarcely exceeds seventy-eight +inches, but it is hotter than Singapore in the hot season, though the +latter is under eighty miles from the Equator. + +The causes by which this little island, which produces nothing, has +risen into first-rate importance among our colonies are, that Victoria, +with its magnificent harbor, is a factory for our Chinese commerce and +offers unrivaled facilities for the military and naval forces which are +necessary for the protection not only of that commerce but of our +interests in the far East. It is hardly too much to say that it is the +naval and commercial terminus of the Suez Canal. Will it be believed +that the amount of British and foreign tonnage annually entering and +leaving the port averages two millions of tons? and that the number of +native vessels trading to it is about fifty-two thousand, raising the +total ascertained tonnage to upward of three millions and a half, or +half a million tons in excess of Singapore? To this must be added +thousands of smaller native boats of every build and rig trading to +Hong Kong, not only from the Chinese coasts and rivers, but from Siam, +Japan, and Cochin China. Besides the "P. and O.," the Messageries +Maritimes, the Pacific Mail Company, the Eastern and Australian Mail +Company, the Japanese "Mitsu Bichi" Mail Company, etc., all regular +mail lines, it has a number of lines of steamers trading to England, +America, and Germany, with local lines both Chinese and English, and +lines of fine sailing clippers, which, however, are gradually falling +into disuse, owing to the dangerous navigation of the China seas, and +the increasing demand for speed. + +Victorian firms have almost the entire control of the tea and silk +trade, and Victoria is the centre of the trade in opium, sugar, flour, +salt, earthenware, oil, amber, cotton, and cotton goods, sandal-wood, +ivory, betel, vegetables, live stock, granite, and much else. The much +abused term "emporium of commerce" may most correctly be applied to it. + +It has five docks, three slips, and every requisite for making +extensive repairs for ships of war and merchantmen. + +It has telegraphic communication with the whole civilized world, and +its trade is kept thereby in a continual fever. + +It has a large garrison, for which it pays to England 20,000 pounds a +year. Were it not for this force, its six hundred and fifty policemen, +of whom only one hundred and ten are Europeans, might not be able to +overawe even as much as they do the rowdy and ruffianly elements of its +heterogeneous population. As it is, the wealthier foreign residents, +for the security of their property, are obliged to supplement the +services of the public caretakers by employing private watchmen, who +patrol their grounds at night. It must be admitted that the criminal +classes are very rampageous in Victoria, whether from undue and unwise +leniency in the treatment of crime, or whether from the extraordinary +mass of criminals to which our flag affords security is not for a +stranger to say, though the general clamor raised when I visited the +great Chinese prison in Canton, "I wish I were in your prison in Hong +Kong," and my own visit to the Victoria prison, render the former +suspicion at least permissible. + +Hong Kong possesses the usual establishment of a Crown Colony, and the +government is administered by a Governor, aided by a Legislative +Council, of which he is the President, and which is composed of the +Chief Justice, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the +Treasurer, and four unofficial members, nominated by the Crown on the +Governor's recommendation. + +The enormous preponderance of the mixed Oriental population is a source +of some difficulty, and it is not easy by our laws to punish and +destroy a peculiarly hateful form of slavery which is recognized by +Chinese custom, and which has attained gigantic proportions in +Victoria. There is an immense preponderance of the masculine element, +nearly six to one among the Europeans, and among the Orientals the men +are nearly two and a half times as numerous as the women. + +As Victoria is a free port, it is impossible to estimate the value of +its imports and exports, but its harbor, full of huge merchantmen, and +craft of all nations, its busy wharves, its crowd of lighters loading +and unloading by day and night, its thronged streets and handsome +shops, its huge warehouses, packed with tea, silk, and all the costly +products of the East, and its hillsides terraced with the luxurious +houses of its merchants, all say, "Circumspice, these are better than +statistics!"] + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER III + +The S.S. Kin Kiang--First View of Canton--The Island of +Shameen--England in Canton--The Tartar City--Drains and +Barricades--Canton at Night--Street Picturesqueness--Ghastly +Gifts--Oriental Enchantments--The Examination Hall + + +S.S. "KIN KIANG," December 30. + +You will remember that it is not very long since a piratical party of +Chinese, shipping as steerage passengers on board one of these Hong +Kong river steamers, massacred the officers and captured the boat. On +board this great, white, deck-above-deck American steamer there is but +one European passenger beside myself, but there are four hundred and +fifty second-class passengers, Chinamen, with the exception of a few +Parsees, all handsomely dressed, nearly all smoking, and sitting or +lying over the saloon deck up to the saloon doors. In the steerage +there are fifteen hundred Chinese steerage passengers, all men. The +Chinese are a noisy people, their language is inharmonious, and the +lower class male voices, at least, are harsh and coarse. The fifteen +hundred men seem to be all shouting at once, and the din which comes up +through the hatchways is fearful. This noisy mass of humanity is +practically imprisoned below, for there is a heavy iron grating +securely padlocked over each exit, and a European, "armed to the +teeth," stands by each, ready to shoot the first man who attempts to +force it. In this saloon there is a stand of six rifles with bayonets, +and four revolvers, and, as we started, a man carefully took the +sheaths off the bayonets, and loaded the firearms with ball cartridge. + + +Canton, January 1, 1879.--The Canton river for the ninety miles up here +has nothing interesting about it. Soon after leaving Hong Kong the +country becomes nearly a dead level, mainly rice-swamps varied by +patches of bananas, with their great fronds torn to tatters by the +prevailing strong breeze. A very high pagoda marks Whampoa, once a +prosperous port, but now, like Macao, nearly deserted. An hour after +disgorging three boat loads of Chinamen at Whampoa, we arrived at the +beginning of Canton, but it took more than half an hour of cautious +threading of our way among junks, sampans, house-boats, and +slipper-boats, before we moored to the crowded and shabby wharf. If my +expectations of Canton had been much raised they would certainly have +been disappointed, for the city stands on a perfectly level site, and +has no marked features within or around it except the broad and +bridgeless tidal river which sweeps through it at a rapid rate. In the +distance are the White-Cloud hills, which were painted softly in +amethyst on a tender green sky, and nearer are some rocky hills, which +are red at all hours of daylight. Boats and masts conceal the view of +the city from the river to a great extent, but even when from a vantage +ground it is seen spread out below, it is so densely packed, its +streets are so narrow, and its open spaces so few, that one almost +doubts whether the million and a half of people attributed to it are +really crowded within the narrow area. From the river, and indeed from +any point of view, Canton is less imposing even than Tokiyo. Few +objects rise above the monotonous level, and the few are unimpressive. +There are two or three pagodas looking like shot towers. There is a +double-towered Romish cathedral of great size, not yet finished. There +is the "Nine-storied pagoda." But in truth the most prominent objects +from the river are the "godowns" of the pawnbrokers, lofty, square +towers of gray brick which dominate the city, play a very important +part in its social economy, and are very far removed from those +establishments with the trinity of gilded balls, which hide themselves +shamefacedly away in our English by-streets. At one part of the +riverside there are some substantial looking foreign houses among +trees, on the site of the foreign factories of former days, but they +and indeed all else are hidden by a crowd of boats, a town of boats, a +floating suburb. Indeed, boats are my earliest and strongest +impressions of what on my arrival I was hasty enough to think a mean +city. It is not only along the sides of the broad Pearl river, but +along the network of innumerable canals and creeks which communicate +with it, that they are found. + +These boats, the first marvel of a marvelous city, have come between me +and my landing. When the steamer had disgorged her two thousand +passengers, Mr. Mackrill Smith, whose guest I am, brought me in a +bamboo chair, carried by two coolies, through a covered and crowded +street of merchandise six feet wide, to Shameen, the island in the +river on which the foreigners reside; most of the missionary community, +however, living in the buildings on the site of the old factory farther +down. + +I am now domiciled on Shameen, a reclaimed mud flat, in the beautiful +house belonging to the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. This island, +which has on the one side the swift flowing Canton river, with its ever +shifting life, has on the other a canal, on which an enormous +population lives in house boats, moored stem and stern, without any +space between them. A stone bridge with an iron gate gives access into +one of the best parts of Canton, commercially speaking; but all the +business connected with tea, silk, and other productions, which is +carried on by such renowned firms as Jardine, Matheson & Co., the +Dents, the Deacons, and others, is transacted in these handsome +dwellings of stone or brick, each standing in its tropical garden, with +a wall or ornamental railing or bamboo hedge surrounding it, but +without any outward sign of commerce at all. The settlement, insular +and exclusive, hears little and knows less of the crowded Chinese city +at its gates. It reproduces English life as far as possible, and adds a +boundless hospitality of its own, receiving all strangers who are in +any way accredited, and many who are not. A high sea-wall with a broad +concrete walk, shaded by banyan trees, runs round it, a distance of a +mile and a quarter. It is quite flat and covered with carefully kept +grass, intersected with concrete walks and banyan avenues, the tropical +gardens of the rich merchants giving variety and color. + +The community at present consists of forty-five people--English, +French, and German. The establishment of the electric telegraph has not +only favored business, but has enabled some of the senior partners of +the old firms to return home, leaving very junior partners or senior +clerks here, who receive their instructions from England. +Consequently, in some of these large family dwellings there are only +young men "keeping bach." There are a pretty English church, a club +bungalow, a book club, lawn tennis and croquet grounds, and a small +hall used for dancing, lectures and amateur theatricals. No wheeled +vehicle larger than a perambulator ever disturbs the quiet. People who +go into the city are carried in chairs, or drop down the river in their +luxurious covered boats, but for exercise they mostly walk on the bund, +and play croquet or lawn tennis. In this glorious weather the island +is very charming. It is possible to spend the whole year here, as the +tidal breezes modify the moist heat of summer; but the English children +look pale and languid even now. + +Canton, January 4.--If I were to describe Canton, and had time for it, +my letters would soon swell to the size of Archdeacon Gray's quaint and +fascinating book, "Walks in Canton;" but I have no time, and must +content myself with brief sketches of two or three things which have +greatly interested me, and of the arrangement and management of the +city; putting the last first, if I am able "to make head or tail of +it," and to cram its leading features into a letter. + +Viewing Canton from the "five-storied pagoda," or from the dignified +elevation of a pawn tower, it is apparent that it is surrounded by a +high wall, beyond which here and there are suburban villages, some +wealthy and wood-embosomed, others mean and mangy. The river divides it +from a very populous and important suburb. Within the city lies the +kernel of the whole, the Tartar city, occupied by the garrison and a +military colony numbering about twenty thousand persons. This +interesting area is walled round, and contains the residence of the +Tartar General, and the consulates of the great European Powers. It is +well wooded and less closely built than the rest of Canton. Descending +from any elevation one finds oneself at once involved at any and every +point in a maze of narrow, crowded streets of high brick and stone +houses, mostly from five to eight feet wide. These streets are covered +in at the height of the house roofs by screens of canvas matting, or +thin boards, which afford a pleasant shade, and at the same time let +the sunbeams glance and trickle among the long, pendent signboards and +banners which swing aloft, and upon the busy, many-colored, jostling +throng below. + +Every street is paved with large slabs of granite, and under each of +the massive foot-ways (for carriage-ways there are none) there is a +drain for carrying off the rain-water, which is then conveyed into six +large culverts, from them into four creeks which intersect the city, +and thence into the river. These large drains are supervised by the +"prefect," who is bound by an ancient law to have them thoroughly +cleansed every autumn, while each of the small drains is cleansed by +the orders and at the expense of the "vestry" of the street under which +it passes. This ancient sanitary law, like many other of the admirable +laws of this empire, is said to be by no means punctiliously carried +out; and that Canton is a very healthy city, and that pestilences of +any kind rarely gain a footing in it, may be attributed rather to the +excellent plan of sending out the garbage of the city daily to +fertilize the gardens and fields of the neighborhood, than to the +vigilance of the municipal authorities. + +There are heavy and ancient gates or barricades which enclose each +street, and which are locked at night, only to be opened by favor of +the watchmen who guard them. Their closing brings to an end the busy +street life, and at 10 P.M. Canton, cut up into small sections, barred +out from each other, is like a city of the dead. Each gate watchman is +appointed and paid by the "vestry" of the street in which he keeps +guard. They wear uniform, but are miserable dilapidated-looking +creatures, and I have twice seen one fast asleep. In the principal +streets night watchmen are stationed in watch-towers, which consist of +small mat huts, placed on scaffolds raised far above the house-tops, on +bamboo poles bound together with strong cords. These men are on the +look-out for armed bands of robbers, but specially for fire. They are +provided with tom-toms and small gongs on which to proclaim the hours +of the night, but, should fire arise, a loud, rapid, and incessant +beating of the gong gives the alarm to all the elevated brotherhood in +turn, who at the same time, by concerted signals, inform the citizens +below of the ward and street in which the fire has originated. In each +principal street there is a very large well, covered with granite +slabs, with its exact position denoted on a granite slab on the +adjoining wall. These wells, which are abundant reservoirs, are never +opened except in case of fire. + +Besides these watchmen, eleven hundred military constabulary are +answerable for the good order of the "new city" and its suburbs, and a +thousand more, called the Governor's brigade, garrison the outer gates +in the city wall and several interior guard-houses, all the inner gates +being garrisoned by Tartar troops. Canton is divided into thirty-six +wards, under twelve officers in summer, but in winter, as now, when +burglars are supposed to be more on the alert, this number is +increased. Each officer having soldiers under him traverses at +intervals during the night every street under his jurisdiction, and +these armed followers, whether to intimidate criminals or to show their +vigilance, are in the habit of discharging their old-fashioned +matchlocks and gingalls as they patrol. In consequence of so many +precautions, which are carried out very thoroughly, fires and +burglaries are much minimized, and the proverb "as safe as Canton" +appears to have a substantial foundation. The barricaded streets at +night have an eerie solemnity about them. One night, my present +hostess, Mrs. H., and I prowled through some of them quite unattended, +on our way back from a friend's dwelling, roused up the watchmen to +unlock and unbar the gates, saw no other people astir, went down one of +the water streets, hailed a boat, and were deposited close to the door +of our own abode about midnight; such an event being quite of common +occurrence in this quarter. + +In the streets the roofs of the houses and shops are rarely, if ever, +regular, nor are the houses themselves arranged in a direct line, This +queer effect results from queer causes. Every Chinese house is built on +the principles of geomancy, which do not admit of straight lines, and +were these to be disregarded the astrologers and soothsayers under +whose auspices all houses are erected, predict fearful evils to the +impious builders. There are few open spaces in Canton, and these are +decorated, not with statues, but with monumental arches of brick, red +sandstone, or gray granite, which are put up as memorials of virtuous +men and women, learned or aged men, and specially dutiful sons or +daughters. Such memorials are erected by citizens, and, in some cases, +by Imperial sanction or decree. + +The public buildings and temples, though they bear magnificent names, +are extremely ugly, and are the subjects of slow but manifest decay, +while the streets of shops exceed in picturesqueness everything I have +ever seen. Much of this is given by the perpendicular sign boards, +fixed or hanging, upon which are painted on an appropriate background +immense Chinese characters in gold, vermilion, or black. Two or three +of these belong to each shop, and set forth its name and the nature of +the goods which are to be purchased at it. The effect of these boards +as the sun's rays fall upon them here and there is fascinating. The +interiors of the shops are lofty, glass lamps hang from the ceilings +and large lanterns above every door, and both are painted in bright +colors, with the characters signifying happiness, or with birds, +butterflies, flowers, or landscapes. The shop wall which faces the door +invariably has upon it a gigantic fresco or portrait of the tutelary +god of the building, or a sheet of red paper on which the characters +forming his name are placed, or the character Shan, which implies all +gods, and these and the altars below are seen from the street. There is +a recess outside each shop, and at dusk the joss-sticks burning in +these fill the city with the fragrance of incense. + +As there are streets of shops and trades, so there are streets of +dwelling-houses, but even the finest of these present a miserable +appearance to the passers-by, for all one can see is a lofty and +dimly-lighted stone vestibule, furnished with carved ebony chairs with +marble seats and backs, and not infrequently with gigantic coffins +placed on end, the gift of pious juniors to their seniors! A porter +stands in this vestibule ready to open the lofty triple gate which +admits to the courtyard of the interior. Many Chinese mansions contain +six or seven courtyards, each with its colonnade, drawing, dining, and +reception rooms, and at the back of all there is a flower garden +adorned with rockeries, fish-ponds, dwarf trees, and miniature pagodas +and bridges. + +The streets in which the poor dwell are formed of low, small, dark, and +dirty houses, of two or three rooms each. The streets of dwellings are +as mean and ugly as those of shops are brilliant and picturesque. + +This is a meagre outline of what may be called the anatomy of this +ancient city, which dates from the fourth century B.C., when it was +walled only by a stockade of bamboo and mud, but was known by the name +of "the martial city of the south," changed later into "the city of +rams." At this date it has probably greater importance than it ever +had, and no city but London impresses me so much with the idea of solid +wealth and increasing prosperity. + +My admiration and amazement never cease. I grudge the hours that I am +obliged to spend in sleep; a week has gone like half a day, each hour +heightening my impressions of the fascination and interest of Canton, +and of the singular force and importance of the Chinese. Canton is +intoxicating from its picturesqueness, color, novelty and movement. +To-day I have been carried eighteen miles through and round it, +reveling the whole time in its enchantments, and drinking for the first +time of that water of which it may truly be said that who so drinks +"shall thirst again"--true Orientalism. As we sat at mid-day at the +five-storied pagoda, which from a corner of the outer wall overlooks +the Tartar city, and ever since, through this crowded week, I have +wished that the sun would stand still in the cloudless sky, and let me +dream of gorgeous sunlight, light without heat, of narrow lanes rich in +color, of the glints of sunlight on embroideries and cloth of gold, +resplendent even in the darkness, of hurrying and colored crowds in the +shadow, with the blue sky in narrow strips high above, of gorgeous +marriage processions, and the "voice of the bridegroom and the voice of +the bride," of glittering trains of mandarins, of funeral processions, +with the wail of hired mourners clad in sackcloth and ashes, of the +Tartar city with its pagodas, of the hills of graves, great cities of +the dead outside the walls, fiery-red under the tropic blue, of the +"potter's field" with its pools of blood and sacks of heads, and +crosses for crucifixion, now, as on Calvary, symbolical of shame alone, +of the wonderful river life, and all the busy, crowded, costumed hurry +of the streets, where blue banners hanging here and there show that in +those houses death has stilled some busy brains forevermore. And I +should like to tell you of the Buddhist and Confucian temples; of the +monastery garden, which is the original of the famous "Willow Pattern;" +of the great Free Dispensary which is to rival that of the Medical +Mission; of the asylums for lepers, foundlings, the blind, aged men and +aged women, dating from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, +originally well conceived and noble institutions, but reduced into +inefficiency and degradation by the greed and corruption of generations +of officials; of the "Beggars' Square" and beggars' customs; of the +trades, and of the shops with their splendors; of the Examination Hall +with its streets numbering eleven thousand six hundred and +seventy-three cells for the candidates for the literary honors which +are the only road to office and distinction in China, but Canton +deserves a volume, and Archdeacon Gray has written one! + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER IV + +"Faithful unto Death"--"Foreign Devils"--Junks and Boats--Chinese +Luxury--Canton Afloat--An Al Fresco Lunch-Light and Color--A Mundane +Disappointment--Street Sights and Sounds--Street Costume--Food and +Restaurants--A Marriage Procession--Temples and Worship--Crippled Feet + + +REV. B. C. HENRY'S, CANTON, January 6. + +In the week in which I have been here I have given myself up to +ceaseless sight-seeing. Almost the first sight that I saw on arriving +in this quarter, which is in Canton itself, was a number of Christian +refugees, old men, women, and children, who, having fled from a bloody +persecution which is being waged against Christianity about ninety +miles from Canton, are receiving shelter in the compound of the German +mission. It was late in the evening, and these poor refugees, who had +sacrificed much for their faith and had undergone great terror, were +singing hymns, and reading and worshipping in Chinese. In the place +from which they came a Christian of wealth wished to build a church, +and last week he was proceeding to do so, when the heathen, instigated +by the district mandarin, seized upon him and four other Christians, +and when he would neither say the word nor make the obeisance which is +regarded as equivalent to denying Christ, they wrapped him in cotton +wadding soaked in oil, tied him to a cross, and burned him, no +extremity of torture availing to shake his constancy. They cut off the +arms and legs of the four other persons, tied crosses to the trunks, +and then burned them. This deed, done so near Canton, has caused great +horror among the foreigners both here and at Hong Kong, and the deepest +sympathy is felt both with the converts and the missionary priests. In +the sympathy with the heroism and sufferings of those who have been +"faithful unto death," all the Protestant missionaries join heartily, +as in the belief that these victims are reckoned among "the noble army +of martyrs." It is estimated that there are seven hundred and fifty +thousand Romish Christians in China, many of them of the third or +fourth generation of Christians, and in some places far in the interior +there are whole villages of them. The Portuguese and French missionary +priests who devote themselves for life to this work, dress, eat, and +live as Chinamen, and are credited with great devotion. + +It is most interesting to be brought by the spectacle of these poor +refugees so near to the glory and the woe of martyrdom, and to hear +that the martyr spirit can still make men "obedient unto death, even +the death of the cross." A placard was posted up some time ago calling +for a general massacre of the native Christians on Christmas Day. It +attributes every vice to the "Foreign Devils," and says that, "to +preserve the peace and purity of Chinese Society, those whom they have +corrupted must be cut off." One phrase of this placard is, "The +wickedness of these foreign devils is so great that even pigs and dogs +would refuse to eat their flesh!" + +Mr. and Mrs. Henry speak Chinese, and are both fearless, and familiar +with the phases of Canton life. Of all the places I have seen, Canton +is the most overwhelmingly interesting, fascinating, and startling. +"See Canton and die," I would almost say, and yet I can give no idea of +all that has taken such a strong hold of me. I should now be quite +content to see only the manifold street life, with its crowds, +processions, and din, and the strange and ever-shifting water life, +altogether distinct from the land life. The rice-paper pictures give a +very good idea of the forms and colors of the boats, but the thousands +of them, and the rate at which they are propelled, are altogether +indescribable, either by pen or pencil. + +There are junks with big eyes on either side of the stem, "without +which they could not see their way,"* and with open bows with two +six-pounders grinning through them. Along the sides there are ten +guns, and at the lofty, square, quaint, broad, carved stern, two more. +This heavy armament is carried nominally for protection against +pirates, but its chief use is for the production of those stunning +noises which Chinamen delight in on all occasions. In these helpless +and unwieldy-looking vessels which are sailed with an amount of noise +and apparent confusion which is absolutely shocking to anyone used to +our strict nautical discipline, the rudder projects astern six feet and +more, the masts are single poles, the large sails of fine matting; and +what with their antique shape, rich coloring, lattice work and carving, +they are the most picturesque craft afloat. Then there are "passage +boats" from the whole interior network of rivers and canals, each +district having its special rig and build, recognizable at once by the +initiated. These sail when they can, and when they can't are propelled +by large sweeps, each of which is worked by six men who stand on a +platform outside. These boats are always heavily laden, crowded with +passengers and "armed to the teeth" as a protection against river +pirates, and they carry crews of from thirty-five to fifty men. +[*These eyes are really charms, but the above is the explanation given +to "griffins."] + +At some distance below Shameen there are moored tiers of large, +two-storied house boats, with entrance doors seven feet high, always +open, and doorways of rich wood carving, through which the interiors +can be seen with their richly decorated altars, innumerable colored +lamps, chairs, and settees of carved ebony with white marble let into +the seats and backs, embroidered silk hangings, gilded mirrors and +cornices, and all the extravagances of Chinese luxury. Many of them +have gardens on their roofs. These are called "flower boats," and are +of noisy and evil reputation. Then there are tiers of three-roomed, +comfortable house boats to let to people who make their homes on the +water in summer to avoid the heat. "Marriage boats," green and gold, +with much wood carving and flags, and auspicious emblems of all kinds; +river junks, with their large eyes and carved and castellated sterns +lying moored in treble rows; duck boats, with their noisy inmates; +florists' boats, with platforms of growing plants for sale; two-storied +boats or barges, with glass sides, floating hotels, in which evening +entertainments are given with much light and noise; restaurant boats, +much gilded, from which proceeds an incessant beating of gongs; washing +boats, market boats, floating shops, which supply the floating +population with all marketable commodities; country boats of fantastic +form coming down on every wind and tide; and, queerest of all, "slipper +boats," looking absurdly like big shoes, which are propelled in and out +among all the heavier craft by standing in the stern. + +One of the most marvelous features of Canton is the city of house +boats, floating and stationary, in which about a quarter of a million +people live, and it may with truth be added are born and die. This +population is quite distinct in race from the land population of +Canton, which looks down upon it as a pariah and alien caste. These +house boats, some of which have a single bamboo circular roof, others +two roofs of different heights, and which include several thousand of +the marvelous "slipper boats," lie in tiers along the river sides, and +packed closely stem and stern along the canals, forming bustling and +picturesque water streets. Many of the boats moored on the canals are +floating shops, and do a brisk trade, one end of the boat being the +shop, the other the dwelling-house. As the "slipper boats" are only +from fifteen to twenty feet long, it may be imagined, as their breadth +is strictly proportionate, that the accommodation for a family is +rather circumscribed, yet such a boat is not only the home of a married +pair and their children, but of the eldest son with his wife and +children, and not unfrequently of grandparents also! The bamboo roofs +slide in a sort of telescope fashion, and the whole interior space can +be inclosed and divided. The bow of the boat, whether large or small, +is always the family joss house; and the water is starred at night with +the dull, melancholy glimmer, fainter, though redder than a glow-worm's +light, of thousands of burning joss-sticks, making the air heavy with +the odor of incense. Unlike the houses of the poor on shore, the house +boats are models of cleanliness, and space is utilized and economized +by adaptations more ingenious than those of a tiny yacht. These boats, +which form neat rooms with matted seats by day, turn into beds at +night, and the children have separate "rooms." The men go on shore +during the day and do laborer's work, but the women seldom land, are +devoted to "housewifely" duties, and besides are to be seen at all +hours of day and night flying over the water, plying for hire at the +landings, and ferrying goods and passengers, as strong as men, and +clean, comely, and pleasant-looking; one at the stern and one at the +bow, sending the floating home along with skilled and sturdy strokes. +They are splendid boat-women, and not vociferous. These women don't +bandage their feet. + +Their dress is dark brown or blue cotton, and consists of wide trousers +and a short, loose, sleeved upper garment up to the throat. The feet +are big and bare, the hair is neat and drawn back from the face into a +stiff roll or chignon, and they all wear jade-stone earrings. You see a +woman cooking or sewing in most housewifely style in one of these +"slipper boats;" but if you hail it, she is plying the heavy oar in one +moment, and as likely as not with a wise-looking baby on her back, +supported by a square piece of scarlet cloth embroidered in gold and +blue silks. Not one of this river population has yet received +Christianity. Very little indeed is known about them and their +customs, but it is said that their morals are low, and that when +infanticide was less discouraged than it is now, the river was the +convenient grave of many of their newly-born female children. I spent +most of one afternoon alone in one of these boats, diving into all +canals and traversing water streets, hanging on to junks and "passage +boats," and enjoying the variety of river life to the full. + +On another day I was carried eighteen miles through Canton on a chair +by four coolies, Mr. Smith and his brother walking the whole +distance--a great testimony to the invigorating influences of the +winter climate. As to locomotion, one must either walk or be carried. A +human being is not a heavy weight for the coolies, but it is +distressing to see that the shoulders of very many of them are +suffering from bony tumors, arising from the pressure of the poles. We +lunched in the open air upon a stone table under a banyan-tree at the +"Five-storied Pagoda" which forms the north-east corner of the great +wall of Canton, from which we looked down upon the singular vestiges of +the nearly forgotten Tartar conquest, the walled inner city of the +Tartar conquerors, containing the Tartar garrison, the Yamun (official +residence) of the Tartar governor, the houses of the foreign consuls, +and the unmixed Tartar population. The streets of this foreign kernel +of Canton are narrow and dirty, with mean, low houses with tiled roofs +nearly flat, and small courtyards, more like the houses of Western than +Eastern Asia. These Tartars do not differ much in physiognomy from the +Chinese. They are somewhat uglier, their stature is shorter, and the +women always wear three rings in their ears. I saw more women in a +single street in one day in the Tartar city than I have seen altogether +in the rest of Canton. + +The view from that corner of the wall (to my thinking) is beautiful, +the flaming red pagoda with its many roofs; the singularly picturesque +ancient gray wall, all ups and downs, watch-towers, and strongholds, +the Tartar city below, with the "flowery pagoda," the mosques, the +bright foliage of the banyan, and the feathery grace of the bamboo; +outside the wall the White-Cloud hills, and nearer ranges burrowed +everywhere for the dead, their red and pink and orange hues harmonized +by a thin blue veil, softening without obscuring, all lying in the +glory of the tropic winter noon-light without heat, color without +glare. Vanish all memories of grays and pale greens before this +vividness, this wealth of light and color! Color is at once music and +vitality, and after long deprivation I revel in it. This wall is a fine +old structure, about twenty feet wide and as many high, with a broad +pavement on which to walk, and a high platform on the outside, with a +battlement pierced for marksmen. It is hardly ever level for ten yards, +but follows the inequalities of the ground, and has picturesque towers +which occur frequently. It is everywhere draped with ferns, which do +not help to keep it in repair. The "Five-storied Pagoda" which flames +in red at one of its angles, is a striking feature in the view. As we +sat on stone seats by stone tables in what might be called its shadow, +under the cloudless heaven, with the pure Orientalism of the Tartar +city spread out at our feet, that unimaginable Orientalism which takes +one captive at once, and, like the first sight of a palm or a banana, +satisfies a longing of which one had not previously been conscious, a +mundane disappointment was severely felt. We had been, as the Americans +say, "exercising" for five hours in the bracing air, and I had long +been conscious of a craving for solid food which no Orientalism could +satisfy; and our dismay was great not only to find that the cook had +put up lunch for two when there were three hungry persons, but that the +chicken was so underdone that we could not eat it, and as we were not +starving enough to go and feed at a cat and dog or any other Chinese +restaurant, my hosts at least, who had not learned that bananas are +sustenance for men as well as "food for gods," were famished. As we ate +"clem pie" or "dined with Duke Humphrey," two water buffaloes, dark +gray ungainly forms, with little more hair than elephants, recurved +horns, and muzzles like deer, watched us closely, until a Tartar drove +them off. Such beasts, which stand in the water and plaster themselves +with mud like elephants, are the cows and draught oxen of China. Two +nice Chinese boys sat by us, and Mr. Smith practiced Chinese upon them, +till a man came out angrily and took them away, using many words, of +which we only understood "Barbarian Devils." The Cantonese are not +rude, however. A foreign lady can walk alone without being actually +molested, though as a rule Chinese women are not seen in the streets. I +have certainly seen half a million men, and not more than ninety women, +and those only of the poorest class. The middle and upper class women +never go out except in closed palanquins with screened windows, and are +nearly as much secluded as the women of India. + +Passing through the Tartar city and some streets of aristocratic +dullness, inhabited by wealthy merchants, we spent some hours in the +mercantile quarter; which is practically one vast market or bazaar, +thronged with masculine humanity from morning till night. Eight feet is +the width of the widest street but one, and between the passers-by, the +loungers, the people standing at stalls eating, or drinking tea, and +the itinerant venders of goods, it is one long push. Then, as you are +elbowing your feeble self among the big men, who are made truly +monstrous by their many wadded garments of silk and brocade, you are +terrified by a loud yell, and being ignominiously hustled out of the +way, you become aware that the crowd has yielded place to a procession, +consisting of several men in red, followed by a handsome closed +palanquin, borne by four, six, or eight bearers in red liveries, in +which reclines a stout, magnificently dressed mandarin, utterly +oblivious of his inferiors, the representative of high caste feeling +all the world over, either reading or absorbed, never taking any notice +of the crowds and glitter which I find so fascinating. More men in red, +and then the crowd closes up again, to be again divided by a plebeian +chair like mine, or by pariahs running with a coffin fifteen feet long, +shaped like the trunk of a tree, or by coolies carrying burdens slung +on bamboo poles, uttering deafening cries, or by a marriage procession +with songs and music, or by a funeral procession with weeping and +wailing, succeeding each other incessantly. All the people in the +streets are shouting at the top of their voices, the chair and baggage +coolies are yelling, and to complete the bewildering din the beggars at +every corner are demanding charity by striking two gongs together. + +Color riots in these narrow streets, with their high houses with +projecting upper stories, much carved and gilded, their deeply +projecting roofs or eaves tiled with shells cut into panes, which let +the light softly through, while a sky of deep bright blue fills up the +narrow slit between. Then in the shadow below, which is fitfully +lighted by the sunbeams, hanging from all the second stories at every +possible interval of height, each house having at least two, are the +richly painted boards of which I wrote before, from six to ten feet +long, some black, some heavily gilded, a few orange, but the majority +red and perfectly plain, except for the characters several inches long +down the middle of each, gold on the red and black, and black on the +gold and orange--these, with banners, festoons, and the bright blue +draperies which for a hundred days indicate mourning in a house, form +together a spectacle of street picturesqueness such as my eyes have +never before beheld. Then all the crowd is in costume, and such +costume! The prevailing color for the robe is bright blue. Even the +coolies put on such a one when not working, and all above the coolies +wear them in rich, ribbed silk, lined with silk of a darker shade. Over +this a sleeveless jacket of rich dark blue or puce brocade, plain or +quilted, is worn; the trousers, of which little is seen, being of +brocade or satin. The stockings are white, and the shoes, which are on +thick, white, canoe-shaped soles, are of black satin. The cap, which is +always worn, and quite on the back of the head, is of black satin, and +the pigtail, or plait of hair and purse silk mixed, hangs down nearly +to the bottom of the robe. Then the most splendid furs are worn, and +any number of quilted silk and brocade garments, one above another. And +these big, prosperous-looking men, who are so richly dressed, are only +the shopkeepers and the lower class of merchants. The mandarins and the +rich merchants seldom put their feet to the ground. + +The shops just now are filled with all sorts of brilliant and enticing +things in anticipation of the great festival of the New Year, which +begins on the 21st. At the New Year they are all closed, and the rich +merchants vie with each other in keeping them so; those whose shops are +closed the longest, sometimes even for two months, gaining a great +reputation for wealth thereby. Streets are given up to shops of one +kind. Thus there is the "Jade-Stone Street," entirely given up to the +making and sale of jade-stone jewelry, which is very costly, a single +bracelet of the finest stone and workmanship costing 600 pounds. There +is a whole street devoted to the sale of coffins; several in which +nothing is sold but furniture, from common folding tables up to the +costliest settees, bedsteads, and chairs of massive ebony carving; +chinaware streets, book and engraving streets, streets of silk shops, +streets of workers in brass, silver, and gold, who perform their +delicate manipulations before your eyes; streets of second-hand +clothing, where gorgeous embroideries in silk and gold can be bought +for almost nothing; and so on, every street blazing with colors, +splendid with costume, and abounding with wealth and variety. + +We went to a "dog and cat restaurant," where a number of richly dressed +men were eating of savory dishes made from the flesh of these animals. +There are thousands of butchers' and fishmongers' shops in Canton. At +the former there are always hundreds of split and salted ducks hanging +on lines, and pigs of various sizes roasted whole, or sold in joints +raw; and kids and buffalo beef, and numbers of dogs and cats, which, +though skinned, have the tails on to show what they are. I had some of +the gelatinous "birds'-nest" soup, without knowing what it was. It is +excellent; but as these nests are brought from Sumatra and are very +costly, it is only a luxury of the rich. The fish shops and stalls are +legion, but the fish looks sickening, as it is always cut into slices +and covered with blood. The boiled chrysalis of a species of silkworm +is exposed for sale as a great delicacy, and so are certain kinds of +hairless, fleshy caterpillars. + +In our peregrinations we came upon a Yamun, with its vestibule hung +with scarlet, the marriage color as well as the official color. Within +the door the "wedding garments" were hanging for the wedding guests, +scarlet silk crepe, richly embroidered. Some time later the bridal +procession swept through the streets, adding a new glory to the color +and movement. First marched a troop of men in scarlet, carrying scarlet +banners, each one emblazoned with the literary degrees of the bride's +father and grandfather. Then came ten heavily gilded, carved, and +decorated pavilions, containing the marriage presents, borne on poles +on the shoulders of servants; and after them the bride, carried in a +locked palanquin to the bridegroom's house, completely shrouded, the +palanquin one mass of decoration in gold and blue enamel, the carving +fully six inches deep; and the procession was closed by a crowd of men +in scarlet, carrying the bridegroom's literary degrees, with banners, +and instruments of music. It is the China of a thousand years ago, +unaltered by foreign contact. + +There are many beggars, and a "Beggars' Square," and the beggars have a +"king," and a regular guild, with an entrance fee of 1 pound. The +shopkeepers are obliged by law to give them a certain sum, and on the +occasion of a marriage or any other festivity, the giver sends a fee to +the "king," on the understanding that he keeps his lieges from +bothering the guests. They make a fearful noise with their two gongs. +There is one on the Shameen bridge who has a callosity like a horn on +his forehead, with which he strikes the pavement and produces an +audible thump. + +After the cleanliness, beauty, and good repair of the Japanese temples, +those of Canton impress me as being very repulsive. In Japan the people +preserve their temples for their exquisite beauty, and there are a +great many sincere Buddhists; but China is irreligious; a nation of +atheists or agnostics, or slaves of impious superstitions. In an +extended tramp among temples I have not seen a single male worshiper or +a thing to please the eye. The Confucian temples, to which mandarinism +resorts on certain days to bow before the Confucian tablets, are now +closed, and their courts are overgrown with weeds. The Buddhist temples +are hideous, both outside and inside, built of a crumbling red brick, +with very dirty brick floors, and the idols are frightful and tawdry. +We went to several which have large monasteries attached to them, with +great untidy gardens, with ponds for sacred fish and sacred tortoises, +and houses for sacred pigs, whose sacredness is shown by their +monstrous obesity. In the garden of the Temple of Longevity, the scene +of the "Willow Pattern," dirty and degraded priests, in spite of a +liberal douceur to one of them, set upon us, clamoring _kum-sha_, +attempting at the same time to shut us in, and the two gentlemen were +obliged to use force for our extrication. In the court of the "Temple +of Horrors," which is surrounded by a number of grated cells containing +life-sized figures of painted wood, undergoing at the hands of other +figures such hell-torments as are decreed for certain offences, there +is perpetually a crowd of fortune-tellers, and numbers of gaming tables +always thronged with men and boys. Each temple has an accretion of +smaller temples or shrines round it, but most, on ordinary occasions, +are deserted, and all are neglected and dirty. Where we saw worshipers +they were always women, some of whom looked very earnest, as they were +worshiping for sick children, or to obtain boys, or to insure the +fidelity of their husbands. "Worship" consists in many prostrations, in +the offering of many joss-sticks, and in burning large squares of +gilded paper, this being supposed to be the only way in which gold can +reach either gods or ancestors. One or two of the smaller temples were +thronged by women of the poorest class, whose earnest faces were very +touching. Idolatry is always pathetic. It is not, however, idol worship +which sits like a nightmare on China, and crushes atheists, agnostics, +and heathens alike, but ancestral worship, and the tyranny of the +astrologers and geomancers. + +I like the faces of the lower orders of Chinese women. They are both +strong and kind, and it is pleasant to see women not deformed in any +way, but clothed completely in a dress which allows perfect freedom of +action. The small-footed women are rarely seen out of doors; but the +sewing-woman at Mrs. Smith's has crippled feet, and I have got her +shoes, which are too small for the English baby of four months old! The +butler's little daughter, aged seven, is having her feet "bandaged" for +the first time, and is in torture, but bears it bravely in the hope of +"getting a rich husband." The sole of the shoe of a properly diminished +foot is about two inches and a half long, but the mother of this +suffering infant says, with a quiet air of truth and triumph, that +Chinese women suffer less in the process of being crippled than foreign +women do from wearing corsets! To these Eastern women the notion of +deforming the figure for the sake of appearance only is unintelligible +and repulsive. The crippling of the feet has another motive. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER IV (Continued) + +Outside the Naam-Hoi Prison--The Punishment of the Cangue--Crime and +Misery--A Birthday Banquet--"Prisoners and Captives"--Prison +Mortality--Cruelties and Iniquities--The Porch of the Mandarin--The +Judgment-Seat--The Precincts of the Judgment-Seat--An Aged +Claimant--Instruments of Punishment--The Question by Torture + + +Yesterday, after visiting the streets devoted to jade-stone workers, +jewelers, saddlers, dealers in musical instruments, and furriers, we +turned aside from the street called Sze-P'aai-Lau, into a small, dirty +square, on one side of which is a brick wall, with a large composite +quadruped upon it in black paint, and on the other the open entrance +gate of the Yamun, or official residence of the mandarin whose +jurisdiction extends over about half Canton, and who is called the +Naam-Hoi magistrate. Both sides of the road passing through this +square, and especially the open space in front of the gate which leads +into the courtyard of the Yamun, were crowded with unshaven, ragged, +forlorn, dirty wretches, heavily fettered round their ankles, and with +long heavy chains padlocked round their necks, attached, some to large +stones with holes in the centre, others to short thick bars of iron. +Two or three, into whose legs the ankle fetters had cut deep raw +grooves, were lying in a heap on a ragged mat in the corner; some were +sitting on stones, but most were standing or shifting their position +uneasily, dragging their weighty fetters about, making a jarring and +dismal clank with every movement. + +These unfortunates are daily exposed thus to the scorn and contempt of +the passers-by as a punishment for small thefts. Of those who were +seated on stones or who were kneeling attempting to support themselves +on their hands, most wore square wooden collars of considerable size, +weighing thirty pounds each, round their necks. These cangues are so +constructed that it is impossible for their wearers to raise their +hands to their mouths for the purpose of feeding themselves, and it +seemed to be a choice pastime for small boys to tantalize these +criminals by placing food tied to the end of sticks just within reach +of their mouths, and then suddenly withdrawing them. Apart from the +weight of their fetters, and of the cangue in which they are thus +pilloried, these men suffer much from hunger and thirst. They are thus +punished for petty larcenies. Surely "the way of transgressors is +hard." + +The bearers set me down at the gate of the Yamun among the festering +wretches dragging the heavy weights, the filthy and noisy beggars, the +gamblers, the fortune-tellers, the messengers of justice, and the +countless hangers-on of the prison and judgment-seat of the Naam-Hoi +magistrate, and passing through a part of the courtyard, and down a +short, narrow passage, enclosed by a door of rough wooden uprights, +above which is a tiger's head, with staring eyes and extended jaws, we +reached the inner entrance, close to which is a much blackened altar of +incense foul with the ashes of innumerable joss-sticks, and above it an +equally blackened and much worn figure of a tiger in granite. To this +beast, which is regarded by the Chinese as possessing virtue, and is +the tutelary guardian of Chinese prisons, the jailers offer incense and +worship night and day, with the object of securing its aid and +vigilance on their behalf. + +Close to the altar were the jailers' rooms, dark, dirty, and +inconceivably forlorn. Two of the jailers were lying on their beds +smoking opium. There we met the head jailer, of all Chinamen that I +have seen the most repulsive in appearance, manner, and dress; for his +long costume of frayed and patched brown silk looked as if it had not +been taken off for a year; the lean, brown hands which clutched the +prison keys with an instinctive grip were dirty, and the nails long and +hooked like claws, and the face, worse, I thought, than that of any of +the criminal horde, and scored with lines of grip and greed, was +saturated with opium smoke. This wretch pays for his place, and in a +few years will retire with a fortune, gains arising from bribes wrung +from prisoners and their friends by threats and torture, and by +defrauding them daily of a part of their allowance of rice. + +The prison, as far as I can learn, consists mainly of six wards, each +with four large apartments, the walls of these wards abutting upon each +other, and forming a parallelogram, outside of which is a narrow, paved +pathway, on which the gates of the wards open, and which has on its +outer side the high boundary wall of the prison. This jailer, this +fiend--made such by the customs of his country--took us down a passage, +and unlocking a wooden grating turned us into one of the aforesaid +"wards," a roughly paved courtyard about fifty feet long by twenty-four +broad, and remained standing in the doorway jangling his keys. + +If crime, vice, despair, suffering, filth and cruelty can make a hell +on earth, this is one. Over its dismal gateway may well be written, +"Whoso enters here leaves hope behind." + +This ward is divided into four "apartments," each one having a high +wall at the back. The sides next the court are formed of a double row +of strong wooden bars, black from age and dirt, which reach from the +floor to the roof, and let in light and air through the chinks between +them. The interiors of these cribs or cattle-pens are roughly paved +with slabs of granite, slimy with accumulations of dirt. In the middle +and round the sides are stout platforms of laths, forming a coarse, +black gridiron, on which the prisoners sit and sleep. + +In each ward there is a shrine of a deity who is supposed to have the +power of melting the wicked into contrition, and to this accursed +mockery, on his birthday, the prisoners are compelled to give a feast, +which is provided by the jailer out of his peculations from their daily +allowances. No water is allowed for washing, and the tubs containing +the allowance of foul drinking water are placed close to those which +are provided for the accumulation of night soil, etc., the contents of +which are only removed once a fortnight. Two pounds of rice is the +daily allowance of each prisoner, but this is reduced to about one by +the greed of the jailer. + +As we entered the yard, fifty or sixty men swarmed out from the dark +doorways which led into their dens, all heavily chained, with long, +coarse, matted hair hanging in wisps, or standing on end round their +death-like faces, in filthy rags, with emaciated forms caked with dirt, +and bearing marks of the torture; and nearly all with sore eyes, +swelled and bleeding lips, skin diseases, and putrefying sores. These +surrounded us closely, and as, not without a shudder, I passed through +them and entered one of their dens, they pressed upon us, blocking out +the light, uttering discordant cries, and clamoring with one voice, +_kum-sha_, i.e., backsheesh, looking more like demons than living men, +as abject and depraved as crime, despair, and cruelty can make them. + +Within, the blackness, the filth, the vermin, the stench, overpowering +even in this cool weather, the rubbish of rags and potsherds, cannot be +described. Here in semi-starvation and misery, with nameless cruelties +practised upon them without restraint, festering in one depraved mass, +are the tried and untried, the condemned, the guilty and innocent (?), +the murderer and pirate, the debtor and petty thief, all huddled +together, without hope of exit except to the adjacent judgment-seat, +with its horrors of "the question by torture," or to the "field of +blood" not far away. On earth can there be seen a spectacle more +hideous than these abject wretches, with their heavy fetters eating +into the flesh of their necks and ankles (if on their wasted skeletons, +covered with vermin and running sores, there is any flesh left), their +thick matted, bristly, black hair--contrasting with the shaven heads +of the free--the long, broken claws on their fingers and toes, the +hungry look in their emaciated faces, and their clamorous cry, +_kum-sha! kum-sha!_ They thronged round us clattering their chains, +one man saying that they had so little rice that they had to "drink the +foul water to fill themselves;" another shrieked, "Would I were in your +prison in Hong Kong," and this was chorused by many voices saying, "In +your prison at Hong Kong they have fish and vegetables, and more rice +than they can eat, and baths, and beds to sleep on; good, good is the +prison of your Queen!" but higher swelled the cry of _kum-sha_, and as +we could not give alms among several hundred, we eluded them, though +with difficulty, and, as we squeezed through the narrow door, +execrations followed us, and high above the heavy clank of the fetters +and the general din rose the cry, "Foreign Devils" (Fan-Kwai), as we +passed out into sunshine and liberty, and the key was turned upon them +and their misery. + +We went into three other large wards, foul with horror, and seething +with misery, and into a smaller one, nearly as bad, where fifteen women +were incarcerated, some of them with infants devoured by cutaneous +diseases. Several of them said that they are there for kidnapping, but +others are hostages for criminal relations who have not yet been +captured. This imprisonment of hostages is in accordance with a law +which authorizes the seizure and detention of persons or families +belonging to criminals who have fled or are in concealment. Such are +imprisoned till the guilty relative is brought to justice, for months, +years, or even for a lifetime. Two of these women told us that they had +been there for twenty years. + +There are likewise some single cells--hovels clustering under a wall, +in which criminals who can afford to pay the jailer for them may enjoy +the luxury of solitude. In each ward there is a single unfettered +man--always a felon--who by reason either of bribery or good conduct, +is appointed to the place of watchman or spy among his fellows in +crime. There is a turnkey for each ward, and these men, with the +unchained felons who act as watchmen, torture new arrivals in order to +force money from them, and under this process some die. + +In the outer wall of the prison there is a port-hole, just large enough +to allow of a body being pushed through it, for no malefactor's corpse +must be carried through the prison entrance, lest it should defile the +"Gate of Righteousness." There is also a hovel called a deadhouse, into +which these bodies are conveyed till a grave has been dug in some +"accursed place," by members of an "accursed" class. + +In addition to the large mortality arising from poor living and its +concomitant diseases, and the exhaustion produced by repeated torture, +epidemics frequently break out in the hot weather in those dark and +fetid dens, and oftentimes nearly clear out the prison. On such +occasions as many as four hundred have succumbed in a month. The number +of criminals who are executed from this prison, either as sentenced to +death, or as unable to bribe the officials any further, is supposed to +be about five hundred annually, and it is further supposed that half +this number die annually from starvation and torture. Sometimes one +hundred criminals are beheaded in an hour, as it is feared may be the +case on the Governor going out of office, when it is not unusual to +make a jail delivery in this fashion. + +In numerous cases, when there is a press of business before the +judgment-seat and a dead-lock occurs, accusers and witnesses are +huddled indiscriminately into the Naam-Hoi prison, sometimes for +months; and as the Governor or magistrate takes no measures to provide +for them during the interval, some of the poorer ones who have no +friends to bribe the jailer on their behalf, perish speedily. + +At night, in the dens which I have described, the hands of the +prisoners are chained to their necks, and even in the daytime only one +hand is liberated. I thought that many of the faces looked quite +imbecile. The jailer, as we went out, kept holding out his long-clawed, +lean, brown hand, muttering about his promised kum-sha, very fearful +lest the other turnkeys, who were still lying on their beds smoking +opium, should come in for any share of it. + +Mr. Henry,* my host and very able cicerone, is an American missionary, +and as such carries with him the gospel of peace on earth and good will +to men. Surely if the knowledge of Him who came "to preach liberty to +the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound," +were diffused and received here, and were spread with no niggard hand, +the prison of the Naam-Hoi magistrate, with its unspeakable horrors, +would go the way of all our dungeons and bedlams. +[*I cannot forbear adding a note on the extent of Mr. Henry's work in +1881. He preached 190 times in Chinese, and five times in English; held +fifty-two Bible-class meetings, and thirteen communion services; +baptized forty-five adults and eight children; traveled on mission work +by boat 2,540 miles, by chair, eighty miles, and on foot 670 miles; +visited 280 different towns and villages, and distributed 14,000 books, +receiving assistance in the latter work only on one short journey. His +life is a happy combination of American energy and Christian zeal.] + +But this is not all. From the prison it is only a short distance to the +judgment-seat, and passing once more through the "Gate of +Righteousness," we crossed a large court infested by gamblers and +fortune-tellers, and presented ourselves at a porch with great figures +painted on both its doors, and gay with the red insignia of +mandarinism, which is the entrance to the stately residence of the +Naam-Hoi magistrate, one of the subordinate dignitaries of Canton. In +the porch, as might have been in that of Pilate or Herod, were a number +of official palanquins, and many officials and servants of the mandarin +with red-crowned hats turned up from their faces, and privates of the +city guard, mean and shabby persons. One of these, for a kum-sha of +course, took us, not through the closed and curtained doors, but along +some passages, from which we passed through a circular brickwork tunnel +to the front of the judgment seat at which all the inmates of the +Naam-Hoi prison may expect sooner or later to be tried. My nerves were +rather shaken with what I had seen, and I trembled as a criminal might +on entering this chamber of horror. + +In brief, the judgment-seat is a square hall, open at one end, with a +roof supported on three columns. In the plan which I send, No. 1 is the +three pillars; No. 2, the instruments of torture ranged against the +wall; No. 3, four accused men wearing heavy chains, and kneeling with +their foreheads one inch from the ground, but not allowed to touch it. +These men are undergoing the mildest form of torture--protracted +kneeling without support in one position, with coarse sand under the +bare knees. No. 4 is a very old and feeble man, also kneeling, a +claimant in an ancient civil suit. No. 6 indicates a motley group of +notaries, servants, attendants, lictors, alas! The table (No. 5) is of +dark wood, covered with a shabby red cloth. On it are keys, petitions, +note-books, pens and ink, an official seal, and some small cups +containing tallies, which are thrown down to indicate the number of +blows which a culprit is to receive. This was all. + +In a high-backed ebony arm-chair, such as might be seen in any English +hall, sat the man who has the awful power of life and death in his +hands. It is almost needless to say that the judge, who was on the left +of the table, and who never once turned to the accused, or indeed to +anyone, was the only seated person. He was a young man, with fine +features, a good complexion, and a high intellectual brow, and had I +seen him under other circumstances, I should have thought him decidedly +prepossessing looking. He wore a black satin hat, a rich, blue brocade +robe, almost concealing his blue brocade trousers, and over this a +sleeved cloak of dark blue satin, lined with ermine fur. A look of +singular coldness and hauteur sat permanently on his face, over which a +flush of indescribable impatience sometimes passed. He is not of the +people, this lordly magistrate. He is one of the privileged literati. +His literary degrees are high and numerous. He has both place and +power. Little risk does he run of a review of his decisions or of an +appeal to the Emperor at Pekin. He spoke loud and with much rapidity +and emphasis, and often beat impatiently on the floor with his foot. He +used the mandarin tongue, and whether cognizant of the dialect of the +prisoners or not, he put all his questions through an interpreter, who +stood at his left, a handsomely dressed old man, who wore a gold chain +with a dependent ivory comb, with which while he spoke he frequently +combed a small and scanty gray mustache. + +Notaries, attendants with scarlet-crowned hats, and a rabble of men and +boys, in front of whom we placed ourselves, stood down each side. The +open hall, though lofty, is shabby and extremely dirty, with an unswept +broken pavement, littered at one side with potsherds, and disfigured by +a number of more or less broken black pots as well as other rubbish, +making it look rather like a shed in an untidy nursery garden than an +imperial judgment-hall. On the pillars there are certain classical +inscriptions, one of which is said to be an exhortation to mercy. +Pieces of bamboo of different sizes are ranged against the south wall. +These are used for the bastinado, and there were various instruments +ranged against the same wall, at which I could only look fitfully and +with a shudder, for they are used in "The Question by Torture," which +rapid method of gaining a desired end appears to be practised on +witnesses as well as criminals. + +The yard, or uncovered part of this place, has a pavement in the +middle, and on one side of this the most loathsome trench I ever +beheld, such a one as I think could not be found in the foulest slum of +the dirtiest city in Europe, not only loathsome to the eye, but +emitting a stench which even on that cool day might produce vertigo, +and this under the very eye of the magistrate, and not more than thirty +feet from the judgment-seat. + +On the other side by which we entered, and which also has an entrance +direct from the prison, is a slimy, green ditch, at the back of which +some guards were lounging, with a heap of felons in chains attached to +heavy stones at their feet. Above, the sky was very blue, and the sun +of our Father which is in heaven shone upon "the just and the unjust." + +The civil case took a long time, and was adjourned, and the aged +claimant was so exhausted with kneeling before the judge, that he was +obliged to be assisted away by two men. Then another man knelt and +presented a petition, which was taken to "avizandum." Then a guard led +in by a chain a prisoner, heavily manacled, and with a heavy stone +attached to his neck, who knelt with his forehead touching the ground. +After some speaking, a boy who was standing dangling a number of keys +came forward, and, after much ado, unlocked the rusty padlock which +fastened the chain round the man's neck, and he was led away, dragging +the stone after him with his hands. He had presented a formal petition +for this favor, and I welcomed the granting of it as a solitary gleam +of mercy, but I was informed that the mitigation of the sentence came +about through bribery on the part of the man's relatives, who had to +buy the good-will of four officials before the petition could reach +the magistrate's hands. + +More than an hour and a half had passed since we entered, and for two +hours before that the four chained prisoners had been undergoing the +torture of kneeling on a coarsely sanded stone in an immovable and +unsupported position. I was standing so close to them that the dress of +one touched my feet. I could hear their breathing, which had been heavy +at first, become a series of gasps, and cool as the afternoon was, the +sweat of pain fell from their brows upon the dusty floor, and they were +so emaciated that, even through their clothing, I could see the +outlines of their bones. There were no counsel, and no witnesses, and +the judge asked but one question as he beat his foot impatiently on the +floor, "Are you guilty?" They were accused of an aggravated robbery, +and were told to confess, but they said that only two of them were +guilty. They were then sent back to the tender mercies of the +opium-smoking jailer, probably to come back again and again to undergo +the severer forms of torture, till no more money can be squeezed out of +their friends, when they will probably be beheaded, death being the +legal penalty for robbery with aggravations. + +There is no regular legal process, no jury, no one admitted to plead +for the accused, and owing to the way in which accusations are made and +the intimate association of trial with bribery, it is as certain that +many innocent persons suffer as it is that many guilty escape. From +such a system one is compelled to fall back upon the righteousness of +the Judge of all the earth; and as I stood in that hideous +judgment-hall beside the tortured wretches, I could not shut out of my +heart a trembling hope that for these and the legion of these, a +worthier than an earthly intercessor pleads before a mightier than an +earthly judge. + +It is not clear whether torture is actually recognized by Chinese law, +but it is practised in almost every known form by all Chinese +magistrates, possibly as the most expeditious mode of legal procedure +which is known. It is also undoubtedly the most potent agent in +securing bribes. The legal instruments of summary punishment which +hang on the wall of the Naam-Hoi judgment-hall consist of three boards +with proper grooves for squeezing the fingers, and the bastinado, which +is inflicted with bamboos of different weights. The illegal modes of +"putting the question," i.e., of extorting a confession of guilt, as +commonly practised are, prolonged kneeling on coarse sand, with the +brow within an inch of the ground; twisting the ears with "roughened +fingers," and keeping them twisted while the prisoner kneels on chains; +beating the lips to a jelly with a thick stick, the result of which was +to be seen in several cases in the prison; suspending the body by the +thumbs; tying the hands to a bar under the knees, so as to bend the +body double during many hours; the thumb-screw; dislocating the arm or +shoulder; kneeling upon pounded glass, salt and sand mixed together, +till the knees are excoriated, and several others, the product of +fiendish ingenuity. Severe flogging with the bamboo, rattan, cudgel, +and knotted whip successively is one of the most usual means of +extorting confession; and when death results from the process, the +magistrate reports that the criminal has died of sickness, and in the +few cases in which there may be reason to dread investigation, the +administration of a bribe to the deceased man's friends insures +silence. + +The cangue, if its wearers were properly fed and screened from the sun, +is rather a disgrace than a cruel mode of punishment. Death is said to +be inflicted for aggravated robbery, robbery with murder, highway +robbery, arson, and piracy, even without the form of a trial when the +culprits are caught in flagrante delicto; but though it is a frequent +punishment, it is by no means absolutely certain for what crimes it is +the legal penalty. + +We left the judgment-seat as a fresh relay of criminals entered, two of +them with faces atrocious enough for any crime, and passed out of the +courtyard of the Yamun through the "Gate of Righteousness," where the +prisoners, attached to heavy stones, were dragging and clanking their +chains, or lying in the shade full of sores, and though the red sunset +light was transfiguring all things, the glory had faded from Canton and +the air seemed heavy with a curse. + + + +LETTER IV (Continued) + +The "Covent Garden" of Canton--Preliminaries of Execution--A Death +Procession--The "Field of Blood"--"The Death of the Cross"--A Fair +Comparison + + +Although I went to the execution ground two days before my visit to the +prison, the account of it belongs to this place. Passing through the +fruit-market, the "Covent Garden" of Canton, where now and in their +stated seasons are exposed for sale, singly and in fragrant heaps, +among countless other varieties of fruits, the orange, pommeloe, apple, +citron, banana, rose-apple, pine-apple, custard-apple, pear, quince, +guava, carambola, persimmon, loquat, pomegranate, grape, water-melon, +musk-melon, peach, apricot, plum, mango, mulberry, date, cocoa-nut, +olive, walnut, chestnut, lichi, and papaya, through the unsavory +precincts of the "salt-fish market," and along a street the specialty +of which is the manufacture from palm leaves of very serviceable rain +cloaks, we arrived at the Ma T'au, a cul de sac resembling in shape, as +its name imports, a horse's head, with the broad end opening on the +street. This "field of blood," which counts its slain by tens of +thousands, is also a "potter's field," and is occupied throughout its +whole length by the large earthen pots which the Chinese use instead of +tubs, either in process of manufacture or drying in the sun. This Ma +T'au, the place of execution, on which more than one hundred heads at +times fall in a morning, is simply a pottery yard, and at the hours +when space is required for the executioner's purposes more or fewer +pots are cleared out of the way, according to the number of the +condemned. The spectacle is open to the street and to all passers-by. +Against the south wall are five crosses, which are used for the +crucifixion of malefactors. At the base of the east wall are four large +earthenware vessels full of quicklime, into which heads which are +afterward to be exposed on poles are cast, until the flesh has been +destroyed. From this bald sketch it may be surmised that few +accessories of solemnity or even propriety consecrate the last tragedy +of justice. + +In some cases criminals are brought directly from the judgment-seat to +the execution ground on receiving sentence, but as a rule the condemned +persons remain in prison ignorant of the date of their doom, till an +official, carrying a square board with the names of those who are to +die that day pasted upon it, enters and reads the names of the doomed. +Each man on answering is made to sit in something like a dust-basket, +in which he is borne through the gate of the inner prison, at which he +is interrogated and his identity ascertained by an official, who +represents the Viceroy or Governor, into the courtyard of the Yamun, +where he is pinioned. At this stage it is usual for the friends of the +criminal, or the turnkeys in their absence, to give him "auspicious" +food, chiefly fat pork and Saam-su, an intoxicating wine. Pieces of +betel-nut, the stimulating qualities of which are well known, are +invariably given. These delays being over, the criminal is carried into +the presence of the judge, who sits not in the judgment-hall but in the +porch of the inner gateway of his Yamun. On the prisoner giving his +name, a superscription bearing it, and proclaiming his crime and the +manner of his death, is tied to a slip of bamboo and bound to his head. +A small wooden ticket, also bearing his name and that of the prison +from which he is taken to execution, is tied to the back of his neck. + +Then the procession starts, the criminals, of whom there are usually +several, being carried in open baskets in the following order:--Some +spearmen, the malefactors, a few soldiers, a chair of state, bearing +the ruler of the Naam-Hoi county, attended by equerries; and another +chair of state, in which is seated the official who, after all is over, +pays worship to the five protecting genii of Canton, a small temple to +whom stands close to the potter's field, and who have power to restrain +those feelings of revenge and violence which the spirits of the +decapitated persons may be supposed hereafter to cherish against all +who were instrumental in their decapitation. Last of all follows a +herald on horseback, carrying a yellow banner inscribed "By Imperial +Decree," an indispensable adjunct on such occasions, as without it the +county ruler would not be justified in commanding the executioner to +give the death stroke. This ruler or his deputy sits at a table covered +with a red cloth, and on being told that all the preliminaries have +been complied with, gives the word for execution. The criminals, who +have been unceremoniously pitched out of the dust baskets into the mud +or gore or dust of the execution ground, kneel down in a row or rows, +and the executioner with a scimitar strikes off head after head, each +with a single stroke, an assistant attending to hand him a fresh sword +as soon as the first becomes blunt. It is said that Chinese criminals +usually meet their doom with extreme apathy, but occasionally they +yield to extreme terror, and howl at the top of their voices, "Save +life! Save life!" As soon as the heads have fallen, some coolies of a +pariah class take up the trunks and put them into wooden shells, in +which they are eventually buried in a cemetery outside one of the city +gates, called "The trench for the bones of ten thousand men." It is not +an uncommon thing, under ordinary circumstances, for fifteen, twenty, +or thirty-five wretches to suffer the penalty of death in this spot; +and this number swells to very large dimensions at a jail delivery, or +during a rebellion, or when the crews of pirates are captured in the +act of piracy. My friend Mr. Bulkeley Johnson, of Shanghai, saw one +hundred heads fall in one morning. + +Mr. Henry says that the reason that most of the criminals meet death +with such stoicism or indifference is, that they have been worn down +previously by starvation and torture. Some are stupefied with Saam-su. +It is possible in some cases for a criminal who is fortunate enough to +have rich relations to procure a substitute; a coolie sells himself to +death in such a man's stead for a hundred dollars, and for a week +before his surrender indulges in every kind of expensive debauchery, +and when the day of doom arrives is so completely stupefied by wine and +opium, as to know nothing of the terror of death. + +We had not gone far into this aceldema when we came to a space cleared +from pots, and to a great pool of blood and dust mingled, blackening in +the sun, then another and another, till there were five of them almost +close together, with splashes of blood upon the adjacent pots, and +blood trodden into the thirsty ground. Against the wall opposite, a +rudely constructed cross was resting, dark here and there with patches +of blood. Among the rubbish at the base of the wall there were some +human fragments partly covered with matting; a little farther some +jaw-bones with the teeth in them, then four more crosses, and some +human heads lying at the foot of the wall, from which it was evident +that dogs had partially gnawed off the matting in which they had been +tied up. The dead stare of one human eye amidst the heap haunts me +still. A blood-splashed wooden ticket, with a human name on one side +and that of the Naam-Hoi prison on the other, was lying near one of the +pools of blood, and I picked it up as a memento, as the stroke which +had severed its string had also severed at the same time the culprit's +neck. The place was ghastly and smelt of blood. + +The strangest and most thrilling sight of all was the cross in this +unholy spot, not a symbol of victory and hope, but of the lowest infamy +and degradation, of the vilest death which the vilest men can die. Nor +was it the solid, lofty structure, fifteen or twenty feet high, which +art has been glorifying for a thousand years, but a rude gibbet of +unplaned wood, roughly nailed together, barely eight feet high, and not +too heavy for a strong man to carry on his shoulders. Most likely it +was such a cross, elevated but little above the heads of the howling +mob of Jerusalem, which Paul had in view when he wrote of Him who hung +upon it, "But made Himself obedient unto death, _even the death of the +cross_." To these gibbets infamous criminals, whose crimes are regarded +as deserving of a lingering death, are tightly bound with cords, and +are then slowly hacked to pieces with sharp knives, unless the friends +of the culprit are rich enough to bribe the executioner to terminate +the death agony early by stabbing a vital part. + +These facts do not require to be dressed out with words. They are most +effective when most baldly stated. I left the execution ground as I +left the prison--with the prayer, which has gained a new significance, +"For all prisoners and captives we beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord;" +but though our hands are nationally clean now as regards the +administration of justice and the treatment of criminals, we need not +hold them up in holy horror as if the Chinese were guilty above all +other men, for the framers of the Litany were familiar with dungeons +perhaps worse than the prison of the Naam-Hoi magistrate, and with +forms of torture which spared not even women, and the judges' and +jailers' palms were intimate with the gold of accused persons. It is +simply that heathenism in Canton is practising at this day what +Christianity in Europe looked upon with indifference for centuries. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER V + +Portuguese Missionaries--A Chinese Hospital--Chinese +Anaesthetics--Surgery and Medicine--Ventilation and Cleanliness--A +Chinese "Afternoon Tea"--A New Inspiration + + +HONG KONG, January 10. + +The year seems already getting old and frowzy. Under these blue skies, +and with all the doors and windows open, I should think it midsummer if +I did not look at the calendar. Oh, how I like blue, sunny skies, +instead of gray and grim ones, and blazing colors instead of the dismal +grays and browns of our nondescript winters! + +I left Canton by the Kin-Kiang on Monday, with two thousand Chinese +passengers and two Portuguese missionary priests, the latter wearing +Chinese costume, and so completely got up as Chinamen that had they not +spoken Portuguese their features would not have been sufficient to +undeceive me. They were noble-looking men, and bore upon their faces +the stamp of consecration to a noble work. On the other steamer, the +Tchang, instead of a man with revolvers and a cutlass keeping guard +over the steerage grating, a large hose pipe is laid on to each +hatch-way, through which, in case of need, boiling water can be sent +under strong pressure. Just as we landed here, about five hundred large +fishes were passed through a circular net from a well in the steamer +into a well in a fishing boat, to which all the fishmongers in Hong +Kong immediately resorted. + +(I pass over the hospitalities and festivities of Hong Kong, and an +afternoon with the Governor in the Victoria Prison, to an interesting +visit paid with Mr., now Sir J. Pope Hennessey to the Chinese +Hospital.) + +We started from Government House, with the Governor, in a chair with +six scarlet bearers, attended by some Sikh orderlies in scarlet +turbans, for a "State Visit" to the Tung-Wah Hospital, a purely Chinese +institution, built some years ago by Chinese merchants, and supported +by them at an annual cost of $16,000. In it nothing European, either in +the way of drugs or treatment, is tried. There is a dispensary +connected with it, where advice is daily given to about a hundred and +twenty people; and, though lunacy is rare in China, they are building a +lunatic asylum at the back of the hospital. + +The Tung-Wah hospital consists of several two-storied buildings of +granite, with large windows on each side, and a lofty central building +which contains the directors' hall, the accommodation for six resident +physicians, and the business offices. The whole is surrounded by a +well-kept garden, bounded by a very high wall. We entered by the grand +entrance, which has a flagged pavement, each flag consisting of a slab +of granite twelve feet long by three broad, and were received at the +foot of the grand staircase by the directors and their chairman, the +six resident doctors, and Mr. Ng Choy, a rising, Chinese barrister, +educated at Lincoln's Inn, who interpreted for us in admirable English. +He is the man who goes between the Governor and the Chinese community, +and is believed to have more influence with the Governor on all +questions which concern Chinamen than anybody else. These gentlemen all +wore rich and beautiful dresses of thick ribbed silk and figured +brocade, and, unless they were much padded and wadded, they had all +attained to a remarkable embonpoint. + +The hall in which the directors meet is lofty and very handsome, the +roof being supported on massive pillars. One side is open to the +garden. It has a superb ebony table in the middle, with a chair massive +enough for a throne for the chairman, and six grand, carved ebony +chairs on either side. + +Our procession consisted of the chairman and the twelve directors, the +six stout middle-aged doctors, Mr. Ng Choy, the Governor, the Bishop of +Victoria, and myself; but the patients regarded the unwonted spectacle +with extreme apathy. + +The wards hold twenty each, and are divided into wooden stalls, each +stall containing two beds. Partitions seven feet high run down the +centre. The beds are matted wooden platforms, and the bedding white +futons or wadded quilts, which are washed once a week. The pillows are +of wood or bamboo. Each bed has a shelf above it, with a teapot upon it +in a thickly wadded basket, which keeps the contents hot all day, the +infusion being, of course, poured off the leaves. A ticket, with the +patient's name upon it, and the hours at which he is to take his +medicine, hangs above each person. + +No amputations are performed, but there are a good many other +operations, such as the removal of cancers, tumors, etc. The doctors +were quite willing to answer questions, within certain limits; but when +I asked them about the composition and properties of their drugs they +became reticent at once and said that they were secrets. They do not +use chloroform in operations, but they all asserted, and their +assertions were corroborated by Mr. Ng Choy, that they possess drugs +which throw their patients into a profound sleep, during which the most +severe operations can be painlessly performed. They asserted further +that such patients awake an hour or two afterward quite cheerful, and +with neither headache nor vomiting! One of them showed me a bottle +containing a dark brown powder which, he said, produced this result, +but he would not divulge the name of one of its constituents, saying +that it is a secret taught him by his tutor, and that there are several +formulas. It has a pungent and slightly aromatic taste. + +The surgery and medicine are totally uninfluenced by European science, +and are of the most antiquated and barbaric description. There was a +woman who had had a cancer removed, and the awful wound, which was +uncovered for my inspection, was dressed with musk, lard, and +ambergris, with a piece of oiled paper over all. There was also +exhibited to us a foot which had been pierced by a bamboo splinter. +Violent inflammation had extended up to the knee, and the wound, and +the swollen, blackened limb were being treated with musk and tiger's +fat. A man with gangrened feet, nearly dropping off, had them rolled up +in dark-colored paste, of which musk and oil were two ingredients. All +the wounds were deplorably dirty, and no process of cleaning them +exists in this system of surgery. + +The Governor and Bishop were not allowed to go into the women's ward. +It looked very clean and comfortable, but a woman in the last +death-agony was unattended. They never bleed, or leech, or blister, or +apply any counter-irritants in cases of inflammation. They give +powdered rhinoceros' horns, sun-dried tiger's blood, powdered tiger's +liver, spiders' eyes, and many other queer things, and for a tonic and +febrifuge, where we should use quinine, they rely mainly on the ginseng +(Panax quinquefolia?) of which I saw so much in Japan. They judge much +by the pulse and tongue. The mortality in this hospital is very large, +not only from the nature of the treatment, but because Chinamen who +have no friends in Victoria go there when they are dying, in order to +secure that their bodies shall be sent to their relations at a +distance. There were fifteen sick and shipwrecked junkmen there, +covered with sores, who looked very far down in the scale of humanity. + +After going through the wards I went into the laboratory, where six men +were engaged in preparing drugs, then to the "chemical kitchen," where +a hundred and fifty earthen pipkins on a hundred and fifty earthen +furnaces were being used in cooking medicines under the superintendence +of eight cooks in spotless white clothing; then to the kitchen, which +is large and clean; then alone into the dead-house, which no Chinese +will enter except an unclean class of pariahs, who perform the last +offices for the departed and dress the corpses for burial. This gloomy +receptacle is also clean. + +Great attention is paid to cleanliness and ventilation. Dry earth is +used as a deodorizer, but if there be a bad odor they burn sandalwood. +They don't adopt any disinfectants; indeed, they don't appear to know +their use. The patients all lie with their backs to the light, and +there is a space five feet wide between the beds and the windows. All +the windows were open both at the top and bottom, so as to create a +complete current of air, and the airiness and freedom from smells and +closeness were quite remarkable, considering the state in which the +wounds are, which is worse than I dare attempt to describe. The +hospital is conducted on strictly "temperance principles," i.e., no +alcoholic stimulants are given, which is not remarkable, considering +how little comparatively they are used in China, and with what +moderation on the whole by those who use them. There were seventy-five +patients in the wards yesterday, and the cases were mostly either +serious originally, or have been made so by the treatment. There are +one hundred and twenty beds. There is much to admire in this hospital, +the humane arrangements, the obvious comfort of the patients, and the +admirable ventilation and perfect cleanliness of the beds and wards, +but the system adopted is one of the most antiquated quackery, and when +I think of the unspeakably horrible state of the wounds, the mortifying +limbs, and the gangrened feet ready to drop off, I almost question +Governor Hennessey's wisdom in stamping the hospital with his approval +on his "State Visit." + +The Governor and I were received in the boardroom after our two hours' +inspection, where we were joined by Mrs. Hennessey, and entertained by +the directors at what might be called "afternoon tea." But when is the +Chinaman not drinking tea? A monstrous plateau of the preserved and +candied fruits, in the making of which the Chinese ladies excel, had +been placed upon the ebony table, and when we were seated in the +stately ebony chairs on the chairman's right, with the yellow, +shining-faced, wadded or corpulent directors opposite to us, excellent +tea with an unusual flavor was brought in, and served in cups of +antique green dragon china. The Governor made kindly remarks on the +hospital, which fluent Mr. Ng Choy doubtless rendered into the most +fulsome flattery; the chairman complimented the Governor, and unlimited +"soft sawder," in Oriental fashion, passed all round. + +It is proper in China on such an occasion to raise the tea-cup with +both the hands to a good height and bow to each person, naming at the +same time the character so continually seen on tea-cups and sake +bottles--Happiness,--which is understood to be a wish for happiness in +this formula, "May your happiness be as the Eastern Sea;" but the wish +may also mean "May you have many sons." It is strange that these +Chinamen, who showed all fitting courtesy to Mrs. Hennessey and me, +would only have spoken of their wives apologetically as "the mean ones +within the gates!" It was a charming Oriental sight, the grand, open- +fronted room with its stone floor and many pillars, the superbly +dressed directors and their blue-robed attendants, and the immense +costumed crowd outside the gate in the sunshine, kept back by +crimson-turbaned Sikh orderlies. + +If civilization were to my taste, I should linger in Victoria for the +sake of its beauty, its stirring life, its costume and color, its +perfect winter climate, its hospitalities, its many charming residents, +and for various other reasons, and know nothing of its feuds in state, +church, and society. But I am a savage at heart, and weary for the +wilds first, and then for the beloved little home on the wooded edge of +the moorland above the Northern Sea, which gleams like a guiding star, +even through the maze of sunshine and color of this fascinating Eastern +world. to-day I lunched at (acting) Chief Justice Snowden's, and he +urges me to go to Malacca on my way home. I had never dreamed of the +"Golden Chersonese;" but I am much inspired by his descriptions of the +neighborhood of the Equator, and as he has lent me Newbold's Malacca +for the voyage, and has given me letters to the Governor and Colonial +Secretary of the Straits Settlements, you will next hear from me from +Singapore! + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER VI + +A Cochin China River--The Ambition of Saigon--A French Colonial +Metropolis--European Life in Saigon-A Cochin-Chinese +Village--"Afternoon Tea" in Choquan--Anamese Children--Anamite +Costume--Anamite River-Dwellings--An Amphibious Population--An +Unsuccessful Colony--"With the Big Toe"--Three Persecuting +Kings--Saigon + + +S.S. "SINDH," CHINA SEA, January. + +This steamer, one of the finest of the Messageries Maritimes line, is +perfect in all respects, and has a deck like that of an old-fashioned +frigate. The weather has been perfect also, and the sea smooth enough +for a skiff. The heat increases hourly though, or rather has increased +hourly, for hotter it cannot be! Punkahs are going continually at meal +times, and if one sits down to write in the saloon, the "punkah-wallah" +spies one out and begins his refreshing labors at once. But we took on +board a host of mosquitoes at Saigon, and the nights are consequently +so intolerable that I weary for the day. + +The twenty-four hours spent at Saigon broke the monotonous pleasantness +of our voyage very agreeably to me, but most of the passengers complain +of the wearisome detention in the heat. In truth, the mercury stood at +92 degrees! + +At daybreak yesterday we were steaming up a branch of the great Me-kong +river in Cochin China, a muddy stream, densely fringed by the nipah +palm, whose dark green fronds, ten and twelve feet long, look as if +they grew out of the ground, so dumpy is its stem. The country, as +overlooked from our lofty deck, appeared a dead level of rice and +scrubby jungle intermixed, a vast alluvial plain, from which the heavy, +fever-breeding mists were rising in rosy folds. Every now and then we +passed a Cochin Chinese village--a collection of very draughty-looking +wooden huts, roofed with palm leaves, built over the river on gridiron +platforms supported on piles. Each dwelling of the cluster had its boat +tethered below it. It looked a queer amphibious life. Men were lying on +the gridirons smoking, women were preparing what might be the +breakfast, and babies were crawling over the open floors, born with the +instinct not to tumble over the edge into the river below. These +natives were small and dark, although of the Mongolian type, with wide +mouths and high cheek bones--an ugly race; and their attitudes, their +tumble-to-pieces houses, and their general forlornness, gave me the +impression that they are an indolent race as well, to be ousted in time +possibly by the vigorous and industrious Chinaman. + +After proceeding for about forty miles up this mighty Me-kong or +Cambodia river, wearying somewhat of its nipah-fringed alluvial flats, +and of the monotonous domestic economy of which we had so good a view, +we reached Saigon, which has the wild ambition to propose to itself to +be a second Singapore! All my attempts to learn anything about Saigon +on board have utterly failed. People think that they told me something +altogether new and sufficient when they said that it is a port of call +for the French mail steamers, and one of the hottest places in the +world! This much I knew before I asked them! If they know anything more +now, no dexterity of mine can elicit it. There was a general stampede +ashore as soon as we moored, and gharries--covered spring carts--drawn +by active little Sumatra ponies, and driven by natives of Southern +India, known as Klings, were immediately requisitioned, but nothing +came of it apparently, and when I came back at sunset I found that, +after an hour or two of apparently purposeless wanderings, all my +fellow-passengers had returned to the ship, pale and depressed. True, +the mercury was above 90 degrees! + +Arriving in this condition of most unblissful ignorance, I was +astonished when a turn in the river brought us close upon a +considerable town, straggling over a great extent of ground, +interspersed with abundant tropical greenery, its river front +consisting of a long, low line of much-shaded cafes, mercantile +offices, some of them flying consular flags and Government offices, +behind which lies the city with its streets, shops, and great covered +markets or bazaars, and its barracks, churches, and convents. + +The Me-kong, though tortuous and ofttimes narrow, is navigable as the +Donnai or Saigon branch up to and above Saigon for vessels of the +largest tonnage, and the great Sindh steamed up to a wharf and moored +alongside it, almost under the shade of great trees. A French +three-decker of the old type, moored higher up, serves as an hospital. +There were two French ironclads, a few steamers, and some big sailing +ships at anchor, but nothing looked busy, and the people on the wharf +were all loafers. + +After all my fellow-passengers had driven off I stepped ashore and +tried to realize that I was in Cochin China or Cambodia, but it would +not do. The irrepressible Chinaman in his loose cotton trousers was as +much at home as in Canton, and was doing all the work that was done; +the shady lounges in front of the cafes were full of Frenchmen, +Spaniards, and Germans, smoking and dozing with their feet upon tables +or on aught else which raised them to the level of their heads; while +men in linen suits and pith helmets dashed about in buggies and +gharries, and French officers and soldiers lounged weariedly along all +the roads. There was not a native to be seen! A little later there was +not a European to be seen! There was a universal siesta behind closed +jalousies, and Saigon was abandoned to Chinamen and leggy dogs. Then +came the cool of the afternoon, i.e., the mercury, with evident +reluctance, dawdled down to 84 degrees; military bands performed, the +Europeans emerged, smoking as in the morning, to play billiards or +ecarte, or sip absinthe at their cafes; then came the mosquitoes and +dinner, after which I was told that card-parties were made up, and that +the residents played till near midnight. Thus from observation and +hearsay, I gathered that the life of a European Saigonese was made up +of business in baju and pyjamas with cheroot in mouth from 6 to 9:30 +A.M., then the bath, the toilette, and the breakfast of claret and +curry; next the sleeping, smoking, and lounging till tiffin; after +tiffin a little more work, then the band, billiards, ecarte, absinthe, +smoking, dinner, and card-parties, varied by official entertainments. + +Rejecting a guide, I walked about Saigon, saw its streets, cafes, fruit +markets, bazaars, barracks, a botanic or acclimatization garden, of +which tigers were the chief feature, got out upon the wide, level +roads, bordered with large trees, which run out into the country for +miles in perfectly straight lines, saw the handsome bungalows of the +residents, who surround themselves with many of the luxuries of Paris, +went over a beautiful convent, where the sisters who educate native +girl children received me with kindly courtesy; and eventually driving +in a gharrie far beyond the town, and then dismissing it, I got into a +labyrinth of lanes, each with a high hedge of cactus, and without +knowing it found that I was in a native village, Choquan, a village in +which every house seems to be surrounded and hidden by high walls of a +most malevolent and obnoxious cactus, so as to insure absolute privacy +to its proprietor. Each dwelling is under the shade of pommeloe, +orange, and bamboo. By dint of much peeping, and many pricks which have +since inflamed, I saw that the poorer houses were built of unplaned +planks or split bamboo, thatched with palm leaves, with deep verandas, +furnished with broad matted benches with curious, round bamboo pillows. +On these men, scarcely to be called clothed, were lying, smoking or +chewing the betel-nut, and all had teapots in covered baskets within +convenient reach. The better houses are built of an ornamental +framework of carved wood, the floor of which is raised about three feet +from the ground on brick pillars. The roofs of these are rather steep, +and are mostly tiled, and have deep eaves, but do not as elsewhere form +the cover of the veranda. While I was looking through the cactus +screen of one of these houses, a man came out with a number of low +caste, leggy, flop-eared, mangy dogs, who attacked me in a cowardly +bullying fashion, yelping, barking, and making surreptitious snaps at +my feet. Their owner called them off, however, and pelted them so +successfully that some ran away whimpering, and two pretended (as dogs +will) to have broken legs. This man carried a cocoa-nut, and on my +indicating that I was thirsty, he hesitated, and then turning back, +signed to me to follow him into his house. This was rare luck! + +Within the cactus screen, which is fully ten feet high, there is a +graveled area, on which the neat-looking house stands, and growing out +of the very thirsty ground are cocoa palms, bananas, bread fruit, and +papayas. There are verandas on each side of the doorway with stone +benches; the doorway and window frames are hung with "portieres" of +split reeds, and a ladder does duty for door steps. The interior is +very dark, and divided into several apartments. As soon as I entered +there was a rush as if of bats into the darkness, but on being +reassured, about twenty women and boy and girl children appeared, and +contemplated me with an apathetic stare of extreme solemnity. Remember +the mercury was 92 degrees, so the women may be excused for having +nothing more than petticoats or loose trousers on in the privacy of +their home, the children for being in a state of nudity, and the man +for being clothed in a loin cloth! As I grew used to the darkness I saw +a toothless old woman smoking in a corner, fanned by two girls, who, I +believe, are domestic slaves. Near one of the window openings a young +woman was lounging, and two others were attentively removing vermin +from her luxuriant but ill-kept hair. Mats and bamboo pillows covered +the floors, and most of the inmates had been rudely disturbed in a +siesta. + +I was evidently in the principal apartment, for the walls were +decorated with Chinese marine pictures, among which were two glaring +daubs of a Madonna and an Ecce Homo. There was also a rude crucifix, +from which I gather that this is a Roman Catholic family. There were +two teapots of tea on a chair, a big tub of pommeloes on the floor, and +a glazed red earthenware bowl full of ripe bananas on another chair. A +sort of sickle, a gun, and some bullock gear hung against the wall. In +the middle of the room there was a sort of trap in the floor, and there +was the same in two other apartments. Through this all rubbish is +conveniently dropped. A woman brought in a cocoa-nut, and poured the +milk into a gourd calabash, and the man handed me the dish of bananas, +so I had an epicurean repast, and realized that I was in Cochin China! +They were courteous people, and not only refused the quarter dollar +which I pressed upon them, but gave me a handkerchief full of bananas +when I left them, being pleased, however, to accept a puggree. + +The neat gravel area, the covered walls, and neatly tiled roof, the +lattice work, the boards suspended from the door-posts, with (as I +have since learned) texts from the Chinese Classics in gold upon them, +and the large establishment, show that the family belongs to the upper +class of Anamites, and leave one quite unprepared for the reeking, +festering heap of garbage below the house, the foul, fetid air, and +swarming vermin of the interior, and the unwashedness of the inmates. I +bowed myself out, the gate was barred behind me, and in two minutes I +had lost what I supposed to be my way, and having left the maze of +cactus-walled paths behind, was entangled in a maze of narrow village +paths through palms and bananas, flowering trees covered with creepers +and orchids, and a wonderful profusion of small and great ferns. +Getting back into the cactus hidden village I found groups of pretty, +dark-skinned children, quite naked, playing in the deep dust, while +some no bigger were lounging in the shade smoking cigars, lazily +watching the clouds of smoke which they puffed out from their chubby +cheeks. + +Finding my own footsteps in the deep dust, I got back to a pathway with +a monstrous bamboo hedge on one side, and a rice-field on the other, in +which was a slimy looking pond with a margin of pink water-lilies, in +which a number of pink buffaloes of large size were wallowing with much +noise and rough play, plastering their sensitive hides with mud as a +protection against mosquitoes. + +With some difficulty, by some very queer paths and with much +zigzagging, I at last reached Cholen,* a native town, said to be three +or eight miles from Saigon, and was so exhausted by the fatigue of the +long walk in such a ferocious temperature that I sat by the roadside on +a stump under a huge tropical tree, considering the ways of ants and +Anamites. Children with brown chubby faces which had never been washed +since birth, and, according to all accounts, will never be washed till +death, stood in a row, staring the stare of apathy, with a quiet +confidence. They had no clothes on, and I admired their well-made forms +and freedom from skin disease. The Mongolian face is pleasant in +childhood. A horde of pariah dogs in the mad excitement of a free +fight, passed, covering me with dust. (By the way, I am told that +hydrophobia is unknown in Cochin China.) Then some French artillerymen, +who politely raised their caps; then a quantity of market girls, +dressed like the same class in China, but instead of being bare-headed, +they wore basket hats, made of dried leaves, fully twenty-four inches +in diameter, by six in depth. These girls walked well, and looked +happy. Then a train of Anamese carts passed, empty, the solid wooden +wheels creaking frightfully round the ungreased axles, each cart being +drawn by two buffaloes, each pair being attached to the cart in front +by a rope through the nostrils, so that one driver sufficed for eleven +carts. The native men could not be said to be clothed, but, as I +remarked before, the mercury was above 90 degrees. They were, however, +protected both against sun and rain by hats over three feet in +diameter, very conical, peaked at the top, coming down umbrella fashion +over the shoulders, and well tilted back. +[*Cholen, i.e., the big market, has a population which is variously +estimated at from 30,000 to 80,000. I am inclined to think that the +lowest estimate is nearest the mark.--I. L. B.] + +After laboriously reaching Cholen, I found far the greater part of the +town to be Chinese, rather than Anamese, with Chinese streets, temples, +gaming houses, club houses, and that general air of business and +industry which seems characteristic of the Chinese everywhere; but +still groping my way about, I came upon what I most wished to see--the +real Anamese town. There is a river, the Me-kong, or one of its +branches, and the town--the real native Cholen--consists of a very +large collection of river-dwellings, little, if at all, superior to +those which we passed in coming up. I spent an hour among them, and I +never saw any house whose area could be more than twelve feet square, +while many were certainly not more than seven feet by six. Such +primitive, ramshackle, shaky-looking dwellings I never before have +seen. As compared with them, an Aino hut, even of the poorest kind, is +a model of solidity and architectural beauty. They looked as if a +single gust would topple them and their human contents into the water. +Yet, if it were better carried out, it is not a bad idea to avoid +paying any Anamese form of rent, to secure perfect drainage, a +never-failing water supply, good fishing, immunity from reptiles, and +the easiest of all highways at the very door. + +These small rooms with thatched roofs and gridiron floors, raised on +posts six or eight feet above the stream, are reached from the shore by +a path a foot wide, consisting of planks tied on to posts. The +river-dwellings, I must add, are tied together with palm fibre rope. +One of average size can be put together for eleven shillings. In front +of each house a log canoe is moored, into which it is easy to drop from +above when the owner desires any change of attitude or scene. + +I ventured into two of these strange abodes, but it was dizzy work to +walk the plank, and as difficult to walk the gridiron floor in shoes. +Both were wretched habitations, but doubtless they suit their inmates, +who need nothing more than a shelter from the sun and rain. The men +wore only loin cloths. The women were clothed to the throat in loose +cotton garments; the children wore nothing. In both the men were +fishing for their supper over the edge of their platforms. In one a +woman was cooking rice; and in both there was a good store of rice, +bananas, and sweet potatoes. There was no furniture in either, except +matted platforms for sleeping upon, a few coarse pipkins, a red +earthen-ware pitcher or two, and some calabashes. On the wall of one +was a crucifix, and on a rafter in the other a wooden carving of a +jolly-looking man, mallet in hand, seated on rice bags, intended for +Daikoku, the Japanese God of Wealth. The people were quite unwashed, +but the draught of the river carried off the bad smells which ought to +have been there, and, fortunately, a gridiron floor is unfavorable to +accumulations of dirt and refuse. These natives look apathetic, and +are, according to our notions, lazy; but I am weary of seeing the +fevered pursuit of wealth, and am inclined to be lenient to these +narcotized existences, provided, as is the case, that they keep clear +of debt, theft, and charity. + +Below this amphibious town there is a larger and apparently permanent +floating village, consisting of hundreds of boats moored to the shore +and to each other, poor and forlorn as compared with the Canton house +boats, but yet more crowded, a single thatched roof sheltering one or +more families, without any attempt at furniture or arrangement. The +children swarmed, and looked healthy, and remarkably free from eye and +skin diseases. There were Romish pictures in some of these boats, and +two or three of them exhibited the cross in a not inconspicuous place. +In my solitary explorations I was not mobbed or rudely treated in any +way. The people were as gentle and inoffensive in their manners as the +Japanese, without their elaborate courtesy and civilized curiosity. + +Having seen all I could see, I turned shipwards, weary, footsore, and +exhausted; my feet so sore and blistered, indeed, that long before I +reached a gharrie I was obliged to take off my boots and wrap them in +handkerchiefs. The dust was deep and made heavy walking, and the level +straightness of a great part of the road is wearisome. Overtaking even +at my slow rate of progress a string of creaking buffalo carts, I got +upon the hindmost, but after a little rest found the noise, dust, and +slow progress intolerable, and plodded on as before, taking two and a +half hours to walk three miles. About a mile from Cholen there is an +extraordinary burial-ground, said to cover an area of twenty square +miles. (?) It is thickly peopled with the dead, and profuse vegetation +and funereal lichens give it a profoundly melancholy look. It was +chosen by the Cambodian kings several centuries ago for a cemetery, on +the advice of the astrologers of the court. The telegraph wire runs +near it, and so the old and the new age meet. + +On my weary way I was overtaken by a young French artillery officer, +who walked with me until we came upon an empty gharrie, and was +eloquent upon the miseries of Saigon. It is a very important military +station, and a sort of depot for the convicts who are sent to the +(comparatively) adjacent settlement of New Caledonia. A large force of +infantry and artillery is always in barracks here, but it is a most +sickly station. At times 40 per cent. of this force is in hospital from +climatic diseases, and the number of men invalided home by every mail +steamer, and the frequent changes necessary, make Saigon a very costly +post. The French don't appear to be successful colonists. This Cochin +Chinese colony of theirs, which consists of the six ancient southern +provinces of the empire of Anam, was ceded to France in 1874, but its +European population is still under twelve thousand, exclusive of the +garrison and the Government officials. The Government consists of a +governor, aided by a privy council. The population of the colony is +under a million and a half, including eighty-two thousand Cambodians +and forty thousand Chinese. According to my various informants--this +young French officer, a French nun, and a trader of dubious +nationality, in whose shop I rested--France is doing its best to +promote the prosperity and secure the good-will of the natives. The +land-tax, which was very oppressive under the native princes, has been +lowered, municipal government has been secured to the native towns, and +corporate and personal rights have been respected. These persons +believe that the colony, far from being a source of profit to France, +is kept up at a heavy annual loss, and they regard the Chinese as the +only element in the population worth having. They think the Anamese +very superior to the Cambodians, from whom indeed they conquered these +six provinces, but the Cambodians are a bigger and finer race +physically. + +I do not think I have said how hideous I think the adult Anamese. +Somewhere I have read that two thousand years before our era the +Chinese called them Giao-chi, which signifies "with the big toe." This +led me to look particularly at their bare feet, and I noticed even in +children such a wide separation of the big toe from the rest as to +convey the perhaps erroneous impression that it is of unusual size. The +men are singularly wide at the hips, and walk with a laughably +swaggering gait, which is certainly not affectation, but is produced by +a sufficient anatomical cause. I never saw such ugly, thick-set, rigid +bodies, such uniformly short necks, such sloping shoulders, such flat +faces and flatter noses, such wide, heavy, thick-lipped mouths, such +projecting cheek bones, such low foreheads, such flat-topped heads, and +such tight, thick skin, which suggests the word hide-bound. The dark, +tawny complexion has no richness of tint. Both men and women are short, +and the teeth of both sexes are blackened by the constant chewing of +the betel-nut, which reddens the saliva, which is constantly flowing +like blood from the corners of their mouths. Though not a vigorous, +they appear to be a healthy people, and have very large families. They +suffer chiefly from "forest fever" in the forest lands, but the rice +swamps, deadly to Europeans, do not harm them. + +I rested for some time at a very beautiful convent, and was most kindly +entertained by some very calm, sweet-looking sisters, who labor piously +among the female Anamese, and have schools for girls. The troops are +stationed at Saigon for only two years, owing to the unhealthiness of +the climate, but these pious women have no sanitarium, and live and die +at their posts. Various things in the convent chapel remind one of the +faithfulness unto death both of missionaries and converts. In this +century alone three successive kings rivaled each other in persecuting +the Christians, both Europeans and native, over and over again +murdering all the missionaries. In 1841 the king ordered that all +missionaries should be drowned, and in 1851 his successor ordered that +whoever concealed a missionary should be cut in two. The terrible and +sanguinary persecution which followed this edict never ceased, till +years afterward the French frightened the king into toleration, and put +an end, one hopes forever, to the persecution of Christians. The +sisters compute the native Christians at seven thousand, and have +sanguine hopes for the future of Christianity in French Cochin China, +as well as in Cambodia, which appears to be under a French +protectorate. + +I do not envy the French their colony. According to my three +informants, Europeans cannot be acclimatized, and most of the children +born of white parents die shortly after birth. The shores of the sea +and of the rivers are scourged by severe intermittent fevers, and the +whole of the colony by dysentery, which among Europeans is particularly +fatal. The mean temperature is 83 degrees F., the dampness is unusual, +and the nights are too hot to refresh people after the heat of the +day.* +[*The chief production of the country is rice, which forms half the sum +total of the exports. The other exports are chiefly salt-fish, salt, +undyed cotton, skins of beasts, and pepper. About seven hundred vessels +enter and leave Saigon in a year.] + +After leaving the convent I resumed my gharrie, and the driver took me, +what I suppose is the usual "course" for tourists, through a quaint +Asiatic town inhabited by a mixed, foreign population of Hindus, +Malays, Tagals, and Chinese merchants, scattered among a large +indigenous population of Anamese fishermen, servants, and husbandmen, +through the colonial district, which looked asleep or dead, to the +markets, where the Chinamen and natives of India were in the full swing +and din of buying and selling all sorts of tropical fruits and rubbishy +French goods, and through what may be called the Government town or +official quarter. It was getting dark when I reached the wharf, and the +darkness enabled me to hobble unperceived on board on my bandaged feet. +The heat of the murky, lurid evening was awful, and as thousands of +mosquitoes took possession of the ship, all comfort was banished, and I +was glad when we steamed down the palm-fringed Saigon or Donnai waters, +and through the mangrove swamps at the mouths of the Me-kong river, and +past the lofty Cape St. Jacques, with its fort, into the open China +Sea. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER VII + +Beauties of the Tropics--Singapore Hospitality--An Equatorial +Metropolis--An Aimless Existence--The Growth of Singapore--"Farms" and +"Farmers"--The Staple of Conversation--The Glitter of "Barbaric +Gold"--A Polyglot Population--A Mediocre People--Female Grace and +Beauty--The "Asian Mystery"--Oriental Picturesqueness--The +Metamorphosis of Singapore + + +SINGAPORE, January 19, 1879. + +It is hot--so hot!--but not stifling, and all the rich-flavored, +colored fruits of the tropics are here--fruits whose generous juices +are drawn from the moist and heated earth, and whose flavors are the +imprisoned rays of the fierce sun of the tropics. Such cartloads and +piles of bananas and pine-apples, such heaps of custard-apples and +"bullocks' hearts," such a wealth of gold and green giving off +fragrance! Here, too, are treasures of the heated, crystal seas--things +that one has dreamed of after reading Jules Verne's romances. Big +canoes, manned by dark-skinned men in white turbans and loin-cloths, +floated round our ship, or lay poised on the clear depths of aquamarine +water, with fairy freights--forests of coral white as snow, or red, +pink, violet, in massive branches or fern-like sprays, fresh from their +warm homes beneath the clear warm waves, where fish as bright-tinted as +themselves flash through them like "living light." There were displays +of wonderful shells, too, of pale rose-pink, and others with rainbow +tints which, like rainbows, came and went--nothing scanty, feeble, or +pale! + +It is a drive of two miles from the pier to Singapore, and to eyes +which have only seen the yellow skins and non-vividness of the Far +East, a world of wonders opens at every step. It is intensely tropical; +there are mangrove swamps, and fringes of cocoa-palms, and +banana-groves, date, sago, and travelers' palms, tree-ferns, +india-rubber, mango, custard-apple, jack-fruit, durion, lime, +pomegranate, pine-apples, and orchids, and all kinds of strangling and +parrot-blossomed trailers. Vegetation rich, profuse, endless, rapid, +smothering, in all shades of vivid green, from the pea-green of spring +and the dark velvety green of endless summer to the yellow-green of the +plumage of the palm, riots in a heavy shower every night and the heat +of a perennial sun-blaze every day, while monkeys of various kinds and +bright-winged birds skip and flit through the jungle shades. There is a +perpetual battle between man and the jungle, and the latter, in fact, +is only brought to bay within a short distance of Singapore. + +I had scarcely finished breakfast at the hotel, a shady, straggling +building, much infested by ants, when Mr. Cecil Smith, the Colonial +Secretary, and his wife called, full of kind thoughts and plans of +furtherance; and a little later a resident, to whom I had not even a +letter of introduction, took me and my luggage to his bungalow. All the +European houses seem to have very deep verandas, large, lofty rooms, +punkahs everywhere, windows without glass, brick floors, and jalousies +and "tatties" (blinds made of grass or finely-split bamboo) to keep out +the light and the flies. This equatorial heat is neither as exhausting +or depressing as the damp summer heat of Japan, though one does long +"to take off one's flesh and sit in one's bones." + +I wonder how this unexpected and hastily planned expedition into the +Malay States will turn out? It is so unlikely that the different +arrangements will fit in. It seemed an event in the dim future; but +yesterday my host sent up a "chit" from his office to say that a +Chinese steamer is to sail for Malacca in a day or two, and would I +like to go? I was only allowed five minutes for decision, but I have no +difficulty in making up my mind when an escape from civilization is +possible. So I wrote back that if I could get my money and letters of +introduction in time I would go, and returned to dine at Mr. Cecil +Smith's, where a delightfully cultured and intellectual atmosphere made +civilization more than tolerable. The needed letters were written, +various hints for my guidance were thrown out, and I drove back at +half-past ten under heavens which were one blaze of stars amidst a dust +of nebulae, like the inlaid gold spots amidst a dust of gold on old +Japanese lacquer, and through a moist, warm atmosphere laden with the +heavy fragrance of innumerable night-blossoming flowers. + +Singapore, as the capital of the Straits Settlements and the residence +of the Governor, has a garrison, defensive works, ships of war hanging +about, and a great deal of military as well as commercial importance, +and "the roll of the British drum" is a reassuring sound in the midst +of the unquiet Chinese population. The Governor is assisted by +lieutenant-governors at Malacca and Pinang, and his actual rule extends +to the three "protected" States of the Malay Peninsula--Sungei Ujong, +Selangor, and Perak--the affairs of which are administered by British +Residents, who are more or less responsible to him. + +If I fail in making you realize Singapore it is partly because I do not +care to go into much detail about so well known a city, and partly +because my own notions of it are mainly of overpowering greenery, a +kaleidoscopic arrangement of colors, Chinese predominance, and +abounding hospitality. I almost fail to realize that it is an island; +one of many; all, like itself, covered with vegetation down to the +water's edge; about twenty-seven miles long by fourteen broad, with the +city at its southern end. It is only seventy miles from the equator, +but it is neither unhealthy nor overpoweringly hot! It is low and +undulating, its highest point, Bukit Timor, or the Hill of Tin, being +only five hundred and twenty feet high. The greatest curse here used to +be tigers, which carried off about three hundred people yearly. They +were supposed to have been extirpated, but they have reappeared, +swimming across from the mainland State of Johore it is conjectured; +and as various lonely Chinese laborers have been victimized, there is +something of a "scare," in the papers at least. Turtles are so abundant +that turtle-soup is anything but a luxury, and turtle flesh is +ordinarily sold in the meat shops. + +Rain is officially said to fall on two hundred days of the year, but +popularly every day! The rainfall is only eighty-seven inches, +however, and the glorious vegetation owes its redundancy to the +dampness of the climate. Of course Singapore has no seasons. The +variety is only in the intensity of the heat, the mercury being +tolerably steady between 80 degrees and 84 degrees, the extreme range +of temperature being from 71 degrees to 92 degrees. People sleep on +Malay mats spread over their mattresses for coolness, some dispense +with upper sheets, and others are fanned all night by punkahs. The soft +and tepid land and sea breezes mitigate the heat to a slight extent, +but I should soon long for a blustering north-easter to break in upon +the oppressive and vapor-bath stillness. + +As Singapore is a military station, and ships of war hang about +constantly, there is a great deal of fluctuating society, and the +officials of the Straits Settlements Government are numerous enough to +form a large society of their own. Then there is the merchant class, +English, German, French, and American; and there is the usual round of +gayety, and of the amusements which make life intolerable. I think that +in most of these tropical colonies the ladies exist only on the hope of +going "home!" It is a dreary, aimless life for them--scarcely life, +only existence. The greatest sign of vitality in Singapore Europeans +that I can see is the furious hurry in writing for the mail. To all +sorts of claims and invitations, the reply is, "But it's mail day, you +know," or, "I'm writing for the mail," or, "I'm awfully behind hand +with my letters," or, "I can't stir till the mail's gone!" The hurry is +desperate, and even the feeble Englishwomen exert themselves for +"friends at home." To judge from the flurry and excitement, and the +driving down to the post-office at the last moment, and the commotion +in the parboiled community, one would suppose the mail to be an +uncertain event occurring once in a year or two, rather than the most +regular of weekly fixtures! The incoming mail is also a great event, +though its public and commercial news is anticipated by four weeks by +the telegraph. + +The Americans boast of the rapid progress of San Francisco, with which +the Victorians boast that Melbourne is running a neck and neck race; +but, if boasting is allowable, Singapore may boast, for in 1818 the +island was covered with dense primeval forest, and only a few miserable +fishermen and pirates inhabited its creeks and rivers. The prescience +of Sir Stamford Raffles marked it out in 1819 as the site of the first +free port in the Malayan Seas, but it was not till 1824 that it was +formally ceded to the East India Company by the Sultan of Johore, and +it only became a Crown colony in 1867, when it was erected into the +capital of the Straits Settlements, which include Malacca and Pinang. + +Like Victoria, Singapore is a free port, and the vexatiousness of a +custom-house is unknown. The only tax which shipping pays is 1-1/2 per +cent. for the support of sundry lighthouses. The list of its exports +suggests heat. They are chiefly sugar, pepper, tin, nutmegs, mace, +sago, tapioca, rice, buffalo hides and horns, rattans, gutta, india +rubber, gambier, gums, coffee, dye-stuffs, and tobacco, but the island +itself, though its soil looks rich from its redness, only produces +pepper and gambier. It is a great entrepot, a gigantic distributing +point.* +[*The exports and imports of Singapore amounted in 1823 to 2,120,000 +pounds, in 1859-60 to 10,371,000 pounds, and in 1880, to 23,050,000 +pounds! In the latter year, tonnage to the amount of three millions of +tons arrived in its harbor. It must be observed that the imports, to a +very large extent, are exported to other places.] + +The problem of raising a revenue without customs duties is solved by a +stamp-tax, land-revenue, and (by far the most important), the sale of +the monopolies of the preparation and retailing of opium for smoking, +and of spirits and other excisable commodities, these monopolies being +"farmed" to private individuals, mostly Chinamen. It is rather puzzling +to hear "farmers" spoken of so near the equator. A revenue of nearly +half a million annually and a public debt of one hundred thousand +pounds is not bad for so young a colony. The prosperity of the Straits +Settlements ports is a great triumph for free traders, and a traveler, +even if, like myself, he has nothing but a canvas roll and a "Gladstone +bag," congratulates himself on being saved from the bother of +unstrapping and restrapping stiffened and refractory straps, and from +the tiresome delays of even the most courteous custom-house officers. + +The official circle is large, as I before remarked. A Crown colony +where the Government has it all its own way must be the paradise of +officials, and the high sense of honor and the righteous esprit de +corps which characterize our civil servants in the Far East, and a +conscientious sense of responsibilities for the good government and +well-being of the heterogeneous populations over which they rule, seem +as good a check as the general run of colonial parliaments. + +The Governor, Sir William Robinson (now Sir F. A. Weld), is assisted by +an Executive Council of eight members, and a Legislative Council +consisting of nine official and six non-official members, including Mr. +Whampoa, C.M.G., a Chinaman of great wealth and enlightened public +spirit, who is one of the foremost men in the colony. Then on the Civil +Establishment there are a legion of departments, the Colonial +Secretary's office with a branch office and Chinese Protectorate, a +Land Office, Printing Office, Treasury, Audit Office, Post Office, +Public Works and Survey Department, Marine Department, Judicial +Department, Attorney-General's Department, Sheriff's Department, Police +Court and Police Department, and Ecclesiastical, Educational, Medical, +and Prison Staffs. + +It is natural that when the mail has been worn threadbare and no +stirring incidents present themselves, such as the arrival of a new +ship of war or a touring foreign prince, and the receptions of Mr. +Whampoa and the Maharajah of Johore have grown insipid, that much of +local conversation should consist of speculations as to when or whether +Mr. ---- will get promotion, when Mr. ---- will go home, or how much he +has saved out of his salary; what influence has procured the +appointment of Mr. ---- to Selangor or Perak, instead of Mr. ----, +whose qualifications are higher; whether Mr. ----'s acting appointment +will be confirmed; whether Mr. ---- will get one or two years' leave; +whether some vacant appointment is to be filled up or abolished, and so +on ad infinitum. Such talk girdles the colonial world as completely as +the telegraph, which has revolutionized European business here as +elsewhere. + +The island is far less interesting than the city. Its dense, dark +jungle is broken up mainly by pepper and gambier plantations, the +latter specially in new clearings. The laborers on these are Chinese, +and so are the wood-cutters and sawyers, who frequent the round-topped +wooded undulations. The climate is hotter and damper, to one's +sensations at least, than the hottest and dampest of the tropical +houses at Kew, and heat-loving insects riot. The ants are a pest of the +second magnitude, mosquitoes being of the first, the palm-trees and the +piles of decaying leaves and bark being excellent nurseries for larvae. +The vegetation is luxuriant, and in the dim, green twilight which is +created by enormous forest trees there are endless varieties of ferns, +calladiums, and parasitic plants; but except where a road has been cut +and is kept open by continual labor, the climbing rattan palms make it +impossible to explore. + +My short visit has been mainly occupied with the day at the Colonial +Secretary's Lodge, and in walking and driving through the streets. The +city is ablaze with color and motley with costume. The ruling race does +not show to advantage. A pale-skinned man or woman, costumed in our +ugly, graceless clothes, reminds one not pleasingly, artistically at +least, of our dim, pale islands. Every Oriental costume from the Levant +to China floats through the streets--robes of silk, satin, brocade, and +white muslin, emphasized by the glitter of "barbaric gold;" and Parsees +in spotless white, Jews and Arabs in dark rich silks; Klings in Turkey +red and white; Bombay merchants in great white turbans, full trousers, +and draperies, all white, with crimson silk girdles; Malays in red +sarongs, Sikhs in pure white Madras muslin, their great height rendered +nearly colossal by the classic arrangement of their draperies; and +Chinamen of all classes, from the coolie in his blue or brown cotton, +to the wealthy merchant in his frothy silk crepe and rich brocade, make +up an irresistibly fascinating medley. + +The English, though powerful as the ruling race, are numerically +nowhere, and certainly make no impression on the eye. The Chinese, who +number eighty-six thousand out of a population of one hundred and +thirty-nine thousand, are not only numerous enough, but rich and +important enough to give Singapore the air of a Chinese town with a +foreign settlement. Then there are the native Malays, who have crowded +into the island since we acquired it, till they number twenty-two +thousand, and who, besides being tolerably industrious as boatmen and +fishermen, form the main body of the police. The Parsee merchants, who +like our rule, form a respectable class of merchants here, as in all +the great trading cities of the East. The Javanese are numerous, and +make good servants and sailors. Some of the small merchants and many of +the clerks are Portuguese immigrants from Malacca; and traders from +Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, Bali, and other islands of the Malay +Archipelago are scattered among the throng. The washermen and grooms +are nearly all Bengalees. Jews and Arabs make money and keep it, and +are, as everywhere, shrewd and keen, and only meet their equals among +the Chinese. Among the twelve thousand natives of India who have been +attracted to Singapore, and among all the mingled foreign +nationalities, the Klings from the Coromandel coast, besides being the +most numerous of all next to the Chinese, are the most attractive in +appearance, and as there is no check on the immigration of their women, +one sees the unveiled Kling beauties in great numbers.* +[*The Singapore census returns for 1881 are by no means "dry reading," +and they give a very imposing idea of the importance of the island. It +is interesting to note that of the 434 enumerators employed only seven +were Europeans! + +The number of houses on the island is 20,462; the total population is +139,208 souls, viz., 105,423 males and 33,785 females. The total +increase in ten years is divided as follows:-- + + Europeans and Americans 823 + Eurasians 930 + _Chinese_ 32,194 + Malays and other natives of the Archipelago 6,954 + Tamils and other natives of India 637 + Other nationalities 559 + +Among these "other nationalities" the great increase has been among the +Arabs, who have nearly doubled their numbers. Among the "Malays and +other natives of the Archipelago" are included, Achinese, Boyanese, +Bugis, Dyaks, Jawi-Pekans, and Manilamen. + +The European resident population, exclusive of the soldiers, is only +1,283. _The Chinese population is_ 86,766; the Malay, 22,114; the +Tamil, 10,475; the Javanese, 5,881; and the Eurasian, 3,091. In the +very small European population 19 nationalities are included, the +Germans numerically following the British. Of 15,368 domestic servants, +only 844 are women.] + +These Klings are active and industrious, but they lack fibre +apparently, and that quick-sightedness for opportunities which makes +the Chinese the most successful of all emigrants. Not a Malay or a +Kling has raised himself either as a merchant or in any other capacity +to wealth or distinction in the colony. The Klings make splendid +boatmen, they drive gharries, run as syces, lend small sums of money at +usurious interest, sell fruit, keep small shops, carry "chit books," +and make themselves as generally useful as their mediocre abilities +allow. They are said to be a harmless people so far as deeds go. They +neither fight, organize, nor get into police rows, but they quarrel +loudly and vociferously, and their vocabulary of abuse is said to be +inexhaustible. The Kling men are very fine-looking, lithe and active, +and, as they clothe but little, their forms are seen to great +advantage. The women are, I think, beautiful--not so much in face as in +form and carriage. I am never weary of watching and admiring their +inimitable grace of movement. Their faces are oval, their foreheads +low, their eyes dark and liquid, their noses shapely, but disfigured by +the universal adoption of jewelled nose-rings; their lips full, but not +thick or coarse; their heads small, and exquisitely set on long, +slender throats; their ears small, but much dragged out of shape by the +wearing of two or three hoop-earrings in each; and their glossy, wavy, +black hair, which grows classically low on the forehead, is gathered +into a Grecian knot at the back. Their clothing, or rather drapery, is +a mystery, for it covers and drapes perfectly, yet has no _make_, far +less fit, and leaves every graceful movement unimpeded. It seems to +consist of ten wide yards of soft white muslin or soft red material, so +ingeniously disposed as to drape the bust and lower limbs, and form a +girdle at the same time. One shoulder and arm are usually left bare. +The part which may be called a petticoat--though the word is a slur +upon the graceful drapery--is short, and shows the finely turned +ankles, high insteps, and small feet. These women are tall, and +straight as arrows; their limbs are long and rounded; their appearance +is timid, one might almost say modest, and their walk is the poetry of +movement. A tall, graceful Kling woman, draped as I have described, +gliding along the pavement, her statuesque figure the perfection of +graceful ease, a dark pitcher on her head, just touched by the +beautiful hand, showing the finely moulded arm, is a beautiful object, +classical in form, exquisite in movement, and artistic in coloring, a +creation of the tropic sun. What thinks she, I wonder, if she thinks +at all, of the pale European, paler for want of exercise and engrossing +occupation, who steps out of her carriage in front of her, an +ungraceful heap of poufs and frills, tottering painfully on high heels, +in tight boots, her figure distorted into the shape of a Japanese sake +bottle, every movement a struggle or a jerk, the clothing utterly +unsuited to this or any climate, impeding motion, and affecting health, +comfort, and beauty alike? + +It is all fascinating. Here is none of the indolence and apathy which +one associates with Oriental life, and which I have seen in Polynesia. +These yellow, brown, tawny, swarthy, olive-tinted men are all intent on +gain; busy, industrious, frugal, striving, and, no matter what their +creed is, all paying homage to Daikoku. In spite of the activity, +rapidity, and earnestness, the movements of all but the Chinese are +graceful, gliding, stealthy, the swarthy faces have no expression that +I can read, and the dark, liquid eyes are no more intelligible to me +than the eyes of oxen. It is the "Asian mystery" all over. + +It is only the European part of Singapore which is dull and sleepy +looking. No life and movement congregate round the shops. The +merchants, hidden away behind jalousies in their offices, or dashing +down the streets in covered buggies, make but a poor show. Their houses +are mostly pale, roomy, detached bungalows, almost altogether hidden by +the bountiful vegetation of the climate. In these their wives, growing +paler every week, lead half-expiring lives, kept alive by the efforts +of ubiquitous "punkah-wallahs;" writing for the mail, the one active +occupation. At a given hour they emerge, and drive in given directions, +specially round the esplanade, where for two hours at a time a double +row of handsome and showy equipages moves continuously in opposite +directions. The number of carriages and the style of dress of their +occupants are surprising, and yet people say that large fortunes are +not made now-a-days in Singapore! Besides the daily drive, the ladies, +the officers, and any men who may be described as of "no occupation," +divert themselves with kettle-drums, dances, lawn tennis, and various +other devices for killing time, and this with the mercury at 80 +degrees! Just now the Maharajah of Johore, sovereign of a small state +on the nearest part of the mainland, a man much petted and decorated by +the British Government for unswerving fidelity to British interests, +has a house here, and his receptions and dinner parties vary the +monotonous round of gayeties. + +The native streets monopolize the picturesqueness of Singapore with +their bizarre crowds, but more interesting still are the bazaars or +continuous rows of open shops which create for themselves a perpetual +twilight by hanging tatties or other screens outside the sidewalks, +forming long shady alleys, in which crowds of buyers and sellers +chaffer over their goods, the Chinese shopkeepers asking a little more +than they mean to take, and the Klings always asking double. The bustle +and noise of this quarter are considerable, and the vociferation +mingles with the ringing of bells and the rapid beating of drums and +tom-toms--an intensely heathenish sound. And heathenish this great city +is. Chinese joss-houses, Hindu temples, and Mohammedan mosques almost +jostle each other, and the indescribable clamor of the temples and the +din of the joss-houses are faintly pierced by the shrill cry from the +minarets calling the faithful to prayer, and proclaiming the divine +unity and the mission of Mahomet in one breath. + +How I wish I could convey an idea, however faint, of this huge, +mingled, colored, busy, Oriental population; of the old Kling and +Chinese bazaars; of the itinerant sellers of seaweed jelly, water, +vegetables, soup, fruit, and cooked fish, whose unintelligible street +cries are heard above the din of the crowds of coolies, boatmen, and +gharriemen waiting for hire; of the far-stretching suburbs of Malay and +Chinese cottages; of the sheet of water, by no means clean, round which +hundreds of Bengalis are to be seen at all hours of daylight +unmercifully beating on great stones the delicate laces, gauzy silks, +and elaborate flouncings of the European ladies; of the ceaseless rush +and hum of industry, and of the resistless, overpowering, astonishing +Chinese element, which is gradually turning Singapore into a Chinese +city! I must conclude abruptly, or lose the mail. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER VIII + +St. Andrew's Cathedral--Singapore Harbor Scenes--Chinese +Preponderance--First Impressions of Malacca--A Town "Out of the +Running" + + +S.S. "RAINBOW," MALACCA ROADS, January 20. + +Yesterday I attended morning service in St. Andrew's, a fine colonial +cathedral, prettily situated on a broad grass lawn among clumps of +trees near the sea. There is some stained glass in the apse, but in the +other windows, including those in the clerestory, Venetian shutters +take the place of glass, as in all the European houses. There are +thirty-two punkahs, and the Indians who worked them, anyone of whom +might have been the model of the Mercury of the Naples Museum, sat or +squatted outside the church. The service was simple and the music very +good, but in the Te Deum, just as the verse "Thou art the King of +Glory, O Christ," I caught sight of the bronze faces of these "punkah- +wallahs," mostly bigoted Mussulmen, and was overwhelmed by the +realization of the small progress which Christianity has made upon the +earth in nineteen centuries. A Singhalese D.D. preached an able sermon. +Just before the communion we were called out, as the Rainbow was about +to sail, and a harbor boat, manned by six splendid Klings, put us on +board. + +The Rainbow is a very small vessel, her captain half Portuguese and +half Malay, her crew Chinese, and her cabin passengers were all Chinese +merchants. Her engineer is a Welshman, a kindly soul, who assured Mr. +----, when he commended me to his care, that "he was a family man, and +that nothing gave him greater pleasure than seeing that ladies were +comfortable," and I owe to his good offices the very small modicum of +comfort that I had. Waiting on the little bridge was far from being +wearisome, there was such a fascination in watching the costumed and +manifold life of the harbor, the black-hulled, sullen-looking steamers +from Europe discharging cargo into lighters, Malay prahus of all sizes +but one form, sharp at both ends, and with eyes on their bows, like the +Cantonese and Cochin China boats, reeling as though they would upset +under large mat sails, and rowing-boats rowed by handsome, statuesque +Klings. A steamer from Jeddah was discharging six hundred pilgrims in +most picturesque costumes; and there were boats with men in crimson +turbans and graceful robes of pure white muslin, and others a mass of +blue umbrellas, while some contained Brahmins with the mark of caste +set conspicuously on their foreheads, all moving in a veil of gold in +the setting of a heavy fringe of cocoa-palms. + +We sailed at four, with a strong favorable breeze, and the sea was +really delightful as we passed among green islets clothed down to the +water's edge with dense tropical vegetation, right out into the open +water of the Straits of Malacca, a burning, waveless sea, into which +the sun was descending in mingled flame and blood. Then, dinner for +three, consisting of an excellent curry, was spread on the top of the +cabin, and eaten by the captain, engineer, and myself, after which the +engineer took me below to arrange for my comfort, and as it was +obviously impossible for me to sleep in a very dirty and very small +hole, tenanted by cockroaches disproportionately large, and with a +temperature of eighty-eight degrees, he took a mattress and pillows +upon the bridge, told me his history, and that of his colored wife and +sixteen children under seventeen, of his pay of 35 pounds a month, lent +me a box of matches, and vanished into the lower regions with the +consoling words, "If you want anything in the night, just call +'Engineer' down the engine skylight." It does one's heart good to meet +with such a countryman. + +The Rainbow is one of the many tokens of preponderating Chinese +influence in the Straits of Malacca. The tickets are Chinese, as well +as the ownership and crew. The supercargo who took my ticket is a sleek +young Chinaman in a pigtail, girdle, and white cotton trousers. The +cabin passengers are all Chinamen. The deck was packed with Chinese +coolies on their way to seek wealth in the diggings at Perak. They were +lean, yellow, and ugly, smoked a pipe of opium each at sundown, wore +their pigtails coiled round their heads, and loose blue cotton +trousers. We had slipped our cable at Singapore, because these coolies +were clambering up over every part of the vessel, and defying all +attempts to keep them out, so that "to cut and run" was our only +chance. The owners do not allow any intoxicant to be brought on board, +lest it should be given to the captain and crew, and they should take +too much and lose the vessel. I am the only European passenger and the +only woman on board. I had a very comfortable night lying on deck in +the brisk breeze on the waveless sea, and though I watched the stars, +hoping to see the Southern Cross set, I fell asleep, till I was awoke +at the very earliest dawn by a most formidable Oriental shouting to me +very fiercely I thought, with a fierce face; but it occurred to me that +he was trying to make me understand that they wanted to wash decks, so +I lifted my mattress on a bench and fell asleep again, waking to find +the anchor being let go in the Malacca roads six hours before we should +have arrived. + +I am greatly interested with the first view of Malacca, one of the +oldest European towns in the East, originally Portuguese, then Dutch, +and now, though under English rule, mainly Chinese. There is a long bay +with dense forests of cocoa-palms, backed by forests of I know not +what, then rolling hills, and to the right beyond these a mountain +known as Mount Ophir, rich in gold. Is this possibly, as many think, +the Ophir of the Bible, and this land of gems and gold truly the +"Golden Chersonese?" There are islets of emerald green lying to the +south, and in front of us a town of antiquated appearance, low houses, +much colored, with flattish, red-tiled roofs, many of them built on +piles, straggling for a long distance, and fringed by massive-looking +bungalows, half buried in trees. A hill rises near the middle, crowned +by a ruined cathedral, probably the oldest Christian church in the Far +East, with slopes of bright green grass below, timbered near their base +with palms and trees of a nearly lemon-colored vividness of +spring-green, and there are glimpses of low, red roofs behind the hill. +On either side of the old-world-looking town and its fringe of +bungalows are glimpses of steep, reed roofs among the cocoa-palms. A +long, deserted-looking jetty runs far out into the shallow sea, a few +Chinese junks lie at anchor, in the distance a few Malay fishermen are +watching their nets, but not a breath stirs, the sea is without a +ripple, the gray clouds move not, the yellow plumes of the palms are +motionless; the sea, the sky, the town, look all alike asleep in a +still, moist, balmy heat. + + +Stadthaus, Malacca, 4 P.M.--Presently we were surrounded by a crowd of +Malay boats with rude sails made of mats, but their crews might have +been phantoms for any noise they made. By one of these I sent my card +and note of introduction to the Lieutenant-Governor. An hour afterward +the captain told me that the Governor usually went into the country +early on Monday morning for two days, which seemed unfortunate. Soon +after, the captain and engineer went ashore, and I was left among a +crowd of Chinamen and Malays without any possibility of being +understood by any of them, to endure stifling heat and provoking +uncertainty, much aggravated by the want of food, for another three +hours. At last, when very nearly famished, and when my doubts as to the +wisdom of this novel and impromptu expedition had become very serious +indeed, a European boat appeared, moving with the long steady stroke of +a man-of-war's boat, rowed by six native policemen, with a +frank-looking bearded countryman steering, and two peons in white, with +scarlet-and-gold hats and sashes, in the bow, and as it swept up to +the Rainbow's side the man in white stepped on board, and introduced +himself to me as Mr. Biggs, the colonial chaplain, deputed to receive +me on behalf of the Governor, who was just leaving when my card +arrived. He relieved all anxiety as to my destination by saying that +quarters were ready for me in the Stadthaus. + +We were soon on a lovely shore under the cathedral-crowned hill, where +the velvety turf slopes down to the sea under palms and trees whose +trunks are one mass of ferns, brightened by that wonderful flowering +tree variously known as the "flamboyant" and the "flame of the forest" +(Poinciana regia). Very still, hot, tropical, sleepy, and dreamy, +Malacca looks, a town "out of the running," utterly antiquated, mainly +un-English, a veritable Sleepy Hollow. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER IX + +The Lieutenant-Governor of Malacca--A Charming Household--The Old +Stadthaus--A Stately Habitation--An Endless Siesta--A Tropic +Dream--Chinese Houses--Chinese Wealth and Ascendency--"Opium +Farming"--The Malacca Jungle--Mohammedan Burial-Places--Malay +Villages--Malay Characteristics--Costume and Ornament--Bigotry and +Pilgrimage--The Malay Buffalo + + +STADTHAUS, MALACCA, January 21-23. + +This must surely fade like a dream, this grand old Stadthaus, this +old-world quiet, this quaint life; but when it fades I think I shall +have a memory of having been "once in Elysium." Still, Elysium should +have no mosquitoes, and they are nearly insupportable here; big spotted +fellows, with a greed for blood, and a specially poisonous bite, taking +the place at daylight of the retiring nocturnal host. The Chinese +attendant is not careful, and lets mosquitoes into my net, and even one +means a sleepless night. They are maddening. + +I was introduced to my rooms, with their floors of red Dutch tiles, +their blue walls, their white-washed rafters, their doors and windows +consisting of German shutters only, their ancient beds of portentous +height, and their generally silent and haunted look, and then went to +tiffin with Mr. and Mrs. Biggs. Mr. Biggs is a student of hymnology, +and we were soon in full swing on this mutually congenial subject. Mrs. +Biggs devotes her time and strength to the training and education of +young Portuguese girls. I pass their open bungalow as I go to and from +the Governor's cottage, and it usually proves a trap. + +Captain Shaw, who has been for many years Lieutenant-Governor of +Malacca, is a fine, hearty, frank, merry, manly, Irish naval officer, +well read and well informed, devoted to Malacca and its interests, and +withal a man of an especially unselfish, loving, and tender nature, +considerate to an unusual degree of the happiness and comfort of those +about him. Before I had been here many hours I saw that he was the +light of a loving home.* He can be firm and prompt when occasion +requires firmness, but his ordinary rule is of the gentlest and most +paternal description, so that from the Chinese he has won the name of +"Father," and among the Malays, the native population, English rule, as +administered by him, has come to be known as "the rule of the just." +The family, consisting of the Governor, his, wife, and two daughters +just grown up, is a very charming one, and their quiet, peaceful life +gives me the opportunity which so rarely falls to the lot of a traveler +of becoming really intimate with them. +[*I should not have reproduced this paragraph of my letter were Captain +Shaw still alive, but in five weeks after my happy visit he died almost +suddenly, to the indescribable grief of his family and of the people of +Malacca, by whom he was greatly beloved.] + +The Government bungalow, in which I spend most of my time, is a +comfortable little cottage, with verandas larger than itself. In the +front veranda, festooned with trailers and orchids, two Malay military +policemen are always on guard, and two scornful-looking Bengalis in +white trousers, white short robes, with sashes of crimson silk striped +with gold, and crimson-and-gold flat hats above their handsome but +repellent faces, make up the visible part of the establishment. One of +these Bengalis has been twice to Mecca, at an expense of 40 pounds on +each visit, and on Friday appears in a rich Hadji suit, in which he +goes through the town, and those Mussulmen who are not Hadji bow down +to him. I saw from the very first that my project of visiting the +native States was not smiled upon at Government House. + +The Government bungalow being scarcely large enough for the Governor's +family, I am lodged in the old Dutch Stadthaus, formerly the residence +of the Dutch Governor, and which has enough of solitude and faded +stateliness to be fearsome, or at the least eerie, to a solitary guest +like myself, to whose imagination, in the long, dark nights, creeping +Malays or pilfering Chinamen are far more likely to present themselves +than the stiff beauties and formal splendors of the heyday of Dutch +ascendancy. The Stadthaus, which stands on the slope of the hill, and +is the most prominent building in Malacca, is now used as the Treasury, +Post Office, and Government offices generally. There are large state +reception-rooms, including a ball-room, and suites of apartments for +the use of the Governor of the Straits Settlements, the Chief-Justice, +and other high officials, on their visits to Malacca. The Stadthaus, at +its upper end on the hill, is only one story high, but where it abuts +on the town it is three and even four. The upper part is built round +three sides of a Dutch garden, and a gallery under the tiled veranda +runs all round. A set of handsome staircases on the sea side leads to +the lawn-like hill with the old cathedral, and the bungalows of the +Governor and colonial chaplain. Stephanotis, passiflora, tuberose, +alamanda, Bougainvillea, and other trailers of gorgeous colors, climb +over everything, and make the night heavy with their odors. There must +be more than forty rooms in this old place, besides great arched +corridors, and all manner of queer staircases and corners. Dutch tiling +and angularities and conceits of all kinds abound. + +My room opens on one side upon a handsome set of staircases under the +veranda, and on the other upon a passage and staircase with several +rooms with doors of communication, and has various windows opening on +the external galleries. Like most European houses in the Peninsula, it +has a staircase which leads from the bedroom to a somewhat grim, +brick-floored room below, containing a large high tub, or bath, of +Shanghai pottery, in which you must by no means bathe, as it is found +by experience that to take the capacious dipper and pour water upon +yourself from a height, gives a far more refreshing shock than +immersion when the water is at 80 degrees and the air at 83 degrees. + +The worst of my stately habitation is, that after four in the afternoon +there is no one in it but myself, unless a Chinese coolie, who has a +lair somewhere, and appears in my room at all sorts of unusual hours +after I think I have bolted and barred every means of ingress. However, +two Malay military policemen patrol the verandas outside at intervals +all night, and I have the comfort of imagining that I hear far below +the clank of the British sentries who guard the Treasury. In the early +morning my eyes always open on the Governor's handsome Mohammedan +servant in spotless white muslin and red head-dress and girdle, +bringing a tray with tea and bananas. The Chinese coolie who appears +mysteriously attends on me, and acts as housemaid, our communications +being entirely by signs. The mosquitoes are awful. The view of the +green lawns, the sleeping sea, the motionless forest of cocoa-palms +along the shore, the narrow stream and bridge, and the quaint red-tiled +roofs of the town, is very charming and harmonious; yet I often think, +if these dreamy days went on into months, that I should welcome an +earthquake shock, or tornado, or jarring discord of some rousing kind, +to break the dream produced by the heated, steamy, fragrant air, and +the monotonous silence. + +I have very little time for writing here, and even that is abridged by +the night mosquitoes, which muster their forces for a desperate attack +as soon as I retire to the Stadthaus for two hours of quiet before +dinner, so I must give the features of Malacca mainly in outline. +Having written this sentence, I am compelled to say that the feature of +Malacca is that it is featureless! It is a land where it is "always +afternoon"--hot, still, dreamy. Existence stagnates. Trade pursues its +operations invisibly. Commerce hovers far off on the shallow sea. The +British and French mail steamers give the port a wide offing. It has no +politics, little crime, rarely gets even two lines in an English +newspaper, and does nothing toward making contemporary history. The +Lieutenant-Governor has occupied the same post for eleven years. A +company of soldiers vegetates in quarters in a yet sleepier region than +the town itself. Two Chinese steamers make it a port of call, but, +except that they bring mails, their comings and goings are of no +interest to the very small English part of the population. Lying +basking in the sun, or crawling at the heads of crawling oxen very like +hairless buffaloes, or leaning over the bridge looking at nothing, the +Malays spend their time when they come into the town, their very +movements making the lack of movement more perceptible. + +The half-breed descendants of the Portuguese, who kept up a splendid +pomp of rule in the days of Francis Xavier, seem to take an endless +siesta behind their closely covered windows. I have never seen an +Englishman out of doors except Mr. Hayward, the active superintendent +of military police, or Mr. Biggs, who preserves his health and energies +by systematic constitutionals. Portuguese and Dutch rule have passed +away, leaving, as their chief monuments--the first, a ruined cathedral, +and a race of half-breeds; and the last, the Stadthaus and a flat-faced +meeting-house. A heavy shower, like a "thunder-plump," takes up a part +of the afternoon, after which the Governor's carriage, with servants in +scarlet liveries, rolls slowly out of Malacca, and through the +sago-palms and back again. If aught else which is European breaks the +monotony of the day I am not aware of it. The streets have no +particular features, though one cannot but be aware that a narrow +stream full of boats, and spanned by a handsome bridge, divides the +town into two portions, and that a handsome clock-tower (both tower and +bridge erected by some wealthy Chinese merchants) is a salient object +below the Stadthaus. Trees, trailers, fruits, smother the houses, and +blossom and fruit all the year round; old leaves, young leaves, buds, +blossom, and fruit, all appearing at once. The mercury rarely falls +below 79 degrees or rises above 84 degrees. The softest and least +perceptible of land and sea breezes blow alternately at stated hours. +The nights are very still. The days are a tepid dream. Since I arrived +not a leaf has stirred, not a bird has sung, the tides ebb and flow in +listless and soundless ripples. Far off, on the shallow sea, phantom +ships hover and are gone, and on an indefinite horizon a blurred ocean +blends with a blurred sky. On Mount Ophir heavy cloud-masses lie always +motionless. The still, heavy, fragrant nights pass with no other sounds +than the aggressive hum of mosquitoes and the challenge of the +sentries. But through the stormy days and the heavy nights Nature is +always busy in producing a rapidity and profusion of growth which would +turn Malacca into a jungle were it not for axe and billhook, but her +work does not jar upon the general silence. Yet with all this +indefiniteness, dreaminess, featurelessness, indolence, and silence, of +which I have attempted to convey an idea, Malacca is very fascinating, +and no city in the world, except Canton, will leave so vivid an +impression upon me, though it may be but of a fragrant tropic dream and +nothing more. + +Yesterday Mrs. Biggs took me a drive through Malacca and its forest +environs. It was delightful; every hour adds to the fascination which +this place has for me. I thought my tropic dreams were over, when seven +years ago I saw the summit peaks of Oahu sink sunset flushed into a +golden sea, but I am dreaming it again. The road crosses the bridge +over the narrow stream, which is, in fact, the roadway of a colored and +highly picturesque street, and at once enters the main street of +Malacca, which is parallel to the sea. On the sea side each house +consists of three or four divisions, one behind the other, each roof +being covered with red tiles. The rearmost division is usually built +over the sea, on piles. In the middle of each of the three front +divisions there is a courtyard. The room through which you enter from +the street always has an open door, through which you see houses +showing a high degree of material civilization, lofty rooms, handsome +altars opposite the doors, massive, carved ebony tables, and carved +ebony chairs with marble seats and backs standing against the walls, +hanging pictures of the kind called in Japan kakemono, and rich bronzes +and fine pieces of porcelain on ebony brackets. At night, when these +rooms are lighted up with eight or ten massive lamps, the appearance is +splendid. These are the houses of Chinese merchants of the middle +class. + +And now I must divulge the singular fact that Malacca is to most +intents and purposes a Chinese city. The Dutch, as I wrote, have +scarcely left a trace. The Portuguese, indolent, for thc most part +poor, and lowered by native marriages, are without influence, a most +truly stagnant population, hardly to be taken into account. Their poor- +looking houses resemble those of Lisbon. The English, except in so far +as relates to the administration of government, are nowhere, though it +is under our equitable rule that the queerly mixed population of +Chinese, Portuguese, half-breeds, Malays, Confucianists, Buddhists, +Tauists, Romanists, and Mohammedans "enjoy great quietness."* +[*By the census of 1881 the resident European population of the +Settlement of Malacca consists of 23 males and 9 females, a "grand" +total of 32! The Eurasian population, mainly of Portuguese mixed blood, +is 2,213. The Chinese numbers 19,741, 4,020 being females. The Malay +population is 67,488, the females being 2,000 in excess of the males, +the Tamils or Klings are 1,781, the Arabs 227, the Aborigines of the +Peninsula 308, the Javanese 399, the Boyanese 212, and the Jawi-Pekans +867. Besides these there are stray Achinese, Africans, Anamese, +Bengalis, Bugis, Dyaks, Manilamen, Siamese, and Singhalese, numbering +174. The total population of the territory is 93,579, viz., 52,059 males +and 41,520 females, an increase in ten years of 15,823. The decrease in +the number of resident Europeans is 31.9 per cent. In "natives of India" +42 per cent., and in "other nationalities" 48.9 per cent. On the other +hand the Chinese population has increased by 6,259 or 46.4 per cent., +and the Malays by 11,264, or 19.3 per cent. The town of Malacca contains +5,538 houses, and the country districts 11,177. The area of the +settlement is 640 square miles, and the density of the population 146 to +the square mile; only twelve of the population are lunatics.] + +Of the population of the town the majority are said to be Chinese, and +still their crowded junks are rolling down on the north-east monsoon. +As I remarked before, the coasting trade of the Straits of Malacca is +in their hands, and to such an extent have they absorbed the trade of +this colony, that I am told there is not a resident British merchant in +Malacca. And it is not, as elsewhere, that they come, make money, and +then return to settle in China, but they come here with their wives and +families, buy or build these handsome houses, as well as large +bungalows in the neighboring cocoa-groves, own most of the plantations +up the country, and have obtained the finest site on the hill behind +the town for their stately tombs. Every afternoon their carriages roll +out into the country, conveying them to their substantial bungalows to +smoke and gamble. They have fabulous riches in diamonds, pearls, +sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. They love Malacca, and take a pride in +beautifying it. They have fashioned their dwellings upon the model of +those in Canton, but whereas cogent reasons compel the rich Chinaman at +home to conceal the evidences of his wealth, he glories in displaying +it under the security of British rule. The upper class of the Chinese +merchants live in immense houses within walled gardens. The wives of +all are secluded, and inhabit the back regions and have no share in the +remarkably "good time" which the men seem to have. Along with their +industrious habits and their character for fair trading, the Chinese +have brought to Malacca gambling and opium-smoking. One-seventh of the +whole quantity of opium exported from India to China is intercepted and +consumed in the Straits Settlements, and the Malacca Government makes a +large revenue from it. The Chinaman who "farms the opium"--i.e., who +purchases from the Government the exclusive right to sell it--pays for +his monopoly about 50 pounds per day. It must be remembered, however, +that every man who smokes opium is not what we understand by an +"opium-smoker," and that between the man who takes his daily pipe of +opium after his supper, and the unhappy opium-slave who reduces himself +to imbecility in such dens as I saw in Canton, there is just as much +difference as there is in England between the "moderate drinker" and +the "habitual drunkard." Slavery is prohibited in Malacca, and slaves +from the neighboring State fly for freedom to the shelter of the +British flag; but there is reason to suppose that the numerous women in +the households of the Chinese merchants, though called servants, are +persons who have been purchased in China, and are actually held in +bondage. Apart from these exceptions, the Chinese population is a +valuable one, and is, in its upper classes, singularly public-spirited, +law-abiding, and strongly attached to British rule. + +I saw no shops except those for the sale of fish, fruit, and coarse +native pottery, but doubtless most things which are suited to the wants +of the mixed population can be had in the bazaars. As we drove out of +the town the houses became fewer and the trees denser, with mosques +here and there among them, and in a few minutes we were in the great +dark forest of cocoa, betel, and sago palms, awfully solemn and +oppressive in the hot stillness of the evening. Every sight was new, +for though I have seen the cocoa-palm before, the palm-fringes of the +coral islands, with their feathery plumes have little kinship with the +dark, crowded cocoa-forests of Malacca, with their endless vistas and +mysterious gloom. These forests are intersected by narrow, muddy +streams, suggestive of alligators, up which you can go in canoes if you +lie down, and are content with the yet darker shade produced by the +nipah, a species of stemless palm, of which the poorer natives make +their houses, and whose magnificent fronds are often from twenty to +twenty-two feet in length. The soft carriage road passes through an +avenue of trees of great girth and a huge spread of foliage, bearing +glorious yellow blossoms of delicious fragrance. Jungles of sugar-cane +often form the foreground of dense masses of palms, then a jungle of +pine-apples surprises one, then a mass of lianas, knotted and tangled, +with stems like great cables, and red blossoms as large as breakfast +cups. The huge trees which border the road have their stems and +branches nearly hidden by orchids and epiphytes--chiefly that lovely +and delicate one whose likeness to a hovering dove won for it the name +of the "Flower of the Holy Ghost," an orchid (Peristeria elata) which +lives but for a day, but in its brief life fills the air with +fragrance. Then the trees change, the long tresses of an +autumn-flowering orchid fall from their branches over the road; dead +trees appear transformed into living beauty by multitudes of ferns, +among which the dark-green shining fronds of the Asplenium nidus, +measuring four feet in length, specially delight the eye; huge +tamarinds and mimosa add the grace of their feathery foliage; the +banana unfolds its gigantic fronds above its golden fruitage; clumps of +the betel or areca palms, with their slender and absolutely straight +shafts, make the cocoa-palms look like clumsy giants; the gutta-percha, +india rubber, and other varieties of ficus, increase the forest gloom +by the brown velvety undersides of their shining dark-green leafage; +then comes the cashew-nut tree, with its immense spread of branches, +and its fruit an apple with a nut below; and the beautiful bread-fruit, +with its green "cantalupe melons," nearly ripe, and the gigantic jak +and durion, and fifty others, children of tropic heat and moisture, in +all the promise of perpetual spring, and the fulfillment of endless +summer, the beauty of blossom and the bounteousness of an unfailing +fruitage crowning them through all the year. At their feet is a tangle +of fungi, mosses, ferns, trailers, lilies, nibongs, reeds, canes, +rattans, a dense and lavish undergrowth, in which reptiles, large and +small, riot most congenially, and in which broods of mosquitoes are +hourly hatched, to the misery of man and beast. Occasionally a small +and comparatively cleared spot appears, with a crowded cluster of +graves, with a pawn-shaped stone at the head of each, and the beautiful +Frangipani,* the "Temple Flower" of Singhalese Buddhism, but the "Grave +Flower" of Malay Mohammedanism, sheds its ethereal fragrance among the +tombs. The dead lie lonely in the forest shade, under the feathery +palm-fronds, but the living are not far to seek. +[*Plumieria sp.] + +It is strange that I should have written thus far and have said nothing +at all about the people from whom this Peninsula derives its name, who +have cost us not a little blood and some treasure, with whom our +relations are by no means well defined or satisfactory, and who, though +not the actual aborigines of the country, have at least that claim to +be considered its rightful owners which comes from long centuries of +possession. In truth, between English rule, the solid tokens of Dutch +possession, the quiet and indolent Portuguese, the splendid memories of +Francis Xavier, and the numerical preponderance, success, and wealth of +the Chinese, I had absolutely forgotten the Malays, even though a dark- +skinned military policeman, with a gliding, snake-like step, whom I +know to be a Malay, brings my afternoon tea to the Stadthaus! Of them I +may write more hereafter. They are symbolized to people's minds in +general by the dagger called a kris, and by the peculiar form of frenzy +which has given rise to the phrase "running amuck." + +The great cocoa groves are by no means solitary, for they contain the +kampongs, or small raised villages of the Malays. Though the Malay +builds his dismal little mosques on the outskirts of Malacca, he shuns +the town, and prefers a life of freedom in his native jungles, or on +the mysterious rivers which lose themselves among the mangrove swamps. +So in the neighborhood of Malacca these kampongs are scattered through +the perpetual twilight of the forest. They do not build the houses +very close together, and whether of rich or poor, the architecture is +the same. Each dwelling is of planed wood or plaited palm leaves, the +roof is high and steep, the eaves are deep, and the whole rests on a +gridiron platform, supported on posts from five to ten feet high, and +approached by a ladder in the poorer houses, and a flight of steps in +the richer. In the ordinary houses mats are laid here and there over +the gridiron, besides the sleeping mats; and this plan of an open +floor, though trying to unaccustomed Europeans, has various advantages. +As, for instance, it insures ventilation, and all debris can be thrown +through it, to be consumed by the fire which is lighted every evening +beneath the house to smoke away the mosquitoes. A baboon, trained to +climb the cocoa palms and throw down the nuts, is an inmate of most of +the houses. + +The people lead strange and uneventful lives. The men are not inclined +to much effort except in fishing or hunting, and, where they possess +rice land, in ploughing for rice. They are said to be quiet, +temperate, jealous, suspicious, some say treacherous, and most bigoted +Mussulmen. The women are very small, keep their dwellings very tidy, +and weave mats and baskets from reeds and palm leaves. They are clothed +in cotton or silk from the ankles to the throat, and the men, even in +the undress of their own homes, usually wear the sarong, a picturesque +tightish petticoat, consisting of a wide piece of stuff kept on by a +very ingenious knot. They are not savages in the ordinary sense, for +they have a complete civilization of their own, and their legal system +is derived from the Koran. + +They are dark brown, with rather low foreheads, dark and somewhat +expressionless eyes, high cheek bones, flattish noses with broad +nostrils, and wide mouths with thick lips. Their hair is black, +straight and shining, and the women dress it in a plain knot at the +back of the head. To my thinking, both sexes are decidedly ugly, and +there is a coldness and aloofness of manner about them which chills one +even where they are on friendly terms with Europeans, as the people +whom we visited were with Mrs. Biggs. + +The women were lounging about the houses, some cleaning fish, others +pounding rice; but they do not care for work, and the little money +which they need for buying clothes they can make by selling mats, or +jungle fruits. Their lower garment, or sarong, reaching from the waist +to the ankles, is usually of red cotton of a small check, with stripes +in the front, above which is worn a loose sleeved garment, called a +kabaya, reaching to the knees, and clasped in front with silver or +gold, and frequently with diamond ornaments. They also wear gold or +silver pins in their hair, and the sarong is girt or held up by a clasp +of enormous size, and often of exquisite workmanship, in the poorer +class of silver, and in the richer of gold jeweled with diamonds and +rubies. The sarong of the men does not reach much below the knee and +displays loose trousers. They wear above it a short-sleeved jacket, the +baju, beautifully made, and often very tastefully decorated in fine +needlework, and with small buttons on each side, not for use, however. +I have seen one Malay who wore about twenty buttons, each one a diamond +solitaire! The costume is completed by turbans or red handkerchiefs +tied round their heads. + +In these forest kampongs the children, who are very pretty, are not +encumbered by much clothing, specially the boys. All the dwellings are +picturesque, and those of the richer Malays are beautiful. They rigidly +exclude all ornaments which have "the likeness of anything in heaven or +earth," but their arabesques are delicately carved, and the verses from +the Koran, which occasionally run under the eaves, being in the Arabic +character, are decidedly decorative. Their kampongs are small, and +they have little of the gregarious instinct; they are said to live +happily, and to have a considerable amount of domestic affection. +Captain Shaw likes the Malays, and the verdict on them here is that +they are chaste, gentle, honest and hospitable, but that they tell +lies, and that their "honor" is so sensitive that blood alone can wipe +out some insults to it. They seclude their women to a great extent, and +under ordinary circumstances the slightest courtesy shown by a European +man to a Malay woman would be a deadly insult; and at the sight of a +man in the distance the women hastily cover their faces. + +There is a large mosque with a minaret just on the outskirts of +Malacca, and we passed several smaller ones in the space of three +miles. Scarcely any kampong is so small as not to have a mosque. The +Malays are bigoted, and for the most part ignorant and fanatical +Mohammedans, and I firmly believe that the Englishman whom they respect +most is only a little removed from being "a dog of an infidel." They +are really ruled by the law of the Koran, and except when the Imaum, +who interprets the law, decides (which is very rarely the case) +contrary to equity, the British magistrate confirms his decision. In +fact, Mohammedan law and custom rule in civil cases, and the Imaum of +the mosque assists the judge with his advice. The Malays highly +appreciate the manner in which law is administered under English rule, +and the security they enjoy in their persons and property, so that they +can acquire property without risk, and accumulate and wear the +costliest jewels even in the streets of Malacca without fear of robbery +or spoliation. This is by no means to write that the Malays love us, +for I doubt whether the entente cordiale between any of the +dark-skinned Oriental races and ourselves is more than skin deep. It is +possible that they prefer being equitably taxed by us, with the +security which our rule brings, to being plundered by native princes, +but we do not understand them, or they us, and where they happen to be +Mohammedans, there is a gulf of contempt and dislike on their part +which is rarely bridged by amenities on ours. The pilgrimage to Mecca +is the great object of ambition. Many Malays, in spite of its expense +and difficulties, make it twice, and even three times. We passed three +women clothed in white from head to foot, their drapery veiling them +closely, leaving holes for their eyes. These had just returned from +Mecca. The picturesqueness of the drive home was much heightened by the +darkness, and the brilliancy of the fires underneath the Malay houses. +The great gray buffalo which they use for various purposes--and which, +though I have written gray, is as often pink--has a very thin and +sensitive skin, and is almost maddened by mosquitoes; and we frequently +passed fires lighted in the jungle, with these singular beasts standing +or lying close to them in the smoke on the leeward side, while Malays +in red sarongs and handkerchiefs, and pretty brown children scarcely +clothed at all, lounged in the firelight. Then Chinese lamps and +lanterns, and the sound of what passes for music; then the refinement +and brightness of the Government bungalow, and at ten o'clock my chair +with three bearers, and the solitude of the lonely Stadthaus. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER X + +Malacca Mediaevalism--Tiger Stories--The Chinese Carnival--Gold and +Gems--A Weight of Splendor--New-Year Rejoicings--Syed Abdulrahman--A +Mohammedan Princess--A Haunted City--Francis Xavier--The Reward of +"Pluck"--Projects of Travel + + +STADTHAUS, MALACCA, January 23. + +Malacca fascinates me more and more daily. There is, among other +things, a mediaevalism about it. The noise of the modern world reaches +it only in the faintest echoes; its sleep is almost dreamless, its +sensations seem to come out of books read in childhood. Thus, the +splendid corpse of a royal tiger has been brought in in a bullock-cart, +the driver claiming the reward of fifteen dollars, and its claws were +given to me. It was trapped only six miles off, and its beautiful +feline body had not had time to stiffen. Even when dead, with its +fierce head and cruel paws hanging over the end of the cart, it was not +an object to be disrespected. The same reward is offered for a +rhinoceros, five dollars for a crocodile (alligator?) and five dollars +for a boa-constrictor or python. Lately, at five in the morning, a +black tiger (panther?) came down the principal street of Malacca, tore +a Chinamen in pieces, and then, scared by a posse of police in pursuit, +jumped through a window into a house. Every door in the city was +barred, as the rumor spread like wildfire. The policemen very boldly +entered the house, but the animal pinned the Malay corporal to the +wall. The second policeman, a white man, alas! ran away. The third, a +Malay, at the risk of his life, went close up to the tiger, shot him, +and beat him over the head with the butt of his rifle, which made the +beast let go the corporal and turn on him, but fortunately he had +scarcely got hold of him when he fell dead. The corporal is just coming +out of hospital, almost completely paralyzed, to be taken care of for +the rest of his life, and the man who rescued him has got promotion and +a pension. A short time ago a fine young tiger was brought alive to +Captain Shaw, and he ordered a proper cage to be made, in which to send +him to England, telling Babu, the "double Hadji," to put it into the +"godown" in its bamboo cage; but the man put it into the kitchen, and +in the morning the cage was found broken into pieces, the kitchen +shutters torn down, and the tiger gone! There was a complete panic in +Malacca; people kept their houses shut, and did not dare to go out even +on business, and not only was the whole police force turned out in +pursuit, but the English garrison. It was some days before the scare +subsided and the people believed that the beast had escaped to its +natural home in the jungle. + +A tropical thunderstorm of the most violent kind occurred yesterday, +when I was quite alone in the Stadthaus. The rain fell in sheets, +deluges, streams, and the lightning flashed perfectly blue through a +"darkness which could be felt." There is a sort of grandeur about this +old Dutch Stadthaus, with its tale of two centuries. Its smooth lawns, +sloping steeply to the sea, are now brilliant with the gaudy +parrot-like blossoms of the "flame of the forest," the gorgeous +Poinciana regia, with which they are studded. Malacca is such a rest +after the crowds of Japan and the noisy hurry of China! Its endless +afternoon remains unbroken except by the dreamy, colored, slow-moving +Malay life which passes below the hill. There is never any hurry or +noise. + +So had I written without prescience! The night of the awful silence +which succeeded the thunderstorm was also the eve of the Chinese New +Year, and Captain Shaw gave permission for "fireworks" from 7 P.M. till +midnight. The term "fireworks" received a most liberal construction. +The noise was something awful, and as it came into the lonely +Stadthaus, and red, blue, crimson, and greenish-yellow glares at short +intervals lighted up the picturesque Malacca steam and its blue and +yellow houses, with their steep red-tiled roofs and balconies and +quaint projections, and the streets were traced in fire and smoke, +while crackers, squibs, and rockets went off in hundreds, and cannon, +petards, and gingalls were fired incessantly, and gongs, drums, and +tom-toms were beaten, the sights, and the ceaseless, tremendous, +universal din made a rehearsal of the final assault on a city in old +days. At 1 A.M., every house being decorated and illuminated, the +Chinese men began to make their New Year's calls, and at six the din +began again. After breakfast the Governor drove out in state to visit +the leading Chinese merchants, with whom he is on terms of the most +cordial amity, and at each house was offered two dishes of cakes, +twelve dishes of candied and preserved fruits, mandarin tea (the price +of this luxury is from 25s. to 45s. a pound), and champagne from the +finest Rhenish vineyards! At eleven all the Chinese children came forth +in carriages shaped like boats, turned up at both ends, painted red and +yellow, and with white-fringed canopies over them. These were drawn by +servants, and in the case of the wealthy, a train of servants +accompanied each carriage. It was a sight worthy of a fabled age. The +wealth of the East in all its gorgeousness was poured out upon these +dignified and solemn infants, who wore coronals of gold and diamonds, +stuffs of cloth of gold brocade, and satin sewn with pearls, and whose +cloth-of-gold shoes flashed with diamonds! + +During the morning four children of a rich Chinese merchant, attended +by a train of Chinese and Malay servants, came to see Mrs. Shaw. There +were a boy and girl of five and six years old, and two younger +children. A literal description of their appearance reads like fiction. +The girl wore a yellow petticoat of treble satin (mandarin yellow) with +broad box plaits in front and behind, exquisitely embroidered with +flowers in shades of blue silk, with narrow box plaits between, with a +trail of blue silk flowers on each. Over this there was a short robe of +crimson brocaded silk, with a broad border of cream-white satin, with +the same exquisite floral embroidery in shades of blue silk. Above this +was a tippet of three rows of embroidered lozenge-shaped "tabs" of +satin. The child wore a crown on her head, the basis of which was black +velvet. At the top was an aigrette of diamonds of the purest water, +the centre one as large as a sixpenny-piece. Solitaires flashing blue +flames blazed all over the cap, and the front was ornamented with a +dragon in fine filigree work in red Malay gold set with diamonds. I +fear to be thought guilty of exaggeration when I write that this child +wore seven necklaces, all of gorgeous beauty. The stones were all cut +in facets at the back; and highly polished, and their beauty was +enhanced by the good taste and skilful workmanship of the setting. The +first necklace was of diamonds set as roses and crescents, some of them +very large, and all of great brilliancy; the second of emeralds, a few +of which were as large as acorns, but spoilt by being pierced; the +third of pearls set whole; the fourth of hollow filigree beads in red, +burned gold; the fifth of sapphires and diamonds; the sixth a number of +finely worked chains of gold with a pendant of a gold filigree fish set +with diamonds; the seventh, what they all wear, a massive gold chain, +which looked heavy enough even by itself to weigh down the fragile +little wearer, from which depended a gold shield, on which the Chinese +characters forming the child's name were raised in rubies, with fishes +and flowers in diamonds round it, and at the back a god in rubies +similarly surrounded. Magnificent diamond earrings and heavy gold +bracelets completed the display. + +And all this weight of splendor, valued at the very least at $40,000, +was carried by a frail human mite barely four feet high, with a +powdered face, gentle, pensive expression, and quiet grace of manner, +who came forward and most winsomely shook hands with us, as did all the +other grave gentle mites. They were also loaded with gold and diamonds. +Some sugar-plums fell on the floor, and as the eldest girl stooped to +pick them up, diamond solitaires fell out of her hair, which were +gathered up by her attendants as if they were used to such occurrences. +Whenever she moved her diamonds flashed, scintillated, and gave forth +their blue light. Then came the children of the richest Chinaman in +Malacca, but the little gentle creatures were motherless, and mourning +for a mother lasts three years, so they were dressed in plain blue and +white, and as ornaments wore only very beautiful sapphires and diamonds +set in silver. + +Do not suppose that the Chinese New Year is a fixed, annual holiday +lasting a day, as in Scotland, and to a minor extent in England. In +Canton a month ago active preparations were being made for it, and in +Japan nine weeks ago. It is a "movable feast," and is regulated by the +date on which the new moon falls nearest to the day "when the sun +reaches the 15 degrees of Aquarius," and occurs this year on January +21st. Everything becomes cheap before it, for shopkeepers are anxious +to realize ready money at any loss, for it is imperative that all +accounts be closed by the last day of the old year, on pain of a man +being disgraced, losing all hope of getting credit, and of having his +name written up on his door as a defaulter. It appears also that debts +which are not settled by the New Year's Eve cannot thereafter be +recovered, though it is lawful for a creditor who has vainly hunted a +debtor throughout that last night to pursue him for the first hours +after daybreak, provided he still carries a lantern! + +The festival lasts a fortnight, and is a succession of feasts and +theatrical entertainments, everybody's object being to cast care and +work to the winds. Even the official seals of the mandarins are +formally and with much rejoicing sealed up and laid aside for one +month. On the 20th day of the 12th month houses and temples are +thoroughly washed and cleaned, rich and poor decorate with +cloth-of-gold, silk embroideries, artificial and real flowers, banners, +scrolls, lucky characters, illuminated strips of paper, and bunches of +gilt-paper flowers, and even the poorest coolie contrives to greet the +festival with some natural blossom. There is no rest either by night +or day, joss-sticks burn incessantly, and lamps before the ancestral +tablets, gongs are beaten, gingalls fire incessantly, and great +crackers like cartridges fastened together in rows are let off at +intervals before every door to frighten away evil spirits; there are +family banquets of wearisome length, feasts to the household gods, +offerings in the temples, processions in the street by torch and +lantern light, presents are given to the living, and offerings to the +dead, the poor are feasted, and the general din is heightened by +messengers perambulating the streets with gongs, calling them to the +different banquets. When the fortnight of rejoicing is over its signs +are removed, and after the outbreak of extravagant expenditure the +Chinese return to their quiet, industrious habits and frugal ways. + +Just as this brilliant display left the room, a figure in richer +coloring of skin appeared--Babu, the head servant, in his beautiful +Hadji dress. He wore white full trousers, drawn in tightly at the +ankles over black shoes, but very little of these trousers showed below +a long, fine, linen tunic of spotless white, with a girdle of orange +silk. Over this was a short jacket of rich green silk, embroidered in +front with green of the same color, and over all a pure white robe +falling from the shoulders. The turban was a Mecca turban made of many +yards of soft white silk, embroidered in white silk. It was difficult +to believe that this gorgeous Mussulman, in the odor of double +sanctity, with his scornful face and superb air, could so far demean +himself as to wait on "dogs of infidels" at dinner, or appear in my +room at the Stadthaus, with matutinal tea and bananas! + +This magnificence heralded the Datu Klana, Syed Abdulrahman, the +reigning prince of the native State of Sungei Ujong, his principal +wife, and his favorite daughter, a girl of twelve. It has been decided +that I am to go to Sungei Ujong, and that I am to be escorted by Mr. +Hayward, the superintendent of police, but, unfortunately, I am to go +up in the Datu Klana's absence, and one object of his visit was to +express his regret. This prince has been faithful to British interests, +and is on most friendly terms with the resident, Captain Murray, and +the Governor of Malacca. During his visit Babu interpreted, but Miss +Shaw, who understands Malay, said that, instead of interpreting +faithfully, he was making enormous demands on my behalf! At all events, +Syed Abdulrahman, with truly exaggerated Oriental politeness, presented +me with the key of his house in the interior. + +This prince is regarded by British officials as an enlightened ruler, +though he is a rigid Mussulman. His dress looked remarkably plain +beside that of the splendid Babu. He wore a Malay bandana handkerchief +round his head, knotted into a peak, a rich brocade baju or short +jacket, a dark Manilla sarong, trousers of Mandarin satin striped with +red, a girdle clasp set with large diamonds, and sandals with jeweled +cloth-of-gold straps. His wife, though elderly and decidedly plain +looking, has a very pleasing expression. She wore a black veil over her +head, and her kabaya, or upper garment, was fastened with three diamond +clasps. The bright little daughter wore a green veil with gold stars +upon it over her head, and ornaments of rich, red gold elaborately +worked. The Datu Klana apologized for the extreme plainness of their +dress by saying that they had only just arrived, and that they had +called before changing their traveling clothes. When they departed the +two ladies threw soft silk shawls over their heads, and held them so as +to cover their faces except their eyes. + +There are now sixty-seven thousand Malays in the British territory of +Malacca, and the number is continually increased by fugitives from the +system of debt-slavery which prevails in some of the adjacent States, +and by immigration from the same States of Malays who prefer the +security which British rule affords. + +[The police force is Malay, and it seems as if the Malays had a special +aptitude for this semi-military service, for they not only form the +well-drilled protective forces of Malacca, Sungei Ujong, and Selangor, +but that fine body of police in Ceylon of which Mr. George Campbell has +so much reason to be proud. Otherwise very few of them enter British +employment, greatly preferring the easy, independent life of their +forest kampongs.] + +The commercial decay of Malacca is a very interesting fact.* Formerly +fifty merchantmen were frequently lying in its roads at one time. Here +the Portuguese fleet lay which escorted Xavier from Goa, and who can +say how many galleons freighted with the red gold of Ophir floated on +these quiet waters! Now, Chinese junks, Malay prahus, a few Chinese +steamers, steam-launches from the native States, and two steamers which +call in passing, make up its trade. There is neither newspaper, banker, +hotel, nor resident English merchant, The half-caste descendants of the +Portuguese are, generally speaking, indolent, degraded with the +degradation that is born of indolence, and proud. The Malays dream away +their lives in the jungle, and the Chinese, who number twenty thousand, +are really the ruling population. +[*Linscholt, two hundred and seventy years ago, writes:--"This place is +the market of all India, of China, and the Moluccas, and of other +islands round about, from all which places, as well as from Banda, Java, +Sumatra, Siam, Pegu, Bengal, Coromandil, and India, arrive ships which +come and go incessantly charged with an infinity of merchandises."] + +The former greatness of Malacca haunts one at all times. The romantic +exploits of Albuquerque, who conquered it in 1511, apostrophized in the +Lusiad-- + + "Not eastward far though fair Malacca lie, + Her groves embosomed in the morning sky, + Though with her amorous sons the valiant line + Of Java's isle in battle rank combine, + Though poisoned shafts their ponderous quivers store, + Malacca's spicy groves and golden ore, + Great Albuquerque, thy dauntless toils shall crown," + +live again, though my sober judgment is that Albuquerque and most of +his Portuguese successors were little better than buccaneers. + +I like better to think of Francis Xavier passing through the +thoroughfares of what was then the greatest commercial city of the +East, ringing his bell, with the solemn cry, "Pray for those who are in +a state of mortal sin." For among the "Jews, Turks, infidels, and +heretics" who then thronged its busy streets, there were no worse +livers than the roistering soldiers who had followed Albuquerque. +Tradition among the present Portuguese residents says that coarse words +and deeds disappeared from the thoroughfares under his holy influence, +and that little altars were set up in public places, round which the +children sang hymns to Jesus Christ, while the passers-by crossed +themselves and bowed their heads reverently. Now, the cathedral which +crowns the hill, roofless and ruinous, is only imposing from a +distance, and a part of it is used for the storage of marine or +lighthouse stores under our prosaic and irreverent rule. Xavier +preached frequently in it and loved it well, yet the walls are +overgrown with parasites, and the floor, under which many prelates and +priests lie, is hideous with matted weeds, which are the haunt of +snakes and lizards. Thus, in the city which was so dear to Xavier that +he desired to return to it to die (and actually did die on his way +thither), the only memento of him is the dishonored ruin of the +splendid church in which his body was buried, with all the population +of Malacca following it from the yellow strand up the grass-crowned +hill, bearing tapers. This wretched ruin is a contrast to the splendid +mausoleum at Goa, where his bones now lie, worthily guarded, in coffins +of silver and gold. + +If the Portuguese were little better than buccaneers, the Dutch, who +drove them out, were little better than hucksters--mean, mercenary +traders, without redeeming qualities; content to suck the blood of +their provinces and give nothing in return. I should think that the +colony is glad to be finally rid of them. The English took possession +of it in 1795, but restored it to the Dutch in 1818, regaining it again +by treaty in 1824, giving Bencoolen, in Sumatra, in exchange for it, +stipulating at the same time that the Dutch were not to meddle with +Malayan affairs, or have any settlement on the Malay Peninsula. The +ruined cathedral of Notre Dame del Monte is a far more interesting +object than the dull, bald, commonplace, flat-faced, prosaic, Dutch +meeting-house, albeit the latter is in excellent repair. Even this +Stadthaus, with its stately solitudes, smells of trade, and suggests +corpulent burgomasters and prim burgomasters' wives in wooden hoops and +stiff brocades. The influence of Holland has altogether vanished, as is +fitting, for she cared only for nutmegs, sago, tapioca, tin and pepper. + +The variety of races here produces a ludicrous effect sometimes. In the +Stadthaus one never knows who is to appear--whether Malay, Portuguese, +Chinaman, or Madrassee. Yesterday morning, at six, the Chinaman who +usually "does" my room, glided in, murmuring something unintelligible, +and on my not understanding him, brought in a Portuguese interpreter. +At seven, came in the Madrassee, Babu, with a cluster of bananas, and +after him, two Malays, in red sarongs, who brushed and dusted all my +clothes as slowly as they could--men of four races in attendance before +I was up in the morning! This Chinese attendant, besides being a common +coolie in a brown cotton shirt over a brown cotton pair of trousers, is +not a good specimen of his class, and is a great nuisance to me. My +doors do not bolt properly, and he appears in the morning while I am in +my holoku, writing, and slowly makes the bed and kills mosquitoes; then +takes one gown after another from the rail, and stares at me till I +point to the one I am going to wear, which he holds out in his hands; +and though I point to the door, and say "Go!" with much emphasis, I +never get rid of him, and have to glide from my holoku into my gown +with a most unwilling dexterity. + +Two days ago Captain Shaw declared that "pluck should have its reward," +and that I should have facilities for going to Sungei Ujong. Yesterday, +he asked me to take charge of his two treasured daughters. Then Babu +said, "If young ladies go, me go," and we are to travel under the +efficient protection of Mr. Hayward, the superintendent of police. +This expedition excites great interest in the little Malacca world. +This native State is regarded as "parts unknown;" the Governor has +never visited it, and there are not wanting those who shake their heads +and wonder that he should trust his girls in a region of tigers, +crocodiles, rogue elephants and savages! The little steam-launch +Moosmee (in reality by far the greatest risk of all) has been brought +into the stream below the Stadthaus, ready for an early start +to-morrow, and a runner has been sent to the Resident to prepare him +for such an unusual incursion into his solitudes. + +I. L. B. + + + +A CHAPTER ON SUNGEI UJONG + +The Puzzles of the Peninsula--Sungei Ujong--A Malay Confederation--Syed +Abdulrahman--The Revenue of Sungei Ujong--Scenery and Productions--The +New Datu Klana--A "Dual Control" + + +I had never heard of this little State until I reached Singapore, and +probably many people are as ignorant as I was. The whole peninsula, +from Johore in the south to Kedah in the north, is a puzzle, what with +British colonies, Singapore, Malacca, and Province Wellesley, and +"Protected States," Sungei Ujong, Selangor, and Perak, north, south, +and east of which lie a region of unprotected Malay States, with their +independent rulers, such as Kedah, Patani, Tringganu, Kelantan, Pahang, +Johore, etc.* In several of these States, more or less anarchy +prevails, owing to the ambitions and jealousies of the Rajahs and their +followers, and a similar state of things in the three protected States +formerly gave great annoyance to the Straits-Settlements Government, +and was regarded as a hindrance to the dominant interests of British +trade in the Straits. +[*A number of small States are united into a sort of confederation known +as the Negri Sembilan, or Nine States. Their relative positions and +internal management, as well as their boundaries, remain unknown, as +from dread of British annexation they have refused to allow Europeans to +pass through their territory.] + +In 1874, Sir A. Clark, the then Governor, acting in British interests, +placed British residents in Perak, Selangor, and the small State of +Sungei Ujong. These residents were to advise the rulers in matters of +revenue and general administration, but, it may be believed, that as +time has passed, they have become more or less the actual rulers of the +States which they profess to advise merely. They are the accredited +agents of England, reporting annually to the Straits Government, which, +in its turn, reports to the Colonial Office, and the amount of pressure +which they can bring to bear is overwhelming. + +It is not easy to give the extent and boundaries of Sungei Ujong, the +"boundary question" being scarcely settled, and the territory to the +eastward being only partially explored. It is mainly an inland State, +access to its very limited seaboard being by the Linggi river. The +"protected" State of Selangor bounds it on the north, and joining on to +it and to each other on the east, are the small "independent" States of +Rumbow, Johol, Moar, Sri Menanti, Jelabu, Jompol, and Jelai. The Linggi +river, which in its lower part forms the boundary between Selangor and +Malacca, forks in its upper part, the right branch becoming for some +distance the boundary between Sungei Ujong and Rumbow. It is doubtful +whether the area of the State exceeds seven hundred square miles. + +The Malays of Sungei Ujong and several of the adjacent States are +supposed to be tolerably directly descended from those of the parent +empire Menangkabau in Sumatra, who conquered and have to a great extent +displaced the tribes known as Jakuns, Orang Bukit, Rayet Utan, Samangs, +Besisik, Rayet Laut, etc., the remnants of which live mainly in the +jungles of the interior, are everywhere apart from the Malays, and are +of a much lower grade in the scale of civilization. The story current +among the best informed Malays of this region is that a Sumatran chief +with a large retinue crossed to Malacca in the twelfth century, and +went into the interior, which he found inhabited only by the Jakuns, or +"tree people." There his followers married Jakun women, and their +descendants spread over Sungei Ujong, Rumbow, and other parts, the +Rayet Laut, or "sea-people," the supposed Ichthyophagi of the ancients, +and the Rayet Utan, or "forest-people," betaking themselves to the +woods and the sea-board hills. + +This mixed race rapidly increasing, divided into nine petty States, +under chiefs who rendered feudal service to the Sultans of Malacca +before its conquest by the Portuguese, and afterward to the Sultan of +Johore, at whose court they presented themselves once a year. This +confederation, called the Negri Sembilan, in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries made various commercial treaties with the Dutch, +but its domestic affairs were in a state of chronic feud, and four of +the States, late in the eighteenth century, becoming disgusted with the +arbitrary proceedings of a ruler who, aided by Dutch influence, had +gained the ascendency over the whole nine, sent to Sumatra, the +original source of government, for a prince of the blood-royal of +Menangkabau, and after a prolonged conflict this prince became +sovereign of the little States of Sungei Ujong, Rumbow, Johol, and Sri +Menanti, the chiefs of these States constituting his Council of State. +This dynasty came to an end in 1832, and intrigues and discord +prevailed for many years, till the Datu Klana of Sungei Ujong, troubled +by a hostile neighbor in Rumbow and a hostile subject or rival at home, +conceived the bright idea of supporting his somewhat shaky throne by +British protection. + +After some curious negotiations, he succeeded in obtaining both a +Resident and the English flag to protect his little fortunes; but it is +obvious that his calling in foreign intervention was not likely to make +him popular with his independent neighbors or disaffected subjects, and +the troubles culminated in a "little war," in which the attacking force +was composed of a few English soldiers, Malay military police, and a +body of about eighty so-called Arabs, enlisted in Singapore and taken +to the scene of action by Mr. Fontaine. The "enemy" was seldom obvious, +but during the war it inflicted a loss upon us of eight killed and +twenty-three wounded. We took various stockades, shot from sixty to +eighty Malays, burned a good deal of what was combustible, and gave +stability to the shaky rule of the Datu Klana, Syed Abdulrahman. Of +this prince, who owed his firm seat on the throne to British +intervention, the Resident wrote in 1880:--"Loyal to his engagements, +he had gained the good will of the British Government. +Straightforward, honest, and truly charitable, he had gained the love +and respect of almost everyone in Sungei Ujong, Chinese as well as +Malay, and if he had a fault he erred on the side of a weak belief in +the goodness of human nature, and often suffered in consequence." This +was Captain Murray's verdict after nearly five years' experience. + +The population of this tiny State, which in 1832 consisted of three +thousand two hundred Malays and four hundred Chinese, at the time of my +visit had risen to twelve thousand, composed of three Europeans, a few +Klings, two thousand Malays, and ten thousand Chinese. It exports tin +in large quantities, gutta-percha collected in the interior by the +aborigines, coffee, which promises to become an important production, +buffalo hides, gum dammar, and gharroo. In 1879 the exports amounted to +81,976 pounds; 81,451 pounds being the value of tin. Its imports are +little more than half this amount. Rice heads the list with an import +of 18,150 pounds worth, and opium comes next, valued at 14,448 pounds. +The third import in value is oil; the next Chinese tobacco, the next +sugar, the next salt fish, and the next pigs! The Chinese, of course, +consume most of what is imported, being in a majority of five to one, +and here as elsewhere they carry with them their rigid conservatism in +dress, mode of living, food, and amusements, and have a well-organized +and independent system of communication with China. It is the Chinese +merchant, not the British, who benefits by the rapidly augmenting +Chinese population. Thus in the import list the Chinese tobacco, pigs, +lard, onions, beans, vermicelli, salted vegetables, tea, crackers, +joss-sticks, matches, Chinese candles, Chinese clothing, Chinese +umbrellas, and several other small items, are all imported from China. + +Having been debited with a debt of 10,000 pounds for war expenses, to +be paid off by installments, the finances were much hampered, and the +execution of road-making and other useful work has been delayed. This +war debt, heavy as it was, was exclusive of 6,000 pounds previously +paid off, and of heavy disbursements made to supply food and forage for +the British soldiers who were quartered in Sungei Ujong for a +considerable time. Apart from this harassing debt, the expenses are +pre-eminently for "establishments," the construction of roads and +bridges, and pensions to Rajahs whose former sources of revenue have +been interfered with or abolished. The sources of revenue are to some +extent remarkable, and it is possible that some of them might be +altogether abolished if public attention became focussed upon them. +Export duties are levied only on tin, the great product of Sungei +Ujong, and gutta-percha. The chief import duty is on opium, and in 1879 +this produced 4,182 pounds, or about one-fourth of the whole revenue. +Besides this fruitful and growing source of income, 3,074 pounds was +raised in 1879 under the head "Farms;" a most innocuous designation of +a system which has nothing to do with the "kindly fruits of the earth" +at all, but with spirits, gambling, oil, salt, opium, and a lottery! In +other words, the "farms" are so many monopolies, sold at intervals to +the highest bidder, the "gambling farm" being the most lucrative of the +lot to the Government, and of course to the "farmer"! + +The prison expenses are happily small, and the hospital expenses also, +owing mainly in the former case to the efforts of the "Capitans China," +who are responsible for their countrymen, and in the latter to the +extreme healthiness of the climate. The military police force now +consists of a European superintendent, ninety-four constables, paid +45s. per month, and twelve officers, all Malays; but as it is Malay +nature to desire a change, and it is found impossible to retain the men +for any lengthened periods, it is proposed to employ Sikhs, as in +Perak. + +Sungei Ujong, like the other States of the Peninsula, is almost +entirely covered with forests, now being cleared to some extent by +tapioca, gambier, and coffee-planters. Its jungles are magnificent, its +hill scenery very beautiful, and its climate singularly healthy. +Pepper, coffee, tapioca, cinchona, and ipecacuanha, are being tried +successfully; burnt earth, of which the natives have a great opinion, +and leaf mould being used in the absence of other manure. + +The rainfall is supposed to average 100 inches a year, and since +thermometrical observations have been taken the mercury has varied from +68 degrees to 92 degrees. From the mangrove swamps at the mouths of +turbid, sluggish rivers, where numberless alligators dwell in congenial +slime, the State gradually rises inland, passing through all the +imaginable wealth of tropical vegetation and produce till it becomes +hilly, if not mountainous. Sparkling streams dash through limestone +fissures, the air is clear, and the nights are fresh and cool. Its +mineral wealth lies in its tin mines, which have been worked mainly by +Chinamen for a great number of years. + +The British Resident, who was called in to act as adviser, is +practically the ruler of this little State, and the arrangement seems +to give tolerable satisfaction. At all events it has secured to Sungei +Ujong since the war an amount of internal tranquillity which is not +possessed by the adjacent States which are still under native rule, +though probably the dread of British intervention and of being reduced +to mere nominal sovereignty, being "pensioned off" in fact, keeps the +Rajahs from indulging in the feuds and exactions of former years. Since +my visit the Datu Klana died of dysentery near Jeddah in Arabia in +returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, and three out of six of his +followers perished of the same disease. The succession was quietly +arranged, but the hope that the State to which its late ruler was +intensely, even patriotically attached might remain prosperous under +the new Rajah, has not been altogether fulfilled. Affairs are certainly +not as satisfactory as they were, judging from recent official +statements. The import of opium has largely increased. Rice planting +had failed owing to the mortality and sickness among the buffaloes used +in ploughing, the scanty crop was nearly destroyed by rats, and the +Malays had shown a "determined opposition" to taking out titles to +their lands. + +The new Datu Klana is very unpopular, and so remarkably weak in +character as not to be able to bring any influence to bear upon the +settlement of any difficult question. The Datu Bandar (alluded to in my +letter) is entirely opposed to progress of every kind, and, having a +great deal of influence, obstructs the present Resident in every +attempt to come to an understanding on the land grant question. A +virulent cattle disease had put an end for the time being to cart +traffic; and the Linggi, the great high-road to the tin mines, had +become so shallow that the means of water transport were very limited. +Large numbers of jungle workers had returned to Malacca. The Resident's +report shows very significantly the formidable difficulties which +attend on the system of a "Dual Control," and on making any +interference with "Malay custom" regarding land, etc. It is scarcely +likely, however, that Sungei Ujong and the other feeble protected +States which have felt the might of British arms, and are paying dearly +through long years for their feeble efforts at independence, will ever +seek to shake off the present system, which, on the whole, gives them +security and justice. + + + +LETTER XI + +A Mangrove Swamp--Jungle Dwellers--The Sempang Police Station--Shooting +Alligators--The River Linggi--A Somber-Faced Throng--Stuck Fast at +Permatang Pasir--Fair Impediments + + +SEMPANG POLICE STATION (At the junction of the Loboh-Chena, and Linggi +rivers), Territory of the Datu Klana of Sungei Ujong, Malay Peninsula. +January 24, 1 P.M. Mercury, 87 degrees. + +We left Malacca at seven this morning in the small, unseaworthy, +untrustworthy, unrigged steam-launch Moosmee, and after crawling for +some hours at a speed of about five miles an hour along brown and +yellow shores with a broad, dark belt of palms above them, we left the +waveless, burning sea behind, and after a few miles of tortuous +steaming through the mangrove swamps of the Linggi river, landed here +to wait for sufficient water for the rest of our journey. + +This is a promontory covered with cocoa-palms, bananas, and small +jungle growths. On either side are small rivers densely bordered by +mangrove swamps. The first sight of a real mangrove swamp is an event. +This mangi-mangi of the Malays (the Rhizophera mangil of botanists) has +no beauty. All along this coast within access of tidal waters there is +a belt of it many miles in breadth, dense, impenetrable, from forty to +fifty feet high, as nearly level as may be, and of a dark, dull green. +At low water the mangroves are seen standing close packed along the +shallow and muddy shores on cradles or erections of their own roots +five or six feet high, but when these are covered at high tide they +appear to be growing out of the water. They send down roots from their +branches, and all too quickly cover a large space. Crabs and other +shell-fish attach themselves to them, and aquatic birds haunt their +slimy shades. They form huge breeding grounds for alligators and +mosquitoes, and usually for malarial fevers, but from the latter the +Peninsula is very free. The seeds germinate while still attached to the +branch. A long root pierces the covering and grows rapidly downward +from the heavy end of the fruit, which arrangement secures that when +the fruit falls off the root shall at once become embedded in the mud. +Nature has taken abundant trouble to insure the propagation of this +tree, nearly worthless as timber. Strange to say, its fruit is sweet +and eatable, and from its fermented juice wine can be made. The +mangrove swamp is to me an evil mystery. + +Behind, the jungle stretches out--who can say how far, for no European +has ever penetrated it?--and out of it rise, jungle-covered, the Rumbow +hills. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the royal tiger, the black +panther, the boar, the leopard, and many other beasts roam in its +tangled, twilight depths, but in this fierce heat they must be all +asleep in their lairs. The Argus-pheasant too, one of the loveliest +birds of a region whose islands are the home of the Bird of Paradise, +haunts the shade, and the shade alone. In the jungle too, is the +beautiful bantam fowl, the possible progenitor of all that useful race. +The cobra, the python (?), the boa-constrictor, the viper, and at least +fourteen other ophidians, are winding their loathsome and lissom forms +through slimy jungle recesses; and large and small apes and monkeys, +flying foxes, iguanas, lizards, peacocks, frogs, turtles, tortoises, +alligators, besides tapirs, rarely seen, and the palandok or chevrotin, +the hog deer, the spotted deer, and the sambre, may not be far off. I +think that this part of the country, intersected by small, shallow, +muddy rivers, running up through slimy mangrove swamps into a vast and +impenetrable jungle, must be like many parts of Western Africa. + +One cannot walk three hundred yards from this station, for there are no +tracks. We are beyond the little territory of Malacca, but this bit of +land was ceded to England after the "Malay disturbances" in 1875, and +on it has been placed the Sempang police station, a four-roomed +shelter, roofed with attap, a thatch made of the fronds of the nipah +palm, supported on high posts--an idea perhaps borrowed from the +mangrove--and reached by a ladder. In this four Malay policemen and a +corporal have dwelt for three years to keep down piracy. "Piracy," by +which these rivers were said to be infested, is a very ugly word, +suggestive of ugly deeds, bloody attacks, black flags, and no quarter; +but here it meant, in our use of the word at least, a particular mode +of raising revenue, and no boat could go up or down the Linggi without +paying black-mail to one or more river rajahs. + +Our wretched little launch, moored to a cocoa-palm, flies a blue +ensign, and the Malay policemen wear an imperial crown upon their caps, +both representing somewhat touchingly in this equatorial jungle the +might of the small island lying far off amidst the fogs of the northern +seas, and in this instance at least not her might only, but the +security and justice of her rule. + +Two or three canoes hollowed out of tree trunks have gone up and down +the river since we landed, each of the inward bound being paddled by +four men, who ply their paddles facing forward, which always has an +aboriginal look, those going down being propelled by single, square +sails made of very coarse matting. It is very hot and silent. The only +sounds are the rustle of the palm fronds and the sharp din of the +cicada, abruptly ceasing at intervals. In this primitive police station +the notices are in both Tamil and Arabic, but the reports are written +in Arabic only. Soon after we sat down to drink fresh cocoa-nut milk, +the great beverage of the country, a Malay bounded up the ladder and +passed through us, with the most rapid and feline movements I have ever +seen in a man. His large prominent eyes were fixed, tiger-like, on a +rifle which hung on the wall, at which he darted, clutched it, and, +with a feline leap, sprang through us again. I have heard much of amok +running lately, and have even seen the two-pronged fork which was used +for pinning a desperate amok runner to the wall, so that for a second I +thought that this Malay was "running amuck;" but he ran down toward Mr. +Hayward, our escort, and I ran after him, just in time to see a large +alligator plunge from the bank into the water. Mr. Hayward took a +steady aim at the remaining one, and hit him, when he sprang partly up +as if badly wounded, and then plunged into the river after his +companion, staining the muddy water with his blood for some distance. + + +Police Station, Permatang Pasir, Sungei Ujong, 5 P.M.--We are now in a +native State, in the Territory of the friendly Datu Klana, Syed +Abdulrahman, and the policemen wear on their caps not an imperial +crown, but a crescent, with a star between its horns. + +This is a far more adventurous expedition than we expected. Things are +not going altogether as straight as could be desired, considering that +we have the Governor's daughters with us, who, besides being very +precious, are utterly unseasoned and inexperienced travelers, quite +unfit for "roughing it." For one thing, it turns out to be an absolute +necessity for us to be out all night, which I am very sorry for, as one +of the girls is suffering from the effects of exposure to the intense +heat of the sun. + +We left Sempang at two, the Misses Shaw reeling rather than walking to +the launch. I cannot imagine what the mercury was in the sun, but the +copper sheathing of the gunwale was too hot to be touched. Above +Sempang the river narrows and shoals rapidly, and we had to crawl, +taking soundings incessantly, and occasionally dragging heavily over +mud banks. We saw a large alligator sleeping in the sun on the mud, +with a mouth, I should think, a third of the length of his body; and as +he did not wake as we panted past him, a rifle was loaded and we backed +up close to him; but Babu, who had the weapon, and had looked quite +swaggering and belligerent so long as it was unloaded, was too +frightened to fire; the saurian awoke, and his hideous form and +corrugated hide plunged into the water, so close under the stern as to +splash us. After this, alligators were so common, singly or in groups, +or in families, that they ceased to be exciting. It is difficult for +anything to produce continuous excitement under this fierce sun; and +conversation, which had been flagging before noon, ceased altogether. +It was awfully hot in the launch, between fire and boiler-heat and +solar fury. I tried to keep cool by thinking of Mull, and powdery snow +and frosty stars, but it would not do. It was a solemn afternoon, as +the white, unwinking sun looked down upon our silent party, on the +narrow turbid river, silent too, except for the occasional plunge of an +alligator or other water monster--on mangrove swamps and nipah palms +dense along the river side, on the blue gleam of countless kingfishers, +on slimy creeks arched over to within a few feet of their surface by +grand trees with festoon of lianas, on an infinite variety of foliage, +on an abundance of slender-shafted palms, on great fruits brilliantly +colored, on wonderful flowers on the trees, on the hoya carnosa and +other waxen-leaved trailers matting the forest together and hanging +down in great festoons, the fiery tropic sunblaze stimulating all this +over-production into perennial activity, and vivifying the very mud +itself. + +Occasionally we passed a canoe with a "savage" crouching in it fishing, +but saw no other trace of man, till an hour ago we came upon large +cocoa groves, a considerable clearing in the jungle, and a very large +Malayan-Chinese village with mosques, one on either side of the river, +houses built on platforms over the water, large and small native boats +covered and thatched with attap, roofed platforms on stilts answering +the purpose of piers, bathing-houses on stilts carefully secluded, all +forming the (relatively) important village of Permatang Pasir. + +Up to this time we had expected to find perfectly smooth sailing, as a +runner was sent from Malacca to the Resident yesterday. We supposed +that we should be carried in chairs six miles through the jungle to a +point where a gharrie could meet us, and that we should reach the +Residency by nine tonight at the latest. On arriving at Sempang, Mr. +Hayward had sent a canoe to this place with instructions to send +another runner to the Resident; but + + "The best laid schemes of men and mice gang aft aglee." + +The messenger seemed to have served no other purpose than to assemble +the whole male population of Permatang Pasir on the shore--a +sombre-faced throng, with an aloofness of manner and expression far +from pleasing. The thatched piers were crowded with turbaned Mussulmen +in their bajus or short jackets, full white trousers, and red sarongs +or plaitless kilts--the boys dressed in silver fig-leaves and silver +bangles only. All looked at our unveiled faces silently, and, as I +thought, disapprovingly. + +After being hauled up the pier with great difficulty, owing to the +lowness of the water, we were met by two of the Datu Klana's policemen, +who threw cold water on the idea of our getting on at all unless +Captain Murray sent for us. These men escorted us to this police +station--a long walk through a lane of much decorated shops, +exclusively Chinese, succeeded by a lane of detached Malay houses, each +standing in its own fenced and neatly sanded compound under the shade +of cocoa-palms and bananas. The village paths are carefully sanded and +very clean. We emerged upon the neatly sanded open space on which this +barrack stands, glad to obtain shelter, for the sun is still fierce. It +is a genuine Malay house on stilts; but where there should be an +approach of eight steps there is only a steep ladder of three round +rungs, up which it is not easy to climb in boots! There is a deep +veranda under an attap roof of steep slope, and at either end a low bed +for a constable, with the usual very hard, circular Malay bolsters, +with red silk ends, ornamented with gold and silk embroidery. Besides +this veranda there is only a sort of inner room, with just space enough +for a table and four chairs. The wall is hung with rifles, krises, and +handcuffs, with which a "Sam Slick" clock, an engraving from the +Graphic, and some curious Turkish pictures of Stamboul, are oddly mixed +up. Babu, the Hadji, having recovered from a sulk into which he fell +in consequence of Mr. Hayward having quizzed him for cowardice about an +alligator, has made everything (our very limited everything) quite +comfortable, and, with as imposing an air as if we were in Government +House, asks us when we will have dinner! One policeman has brought us +fresh cocoa-nut milk, another sits outside pulling a small punkah, and +two more have mounted guard over us. This stilted house is the barrack +of eleven Malay constables. Under it are four guns of light calibre, +mounted on carriages, and outside is a gong on which the policemen beat +the hours. + +At the river we were told that the natives would not go up the shallow, +rapid stream by night, and now the corporal says that no man will carry +us through the jungle; that trees are lying across the track; that +there are dangerous swamp holes; that though the tigers which infest +the jungle never attack a party, we might chance to see their glaring +eyeballs; that even if men could be bribed to undertake to carry us, +they would fall with us, or put us down and run away, for no better +reason than that they caught sight of the "spectre bird" (the owl); and +he adds, with a gallantry remarkable in a Mohammedan, that he should +not care about Mr. Hayward, "but it would not do for the ladies." So we +are apparently stuck fast, the chief cause for anxiety and +embarrassment being that the youngest Miss Shaw is lying huddled up and +shivering on one of the beds, completely prostrated by a violent sick +headache, brought on by the heat of the sun in the launch. She declares +that she cannot move; but our experienced escort, who much fears +bilious fever for her, is resolved that she shall as soon as any means +of transit can be procured. Heretofore, I have always traveled "without +encumbrance." Is it treasonable to feel at this moment that these fair +girls are one? + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XII + +The Tomb of "A Great Prophet"--"Durance Vile"--Fragile Travelers--Our +Craft--A Night in the Jungle--Nocturnal Revelations--January in the +Perak Jungle--Glories of the Jungle--Activity and Stillness--An Uneasy +Night--A Slim Repast--Betel-Chewing--A Severe Disappointment--Police +Station at Rassa + + +BRITISH RESIDENCY, SERAMBANG, SUNGEI UJONG, January 26. + +By the date of my letter you will see that our difficulties have been +surmounted. I continue my narrative in a temperature which, in my +room--shaded though it is--has reached 87 degrees. After hearing many +pros and cons, and longing much for the freedom of a solitary traveler, +I went out and visited the tomb of a famous Hadji, "a great prophet," +the policeman said, who was slain in ascending the Linggi. It is a +raised mound, like our churchyard graves, with a post at each end, and +a jar of oil upon it, and is surrounded by a lattice of reeds on which +curtains are hanging, the whole being covered with a thatched roof +supported on posts. + +The village looks prosperous, and the Chinaman as much at home as in +China,--striving, thriving, and oblivious of everything but his own +interests, the sole agent in the development of the resources of the +country, well satisfied with our, or any rule, under which his gains +are quick and safe. + +There are village officers, or headmen, Pangulus, in all villages, and +every hamlet of more than forty houses has its mosque and religious +officials, though Mohammedanism does not recognize the need of a +priesthood. If one see a man, with the upper part of his body +unclothed, paddling a log canoe, face forward, one is apt to call him a +savage, specially if he be dark-skinned; but the Malays would be much +offended if they were called savages, and, indeed, they are not so. +They have an elaborate civilization, etiquette, and laws of their own; +are the most rigid of monotheists, are decently clothed, build secluded +and tolerably comfortable houses, and lead domestic lives after their +fashion, especially where they are too poor to be polygamists, though I +am of opinion that the peculiar form of domesticity which we still +cultivate to some extent in England, and which is largely connected +with the fireside, cannot exist in a tropical country. After the +obtrusive nudity and promiscuous bathing of the Japanese, there is +something specially pleasing in the little secluded bathing sheds by +the Malay rivers, used by one person at a time, who throws a sarong on +the thatch to show that the shed is occupied. + +Babu made some excellent soup, which, together with curry made with +fresh cocoa-nut, was a satisfactory meal, and though only in a simple, +white, Indian costume, he waited as grandly as at Malacca. Mr. +Hayward's knowledge of the peculiarities of the Malay character, at +last obtained our release from what was truly "durance vile." He sent +for a boatman apart from his fellows, and induced him to make a bargain +for taking us up the river at night; but the man soon returned in a +state of great excitement, complaining that the villagers had set on +him, and were resolved that we should not go up, upon which the police +went down and interfered. Even after everything was settled, Miss Shaw +was feeling so ill that she wanted to stay in the police station all +night, at least; but Mr. Hayward and I, who consulted assiduously about +her, were of opinion that we must move her, even if we had to carry +her, for if she were going to have fever, I could nurse her at Captain +Murray's, but certainly not in the veranda of a police station! + +This worthy man, who is very brave, and used to facing danger--who was +the first European to come up here, who acted as guide to the troops +during the war, and afterward disarmed the population--positively +quailed at having charge of these two fragile girls. "Oh," he repeated +several times, "if anything were to happen to the Misses Shaw I should +never get over it, and they don't know what roughing it is; they never +should have been allowed to come." So I thought, too, as I looked at +one of them lying limp and helpless on a Malay bed; but my share of the +responsibility for them was comparatively limited. Doubtless his +thoughts strayed, as mine did, to the days of traveling "without +encumbrance." There was another encumbrance of a literal kind. They had +a trunk! This indispensable impediment had been left at Malacca in the +morning, and arrived in a four-paddled canoe just as we were about to +start! + +Mr. Hayward prescribed two tablespoonfuls of whisky for Miss Shaw, for +it is somewhat of a risk to sleep out in the jungle at the rainy +season, for the miasma rises twenty feet, and the day had been +exceptionally hot. Our rather dismal procession started at seven, Mr. +Hayward leading the way, carrying a torch made of strips of palm +branches bound tightly together and dipped in gum dammar, a most +inflammable resin; then a policeman; the sick girl, moaning and +stumbling, leaning heavily on her sister and me; Babu, who had grown +very plucky; a train of policemen carrying our baggage; and lastly, +several torch-bearers, the torches dripping fire as we slowly and +speechlessly passed along. It looked like a funeral or something +uncanny. We crawled dismally for fully three-quarters of a mile to cut +off some considerable windings of the river, crossed a stream on a +plank bridge, and found our boat lying at a very high pier with a +thatched roof. + +The mystery of night in a strange place was wildly picturesque; the +pale, greenish, undulating light of fireflies, and the broad, red +waving glare of torches flashing fitfully on the skeleton pier, the +lofty jungle trees, the dark, fast-flowing river, and the dark, lithe +forms of our half-naked boatmen. + +The prahu was a flattish-bottomed boat about twenty-two and a half feet +long by six and a half feet broad, with a bamboo gridiron flooring +resting on the gunwale for the greater part of its length. This was +covered for seven feet in the middle by a low, circular roof, thatched +with attap. It was steered by a broad paddle loosely lashed, and poled +by three men who, standing at the bow, planted their poles firmly in +the mud and then walked half-way down the boat and back again. All +craft must ascend the Linggi by this laborious process, for its current +is so strong that the Japanese would call it one long "rapid." +Descending loaded with tin, the stream brings boats down with great +rapidity, the poles being used only to keep them off the banks and +shallows. Our boat was essentially "native." + +The "Golden Chersonese" is very hot, and much infested by things which +bite and sting. Though the mercury has not been lower than 80 degrees +at night since I reached Singapore, I have never felt the heat +overpowering in a house; but the night on the river was awful, and +after the intolerable blaze of the day the fighting with the heat and +mosquitoes was most exhausting, crowded as we were into very close and +uneasy quarters, a bamboo gridiron being by no means a bed of down. Bad +as it was, I was often amused by the thought of the unusual feast which +the jungle mosquitoes were having on the blood of four white people. +If it had not been for the fire in the bow, which helped to keep them +down by smoking them (and us), I at least should now be laid up with +"mosquito fever." + +The Misses Shaw and I were on a blanket on the gridiron under the roof, +which just allowed of sitting up; Mr. Hayward, who had never been up +the river before, and was anxious about the navigation, sat, vigilant +and lynx-eyed, at the edge of it; Babu, who had wrapped himself in +Oriental impassiveness and a bernouse, and Mr. Hayward's police +attendant sat in front, all keeping their positions throughout the +night as dutifully as the figures in a tableau vivant, and so we +silently left Permatang Pasir for our jungle voyage of eighteen hours, +in which time, by unintermitting hard work, we were propelled about as +many miles, though some say twenty-nine. + +No description could exaggerate the tortuosity of the Linggi or the +abruptness of its windings. The boatmen measure the distance by turns. +When they were asked when we should reach the end they never said in so +many hours, but in so many turns. + +Silently we glided away from the torchlight into the apparently +impenetrable darkness, but the heavens, of which we saw a patch now and +then, were ablaze with stars, and ere long the forms of trees above and +around us became tolerably distinct. Ten hours of darkness followed as +we poled our slow and tedious way through the forest gloom, with trees +to right of us, trees to left of us, trees before us, trees behind us, +trees above us, and, I may write, trees under us, so innumerable were +the snags and tree trunks in the river. The night was very still,--not +a leaf moved, and at times the silence was very solemn. I expected, +indeed, an unbroken silence, but there were noises that I shall never +forget. Several times there was a long shrill cry, much like the +Australian "Coo-ee," answered from a distance in a tone almost human. +This was the note of the grand night bird, the Argus pheasant, and is +said to resemble the cry of the "orang-outang," the Jakkuns, or the +wild men of the interior. A sound like the constant blowing of a +steam-whistle in the distance was said to be produced by a large +monkey. Yells, hoarse or shrill, and roars more or less guttural, were +significant of any of the wild beasts with which the forest abounds, +and recalled the verse in Psalm civ., "Thou makest darkness that it may +be night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do move." Then there +were cries as of fierce gambols, or of pursuit and capture, of hunter +and victim; and at times, in the midst of profound stillness, came huge +plungings, with accompanying splashings, which I thought were made by +alligators, but which Captain Murray thinks were more likely the riot +of elephants disturbed while drinking. There were hundreds of +mysterious and unfamiliar sounds great and small, significant of the +unknown beast, reptile, and insect world which the jungle hides, and +then silences. + +Sheet lightning, very blue, revealed at intervals the strong stream +swirling past under a canopy of trees falling and erect, with straight +stems one hundred and fifty feet high probably, surmounted by crowns of +drooping branches; palms with their graceful plumage; lianas hanging, +looping, twisting--their orange fruitage hanging over our heads; great +black snags; the lithe, wiry forms of our boat-men always straining to +their utmost; and the motionless white turban of the Hadji,--all for a +second relieved against the broad blue flame, to be again lost in +darkness. + +The Linggi above Permatang Pasir, with its sharp turns and muddy hurry, +is, I should say, from thirty to sixty feet wide, a mere pathway +through the jungle. Do not think of a jungle, as I used to think of it, +as an entanglement or thicket of profuse and matted scrub, for it is in +these regions at least a noble forest of majestic trees, many of them +supported at their roots by three buttresses, behind which thirty men +could find shelter. On many of the top branches of these, other trees +have taken root from seeds deposited by birds, and have attained +considerable size; and all send down, as it _appears_, extraordinary +cylindrical strands from two to six inches in diameter, and often one +hundred and fifty feet in length, smooth and straight until they root +themselves, looking like the guys of a mast. Under these giants stand +the lesser trees grouped in glorious confusion,--cocoa, sago, areca, +and gomuti palms, nipah and nibong palms, tree ferns fifteen and twenty +feet high, the bread-fruit, the ebony, the damar, the india rubber, the +gutta-percha, the cajeput, the banyan, the upas, the bombax or cotton +tree, and hosts of others, many of which bear brilliant flowers, but +have not yet been botanized; and I can only give such barbarous names +as chumpaka, Kamooning, marbow, seum, dadap; and, loveliest of all, the +waringhan, a species of ficus, graceful as a birch; and underneath +these again great ferns, ground orchids, and flowering shrubs of heavy, +delicious odor, are interlocked and interwoven. Oh that you could see +it all! It is wonderful; no words could describe it, far less mine. Mr. +Darwin says so truly that a visit to the tropics (and such tropics) is +like a visit to a new planet. This new wonder-world, so enchanting, +tantalizing, intoxicating, makes me despair, for I cannot make you see +what I am seeing! Amidst all this wealth of nature and in this +perennial summer heat I quite fail to realize that it is January, and +that with you the withered plants are shriveling in the frost-bound +earth, and that leafless twigs and the needles of half-starved pines +are shivering under the stars in the aurora-lighted winter nights. + +But to the jungle again, The great bamboo towers up along the river +sides in its feathery grace, and behind it the much prized Malacca +cane, the rattan, creeping along the ground or climbing trees and +knotting them together, with its tough strands, from a hundred to +twelve hundred feet in length, matted and matting together while ferns, +selaginellas, and lycopodiums struggle for space in which to show their +fragile beauty, along with hardier foliaceous plants, brown and +crimson, green and crimson, and crimson flecked with gold; and the +great and lesser trees alike are loaded with trailers, ferns, and +orchids, among which huge masses of the elk-horn fern and the shining +five-foot fronds of the Asplenium Nidus are everywhere conspicuous. + +Not only do orchids crowd the branches, and the hoya carnosa, the yam, +the blue-blossomed Thunbergia, the vanilla (?), and other beautiful +creepers, conceal the stems, while nearly every parasitic growth +carries another parasite, but one sees here a filament carelessly +dangling from a branch sustaining some bright-hued epiphyte of quaint +mocking form; then a branch as thick as a clipper's main-mast reaches +across the river, supporting a festooned trailer, from whose stalks +hang, almost invisibly suspended, oval fruits, almost vermilion +colored; then again the beautiful vanilla and the hoya carnosa vie with +each other in wreathing the same tree; or an audacious liana, with +great clusters of orange or scarlet blossoms, takes possession of +several trees at once, lighting up the dark greenery with its flaming +splotches; or an aspiring trailer, dexterously linking its feebleness +to the strength of other plants, leaps across the river from tree to +tree at a height of a hundred feet, and, as though in mockery, sends +down a profusion of crimson festoons far out of reach. But it is as +useless to attempt to catalogue as to describe. To realize an +equatorial jungle one must see it in all its wonderment of activity and +stillness--the heated, steamy stillness through which one fancies that +no breeze ever whispers, with its colossal flowering trees, its green +twilight, its inextricable involvement, its butterflies and moths, its +brilliant but harsh voiced birds, its lizards and flying foxes, its +infinite variety of monkeys, sitting, hanging by hands or tails, +leaping, grimacing, jabbering, pelting each other with fruits; and its +loathsome saurians, lying in wait on slimy banks under the mangroves. +All this and far more the dawn revealed upon the Linggi river; but +strange to say, through all the tropic splendor of the morning, I saw a +vision of the Trientalis Europea, as we saw it first on a mossy +hillside in Glen Cannich! + +But I am forgetting that the night with its blackness and mystery came +before the sunrise, that the stars seldom looked through the dense +leafage, and that the pale green lamps of a luminous fungus here and +there, and the cold blue sheet-lightning only served to intensify the +solemnity of the gloom. While the blackest part of the night lasted the +"view" was usually made up of the black river under the foliage, with +scarcely ten yards of its course free from obstruction--great snags all +along it sticking up menacingly, trees lying half or quite across it, +with barely room to pass under them, or sometimes under water, when the +boat "drave heavily" over them, while great branches brushed and ripped +the thatch continually; and as one obstacle was safely passed, the +rapidity of the current invariably canted us close on another, but the +vigilant skill of the boatmen averted the slightest accident. "Jaga! +Jaga!"--caution! caution!--was the constant cry. The most unpleasant +sensations were produced by the constant ripping and tearing sounds as +we passed under the low tunnel of vegetation, and by the perpetual +bumping against timber. + +The Misses Shaw passed an uneasy night. The whisky had cured the +younger one of her severe sick headache, and she was the prey of many +terrors. They thought that the boat would be ripped up; that the roof +would be taken off; that a tree would fall and crush us; that the +boatmen, when they fell overboard, as they often did, would be eaten by +alligators; that they would see glaring eyeballs whenever the cry +"Rimou!"--a tiger!--was raised from the bow; and they continually awoke +me with news of something that was happening or about to happen, and +were drolly indignant because they could not sleep; while I, a blasee +old campaigner, slept whenever they would let me. Day broke in a heavy +mist, which disappeared magically at sunrise. As the great sun wheeled +rapidly above the horizon and blazed upon us with merciless fierceness, +all at once the jungle became vociferous. Loudly clattered the busy +cicada, its simultaneous din, like a concentration of the noise of all +the looms in the world, suddenly breaking off into a simultaneous +silence; the noisy insect world chirped, cheeped, buzzed, whistled; +birds hallooed, hooted, whooped, screeched; apes in a loud and not +inharmonious chorus greeted the sun; and monkeys chattered, yelled, +hooted, quarreled, and spluttered. The noise was tremendous. But the +forest was absolutely still, except when some heavy fruit, over ripe, +fell into the river with a splash. The trees above us were literally +alive with monkeys, and the curiosity of some of them about us was so +great that they came down on "monkey ropes" and branches for the fun of +touching the roof of the boat with their hands while they hung by their +tails. They were all full of frolic and mischief. + +Then we had a slim repast of soda water and bananas, the Hadji +worshiped with his face toward Mecca, and the boatmen prepared an +elaborate curry for themselves, with salt fish for its basis, and for +its tastiest condiment blachang--a Malay preparation much relished by +European lovers of durion and decomposed cheese. It is made by +trampling a mass of putrefying prawns and shrimps into a paste with +bare feet. This is seasoned with salt. The smell is penetrating and +lingering. Our men made the boat fast, rinsed their mouths, washed +their hands, and ate, using their fingers instead of chopsticks. Poor +fellows! they had done twelve hours of splendid work. + +Then one of them prepared the betel-nut for the rest. I think I have +not yet alluded to this abominable practice of betel-nut chewing, which +is universal among the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula; the +betel-nut being as essential to a Malay as tobacco is to a Japanese, or +opium to the confirmed Chinese opium-smoker. It is a revolting habit, +and if a person speaks to you while he is chewing his "quid" of betel, +his mouth looks as if it were full of blood. People say that the +craving for stimulants is created by our raw, damp climate; but it is +as strong here, at the equator, in this sunny, balmy air. I have not +yet come across a region in which men, weary in body or spirit, are not +seeking to stimulate or stupefy themselves. The Malay men and women +being prohibited by the Koran from using alcohol, find the needed +fillip in this nut, but it needs preparation before it suits their +palates. + +The betel-nut is the fruit of the lovely, graceful, slender-shafted +areca palm. This tree at six years old begins to bear about one hundred +nuts a year, which grow in clusters, each nut being about the size of a +nutmeg, and covered with a yellow, fibrous husk. The requisites for +chewing are: a small piece of areca nut, a leaf of the Sirih or betel +pepper, a little moistened lime, and, if you wish to be very luxurious, +a paste made of spices. The Sirih leaf was smeared with a little fine +lime taken from a brass box; on this was laid a little, brownish paste; +on this, a bit of the nut; the leaf was then folded neatly round its +contents, and the men began to chew, and to spit--the inevitable +consequence. The practice stains the teeth black. I tasted the nut, and +found it pungent and astringent, not tempting. The Malays think you +look like a beast if you have white teeth. + +The heat was exhausting; the mercury 87 degrees in the shade as early +as 8:30, and we all suffered, more or less, from it in our cramped +position and enforced inactivity. At nine, having been fourteen hours +on the river, we came on a small cleared space, from which a bronzed, +frank-faced man, dressed in white linen, hallooed to us jovially, and +we were soon warmly greeted by Captain Murray, the British Resident in +the State of Sungei Ujong. On seeing him, we hoped to find a gharrie +and to get some breakfast; and he helped us on shore, as if our hopes +were to be realized, and dragged us under the broiling sun to a long +shed, the quarters of a hundred Chinese coolies, who are making a road +through the jungle. We sat down on one of the long matted platforms, +which serve them for beds, and talked; but there was no hint of +breakfast; and we soon learned that the Malacca runner had not reached +the Residency at all, and that the note sent from Permatang Pasir, +which should have been delivered at 1 A.M., had not been received till +8 A.M., so that Captain Murray had not been able to arrange for our +transport, and had had barely time to ride down to meet us at such +"full speed," as a swampy and partially made road would allow. So our +dreams of breakfast ended in cups of stewed tea, given to us by a +half-naked Chinaman, and, to our chagrin, we had to go back to the boat +and be poled up the shallowing and narrowing river for four hours more, +getting on with difficulty, the boat-men constantly jumping into the +water to heave the boat off mud banks. + + +When we eventually landed at Nioto, a small village, Captain Murray +again met us, and we found a road; and two antiquated buggies, sent by +a Chinaman, with their component parts much lashed together with rope. +I charioteered one of these, with reins so short that I could only +reach them by sitting on the edge of the seat, and a whip so short that +I could not reach the pony with it. At a Chinese village some policemen +brought us cocoa-nut milk. After that, the pony could not, or would +not, go; and the Malay syce with difficulty got it along by dragging +it, and we had to walk up every hill in the fierce heat of a tropic +noon. At the large Chinese village of Rassa, a clever little Sumatra +pony met us; and after passing through some roughish clearings, on +which tapioca is being planted, we arrived here at 4 P.M., having +traveled sixty miles in thirty-three hours. + +The Residency is on a steepish hill in the middle of an open valley, +partially cleared and much defaced by tin diggings. The Chinese town of +Serambang lies at the foot of the hill. The valley is nearly surrounded +by richly wooded hills, some of them fully three thousand feet high. +These, which stretch away to the northern State of Selangor, are bathed +in indigo and cobalt, slashed with white here and there, where cool +streams dash over forest-shaded ledges. The house consists of two +attap roofed bungalows, united by their upper verandas. Below there are +a garden of acclimatization and a lawn, on which the Resident instructs +the bright little daughter of the Datu Klana in lawn tennis. It was +very hot, but the afternoon airs were strong enough to lift the British +ensign out of its heavy folds and to rustle the graceful fronds of the +areca palms. + +Food was the first necessity, then baths, then sleep, then dinner at +7:30, and then ten hours more sleep. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XIII + +The Appurtenances of Civilization--Babu--Characteristics of Captain +Murray--An Embodied Government--Chinese Mining Enterprise--A Chinese +Gaming-House--The "Capitans China"--New-Year Visits--Sittings "In +Equity"--A Court of Justice--The Serambang Prison--"Plantation +Hill"--A Monster Bonfire--An Ant World--An Ant Funeral--Night on +"Plantation Hill"--The Murder of Mr. Lloyd--A Chinese Dragon Play--A +Visit to a Malay Prince--The Datu Bandar's House--A Great +Temptation--The Return Journey--An Obituary Quotation + + +RESIDENCY, SUNGEI UJONG, January 30. + +We have been here for four days. The heat is so great that it is +wonderful that one can walk about in the sunshine; but the nights, +though the mercury does not fall below 80 degrees, are cool and +refreshing, and the air and soil are both dry, though a hundred inches +of rain fall in the year. These wooden bungalows are hot, for the +attap roofs have no lining, but they are also airy. There is no-one but +myself at night in the one in which my room is, but this is nothing +after the solitude of the great, rambling Stadthaus. Since we came a +sentry has been on duty always, and a bull-dog is chained at the foot +of the ladder which leads to both bungalows. But there is really +nothing to fear from these "treacherous Malays." It is most curious to +see the appurtenances of civilization in the heart of a Malay jungle, +and all the more so because our long night journey up the Linggi makes +it seem more remote than it is. We are really only sixty miles from +Malacca. + +The drawing-room has a good piano, and many tasteful ornaments, books, +and china--gifts from loving friends and relations in the far off +home--and is as livable as a bachelor would be likely to make it. There +is a billiard table in the corridor. The dining-room, which is reached +by going out of doors, with its red-tiled floor and walls of dark, +unpolished wood, is very pretty. In the middle of the dinner table +there is a reflecting lake for "hot-house flowers;" and exquisite +crystal, menu cards with holders of Dresden china, four classical +statuettes in Parian, with pine-apples, granadillas, bananas, +pomegranates, and a durion blanda, are the "table decorations." The +cuisine is almost too elaborate for a traveler's palate, but plain meat +is rarely to be got, and even when procurable is unpalatable unless +disguised. Curry is at each meal, but it is not made with curry powder. +Its basis is grated cocoa-nut made into a paste with cocoa-nut milk, +and the spices are added fresh. Turtles when caught are kept in a pond +until they are needed, and we have turtle soup, stewed turtle, curried +turtle and turtle cutlets ad nauseam. Fowls are at every meal, but +never plain roasted or plain boiled. The first day there was broiled +and stewed elephant trunk, which tastes much like beef. + +Babu, who is always en grand tenue, has taken command of everything and +saves our host all trouble. He carves at the sideboard, scolds the +servants in a stage whisper, and pushes them indignantly aside when +they attempt to offer anything to "his young ladies," reduces Captain +Murray's butler to a nonentity, and as far as he can turns the +Residency into Government House, waiting on us assiduously in our +rooms, and taking care of our clothes. The dinner bell is a bugle. + +In houses in these regions there is always a brick-floored bath-room, +usually of large size, under your bedroom, to which you descend by a +ladder. This is often covered by a trap-door, which is sometimes +concealed by a couch, and in order to descend the sofa cushion is +lifted. Here it is an open trap in the middle of the room. A bath is a +necessity--not a luxury--so near the equator, and it is usual to take +one three, four, or even five times a day, with much refreshment. One +part of Babu's self-imposed duty is to look under our pillows for +snakes and centipedes, and the latter have been found in all our rooms. + +I must now make you acquainted with our host, Captain Murray. He was +appointed when the Datu Klana asked for a Resident four years ago. He +devotes himself to Sungei Ujong as if it were his own property, though +he has never been able to acquire the language. He is a man about +thirty-eight, a naval officer, and an enterprising African traveler; +under the middle height, bronzed, sun-browned, disconnected in his +conversation from the habit of living without anyone in or out of the +house to speak to; professing a misanthropy which he is very far from +feeling, for he is quite unsuspicious, and disposed to think the best +of every one; hasty when vexed, but thoroughly kind-hearted; very +blunt, very undignified, never happy (he says) out of the wilds; +thoroughly well disposed to the Chinese and Malays, but very impatient +of their courtesies, thoroughly well meaning, thoroughly a gentleman, +but about the last person that I should have expected to see in a +position which is said to require much tact if not finesse. His +success leads me to think, as I have often thought before, that if we +attempt to deal with Orientals by their own methods, we are apt to find +them more than a match for us, and that thorough honesty is the best +policy. + +He lives alone, unguarded; trusts himself by night and day without any +escort among the people; keeps up no ceremony at all, and is +approachable at all hours. Like most travelers, he has some practical +knowledge of medicine, and he gives advice and medicines most +generously, allowing himself to be interrupted by patients at all +hours. There is no doctor nearer than Malacca. He has been so +successful that people come from the neighboring States for his advice. +There is very little serious disease, but children are subject to a +loathsome malady called puru. Two were brought with it to-day. The +body and head are covered with pustules containing matter, looking very +much like small-pox, and the natives believe that it must run its +course for a year. Captain Murray cures it in a few days with iodide of +potassium and iodine, and he says that it is fast disappearing. + +Captain Murray is judge, "sitting in Equity," Superintendent of Police, +Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Surveyor of Taxes, besides being Board +of Trade, Board of Works, and I know not what besides. In fact, _he is +the Government_, although the Datu Klana's signature or seal is +required to confirm a sentence of capital punishment, and possibly in +one or two other cases; and his Residential authority is subject only +to the limitations of his own honor and good sense, sharpened somewhat, +were he other than what he is, by possible snubs from the Governor of +the Straits Settlements or the Colonial Secretary. He is a thoroughly +honorable man, means well by all the interests of his little kingdom, +and seems both beloved and trusted. + +On Sunday morning we had English service and a sermon, the congregation +being augmented by the only other English people--a man from Australia +who is here road-making, and his wife; and in the afternoon, +disregarding a temperature of 85 degrees, we went through the Chinese +village of Serambang. + +Tin is the staple product of Sungei Ujong, and until lately the Malay +peninsula and the adjacent regions were supposed to be the richest tin +producing countries in the world. There is not a single tin mine, +however, properly so-called. The whole of the tin exported from Sungei +Ujong, which last year (1879), even at its present reduced price, was +valued at 81,400 pounds, and contributed as export duty to the +Government 5,800 pounds, is found in the detritus of ancient mountains, +and is got, in mining parlance, in "stream works"--that is, by washing +the soil, just as gold is washed out of the soil in Australia and +California. It is supposed that there is a sufficient supply to last +for ages, even though the demand for tin for new purposes is always on +the increase. It is tin mining which has brought the Chinese in such +numbers to these States, and as miners and smelters they are equally +efficient and persevering. In 1828, the number of Chinese working the +mines here was one thousand; and in the same year they were massacred +by the Malays. They now number ten thousand, and under British +protection have nothing to fear. + +It is still the New Year holidays, and hundreds of Chinamen were +lounging about, and every house was gayly decorated. The Malays never +join house to house, the Chinese always do so, and this village has its +streets and plaza. The houses are all to a certain extent +fire-proof--that is, when a fire occurs, and the attap-thatched roofs +are burned, the houses below, which are mostly shops, are safe. These +shops, some of which are very large, are nearly dark. They deal mainly +in Chinese goods and favorite Chinese articles of food, fireworks, +mining tools, and kerosene oil. In one shop twenty "assistants," with +only their loose cotton trousers on, were sitting at round tables +having a meal--not their ordinary diet, I should think, for they had +seventeen different sorts of soups and stews, some of them abominations +to our thinking. + +We visited the little joss-house, very gaudily decorated, the main +feature of the decorations being two enormous red silk umbrellas, +exquisitely embroidered in gold and silks. The crowds in this village +remind me of Canton, but the Chinese look anything but picturesque +here, for none of them--or at all events, only their "Capitans"--wear +the black satin skull cap; and their shaven heads, with the small patch +of hair which goes into the composition of the pigtail, look very ugly. +The pig-tail certainly begins with this lock of hair, but the greater +part of it is made up of silk or cotton thread plaited in with the +hair, and blue or red strands of silk in a pigtail indicate mourning or +rejoicing. None of the Chinese here wear the beautiful long robes used +by their compatriots in China and Japan. The rich wear a white, +shirt-like garment of embroidered silk crepe over their trousers and +petticoat, and the poorer only loose blue or brown cotton trousers, so +that one is always being reminded of the excessive leanness of their +forms. Some of the rich merchants invited us to go in and drink +champagne, but we declined everything but tea, which is ready all day +long in tea-pots kept hot in covered baskets very thickly padded, such +as are known with us as "Norwegian Kitchens." + +In the middle of the village there is a large, covered, but open-sided +building like a market, which is crowded all day--and all night too--by +hundreds of these poor, half-naked creatures standing round the gaming +tables, silent, eager, excited, staking every cent they earn on the +turn of the dice, living on the excitement of their gains--a truly sad +spectacle. Probably we were the first European ladies who had ever +walked through the gambling-house, but the gamblers were too intent +even to turn their heads. There also they are always drinking tea. Some +idea of the profits made by the men who "farm" the gambling licenses +may be gained from the fact that the revenue derived by the Government +from the gambling "farms" is over 900 pounds a year. + +Spirits are sold in three or four places; and the license to sell them +brings in nearly 700 pounds a year, but a drunken Chinaman is never +seen. There are a few opium inebriates, lean like skeletons, and very +vacant in expression; and every coolie smokes his three whiffs of opium +every night. Only a few of the richer Chinamen have wives, and there +are very few women, as is usual in a mining population. A good many +roads have been made in the State, and the Chinese are building +buggies, gharries, and wagons, and many of the richer ones own them and +import Sumatra ponies to draw them. To say that the Chinese make as +good emigrants as the British is barely to give them their due. They +have equal stamina and are more industrious and thrifty, and besides +that they are always sober, can bear with impunity the fiercest +tropical heat, and can thrive and save where Englishmen would starve. +The immense immigration of Chinese, all affiliated to clubs or secret +societies, might be a great risk to the peace of the State were it not +that they recognize certain leaders known as "Capitans China," who +contrive to preserve order, so far as is known by a wholesome influence +merely; and who in all cases, in return for the security which property +enjoys under our flag, work cordially with the Resident in all that +concerns the good of the State. How these "Capitans" are elected, and +how they exercise their authority, is as inscrutable as most else +belonging to the Chinese. The Chinese seem not so much broadly +patriotic as provincial or clannish, and the "Hoeys," or secret +societies, belong to the different southern provinces. The fights +between the factions, and the way in which the secret societies screen +criminals by false swearing and other means, are among the woes of the +Governor and Lieutenant-Governors of these Settlements. Though they get +on very well up here, thanks to the "Capitan China," the clans live in +separate parts of the village, have separate markets and gaming houses, +and a wooden arch across the street divides the two "Nations." + +We went to pay complimentary visits for the New Year to these +"Capitans" with the Malay interpreter, and were received with a curious +mixture of good-will and solemnity. Wine, tea and sweet-meats were +produced at each house. Their houses are very rude, considering their +ample means, and have earthen floors. They have comfortable carriages, +and their gentle, sweet-mannered children were loaded with gold and +diamonds. In one house, a sweet little girl handed round the tea and +cake, and all, even to babies who can scarcely toddle across the floor, +came up and shook hands. A Chinese family impresses one by its extreme +orderliness, filial reverence being regarded as the basis of all the +virtues. The manners of these children are equally removed from shyness +and forwardness. They all wore crowns of dark red gold of very +beautiful workmanship, set with diamonds. When these girl-children are +twelve years old, they will, according to custom, be strictly secluded, +and will not be seen by any man but their father till the bridegroom +lifts the veil at the marriage ceremony. + +After these visits, in which the "Capitans China," through the +interpreter, assured us of their perpetual and renewed satisfaction +with British rule, Mr. Hayward, the interpreter, and I, paid another +visit of a more leisurely kind to one of the Chinese gambling houses, +which, as usual, was crowded. At one end several barbers were at work. +A Chinaman is always being shaved, for he keeps his head and face quite +smooth, and never shaves himself. The shaving the head was originally a +sign of subjection imposed by the Tartar conquerors, but it is now so +completely the national custom that prisoners feel it a deep disgrace +when their hair is allowed to grow. Coolies twist their five feet of +pigtail round their heads while they are at work, but a servant or +other inferior, only insults his superior if he enter his presence with +his pigtail otherwise than pendent. The gaming house, whose open sides +allow it to present a perpetual temptation, is full of tables, and at +each sits a croupier, well clothed, and as many half-naked Chinamen as +can see over each others' shoulders crowd round him. Their silent, +concentrated eagerness is a piteous sight, as the cover is slowly +lifted from the heavy brass box in which the dice are kept, on the cast +of which many of them have staked all they possess. They accept their +losses as they do their gains, with apparent composure. They work very +hard, and live on very little; but they are poor just now, for the +price of tin has fallen nearly one-half in consequence of the great tin +discoveries in Australia. + +Along with Mr. Hayward I paid a visit to the Court House, a large +whitewashed room, with a clean floor of red tiles, a tiled dais, with a +desk for the judge, a table with a charge sheet and some books upon it, +and three long benches at the end for witnesses and their friends. A +punkah is kept constantly going. There are a clerk, a Chinese +interpreter, who speaks six Chinese dialects, and a Malay interpreter, +who puts the Chinese interpreter's words into English. As the judge +does not understand Malay, it will be observed that justice depends on +the fidelity of this latter official. Though I cannot say that the +dignity of justice is sustained in this court, there is not a doubt +that the intentions of the judge are excellent, and if some of the +guilty escape, it is not likely that any of the innocent suffer. The +Datu Bandar sometimes sits on the bench with the Resident. + +The benches were crowded almost entirely with Chinamen, and a number of +policemen stood about. I noticed that these were as anxious as our own +are to sustain a case. The case which I heard, and which occupied more +than an hour, was an accusation against a wretched Chinaman for +stealing a pig. I sat on the bench and heard every word that was said, +and arrived at no judicial conclusion, nor did the Resident, so the +accused was dismissed. He did steal that pig though! I don't see how +truth can be arrived at in an Oriental court, especially where the +witnesses are members of Chinese secret societies. Another case of +alleged nocturnal assault, was tried, in which the judge took immense +pains to get at the truth, and the prisoner had every advantage; and +when he was found guilty, was put into a good jail, from which he will +be taken out daily to work on the roads. + +Malays being Mussulmen, are mostly tried by the "Divine Law" of the +Koran, and Chinamen are dealt with "in equity." The question to be +arrived at simply is, "Did the prisoner commit this crime or did he +not?" If he did he is punished, and if he did not he is acquitted. +There are no legal technicalities by which trial can be delayed or the +ends of justice frustrated. Theft is the most common crime. One hundred +and fourteen persons were convicted last year, which does not seem a +large proportion (being less than one per cent.) out of an unsettled +mining population of twelve thousand. Mr. Hayward, through whose hands +the crime of Singapore and Malacca has filtered for twenty years, was +very critical on the rough and ready method of proceeding here, and +constantly interjected suggestions, such as "You don't ask them +questions before you swear them," etc. Informal as its administration +is, I have no doubt that justice is substantially done, for the +Resident is conscientious and truly honorable. He is very lovable, and +is evidently much beloved, and is able to go about in unguarded +security. + +It is not far from the Court House to the prison, a wholesomely +situated building on a hill, made of concrete, with an attap roof. The +whole building is one hundred feet long by thirty feet broad. There are +six cells for solitary confinement. A jailer, turnkey, and eight +warders constitute the prison staff. The able-bodied prisoners are +employed on the roads and other public works, and attend upon the +scavengers' cart, which outcome of civilization goes round every +morning! The diet, which costs fourpence a day for each prisoner, +consists of rice and salt fish, but those who work get two-pence +halfpenny a day in addition, with which they can either buy luxuries or +accumulate a small sum against the time when their sentences expire. +Old and weakly people do light work about the prison. One man was +executed for murder last year under a sentence signed by the Datu +Klana. I have not been in a prison since I was in that den of horrors, +the prison of the Naam-Hoi magistrate at Canton, and I felt a little +satisfaction in the contrast. + +The same afternoon we all made a very pleasant expedition to the +Sanitarium, a cabin which the Resident has built on a hill three miles +from here. A chair with four Chinese bearers carried Miss Shaw up, her +sister and the two gentlemen walked, and I rode a Sumatra pony, on an +Australian stock-man's saddle, not only up the steep jungle path, but +up a staircase of two hundred steps in which it terminates, the +sagacious animal going up quite cunningly. One charm of a tropical +jungle is that every few yards you come upon something new, and every +hundred feet of ascent makes a decided difference in the vegetation. +This is a very grand forest, with its straight, smooth stems running up +over one hundred feet before branching, and the branches are loaded +with orchids and trailers. One cannot see what the foliage is like +which is borne far aloft into the summer sunshine, but on the ground I +found great red trumpet flowers and crimson corollas, like those of a +Brobdingnagian honeysuckle, and flowers like red dragon-flies +enormously magnified, and others like large, single roses in yellow +wax, falling slowly down now and then, messengers from the floral +glories above, "wasting (?) their sweetness on the desert air." A +traveler through a tropical jungle may see very few flowers and be +inclined to disparage it. It is necessary to go on adjacent rising +ground and look down where trees and trailers are exhibiting their +gorgeousness. Unlike the coarse weeds which form so much of the +undergrowth in Japan, everything which grows in these forests rejoices +the eye by its form or color; but things which hurt and sting and may +kill, lurk amidst all the beauties. A creeping plant with very +beautiful waxy leaves, said by Captain Murray to be vanilla, grows up +many of the trees. + +When we got up to the top of this, which the Resident calls "Plantation +Hill," I was well pleased to find that only the undergrowth had been +cleared away, and that "The Sanitarium" consists only of a cabin with a +single room divided into two, and elevated on posts like a Malay house. +The deep veranda which surrounds it is reached by a stepladder. A +smaller house could hardly be, or a more picturesque one, from the +steepness and irregularity of its roof. The cook-house is a small attap +shed, in a place cut into the hill, and an inclosure of attap screens +with a barrel in it under the house is the bath-room. The edge of the +hill, from which a few trees have been cleared, is so steep that but +for a bamboo rail one might slip over upon the tree-tops below. Some +Liberian coffee shrubs, some tea, cinchona, and ipecacuanha, and some +heartless English cabbages, are being grown on the hillside, and the +Resident hopes that the State will have a great future of coffee. + +The view in all directions was beautiful--to the north a sea of densely +wooded mountains with indigo shadows in their hollows; to the south the +country we had threaded on the Linggi river, forests, and small tapioca +clearings, little valleys where rice is growing, and scars where tin- +mining is going on; the capital, the little town of Serambang with its +larger clearings, and to the west the gleam of the shining sea. In the +absence of mosquitoes we were able to sit out till after dark, a rare +luxury. There was a gorgeous sunset of the gory, furnace kind, which +one only sees in the tropics--waves of violet light rolling up over the +mainland, and the low Sumatran coast looking like a purple cloud amidst +the fiery haze. + +Dinner was well cooked, and served with coffee after it, just as at +home. The primitive bath-room was made usable by our eleven servants +and chair-bearers being sent to the hill, where the two gentlemen +mounted guard over them. After dark the Chinamen made the largest +bonfire I ever saw, or at all events the most brilliant, with trunks of +trees and pieces of gum dammar, several pounds in weight, which they +obtained by digging, and this was kept up till daylight, throwing its +splendid glare over the whole hill-top, lighting up the forest, and +bringing the cabin out in all its picturesqueness. + +I should have liked to be there some time to study the ways of a tribe +of ants. Near the cabin, under a large tree, there was an ant-dwelling, +not exactly to be called an ant-hill, but a subterranean ant-town, +with two entrances. Into this an army of many thousand largish ants, in +an even column three and a half inches wide, marched continually, in +well "dressed" ranks, about twenty-seven in each, with the regularity +of a crack regiment on the "march past," over all sorts of +inequalities, rough ground, and imbedded trunks of small trees, larger +ants looking like officers marching on both sides of the column, and +sometimes turning back as if to give orders. Would that Sir John +Lubbock had been there to interpret their speech! + +Each ant of the column bore a yellowish burden, not too large to +interfere with his activity. A column marshaled in the same fashion, +but only half the width of the other, emerged equally continuously from +the lower entrance. From the smaller size of this column I suppose that +a number of the carrier ants remain within, stowing away their burdens +in store-houses. Attending this latter column for eighteen paces, I +came upon a marvelous scene of orderly activity. A stump of a tree, +from which the outer bark had been removed, leaving an under layer +apparently permeated with a rich, sweet secretion, was completely +covered with ants, which were removing the latter in minute portions. +Strange to say, however, a quantity of reddish ants of much larger size +and with large mandibles seemed to do the whole work of stripping off +this layer. They were working from above, and had already bared some +inches of the stump, which was four feet six inches in diameter. As the +small morsels fell among the myriads of ants which swarmed round the +base they were broken up, three or four ants sometimes working at one +bit till they had reduced it into manageable portions. It was a +splendid sight to see this vast and busy crowd inspired by a common +purpose, and with the true instinct of discipline, forever forming into +column at the foot of the stump. + +Toward dusk the reddish ants, which may be termed quarriers, gave up +work, and this was the signal for the workers below to return home. The +quarriers came down the stump pushing the laborers, rather rudely as I +thought, out of their way; and then forming in what might be called +"light skirmishing order," they marched to the lower entrance of the +town, meeting as they went the column of workers going up to the stump. +They met it of course at once, and a minute of great helter-skelter +followed, this column falling back on itself as if assailed, in great +confusion. If this be the ordinary day's routine, why does that column +fall into confusion, and why, after throwing it into disorder, do the +reddish ants close their ranks and march into the town in compact +order, parallel with the working column going the other way, and which +they seemed to terrorize? Is it possible that the smaller ants are only +slaves of the larger? Inscrutable are the ways of ants! However, when +the advancing column had recovered from its confusion it formed up, +and, wheeling round in most regular order, fell behind the rear-guard +of the working column, and before dark not an ant remained outside +except a dead body. + +Soon after the last of its living comrades had disappeared, six ants, +with a red one (dare I say?) "in command," came out and seemed to hold +a somewhat fussy consultation round the corpse which had fallen on the +line of march to the stump. After a minute or two, three of them got +hold of it, and with the other four as spectators or mourners, they +dragged it for about six feet and concealed it under a leaf, after +which they returned home; all this was most fascinating. A little later +Captain Murray destroyed both entrances to the town, but before +daylight, by dint of extraordinary labor, they were reconstructed lower +down the slope, and the work at the stump was going on as if nothing so +unprecedented had happened. + +I should have liked also to study the ways of the white ant, the great +timber-destroying pest of this country, which abounds on this hill. He +is a large ant of a pale buff color. Up the trunk of a tree he builds +a tunnel of sand, held together by a viscid secretion, and under this +he works, cutting a deep groove in the wood, and always extending the +tunnel upward. I broke away two inches of such a tunnel in the +afternoon, and by the next morning it was restored. Among many other +varieties of ants, there is one found by the natives, which people call +the "soldier ant." I saw many of these big fellows, more than an inch +long, with great mandibles. Their works must be on a gigantic scale, +and their bite or grip very painful; but being with a party, I was not +able to make their acquaintance. + +When it grew dark, tiny lamps began to move in all directions. Some +came from on high, like falling stars, but most moved among the trees a +few feet from the ground with a slow undulatory motion, the fire having +a pale blue tinge, as one imagines an incandescent sapphire might have. +The great tree-crickets kept up for a time the most ludicrous sound I +ever heard--one sitting in a tree and calling to another. From the +deafening noise, which at times drowned our voices, one would suppose +the creature making it to be at least as large as an eagle. + +The accommodation of the "Sanitarium" is most limited. The two +gentlemen, well armed, slept in the veranda, the Misses Shaw in camp +beds in the inner cabin, and I in a swinging cot in the outer, the +table being removed to make room for it. The bull-dog mounted guard +over all, and showed his vigilance by an occasional growl. The eleven +attendants stowed themselves away under the cabin, except a garrulous +couple, who kept the fire blazing till daylight. My cot was most +comfortable, but I failed to sleep. The forest was full of quaint, busy +noises, broken in upon occasionally by the hoot of the "spectre bird," +and the long, low, plaintive cry of some animal. + +All the white residents in the Malacca Settlements have been greatly +excited about a tragedy which has just occurred at the Dindings, off +this coast, in which Mr. Lloyd, the British superintendent, was +horribly murdered by the Chinese; his wife, and Mrs. Innes, who was on +a visit to her, narrowly escaping the same fate. Lying awake I could +not help thinking of this, and of the ease with which the Resident +could be overpowered and murdered by any of our followers who might +have a grudge against him, when, as I thought, the door behind my head +from the back ladder was burst open, and my cot and I came down on the +floor at the head, the simple fact being, that the head-rope, not +having been properly secured, gave way with a run. An hour afterward +the foot-ropes gave way, and I was deposited on the floor altogether, +and was soon covered with small ants. + +Early in the morning the apes began to call to each other with a +plaintive "Hoo-houey," and in the gray dawn I saw an iguana fully four +feet long glide silently down the trunk of a tree, the branches of +which were loaded with epiphytes. Captain Shaw asked the imaum of one +of the mosques of Malacca about alligator's eggs a few days ago, and +his reply was, that the young that went down to the sea became +alligators, and those which came up the rivers became iguanas. At +daylight, after coffee and bananas, we left the hill, and after an +accident, promptly remedied by Mr. Hayward, reached Serambang when the +sun was high in the heavens. I should think that there are very few +circumstances which Mr. Hayward is not prepared to meet. He has a +reserve of quiet strength which I should like to see fully drawn upon. +He has the scar of a spear wound on his brow, which Captain Murray says +was received in holding sixty armed men at bay, while he secured the +retreat of some helpless persons. Yet he continues to be much burdened +by his responsibility for these fair girls, who, however, are enjoying +themselves thoroughly, and will be none the worse. + +We had scarcely returned when a large company of Chinamen, carrying +bannerets and joss-sticks, came to the Residency to give a spectacle or +miracle-play, the first part consisting of a representation of a huge +dragon, which kicked, and jumped, and crawled, and bellowed in a manner +totally unworthy of that ancient and splendid myth; and the second, of +a fierce melee, or succession of combats with spears, shields, and +battle-axes. The performances were accompanied by much drumming, and by +the beating of tom-toms, an essentially infernal noise, which I cannot +help associating with the orgies of devil-worship. The "Capitan China," +in a beautiful costume, sat with us in the veranda to see the +performance. + +I have written a great deal about the Chinese and very little about the +Malays, the nominal possessors of the country, but the Chinese may be +said to be everywhere, and the Malays nowhere. You have to look for +them if you want to see them. Besides, the Chinese are as ten to two of +the whole population. Still the laws are administered in the name of +the Datu Klana, the Malay ruler. The land owned by Malays is being +measured, and printed title-deeds are being given, a payment of 2s. an +acre per annum being levied instead of any taxes on produce. Export +duties are levied on certain articles, but the navigation of the rivers +is free. Debt slavery, one curse of the Malay States, has been +abolished by the energy of Captain Murray with the cordial co-operation +of the Datu Klana, and now the whole population have the status and +rights of free men. It is a great pity that this Prince is in Malacca, +for he is said to be a very enlightened ruler. The photograph which I +inclose (from which the engraving is taken) is of the marriage of his +daughter, a very splendid affair. The buffalo in front was a marriage +present from the Straits Government, and its covering was of cloth of +gold thick with pearls and precious stones. + +We visited yesterday a Malay kampong called Mambu, in order to pay an +unceremonious visit to the Datu Bandar, the Rajah second in rank to the +reigning prince. His house, with three others, a godown on very high +stilts, and a mound of graves whitened by the petals of the Frangipani, +with a great many cocoa-nut and other trees, was surrounded, as Malay +dwellings often are, by a high fence, within which was another +inclosing a neat, sanded level, under cocoa-palms, on which his +"private residence" and those of his wives stand. His secretary, a +nice-looking lad in red turban, baju, and sarong, came out to meet us, +followed by the Datu Bandar, a pleasant, able-looking man, with a +cordial manner, who shook hands and welcomed us. No notice had been +given of our visit, and the Rajah, who is reclaiming and bringing into +good cultivation much of his land, and who sets the example of working +with his own hands, was in a checked shirt, and a common, checked, red +sarong. Vulgarity is surely a disease of the West alone, though, as in +Japan, one sees that it can be contagious, and this Oriental, far from +apologizing for his dishabille, led us up the steep and difficult +ladder by which his house is entered with as much courteous ease as if +he had been in his splendors. + +I thoroughly liked his house. It is both fitting and tasteful. We +stepped from the ladder into a long corridor, well-matted, which led to +a doorway with a gold-embroidered silk or valance, and a looped-up +portiere of white-flowered silk or crepe. This was the entrance to a +small room very well proportioned, with two similar doorways, curtained +with flowered silk, one leading to a room which we did not see, and the +other to a bamboo gridiron platform, which in the better class of Malay +houses always leads to a smaller house at the back, where cooking and +other domestic operations are carried on, and which seems given up to +the women. There was a rich, dim light in the room, which was cool and +wainscoted entirely with dark red wood, and there was only one long, +low window, with turned bars of the same wood. There were three +handsome cabinets with hangings of gold and crimson embroidery, and an +ebony frame containing a verse of the Koran in Arabic characters hung +over one doorway. In accordance with Mohammedan prohibitions, there was +no decoration which bore the likeness of any created thing, but there +were some artistic arabesques under the roof. The furniture, besides +the cabinets, consisted of a divan, several ebony chairs, a round table +covered with a cool yellow cloth, and a table against the wall draped +with crimson silk flowered with gold. The floor was covered with fine +matting, over which were Oudh rugs in those mixtures of toned-down rich +colors which are so very beautiful. Richness and harmony characterized +the room, and it was distinctively Malay; one could not say that it +reminded one of anything except of the flecked and colored light which +streams through dark, old, stained glass. + +The Datu Bandar's brother and uncle came in, the first a very handsome +Hadji, with a bright, intelligent countenance. He has lived in Mecca +for eight years studying the Koran under a renowned teacher, and in +this quest of Mussulman learning has spent several thousand dollars. +"We never go to Mecca to trade," he said; "we go for religious purposes +only." These men looked superb in their red dresses and turbans, +although the Malays are anything but a handsome race. Their hospitality +was very graceful. Many of the wealthier Mohammedans, though they don't +drink wine, keep it for their Christian guests, and they offered us +champagne, which is supposed to be an irresistible temptation to the +Christian palate. On our refusing it they brought us cow's milk and +most delicious coffee with a very fragrant aroma, and not darker in +color than tea of an average strength. This was made from roasted +coffee leaves. The berries are exported. A good many pretty, quiet +children stood about, but though the Rajah gave us to understand that +they were the offspring of three mothers, we were not supposed to see +any of "the mean ones within the gates." + +Our hosts had a good deal to say, and did not leave us to entertain +them, though we are but "infidel dogs." That we are regarded as such, +along with all other unbelievers, always makes me feel shy with +Mohammedans. Some time ago, when Captain Shaw pressed on the Malays the +impropriety of shooting Chinamen, as they were then in the habit of +doing, the reply of one of them was, "Why not shoot Chinamen? they've +no religion;" and though it would be highly discourteous in members of +a ruled race to utter this sentiment regarding their rulers, I have not +the least doubt that it is their profound conviction concerning +ourselves. + +Nothing shows more the honesty and excellence of Captain Murray's +purposes than that he should be as much respected and loved as he is in +spite of a manner utterly opposed to all Oriental notions of dignity, +whether Malay or Chinese. I have mentioned his abruptness, as well as +his sailor-like heartiness, but they never came into such strong relief +as at the Datu Bandar's, against the solemn and dignified courtesy of +our hosts. + +We returned after dark, had turtle-soup and turtle-steak, not near so +good as veal, which it much resembles, for dinner; sang "Auld Lang +Syne," which brought tears into the Resident's kindly eyes, and are now +ready for an early start to-morrow. + + +Stadthaus, Malacca.--We left Serambang before daylight on Thursday in +buggies, escorted by Captain Murray, the buggies, as usual, being lent +by the Chinese "Capitans." Horses had been sent on before, and after +changing them we drove the second stage through most magnificent +forest, until they could no longer drag the buggies through the mud, at +which point of discomfiture three saddled ponies and two chairs were +waiting to take us through the jungle to the river. We rode along an +infamous track, much of it knee-deep in mud, through a green and silent +twilight, till we emerged upon something like English park and +fox-cover scenery, varied by Malay kampongs under groves of palms. In +the full blaze of noon we reached the Linggi police station, from which +we had started in the sampan, and were received by a company of police +with fixed bayonets. We dined in the police station veranda, and as the +launch had been obliged to drop down the river because the water was +falling, we went to Sempang in a native boat, paddled by four Malays +with paddles like oval-ended spades with spade handles, a guard of +honor of policemen going down with us. There we took leave of our most +kind and worthy host, who, with tears in his kind eyes, immediately +turned up the river to dwell alone in his bungalow with his bull-dog, +his revolver, and his rifle, a self-exiled man.* +[*In 1881, Captain Murray, feeling ill after prolonged exposure to the +sun, went to Malacca, where he died a few days afterward at the house of +his friend Mr. Hayward. Sir F. A. Weld writes of him in a dispatch to +Lord Kimberley:--"I cannot close this notice of the State of Sungei +Ujong without recalling the memory of Captain Murray, so lately its +Resident, to whom it owes much, and who was devoted to its people and +interests. A man of great honesty of purpose and kindliness of heart, +Captain Murray possessed many of those qualities which are required for +the successful administration of a Malay State, and though he labored +under the disadvantage of want of knowledge of the native tongue, he yet +was able to attach to himself, in a singular manner, the affections of +all around him. For the last six years, Captain Murray has successfully +advised in the administration of the Government of Sungei Ujong, +consolidating order and good government, and doing much to open out the +country and develop its resources. His name will ever be associated with +its prosperity, and his memory be long fresh in the hearts of its +inhabitants."] + +After it grew dark we had the splendid sight of a great tract of forest +on fire close to the sea. We landed here at a pier eight hundred feet +long, accessible to launches at high water, where several peons and two +inspectors of police met us. Our expedition has been the talk of the +little foreign world of Malacca. We had an enthusiastic welcome at +Government House, but Captain Shaw says he will never forgive himself +for not writing to Captain Murray in time to arrange our transport, and +for sending us off so hurriedly with so little food, but I hope by +reiteration to convince him that thereby we gained the night on the +Linggi river, which, as a traveling experience, is worth all the rest. + +I. L. B. + + + +A CHAPTER ON SELANGOR* + +Selangor--Capabilities of Selangor--Natural Capabilities--Lawlessness +in Selangor--British Interference in Selangor--A Hopeful Outlook + + +Selangor is a small State lying between 2 degrees 34', and 3 degrees +42' N. Its coast-line is about one hundred and twenty miles in length. +Perak is its northern boundary, Sungei Ujong its southern, and some of +the small States of the Negri Sembilan and unexplored jungle and +mountains separate it from Pahang on the east. It is watered by the +Selangor, Klang and Langat rivers, which rise in the hills of its +eastern frontier. Its population is not accurately known, but the +result of an attempt to estimate it, made by the Resident in 1876, is +fifteen thousand Chinese and from two thousand to three thousand +Malays. Mr. Douglas, the late Resident, puts the Malay population at a +higher figure, and estimates the aboriginal population at one thousand, +but this is probably largely in excess of their actual numbers. +[*In offering this very slight sketch of Selangor to my readers as +prefatory to the letters which follow, I desire to express my +acknowledgments specially to a valuable paper on "Surveys and +Explorations of the Native States of the Malay Peninsula," by Mr. Daly, +Superintendent of Public Works and Surveys, Selangor, read before the +Royal Geographical Society on May 8, 1882. I have also made use of a +brief account of the Native Malay States by Mr. Swettenham, Assistant +Colonial Secretary to the Straits Settlements Government, published in +the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of +"Our Malay Conquests" by Sir P. Benson Maxwell, late Chief Justice of +the Straits Settlements.] + +The wealth of Selangor lies in its apparently inexhaustible tin mines. +The range of hills which forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula +rises in places to a height of seven thousand feet, and it is from this +range that the alluvial detritus is washed down, beneath which is +deposited the layer of ore or wash, which varies from four inches to +ten feet in thickness. The supply of this ore is apparently +inexhaustible, but no veins have as yet been found. The mine of +Ampagnan only, near Kwala Lumpor, the capital, gives employment to over +one thousand Chinamen, and each can extract in a year one thousand +pounds weight of white smelted tin valued at 35 pounds sterling. This +mineral wealth is the magnet which, according as the price of tin is +higher or lower, attracts into Selangor more or fewer Chinamen. The +chief source of the revenue of the State has been the export duty on +tin. + +The low lands on the coast are fringed with mangroves, which thrive in +blue mud and heavy clays, and these lands, when drained, are well +adapted for sugar. Wet rice grows well in the swampy valleys which +separate the minor ranges, and dry rice on the rises; while tapioca, +tobacco, pepper and gambier thrive on the medium heights. The sago palm +flourishes on wet lands. The high hills are covered with primeval +forests, and the Malays have neither settlements nor plantations upon +them. It is believed that these hills, at a height of from two thousand +five hundred to three thousand five hundred feet, are admirably adapted +for the growth of Arabian coffee, cinchona and tea; and some Ceylon +coffee planters are expecting an era of success in Selangor. At +present, however, the necessary labor is not available. The soil in the +interior on the mountain slopes consists of a light red and yellow +clay, the product of a comparatively recent rock decomposition, covered +with vegetable mould from eight to twelve inches thick. There are no +droughts, and the rainfall, distributed pretty fairly over the year, +averages about one hundred and thirty inches annually. The climate is +remarkably healthy, and diseases of locality are unknown. Land can be +purchased for eight shillings per acre on terms of deferred payments. + +One curious feature of Selangor, as of Perak, is the occurrence of +isolated hills of limestone varying from eighty to one thousand feet in +height. At Batu there are magnificent limestone caves, richly adorned +with stalactites and stalagmites. The dome of one cavern is three +hundred and fifty-five feet from floor to roof. An important fact +connected with these caverns is that they contain thousands of tons of +bats' manure, which may be as valuable as guano to future planters. +Between the heavy clays and blue mud of the mangrove swamps and the +granite and sandstone of the mountain ranges, the undulating rises are +mainly composed of red clay, sandstones, shales, and granitic and +feldspathic rocks, with extensive deposits of laterite in red clays on +the surface. In the valleys along the rivers the soil consists of rich +alluvial deposits. + +Undoubtedly Selangor has great capabilities, and if the difficulties of +the labor question can be satisfactorily disposed of, it is likely that +the new offer of leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject +to improvement clauses, will attract a number of planters to its +fertile soil and wholesome climate. Selangor includes three large +districts, each on a considerable river of its own--Selangor, Klang, +and Langat. + +The Sultan was actually, as he is now nominally, supreme, but the story +of disturbances under this government is a very old one, internal +strife having been the normal condition of the State ever since +Europeans have been acquainted with it. It seems to have been an +undoubted fact that its rivers and island channels were the resort of +pirates, and that its Rajahs devoted themselves with much success to +harrying small vessels trading in the Straits of Malacca. + +The name of this State is not found in the earlier Malayan records. +Negri Calang, or the land of tin, was the designation of this part of +the peninsula, and this depopulated region was formerly a flourishing +dependency under the Malay sovereigns of Malacca. The population, such +as it is, is chiefly composed of the descendants of a colony of Bugis +from Goa in the Celebes, who settled in Selangor at the beginning of +the eighteenth century under a Goa chief, who was succeeded by Sultan +Ibrahim, an intense hater and sturdy opponent of the Dutch. He attacked +Malacca, looted and burned its suburbs, and would have captured it but +for the opportune arrival of a Dutch fleet. He surprised the Dutch +garrison of Selangor by night, routed it, and captured all its heavy +artillery and ammunition, but was afterward compelled to restore his +plunder, and acknowledge himself a vassal of the Dutch East India +Company. After this he attacked the Siamese, and was mainly +instrumental in driving them out of Perak. + +He was succeeded in 1826 by an ignoble prince, and under his weak and +oppressive rule, and under the extortions and cruelties of his +illegitimate brothers, the State lapsed into decay. Mr. Newbold, who +had charge of a military post on the Selangor frontier in 1833, +witnessed many of the atrocities perpetrated by these Bugis princes, +who committed piracies, robbed, plundered, and levied contributions on +the wretched Malays, without hindrance. In Mr. Newbold's day the whole +population of Kwala Linggi, where he was stationed, fled by night into +the Malacca territory, where they afterward settled to escape from the +merciless exactions to which they were subjected. Slavery and debt +slavery added to the miseries of the country, and it is believed that +by emigration and other causes the Malay population was reduced to +between two thousand and three thousand souls. + +Only one event in the recent history of Selangor deserves notice. This +miserable ruler, Sultan Mohammed, had no legitimate offspring, but it +was likely that at his death his near relation, Tuanku Bongsu, a Rajah +universally liked and respected by his countrymen, would have been +elected to succeed him. Unfortunately for the good of the State this +Rajah took upon himself the direction of the tin mines at Lukut, +formerly worked by about four hundred Chinese miners on their own +account, paying a tenth of their produce to the Sultan. One dark, rainy +night in September, 1834, these miners rose upon their employers, +burned their houses, and massacred them indiscriminately, including +this enlightened Rajah; and his wife and children, in attempting to +escape, were thrown into the flames of their house. The plunder +obtained by the Chinese, exclusive of the jewels and gold ornaments of +the women, was estimated at 3,500 pounds. This very atrocious business +was believed to have been aided and abetted, if not absolutely +concocted, by Chinese merchants living under the shelter of the British +flag at Malacca. With the death of Tuanku Bongsu all hope of +prosperity for Selangor under native rule was extinguished. + +Matters became very bad in the years between 1867 and 1873, the +fighting among the rival factions leading to a more complete +depopulation of the country, not only by the loss in party fights, but +by the exodus of peaceable cultivators. Lawlessness increased to such +an extent that murders and robberies were of continual occurrence. Mr. +Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, affirms that it is hardly +an exaggeration to say that every man above twenty years old had killed +at least one man, and that even the women were not unaccustomed to use +deadly weapons against each other. + +The history of the way in which we gained a footing in Selangor is a +tangled one, as the story is told quite differently by men holding high +positions in the Colonial Government, who unquestionably are "all +honorable men." Our first appearance on the scene was in 1871, when the +Rinaldo destroyed Selangor, for reasons which will be found in the +succeeding letter. In November, 1873, an act of piracy was committed on +the Jugra river near the Sultan's residence. On this Sir A. Clarke, +the Governor of the Straits Settlements, with a portion of H.B.M.'s +China fleet, went to Langat and induced the Sultan to appoint a court +to try the pirates, three of the ships and two Government Commissioners +remaining to watch the trial. The prisoners were executed, the +war-ships patroled the coast for a time, and everything became quiet. + +In 1874, however, there were new disturbances and alleged piracies, and +Tunku Dia Udin, the Sultan's son-in-law and viceroy, overmatched by +powerful Rajahs, gladly welcomed an official, who was sent by Sir A. +Clarke, "to remain with the Sultan should he desire it, and, by his +presence and advice give him confidence, and assistance to carry out +the promises which he had made," which were, in brief, to suppress +piracy and keep good order in his dominions; not a difficult task, it +might be supposed, for it is estimated that he had only about two +thousand Malay subjects left, and the Chinese miners were under the +efficient rule of their "Capitan," Ah Loi. + +In January, 1875, at Tunku Dia Udin's request, a British Resident was +sent to Selangor. Some time afterward the viceroy retired to Kedah, and +the Sultan has been "advised" into a sort of pensioned retirement, the +Resident levying, collecting, and expending the taxes. Sir Andrew +Clarke was very fortunate in his selection of the Sultan's first +adviser, for Mr. Davidson, according to all accounts, had an intimate +knowledge of the Malays, as well as a wise consideration for them; he +had a calm temper and much good sense, and is held in honorable +remembrance, not only for official efficiency but for having gained the +sincere regard of the people of Selangor. His legal training and high +reputation in the colonial courts were of great value in the settlement +of the many difficult questions which arose during his brief +administration. He was succeeded in 1876 by Mr. Bloomfield Douglas, who +has held the office of Resident for six years. + +The revenue of Selangor amounted in 1881 to 47,045 pounds, derived +mainly from the export duty on tin, the import duty on opium, and the +letting of opium and other licenses and farms. The expenditure was +46,876 pounds, the heaviest items being for "establishments," +"pensions," and "works and buildings." The outlook for Selangor appears +to be a peaceful one, and it is to be hoped that, under the energetic +administration of Sir F. A. Weld, its capabilities will be developed +and its anomalies of law and taxation reformed, and that both Malays +and foreigners may experience those advantages of good order and +security which result from a just rule. + + + +LETTER XIV + +The S.S. Rainbow--Sunset at Malacca--A Night at Sea--The Residency at +Klang--Our "Next-of-Kin"--The Decay of Klang--A Remarkable +Chinaman--Theatrical Magnificence--Misdeed of a "Rogue Elephant"--"A +Cobra! A Cobra!" + + +S.S. "RAINBOW," MALACCA ROADS, February 1, 5 P.M. + +I am once again on board this quaint little Chinese steamer, which is +rolling on a lazy ground-swell on the heated, shallow sea. We were to +have sailed at four P.M., but mat-sailed boats, with cargoes of +Chinese, Malays, fowls, pine-apples, and sugar-cane, kept coming off +and delaying us. The little steamer has long ago submerged her +load-line, and is only about ten inches above the water, and still they +load, and still the mat-sailed boats and eight-paddled boats, with two +red-clothed men facing forward on each thwart, are disgorging men and +goods into the overladen craft. A hundred and thirty men, mostly +Chinese, with a sprinkling of Javanese and Malays, are huddled on the +little deck, with goats and buffaloes, and forty coops of fowls and +ducks; the fowls and ducks cackling and quacking, and the Chinese +clattering at the top of their voices--such a Babel! + +An hour later, "Easy ahead," shouts the Portuguese-Malay captain, for +the Rainbow is only licensed for one hundred passengers, and the water +runs in at the scuppers as she rolls, but five of the mat-sailed boats +have hooked on. "Run ahead! full speed!" the captain shouts in +English; he dances with excitement, and screams in Malay; the Chinamen +are climbing up the stern, over the bulwarks, everywhere, fairly +boarding us; and with about a hundred and fifty souls on board, and not +a white man or a Christian among them, we steam away over the gaudy +water into the gaudy sunset, and beautiful, dreamy, tropical Malacca, +with its palm-fringed shores, and its colored streets, and Mount Ophir +with its golden history, and the stately Stadthaus, whose ancient rooms +have come to seem almost like my property, are passing into memories. A +gory ball drops suddenly from a gory sky into a flaming sea, and + + "With one stride comes the dark." + +There is no place for me except on this little bridge, on which the +captain and I have just had an excellent dinner, with hen-coops for +seats. These noisy fowls are now quiet in the darkness, but the noisier +Chinese are still bawling at the top of their voices. It is too dark +for another line. + + +British Residency, Klang Selangor.--You will not know where Klang is, +and I think you won't find it in any atlas or encyclopedia. Indeed, I +almost doubt whether you will find Selangor, the Malay State of which +Klang is, after a fashion, the capital. At present I can tell you very +little. + +Selangor is bounded on the north by the "protected" State of Perak, +which became notorious in England a few years ago for a "little war," +in which we inflicted a very heavy chastisement on the Malays for the +assassination of Mr. Birch, the British Resident. It has on its south +and southeast Sungei Ujong, Jelabu, and Pahang; but its boundaries in +these directions are ill-defined. The Strait of Malacca bounds it on +the west, and its coast-line is about a hundred and twenty miles long. +From its slightly vague interior boundary to the coast, it is supposed +to preserve a tolerably uniform depth of from fifty to sixty miles. +Klang is on the Klang river, in lat. 3 degrees 3' N., and long. 101 +degrees 29' 30" E. I call it "the Capital after a fashion," because the +Resident and his myrmidons live here, and because vessels which draw +thirteen feet of water can go no higher; but the true capital, created +by the enterprise of Chinamen, is thirty-six miles farther inland, the +tin-mining settlement of Kwala Lumpor. Selangor thrives, if it does +thrive, which I greatly doubt, on tin and gutta; but Klang is a most +misthriven, decayed, dejected, miserable-looking place.* The nominal +ruler of Selangor is Sultan Abdul Samat, but he hybernates on a pension +at Langat, a long way off, and must be nearly obliterated, I think. +[*Kwala Lumpor is now the most important mining entrepot in Selangor, +and in 1880 the British Resident and his staff were removed thither.] + +It is a great change from Malacca in every respect. I left it with +intense regret. Hospitality, kindness, most genial intercourse, and its +own semi-mediaeval and tropical fascinations, made it one of the +brightest among the many bright spots of my wanderings. Mr. Hayward +took me to the Rainbow in a six-oared boat, manned by six policemen, +completing the list of "Government facilities" as far as Malacca is +concerned. The mercury was 90 degrees in my little cabin or den, and it +swarmed not only with mosquitoes, but with cockroaches, which, in the +dim light, looked as large as mice. Of course, no one sleeps below in +the tropics who can avoid it; so as the deck was thick with Chinamen, I +had my mattress laid on a bench on the bridge, which was only occupied +by two Malay look-out men. There is not very much comfort when one +leaves the beaten tracks of travel, but any loss is far more than made +up for by the intense enjoyment. + +It was a delightful night. The moon was only a hemisphere, yet I think +she gave more light than ours at the full. The night was so exquisite +that I was content to rest without sleeping; the Babel noises of fowls +and men had ceased, and there were only quiet sounds of rippling water, +and the occasional cry of a sea-bird as we slipped through the waveless +sea. When the moon set, the sky was wonderful with its tropic purple +and its pavement and dust of stars. I have become quite fond of the +Southern Cross, and don't wonder that the early navigators prostrated +themselves on deck when they first saw it. It is not an imposing +constellation, but it is on a part of the sky which is not crowded with +stars, and it always lies aslant and obvious. It has become to me as +much a friend as is the Plough of the northern regions. + +At daybreak the next morning we were steaming up the Klang river, whose +low shores are entirely mangrove swamps, and when the sun was high and +hot we anchored in front of the village of Klang, where a large fort on +an eminence, with grass embankments in which guns are mounted, is the +first prominent object. Above this is a large wooden bungalow with an +attap roof, which is the British Residency. There was no air, and the +British ensign in front of the house hung limp on the flag-staff. Below +there is a village, with clusters of Chinese houses on the ground, and +Malay houses on stilts, standing singly, with one or two Government +offices bulking largely among them. A substantial flight of stone steps +leads from the river to a skeleton jetty with an attap roof, and near +it a number of attap-roofed boats were lying, loaded with slabs of tin +from the diggings in the interior, to be transhipped to Pinang. A +dainty steam-launch, the Abdulsamat, nominally the Sultan's yacht, +flying a large red and yellow flag, was also lying in the river. + +Mr. Bloomfield Douglas, the Resident, a tall, vigorous, elderly man, +with white hair, a florid complexion, and a strong voice heard +everywhere in authoritative tones, met me with a four-oared boat, and a +buggy with a good Australian horse brought me here. From this house +there is a large but not a beautiful view of river windings, rolling +jungle, and blue hills. The lower part of the house, which is supported +on pillars, is mainly open, and is used for billiard-room, church, +lounging-room, afternoon tea-room, and audience-room; but I see nothing +of the friendly, easy-going to and fro of Chinese and Malays, which +was a pleasant feature of the Residency in Sungei Ujong. In fact, there +is here much of the appearance of an armed post amidst a hostile +population. In front of the Residency there is a six-pounder flanked by +two piles of shot. Behind it there is a guard-room, with racks of +rifles and bayonets for the Resident's body-guard of twelve men, and +quarters for the married soldiers, for soldiers they are, though they +are called policemen. A gong hangs in front of the porch on which to +sound the alarm, and a hundred men fully armed can turn out at five +minutes' notice. + +The family consists of the Resident, his wife, a dignified and gracious +woman, with a sweet but plaintive expression of countenance, and an +afflicted daughter, on whom her mother attends with a loving, vigilant, +and ceaseless devotion of a most pathetic kind. The circle is completed +by a handsome black monkey tied to a post, and an ape which they call +an ouf, from the solitary monosyllable which it utters, but which I +believe to be the "agile gibbon," a creature so delicate that it has +never yet survived a voyage to England. + +It is a beautiful creature. I could "put off" hours of time with it. It +walks on its hind legs with a curious human walk, hanging its long arms +down by its sides like B-----. It will walk quietly by your side like +another person. It has nice dark eyes, with well-formed lids like ours, +a good nose, a human mouth with very nice white teeth, and a very +pleasant cheery look when it smiles, but when its face is at rest the +expression is sad and wistful. It spends a good deal of its time in +swinging itself most energetically. It has very pretty fingers and +finger-nails. It looks fearfully near of kin to us, and yet the gulf is +measureless. It can climb anywhere, and take long leaps. This morning +it went into a house in which a cluster of bananas is hanging, leaped +up to the roof, and in no time had peeled two, which it ate very +neatly. It has not even a rudimentary tail. When it sits with its arms +folded it looks like a gentlemanly person in a close-fitting fur suit. + +The village of Klang is not interesting. It looks like a place which +has "seen better days," and does not impress one favorably as regards +the prosperity of the State. Above it the river passes through rich +alluvial deposits, well adapted for sugar, rice, and other products of +low-lying tropical lands; but though land can be purchased on a system +of deferred payments for two dollars an acre, these lands are still +covered with primeval jungle. Steam-launches and flattish-bottomed +native boats go up the river eighteen miles farther to a village called +Damarsara, from which a good country road has been made to the great +Chinese village and tin mines of Kwala Lumpor. The man-eating tigers, +which almost until now infested the old jungle track, have been driven +back, and plantations of tobacco, tapioca, and rice have been started +along the road. On a single Chinese plantation, near Kwala Lumpor, +there are over two thousand acres of tapioca under cultivation, and the +enterprising Chinaman who owns it has imported European steam machinery +for converting the tapioca roots into the marketable article. Whatever +enterprise I hear of in the interior is always in the hands of +Chinamen. Klang looks as if an incubus oppressed it, and possibly the +Chinese are glad to be as far as possible from the seat of what +impresses me as a fussy Government. At all events, Klang, from whatever +cause, has a blighted look; and deserted houses rapidly falling into +decay, overgrown roads, fields choked with weeds, and an absence of +life and traffic in the melancholy streets, have a depressing +influence. The people are harassed by a vexatious and uncertain system +of fees and taxes, calculated to engender ill feeling, and things +connected with the administration seem somewhat "mixed." + +You will be almost tired of the Chinese, but the more I see of them the +more I am impressed by them. These States, as well as Malacca, would be +jungles with a few rice clearings among them were it not for their +energy and industry. Actually the leading man, not only at Kwala +Lumpor (now the seat of government), but in Selangor, is Ah Loi, a +Chinaman! During the disturbances before we "advised" the State, the +Malays burned the town of Kwala Lumpor three times, and he rebuilt it, +and, in spite of many disasters stuck to it at the earnest request of +the native government. He has made long roads for the purpose of +connecting the most important of the tin mines with the town. His +countrymen place implicit confidence in him, and Mr. Syers, the +admirable superintendent of police, tells me that by his influence and +exertions he has so successfully secured peace and order in his town +and district that during many years not a single serious crime has been +committed. He employs on his estate--in mines, brickfields, and +plantations--over four thousand men. He has the largest tapioca estate +in the country and the best machinery. He has introduced the +manufacture of bricks, has provided the sick with an asylum, has been +loyal to British interests, has been a most successful administrator in +the populous district intrusted to him, and has dispensed justice to +the complete satisfaction of his countrymen. While he is the creator of +the commercial interests of Selangor, he is a man of large aims and of +an enlightened public spirit. Is there no decoration of St. Michael or +St. George in reserve for Ah Loi?* So far, however, from receiving any +suitable recognition of his services, it is certain that Ah Loi's +claims for compensation for losses, etc., have not yet been settled. +[*The months after my visit, Ah Loi received the Sultan of Selangor for +several days with great magnificence, and in July, 1880, he entertained +the Governor of the Straits Settlements and his suite with yet greater +splendor, erecting for the occasion a fine banqueting-hall with open +sides.] + +Sir F. A. Weld writes of this visit--"At Kwala Lumpor, besides the +reception and a dinner at the Capitan China's, a Chinese theatrical +performance was given representing a sultan and great rajahs, +quarreling, but laying aside their quarrels on the appearance of a +'governor,' who pacifies the country. Addresses and odes were also sung +and recited to me from the stage, and the performers representing the +great personages prostrated themselves and made obeisances. The +dresses were all real hand-worked gold and silver embroidery on thick +silks of the richest colors. The princes were attended by their +warriors, some of whose helmets and arms were magnificent, with banners +and feather standards, and coats of arms, or their equivalents, borne +aloft by heralds; ladies also appeared, one a prima-donna, other +actresses rode hobby-horses, only the head of the woman and hobby-horse +being visible in the clouds of silk and gold. Jesters jested; and +tumblers, in blue, loose tunics and wide scarlet trousers, shot across +the stage when there was any room in front of the crowd of actors with +the rapidity of meteors. The pace was too great to be even sure that +they were human beings. I have seen Kean's Shakespearian revival +pageants formerly in London, but I never realized what a mediaeval +court pageant might have been till in the heart of the Malay Peninsula +I saw the most gorgeous combination of color and picturesque effect +that I have ever set eyes upon."] + +Klang does not improve on further acquaintance. It looks as if half the +houses were empty, and certainly half the population is composed of +Government employes, chiefly police constables. There is no air of +business energy, and the queerly mixed population saunters with limp +movements; even the few Chinese look depressed, as if life were too +much for them. It looks too as if there were a need for holding down +the population (which I am sure there isn't), for in addition to the +fort and its barracks, military police stations are dotted about. A +jail, with a very high wall, is in the middle of the village. The +jungle comes so near to Klang that tigers and herds of elephants, +sometimes forty strong, have been seen within half a mile of it. In +Sungei Ujong there was some excitement about a "rogue elephant" (i.e., +an elephant which for reasons which appear good to other elephants, has +been expelled from the herd, and has been made mad and savage by +solitude), which, after killing two men, has crossed the river into +Selangor, and is man-killing here. A few days ago a man catching sight +of him in the jungle took refuge in a tree, and the brute tore the tree +down with its trunk, and trampled the poor fellow to death, his +companion escaping during the process. + +Yesterday evening we had service in the hall, the whole white +population being "rounded up" for it; seven men and two women, three of +whom are Roman Catholics. The congregation sat under one punkah and the +Resident under another, both being worked by bigoted Mohammedans! +Everything was "ship-shape," as becomes Mr. Douglas's antecedents; a +union jack over the desk, from which the liturgy was read, and a +tiger-skin over the tiles in front, the harmonium well played, the +singing and chanting excellent. We had one of the most beautiful of the +Ambrosian hymns, and possibly Dr. Bonar may like to hear that his hymn, +"I heard the voice of Jesus say," was sung with equal enjoyment by +Catholics and Protestants in the wilds of the Golden Chersonese. + +There is an almost daily shower here, and it is lovely now, with a +balmy freshness in the air. No one could imagine that we are in the +torrid zone, and only 3 degrees from the equator. The mercury has not +been above 83 degrees since I came, and the sea and land breezes are +exquisitely delicious. I wish you could see a late afternoon here in +its full beauty, with palms against a golden sky, pink clouds, a pink +river, and a balm-breathing air, just strong enough to lift the heavy +scented flowers which make the evenings delicious. There has been a +respite from mosquitoes, and I am having a "real good time." + +But I had a great fright yesterday (part of the "good time" though). I +was going into the garden when six armed policemen leapt past me as if +they had been shot, followed by Mr. Daly, the land-surveyor, who has +the V.C. for some brave deed, shouting "a cobra! a cobra!" and I saw a +hooded head above the plants, and then the form I most fear and loathe +twisting itself toward the house with frightful rapidity, every one +flying. I was up a ladder in no time, and the next moment one of the +policemen, plucking up courage, broke the reptile's back with the butt +of his rifle, and soon it was borne away, dead, by its tail. It was +over four feet long. They get about three a day at the fort. + +There is a reward of 20 cents per foot for every venomous snake brought +in, 50 cents per foot for an alligator, and 25 dollars for every tiger. +Lately the police have got two specimens of an ophiophagus, a +snake-eating snake over eighteen feet long, whose bite they say is +certain death. They have a horrible collection of snakes alive, half +dead, dead, and preserved. There was a fright of a different kind late +at night, and the two made me so nervous that when the moonlight +glinted two or three times on the bayonet of the sentry, which I could +see from my bed, I thought it was a Malay going to murder the Resident, +against whom I fear there may be many a vendetta. + + + +LETTER XIV (Continued) + +Yachting in the Malacca Straits--A Tropic Dream--The Rajah +Moussa--Tiger Stories--A Grand Excitement--A "Man-Eating Kris"--A Royal +Residence--A Council of State--The Sultan's Attendants--The "Light of +the Harem"--The Sultan's Offering + + +S.S. "ABDULSAMAT," LANGAT RIVER, SELANGOR + +I was glad to get up at sunrise, when the whole heaven was flooded with +color and glory, and the lingering mists which lay here and there over +the jungle gleamed like silver. Before we left, Mrs. Douglas gave me +tea, scones, and fresh butter, the first fresh butter that I have +tasted for ten months. We left Klang in this beautiful steam-launch, +the (so-called) yacht of the Sultan, at eight, with forty souls on +board. + +I am somewhat hazy as to where I am. "The Langat river" is at present +to me only a "geographical expression." It is now past three o'clock, +and we have been going about since eight, sometimes up rivers, but +mostly on lovely tropic seas among islands. This is one of the usual +business tours of the Resident, with the additional object of +presenting a uniform to the Sultan. Besides Mr. Douglas there are his +son-in-law, Mr. Daly; Mr. Hawley, who has lately been appointed to a +collectorship, and who goes up to be presented to the Sultan; Mr. +Syers, formerly a private in the 10th Regiment, now superintendent of +the Selangor police force; and thirty policemen, who go up to form the +Sultan's escort to-morrow. Precautions, for some occult reason, seem to +be considered indispensable here, and have been increased since the +murder of Mr. Lloyd at the Dindings. The yacht has a complete permanent +roof of painted canvas, and under this is an armament of boarding +pikes. Round the little foremast four cutlasses and a quantity of ball +cartridges are displayed. Six rifles are in a rack below, and the +policemen and body-guard are armed with rifles and bayonets. + +The yacht is perfection. The cabin, in which ten can dine, is high and +airy, and, being forward, there is no vibration. Space is exquisitely +utilized by all manner of contrivances. She is only 50 tons, and very +low in the water, but we are going all the way to Prince of Wales +island in her--200 miles. Everything is perfect on board, even to the +cuisine, and I appreciate the low rattan chairs at the bow, in which +one can sit in the shade and enjoy the zephyrs. + +This day has been a tropic dream. I have enjoyed it and am enjoying it +intensely. We steamed down the Klang river, and then down a narrow +river-like channel among small palm-fringed islands which suddenly +opened upon the sea, which was slightly green toward the coral-sanded, +densely wooded, unpeopled shores, but westward the green tint merged +into a blue tint, which ever deepened till a line of pure, deep, +indescribable blue cut the blue sky on the far-off clear horizon. But, +ah! that "many twinkling smile of ocean!" Words cannot convey an idea +of what it is under this tropic sun and sky, with the silver-flashing +wavelets rippling the surface of the sapphire sea, beneath whose clear +warm waters brilliant fishes are darting through the coral groves. +These are enchanted seas-- + + "Where falls not rain, or hail, or any snow, + Or ever wind blows loudly." + +It is unseemly that the Abdulsamat should smoke and puff and leave a +foamy wake behind her. "Sails of silk and ropes of sendal," and poetic +noiseless movements only would suit these lovely Malacca Straits. This +is one of the very few days in my life in which I have felt mere living +to be a luxury, and what it is to be akin to seas and breezes, and +birds and insects, and to know why nature sings and smiles. + +We had been towing a revenue cutter with stores for a new lighthouse, +and cast her adrift at the point where we anchored, and the Resident +and Mr. Daly went ashore with thirteen policemen, and I had a most +interesting and instructive conversation with Mr. Syers. Afterward we +steamed along the low wooded coast, and then up the Langat river till +we came to Bukit Jugra, an isolated hill covered with jungle. The +landing is up a great face of smooth rock, near the top of which is a +pretty police station, and higher still, nearly concealed by bananas +and cocoa-palms, is the large bungalow of the revenue officer and +police magistrate of Langat. We saw Mr. Ferney, the magistrate, landed +the police guard, and then steamed up here for a council. + +Mr. Syers went ashore, and returned with the Sultan's heir, the Rajah +Moussa, a very peculiar-looking Malay, a rigid Mohammedan, who is +known, the Resident says, to have said that when he becomes Sultan he +"will drive the white men into the sea." He works hard, as an example +to his people, and when working dresses like a coolie. He sets his face +against cock-fighting and other Malay sports, is a reformer, and a +_dour_, strong-willed man, and his accession seems to be rather dreaded +by the Resident, as it is supposed that he will be something more than +a mere figure-head prince. He is a Hadji, and was dressed in a turban +made of many yards of priceless silk muslin, embroidered in silk, a +white baju, and a long white sarong, and full white trousers--a +beautiful dress for an Oriental. He shook hands with me. I wish that +these people would not adopt our salutations, their own are so much +more appropriate to their character. + +The yacht is now lying at anchor in a deep coffee-colored stream, near +a picturesque Malay village on stilts, surrounded by very extensive +groves of palms. Several rivers intersect each other in this +neighborhood, flowing through dense jungles and mangrove swamps. The +sun is still high. The four white men and the Rajah Moussa have gone +ashore snipe shooting, the Malays on board are sleeping, and I am +enjoying a delicious solitude. + + +February 4, 4 P.M.--We are steaming over the incandescent sapphire sea, +among the mangrove-bordered islands which fringe the Selangor coast, +under a blazing sun, with the mercury 88 degrees in the shade, but the +heat, though fierce, is not oppressive, and I have had a delightful +day. The men returned when they could no longer see to shoot snipes, +with a well filled bag, and after sunset we dropped down to Bukit Jugra +or Langat. Most of the river was as black as night with the heavy +shadows of the forest, but along the middle there was a lane of +lemon-colored water, the exquisite reflection of a lemon-colored sky. +The Resident and Mr. Daly went down to the coast in the yacht to avoid +the mosquitoes of the interior, but I with Omar, one of the "body +guard," half Malay half Kling, as my attendant, and Mr. Syers, landed, +to remain at the magistrate's bungalow. It was a lovely walk up the +hill through the palms and bananas, and the bayonets of our escort +gleamed in the intense moonlight, not with anything alarming about them +either, for an escort is only necessary because the place is so +infested by tigers. The bungalow is large but rambling, and my room was +one built out at the end, with six windows with solid shutters, of +which Mr. Ferney closed all but two, and half closed those, because of +a tiger which is infesting the immediate neighborhood of the house, and +whose growling, they say, is most annoying. He killed a heifer +belonging to the Sultan two nights ago, and last night the sentry got a +shot at him from the veranda outside my room as he was engaged in most +undignified depredations upon the hen house. + +There was a grand excitement yesterday morning. A tigress was snared in +a pitfall and was shot. Her corpse was brought to the bungalow warm and +limp. She measured eight feet two inches from her nose to her tail, and +her tail was two feet six inches long. She had whelps, and they must be +starving in the jungle tonight. Her beautiful skin is hanging up. All +the neighborhood, Chinese and Malay, turned out. Some danced; and the +Sultan beat gongs. Everybody seized upon a bit of the beast. The Sultan +claimed the liver, which, when dried and powdered, is worth twice its +weight in gold, as a medicine. The blood was taken, and I saw the +Chinamen drying it in the sun on small slabs; it is an invaluable +tonic! The eyes, which were of immense size, were eagerly scrambled +for, that the hard parts in the centre, which are valuable charms, +might be set in gold as rings. It was sad to see the terrible "glaring +eyeballs" of the jungle so dim and stiff. The bones were taken to be +boiled down to a jelly, which, when some mysterious drug has been +added, is a grand tonic. The gall is most precious, and the flesh was +all taken, but for what purpose I don't know. A steak of it was stewed, +and I tasted it, and found it in flavor much like the meat of an +ancient and overworked draught ox, but Mr. Ferney thought it like good +veal. At dinner the whole talk was of the wild beasts of the jungle; +and, as we were all but among them, it was very fascinating. I wanted +to go out by moonlight, but Mr. Ferney said that it was not safe, +because of tigers, and even the Malays there don't go out after +nightfall. + +Mr. Ferney has given me a stick with a snake-mark on it, which was +given to him as a thing of great value. The Malay donor said that +anyone carrying it would become invulnerable and invisible, and that if +you were to beat anyone with it, the beaten man would manifest all the +symptoms of snake poisoning! Mr. Ferney has also given me a kris. When +I showed it to Omar this morning, he passed it across his face and +smelt it, and then said, "This kris good--has ate a man." + +I could not sleep much, there were such strange noises, and the sentry +made the veranda creak all night outside my room; but this is a +splendid climate, and one is refreshed and ready to rise with the sun +after very little sleep. The tropic mornings are glorious. There is +such an abrupt and vociferous awakening of nature, all dew-bathed and +vigorous. The rose-flushed sky looks cool, the air feels cool, one +longs to protract the delicious time. Then with a suddenness akin to +that of his setting, the sun wheels above the horizon, and is high in +the heavens in no time, truly "coming forth as a bridegroom out of his +chamber, and rejoicing as a giant to run his course," and as truly +"There is nothing hid from the heat thereof," for hardly is he visible +than the heat becomes tremendous. But tropical trees and flowers, +instead of drooping and withering under the solar fury, rejoice in it. + +This morning was splendid. The great banana fronds under the still, +blue sky looked truly tropical The mercury was 82 degrees at 7 A.M. The +"tiger mosquitoes," day torments, large mosquitoes with striped legs, a +loud metallic hum, and a plethora of venom, were in full fury from +daylight. Ammonia does not relieve their bites as it does those of the +night mosquitoes, and I am covered with inflamed and confluent lumps as +large as the half of a bantam's egg. But these and other drawbacks, I +know from experience, will soon be forgotten, and I shall remember only +the beauty, the glory, and the intense enjoyment of this day. + +Quite early the Rajah Moussa arrived in a baju of rich, gold-colored +silk, which suited his swarthy complexion. He sat in the room +pretending to look over the Graphic, but in reality watching me, as I +wrote to you, just as I should watch an ouf. At last he asked how many +Japanese I had killed!!!! + +The succession is here hereditary in the male line, and this Rajah +Moussa is the Sultan's eldest son. The Sultan receives 2,000 pounds a +year out of the revenue, and this Rajah 960 pounds. + +The Resident arrived at nine, wearing a very fine dress sword, and gold +epaulettes on his linen coat; and under a broiling sun we all walked +through a cleared part of the jungle, through palms and bananas, to the +reception at the Sultan's, which was the "motive" of our visit. The +Sultan, Abdulsamat, has three houses in a beautiful situation, at the +end of a beautiful valley. They are in the purest style of Malay +architecture, and not a Western idea appears anywhere. The wood of +which they are built is a rich brown red. The roofs are very high and +steep, but somewhat curved. The architecture is simple, appropriate, +and beautiful The dwelling consists of the Sultan's house, a broad, +open passage, and then the women's house or harem. At the end of the +above passage is the audience-hall, and the front entrance to the +Sultan's house is through a large porch which forms a convenient +reception room on occasions like that of yesterday. + +From this back passage or court a ladder, with rungs about two feet +apart, leads into the Sultan's house, and a step-ladder into the +women's house. Two small boys, entirely naked, were incongruous objects +sitting at the foot of the ladder. Here we waited for him, two files of +policemen being drawn up as a guard of honor. He came out of the +women's house very actively, shook hands with each of us (obnoxious +custom!), and passed through the lines of police round to the other +side of his house into the porch, the floor of which was covered with +fine matting nearly concealed by handsome Persian rugs. + +The Sultan sat on a high-backed, carved chair or throne. All the other +chairs were plain. The Resident sat on his right, I on his left, and on +my left the Rajah Moussa, with other sons of the sultan, and some +native princes. Mr. Syers acted as interpreter. Outside there were +double lines of military police, and the bright adjacent slopes were +covered with the Sultan's followers and other Malays. The balcony of +the audience-hall, which has a handsome balustrade, was full of Malay +followers in bright reds and cool white. It was all beautiful, and the +palms rustled in the soft air, and bright birds and butterflies flew +overhead, rejoicing in mere existence. + +If Abdulsamat were not Sultan, I should pick him out as the most +prepossessing Malay that I have seen. He is an elderly man, with +iron-gray hair, a high and prominent brow, large, prominent, dark, +eyes, a well-formed nose, and a good mouth. The face is bright, kindly, +and fairly intelligent. He is about the middle height. His dress +became him well, and he looked comfortable in it though he had not worn +it before. It was a rich, black velvet baju or jacket, something like a +loose hussar jacket, braided, frogged, and slashed with gold, trousers +with a broad gold strip on the outside, a rich silk sarong in checks +and shades of red, and a Malay printed silk handkerchief knotted round +his head, forming a sort of peak. No Mohammedan can wear a hat with a +rim or stiff crown, or of any kind which would prevent him from bowing +his forehead to the earth in worship. + +The Resident read the proceedings of the council of the day before, and +the Sultan confirmed them. The nominal approval of measures initiated +by the Resident and agreed to in council, and the signing of +death-warrants, are among the few prerogatives which "his Highness" +retains. Then a petition for a pension from Rajah Brean was read, the +Rajah, a slovenly-looking man, being present. The petition was refused, +and the Sultan, in refusing it, spoke some very strong words about +idleness, which seems a great failing of Rajah Brean's but it has my +strong sympathy, for-- + + "--Why + Should life all labor be?-- + There is no joy but calm; + Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things?" + +During the reception a richly-dressed attendant sat on the floor with +an iron tube like an Italian iron in his hand, in which he slowly +worked an arrangement which might be supposed to be a heater up and +down. I thought that he might be preparing betel-nut, but Mr. Douglas +said that he was working a charm for the Sultan's safety, and it was +believed that if he paused some harm would happen. Another attendant, +yet more richly dressed, carried a white scarf fringed and embroidered +with gold over one shoulder, and two vases of solid gold, with their +surfaces wrought by exquisite workmanship into flowers nearly as +delicate as filigree work. One of these contained betel-nut, and the +other sirih leaves. Meanwhile the police, with their bayonets flashing +in the sun, and the swarthy, richly-costumed throng on the palm-shaded +slopes, were a beautiful sight. The most interesting figure to me was +that of the reforming heir, the bigoted Moslem in his gold-colored +baju, with his swarthy face, singular and almost sinister expression, +and his total lack of all Western fripperies of dress. I think that +there may be trouble when he comes to the throne, at least if the +present arrangements continue. He does not look like a man who would +be content to be a mere registrar of the edicts of "a dog of an +infidel." + +The Sultan has a "godown" containing great treasures, concerning which +he leads an anxious life--hoards of diamonds and rubies, and priceless +damascened krises, with scabbards of pure gold wrought into marvelous +devices and incrusted with precious stones. On Mr. Douglas's suggestion +(as I understood) he sent a kris with an elaborate gold scabbard to the +Governor, saying: "It is not from the Sultan to the Governor, _but from +a friend to a friend_." He seems anxious for Selangor to "get on." He +is making a road at Langat at his own expense; and acting, doubtless, +under British advice, has very cordially agreed that the odious system +of debt slavery shall be quietly dropped from among the institutions of +Selangor. + +When this audience was over I asked to be allowed to visit the Sultana, +and, with Mrs. Ferney as interpreter, went to the harem, accompanied by +the Rajah Moussa. It is a beautiful house, of one very large, lofty +room, part of which is divided into apartments by heavy silk curtains. +One end of it is occupied by a high dais covered with fine mats, below +which is another dais covered with Persian carpets. On this the Sultana +received us, the Rajah Moussa, who is not her son, and ourselves +sitting on chairs. If I understood rightly that this prince is not her +son, I do not see how it is that he can go into the women's apartments. +Two guards sat on the floor just within the door, and numbers of women, +some of them in white veils, followers of the Sultana, sat in rows also +on the floor. + +It must be confessed that the "light of the harem" is not beautiful. +She looks nearly middle-aged. She is short and fat, with a flat nose, +open wide nostrils, thick lips, and filed teeth, much blackened by +betel-nut chewing. Her expression is pleasant, and her manner is +prepossessing. She wore a rich, striped, red silk sarong, and a very +short, green silk kabaya with diamond clasps; but I saw very little of +her dress or herself, because she was almost enveloped in a pure white +veil of a fine woolen material spangled with gold stars, and she +concealed so much of her face with it, in consequence of the presence +of the Rajah Moussa, that I only rarely got a glimpse of the +magnificent diamond solitaires in her ears. Our conversation was not +brilliant, and the Sultana looked to me as if she had attained nirvana, +and had "neither ideas nor the consciousness of the absence of ideas." +We returned and took leave of the Sultan, and after we left I caught a +glimpse of him lounging at ease in a white shirt and red sarong, all +his gorgeousness having disappeared. + +After we returned to the bungalow the Sultan sent me a gift. Eight +attendants dressed in pure white came into the room in single file, and +each bowing to the earth, sat down a brass salver, with its contents +covered with a pure white cloth. Again bowing, they uncovered them, and +displayed the fruitage of the tropics. There were young cocoa-nuts, +gold-colored bananas of the kind which the Sultan eats, papayas, and +clusters of a species of jambu, a pear-shaped fruit, beautiful to look +at, each fruit looking as if made of some transparent, polished white +wax with a pink flush on one side. The Rajah Moussa also arrived and +took coffee, and the verandas were filled with his followers. Every +Rajah goes about attended, and seems to be esteemed according to the +size of his following. + +We left this remote and beautiful place at noon, and after a delightful +cruise of five hours down the Jugra, and among islands floating on a +waveless sea, we reached dreary, decayed Klang in the evening. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XV + +Tiger Mosquitoes--Insect Torments--A Hadji's Fate--Malay Custom--Oaths +and Lies--A False Alarm + + +THE RESIDENCY, KLANG, February 7. + +I have had two days of supposed quiet here after the charming +expedition to Langat. The climate seems very healthy. The mercury has +been 87 degrees daily, but then it falls to 74 degrees at night. The +barometer, as is usual so near the equator, varies only a few tenths of +an inch during the year. The rainfall is about 130 inches annually. It +is most abundant in January, February and March, and at the change of +the monsoon, and there is enough all the year round to keep vegetation +in beauty. Here, on uninteresting cleared land with a featureless +foreground and level mangrove swamps for the middle distance, it must +be terribly monotonous to have no change of seasons, no hope of the +mercury falling below 80 degrees in the daytime, or of a bracing wind, +or of any marked climatic changes for better or worse all life through. + +The mosquitoes are awful, but after a few months of more or less +suffering the people who live here become inoculated by the poison, and +are more bothered than hurt by the bites. I am almost succumbing to +them. The ordinary pests are bad enough, for just when the evenings +become cool, and sitting on the veranda would be enjoyable; they begin +their foray, and specially attack the feet and ankles; but the tiger +mosquitoes of this region bite all day, and they do embitter life. In +the evening all the gentlemen put on sarongs over their trousers to +protect themselves, and ladies are provided with sarongs which we draw +over our feet and dresses, but these wretches bite through two "ply" of +silk or cotton; and, in spite of all precautions, I am dreadfully +bitten on my ankles, feet, and arms, which are so swollen that I can +hardly draw on my sleeves, and for two days stockings have been an +impossibility, and I have had to sew up my feet daily in linen! The +swellings from the bites have become confluent, and are scarlet with +inflammation. It is truly humiliating that "the crown of things" cannot +defend himself against these minute enemies, and should be made as +miserable as I am just now. + +But it is a most healthy climate, and when I write of mosquitoes, land +leeches, centipedes and snakes, I have said my say as to its evils. I +will now confess that I was bitten by a centipede in my bath-house in +Sungei Ujong, but I at once cut the bite deeply with a penknife, +squeezed it, and poured ammonia recklessly over it, and in a few hours +the pain and swelling went off. + +I had been to the fort, the large barrack of the military police, and +Mr. Syers showed me many things. In the first place, a snake about +eight feet long was let out and killed. The Malays call this a +"two-headed" snake, and there is enough to give rise to the ignorant +statement, for after the proper head was dead the tail stood up and +moved forward. The skin of this reptile was marked throughout with +broad bands of black and white alternately. There was an ill-favored +skull of a crocodile hanging up to dry, with teeth three inches long. +One day lately a poor Hadji was carried off by one, and shortly +afterwards this monster was caught, and on opening it they found the +skull of the Hadji, part of his body, a bit of his clothing, and part +of a goat. I brought away as spoils tiger's teeth and claws, +crocodile's teeth, bear's teeth, etc. + +I went also to the Government offices. The skin of a superb tiger, +which was killed close to Klang after it had devoured six men, +decorated the entrance. I heard two cases tried before the Resident. +The first criminal was a Malay, who was "in trouble" for the very +British crime of nearly beating his wife to death. She said she did not +want to prosecute him, but to get a divorce. She was told to apply to +the Imaum, and the man was bound over to keep the peace for six months. +The next case was a very common one here, and the court was crowded +with Chinese onlookers. A Chinaman had bought a girl (very nice-looking +she was), and now a man wants to marry her, upon which her owner +produces a promissory note from her, and demands $165 as her price! It +was impossible to make him understand that the transaction is utterly +illegal and immoral. The Resident addressed some very strong and just +words to this man in reprobation of his conduct, which were translated +for the benefit of the crowd. + +I cannot elicit anything very definite, here or elsewhere, about the +legal system under which criminals are tried in these States. +Apparently, murder, robbery, forgery, and violent assault come under +English criminal law, and must be equally punishable whether committed +by a Briton, a Chinaman, or a Malay. But then nobody, except a +Christian, can be punished for bigamy. So criminal law even undergoes +modification by local custom; and the four wives of the Mussulman, and +the subordinate wives of the Chinaman, have an equal claim to +recognition with the one wife of the Englishman. Even Mohammedan law, +by which the Malays profess to be ruled, is modified by Malay custom, +which asserts itself specially in connection with marriage, its +frequent attendant repudiation, and inheritance. + +The "Malay custom" (adat Malayu) seems to have been originally a just +and equitable code, though ofttimes severe in its punishments, as you +will see if you can get Newbold's _Malacca_, and was probably suited to +the people; but it has undergone such clippings and emendations by the +successive Rajahs or Sultans of these native States, that the custom +now in force bears a very faint resemblance to the original adat. It is +said, indeed, that each alteration has been for the worse, and that now +any chief who introduces anything of his own will, justifies it as +"adat Malayu." Mr. Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, says +that the few upright Rajahs who exist say that there is no longer any +"adat Malayu," but that everything is done by "adat Suka hate," i.e., +the custom by which a man can best suit his own inclination. + +So it seems that a most queerly muddled system of law prevails under +our flag, Mohammedan law, modified by degenerate and evil custom, and +to some extent by the discretion of the residents, existing alongside +of fragments of English criminal law, or more perhaps correctly of +"justice's justice," the Resident's notions of "equity," overriding all +else.* Surely, as we have practically acquired those States, and are +responsible for their good government, we ought to give them the +blessing of a simple code of law, of which the residents shall be only +the responsible interpreters, modified by the true "Malay custom" of +course, but under the same conditions which are giving such growing +satisfaction to the peoples of India and Ceylon. +[*A Colonial friend tells me that he asked an English magistrate in one +of the native States, by what law--English, Colonial, or Malay--he had +sentenced some culprits to three years' imprisonment, and that the reply +was a shrug, and "The rascals were served right."] + +The oaths are equally inscrutable, and probably no oath, however +terrible in formula, would restrain a Chinese coolie witness from +telling a lie, if he thought it would be to his advantage.* +[*Sir Benson Maxwell, late Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements, to +whose kindness I am much indebted, wrote to me lately thus: "In China I +believe an oath is rarely taken; when it is, it is in the form of an +imprecation. The witness cuts off a cock's head, and prays that he may +be so treated if he speaks falsely." "Would you cut off a cock's head to +that?" I once asked a Chinese witness who had made a statement which I +did not believe. "I would cut off an elephant's head to it," he replied. +In the Colonial courts, Chinamen are sworn by burning a piece of paper +on which is written some imprecation on themselves if they do not speak +the truth.] + +I went to see the jail, a tolerable building--a barred cage below, and +a long room above--standing in a graveled courtyard, surrounded by a +high wall. Formerly there were no prisons, and criminals were punished +on the spot, either by being krissed, shot, or flogged. Here they have +a liberal diet of rice and salt fish, and "hard labor" is only mild +work on the roads. The prisoners, forty-two adult men, were drawn up in +a row, and Mr. Syers called the roll, telling the crime of each man, +and his conduct in prison; and most of those who had conducted +themselves well were to be recommended to the Sultan for remission of +part of their sentences. "Flog them if they are lazy," the Resident +often said; but Mr. Syers says that he never punishes them except under +aggravated circumstances. The prisoners are nearly all Chinamen, and +their crimes are mostly murder, gang-robbery, assault, and theft. +About half of them were in chains. There is an unusual mortality in the +prison, attributed, though possibly not _attributable_, to the enforced +disuse of opium. We went also to the hospital, mainly used by the +police, a long airy shed, with a broad shelf on each side. Mr. Klyne, +the apothecary, a half-caste, has a good many Malay dispensary +patients. + +On our return, four Malay women, including the Imaum's wife, came to +see me. Each one would have made a picturesque picture, but they had no +manners, and seized on my hands, which are coarsened, reddened, and +swelled from heat and mosquito bites, all exclaiming, "chanti! +chanti!"--pretty! pretty! I wondered at their bad taste, specially as +they had very small and pretty hands themselves, with almond-shaped +nails. + +In the evening the "establishment" dined at the Residency. After +dinner, as we sat in the darkness in the veranda, maddened by mosquito +bites, about 9:30, the bugle at the fort sounded the "alarm," which was +followed in a few seconds by the drum beating "to quarters," and in +less than five minutes every approach to the Residency was held by men +with fixed bayonets, and fourteen rounds of ball-cartridges each in +their belts, and every road round Klang was being patrolled by pickets. +I knew instinctively that it was "humbug," arranged to show the +celerity with which the little army could be turned out; and shortly an +orderly arrived with a note--"False alarm;" but Klang never subsided +all night, and the Klings beat their tom-toms till daylight. I am +writing at dawn now, in order that my letter may "catch the mail." + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XVI + +A Yachting Voyage--The Destruction of Selangor--Varieties of +Slime--Swamp Fever--An Unprosperous Region--A "Deadly-Lively" +Morning--A Waif and Stray--The Superintendent of Police + +STEAM-LAUNCH "ABDULSAMAT" February 7. + + +You will certainly think, from the dates of my letters, that I am +usually at sea. The Resident, his daughter, Mrs. Daly, Mr. Hawley, a +revenue officer, and I, left Klang this morning at eight for a two +days' voyage in this bit of a thing. Blessed be "the belt of calms!" +There was the usual pomp of a body-guard, some of whom are in +attendance, and a military display on the pier, well drilled, and well +officered in quiet, capable, admirable, unobtrusive Mr. Syers; but +gentle Mrs. Douglas, devoted to her helpless daughter, standing above +the jetty, a lone woman in forlorn, decayed Klang, haunts me as a +vision of sadness, as I think of her sorrow and her dignified +hospitality in the midst of it. + +Now, at half-past eleven, we are aground with an ebb-tide on the bar of +the Selangor river; so I may write a little, though I should like to be +asleep. + + +Bernam River, Selangor, February 8th.--"Chi-laka!" (worthless +good-for-nothing wretch), "Bodo!" (fool). I hear these words repeated +incessantly in tones of thunder and fury, with accompaniments which +need not be dwelt upon. The Malays are a revengeful people. If any +official in British service were to knock them about and insult them, +one can only say what has been said to me since I came to the native +States: "Well, some day--all I can say is, God help him!" But then if +an official were to be krissed, no matter how deservedly in Malay +estimation, a gunboat would be sent up the river to "punish," and would +kill, burn, and destroy; there would be a "little war," and a heavy war +indemnity, and the true bearings of the case would be lost forever. + +Yesterday, after a detention on the bar, we steamed up the broad, muddy +Selangor river, margined by bubbling slime, on which alligators were +basking in the torrid sun, to Selangor. Here the Dutch had a fort on +the top of the hill. We destroyed it in August, 1871. Some Chinese +whose connection with Selangor is not traceable, after murdering nearly +everybody on board a Pinang-owned junk, took the vessel to Selangor. We +demanded that the native chiefs should give up the pirates, and they +gave up nine readily, but refused the tenth, against whom "it does not +appear that there was any proof," and drew their krises on our police +when they tried to arrest the man in defiance of them. The (acting) +Governor of the Straits Settlements, instead of representing to the +Sultan the misconduct, actual or supposed, of his officers, sent a +war-ship to seize and punish them. This attempt was resented by the +Selangor chiefs, and they fired on those who made it. The Rinaldo +destroyed the town in consequence, and killed many of its inhabitants. + +When the Viceroy, a brother of the Sultan of Kedah, retook Selangor two +years afterward, he found that what had been a populous and thriving +place was almost deserted, the few hovels which remained were in ruins, +the plantations were overgrown with rank jungle growths, and their +owners had fled; the mines in the interior were deserted, and the roads +and jungle paths were infested by bands of half-starved robbers.* +[*This account of Selangor does not rest on local hearsay, but on the +authority of two of the leading officials of the Colonial Government.] + +Selangor is a most wretched place--worse than Klang. On one side of the +river there is a fishing village of mat and attap hovels on stilts +raised a few feet above the slime of a mangrove swamp; and on the other +an expanse of slime, with larger houses on stilts, and an attempt at a +street of Chinese shops, and a gambling-den, which I entered, and found +full of gamblers at noonday. The same place serves for a spirit and +champagne shop. Slime was everywhere oozing, bubbling, smelling putrid +in the sun, all glimmering, shining, and iridescent, breeding fever and +horrible life; while land-crabs boring holes, crabs of a brilliant +turquoise-blue color, which fades at death, and reptiles like fish, +with great bags below their mouths, and innumerable armor-plated +insects, were rioting in it under the broiling sun. + +We landed by a steep ladder upon a jetty with a gridiron top, only safe +for shoeless feet, and Mr. Hawley and I went up to the fort by steps +cut in the earth. There are fine mango-trees on the slopes, said to +have been planted by the Dutch two centuries ago. The fort is nearly +oblong, and has a wall of stones and earth round it, in which, near the +entrance, some of the Dutch brickwork is still visible. The trees round +it are much tattered and torn by English shell. In front of the +entrance there is a large flat stone on a rude support. On this a young +girl was sacrificed some years ago, and the Malay guns were smeared +with her blood, in the idea that it would make them successful. I was +told this story, but have no means of testing its accuracy. + +Within the fort the collector and magistrate--a very inert-looking +Dutch half-caste--has a wretched habitation, mostly made of attap. We +sat there for some time. It looked most miserable, the few things about +being empty bottles and meat-tins. A man would need many resources, +great energy, and an earnest desire to do his duty, in order to save +him from complete degeneracy. He has no better prospect from his +elevation, than a nearly level plateau of mangrove swamps and jungle, +with low hills in the distance, in which the rivers rise. It was +hot--rather. + +In the meantime the Resident was trying a case, and when it was +concluded we steamed out to sea and hugged all day the most monotonous +coast I ever saw, only just, if just, above high-water mark, with a +great level of mangrove swamps and dense jungle behind, with high, +jungle-covered hills in the very far distance, a vast area of +beast-haunted country, of which nothing is known by Europeans, and +almost nothing by the Malays themselves. So very small a vessel tumbles +about a good deal even with a very light breeze, and instead of going +to dinner I lay on the roof of the cabin studying blue-books. At +nightfall we anchored at the mouth of the Bernam river, to avoid the +inland mosquitoes, but we must have brought some with us, for I was +malignantly bitten. Mrs. Daly and I shared the lack of privacy and +comfort of the cabin. Perfect though the Abdulsamat is, there is very +little rest to be got in a small and overcrowded vessel, and besides, +the heat was awful. I think we were not far enough from the swampy +shore, for Mrs. Daly was seized with fever during the night, and a +Malay servant also. In the morning Mrs. Daly. who is comely and has a +very nice complexion, looked haggard, yellow, and much shaken. + +At daylight we weighed anchor and steamed for many miles up the muddy, +mangrove-fringed river Bernam, the mangroves occasionally varied by the +nipah palm. We met several palm-trees floating with their roots and +some of their fruits above the water, like those we saw yesterday +evening out on the Malacca Straits, looking like crowded Malay prahus +with tattered mat-sails. + +Before nine we anchored at this place, whose wretchedness makes a great +impression on me, because we are to deposit Mr. Hawley here as revenue +collector. I have seen him every day for a week; he is amiable and +courteous, as well as intelligent and energetic, and it is shocking to +leave him alone in a malarious swamp. This dismal revenue station +consists of a few exceptionally poor-looking Malay houses on the river +bank, a few equally unprosperous-looking Chinese dwellings, a police +station of dilapidated thatch among the trees, close to it a cage in +which there is a half-human looking criminal lying on a mat, a new +house or big room, raised for Mr. Hawley, with the swamp all round it +and underneath it, and close to it some pestiferous ditches which have +been cut to drain it, but in which a putrid-looking brown ooze has +stagnated. There is a causeway about two hundred yards long on the +river bank, but no road anywhere. The river is broad, deep, swift and +muddy; on its opposite side is Perak, the finest State in the +peninsula, and the cluster of mat houses on the farther shore is under +the Perak Government.* Sampans are lying on the heated slime. Cocoa-nut +trees fringe the river bank for some distance, and there are some +large, spreading trees loaded with the largest and showiest crimson +blossoms I ever saw, throwing even the gaudy Poinciana regia into the +shade; but nothing can look very attractive here, with the swamp in +front and the jungle behind, where the rhinoceros is said to roam +undisturbed. +[*The Bernam district has recently been handed over to Perak, and is now +under Mr. Low's very capable administration.] + +We landed in the police boat at a stilted jetty approached by a ladder +with few and slippery rungs. At the top there was a primitive gridiron +of loose nibong bars, and the river swirled so rapidly and dizzily +below that I was obliged ignominiously to hold on to a Chinaman in +order to reach the causeway safely. To add to the natural insecurity of +the foothold, some men were killing a goat at the top of the ladder, +and its blood made the whole gridiron slippery. The banks of the river +are shining slime giving off fetid exhalations under the burning sun; +there is a general smell of vegetable decomposition, and miasma fever +(one would suppose) is exhaling from every bubble of the teeming slime +and swamp. + +In the veranda of Mr. Hawley's house a number of forlorn-looking +Rajahs are sitting, each with his forlorn-looking train of followers, +and in front of the police station a number of forlorn-looking Malays +are sitting motionless hour after hour. The Chinese have a row of shops +above the river bank, and even on this deadly-looking shore they +display some purpose and energy. Mrs. Daly and I are sitting in Mr. +Hawley's side veranda with the bubbling swamp below us. She reads a +dull novel, I watch the dead life, pen in hand, and think how I can +convey any impression of it to you. The Resident has gone snipe- +shooting to replenish our larder. A boat now and then crosses from the +Perak side, a sauntering Malay occasionally joins the squatting group, +a fishing hawk now and then swoops down upon a fish, a policeman +occasionally rouses up the wretch in the cage, and so the torrid hours +pass. + +I take this up again as the dew falls, and the sea takes on the +coloring of a dying dolphin. The Resident returned with a good bag of +snipe, and with Rajah Odoot, a gentle, timid-looking man, and another +Rajah with an uncomfortable, puzzled face, took his place at a table, a +policeman with a brace of loaded revolvers standing behind him. +Policemen filed in; one or two cases were tried and dismissed, the +Malay witnesses trembling from head to foot, and then the wretch from +the cage was brought in looking hardly human, as, from under his +shaggy, unshaven hair and unplaited pigtail which hung over his chest, +he cast furtive, frightened glances at the array before him. He was +charged with being a waif. A Malay had picked him up at sea in a boat, +of which he could give no account, neither of himself. So he is +supposed to have been implicated in the murder of Mr. Lloyd, and we are +bringing him, heavily ironed, and his boat up to Pinang. I wonder how +many of the feelings which we call human exist in the lowest order of +Orientals! It is certain that many of them only regard kindness as a +confession of weakness. The Chinese seem specially inscrutable; no one +seems really to understand them. Even the Canton missionaries said that +they knew nearly nothing of them and their feelings. This wretched +criminal, with his possible association with a brutal murder, is a most +piteous object on deck, and comes between me and the enjoyment of this +entrancing evening. + +We reembarked late in the afternoon, and with the flood-tide in our +favor have left Selangor behind. It has impressed me unfavorably as +compared with Sungei Ujong. Of Kwalor Lumpor I cannot give any opinion, +but I have seen no signs of progress or life anywhere else. The people +of the State are harassed by vexatious imposts which yield very little, +cost a great deal to collect, repress industry, and drive away +population. Among such are taxes on individuals moving about the +country up or down the rivers, cutting wood or in boats, oppressively +heavy export duties on certain kinds of produce, and ad valorem duties +on all articles of import and export not otherwise specially taxed. The +costs of litigation are enormous, and the legal expenses to litigants +are as great as in settlements where with the same money every +advantage can be obtained. The stamps on all legal documents are also +oppressive. The various departments are said to be in a state of +"hugger-mugger." + +With all this there is a good deal of display of military power on a +small scale, and of such over-aweing implements as bayonets and +revolvers, together with marching and counter-marching, body-guards and +guards of honor. There must surely be a want of the right kind of vigor +in the administration, and a "laisser aller" on the part of some of the +minor officials, the result of which is that the great capabilities of +the State are not developed, and its resources seem very little known. +There has not been any disturbance in Selangor since 1874; and as +neither the Sultan, the Malays, nor the Chinese have ever raised +objections of any serious kind to the proposals of the British +advisers, the "far back" state of things is very singular. + +Mr. Syers, the superintendent of military police, appears a thoroughly +efficient man, as sensible in his views of what would conduce to the +advancement of the State as he is conscientious and careful in all +matters of detail which concern his rather complicated position. He is +a student of the people and of the country, speaks Malay fluently, and +for a European seems to have a sympathetic understanding of the Malays, +is studying the Chinese and their language, as well as the flora, +fauna, and geology of the country, and is altogether unpretending. I +have formed a very high opinion of him and should rely implicitly on +anything which he told me as a fact. This is a great blessing, for +conflicting statements on every subject, and the difficulty of +estimating which one comes probably nearest the truth, are among the +great woes of traveling! + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XVII + +The Dindings--The Tragedy on Pulu Pangkor--A Tropic Sunrise--Sir W. +Robinson's Departure--"A Touch of the Sun"--Kling Beauty--A Question +and Answer--The Bazaars of Georgetown--The Chinaman Goes Ahead--The +Products of Pinang--Pepper-Planting + + +HOTEL DE L'EUROPE, PINANG, February 9. + +In the evening we reached the Dindings, a lovely group of small islands +ceded to England by the Pangkor Treaty, and just now in the height of +an unenviable notoriety. The sun was low and the great heat past, the +breeze had died away, and in the dewy stillness the largest of the +islands looked unspeakably lovely as it lay in the golden light between +us and the sun, forest-covered to its steep summit, its rocky +promontories running out into calm, deep, green water, and forming +almost land-locked bays, margined by shores of white coral sand backed +by dense groves of cocoa-palms whose curving shadows lay dark upon the +glassy sea. Here and there a Malay house in the shade indicated man and +his doings, but it was all silent. + +On a high, steep point there is a small clearing on which stands a mat +bungalow with an attap roof, and below this there is a mat police +station, but it was all desolate, nothing stirred, and though we had +intended to spend the early hours of the night at the Dindings, we only +lay a short time in the deep shadow upon the clear green water, +watching scarlet fish playing in the coral forests, and the exquisite +beauty of the island with its dense foliage in dark relief against the +cool lemon sky. Peace brooded over the quiet shores, heavy aromatic +odors of night-blooming plants wrapped us round, the sun sank suddenly, +the air became cool, it was a dream of tropic beauty. + +"Chalakar! Bondo!" Those jarring sounds seemed to have something +linking them with the tragedy of which the peaceful-looking bungalow +was lately the scene, and of which you have doubtless read. A Chinese +gang swooped down upon the house from behind, beating gongs and +shouting. Captain Lloyd got up to see what was the matter, and was +felled by a hatchet, calling out to his wife for his revolver. This had +been abstracted, and the locks had been taken off his fowling-pieces. +The ayah fled to the jungle in the confusion, taking with her the three +children, the youngest only four weeks old. The wretches then +fractured, Mrs. Lloyd's skull with the hatchet, and having stunned Mrs. +Innes, who was visiting her, they pushed the senseless bodies under the +bed, and were preparing to set fire to it when something made them +depart. + +No more is likely to be known. The police must either have been +cowardly or treacherous. The Pyah Pekket called the next day and +brought the frightfully mangled corpse, Mrs. Lloyd, whose reason was +overturned, and Mrs. Innes, on here. It is supposed that the Chinese +secret societies have frustrated justice. A wretch is to be hanged here +for the crime this morning on his own confession, but it is believed +that he was doomed to sacrifice himself by one of these societies, in +order to screen the real murderers. The contrast was awful between the +island looking so lovely in the evening light, and this horrid deed +which has desolated it. + +The mainland approaches close to the Dindings, but the mangrove swamps +of Selangor had given place to lofty ranges, forest covered, and a +white coral strand fringed with palms. It was a lovely night. The +north-east monsoon was fresh and steady, and the stars were glorious. +It was very hot below, but when I went up on deck it was cool, and in +the colored dawn we were just running up to the island-group of which +Pinang is the chief, and reached the channel which divides it from +Leper Island just at sunrise. All these islands are densely wooded, and +have rocky shores. The high mountains of the native State of Kedah +close the view to the north, and on the other side of a very narrow +channel are the palm groves and sugar plantations of Province +Wellesley. The Leper Island looked beautiful in the dewy morning with +its stilted houses under the cocoa-palms; and the island of Pinang, +with its lofty peak, dense woods, and shores fringed with palms +sheltering Malay kampongs, each with its prahus drawn up on the beach, +looked impressive enough. + +The fierce glory of a tropic sunrise is ever a new delight. It is +always the sun of the Nineteenth Psalm, with the prevailing yellow +color of the eastern sky intensifying in one spot, a cool, lingering +freshness, a deepening of the yellow east into a brilliant rose color, +till suddenly, "like a glory, the broad sun" wheels above the horizon, +the dew-bathed earth rejoices, the air is flooded with vitality, all +things which rejoice in light and heat come forth, night birds and +night prowlers retire, and we pale people hastily put up our umbrellas +to avoid being shriveled in less than ten minutes from the first +appearance of the sun. + +"Pinang," from the Pinang or areca-palm, is the proper name of the +island, but out of compliment to George IV, it was called Prince of +Wales Island. Georgetown is the name of the capital, but by an odd +freak we call the town Penang, and spell it with an e instead of an i. + +There were a great many ships and junks at anchor, and the huge "P. and +O." steamer Peking, and there was a state of universal hurry and +excitement, for a large number of the officials of the Colonial +Government and of the "protected" States are here to meet Sir W. +Robinson, the Governor, who is on his way home on leave. There are +little studies of human nature going on all round. Most people have +"axes to grind." There are people pushing rival claims, some wanting +promotion, others leave; some frank and above-board in their ways, +others descending to mean acts to gain favor, or undermining the good +reputation of their neighbors; everybody wanting something, and +usually, as it seems, at the expense of somebody else! + +Mr. Douglas, who had got up his men in most imposing costume, anchored +the Abdulsamat close to the Peking, and at once went on board, with the +kris with the gold hilt and scabbard presented by the Sultan of +Selangor. In the meantime the Governor sent for me to breakfast on +board, and I was obliged to go among clean, trim people without having +time to change my traveling dress. On deck I was introduced by the +Governor to Mr. Low, the Resident in Perak, who has arranged for my +transit thither, and to Mr. Maxwell, the Assistant Resident. I was so +glad that I had no claims of my own to push when I saw the many +perturbed and anxious faces. I sat next Sir William Robinson at +breakfast, and found him most kind and courteous, and he interested +himself in my impressions of the native States. No one could make out +the flags on the Selangor yacht, four squares placed diagonally, two +yellow and two red, in one of the red ones a star and crescent in +yellow, and on the mizzenmast the same flag with a blue ensign as one +of the squares! I wonder if the faineant Sultan who luxuriates at +Langat knows anything of the sensationalism of his "yacht." + +Mr. Douglas took me back to the launch in fierce blazing heat, which +smote me just as I put down my umbrella in order to climb up her side, +and caused me to fall forward with a sort of vertigo and an icy chill, +but as soon as I arrived here I poured deluges of cold water on my +head, and lay down with an iced bandage on, and am now much better. In +nine months of tropical traveling, and exposure on horseback without an +umbrella to the full force of the sun, I have never been affected +before. I wear a white straw hat with the sides and low crown thickly +wadded. I also have a strip four inches broad of three thicknesses of +wadding, sewn into the middle of the back of my jacket, and usually +wear in addition a coarse towel wrung out in water, folded on the top +of my head, and hanging down the back of my neck. + +Soon after I came into the salon Mr. Wood, the Puisne Judge, a very +genial, elderly man, called and took me to his house, where I found a +very pleasant party, Sir Thomas Sidgreaves, the Chief Justice, Mr. +Maxwell, the Assistant Resident in Perak, Mr. Walker, appointed to the +(acting) command of the Sikh force in Perak, and Mr. Kinnersley, a +Pinang magistrate, with Mr. Isemonger, the police magistrate of the +adjacent Province Wellesley. With an alteration in the names of places +and people, the conversation was just what I have heard in all British +official circles from Prince Edward Island to Singapore, who was likely +to go home on leave, who might get a step, whether the Governor would +return, what new appointments were likely to be created, etc., the +interest in all these matters being intensified by the recent visit of +Sir W. Robinson. It was all pleasant and interesting to me. + +This evening the moonlight from the window was entrancingly beautiful, +the shadows of promontory behind promontory lying blackly on the silver +water amidst the scents and silences of the purple night. + +As one lands on Pinang one is impressed even before reaching the shore +by the blaze of color in the costumes of the crowds which throng the +jetty. There are over fifteen thousand Klings, Chuliahs, and other +natives of India on the island, and with their handsome but not very +intellectual faces, their Turkey-red turbans and loin-cloths, or the +soft, white muslins in which both men and women drape themselves, each +one might be an artist's model. The Kling women here are beautiful and +exquisitely draped, but the form of the cartilage of the nose and ears +is destroyed by heavy rings. There are many Arabs, too, who are wealthy +merchants and bankers. One of them, Noureddin, is the millionaire of +Pinang, and is said to own landed property here to the extent of +400,000 pounds. There are more than twenty-one thousand Malays on the +island, and though their kampongs are mostly scattered among the palm- +groves, their red sarongs and white bajus are seen in numbers in the +streets; but I have not seen one Malay woman. There are about six +hundred and twelve Europeans in the town and on Pinang, but they make +little show, though their large massive bungalows, under the shade of +great bread-fruit and tamarind-trees, give one the idea of wealth and +solidity. + +The sight of the Asiatics who have crowded into Georgetown is a +wonderful one, Chinese, Burmese, Javanese, Arabs, Malays, Sikhs, +Madrassees, Klings, Chuliahs, and Parsees, and still they come in junks +and steamers and strange Arabian craft, and all get a living, depend +slavishly on no one, never lapse into pauperism, retain their own +dress, customs, and religion, and are orderly. One asks what is +bringing this swarthy, motley crowd from all Asian lands, from the Red +to the Yellow Sea, from Mecca to Canton, and one of my Kling boatmen +answers the question, "Empress good--coolie get money; keep it." This +being interpreted is, that all these people enjoy absolute security of +life and property under our flag, that they are certain of even-handed +justice in our colonial courts, and that "the roll of the British drum" +and the presence of a British iron-clad mean to them simply that +security which is represented to us by an efficient police force. It is +so strange to see that other European countries are almost nowhere in +this strange Far East. Possibly many of the Chinese have heard of +Russia, but Russia, France, Germany, and America, the whole lot of the +"Great Powers" are represented chiefly by a few second-rate war-ships, +or shabby consulates in back streets, while England is a "name to +conjure with," and is represented by prosperous colonies, powerful +protective forces, law, liberty, and security. These ideas are forced +so strongly upon me as I travel westward, that I almost fear that I am +writing in a "hifalutin" style, so I will only add that I think that +our Oriental Grand Vizier knew Oriental character and the way of +influencing Oriental modes of thinking better than his detractors when +he added et Imperatrix to the much loved V. R. + +This is truly a brilliant place under a brilliant sky, but Oh I weary +for the wilds! There is one street, Chulia Street, entirely composed of +Chulia and Kling bazaars. Each sidewalk is a rude arcade, entered by +passing through heavy curtains, when you find yourself in a narrow, +crowded passage, with deep or shallow recesses on one side, in which +the handsome, brightly-dressed Klings sit on the floor, surrounded by +their bright-hued goods; and over one's head and all down the narrow, +thronged passage, noisy with business, are hung Malay bandannas, red +turban cloths, red sarongs in silk and cotton, and white and gold +sprinkled muslins, the whole length of the very long bazaar, blazing +with color, and picturesque beyond description with beautiful costume. +The Klings are much pleasanter to buy from than the Chinese. In +addition to all the brilliant things which are sold for native wear, +they keep large stocks of English and German prints, which they sell +for rather less than the price asked for them at home, and for less +than half what the same goods are sold for at the English shops. + +I am writing as if the Klings were predominant, but they are so only in +good looks and bright colors. Here again the Chinese, who number +forty-five thousand souls, are becoming commercially the most important +of the immigrant races, as they have long been numerically and +industrially. In Georgetown, besides selling their own and all sorts of +foreign goods at reasonable rates in small shops, they have large +mercantile houses, and, as elsewhere, are gradually gaining a +considerable control over the trade of the place. They also occupy +positions of trust in foreign houses, and if there were a strike among +them all business, not excepting that of the Post Office, would come to +a standstill. I went into the Mercantile Bank and found only Chinese +clerks, in the Post Office and only saw the same, and when I went to +the "P. and O." office to take my berth for Ceylon, it was still a +Chinaman, imperturbable, taciturn, independent, and irreproachably +clean, with whom I had to deal in "pidjun English." They are everywhere +the same, keen, quick-witted for chances, markedly self-interested, +purpose-like, thrifty, frugal, on the whole regarding honesty as the +best policy, independent in manner as in character, and without a trace +of "Oriental servility." + + +Georgetown, February 11th.--I have not seen very much in my two days; +indeed, I doubt whether there is much to see, in my line at least; nor +has the island any interesting associations as Malacca has, or any +mystery of unexplored jungle as in Sungei Ujong and Selangor. Pinang +came into our possession in 1786, through the enterprise of Mr. Light, +a merchant captain, who had acquired much useful local knowledge by +trading to Kedah and other Malay States. The Indian Government desired +a commercial "emporium" and a naval station in the far east, and Mr. +Light recommended this island, then completely covered with forest, and +only inhabited by two migratory families of Malay fishermen, whose huts +were on the beach where this town now stands. In spite of romantic +stories of another kind, to which even a recent encyclopedia gives +currency, it seems that the Rajah of Kedah, to whom the island +belonged, did not bestow it on Mr. Light, but sold it to the British +Government for a stipulated payment of 2,000 pounds a year, which his +successor receives at this day. + +It is little over thirteen miles long; and from five to ten broad. It +is a little smaller than the Isle of Wight, its area being one hundred +and seven square miles. + +The roads are excellent. After one has got inside of the broad belt of +cocoa and areca palms which runs along the coast, one comes upon +beautiful and fertile country, partly level, and partly rolling, with +rocks of granite and mica-schist, and soil of a shallow but rich +vegetable mould, with abundance of streams and little cascades, dotted +all over with villas (very many of them Chinese) and gardens, and +planted with rice, pepper and fruits, while cloves and nutmegs, which +last have been long a failure, grow on the higher lands. The centre of +Pinang is wooded and not much cultivated, but on the south and +south-west coasts there are fine sugar, coffee and pepper plantations. +The coffee looks very healthy. From the ridges in the centre of the +island the ground rises toward the north, till, at the Peak, it reaches +the height of two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two feet. There is a +sanitarium there with a glorious view, and a delicious temperature +ranging from 60 degrees to 75 degrees, while in the town and on the low +lands it ranges from 80 degrees to 90 degrees. A sea breeze blows every +day, and rain falls throughout the year, except in January and +February. The vegetation is profuse, but less beautiful and tropical +than on the mainland, and I have seen very few flowers except in +gardens. + +The products are manifold--guavas, mangoes, lemons, oranges, bananas, +plantains, shaddocks, bread-fruit, etc.; and sugar, rice, sweet +potatoes, ginger, areca, and cocoa-nuts, coffee, cloves, some nutmegs, +and black and white pepper. My gharrie driver took me to see a Chinese +pepper plantation--to me the most interesting thing that I saw on a +very long and hot drive. Pepper is a very profitable crop. The vine +begins to bear in three or four years after the cuttings have been +planted, and yields two crops annually for about thirteen years. It is +an East Indian plant, rather pretty, but of rambling and untidy growth, +a climber, with smooth, soft stems, ten or twelve feet long, and tough, +broadly ovate leaves. It is supported much as hops are. When the +berries on a spike begin to turn red they are gathered, as they lose +pungency if they are allowed to ripen. They are placed on mats, and are +either trodden with the feet or rubbed by the hands to separate them +from the spike, after which they are cleaned by winnowing. Black pepper +consists of such berries wrinkled and blackened in the process of +drying, and white pepper of similar berries freed from the skin and the +fleshy part of the fruit by being soaked in water and then rubbed. Some +planters bleach with chlorine to improve the appearance; but this +process, as may be supposed, does not improve the flavor. + +In these climates the natives use enormous quantities of pepper, as +they do of all hot condiments, and the Europeans imitate them. + +Although there are so many plantations, a great part of Pinang is +uncleared, and from the peak most of it looks like a forest. It +contains ninety thousand inhabitants, the Chinese more than equaling +all the other nationalities put together. Its trade, which in 1860 was +valued at 3,500,000 pounds, is now (1880) close upon 8,000,000 pounds, +Pinang being, like Singapore, a great entrepot and "distributing +point." + +Now for the wilds once more! + +I. L. B. + + + +A CHAPTER ON PERAK + +The Boundaries and Rivers of Perak--Tin Mining--Fruits and +Vegetables--The Gomuti Palm--The Trade of Perak--A Future of Coffee--A +Hopeful Lookout--Chinese Difficulties--Chinese Disturbances in +Larut--The "Pangkor Treaty"--A "Little War"--The Settlement of +Perak--The Resident and Assistant-Resident + + +The "protected" State of Perak (pronounced Payrah) is the richest and +most important of the States of the Peninsula, as well as one of the +largest. Its coast-line, broken into, however, by a bit of British +territory, is about one hundred and twenty-five miles in length. Its +sole southern boundary is the State of Selangor. On the north it has +the British colony of Province Wellesley, and the native States of +Kedah and Patani, tributary to Siam. Its eastern boundary is only an +approximate one, Kelantan joining it in the midst of a vast tract of +unexplored country inhabited solely by the Sakei and Semang aborigines. +The State is about eighty miles wide at its widest part, and thirty at +its narrowest, and is estimated to contain between four and five +thousand square miles. The great artery of the country is the Perak +river, a most serpentine stream. Ships drawing thirteen feet of water +can ascend it as far as Durian Sabatang, fifty miles from its mouth, +and boats can navigate it for one hundred and thirty miles farther. +This river, even one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth at Kwala +Kangsa, is two hundred yards wide, and might easily be ascended by +"stern-wheel" boats drawing a foot of water, such as those which ply on +the upper Mississippi. Next in size to the Perak is the Kinta, which +falls into the Perak, besides which there are the Bernam and Batang +Padang rivers, both navigable for vessels of light draught. Along the +shores of these streams most of the Malay kampongs are built. + +The interior of Perak is almost altogether covered with magnificent +forests, out of which rise isolated limestone hills, and mountain +ranges from five thousand to eight thousand feet in height. The scenery +is beautiful. The neighborhood of the mangrove swamps of the coast is +low and swampy, but as the ground rises, the earth which has been +washed down from the hills becomes fertile, and farther inland the +plains are so broken up by natural sand ridges which lighten the soil, +that it is very suitable for rice culture. + +Tin is the most abundant of the mineral products of Perak, and, as in +the other States, the supply is apparently inexhaustible. So far it is +obtained in "stream works" only. The export of this metal has risen +from 144,000 pounds in 1876 to 436,000 pounds in 1881. Tin-mining +continues to attract a steady stream of Chinese immigration, and the +Resident believes that the number of Chinamen has increased from twenty +thousand in 1879 to forty thousand in 1881. Wealth is reckoned in slabs +of tin, and lately for an act of piracy a Rajah was fined so many slabs +of tin, instead of so many hogsheads of oil, as he would have been on +the West African coast. + +Gold is found in tolerable quantities, even by the Malay easy-going +manner of searching for it, and diamonds and garnets are tolerably +abundant. Gold can be washed with little difficulty from most of the +river beds, and from various alluvial deposits. The metal thus found is +pure, but "rough and shotty." The nearer the mountains the larger the +find. It is of a rich, red color. Iron ore is abundant; but though coal +has been found, it is not of any commercial value. The methods of +mining both for tin and gold are of the most elementary kind, and it is +probable that Perak has still vast metallic treasures to yield up to +scientific exploration and Anglo-Saxon energy. + +Rice is the staple food of the inhabitants. Dry rice on the hillsides +was the kind which was formerly exclusively cultivated, but from some +Indians who came from Sumatra to Perak the Malays have learned the mode +of growing the wet variety, and it is now largely practiced. Partly in +consequence of a great lack of agricultural energy, and partly from the +immense quantity of rice required by the non-producing Chinese miners, +Perak imported in 1881 rice to the value of 70,000 pounds. + +There is scarcely a tropical product which this magnificent region does +not or may not produce, gutta-percha, india-rubber, sago, tapioca, +palm-oil and fibre, yams, sweet potatoes, cloves, nutmegs, coffee, +tobacco, pepper, gambier, with splendid fruits in perfection--the +banana, bread-fruit, anona, cocoa-nut, mangosteen, durion, jak-fruit, +cashew-nut, guava, bullock's heart, pomegranate, shaddock, +custard-apple, papaya, pine-apple, with countless others. The +indigenous fruits alone are so innumerable, that a description of the +most valuable of them would fill a chapter. + +Our homely vegetables do not flourish, but watermelons, cucumbers, +gourds, capsicums, chilies, cocoa-nut cabbage, edible arums, and, where +the Chinese have settled, coarse lettuces, radishes, and pulse, grow +abundantly, with various other not altogether to be despised vegetables +with Malay names. + +The timber is magnificent, and under the unworthy name of "jungle +produce" a large trade is done in it. Perak is the land of palms, and +produces the invaluable cocoa-palm, most parts of which have their +commercial value, the areca palm which produces the betel-nut, the +gomuti palm from whose strong black fibres they make ropes, cordage, +and strands for capturing the alligator; the jaggary-palm, from which +sugar is made, as well as a fermented beverage; the nibong palm, which +grows round the Malay kampong, and is used for their gridiron floors +and for the posts of their houses; the dwarf-palms which serve no other +purpose than to gladden the eyes by their beauty; and the nipah palm +which fringes the rivers, and, under the name of attap, forms the +thatch of both native and foreign houses. + +Road-making has not made great strides in Perak, but railroads are +being planned, and a good road extends from the port of Larut to the +great Chinese mining town of Taipeng, and thence to the British +residency at Kwala Kangsa, a distance of over thirty-three miles, the +electric telegraph accompanying the road. Others are in course of +construction, and there are numerous elephant and jungle tracks through +the western parts of the State. + +Still, the rivers form the natural highways. Perak has two ports--Teluk +Anson on the Perak river, thirty-four miles from its mouth, and Teluk +Kertang, a few miles up the Larut river, and eight miles from the great +tin mines of Taipeng. The import and export trade is carried on mainly +with Pinang, and at this time one of several small steamers leaves +Larut for that port daily. A steamer calls at Teluk Anson once a +fortnight on her voyage from and to Singapore and Pinang, and another +calls at the same port every fourth day, as well as at the Dindings and +the Bernam river. + +Trade is rapidly advancing. The exports of the State, which were valued +at 147,993 pounds in 1876, amounted to 513,317 pounds in 1881; and the +imports which amounted to 166,275 pounds in 1876, had reached 488,706 +pounds in 1881, the whole import and export trade of that year +amounting to 1,002,023 pounds. The free population of Perak is now +estimated at + + Malays 56,000 + Chinese 40,000 + Other Asiatics 850 + Europeans 90 + Aborigines 1,000 + ------ + 97,940 + +To which may be added a slave and bond debtor population of nearly four +thousand souls. + +The revenue of Perak has risen from 42,683 pounds in 1876 to 138,572 +pounds in 1881; and the expenditure, keeping pace with it, has risen +from 45,277 pounds in 1876 to 130,587 pounds in 1881. The chief sources +of the Perak revenue are customs duties, opium and other farms and +licenses, and land revenue; and the chief items of expenditure are for +civil and police establishments, roads and bridges, and allowances and +pensions to chiefs. It is worthy of remark that the military +establishment--for so the magnificent Sikh armed police force may be +called--costs more than the civil establishment. It may also be +remarked that the revenue of Perak, thanks to the financial sagacity +and wise discrimination of the Resident, is collected with little +difficulty, and without inflicting any real vexations or hardships on +the taxpayers. + +Public works, such as the construction of good cart roads and bridges, +the making of canals, the clearing rivers from impediments to +navigation, the enlargement of experimental gardens, the introduction +and breeding of sheep, cattle, and improved breeds of poultry, +surveying wild land, and rebuilding and draining mining towns, are +being carried on energetically. It has been found, after long and +carefully-conducted experiments, that the lower mountains of Perak are +admirably suited for the growth of tea, cinchona, and Arabian coffee, +while Liberian coffee grows equally well on the lower lands. Coffee +appears to be so nearly "played out" in Ceylon, that many +coffee-planters have been "prospecting" in Perak; and now that the +Government of India has consented to the importation of Indian coolie +labor into the State, under certain restrictions, as an experimental +measure, a future of coffee may be predicted with tolerable certainty. +One of the causes for satisfaction in connection with this State is +that the Malays themselves are undoubtedly contented with British rule, +and are prospering under it. Crime of any kind in the Malay districts +is very rare. The "village system" works well, and the courts of law +conduct their business with an efficiency and economy which compare +favorably with the transactions of our colonial courts; English law is +being gradually introduced and gives general satisfaction, and the +native Rajahs are being trained to administer even-handed justice +according to its provisions, and at the same time without trenching +upon Malay religion and custom. Slavery and debt bondage, which, as +hitherto practiced in Perak, have involved evils and cruelties which +are unknown to any but those who have actually lived in the State, +will, it is hoped, be abolished by equitable arrangement in 1883. +Various difficulties remain to be settled; the large Chinese element, +with its criminal tendencies, requires great firmness of dealing, and +the introduction of foreign capital and an additional form of alien +labor may lead to new perplexities; but on the whole the outlook for +Perak and its people is a favorable one, especially if the present +Resident, Mr. Hugh Low, is able to remain to continue his task of +developing the resources, settling the difficulties, and consolidating +the well-being of the State. + +Nothing is known of the early settlement of Perak. It was formerly +tributary to the Malay sovereigns of Malacca, and afterward to those of +Acheen, to whom the Perak Sultans sent gold and silver flowers as +tribute. Siam has also at different times asserted sovereign rights and +demanded tribute, but the Siamese were expelled in 1822 with the help +of Rajah Ibrahim, the warlike chief of the neighboring State of +Selangor. The Government was a despotism, administered during the last +three centuries by Sultans who were connected with the ruling dynasties +of Johore and Acheen. + +Our connection with Perak began in 1818 by a commercial treaty between +the East India Company and the Sultan, the chief object of which was to +circumvent the Dutch on the subject of tin. By another treaty, in 1826, +it was agreed that the Sultan should govern his country according to +his own will; that no force should be sent either by Siam to "molest, +attack, or disturb" Perak; and while it was stipulated that the Siamese +should not attack or disturb Selangor, the English engaged not to allow +Selangor to attack or disturb Perak. + +So things jogged along till 1871, when the Sultan died, and the Rajahs, +passing over two men who by blood were nearest to the throne, elected +Ismail, an old and somewhat inoffensive man. Three years of intrigue +followed, and many singular complications, which would be quite +uninteresting to the general reader, and they furnished no excuse for +English interference. + +It is singular that the fall of Perak as an independent State was +brought about by what may be called a civil war among the Chinese, who +in 1871 were estimated at thirty thousand, and were principally engaged +in tin-mining in Larut. These Chinamen were divided into two +sections--the Go Kwans and the Si Kwans; and a few months after Sultan +Ismail was elected, a dispute arose between the factions. Both parties +flew to arms, and were aided with guns, ammunition, military stores, +and food from Pinang, Pinang Chinese having previously supplied the +capital needed for working the mines. The settlement was kept in +perpetual hot water, its trade languished, and in return for military +equipments the Chinese of Larut sent over two thousand wounded and +starving men. The Mentri, the Malay "Governor" of Larut, although aided +by Captain Speedy and a force of well-drilled troops recruited by him +in India, and possessing four Krupp guns, was powerless to restore +order, and Larut was destroyed, being absolutely turned into a +wilderness, in which all but three houses had been burned, and, while +the Malays had fled, the surviving Si Kwans were living behind +stockades, while those of the faction opposed to that with which the +Mentri and his Commander-in-Chief, Captain Speedy, had allied +themselves, were living on the products of orchards from which their +owners had been driven, and on booty, won by a wholesale system of +piracy and murder, practiced not only on the Perak waters but on the +high seas. + +The war waged between the two parties threatened to become a war of +extermination; horrible atrocities were perpetrated on both sides; and +it is said and believed that as many as three thousand belligerents +were slain on one day early in the disturbances. If the course of +prohibiting the export of munitions of war had been persevered the +strife would have died a natural death; but the Mentri made +representations which induced the authorities of the Straits to accord +a certain degree of support to himself and the Si Kwans, by limiting +the prohibition to his enemies the Go Kwans. Things at last became so +intolerable in Larut, and as a consequence in Pinang, that the Governor +of the Straits Settlements, Sir A. Clarke, thought it was time to +interfere. During these disturbances in Larut, Lower Perak and the +Malays generally were living peaceably under Ismail, their elected +Sultan. Abdullah, who was regarded as his rival, was a fugitive, with +neither followers, money, nor credit. He had, however, friends in +Singapore, to one of whom, Kim Cheng, a well-known Chinaman, he had +promised a lucrative appointment if he would prevail on the Straits +authorities to recognize him as Sultan. Lord Kimberley had previously +instructed the Governor to consider the expediency of introducing the +"Residential system" into "any of the Malay States," and the occasion +soon presented itself. + +An English merchant in Singapore and Kim Cheng drafted a letter to the +Governor, which Abdullah signed, in which this chief expressed his +desire to place Perak under British protection,* and "to have a man of +sufficient abilities to show him a good system of government." Sir A. +Clarke, thus appealed to, went to Pulo Pangkor, off the Perak coast, +summoned the Chinese head men and the Malay chiefs to meet him there, +and so effectively reconciled the former, who were bound over to keep +the peace, that they were not again heard of. The Governor stated to +the Malay chief and Abdullah that it was the duty of England to take +care that the proper person in the line of succession was chosen for +the throne. He inquired if there were any objection to Abdullah, and on +none being made, the chiefs signed a paper dictated by Sir A. Clarke, +since known as the "Pangkor Treaty." Its articles deposed Ismail, +created Abdullah Sultan, ceded two tracts of territory to England, and +provided that the new ruler should receive an English Resident and +Assistant Resident, whose salaries and expenses should be the first +charge on the revenue of the country, whose counsel must be asked and +"acted upon" on all questions other than those of religion and custom, +and under whose advice the collection and control of all revenues and +the general administration should be regulated. After the signing of +this treaty piracy ceased in the Perak waters, and Larut was repeopled +and became settled and prosperous. +[*Abdullah informs "our friend" Sir W. Jervois, that his position and +that of Perak are "in a most deplorable state," that there are two +Sultans between whom no arrangement can be made, that the revenues are +badly raised, and the laws are not executed with justice. "For these +reasons," he says, "we see that Perak is in very great distress, and, in +our opinion, the affairs of Perak cannot be settled except with strong, +active assurance from our friend the representative of Queen Victoria, +the greatest and most noble....We earnestly beg our friend to give +complete assistance to Perak, and govern it, in order that this country +may obtain safety and happiness, and that proper revenues may be raised, +and the laws administered with justice, and all the inhabitants of the +country may live in comfort."] + +So far, as regards the Sultanate, I have followed the account given by +Sir Benson Maxwell. Mr. Swettenham, however, writes that Abdullah +failed to obtain complete recognition of himself as Sultan, and instead +of fulfilling the duties of his position, devoted himself to opium- +smoking, cock-fighting, and other vices, estranging, by his overbearing +manner and pride of position, those who only needed forbearance to make +them his supporters. It may be remarked that Abdullah was not as +yielding as had been expected to his English advisers. + +The Pangkor Treaty was signed in January, 1874. On November 2d, 1875, +Mr. Birch, the British Resident, who had arrived the evening before at +the village of Passir Salah to post up orders and proclamations +announcing that the whole kingdom of Perak was henceforth to be +governed by English officers, was murdered as he was preparing for the +bath. + +On this provocation we entered upon a "little war," Perak became known +in England, and the London press began to ask how it was that colonial +officers were suffered to make conquests and increase Imperial +responsibilities without the sanction of Parliament. Lord Carnarvon +telegraphed to Singapore that he could not sanction the use of troops +"for annexation or any other large political aims," supplementing his +telegram by a despatch stating that the residential system had been +only sanctioned provisionally, as an experiment, and declaring that the +Government would not keep troops in a country "continuing to possess an +independent jurisdiction, for the purpose of enforcing measures which +the natives did not cheerfully accept." + +As the sequel to the war and Mr. Birch's murder, Ismail, who had +retained authority over a part of Perak, was banished to Johore; +Abdullah, the Sultan, and the Mentri of Larut, who was designated as an +"intriguing character," were exiled to the Seychelles, and the Rajah +Muda Yusuf, a prince who, by all accounts, was regarded as exceedingly +obnoxious, was elevated to the regency, Perak at the same time passing +virtually under our rule. + +A great mist of passion and prejudice envelops our dealings with the +chiefs and people of this State, both before and after the war. Sir +Benson Maxwell in "Our Malay Conquests," presents a formidable +arraignment against the Colonial authorities, and Major M'Nair, in his +book on Perak, justifies all their proceedings. If I may venture to +give an opinion upon so controverted a subject, it is, that all +Colonial authorities in their dealings with native races, all Residents +and their subordinates, and all transactions between ourselves and the +weak peoples of the Far East, would be better for having something of +"the fierce light which beats upon a throne" turned upon them. The good +have nothing to fear, the bad would be revealed in their badness, and +hasty counsels and ambitious designs would be held in check. Public +opinion never reaches these equatorial jungles; we are grossly ignorant +of their inhabitants and their rights, of the manner in which our +interference originated, and how it has been exercised; and unless some +fresh disturbance and another "little war" should concentrate our +attention for a moment on these distant States, we are likely to remain +so, to their great detriment, and not a little, in one respect of the +case at least, to our own. + +When the changes in Perak were completed, Mr. Hugh Low, formerly +administrator of the Government of Labuan, was appointed Resident, and +Mr. W. E. Maxwell, who had had considerable experience in Malay +affairs, Assistant Resident. Both these gentlemen speak the Malay +tongue readily and idiomatically, and Mr. Maxwell is an accomplished +Malay scholar. Of both the superior and subordinate it may truly be +said that, by tact, firmness, patience, and a uniformly just regard for +both Malay and Chinese interests, they have not only pacified the +State, but have conciliated the Rajahs, and in the main have reconciled +the people to the new order of things. + + + +LETTER XVIII + +Province Wellesley--Water Buffaloes--A Glorious Night--Perak +Officials--A "Dismal Swamp"--Elephants at Home--An Epigrammatic +Description--The British Residency at Taipeng--Sultan Abdulla's Boys--A +Chinese Mining Town--The "Armed Police"--An Alligator's Victim--Major +Swinburne--A Larut Dinner Party--A Morning Hymn + + +BRITISH RESIDENCY, LARUT, February 11. + +I left Mr. Justice Wood's yesterday, and his servant dispatched me from +the jetty in a large boat with an attap awning and six Kling rowers, +whose oars worked in nooses of rope. The narrow Strait was very calm, +and the hot, fiery light of the tropic evening resting upon it, made it +look like oil rather than water. In half an hour I landed on the other +side in the prosperous Province Wellesley, under a row of magnificent +casuarina trees, with gray, feathery foliage drooping over a beach of +corals and, behind which are the solemn glades of cocoa-nut groves. On +the little jetty a Sikh policeman waited for me; and presently Mrs. +Isemonger, wife of the police magistrate of the Province, met me on the +bright, green lawn studded with clumps of alamanda, which surrounds +their lovely, palm-shaded bungalow. + +Though the shadows were falling, Mr. Isemonger took me to see something +of the back country in a trap with a fiery Sumatra pony. There are +miles of cocoa-nut plantations belonging to Chinamen all along the +coast, with the trees in straight lines forming long, broad avenues, +which have a certain gloomy grandeur about them. Then come sugarcane +and padi, and then palm plantations again. + +The cocoa-nut palm grows best near salt water, no matter how loose and +sandy the soil is, and in these congenial circumstances needs neither +manure nor care of any kind. It bends lovingly toward the sea, and +drops its ripe fruit into it. But if it is planted more than two +hundred yards from the beach, it needs either rich or well-manured +soil, or the proximity of human habitations. It begins to bear fruit +between its fourth and tenth years, according to soil, and a +well-placed, generous tree bears from one hundred and forty to one +hundred and fifty nuts a year. They are of wonderfully slow growth. It +is three months from the time the blossom appears before the fruit +sets, then it takes six months to grow, and three months more to ripen, +and after that will hang two months on the tree before it +falls--fourteen months from the first appearance of the flower! + +It is certainly not beautiful as grown in Province Wellesley, and I am +becoming faithless to my allegiance to it in this region of areca and +other more graceful palms. + +In returning we saw many Malay kampongs under the palms, each with a +fire lighted underneath it, and there were many other fires for the +water-buffaloes, with groups of these uncouth brutes gathered +invariably on the leeward side, glad to be smoked rather than bitten by +the mosquitoes. These huge, thin-skinned animals have a strange +antipathy to white people. They are petted and caressed by the Malays, +and even small boys can do anything with them, and can ride upon their +backs, but constantly when they see white people they raise their +muzzles, and if there be room charge them madly. A buffalo is +enormously strong, but he objects to the sun, and likes to bathe in +rivers, and plaster himself with mud, and his tastes are much humored +by his owners. A buffalo has often been known to vanquish a tiger when +both have had fair play. Most of the drive back was accomplished by +nearly incessant flashes of sheet lightning. + +We had a most pleasant evening. Mrs. Isemonger, who is a sister of Mr. +Maxwell, my present host, is gentle, thoughtful, well-informed, and +studious, and instead of creating and living in an artificial English +atmosphere which is apt to make a residence in a foreign country a very +unproductive period, she has interested herself in the Malays, and has +not only acquired an excellent knowledge of Malayan, but is translating +a Malayan book. + +I felt much humiliated by my ignorance of Province Wellesley, of which +in truth I had never heard until I reached Malacca. It is a mere strip, +however, only thirty-five miles long by about ten broad, but it is +highly cultivated, fertile, rich, prosperous, and populous. From Pinang +one sees its broad stretches of bright green sugar-cane and the +chimneys of its sugar factories, and it grows rice and cocoa-nuts, and +is actually more populous than Pinang or Malacca, and contains as many +Malays as Sungei Ujong, Selangor and Pinang together--fifty-eight +thousand! Mr. Maxwell had promised to bring the Kinta, a steam- +launch, across from Georgetown by 8 P.M., and it shows how very +pleasant the evening was, that though I was very tired, eight, nine, +ten, and eleven came, and the conversation never flagged. + +Soon after eleven the Kinta appeared, a black shadow on a silver sea, +roaring for a boat, but the surf was so heavy that it was some time +before the police boat was got off; and then Mr. Maxwell, whose cheery, +energetic voice precedes him, and Mr. Walker landed, bullying +everybody, as people often do when they know that they are the +delinquents! It was lovely in the white moonlight with the curving +shadows of palms on the dewy grass, the grace of the drooping +casuarinas, the shining water, and the long drift of surf. It was hard +to get off, and the surf broke into the boat; but when we were once +through it, the sea was like oil, the oars dripped flame, and, seen +from the water, the long line of surf broke on the shore not in snow, +but in a long drift of greenish fire. + +The Kinta is a steam-launch of the Perak Government. Her boilers, to +use an expressive Japanese phrase, are "very sick," and she is not +nearly so fine as the Abdulsamat, but a quiet, peaceful boat, without +any pretensions; and really any "old tub" is safe on the Straits of +Malacca except in a "Sumatran." I stayed on deck for some time enjoying +the exquisite loveliness of the night, and the vivacity of two of my +companions, Mr. Maxwell, the Assistant Resident here, a really able and +most energetic man, very argumentative, bright, and pleasant; and +Captain Walker, A.D.C. to Sir W. Robinson, on his way from the +ceaseless gayeties of Government House at Singapore to take command of +the Sikh military police in the solitary jungles of Perak. The third, +Mr. Innes, Superintendent of Lower Perak, whose wife so nearly lost her +life in the horrible affair at Pulo Pangkor, was in dejected spirits, +as if the swamps of Durion Sabatang had been too much for him. + +The little cabin below was frightfully hot, and I shared it not only +with two nice Malay boys, sons of the exiled Abdullah, the late Sultan, +who are being educated at Malacca, but with a number of large and +rampant rats. Finding the heat and rats unbearable, I went on deck in +the rosy dawn, just as we were entering the Larut river, a muddy +stream, flowing swiftly between dense jungles and mangrove swamps, and +shores of shining slime, on which at low water the alligators bask in +the sun--one of the many rivers of the Peninsula which do not widen at +their mouths. + +The tide was high and the river brimming full, looking as if it must +drown all the forest, and the trestle-work roots on which the mangroves +are hoisted were all submerged. It is a silent, lonely land, all +densely green. Many an uprooted palm with its golden plumes and wealth +of golden husked nuts came floating down on the swirling waters, and +many a narrow creek well suited for murder, overarched with trees, and +up which one might travel far and still be among mangrove swamps and +alligators, came down into the Larut river; and once we passed a small +clearing, where some industrious Chinamen are living in huts on some +festering slime between the river and the jungle; and once a police +station on stilts, where six policemen stood in a row and saluted as we +passed, and at seven we reached Teluk Kartang, with a pier, a long +shed, two or three huts, and some officialism, white and partly white, +all in a "dismal swamp." A small but very useful Chinese trading +steamer, the Sri Sarawak, was lying against the pier, and we landed +over her filthy deck, on which filthy Chinese swine, among half-naked +men almost as filthy, were wrangling for decomposing offal. Dismal as +this place looks, an immense trade in imports and exports is done +there; and all the tin from the rich mines of the district is sent +thence to Pinang for transhipment. + +While my friends transacted business, I waited for an age in an empty +office where was one chair, a table dark with years of ink splotches, a +mouldy inkstand, a piece of an old almanac, and an empty gin bottle. +Outside, cockle-shells were piled against the wall; then there were +ditches or streamlets cutting through profuse and almost loathsome +vegetation, and shining slime fat and iridescent, swarming with +loathsome forms of insect and reptile life all rioting under the fierce +sun, and among them, almost odious by proximity to such vileness, were +small crabs with shells of a heavenly blue. The strong vegetable stench +was nearly overpowering, but I wrote to you and worked at your +embroidery a little, and so got through this detention pleasantly, as +through many a longer, though never a hotter one. + +After a time three gharries arrived, and Mr. Innes and I went in one, +the two other gentlemen in another, and Sultan Abdullah's boys in the +third. No amount of world-wide practice in the getting in and out of +strange vehicles is any help to the tortuous process necessary for +mounting and dismounting from a Larut gharrie. A gharrie is a two- +wheeled cart with a seat across it for two people and a board in front +on which the driver sits when he is not running by his horse. This +board and the low roof which covers the whole produce the complication +in getting in and out. The bottom of the cart is filled up with grass +and leaves, and you put your feet on the board in front, and the little +rats of fiery Sumatra ponies, which will run till they drop, jolt you +along at great speed. Klings, untroubled by much clothing, own and +drive these vehicles, which are increasing rapidly. The traffic on the +road of heavy buffalo carts, loaded with tin, cuts it up so badly that +without care one might often be thrown upon the pony's back at the +river end of it. + +Near the port we met three elephants, the centre one of great size, +rolling along, one of them with a mahout seated behind his great +flapping ears. These are part of the regalia of the deposed Sultan, and +were sent down from the interior for me and my baggage. The smallest of +them would have carried me and my "Gladstone bag" and canvas roll. The +first sight of "elephants at home" is impressive, but they are +fearfully ugly, and their rolling gait does not promise well for the +ease of my future journey. + +We passed through a swampy, but busy-looking Chinese village, masculine +almost solely, where Chinamen were building gharries and selling all +such things as Chinese coolies buy, just the same there as everywhere, +and at home there as everywhere; yellow, lean, smooth-shaven, keen, +industrious, self-reliant, sober, mercenary, reliable, mysterious, +opium-smoking, gambling, hugging clan ties, forming no others, and +managing their own matters even to the post and money-order offices, +through which they are constantly sending money to the interior of +China. I hope that it is not true that they look at us, as a singularly +able and highly educated Chinaman lately said to me that they do, as +"the incarnation of brute force allied to brute vices!" This is a +Chinese region, so the degression is excusable. + +It was bright and hot, the glorious, equable equatorial heat, and when +we got out of the mangrove swamps through which the road is causewayed, +there was fine tropical foliage, and the trees were festooned with a +large, blue Thunbergia of great beauty. It is eight miles from the +landing at Teluk Kartang to Taipeng, where the British Residency is. +The road crosses uninteresting level country, but every jolt brings one +nearer to the Hijan mountains, which rise picturesquely from the plain +to a height of over three thousand feet. In the distance there is an +extraordinary "butte" or isolated hill, Gunong Pondok, a landmark for +the whole region, and on the right to the east a grand mountain range, +the highest peak of which cannot fall far short of eight thousand feet; +and the blue-green ranges showing the foam of at least one waterfall +almost helped one to be cool. + +We reached Permatang, another Chinese village of some pretensions and +population, near which are two very large two-storied Malay houses in +some disrepair, in which the wife of the banished Mentri of Larut +lives, with a number of slaves. A quantity of mirthful-looking slave +girls were standing behind the window bars looking at us +surreptitiously. We alighted at the house of Mr. Wynne, the Government +Agent, who at once said something courteous and hospitable about +breakfast, which I was longing for; but after I had had a bath I found +that we were to pursue our journey, I regretting for the second time +already Mr. Maxwell's abstemiousness and power of going without food! + +From this point we drove along an excellent road toward the mountains, +over whose cool summits cloud mists now and then drifted; and near noon +entered this important Chinese town, with a street about a mile long, +with large bazaars and shops making a fine appearance, being much +decorated in Chinese style; halls of meeting for the different tribes, +gambling houses, workshops, the Treasury (a substantial dark wood +building), large detached barracks for the Sikh police, a hospital, a +powder magazine, a parade ground, a Government store-house, a large, +new jail, neat bungalows for the minor English officials, and on the +top of a steep, isolated terraced hill, the British Residency. This +hill is really too steep for a vehicle to ascend, but the plucky pony +and the Kling driver together pulled the gharrie up the zigzags in a +series of spasms, and I was glad to get out of the sunshine into a +cool, airy house, where there was a hope of breakfast, or rather +tiffin. + +The Residency is large and lofty, and thoroughly draughty, a high +commendation so near the equator. It consists of a room about thirty +feet wide by sixty long, and about twenty feet high at its highest +part, open at both ends, the front end a great bow window without glass +opening on an immense veranda. This room and its veranda are like the +fore cabin of a great Clyde steamer. It has a red screen standing +partly across it, the back part being used for eating, and the front +for sitting and occupation. My bedroom and sitting-room, and the room +in which Sultan Abdullah's boys sleep are on one side, and Mr. +Maxwell's room and office on the other. Underneath are bath-rooms, and +guard-rooms for the Sikh sentries. There are no ornaments or +superfluities. There are two simple meals daily, with tea and bananas +at 7 A.M., and afternoon tea at 5 P.M. Mr. Maxwell is most abstemious, +and is energetically at work from an early hour in the morning. There +is a perpetual coming and going of Malays, and an air of business +without fuss. There is a Chinese "housemaid," who found a snake, four +feet long, coiled up under my down quilt yesterday, and a Malay butler, +but I have not seen any other domestic. + +Those boys of Sultan Abdullah's are the most amusing children I ever +saw. They are nine and twelve years old, with monkey-like, +irrepressible faces. They have no ballast. They talk ceaselessly, and +are very playful and witty, but though a large sum is being paid for +their education at Malacca, they speak atrocious "pidjun," and never +use Malayan, in my hearing at least. They are never still for one +instant; they chatter, read snatches from books, ask questions about +everything, but are too volatile to care for the answers, turn +somersaults, lean over my shoulders as I write, bring me puzzles, and +shriek and turn head over heels when I can't find them out, and jump on +Mr. Maxwell's shoulders begging for dollars. I like them very much, +for, though they are so restless and mercurial, they are neither rude +nor troublesome. They have kept the house alive with their antics, but +they are just starting on my elephants for Kwala Kangsa, on a visit to +the Regent. I wonder what will become of them? Their father is an exile +in the Seychelles, and though it was once thought that one of them +might succeed the reigning Rajah, another Rajah is so popular with the +Malays, and so intelligent, that it is now unlikely that his claims +will be set aside. + +The steep little hill on which the Residency stands is planted with +miserable coffee, with scanty yellow foliage. The house on my side has +a magnificent view of the beautiful Hijan hills, down which a waterfall +tumbles in a broad sheet of foam only half a mile off, and which breed +a rampageous fresh breeze for a great part of the day. The front +veranda looks down on Taipeng and other Chinese villages, on neat and +prolific Chinese vegetable gardens, on pits, formerly tin mines, now +full of muddy, stagnant water, on narrow, muddy rivulets bearing the +wash of the tin mines to the Larut river, on all the weediness and +forlornness of a superficially exhausted mining region, and beyond upon +an expanse of jungle, the limit of which is beyond the limit of vision, +miles of tree tops as level as the ocean, over which the cloud shadows +sail in purple all day long. In the early morning the parade ground is +gay with "thin red" lines of soldiers, and all day long with a glass I +can see the occupations and bustle of Taipeng. + +Taipeng is a thriving, increasing place, of over six thousand +inhabitants, solely Chinese, with the exception of a small Kling +population, which keeps small shops, lends money, drives gharries and +bullock-carts, and washes clothes. This place was the focus of the +disturbances in 1873, and the Chinese seem still to need to be held in +check, for they are not allowed to go out at night without passes and +lanterns. They are miners, except those who keep the innumerable shops +which supply the miners, and some of them are rich. Taipeng is +tolerably empty during the day, but at dusk, when the miners return, +the streets and gambling dens are crowded, and the usual Babel of +Chinese tongues begins. There are scarcely any Malays in the town. + +Mr. Maxwell walks and rides about everywhere unattended and without +precautions, but Sikh sentries guard this house by night and day. They +wear large blue turbans, scarlet coats and white trousers. There are +four hundred and fifty of them, recruited in India from among the Sikhs +and Pathans, and many of them have seen service under our flag. They +are, to all intents and purposes, soldiers, drilled and disciplined as +such, though called "Armed Police," and are commanded by Major +Swinburne of the 80th Regiment. There is a half battery of mountain +train rifled guns, and many of these men are drilled as gunners. Their +joy would be in shooting and looting, but they have not any scent for +crime. They are splendid-looking men, with long moustaches and +whiskers, but they plait the long ends of the latter and tuck them up +under their turbans. They have good-natured faces generally, and are +sober, docile and peaceable, but Major Swinburne says that they indulge +in violent wordy warfare on "theological subjects." They are devoted to +the accumulation of money, and very many of them being betrothed to +little girls in India, save nearly all their pay in order to buy land +and settle there. When off duty they wear turbans and robes nearly as +white as snow, and look both classical and colossal. They get on +admirably with the Malays, but look down on the Chinese, who are much +afraid of them. One sees a single Sikh driving four or five Chinamen in +front of him, having knotted their pigtails together for reins. I have +been awoke each night by the clank which attends the change of guard, +and as the moonlight flashes on the bayonets, I realize that I am in +Perak. + +The air is so bracing here and the nights so cool, that I have been out +by seven each morning, and have been into Taipeng in the evening. This +morning I went to see the hospital, mainly used by the Sikhs, who, +though very docile patients, are most troublesome in other ways, owing +to religious prejudices, which render it nearly impossible to cook for +them. There was one wretched Chinaman there, horribly mangled. He was +stealing a boat on one of the many creeks, when an alligator got hold +of him, and tore both legs, one arm, and his back in such a way that it +is wonderful that he lives. The apothecary is a young Madrassee. One or +two cases of that terrible disease known in Japan as Kakke, and +elsewhere as Beri-Beri, have just appeared.* We walked also to a clear +mountain torrent which comes thundering down among great boulders and +dense tropical vegetation at the foot of the mountains, as clear and +cold as if it were a Highland stream dashing through the purple +heather. +[*Since my visit there have been three fatal outbreaks of this epidemic, +three thousand deaths having occurred among the neighboring miners and +coolies. So firmly did the disease appear to have established itself, +that a large permanent hospital was erected by the joint efforts of the +chief mining adventurers and the Government, but it has now been taken +over altogether by the Government, and is supported by an annual tax of +a dollar, levied upon every adult Chinaman. Extensive hospital +accommodation and sufficient medical attendance have also been provided +in other stricken localities. In the jail, where the disease was very +fatal, it has nearly died out, in consequence, it is believed, of +supplying the prisoners with a larger quantity of nitrogenous food. It +has been proposed to compel the employers of mining coolies to do the +same thing, for the ravages of the disease are actually affecting the +prosperity of Larut.] + +There are "trumpeter beetles" here, with bright green bodies and +membranous-looking transparent wings, four inches across, which make +noise enough for a creature the size of a horse. Two were in the house +tonight, and you could scarcely hear anyone speak. But there is a +blessed respite from mosquitoes. + +Major Swinburne and Captain Walker have dined here, and we had a simple +dinner of roast mutton, the first that I have tasted for ten months. It +is a great treat. One becomes tired of made dishes, consisting chiefly +of impoverished fowls, disguised in about twenty different ways. + +When I left Malacca, Captain Shaw said: "When you see Paul Swinburne +you'll see a man you'll not see twice in a lifetime," so yesterday, +when a tall, slender, aristocratic-looking man, who scarcely looks +severable from the door-steps of a Pall Mall club, strode down the room +and addressed me abruptly with the words: "The sooner you go away again +the better; there's nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing to +learn," I was naturally much interested. He has a dash of acquired +eccentricity of tone and manner, is very proud, but, unlike some proud +people, appreciates the co-humanity of his inferiors, is a brilliant +talker, dashing over art, literature, politics, society, tells stories +brilliantly, never flags, is totally regardless of "the equities of +conversation," and is much beloved by the Sikhs, to whom he is just. + +At Pinang I heard an anecdote of him which is quite credible. The +regent (it is said) wanted him to use the Sikhs to catch a female +runaway slave, and on his refusing, the Rajah made use of a very +opprobrious epithet, on which he drew himself up, saying: "You are a +man of high birth in your country, but I'm a man of high birth in mine, +and, so long as I bear Queen Victoria's commission, I refuse to accept +insult. I take no future orders from your highness." Nor, it is said, +has he. + +My human surroundings have an unusual amount of piquancy. Mr. Maxwell +is very pleasant, strong, both physically and mentally, clever and +upright, educated at Oxford and Lincoln's Inn, but brought up in the +Straits Settlements, of which his father was chief-justice. He is able, +combative, dogmatic, well-read and well-informed, expresses himself +incisively, is self-reliant, strong-willed, thoroughly just, thoroughly +a gentleman, and has immense energy and business capacity, and a large +amount of governing power. He, too, likes talking, and talks well, but +with much perfectly good-natured vehemence. He is a man on whose word +one may implicitly rely. Brought up among Malays, and speaking their +language idiomatically, he not only likes them, but takes the trouble +to understand them and enter into their ideas and feelings. He studies +their literature, superstitions, and customs carefully, and has made +some valuable notes upon them. I should think that few people +understand the Malays better than he does. He dislikes the Chinese. I +have the very pleasant feeling regarding him that he is the right man +in the right place, and that his work is useful, conscientious, and +admirable. As Assistant Resident he is virtually dictator of Larut, +only subject to Mr. Low's interference. He is a judge, and can inflict +the penalty of death, the Regent's signature, however, being required +for the death-warrant. He rules the Chinese rigidly. + +Captain Walker is a new comer, and does not know more about Perak than +I do. + +At this dinner of four there was as much noise as twenty stupid people +would make! Something brought up the dead lock in Victoria, which +excited violent feeling for some reason not obvious. Captain Walker +threw off his somewhat suave A.D.C. manner, and looked dangerous, Mr. +Maxwell fought for victory, and Major Swinburne to beat Mr. Maxwell, +and the row was deafening. I doubt whether such an argument could have +been got up in moist, hot Singapore, or steamy Malacca! An energetic +difference seems of daily occurrence, and possibly is an essential +ingredient of friendship. That it should be possible shows what an +invigorating climate this must be. Major Swinburne, in an aggravating +tone, begins upon some peculiarity or foible, real or supposed, of his +friend, with a deluge or sarcasm, mimicry, ridicule, and invective, +torments him mercilessly, and without giving him time to reply, +disappears, saying, Parthian-like, "Now, my dear fellow, its no use +resenting it, you haven't such a friend as me in the world--you know if +it were not for me you'd be absolutely intolerable!" All this is very +amusing. How many differing characters are required to make up even the +world that I know! + +It is strange to be in a house in which there are no pets, for a small +Malay bear which lives at the back can scarcely be called one. +Sometimes in the evening a wild animal called a lemur rushes wildly +through the house and out at the front veranda. I am always afraid of +being startled by his tearing through my room in the depths of the +night, for here, as in many other houses, instead of doors there are +screens raised a foot from the ground. + +This morning I got up before daylight, and went up a hill which is +being cleared, to enjoy the sunrise, the loveliest time of the tropic +day. It was all dew and rose color, with a delicious freshness in the +air, prolonged unusually, because the sun was so slow to climb above +the eastern mountain tops. Then there was a sudden glory, and birds, +beasts, and insects broke into a vociferous chorus, the tuneless hymn +which ascends daily without a discord. There are sumptuously colored +sunsets to be seen from this elevation, but one has no time to enjoy +them, and they make one long for the lingering gold and purple of more +northern latitudes. I have really been industrious since I came here, +both in writing to you, and in "reading up" the native states in blue +books, etc. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XIX + +The Chinese in Larut--"Monkey Cups"--Chinese Hospitality--A Sikh Belle + + +BRITISH RESIDENCY, LARUT. + +I am remaining here for another day or two, so have time to tell you a +little about the surroundings. + +Larut province is a strip of land about seventy miles long, and from +twenty-five to forty-five broad. It was little known, and almost +unexplored till 1848, when a Malay, while bathing, found some coarse, +black sand, which, on being assayed, proved to be tin. He obtained +twenty Chinese coolies, opened a mine which turned out lucrative, and +the Chinese at home hearing that money was to be made, flocked into +Larut, but after some years took to quarreling about the ownership of +mines, and eventually to a war between the two leading clans, which +threatened to be a war of extermination, and resulted in British +interference, and the appointment of a Resident; and then Chinese +merchants in Pinang made advances of money and provisions to such of +their countrymen as were willing to work the abandoned mines. Very soon +the population increased to such an extent that it became necessary to +choose sites for mining towns, granting one to each faction; the Go +Kwan town being called Taipeng, and the Si Kwan town Kamunting. + +American mining enterprise could hardly go ahead faster. At the end of +1873 the population of Larut was four thousand, the men of the fighting +factions only. Eleven months later these two mining towns contained +nine thousand inhabitants, a tenth of whom were shopkeepers, and the +district thirty-three thousand. Larut is level from the sea-shore to +the mountain range, twenty miles inland, and is very uninteresting. + +We have been in a gharrie to Kamunting, a Chinese mining town of four +thousand people, three miles from here, approached through a pretty +valley full of pitcher plants with purple cups and lids. You can +imagine the joy of getting into my hands these wonderful nepenthes or +"monkey cups" for the first time. I gathered five in the hope of +finding one free from insects, but the cups of all were full of dried +flies and ants, looking much as flies do when they have been clutched +for a few days by the hairs of the "sun-dew." The lid has a quantity of +nectar on its under side which attracts insects; but below the rolled +rim of the cup, which is slightly corrugated, the interior is as smooth +as glass, and the betrayed flies must fall at once into the water at +the bottom and be drowned. As these ingenious arrangements are made for +their destruction, doubtless the plant feeds upon their juices.* +[*I have since learned that this is an ascertained fact, and that +nepenthes are among the insectiverous plants.] + +We went first to a very large tin mine belonging to a rich and very +pleasant-looking Chinaman, who received us and took us over it. The +mine is like a large quarry, with a number of small excavations which +fill with water, and are pumped by most ingenious Chinese pumps worked +by an endless chain, but there are two powerful steam pumps at work +also. About four hundred lean, leathery-looking men were working, +swarming up out of the holes like ants in double columns, each man +carrying a small bamboo tray holding about three pounds of stanniferous +earth, which is deposited in a sluice, and a great rush of water washes +away the sand, leaving the tin behind, looking much like "giant" +blasting powder. The Chinese are as much wedded to these bamboo baskets +as to their pigtails, but they involve a great waste of labor. A common +hoe is the other implement used. The coolies are paid by piece-work, +and are earning just now about one shilling and sixpence per day. +Road-making and other labor is performed by Klings, who get one +shilling a day. + +The tin is smelted during the night in a very rude furnace, with most +ingenious Chinese bellows, is then run into moulds made of sand, and +turned out as slabs weighing 66 lbs. each. The export duty on tin is +the chief source of revenue. Close to the smelting furnaces there are +airy sheds with platforms along each side, divided into as many beds as +there are Chinamen. A bed consists only of a mat and a mosquito-net. +There are all the usual joss arrangements, and time is measured by the +burning of joss-sticks. Several rain-cloaks, made of palm leaves, were +hanging up. These, and nearly all the other articles consumed by this +large population are imported from China. + +Our Chinese host then took us to some rooms which he had built for a +cool retreat, to which, in anticipation of our visit, he had conveyed +champagne, sherry, and bitter beer! His look of incredulity when we +said that we preferred tea, was most amusing; but on our persisting, he +produced delicious tea with Chinese sweetmeats, and Huntley and +Palmer's cocoa-nut biscuits. He then insisted on taking our hired +gharrie and scrubby pony and sending us on in his buggy with a fine +Australian horse, but Mr. Maxwell says that this was as much from +policy as courtesy, as it gives him importance to be on obviously +friendly terms with the Resident. + +We went on to Kamunting, a forlorn town, mainly built of attap, with +roads and ditches needing much improvement, and I bargained for some +Chinese purses and visited a gambling saloon, the place in which one +sees the peculiar expression of the Chinese face at its fullest +development. There is nothing very shocking about it, nothing more than +an intensified love of gain without a mask. Each coolie takes his pipe +of opium after his day's work, and each has a pot of tea kept always +hot in a thickly wadded basket, a luxury which no Chinaman seems able +to do without. + +We called at a Sikh guard-house, and the magnificent sergeant took me +to see his wife, the woman of the regiment, who is so rigidly secluded +that not even the commanding officer nor Mr. Maxwell have seen her. She +is very beautiful, and has an exquisite figure, but was overloaded with +jewelry. She wore a large nose-jewel, seven rings of large size +weighing down her finely formed ears, four necklaces, and silver +bangles on each arm from the wrist to the elbow, besides some on her +beautiful ankles. She had an infant boy, the child of the regiment, in +her arms, clothed only in a silver hoop, and the father took him and +presented him to me with much pride. It was a pleasant family group. + +The few days here have been a real rest, I have been so much alone. +There are no women to twitter; and when Mr. Maxwell is not at work he +talks of things that are worth talking about. The climate, too, is +bracing and wholesome, and the boisterous afternoon wind, which sweeps +letters and papers irreverently away, keeps off the mosquitoes. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XX + +Novel Circumstances--The Excitements of the Jungle--Eternal +Summer--The Sensitive Plant--The Lotus Lake of Matang-- +Elephant Ugliness--A Malay Mahout--A Novel Experience-- +Domestic Pets--Malay Hospitality-Land Leeches--"A Fearful +Joy"--The End of My First Elephant Ride--Kwala Kangsa + + +BRITISH RESIDENCY, KWALA KANGSA, February 16. + +This is rather exciting, for I have had an unusual journey, and my +circumstances are unusual, for Mr. Low, the Resident, has not returned, +and I am not only alone in his bungalow in the heart of the jungle, but +so far as I can learn I am the only European in the region. + + "Of all my wild adventures past + This frantic feat will prove the last," + +for in a fortnight I propose to be at Pinang on my way to conventional +Ceylon, and the beloved "wilds" will be left behind. + +At 4:30 this morning Mr. Maxwell's energetic voice roused me, and I got +up, feeling for the first time in Larut very tired from the unwonted +dissipation of another "dinner party," and from having been kept awake +late by the frantic rushes of the lemur and the noise of the "trumpeter +beetle," besides being awoke in a fright at 2 A.M., by the noise made +in changing guard, from a dream that the Sikhs had mutinied and were +about to massacre the Europeans, myself included! We had bananas and +chocolate, and just at daybreak walked down the hill, where I got into +a little trap drawn by a fiery little Sumatra pony, and driven by Mr. +Gibbons, a worthy Australian miner who is here road-making, and was +taken five miles to a place where the road becomes a quagmire not to be +crossed. Elephants had been telegraphed for to meet me there, but the +telegraph was found to be broken. Mr. Maxwell, who accompanied us on +horseback, had sent a messenger on here for elephants, and was dismayed +on getting to the quagmire to meet the news that they had gone to the +jungle; so there was no means of conveyance but the small pachyderm +which was bringing my bag, and which was more than two hours behind. + +There was nothing for it but to walk, and we tramped for four miles. I +could not have done the half of it had I not had my "mountain dress" +on, the identical mud-colored tweed, in which I waded through the mud +of Northern Japan. The sun had risen splendidly among crimson clouds, +which, having turned gray, were a slight screen, and the air is so +comparatively dry that, though within 5 degrees of the equator, it was +not oppressively hot. + +The drive had brought us out of the Chinese country into a region very +thinly peopled by Malays only, here and there along the roadside, +living in houses of all Malay styles, from the little attap cabin with +its gridiron floor supported on stilts, to the large picturesque house +with steep brown roofs, deep eaves and porches, and walls of matting or +bamboo basket work in squares, light and dark alternately, reached by +ladders with rungs eighteen inches apart, so difficult for shod feet. + +The trees and plants of the jungle were very exciting. Ah! what a +delight it is to see trees and plants at home which one has only seen +as the exotics of a hothouse, or read of in books! In the day's journey +I counted one hundred and twenty-six differing trees and shrubs, +fifty-three trailers, seventeen epiphytes, and twenty-eight ferns. I +saw more of the shrubs and epiphytes than I have yet done from the +altitude of an elephant's back. There was one Asplenium nidus [bird's +nest fern] which had thirty-seven perfect fronds radiating from a +centre, each frond from three and a quarter to five and a half feet +long, and varying from myrtle to the freshest tint of pea-green! + +There was an orchid with hardly visible leaves, which bore six crowded +clusters of flowers close to the branch of the tree on which it grew; +each cluster composed of a number of spikes of red coral tipped with +pale green. In the openings there were small trees with gorgeous +erythrina-like flowers, glowing begonias, red lilies, a trailer with +trumpet-shaped blossoms of canary yellow, and a smaller trailer, which +climbs over everything that is not high, entwining itself with the blue +Thunbergia, and bearing on single stalks single blossoms, +primrose-shaped, of a salmon orange color with a velvety black centre. +In some places one came upon three varieties of nepenthes or "monkey +cups," some of their pitchers holding (I should think) a pint of fluid, +and most of them packed with the skeletons of betrayed guests; then in +moist places upon steel blue aspleniums and luxuriant selaginellas; and +then came caelogynes with white blossoms, white flowered dendrobiums +(crumentatum?), all growing on or clinging to trees, with +scarlet-veined bauhinias, caladiums, ginger worts, and aroids, +inclining one to make incessant exclamations of wonder and delight. You +cannot imagine how crowded together this tropical vegetation is. There +is not room for half of it on the ground, so it seeks and finds its +home high up on the strong, majestic trees which bear it up into the +sunshine, where, indeed one has to look for most of the flowers. + +It is glorious to see the vegetation of eternal summer and the lavish +prodigality of nature, and one revels among hothouse plants "at home," +and all the splendor of gigantic leaves, and the beauty and grace of +palms, bamboos, and tree-ferns; the great, gaudy flowers are as +marvelous as the gaudy plumaged birds, and I feel that no words can +convey an idea of the beauty and magnificence of an equatorial jungle; +but the very permanence of the beauty is almost a fault. I should soon +come to long for the burst of spring with its general tenderness of +green, and its great broad splashes of sociable flowers, its masses of +buttercups, or ox-eye daisies, or dandelions, and for the glories of +autumn with its red and gold, and leagues of purple heather. These +splendid orchids and other epiphytes grow singly. One sees one and not +another, there are no broad masses of color to blaze in the distance, +the scents are heavy and overpowering, the wealth is embarrassing. I +revel in it all and rejoice in it all; it is intoxicating, yet I am +haunted with visions of mossy banks starred with primroses and +anemones, of stream sides blue with gentian, of meadows golden with +buttercups, and fields scarlet with poppies, and in spite of my +enjoyment and tropical enthusiasm, I agree with Mr. Wallace and others +that the flowers of a temperate climate would give one more lasting +pleasure. + +On either side of the road the ground is densely carpeted with the +sensitive plant, whose lovely tripartite leaves are green above and +brown below. It is a fascinating plant, and at first one feels guilty +of cruelty if one does more than look at it, but I have already +learned, as all people do here, to take delight in wounding its +sensibilities. Touch any part of a leaf ever so lightly, and as quick +as thought it folds up. Touch the centre of the three ever so lightly, +and leaf and stalk fall smitten. Touch a branch and every leaf closes, +and every stalk falls as if weighted with lead. Walk over it, and you +seem to have blasted the earth with a fiery tread, leaving desolation +behind. Every trailing plant falls, the leaves closing, show only their +red-brown backs, and all the beauty has vanished, but the burned and +withered-looking earth is as fair as ever the next morning. + +After walking for four miles we came upon a glorious sight at a turn of +the road, a small lake behind which the mountains rise forest-covered, +with a slope at their feet on which stand the cocoa-nut groves, and the +beautiful Malay house of the exiled Mentri of Larut. I have written of +a lake, but no water was visible, for it was concealed by thousands and +thousands of the peltate leaves of the lotus, nearly round, attaining a +diameter of eighteen inches, cool and dewy-looking under the torrid +sun, with a blue bloom upon their intense green. Above them rose +thousands of lotus flowers, buds, and seed-vessels, each one a thing of +perfect beauty, and not a withered blossom was to be seen. The immense +corollas varied in color from a deep rose crimson to a pink as pale as +that of a blush rose. Some were just opening, others were half open, +and others wide open, showing the crowded golden stamens and the golden +disk in the centre. From far off the deep rose pink of the glorious +blossoms is to be seen, and their beauty carried me back to the castle +moats of Yedo, and to many a gilded shrine in Japan, on which the lotus +blooms as an emblem of purity, righteousness, and immortality. Even +here, where no such symbolism attaches to it, it looks a sacred thing. +It was delightful to see such a sociable flower rejoicing in a crowd. + +Beyond is the picturesque kampong of Matang, with many good houses and +a mosque. Passing through a gateway with brick posts, we entered a +large walled inclosure containing a cocoa-grove, some fine trees, and +the beautiful dwellings of the Malay whom we have deported to the +Seychelles. This is one of the largest Malay houses on the peninsula. +It is built of wood painted green and white, with bold floral designs +on a white ground round some of the circular windows, and a very large +porch for followers to wait in, up a ladder of course. In a shed there +were three gharries, and behind the house several small houses for +slaves and others. A number of girls and children, probably mostly +slaves, mirthfully peeped at us from under the tasteful mat blinds. + +Really the upper class of Malay houses show some very good work. The +thatch of the steep roof is beautifully put on, and between the sides +of finely woven checked matting interspersed with lattice work and +bamboo work, the shady inner rooms with their carved doorways and +portieres of red silk, the pillows and cushions of gold embroidery laid +over the exquisitely fine matting on the floors, the light from the +half-shaded windows glancing here and there as the breeze sways the +screens, there is an indescribable appropriateness to the region. + +I waited for the elephant in a rambling empty house, and Malays brought +pierced cocoa-nuts, buffalo milk, and a great bouquet of lotus blossoms +and seed-vessels, out of which they took the seeds, and presented them +on the grand lotus leaf itself. Each seed is in appearance and taste +like a hazel-nut, but in the centre, in an oval slit, the future lotus +plant is folded up, the one vivid green seed leaf being folded over a +shoot, and this is intensely bitter. + +The elephant at last came up and was brought below the porch. They are +truly hideous beasts, with their gray, wrinkled, hairless hides, the +huge ragged "flappers" which cover their ears, and with which they fan +themselves ceaselessly, the small, mean eyes, the hideous proboscis +which coils itself snakishly round everything; the formless legs, so +like trunks of trees; the piggish back, with the steep slope down to +the mean, bare tail, and the general unlikeness to all familiar and +friendly beasts. I can hardly write, for a little wah-wah, the most +delightful of apes, is hanging with one long, lean arm round my throat, +while with its disengaged hand it keeps taking my pen, dipping it in +the ink, and scrawling over my letter. It is the most winsome of +creatures, but if I were to oppose it there is no knowing what it might +do, so I will take another pen. The same is true of an elephant. I am +without knowledge of what it may be capable of! + +Before I came I dreamt of howdahs and cloth of gold trappings, but my +elephant had neither. In fact there was nothing grand about him but his +ugliness. His back was covered with a piece of raw hide, over which +were several mats, and on either side of the ridgy backbone a shallow +basket, filled with fresh leaves and twigs, and held in place by ropes +of rattan. I dropped into one of these baskets from the porch, a young +Malay lad into the other, and my bag was tied on behind with rattan. A +noose of the same with a stirrup served for the driver to mount. He was +a Malay, wearing only a handkerchief and sarong, a gossiping, careless +fellow, who jumped off whenever he had a chance of a talk, and left us +to ourselves. He drove with a stick with a curved spike at the end of +it, which, when the elephant was bad, was hooked into the membranous +"flapper," always evoking the uprearing and brandishing of the +proboscis, and a sound of ungentle expostulation, which could be heard +a mile off. He sat on the head of the beast, sometimes cross-legged, +and sometimes with his legs behind the huge ear covers. Mr. Maxwell +assured me that he would not send me into a region without a European +unless it were perfectly safe, which I fully believed, any doubts as to +my safety, if I had any, being closely connected with my steed. + +This mode of riding is not comfortable. One sits facing forward with +the feet dangling over the edge of the basket.* This edge soon produces +a sharp ache or cramp, and when one tries to get relief by leaning back +on anything, the awkward, rolling motion is so painful, that one +reverts to the former position till it again becomes intolerable. Then +the elephant had not been loaded "with brains," and his pack was as +troublesome as the straw shoes of the Japanese horses. It was always +slipping forward or backward, and as I was heavier than the Malay lad, +I was always slipping down and trying to wriggle myself up on the great +ridge which was the creature's backbone, and always failing, and the +mahout was always stopping and pulling the rattan ropes which bound the +whole arrangement together, but never succeeding in improving it. +[*See Frontispiece.] + +Before we had traveled two hours, the great bulk of the elephant, +without any warning, gently subsided behind, and then as gently in +front, the huge, ugly legs being extended in front of him, and the man +signed to me to get off, which I did by getting on his head and letting +myself down by a rattan rope upon the driver, who made a step of his +back, for even when "kneeling," as this queer attitude is called, a +good ladder is needed for comfortable getting off and on. While the +whole arrangement of baskets was being re-rigged, I clambered into a +Malay dwelling of the poorer class, and was courteously received and +regaled with bananas and buffalo milk. Hospitality is one of the Malay +virtues. This house is composed of a front hut and a back hut with a +communication. Like all others it is raised to a good height on posts. +The uprights are of palm, and the elastic, gridiron floor of split +laths of the invaluable nibong palm (oncosperma filamentosum). The +sides are made of neatly split reeds, and the roof, as in all houses, +of the dried leaves of the nipah palm (nipa fruticans) stretched over a +high ridge pole and steep rafters of bamboo. I could not see that a +single nail had been used in the house. The whole of it is lashed +together with rattan. The furniture consists entirely of mats, which +cover a part of the floor, and are used both for sitting on and +sleeping on, and a few small, hard, circular bolsters with embroidered +ends. A musket, a spear, some fishing-rods, and a buffalo yoke hung +against the wall of the reception room. In the back room, the province +of the women and children, there were an iron pot, a cluster of +bananas, and two calabashes. The women wore only sarongs, and the +children nothing. The men, who were not much clothed, were lounging on +the mats. + +The Malays are passionately fond of pets, and are said to have much +skill in taming birds and animals. Doubtless their low voices and +gentle, supple movements never shock the timid sensitiveness of brutes. +Besides this, Malay children yield a very ready obedience to their +elders, and are encouraged to invite the confidence of birds and +beasts, rather than to torment them. They catch birds by means of +bird-lime made of gutta, by horse-hair nooses, and by imitating their +call. In this small house there were bamboo cages containing twenty +birds, most of them talking minas and green-feathered small pigeons. +They came out of their cages when called, and perched in rows on the +arms of the men. I don't know whether the mina can learn many words, +but it imitates the human voice so wonderfully that in Hawaii when it +spoke English I was quite deceived by it. These minas articulated so +humanly that I did know whether a bird or a Malay spoke. There were +four love-birds in an exquisitely made bamboo cage, lovely little +creatures with red beaks and blue and green plumage. The children catch +small grasshoppers for their birds with a shovel-shaped instrument of +open rattan work. When I add that there were some homely domestic fowls +and a nearly tailless cat, I think I have catalogued the visible +possessions of this family, with the exception of a bamboo cradle with +a small brown inmate hanging from the rafters, and a small shed, used, +I believe, for storing rice. + +The open floor, while it gives air and ventilation, has also its +disadvantages, for solid and liquid refuse is thrown through it so +conveniently that the ground under the house is apt to contain stagnant +pools and heaps of decomposing matter, and men lying asleep on mats on +these gridirons have sometimes been stabbed with a kris inserted +between the bars from below by an enemy seeking revenge. + +I must not, however, give the impression that the Malays are a dirty +people. They wash their clothes frequently, and bathe as often as is +possible. They try to build their houses near water, and use small +bathing-sheds. + +I went into another house, rather poorer than the former, and, with a +touching hospitality, they made signs to me to know if I would like a +cocoa-nut. I hinted that I would, and the man at once got up and called +to him an ape or monkey about three feet high, which was playing with a +child, and the animal went out with him, and in no time was at the top +of a tall cocoa-nut tree. His master said something to him, and he +moved about examining the nuts till he decided upon a green one, which +he wrung off, using teeth and hands for the operation. The slightly +acid milk was refreshing, but its "meat," which was of the consistency +and nearly the tastelessness of the white of an egg boiled for five +minutes, was not so good as that of the riper nuts. + +I had walked on for some distance, and I had to walk back again before +I found my elephant. I had been poking about in the scrub in search of +some acid fruits, and when I got back to the road, was much surprised +to find that my boots were filled with blood, and on looking for the +cause I found five small brown leeches, beautifully striped with +yellow, firmly attached to my ankles. I had not heard that these were +pests in Perak, and feared that they were something worse; but the +elephant driver, seeing my plight, made some tobacco juice and squirted +it over the creatures, when they recoiled in great disgust. Owing to +the exercise I was obliged to take, the bites bled for several hours. I +do not remember feeling the first puncture. I have now heard that these +blood-suckers infest leaves and herbage, and that when they hear the +rustling made by man or animal in passing, they stretch themselves to +their fullest length, and if they can touch any part of his body or +dress they hold on to it, and as quickly as possible reach some spot +where they can suck their fill. + +I am making my narrative as slow as my journey, but the things I write +of will be as new to you as they were to me. New it was certainly to +stand upon a carpet of the sensitive plant at noon, with the rays of a +nearly vertical sun streaming down from a cloudless, steely blue sky, +watching the jungle monster meekly kneeling on the ground, with two +Malays who do not know a word of English as my companions, and myself +unarmed and unescorted in the heart of a region so lately the scene of +war, about which seven blue books have been written, and about the +lawlessness and violence of which so many stories have been +industriously circulated. + +Certainly I always dreamed that there must be something splendid in +riding on an elephant, but I don't feel the least accession of dignity +in consequence. It is true, however, here, that though the trappings +are mean and almost savage, a man's importance is estimated by the +number of his elephants. When the pack was adjusted, the mahout jumped +on the back, and giving me his hands hauled me up over the head, after +which the creature rose gently from the ground, and we went on our +journey. + +But the ride was "a fearful joy," _if_ a joy at all! Soon the driver +jumped off for a gossip and a smoke, leaving the elephant to "gang his +ain gates" for a mile or more, and he turned into the jungle, where he +began to rend and tear the trees, and then going to a mud-hole, he drew +all the water out of it, squirted it with a loud noise over himself and +his riders, soaking my clothes with it, and when he turned back to the +road again, he several times stopped and seemed to stand on his head by +stiffening his proboscis and leaning upon it, and when I hit him with +my umbrella he uttered the loudest roar I ever heard. My Malay fellow- +rider jumped off and ran back for the driver, on which the panniers +came altogether down on my side, and I hung on with difficulty, +wondering what other possible contingencies could occur, always +expecting that the beast, which was flourishing his proboscis, would +lift me off with it and deposit me in a mud-hole. + +On the driver's return I had to dismount again, and this time the +elephant was allowed to go and take a proper bath in a river. He threw +quantities of water over himself, and took up plenty more with which to +cool his sides as he went along. Thick as the wrinkled hide of an +elephant looks, a very small insect can draw blood from it, and, when +left to himself, he sagaciously plasters himself with mud to protect +himself like the water buffalo. Mounting again, I rode for another two +hours, but he crawled about a mile an hour, and seemed to have a steady +purpose to lie down. He roared whenever he was asked to go faster, +sometimes with a roar of rage, sometimes in angry and sometimes in +plaintive remonstrance. The driver got off and walked behind him, and +then he stopped altogether. Then the man tried to pull him along by +putting a hooked stick in his huge "flapper," but this produced no +other effect than a series of howls; then he got on his head again, +after which the brute made a succession of huge stumbles, each one of +which threatened to be a fall, and then the driver, with a look of +despair, got off again. Then I made signs that I would get off, but the +elephant refused to lie down, and I let myself down his unshapely +shoulder by a rattan rope, till I could use the mahout's shoulders as +steps. The baskets were taken off and left at a house, the elephant was +turned loose in the jungle; I walked the remaining miles to Kwala +Kangsa, and the driver carried my portmanteau! Such was the comical end +of my first elephant ride. I think that altogether I walked about eight +miles, and I was not knocked up; this says a great deal for the climate +of Perak. The Malay who came with me told the people here that it was +"a wicked elephant," but I have since been told "that it was very sick +and tired to death," which I hope is the true version of its most +obnoxious conduct. + +I have said nothing about the magnificence of the scenery for a part of +the way, where the road goes through a grand mountain pass, where all +the vegetable glories of the tropics seem assembled, and one gets a new +idea of what scenery can be; while beneath superb tree-ferns and +untattered bananas, and palms, and bright-flowered lianas, and graceful +trailers, and vermilion-colored orchids, and under sun-birds and +humming birds and the most splendid butterflies I ever saw, a torrent, +as clear as crystal, dashes over the rocks, and adds the music of +tumbling water to the enchantment of a scene whose loveliness no words +can give any idea of. The pass of Bukit Berapit, seen in solitude on a +glorious morning, is almost worth a journey round the world. + +Another wonder of the route is Gunong Pondok, a huge butte or isolated +mass of red and white limestone, much weather-stained and ore-stained +with very brilliant colors, full of caverns, many of which are quite +inaccessible, their entrances fringed with immense stalactites. Some of +the accessible caves have roofs seventy feet in height. Gunong Pondok +is shaped like the Bass Rock, and is about twelve hundred feet in +height. Its irregular top is forest-crowned, but its nearly +perpendicular walls of white or red rock afford scarcely roothold for +trees, and it rises in comparatively barren solitude among the +forest-covered mountains of the interior. + +At the end of ten hours' traveling, as I was tramping along alone, I +began to meet Malays, then I met nine elephants in groups of three, +with men, women, and children on their backs, apparently taking "an +airing," the beasts looking grand, as their fronts always do. But that +part of the road passes through a lonely jungle region, tiger, +elephant, and rhinoceros haunted, and only broken here and there by +some rude Malay cultivation of bananas or sugar-cane. When the sun was +low I looked down upon a broad and beautiful river, with hills and +mountains on its farther side, a village on the shores of a promontory, +and above that a grassy hill with a bungalow under cocoa-palms at its +top, which I knew must be the Residency, from the scarlet uniforms at +the door. There was a small bridge over the Kangsa, then a guard-room +and some official residences on stilts, and at the top of a steep slope +the bungalow, which has a long flight of stairs under a latticed porch, +leading to a broad and comfortably furnished veranda used as the +Resident's office and sitting-room, the centre part, which has a bed- +room on each side of it and runs to the back of the house, serving for +the eating-place. It is as unpretending a dwelling as can be. It keeps +out the sun and rain, and gives all the comfort which is needed in this +climate, but nothing more. My journey of thirty-three miles from the +coast has brought me into the interior of the State, where the Kangsa +river joins the Perak, at a distance of a hundred and fifty miles from +its mouth, and I am alone in the wilds! + + + +LETTER XX (CONTINUED) + +Mystification--A Grotesque Dinner-Party--Mahmoud and Eblis--Fun and +Frolic--Mahmoud's Antics--A Perak Jungle--The Poetry of Tropical +Life--Village Life--The Officials of the Mosques--A Moslem Funeral--The +"Royal Elephant"--Swimming the Perak--The Village of Koto-lamah--A +"Pirate's Nest"--Rajah Dris + + +I fear that the involvement and confusion of dates in this letter will +be most puzzling. I was received by a magnificent Oriental butler, and +after I had had a delicious bath, dinner, or what Assam was pleased to +call breakfast, was "served." The word "served" was strictly +applicable, for linen, china, crystal, flowers, cooking, were all alike +exquisite. Assam, the Madrassee, is handsomer and statelier than Babu +at Malacca; a smart Malay lad helps him, and a Chinaman sits on the +steps and pulls the punkah. All things were harmonious, the glorious +cocoa-palms, the bright green slopes, the sunset gold on the lake-like +river, the ranges of forest-covered mountains etherealizing in the +purple light, the swarthy faces and scarlet uniforms of the Sikh guard, +and rich and luscious odors, floated in on balmy airs, glories of the +burning tropics, untellable and incommunicable! + +My valise had not arrived, and I had been obliged to redress myself in +my mud-splashed tweed dress, therefore I was much annoyed to find the +table set for three, and I hung about unwillingly in the veranda, fully +expecting two Government clerks in faultless evening dress to appear, +and I was vexed to think that my dream of solitude was not to be +realized, when Assam more emphatically assured me that the meal was +"served," and I sat down, much mystified, at the well-appointed table, +when he led in a large ape, and the Malay servant brought in a small +one, and a Sikh brought in a large retriever and tied him to my chair! +This was all done with the most profound solemnity. The circle being +then complete, dinner proceeded with great stateliness. The apes had +their curry, chutney, pine-apple, eggs, and bananas on porcelain +plates, and so had I. The chief difference was that, whereas I waited +to be helped, the big ape was impolite enough occasionally to snatch +something from a dish as the butler passed round the table, and that +the small one before very long migrated from his chair to the table, +and, sitting by my plate, helped himself daintily from it. What a +grotesque dinner party! What a delightful one! My "next of kin" were +so reasonably silent; they required no conversational efforts; they +were most interesting companions. "Silence is golden," I felt; shall I +ever enjoy a dinner party so much again? + +My acquaintance with these fellow-creatures was made just after I +arrived. I saw the two tied by long ropes to the veranda rail above the +porch, and not liking their looks, went as far from them as I could to +write to you. The big one is perhaps four feet high and very strong, +and the little one is about twenty inches high.* After a time I heard a +cry of distress, and saw that the big one, whose name is Mahmoud, was +frightening Eblis, the small one. Eblis ran away, but Mahmoud having +got the rope in his hands, pulled it with a jerk each time Eblis got to +the length of his tether, and beat him with the slack of it. I went as +near to them as I dared, hoping to rescue the little creature, and he +tried to come to me, but was always jerked back, the face of Mahmoud +showing evil triumph each time. At last Mahmoud snatched up a stout +Malacca cane, and dragging Eblis near him, beat him unmercifully, the +cries of the little semi-human creature being most pathetic. I vainly +tried to get the Sikh sentry to interfere; perhaps it would have been a +breach of discipline if he had left his post, but at the moment I +should have been glad if he had run Mahmoud through with a bayonet. +Failing this, and the case being clearly one of murderous assault, I +rushed at the rope which tied Eblis to the veranda and cut it through, +which so startled the big fellow that he let him go, and Eblis, beaten +I fear to a jelly, jumped upon my shoulder and flung his arms round my +throat with a grip of terror; mine, I admit, being scarcely less. +[*The sheet of my letter in which I afterward described the physique of +these apes has unfortunately been lost, and I dare not trust to my +memory in a matter in which accuracy is essential. The description of +an ape (in Letter XIV) approaches near to my recollection of them.] + +I carried him to the easy-chair at the other end of the veranda, and he +lay down confidingly on my arm, looking up with a bewitching, pathetic +face, and murmuring sweetly "Ouf! Ouf!" He has scarcely left me since, +except to go out to sleep on the attap roof. He is the most lovable, +infatuating, little semi-human creature, so altogether fascinating that +I could waste the whole day in watching him. As I write, he sometimes +sits on the table by me watching me attentively, or takes a pen, dips +it in the ink, and scribbles on a sheet of paper. Occasionally he turns +over the leaves of a book; once he took Mr. Low's official +correspondence, envelope by envelope, out of the rack, opened each, +took out the letters and held them as if reading, but always replaced +them. Then he becomes companionable, and gently taking my pen from my +hand, puts it aside and lays his dainty hand in mine, and sometimes he +lies on my lap as I write, with one long arm round my throat, and the +small, antique, pathetic face is occasionally laid softly against mine, +uttering the monosyllable "Ouf! ouf!" which is capable of a variation +of tone and meaning truly extraordinary. Mahmoud is sufficiently +polite, but shows no sign of friendliness, I am glad to say. As I bore +Eblis out of reach of his clutches he threw the cane either at him or +me, and then began to dance. + +That first night tigers came very near the house, roaring +discontentedly. At 4 A.M. I was awoke by a loud noise, and looking out, +saw a wonderful scene. The superb plumes of the cocoa-nut trees were +motionless against a sky blazing with stars. Four large elephants, part +of the regalia of a deposed Sultan, one of them, the Royal Elephant, a +beast of prodigious size, were standing at the door, looking majestic; +mahouts were flitting about with torches; Sikhs, whose great stature +was exaggerated by the fitful light--some in their undress white +robes, and others in scarlet uniforms and blue turbans--were grouped as +onlookers, the torchlight glinted on peripatetic bayonets, and the +greenish, undulating lamps of countless fireflies moved gently in the +shadow. + +I have now been for three nights the sole inhabitant of this bungalow! +I have taken five meals in the society of apes only, who make me laugh +with genuine laughter. The sentries are absolutely silent, and I hardly +hear a human voice. It is so good to be away for a time from the +"wearing world," from all clatter, chatter, and "strife of tongues," in +the unsophisticated society of apes and elephants. Dullness is out of +the question. The apes are always doing something new, and are far more +initiative than imitative. Eblis has just now taken a letter of yours +from an elastic band, and is holding it wide open as if he were reading +it; an untamed siamang, which lives on the roof, but has mustered up +courage to-day to come down into the veranda, has jumped like a demon +on the retriever's back, and riding astride, is beating him with a +ruler; and jolly, wicked Mahmoud, having taken the cushions out of the +chairs, has laid them in a row, has pulled a table cover off the table, +and having rolled it up for a pillow, is now lying down in an easy, +careless attitude, occasionally helping himself to a piece of +pine-apple. When they are angry they make a fearful noise, and if you +hinder them from putting their hands into your plate they shriek with +rage like children, and utter much the same sound as the Ainos do when +displeased. They seem frightfully jealous of the sweet little wah-wah +Eblis. Mahmoud beats it and teases it whenever it is not with me; he +takes its food, and when it screams with rage he laughs and shows his +white teeth. He upset all the chairs in the veranda this morning, and +when I attempted to scold him he took a banana which he was peeling and +threw it at me. I am sure that he would have a great deal of rough wit +if he could speak our tongue. + +The night I came, Mr. Low's clerk, a Singhalese, came to arrange an +expedition, and early the next morning, after I had breakfasted with +the apes, he arrived, bringing the Royal Elephant, as well-broken and +stately an animal as I should wish to ride. He is such a height (they +say ten feet!) that, though he lay down to be mounted, a good-sized +ladder was needed for the climb upon his back. Assam put pillows and a +good lunch into the baskets, and as the day was glorious from sunrise +to sunset I had an altogether delightful expedition. + +We turned at once into the jungle, and rode through it for seven hours +on the left bank of the Perak river. The loveliness was intoxicating. +The trees were lofty and magnificent; there were very many such as I +have not seen before. Many run up a hundred feet or more before they +branch. The twilight was green and dim, and ofttimes amidst the wealth +of vegetation not a flower was to be seen. But as often, through rifts +in the leafage far aloft, there were glimpses of the sunny, heavenly +blue sky, and now and then there were openings where trees had fallen, +and the glorious tropical sunshine streamed in on gaudy blossoms of +huge trees, and on pure white orchids, and canary-colored clusters +borne by lianas; on sun-birds, iridescent and gorgeous in the sunlight; +and on butterflies, some all golden, others amber and black, and amber +and blue, some with velvety bands of violet and green, others +altogether velvety black with spots of vermilion or emerald-green, the +under side of the wings corresponding to the spot, while sometimes a +shoal of turquoise-blue or wholly canary-colored sprites fluttered in +the sunbeams; the flash of sun-birds and the flutter of butterflies +giving one an idea of the joy which possibly was intended to be the +heritage of all animated existence. In these openings I was glad for +the moment to be neither an ornithologist nor an entomologist, so that +I might leave everyone of these daintily colored creatures to the +enjoyment of its life and beauty. + +It was not the trees and lianas only that were beautiful in these sunny +openings, but the ferns, mosses, orchids, and selaginellas, with the +crimson-tipped dracaena, and the crimson-veined caladium, and the great +red nepenthe with purple blotches on its nearly diaphanous pitchers, +and another pitcher-plant of an epiphytal habit, with pea-green +pitchers scrambling to a great height over the branches of the smaller +trees. The beautiful tree-ferns themselves were loaded with other +ferns, orchids, and mosses; every fallen tree was draped with fresh +green forms, every swampy bit was the home of mottled aroids, film +ferns, and foliage plants, mostly green and gold, while in some places +there were ginger-worts with noble shining leaves fully six feet long. + +In the green twilight of the depths of the forest the dew gemmed the +leaves till nearly 10 A.M., but in the openings the sun blazed with the +heat of a furnace. The silence and colorlessness of the heart of the +forest; and the color, vivacity, light, and movement in the openings, +and among the tree-tops, contrast most curiously. Legions of monkeys +inhabit the tree-tops, and seem to lead a completely aerial life. It is +said that they never come down to earth, but that they cross the +forests swinging themselves from tree to tree. + +The Malays, if they can, build their kampongs near rivers, and during +the day we passed several of these. Several had mosques more or less +rude. Every village consists of such houses as I have described before, +grouped, but not by any means closely, under the shade of cocoa-palms, +jak, durion, bread-fruit, mango, nutmeg, and other fruit-trees. +Plantations of bananas are never far off. Many of these people have +"dug-outs" or other boats on the adjacent river, some have +bathing-sheds, and others padi plantations. These kampongs have much of +the poetry as well as inanity of tropical life about them. They are +beautiful and appropriate, and food is above them and around them. +"The primal curse" can hardly be known. A very little labor provides +all that the Malay desires, and if the tenure of the land be secure +(and the lack of security is one of the great evils), and he be not +over-taxed, his life must be calm and easy, if not happy. The people +were always courteous, and my Singhalese escort held long conversations +in every kampong. These jungle dwellers raise their houses on very high +posts, partly because tigers abound. The jak trees (artocarpus incisa), +near of kin to the bread-fruit, and the durion, flourish round all the +dwellings. The jak fruit, which may be called food rather than fruit, +grows without a visible stem from the trunk and branches of the very +handsome tree which bears it, and weighs from sixty to seventy pounds. +The durion grows to the size of a man's head, and is covered closely +with hard, sharp spines. The fall of either on one's head or shoulder +is much to be deprecated, and the Malays stretch strong nets above +their houses to secure themselves from accidents. + +I saw for the first time the nutmeg growing in perfection. It was a +great delight, as is the first sight of any tree or flower well known +from description. It is a beautiful tree, from forty to fifty feet high +when full grown, with shining foliage, somewhat resembling that of the +bay, and its fruit looks like a very large nectarine. One fully ripe +was gathered for me. It had opened, and revealed the nutmeg with its +dark brown shell showing through its crimson reticulated envelope of +mace, the whole lying in a bed of pure white, a beautiful object. + +Each house in the kampong seemed to have all its inmates at home doing +nothing but chewing betel-nut. In their home deshabilles the men wear +only the sarong, and a handkerchief knotted round their heads, and I +think that the women also dispense with an upper garment, for I noticed +at the approach of two strange men they invariably huddled another +sarong over their shoulders, heads, and faces, holding it so as to +conceal all but their eyes. The young children, as usual, were only +clothed in silver ornaments. This neglige dress in the privacy of their +homes is merely a matter of custom and climate, for these people are no +more savages than we are. These glimpses of a native tropic life, +entirely uninfluenced by European civilization, are most interesting. + +In these kampongs the people have music, singing, story-telling, +games, and religious ceremonies, perhaps the most important of all. I +have not heard that the Perak Malays differ in their religious +observances from the other Malays of the Peninsula. It seems that +before "a parish" can be formed there must be forty-four houses. The +kampong may then have a properly constituted mosque in which every +Friday the religious officer recites an oration in praise of God, the +Prophet, and his vicegerents, from the steps of a rostrum. The same +person performs the marriage ceremony. Another official performs +sacrificial duties, and recites the service for the dead after the +corpse has been lowered into the grave. There is an inferior official +of the mosque who keeps it clean, and reports to the Imaum absentees +from public worship, goes round the villages to give notice of public +prayer, assists at burials, and beats the great drum of the mosque. The +Imaum appears to be the highest functionary, and performs what are +regarded as the most sacred rites of Islamism. There are regular fees +paid to these persons for their services, and at sacrifices they +receive part of the victim. I was afraid of going into any of the +mosques. They are all conical buildings of wood and attap raised on +wooden pillars, and are usually on small knolls a little way from the +kampongs. They have no minarets, but the larger ones have a separate +shed in which the drum or gong used for the call to prayer is kept. + +Buffaloes are sacrificed on religious occasions, and at the births, +circumcisions, marriages, and shaving of the heads of the children of +wealthy people. The buffalo sacrificed for religious purposes must be +always without blemish. Its bones must not be broken after death, +neither must its horns be used for common purposes. It is slain near +the mosque with solemn sacrificial ceremonies, and one-half is usually +cooked and eaten on the spot by the "parishioners." + +While I am on the subject of religious observances, I must tell you +that I saw a Moslem funeral to-day from a respectful distance. The +graves are decently placed together usually, though some of the pious +rich have large isolated burial places. The grave is dug by rule--i.e., +the digger continues his work till his ear and the surface are on a +level. It is shaped like ours, with one important exception, that a +chamber two feet high for the reception of the body is dug in the side. + +The corpse, that of a man I believe, covered with a cloth and dressed +in cotton clothing, was carried on a bier formed of two planks, with +the male relations following. On reaching the grave the Imaum read a +service in a monotonous tone, and then the body was lowered till it +reached the level of the side chamber, in which it was placed, and +inclosed with the planks on which it had been carried. Some leaves and +flowers were then thrown in, and the grave was filled up, after which +some water was sprinkled upon it, and a man, not the Imaum, sitting +upon it, recited what the Singhalese said was a sort of confession of +faith, turning toward Mecca. The relatives bowed in the same direction +and then left the place, but on stated days afterward offerings of +spices and flowers are made. It was reverential and decorous, perhaps +even more so than the Buddhist funerals which I saw in Japan, but the +tombs are not so carefully tended, and look more melancholy. The same +dumpy, pawn-shaped pillars are placed at the head and feet of the +raised mounds of earth which cover the graves, as in Malacca. It is +believed that when the mourners have retired seven paces from the grave +two angels enter upon inquisitorial functions. When death is seen to be +approaching, the dying person is directed to repeat a short form of +confession of his faith in the unity of God; and if he is unable, it is +recited for him. The offices of washing and shrouding the dead are +religious ceremonies, and are performed by one of the officials of the +mosque. The influence of the great Prophet of Arabia is wonderfully +enduring. + +This letter, which began among sun-birds and butterflies, has got into +a dismal groove, out of which I must rescue it, but it is difficult to +give any consecutive account of anything when the fascinating Eblis +murmurs ouf! ouf! sits on my writing book, takes my pen out of my hand, +makes these scrawls which I fear will make my writing illegible, and +claims constant attention. + +The Royal Elephant is a noble animal. His docility is perfect. He +climbed up and down places so steep that a good horse would have +bungled at them, pulled down trees when he was told to do it, held +others which were slanting dangerously across the track high above our +heads till we had safely passed under them, lifted fallen trees out of +his way, or took huge steps over them, and slid down a steep bank into +the Perak with great dexterity. He was told to take a banana tree for +his dinner, and he broke off the tough thick stem just above the ground +as if it had been a stick, then neatly stripped the eight-foot leaves, +and holding the thick end of each stalk under his foot, stripped off +the whole leaf on each side of the midrib, and then, with the dexterity +of a monkey peeling a banana, he peeled off the thick rind from the +stem, and revelled in the juices of the soft inside. I was sitting on +the ground in a place where there was scarcely room for him to pass, +and yet he was so noble and gentle that I never thought of getting up, +even though his ponderous feet just touched me, and I ate my lunch +within the swing of his huge proboscis, but he stood quite still, +except that he flapped his "ears" and squirted water over himself. Each +elephant has his own driver, and there is quite a large vocabulary of +elephant language. The mahout carried an invaluable knife-weapon, +called a parang, broadest and heaviest at the point, and as we passed +through the jungle he slashed to right and left to clear the track, and +quite thick twigs fell with hardly an effort on his part. + +After traveling for several hours we came upon a kampong under palms +and nutmeg trees, and then dismounted and took our lunch, looking out +from deep shadow down upon the beautiful river lying in the glory of +the noonday sun, its banks bright with birds and butterflies. The +mahout was here among friends, and the salutations were numerous. If +nose-rubbing as a form of greeting is practiced I have never seen it. +What I have seen is that when one man approaches another, or is about +to pay a visit, he joins his hands as if in supplication, and the other +touches them on both sides, and afterward raises his hands to his lips +and forehead. It is a courteous looking mode of salutation. + +At this point the Singhalese said that the natives told him that it was +possible to ford the Perak, but that the mahout said that the elephant +was a "diver," and would probably dive, but that there was no danger to +us except of getting very wet. I liked the prospect of a journey on the +other side, so we went down a steep bank into the broad, bright, river, +and putting out from the shore, went into the middle, and shortly the +elephant gently dropped down and was entirely submerged, moving +majestically along, with not a bit of his huge bulk visible, the end of +his proboscis far ahead, writhing and coiling like a water snake every +now and then, the nostrils always in sight, but having no apparent +connection with the creature to which they belonged. Of course we were +sitting in the water, but it was nearly as warm as the air, and so we +went for some distance up the clear, shining river, with the tropic sun +blazing down upon it, with everything that could rejoice the eye upon +its shores, with little beaches of golden sands, and above the forest +the mountains with varying shades of indigo coloring. + +There would have been nothing left to wish for if you had been there to +see, though you would have tried to look as if you saw an elephant +moving submerged along a tropical river every day with people of three +races on his back!! + +The Singhalese said, "I'm going to take you to Koto-lamah; no European +has been there since the war. I've never been there, nor the Resident +either." I have pored over blue books long enough to know that this is +a place which earned a most unenviable notoriety during the recent +troubles, and is described as "a stronghold of piracy, lawlessness, and +disaffection." As we were making a diagonal crossing of the Perak, the +Singhalese said, "A few months ago they would have been firing at us +from both sides of the river." It was a beautiful view at that point, +with the lovely river in its windings, and on the top of the steep bank +a kampong of largish houses under palms and durions. A good many people +assembled on the cliff, some with muskets and some with spears, and the +Singhalese said, "I wish we had not come;" but as the elephant +scrambled up the bank the people seemed quite friendly, and I +dismounted and climbed up to a large house with a very open floor, on +which fine mats were laid in several places. There were many women and +children in the room when I went in, and one of the former put a fine +mat over a rice sack for me. Presently the room filled up with people, +till there were fifty-nine seated in circles on the floor, but some of +the men remained standing, one a thorough villain in looks, a Hadji, +with a dirty green turban and a red sarong. The rest of the men wore +handkerchiefs and sarongs only. + +These people really did look much like savages. They all carried +parangs, or the short kris called a golo, and haying been told that the +Malays were disarmed, I was surprised to see several muskets, a rifle, +and about thirty spears on the wall. So I found myself in the heart of +what has been officially described as "a nest of robbers and +murderers," "the centre of disturbance and disaffection," etc. To make +it yet more interesting, on inquiring whose house it was, the name of a +notorious "rebel" leader was mentioned, and one of the women, I was +told, is the principal wife or rather widow of the Maharajah Lela, who +was executed for complicity in the assassination of Mr. Birch. +However, though as a Briton I could not have been a welcome visitor, +they sent a monkey for two cocoa-nuts, and gave me their delicious +milk; and when I came away they took the entrance ladder from one of +the houses to help me to mount the elephant. + +Mr. Low was at first displeased that I had been to Koto-lamah, and +said that my escort was "ignorant and foolish" for taking me; but now +he says that though he would not have taken the responsibility of +sending me, he is glad that the thing was done, as it affords a proof +such as he has not yet had of the complete pacification of the +district; but, he added, it would appear somewhat odd that the first +European to test the disposition of the Koto-lamah people should be a +lady. + +Leaving this large kampong we traveled by a much-grown-up elephant +track, needing the constant use of the parang and the strength and +wisdom of the elephant to make it passable, saw several lairs and some +recent tiger tracks, crossed a very steep hill, and, after some hours +of hard riding, came down upon the lovely Perak, which we crossed in a +"dugout" so nearly level with the water that at every stroke of the +paddle of the native who crouched in the bow the water ran in over the +edge. We landed at the village of Kwala Kangsa + + "In the glory of the sunset, + In the purple mists of evening," + +in which the magnified purple mountains were piled like Alps against +the flaming clouds. By the river bank lay the Dragon boat and the +square bamboo floating bath, through the side of which Mr. Birch was +mortally wounded. + +On landing we met a very bright intelligent-looking young Malay with a +train of followers, a dandy almost, in white trousers, short red +sarong, black baju with gold buttons, gold watchguard, and red head +dress. The expression of his face was keen and slightly scornful. This +is Rajah Dris, a judge, and the probable successor to the Perak throne. +The present Resident thinks highly both of his character and his +abilities, and he is very popular among his countrymen. He walked with +us as far as the mosque, and I heard him ask questions about me. The +Mussulmen of the village, several of them being Hadjis, were assembling +for worship, lounging outside the mosque till the call to prayer came. +Ablutions before worshiping are performed in floating baths in the +river. The trade of Kwala Kangsa seems in the hands of the Chinese, +with a few Klings among them, and they have a row of shops. + + + +LETTER XX (Continued) + +A Joyous Welcome--A Severe Mortification--The British Resident--Daily +Visitors--Rajah Dris--A Tipsy Ape--Marriage Ceremonies--Marriage +Festivities--Malay Children--The Rajah Muda Yusuf--A Dreary +Funeral--Fascinating Companionship--A Cocoa-Nut Gatherer--The Argus +Pheasant--An Opium Wreck--Rhinoceros +Horns--Elephant-Taming--Petrifying Influences of Islamism--A Dwindling +Race + + +February 17.--I was very glad that yesterday was Sunday, so that I had +a quiet day, for nearly twelve hours of jungle riding on an elephant +makes one very stiff and sleepy. Three days of solitude, meals in the +company of apes, elephant excursions, wandering about alone, and free, +open air, tropical life in the midst of all luxuries and comforts, have +been very enchanting. At night, when the servants had retired to their +quarters and the apes to the roof, and I was absolutely alone in the +bungalow, the silent Oriental sentries motionless below the veranda +counting for nothing, and without a single door or window to give one +the feeling of restraint, I had some of the "I'm monarch of all I +survey" feeling; and when drum beat and bugle blast, and the turning +out of the Sikh guard, indicated that the Resident was in sight, I felt +a little reluctant to relinquish the society of animals, and my +"solitary reign," which seemed almost "ancient" also. + +When Mr. Low, unattended as he always is, reached the foot of the +stairs the retriever leapt down with one bound, and through the air +over his head fled Mahmoud and Eblis, uttering piercing cries, the +siamang, though keeping at a distance, adding to the jubilations, and +for several minutes I saw nothing of my host, for these creatures, +making every intelligent demonstration of delight, were hanging round +him with their long arms; the retriever nearly wild with joy, but +frantically jealous; all the creatures welcoming him more warmly than +most people would welcome their relations after a long absence. Can it +be wondered at that people like the society of these simple, loving, +unsophisticated beings? + +Mr. Low's arrival has inflicted a severe mortification on me, for +Eblis, who has been absolutely devoted to me since I rescued him from +Mahmoud, has entirely deserted me, takes no notice of me, and seems +anxious to disclaim our previous acquaintance! I have seen children do +just the same thing, so it makes the kinship appear even closer. He +shows the most exquisite devotion to his master, caresses him with his +pretty baby hands, murmurs ouf in the tenderest of human tones, and +sits on his shoulder or on his knee as he writes, looking up with a +strange wistfulness in his eyes, as if he would like to express himself +in something better than a monosyllable. + +This is a curious life. Mr. Low sits at one end of the veranda at his +business table with Eblis looking like his familiar spirit, beside him. +I sit at a table at the other end, and during the long working hours we +never exchange one word. Mahmoud sometimes executes wonderful capers, +the strange, wild, half-human face of the siamang peers down from the +roof with a half-trustful, half-suspicious expression; the retriever +lies on the floor with his head on his paws, sleeping with one eye +open, always on the watch for a coveted word of recognition from his +master, or a yet more coveted opportunity of going out with him; tiffin +and dinner are silently served in the veranda recess at long intervals; +the sentries at the door are so silently changed that one fancies that +the motionless blue turbans and scarlet coats contain always the same +men; in the foreground the river flows silently, and the soft airs +which alternate are too feeble to stir the over-shadowing palm-fronds +or rustle the attap of the roof. It is hot, silent, tropical. The sound +of Mr. Low's busy pen alone breaks the stillness during much of the +day; so silent is it that the first heavy drops of the daily tropical +shower on the roof have a startling effect. + +Mr. Low is greatly esteemed, and is regarded in the official circles of +the Settlements as a model administrator. He has had thirty years' +experience in the East, mainly among Malays, and has brought not only a +thoroughly idiomatic knowledge of the Malay language, but a sympathetic +insight into Malay character to his present post. He understands the +Malays and likes them, and has not a vestige of contempt for a dark +skin, a prejudice which is apt to create an impassable gulf between the +British official and the Asiatics under his sway. I am inclined to +think that Mr. Low is happier among the Malays and among his apes and +other pets than he would be among civilized Europeans! + +He is working fourteen hours out of the twenty-four. I think that work +is his passion, and a change of work his sole recreation. He devotes +himself to the promotion of the interests of the State, and his evident +desire is to train the native Rajahs to rule the people equitably. He +seems to grudge every dollar spent superfluously on the English +establishment, and contents himself with this small and old-fashioned +bungalow. In this once disaffected region he goes about unarmed, and in +the daytime the sentries only carry canes. His manner is as quiet and +unpretending as can possibly be, and he speaks to Malays as +respectfully as to Europeans, neither lowering thereby his own dignity +nor theirs. Apparently they have free access to him during all hours of +daylight, and as I sit writing to you or reading, a Malay shadow +constantly falls across my paper, and a Malay, with silent, cat-like +tread glides up the steps and appears unannounced in the veranda, on +which Mr. Low at once lays aside whatever he is doing, and quietly +gives himself to the business in hand. The reigning prince, the Rajah +Muda Yusuf, and Rajah Dris, are daily visitors; the former brings a +troop of followers with him, and they remain outside, their red sarongs +and picturesque attitudes as they lounge in the shade, giving to the +place that "native" air which everywhere I love, at least where +"natives" are treated as I think that they ought to be, and my +requirements are pretty severe! + +I am painfully aware of the danger here, as everywhere, of forming +hasty and inaccurate judgments, and of drawing general conclusions from +partial premises, and on my present tour there is the added risk of +seeing things through official spectacles; but still certain things lie +on the surface, and a traveler must be very stupid indeed if he does +not come to an approximately just conclusion concerning them. As, for +instance, it is easy to see that far in the interior of the Malay +Peninsula, in regions rarely visited by Europeans, themselves without +advisers, and away from the influence of public opinion, dealing with +weak rulers to whom they represent preponderating brute force in the +last resort, the position of "Resident" is very much what the +individual man chooses to make it. Nor is it difficult to perceive +whether the relations between the English official and the natives are +hearty and cordial, or sullen and distrustful, or whether the Resident +makes use of his position for purposes of self-aggrandizement, and +struts tempestuously and swaggeringly before the Malays, or whether he +devotes his time and energies to the promotion of prosperity, good +order, and progress, in a firm and friendly spirit. + +After a very quiet day we went at sunset, to see Rajah Dris, not taking +the dog. The trifling matter of the dog being regarded as an +abomination is one of the innumerable instances of the ingrained +divergence between Moslem and Christian feeling. Rajah Dris lives in a +good house, but it is Europeanized, and consequently vulgarized. He +received us very politely on the stairs, and took us into a sitting- +room in which there were various ill-assorted European things. His +senior wife was brought in, a dull, heavy-looking woman, a daughter of +the Rajah Muda Yusuf, and after her a number of slave women and babies, +till the small room was well filled. The Rajah hospitably entertained +us with tea, milk, and preserved bananas; but I noticed with regret +that the white table-cloth was much soiled, and that the china and +glass were in very bad taste. The house and its equipments are a +distressing contrast to those of the Datu Bandar in Sungei Ujong, who +adheres closely to Malay habits. Rajah Dris sent a servant the whole +way back with us, carrying a table lamp. + +to-day the mercury was at 90 degrees for several hours. The nights, +however, are cool enough for sleep. I have lately taken to the Malay +custom of a sleeping mat, and find it cooler than even the hardest +mattress. I did not sleep much, however, for so many rats and lizards +ran about my room. These small, bright-eyed lizards go up the walls in +search of flies. They dart upon the fly with very great speed, but just +as you think that they are about to swallow him they pause for a second +or two and then make the spring. I have never seen a fly escape during +this pause, which looks as if the lizard charmed or petrified his +victim. The Malays have a proverb based upon this fact: "Even the +lizard gives the fly time to pray." There were other noises; for wild +beasts, tigers probably, came so near as to scare the poultry and +horses, and roared sullenly in the neighborhood for a long time, and +the sentries challenged two people, after which I heard a messenger +tell Mr. Low of a very distressing death. + + +February. 18.--Major Swinburne and Captain Walker arrived in the +morning, and we had a grand tiffin at twelve, and Mahmoud was allowed +to sit on the table, and he ate sausages, pommeloe, bananas, +pine-apple, chicken and curry, and then seizing a long glass of +champagne, drank a good deal before it was taken from him. If +drunkenness were not a loathsome human vice, it would have been most +amusing to see it burlesqued by this ape. He tried to seem sober and to +sit up, but could not, then staggered to a chair, trying hard to walk +steadily, and nodding his head with a would-be witty but really +obfuscated look; then, finding that he could not sit up, he reached a +cushion and lay down very neatly, resting his head on his elbow and +trying to look quite reasonable, but not succeeding, and then he fell +asleep. + +After tiffin a Rajah came and asked me to go with him to his house, and +we walked down with his train of followers and my Malay attendant. It +was a very nice house, with harmonious coloring and much deep shadow. +It soon filled with people. There were two women, but not having an +interpreter, I could not tell whether they were the chief's wives or +sisters. He showed me a number of valuable krises, spears and parangs, +and the ladies brought sherbet and sweetmeats, and they were altogether +very jolly, and made me pronounce the Malay names of things, and the +women laughed heartily when I pronounced them badly. They showed me +some fine diamonds, very beautifully set in that rich, red "gold of +Ophir" which makes our yellow western gold look like a brazen +imitation, as they evidently thought, for they took off my opal ring, +and holding the gold against their own ornaments, made gestures of +disapproval. I think that opals were new to them, and they were +evidently delighted with their changing colors. + +Mussulman law is very stringent as to some of the rights of wives. In +Malay marriage contracts it is agreed that all savings and "effects" +are to be the property of husband and wife equally, and are to be +equally divided in case of divorce. A man who insists on divorcing his +wife not only has to give her half his effects, but to repay the sum +paid as the marriage portion. It appears that polygamy is rare, except +among the chiefs. + +Marriage is attended with elaborate arrangements among these people, +and the female friends of both parties usually make the "engagement," +after which the bridegroom's friends go to the bride's father, talk +over the dowry, make presents, and pay the marriage expenses. Commonly, +especially among the higher classes, the bridegroom does not see the +lady's face until the marriage day. Marriage is legalized by a +religious ceremony, and then if the wife be grown up her husband takes +her to his own home. Girls are married at fourteen or fifteen, and +although large families are rare, they look old women at forty. + +On the day before the marriage expenses are paid by the bridegroom, the +bride-elect has her teeth filed. It is this process which gives the +Malay women, who are very pretty as children, their very repulsive +look. It produces much the same appearance of wreck and ruin as +blackening the teeth does in Japan, and makes a smile a thing to be +dreaded. Young girls are not allowed to chew betel, which stains +badly, and have white, pearly teeth, but these are considered like the +teeth of animals. The teeth are filed down to a quarter of their +natural length by means of a hard Sumatran stone, or fine steel file. +The operation lasts about an hour, and the gums continue swelled and +painful for some days. After they have recovered, the blackening of the +teeth by means of betel chewing is accelerated by means of a black +liquid obtained by burning cocoa-nut shells on iron, Three days before +the marriage ceremony henna is applied to the nails of the hands and +feet, and also to the palms of the hands, and the hair is cut short +over the forehead, something in the style of a "Gainsborough fringe." + +The wedding feast is a very grand affair. Goats and buffaloes are +killed, and the friends and relatives of the bride send contributions +of food. The wedding decorations are family property, and descend from +mother to daughter, and both bride and bridegroom are covered with +flowers, jewels, and gay embroidery. The bride sits in state and +receives the congratulatory visits of her relatives and friends, and +after the actual ceremony is over, the newly-married couple sit on a +seat raised above the guests, and the sirih and betel-nut are largely +chewed. There are "floral decorations," music, and feasting; all +strangers are made welcome; the young men spend the afternoon in games, +among which cock-fighting usually plays a prominent part, and the +maidens amuse themselves in a part of the house screened off from the +rest of the guests by curtains, and made very gay. + +As religious ceremonies attend upon marriage and death, so on the birth +of a child the father puts his mouth to the ear of the infant and +solemnly pronounces what is called the Azan or "Allah Akbar," the name +of the one God being the first sound which is allowed to fall upon his +ears on entering the world, as it is the last sound which he hears on +leaving it. There is a form of prayer which is used at births, and +another on the seventh day afterward, when the child's head is shaved. +The sage femme remains for forty days with the mother, who on the +fortieth day makes the ceremonial purifications and prayers which are +customary, and then returns to her ordinary duties. The child, as soon +as it can speak, learns to recite prayers and passages from the Koran, +and is very early grounded in the distinctive principles of Islam. + +The children of both sexes are very pretty, but with strangers they are +very shy and timid. They look very innocent, and are docile, gentle and +obedient, spending much of their time in taming their pets and playing +with them, and in playing games peculiar to their age. Except in one or +two cases in Sungei Ujong, I have not seen a child with eye or skin +disease, or any kind of deformity. + +There have been Rajahs all day in the veranda, and their followers +sitting on the steps, all received by Mr. Low with quiet courtesy, and +regaled with tea or coffee and cigarettes. A short time ago the +reigning prince, who does not appear to be a cypher, came with a great +train of followers, some of them only wearing sarongs, a grandson, to +whom he is much attached, and the deposed Sultan's two boys, of whom I +told you before. They are in Malay clothing, and seem to have lost +their vivacity, or at least it is in abeyance. Before I came here, I +understood from many people that "His Highness" is very generally +detested. So, also, says Sir Benson Maxwell in _Our Malay Conquests_. +Major M'Nair in his amusing book on Perak says: "He is a man over +middle age, and is described as being of considerable ability, feared +and hated by many of the chiefs, and as being of a fierce and cruel +disposition, but he was a proved man as to his loyalty" (to British +interests), "and there being no desire on the part of the Government to +annex the State of Perak, his appointment was the wisest course that, +under the circumstances, could be pursued." This is all that the +greatest apologist for British proceedings in Perak has to say. + +I was not prepossessed in his favor before I came, for among other +stories of his cruel disposition, I was told that it was "absolutely +true" that three years ago he poured boiling water down the back of a +runaway female slave who had been recaptured, and then put a red ant's +nest upon it. If "piracy" is to be the term applied to levying +blackmail, he was certainly a pirate, for he exacted a tenth of the +cargo of every boat which passed up his river, a Rajah higher up doing +the same thing. He is said to have a very strong character, to be +grasping, and to be a "brute;" but Mr. Low gets on very well with him +apparently. He is an elderly man, wearing a sort of fez on a shaven +head. He has a gray mustache. His brow is a fine one, and his face has +a look of force, but the lower part of it is coarse and heavy. He was +fanning himself with his fez, and when I crossed the veranda and gave +him a fan, he accepted it without the slightest gesture of thanks, as +if I had been a slave. When Mr. Low told him that I had been at +Koto-lamah, he said that the chief in whose house I had rested deserved +to be shot, and ought to be shot. He and Mr. Low talked business for an +hour; but all important matters are transacted in what is called a +native council. + +I wrote that I believed myself to be the only European in Kwala Kangsa, +but I find that there was another at the time when I wrote thus--a +young man of good family, who came out here seeking an appointment. He +was sun-stricken three days ago, and violent fever and delirium set in, +during the height of which he overpowered four Sikhs who were taking +care of him, rushed out of doors, fell down exhausted, was carried +home, and died at four in the morning, his last delirious dreams being +of gambling and losing heavily. + +The lamentable burial took place in the evening as the shadows fell. +This sums up the story--a career of dissipation, death at twenty-one, a +rough, oblong box, no one to be sorry. It made my heart ache for the +mother, who would have given much to be where I was, and see "the +dreary death train" move slowly to the dreary inclosure on a hill-top, +where the grass grows rank and very green round a number of white +wooden crosses, which mark the graves of the officers and soldiers who +fell in 1876. The Union Jack was thrown over the coffin, which was +carried by six Sikhs, and Mr. Low, Major Swinburne, Rajah Dris and some +followers, and Sultan Abdullah's two boys, who had nothing better to +do, followed it. By the time the grave was reached torches were +required, and the burial service was read from my prayer-book. It was +all sad and saddening. + +The weather is still glorious, the winding Perak still mirrors in +scarcely rippled blue the intensely blue sky, "never wind blows +loudly," but soft airs rustle the trees. One could not lead a more +tropical life than this, with apes and elephants about one under the +cocoa-palms, and with the mercury ranging from 80 degrees to 90 +degrees! Gorgeous, indeed, are the birds and butterflies and flowers; +but often when the erythrina and the Poinciana regia are strewing the +ground with their flaming blossoms, I think with a passionate longing +of the fragile Trientalis Europae, of crimson-tipped lichens, of faint +odors of half-hidden primroses, of whiffs of honey and heather from +purple moorlands, and of all the homely, fragrant, unobtrusive flowers +that are linked with you! I should like a chance of being "cold to the +bone!" + +I have wasted too much of my time to-day upon the apes. They fascinate +me more daily. They look exactly like familiar demons, and certainly +anyone having them about him two hundred years ago would have been +burned as a wizard. When Mr. Low walks down the veranda, these two +familiars walk behind him with a stealthy tread. He is having a +business conversation just now with some Rajahs, whose numerous +followers are standing and lying about, and Eblis is sitting on his +shoulder with one arm round his neck, while Mahmoud sits on the table +opening letters, and the siamang, sitting on the rafter, is looking +down with an unpleasant look. Eblis condescends to notice me to-day, +and occasionally sits on my shoulder murmuring "Ouf! ouf!" the sweet +sound which means all varieties of affection and happiness. They say +wah-wah distinctly, and scream with rage like children, but have none +of the meaningless chatter of monkeys. It is partly their silence which +makes them such very pleasant companions. At sunrise, however, like +their forest brethren, they hail the sun for some minutes with a noise +which I have never heard them make again during the day, loud and +musical, as if uttered by human vocal organs, very clear and pleasant. +Doubtless the Malays like Mr. Low all the better for his love of pets. + +At lunch they were both, as usual, sitting at the table. I am still +much afraid of Mahmoud, but Captain Walker is infatuated with him, and +likes his rough, jolly manners, and his love of fun and rough play. As +Assam was bringing me a cup of coffee this creature put out his long +arm, and with his face brimming over with frolic, threw the coffee over +the mat. Then he took up a long glass of beer and began to drink it +eagerly, but as Mr. Low disapproved of his being allowed to get tipsy a +second time, it was taken from him, upon which he took up the breast of +a fricasseed chicken and threw it at the offender. The miscreant did +every kind of ludicrous thing, finishing by pulling everyone to go out +with him, as he always does at that hour; and when he had succeeded in +getting us all out was in a moment at the top of a high tree, leaping +from branch to branch, throwing himself on coffee shrubs below, +swinging himself up again in a flash, leaping, bounding! a picture of +agility, strength, and happiness. The usual morning gathering of Rajahs +and their followers, with Klings and Sikhs, was there, and I suspect +that they thought adult Europeans very foolish for being amused with +these harum-scarum antics. + +A follower had brought a "baboon," an ape or monkey trained to gather +cocoa-nuts, a hideous beast on very long legs when on all fours, but +capable of walking erect. They called him a "dog-faced baboon," but I +think they were wrong. He has a short, curved tail, sable-colored fur +darkening down his back, and a most repulsive, treacherous, and +ferocious countenance. He is fierce, but likes or at all events obeys +his owner, who held him with a rope fifty feet long. At present he is +only half tame, and would go back to the jungle if he were liberated. +He was sent up a cocoa-nut tree which was heavily loaded with nuts in +various stages of ripeness and unripeness, going up in surly fashion, +looking round at intervals and shaking his chain angrily. When he got +to the top he shook the fronds and stalks, but no nuts fell, and he +chose a ripe one, and twisted it round and round till its tenacious +fibers gave way, and then threw it down and began to descend, thinking +he had done enough, but on being spoken to he went to work again with +great vigor, picked out all the ripe nuts on the tree, twisted them all +off, and then came down in a thoroughly bad, sulky, temper. He was +walking erect, and it seemed discourteous not to go and thank him for +all his hard toil. + +As I write I see a fascinating sight: three black apes sitting under +the roof in such a position that I can only see their faces, and they +are all leaning their chins on a beam, and with their wrinkled faces +and gray beards are looking exactly like -----. It is most interesting +to be among wild beasts, which, though tame, or partly so, are not in +captivity, and to see their great sagacity and their singular likeness +and unlikeness to us. I could dispense with the reptiles, though. Last +night there were seventeen lizards in my room and two in my slippers. +During the profound stillness of about 3 A.M., a crowd, hooting, +yelling, and beating clappers, passed not far off in the darkness, and +there was a sound of ravaging and rending caused by a herd of elephants +which had broken into the banana grounds. + +Besides apes, elephants, dogs, and other pets, there are some fine +jungle-fowls, a pheasant, a "fire-back," I think, and an argus pheasant +of glorious beauty; but glorious is not quite the word either, for the +hundred-eyed feathers of its tail are painted rather in browns than +colors. These birds are under the charge of a poor Chinaman, who once +had money, but has gone to complete ruin from opium-smoking. His frame +is reduced to a skeleton covered with skin. I never saw such emaciation +even in an advanced stage of illness. + +Just now I saw Mahmoud and Eblis walk into my room, and shortly +following them, I found that Mahmoud had drawn a pillow to the foot of +the bed, and was lying comfortably with his head upon it, and that +Eblis was lying at the other end. I do hope that you will not be tired +of the apes. To me they are so intensely interesting that I cannot help +writing about them. Eblis has been feverish for some days. I think he +has never recovered from the thrashing he got the day I came. He is +pining and growing very weak; he eats nothing but little bits of +banana, and Mr. Low thinks he is sure to die. It is a curious fact that +these apes, which are tamed by living with Europeans, acquire a great +aversion to Malays. + + +February 19.--Eblis became much worse while I was out yesterday, and I +fear will surely die. He can hardly hold anything in his cold, feeble +hands, and eats nothing. He has a strangely human, faraway look, just +what one sees in the eyes of children who have nearly done with this +world. + +The heat is much greater to-day, there is less breeze, and the mercury +has reached 90 degrees, but in the absence of mosquitoes, and with +pine-apples and bananas always at hand, one gets on very well. But +mosquitoes do embitter existence and interfere with work. Apparently, +people never become impervious to the poison, as I thought they did, +and there is not a Malay in his mat hut, or a Chinese coolie in his +crowded barrack, who has not his mosquito curtains; and I have already +mentioned that the Malays light fires under their houses to smoke them +away. Last night a malignant and hideous insect, above an inch long, of +the bug species, appeared. The bite of this is as severe as the sting +of a hornet. + +The jungle seems to be full of wild beasts, specially tigers, in this +neighborhood, and the rhinoceros is not uncommon. Its horn is worth +$15, but Rajah Muda Yusuf, who desires to have a monopoly of them, says +that there are horns with certain peculiar markings which can be sold +to the Chinese for $500* each to be powdered and used as medicine. Wild +elephants are abundant, but, like the rhinoceros, they ravage the deep +recesses of the jungle. All the tame elephants here, however, were +once wild, including the fifty which, with swords, dragons, bells, +krises with gold scabbards, and a few other gold articles, formed the +Perak regalia. The herds are hunted with tame, steady elephants, and on +a likely one being singled out, he is driven by slow degrees into a +strong inclosure, and there attached by stout rattan ropes to an +experienced old elephant, and fed on meager diet for some weeks, varied +with such dainties as sugar-cane and sweet cakes. The captive is +allowed to go and bathe, and plaster himself with mud, all the while +secured to his tame companion, and though he makes the most desperate +struggles for liberty, he always ends by giving in, and being led back +to his fastenings in the corral. At times a man gets upon him, sits on +his head, and walks upon his back. It is here generally about two years +before an elephant is regarded as thoroughly broken in and to be +trusted; and, as elsewhere, stories are told of elephant revenge and +keepers being killed. A full-grown elephant requires about 200 lbs. of +food a day. These animals are destructive to the cocoa-nut trees, and +when they get an opportunity they put their heads against them, and +then, with a queer swaying movement throw the weight of their bodies +over and over again against the stem till the palm comes down with a +crash, and the dainty monster regales himself with the blossoms and the +nuts. The Malays pet and caress them, and talk to them as they do to +their buffaloes. Half a ton is considered a sufficient load for a +journey if it be metal or anything which goes into small compass, but +if the burden be bulky, from four to six hundred weight is enough. +Except where there are rivers or roads suitable for bullock-carts or +pack bullocks, they do nearly all the carrying trade of Perak, carrying +loads on "elephant tracks" through the jungle. An elephant always puts +his foot into the hole which another elephant's foot has made, so that +a frequented track is nothing but a series of pits filled with mud and +water. Trying to get along one of these I was altogether baffled, for +it had no verge. The jungle presented an impassable wall of dense +vegetation on either side, the undergrowth and trees being matted +together by the stout, interminable strands of the rattan and other +tenacious creepers, including a thorn-bearing one, known among the +Malays as "tigers' claws," from the curved hook of the thorn. I think I +made my way for about seven feet. This was a favorable specimen of a +jungle track, and I now understand how the Malays, by felling two or +three trees, so that they lay across similar and worse roads, were able +to delay the British troops at a given spot for a day at a time. +[*It is possible that this was an exaggeration, and that the real price +is $50.] + +One might think that elephants roaming at large would render +cultivation impossible, but they have the greatest horror of anything +that looks like a fence, and though they are almost powerful enough to +break down a strong stockade, a slight fence of reeds usually keeps +them out of padi, cane, and maize plantations. + +Malays are gradually coming into Perak. It is said that there has been +recently a large immigration from Selangor. The Malay population is +fifty-seven thousand nearly, with a large preponderance of males, but +fifty-eight thousand have crowded into the little strip of land called +Province Wellesley, which is altogether under British rule, and +sixty-seven thousand into Malacca, which has the same advantage. I +suppose that slavery and polygamy have had something to do with the +diminution of the population, as well as small-pox. Formerly large +armies of fighting men could be raised in these States. Islamism is +always antagonistic to national progress. It seems to petrify or +congeal national life, placing each individual in the position of a +member of a pure theocracy, rather than in that of a patriotic citizen +of a country, or member of a nationality. In these States law, +government and social customs have no existence apart from religion, +and, indeed, they grow out of it. + +It is strange that a people converted from Arabia, and partly, no +doubt, civilized both from Arabia and Persia, should never have +constructed anything permanent. If they were swept away to-morrow not a +trace of them except their metal work would be to be found. Civilized +as they are, they don't leave any more impress on the country than a +Red Indian would. They have not been destroyed by great wars, or great +pestilences, or the ravages of drink, nor can it be said that they +perish mysteriously, as some peoples have done, by contact with +Europeans; yet it is evident that the dwindling process has been going +on for several generations. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XXI + +A Malay Interior--Malay Bird-Scaring--Rice Culture--Picturesque +Dismalness--A Bad Spell--An Alarm--Possibilities of Peril--Patience and +Kindness--Masculine Clatter + + +KWALA KANGSA, February 20. + +Yesterday afternoon I had an expedition which I liked very much, though +it ended a little awkwardly owing to a late start. Captain Walker was +going on a shooting excursion to a lotus lake at some distance, and +invited me to join him. So we started after tiffin with two Malays, +crossed the Perak in a "dug-out," and walked for a mile over a sandy, +grassy shore, which there lies between the bright water and the forest, +then turned into the jungle, and waded through a stream which was up to +my knees as we went, and up to my waist as we returned. Then a +tremendous shower came on, and we were asked to climb into a large +Malay house, of which the floor was a perilously open gridiron. At +least three families were in it, and there were some very big men, but +the women hid themselves behind a screen of matting. It looked forlorn. +A young baboon was chained to the floor, and walked up and down +restlessly like a wild beast in a menagerie; there were many birds in +cages, and under the house was much rubbish, among which numerous fowls +were picking. There was much fishing-tackle on the walls, both men and +women being excessively fond of what I suppose may be called angling. +They brought us young cocoa-nuts, and the milk, drank as it always +ought to be, through one of the holes in the nut, was absolutely +delicious. + +Where the Malays are not sophisticated enough to have glass or china, +they use dried gourds for drinking-vessels. The cocoa-nut is an +invaluable product to them. Besides furnishing them with an +incomparable drink, it is the basis of the curries on which they live +so much, and its meat and milk enter into the composition of their +sweet dishes. I went to see the women behind their screen, and found +one of them engaged in making a dish which looked like something which +we used to call syllabub. It was composed of remarkably unbleached +sago, which they make from the sago-palm, boiled down with sugar to +nearly a jelly. It was on an earthenware plate, and the woman who was +preparing it mixed sugar with cocoa-nut milk, and whipping it with a +bunch of twigs to a slight froth, poured it over the jelly. + +When the rain ceased we got through the timber belt into a forlorn +swamp of wet padi, where the water was a foot deep, and in some places +so unintelligibly hot that it was unpleasant to put one's feet into it. +It was truly a dismal swamp, and looked as if the padi were coming up +by accident among the reeds and weeds. Indeed, I should have thought +that it was a rice fallow, but for a number of grotesque scarecrows, +some mere bundles of tatters, but others wearing the aspect of big +birds, big dolls, or cats. I could not think how it was that these +things made spasmodic jerking movement, as there was not a breath of +air, and they were all soaked by the shower, till I saw that they were +attached by long strings to a little grass hut raised on poles, in +which a girl or boy sat "bird-scaring." The sparrows rob the +rice-fields, and so do the beautiful padi-birds, of which we saw great +numbers. + +The Malays are certainly not industrious; they have no need to be so, +and their cultivation is rude. They plow the rice-land with a plow +consisting of a pole eight feet long, with a fork protruding from one +end to act as a coulter, and a bar of wood inserted over this at an +oblique angle forms a guiding handle. This plow is drawn by the great +water buffalo. After plowing, the clods are broken by dragging a heavy +beam over them, and are harrowed by means of a beam set with iron +spikes The women do the sowing and planting. The harvest succeeds the +planting in four months. The rice ears are cut short off, sometimes by +a small sickle, and sometimes by an instrument which produces the +effect of shears. Threshing consists in beating the ears with thick +sticks to loosen the husks, after which the padi is carried in baskets +to platforms ten feet above the ground, and is allowed to fall on mats, +when the chaff is driven away by the wind. It is husked by a pestle, +and it requires some skill to avoid crushing the grain. All these +operations are performed by women. + +The Perak Malays don't like working for other people, but some of them +cultivate sugar-cane and maize for sale. Even for clearing jungle-land +foreign labor has to be resorted to. + +Ah, that swamp is a doleful region! One cannot tell where it ends and +where the jungle begins, and dark, heavy, ominous-looking clouds +generally concealed the forest-covered hills which are not far off. I +almost felt the redundancy of vegetation to be oppressive, and the +redundancy of insect and reptile life certainly was so; swarms of +living creatures leaped in and out of the water, bigger ones hidden +from view splashed heavily, and a few blackish, slug-like looking +reptiles, which drew blood, and hung on for an hour or two, attached +themselves to my ankles. I was amused when Captain Walker congratulated +himself on the absence of leeches, for these blood-suckers were at +least their next of kin. I fell down into the water twice from the +submerged ridge that I tried to walk upon, but there is no risk of cold +from a hot bath in a stove. + +Then we came to a smothered, reedy, ditch-like stream, in which was an +old "dug-out" half full of water, in which we managed to stow +ourselves, and by careful balancing contrived to keep its edges just +above the water. Our impeded progress down this ditch startled myriads +of whirring, splashing creatures. The ditch opened into a reedy swamp +where hideous pink water buffaloes were wallowing and enjoying +themselves, but on the report of a gun they all plunged into deep water +and swam away, except for their big horns, looking more like +hippopotami than bovine quadrupeds. They are nearly as ugly as a +rhinoceros; all albino animals are ugly, and when these are wet their +hides are a bright salmon pink. + +The swamp merged itself into a lotus lake, covered over much of its +extent with thousands of noble leaves and rose-pink blossoms. It +seemed almost sacrilege to tear and bruise and break them and push +rudely through them in our canoe. A sadder and lonelier scene could not +be. I have seldom been more powerfully affected by nature. The lake +lying in hot mist under dark clouds, with the swamp and jungle on one +side and an absolutely impenetrable wall of entangled trees and +trailers on the other, so dense and matted that before putting one's +feet on shore space would have to be cut for them with a parang, seemed +as if it must be a hundred miles from the abodes of men, and as if +nobody had ever been there before or ever would be there again. The +heavy mist lifted, showing mountains, range beyond range, +forest-covered, extending back into the heart of the peninsula; and +though the highest may be under five thousand feet in height, yet from +their shape, and from rising so near the sea-level, and from the woolly +mists which hung round their bases, and from something in the gray, sad +atmosphere, they looked fully ten thousand feet high. + +Captain Walker climbed into a low tree which overhung the lake to look +out for teal and widgeon, which were perfectly innumerable, while the +Malays, never uttering a word, silently poled the boat over the dreary +lake in the dreary evening to put up the birds. There they went high +over our heads in long flights, and every time there was the report of +a gun there were screams and shrieks and squawks, and myriads of birds +rose out of their reedy covers, and fish splashed, and the smoke lay +heavily on the water, and then all was silent again. Any place more +solitary and apparently isolated could not be imagined--it was a most +pathetic scene. Hazy visions of the mere near which King Arthur lay +dying came before my eyes. If I had seen the solemn boat with "the +three fair queens," in "robes of samite, mystic, wonderful," I should +not have been surprised, nor would it have been odd if the lake had +changed into the Styx, across which I was being ferried, a cold, +colorless shade. To and fro, up and down, we poled over the tragic +waters till I actually felt a terror far beyond eeriness taking +possession of me. + +It grew grayer and darker, and we went back for Captain Walker, who, +with the absorption of a true sportsman, had hardly noticed the falling +shadows. It was a relief to hear the human voice once more. It broke +the worst spell I was ever bound by. As he came out on the branch to +get into the canoe it gave way, and he fell into the water up to his +chin. Then the boat pole broke, so that when we got back to the padi it +was obvious that "the dark" was coming "at one stride," and I suggested +that, as we had two miles to walk and a river to cross at night, and we +should certainly be very late for dinner; Mr. Low might become uneasy +about us, as we were both strangers and unable to speak the language; +but Captain Walker thought differently. + +There had been so much rain that it was heavy wading through the padi, +and it was quite dark when we reached the jungle, in which the rain had +made the footing very precarious, and in darkness we forded the swollen +stream, and stumbled along the shore of the Perak, where fireflies in +thousands were flashing among the bushes--a beautiful sight. When we +reached the bank of the river where we had left the canoe we found +several Malays, who laughed and seemed singularly pleased to see us, +and talked vociferously to our men, i.e., vociferously for Malays, who +are in the habit of speaking quietly. It was very difficult to get down +the steep, slippery bank, into a precarious canoe which I could not +see, and so thick was the darkness that I sat down in the water between +the two gridirons, and had to remain there during the crossing, which +took a long time, being against the stream. + +When we landed, a Sikh sergeant met us, very much excited. He spoke +Malayan, and I guessed from a few words that I knew that there was a +hue and cry at the Residency. You know how all pleasure is at once +spoiled when, after you have been enjoying yourself very much, you find +that people at home have been restless and uneasy about you; and as it +is one of my traveling principles to avoid being a bother to people, I +was very sorry. We found a general state of perturbation. Major +Swinburne, who was leaning over the veranda, received us with some very +pungent objurgations, and told us that Mr. Low was out and very +anxious. I was covered with mire, and wet from head to foot, and +disappeared, but when we sat down to the long-delayed dinner I saw from +Mr. Low's silence and gloomy manner that he had been really much +annoyed; however, he recovered himself, and we had a very lively +evening of conversation and discussion, though I had a good deal of +pain from the inflamed bites of the bloodsuckers in the swamp. Malay +scouting parties had been sent in various directions. Rajah Dris was +away with one, and the Sikh police were all ready to do nobody knows +what, as there were no dogs. Major Swinburne said that his fears did +not travel farther than the river, which he thinks is dangerous to +cross at night in a "dug-out;" but Mr. Low had before him the +possibility of our having been assailed by bad characters, or of our +having encountered a tiger in the jungle, and of my having been carried +off from my inability to climb a tree! + +Eblis is surely dying. He went to the roof, where the half-tamed +siamang was supporting him hour after hour as gently as a mother would +support a sick child. This wild ape has been very gentle and good to +Eblis ever since he became ill. I went out for a short time with Mr. +Low, and on returning he called Eblis, but the little thing was too +weak to come, and began to cry feebly, on which the wild ape took him +by one of his hands, put an arm round him, gently led him to a place +from which he could drop upon Mr. Low's chair, and then darted away, +but while daylight lasted was looking anxiously at Eblis, and at 6 A.M. +had so far conquered his timidity that he sat on the window-sill behind +Mr. Low, that he might watch his sick friend. The little bewitching +thing, which is much emaciated, clings to its master now the whole +time, unlike other animals, which hide themselves when they are ill, +puts out its feeble little arms to him with a look of unspeakable +affection on its poor, pinched face, and murmurs in a feeble voice ouf! +ouf! Mr. Low pours a few drops of milk down its throat every half hour, +and if he puts it down for a moment, it screams like a baby and +stretches out its thin hands. + +It is very interesting and pleasant to see the relations which exist +between Mr. Low and the Malays. At this moment three Rajahs are lying +about on the veranda, and their numerous followers are clustered on and +about the stairs. He never raises his voice to a native, and they look +as if they like him, and from their laughter and cheeriness they must +be perfectly at ease with him. He is altogether devoted to the +interests of Perak, and fully carries out his instructions,* which +were, "to look upon Perak as a native State ultimately to be governed +by native Rajahs," whom he is to endeavor to educate and advise +"without interfering with the religion or custom of the country." He +obviously attempts to train and educate these men in the principles and +practice of good government, so that they shall be able to rule firmly +and justly. Perak is likely to become the most important State of the +Peninsula, and I earnestly hope that Mr. Low's wise and patient efforts +will bring forth good fruit, at all events in Rajah Dris. +[*See Appendix A.] + +Mr. Low is only a little over fifty now, and when he first came the +Rajahs told him that they were "glad that the Queen had sent them an +_old_ gentleman!" He is excessively cautious, and, like most people who +have had dealings with Orientals, is possibly somewhat suspicious, but +his caution is combined with singular kindness of heart, and an almost +faulty generosity regarding his own concerns, as, for instance, he +refuses to send his servants to prison when they rob him, saying: "Poor +fellows! they know no better." He is just as patiently forbearing to +the apes. Mr. ----- told me that he had made a very clean and careful +copy of a dispatch to Lord Carnarvon, when Mahmoud dipped his fingers +in the ink and drew them over a whole page, and he only took him in his +arms and said: "Poor creature, you've given me a great deal of trouble, +but you know no better." + +This is my last evening here, and I am so sorry. It is truly "the +wilds." There is rest. Then the apes are delightful companions, and +there are all sorts of beasts, and birds, and creeping things, from +elephants downward. The scenery and vegetation of the neighborhood are +beautiful, the quiet Malay life which passes before one in a series of +pictures is very interesting, and the sight of wise and righteous rule +carried on before one's eyes, with a total absence of humbug and +red-tapeism, and which never leaves out of sight the training of the +Malays to rule themselves, is always pleasing. I like Kwala Kangsa +better than any place that I have been at in Asia, and am +proportionately sorrier to leave it. Mr. Low would have sent me up the +Perak in the Dragon boat, and over the mountains into Kinta on +elephants, if I could have stayed; but I cannot live longer without +your letters, and they, alas! are at Colombo. Mr. Low kindly expresses +regret at my going, and says he has got quite used to my being here, +and added: "You never speak at the wrong time. When men are visiting me +they never know when to be quiet, but bother one in the middle of +business." This is most amusing, for it would be usually said: "Women +never know when to be quiet." Mr. Maxwell one day said, that when men +were with him he could "get nothing done for their clatter." I wished +to start at 4 A.M. to-morrow, to get the coolness before sunrise, but +there are so many tigers about just now in the jungle through which the +road passes, that it is not considered prudent for me to leave before +six, when they will have retired to their lairs. + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XXII + +A Pleasant Canter--A Morning Hymn--The Pass of Bukit Berapit--The +"Wearing World" Again!--A Bad Spirit--Malay Demonology--"Running +Amuck"--An Amok-Runner's Career--The Supposed Origin of Amok--Jungle +Openings in Perak--Debt-Slavery--The Fate of Three Runaway +Slaves--Moslem Prayers--"Living Like Leeches"--Malay Proverbs--A +"Ten-Thousand-Man Umbrella" + + +BRITISH RESIDENCY, TAIPENG, February 21. + +I am once again on this breezy hill, watching the purple cloud-shadows +sail over the level expanse of tree-tops and mangroves, having +accomplished in about four hours the journey, which took nearly twelve +in going up. The sun was not up when I left the bungalow at Kwala +Kangsa this morning. I rode a capital pony, on Mr. Low's English +saddle, a Malay orderly on horseback escorting me, and the royal +elephant carried my luggage. It was absurd to see this huge beast lie +down merely to receive my little valise and canvas roll, with a small +accumulation of Malacca canes, mats, krises, tigers' teeth and claws, +and an elephant's tusk, the whole not weighing 100 lbs. + +Mr. Low was already at his work, writing and nursing Eblis at the same +time, the wild ape sitting on a beam looking on. I left, wishing I were +coming instead of going, and had a delightful ride of eighteen miles. +The little horse walked very fast and cantered easily. How peaceful +Perak is now, to allow of a lady riding so far through the jungle with +only an unarmed Malay attendant! Major M'Nair writes: "The ordinary +native is a simple, courteous being, who joins with an intense love of +liberty a great affection for his simple home and its belongings," and +I quite believe him. Stories of amok running, "piracies," treachery, +revenge, poisoned krises, and assassinations, have been made very much +of, and any crime or slight disturbance in the native States throws the +Settlements into a panic. It must have been under the influence of one +of these that such a large sea and land force was sent to Perak three +years ago. Crime in the Malay districts in these States is so rare, +that were it not for the Chinese, a few policemen would be all the +force that would be needed. The "village system," the old Malay system +with its head man and village officials, though formerly abused, seems +under the new regime to work well, and by it the Malays have been long +accustomed to a species of self-government, and to the maintenance of +law and order. I notice that all the European officials who speak their +language and act righteously toward them like them very much, and this +says much in their favor. + +I met with no adventures on the journey. I had a delightful canter of +several miles before the sun was above the tree-tops, the morning +mists, rose-flushed, rolled grandly away, and just as I reached the +beautiful pass of Bukit Berapit, the apes were hooting their morning +hymn, and the forests rang with the joyous trills and songs of birds. +"All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord!" + +There were gorgeous butterflies. Among them I noticed one with the +upper part of its body and the upper side of its wings of jet black +velvet, and the lower half of its body and the under side of its wings +of peacock-blue velvet, spotted; another of the same "make," but with +gold instead of blue, and a third with the upper part of the body and +wings of black velvet with cerise spots, the lower part of the body +cerise, and the under side of the wings white with cerise spots. All +these measured fully five inches across their expanded wings. In one +opening only I counted thirty-seven varieties of these brilliant +creatures, not in hundreds but in thousands, mixed up with blue and +crimson dragon-flies and iridescent flies, all joyous in the sunshine. + +The loud-tongued stream of crystal water was very full, and through the +deep greenery, and among the great, gray, granite boulders, it flung +its broad drifts of foam, rejoicing in its strength; and every green +thing leaned lovingly toward it or stooped to touch it, and all +exquisite things which love damp, all tender mosses and selaginellas, +all shade-loving ferns and aroids, flourish round it in perennial +beauty; while high above, in the sunshine, amid birds and butterflies, +the graceful areca palm struggles with the feathery bamboo for +precarious root-hold on rocky ledges, and spikes of rose-crimson +blossoms, and dark green fronds of bananas, and all the leafy wealth +born of moisture and sunshine, cling about it tenderly. And lower down +the great forest trees arch over it, and the sunbeams trickle through +them, and dance in many a quiet pool, turning the far-down sands to +gold, brightening majestic tree-ferns, and shining on the fragile +polypodium tamariscinum which clings tremblingly to the branches of the +graceful waringhan, on a beautiful lygodium which adorns the uncouth +trunk of an artocarpus, on glossy ginger-worts and trailing yams, on +climbers and epiphytes, and on gigantic lianas which, climbing to the +tops of the tallest trees, descend in vast festoons, many of them with +orange and scarlet flowers and fruitage, passing from tree to tree, and +interlacing the forest with a living network, while selaginellas and +lindsayas, and film ferns, and trichomanes radicans drape the rocks in +feathery green, along with mosses scarcely distinguishable from ferns. +Little rivulets flash out in foam among the dark foliage, and mingle +their musical warble with the deep bass of the torrent, and there are +twilight depths of leafy shade into which the sunshine never +penetrates, damp and cool, in which the music of the water is all too +sweet, and the loveliness too entrancing, creating that sadness hardly +"akin to pain" which is latent in all intense enjoyment. + +Gunong Pondok, the limestone butte, twelve hundred feet in nearly +perpendicular height, showed all its brilliancy of color, and Gunong +Bubu, one of the highest mountains in Perak, reared his granite crest +above the forest. The lotus lake at Bukit Gantang was infinitely more +beautiful than under the grayer sky of Friday; a thousand rosy vases +were drinking in the sunshine, and ten thousand classic leaves were +spreading their blue-green shields below them; all nature smiled and +sang. I was loath to exchange my good horse for a gharrie, with a Kling +driver draped slightly in Turkey-red cotton sitting on the shafts, who, +statuesque as he was, had a far less human expression than Mahmoud and +Eblis. In the noonday the indigo-colored Hijan hills, with their +swollen waterfall coming down in a sheet of foam, looked cool, but as +we dashed through Taipeng I felt overpowered once more by what seems +the "wearing world," after beautiful, silent Kwala Kangsa, for there +are large shops with gaudy sign-boards, stalls in the streets, tribal +halls, buffalo-carts with buffaloes yoked singly, for the spread of +their huge horns is so great that they cannot be yoked in pairs; trains +of carts with cinnamon-colored, humped bullocks yoked in pairs standing +at shop doors, gharries with fiery Sumatra ponies dashing about, crowds +of Chinese coolies, busy and half-naked, filling the air with the din +of their ceaseless industry, and all the epitomized stir of a world +which toils, and strives, and thirsts for gain. + +But I must give these coolies their due, for in some ways they show +more self-respect than the ordinary English laborer, inasmuch as in bad +times they don't become chargeable to anyone, and when the price of the +commodity which they produce falls, as that of tin has done, instead of +"striking" and abusing everybody all round, they accept the situation, +keep quiet, live more frugally, and work for lower wages till things +mend. But I don't intend to hold up the Taipeng Chinese as patterns of +the virtues in other respects, for they are not. They are turbulent; +and crime, growing chiefly out of their passion for gain, is very rife +among them. The first thing I heard on arriving here was that a Chinese +gang had waylaid a revenue officer in one of the narrow creeks, and +that his hacked and mutilated body had drifted down to Permatang this +morning. + +Mr. Maxwell tells me that, as he returned from escorting me to Bukit +Gantang, he overtook a gharrie with a Malay woman in it, and +dismounting joined her husband who was walking, but did not speak to +the woman. to-day the man told him that his wife woke the following +night with a scream which was succeeded by a trance; and that, knowing +that a devil had entered into her, he sent for a pawan (a wise man or +sorcerer), who on arriving asked questions of the bad spirit, who +answered with the woman's tongue. "How did you come?" "With the tuan," +i.e., Mr. Maxwell. "How did you come with him?" "On the tail of his +gray horse." "Where from?" "Changat-Jering." The husband said that +these Changat-Jering devils were very bad ones. The pawan then +exorcised the devil, and burned strong-smelling drugs under the woman's +nose, after which he came out of her, and she fell asleep, the "wise +man" receiving a fee. + +I never heard of any country of such universal belief in devils, +familiars, omens, ghosts, sorceries, and witchcrafts. The Malays have +many queer notions about tigers, and usually only speak of them in +whispers, because they think that certain souls of human beings who +have departed this life have taken up their abode in these beasts, and +in some places, for this reason, they will not kill a tiger unless he +commits some specially bad aggression. They also believe that some men +are tigers by night and men by day! + +The pelisit, the bad spirit which rode on the tail of Mr. Maxwell's +horse, is supposed to be the ghost of a woman who has died in +childbirth. In the form of a large bird uttering a harsh cry, it is +believed to haunt forests and burial-grounds and to afflict children. +The Malays have a bottle-imp, the polong, which will take no other +sustenance than the blood of its owner, but it rewards him by aiding +him in carrying out revengeful purposes. The harmless owl has strange +superstitions attaching to it, and is called the "specter bird;" you +may remember that the fear of encountering it was one of the reasons +why the Permatang Pasir men would not go with us through the jungle to +Rassa. + +A vile fiend called the penangalan takes possession of the forms of +women, turns them into witches, and compels them to quit the greater +part of their bodies, and flyaway by night to gratify a vampire craving +for human blood. This is very like one of the ghoul stories in the +_Arabian Nights Entertainments_. Then they have a specter huntsman with +demon dogs who roams the forests, and a storm fiend who rides the +whirlwind, and spirits borrowed from Persia and Arabia. It almost seems +as if the severe monotheism to which they have been converted compels +them to create a gigantic demonology. + +They have also many odd but harmless superstitions: For instance, that +certain people have the power of making themselves invulnerable by the +agency of spirits; that the regalia of the States are possessed of +supernatural powers; that the wearing of a tiger claw prevents disease; +that rude "Aeolian harps" hung up in trees will keep the forest goblins +from being troublesome; that charms and amulets worn or placed about a +house ward off many evils; that at dangerous rapids, such as those of +Jerom Pangong on the Perak river, the spirits must be propitiated by +offerings of betel-nut and bananas; that to insure good luck a betel- +chewer must invariably spit to the left; that it is unlucky either to +repair or pull down a house; that spirits can be propitiated and +diseases can be kept away by hanging up palm leaves and cages in the +neighborhood of kampongs, and many others. They also believe as firmly +as the Chinese do in auspicious and inauspicious days, spells, magic, +and a species of astrology. I hope that Mr. Maxwell will publish his +investigations into these subjects. + +"Running amuck" (amok) is supposed by some to be the result of +"possession;" but now, at least, it is comparatively uncommon in these +States. A Malay is on some points excessively sensitive regarding his +honor, and to wipe out a stain upon it by assassinating the offender is +considered as correct and in accordance with etiquette as dueling +formerly was in our own country. In cases, however, in which the +offender is of higher rank than the injured man, the latter in despair +sometimes resorts to opium, and, rushing forth in a frenzy, slays all +he can lay hands upon. This indiscriminate slaying is the amok proper. +In certain cases, such as those arising out of jealousy, the desire for +vengeance gains absolute possession of a Malay. Mr. Newbold says that +he has seen letters regarding insults in which the writers say, "I +ardently long for his blood to clean my face," or "I ardently long for +his blood to wash out the pollution of the hog's flesh with which he +has smeared me!" + +Considering how punctilious and courteous the Malays are, how rough +many of the best of us are, how brutal in manner many of us are, and +how inconsiderate our sailors are of the customs of foreign peoples, +especially in regard to the seclusion of their women, it is wonderful +that bloody revenge is not more common than it is. + +"Amok" means a furious and reckless onset. When Mr. Birch was murdered, +the cry "amok! amok!" was raised, and the passion of murder seized on +all present. Only about a year ago one of the sons of the Rajah Muda +Yusuf, a youth of twenty, was suddenly seized with this monomania, drew +his kris, and rushing at people killed six, wounded two, and then +escaped into the jungle. Major M'Nair says that a Malay, in speaking of +amok, says: "My eyes got dark, and I ran on." + +In Malacca Captain Shaw told me that "running amuck" was formerly very +common, and that on an expedition he made, one of his own attendants +was suddenly seized with the "amok" frenzy. He mentioned that he had +known of as many as forty people being injured by a single "amok" +runner. When the cry "amok! amok!" is raised, people fly to the right +and left for shelter, for after the blinded madman's kris has once +"drank blood," his fury becomes ungovernable, his sole desire is to +kill; he strikes here and there; men fall along his course; he stabs +fugitives in the back, his kris drips blood, he rushes on yet more +wildly, blood and murder in his course; there are shrieks and groans, +his bloodshot eyes start from their sockets, his frenzy gives him +unnatural strength; then all of a sudden he drops, shot through the +heart, or from sudden exhaustion, clutching his bloody kris even in the +act of rendering up his life. + +As his desire is to kill everybody, so, as he rushes on, everybody's +desire is to kill him, and gashed from behind or wounded by shots, his +course is often red with his own blood. Under English rule the great +object of the police is to take the "amok" runner alive, and have him +tried like an ordinary criminal for murder; and if he can be brought to +bay, as he sometimes is, they succeed in pinning him to the wall by +means of such a stout two-pronged fork as I saw kept for the purpose in +Malacca. Usually, however the fate of the "amok" runner is a violent +death, and men feel no more scruple about killing him in his frenzy +than they would about killing a man-eating tiger. I hear that this form +of frenzy affects the Malays of all the islands of the Archipelago. +Some people attribute it to the excessive use of opium by unprepared +constitutions, and others to monomania arising from an unusual form of +digestive disturbance; but from it being peculiar to Malays, I rather +incline to Major M'Nair's view: "There can be no doubt that the amok +had its origin in the deed of some desperate Malay, that tradition +handed it down to his highly-sensitive successors, and the example was +followed and continues to be followed as the right thing to do by those +who are excited to frenzy by apprehension, or by some injury that they +regard as deadly, and only to be washed out in blood." + +I have been interrupted by a visit from two disconsolate-looking +Ceylon planters, who have come "prospecting" for coffee. An +enterprising son of an Edinburgh "Bailie" has been trying +coffee-planting beyond the Perak, but he has got into difficulties with +his laborers, and is "getting out of it." This difficulty about labor +will possibly have to be solved by the introduction of coolies from +India, for the Malays won't work except for themselves; and the Chinese +not only prefer the excitement of mining, and the evening hubbub of the +mining towns, but in lonely places they are not always very manageable +by people unused to them. + +Even for clearing the jungle foreign labor must be employed. Perak is a +healthy and splendid State, and while the low grounds are suited for +sugar, tapioca, and tobacco, the slopes of the hills will produce +coffee, cinchona, vanilla, tea, cloves, and nutmegs. It is a land of +promise, but at present of promise only! I understand that to start a +plantation a capital of from 2,500 pounds to 3,500 pounds would be +required. Jungle is cleared at the rate of 25s. per acre. The wages of +Javanese coolies are 1s. a day, and a hut which will hold fifty of them +can be put up for 5 pounds. Land can be had for three years free of +charge. It is then granted in perpetuity for a dollar an acre, and +there is a tax of 2-1/2 per cent. on exported produce. These +arrangements are not regarded as altogether satisfactory, and will +probably be improved upon. Tell some of our friends who have sons with +practical good sense, but more muscle than brains, that there are +openings in the jungles of Perak! Good sense, perseverance, +steadiness, and a degree of knowledge of planting, are, however, +preliminary requisites. + +The two "prospectors" look as if they had heard couleur de rose +reports, and had not "struck ile." Possibly they expected to find +hotels and macadamized roads. Roads must precede planting, I think, +unless there are available lands near the rivers. + +I have mentioned slavery and debt-slavery more than once. The latter +is a great curse in Perak, and being a part of "Malay custom" which our +treaties bind us to respect, it is very difficult to deal with. In the +little States of Sungei Ujong and Selangor, with their handful of +Malays, it has been abolished with comparative ease. In Perak, with its +comparatively large Malay population, about four thousand are slaves, +and the case seems full of complications. + +Undoubtedly the existence of slavery has been one cause of the decay of +the native States, and of the exodus of Malays into the British +settlements. Some people palliate the system, and speak of it as "a +mild form of domestic servitude;" but Mr. Birch, the late murdered +Resident, wrote of it in these strong terms: "I believe that the system +as practiced in Perak at the present time involves evils and cruelties +which are unknown to any but those who have actually lived in these +States." + +From the moment a man or woman becomes a debtor, he or she, if unable +to pay, may be taken up by the creditor, and may be treated as a slave, +being made to work in any way that the creditor chooses, the debtor's +earnings belonging to the creditor, who allows no credit toward the +reduction of the debt. To make the hardship greater, if a relative or +friend comes forward to pay the debt, the creditor has the right to +refuse payment, and to keep his slave, whose only hope of bettering +himself is in getting his owner to accept payment for him from a third +party, so that he may become the slave of the person who has ransomed +him. + +But there are worse evils still, for in cases where a married man +contracts a debt, his wife and existing children, those who may +hereafter be born, and their descendants, pass into slavery; and all, +male and female, are compelled as slaves to work for their master, who +in very many cases compels the women and girls to live a life of +degradation for his benefit, and even the wives of a creditor are well +satisfied to receive the earnings of these poor creatures. If a debt be +contracted by an unmarried man or woman, and he or she marry +afterwards, the person so taken in marriage and all the offspring +become slave debtors. The worst features of the system are seen where a +Rajah is the creditor, for he is the last man to be willing to receive +payment of a debt and free the debtor, for the number of his followers, +even if they are but women and girls, increases his consequence, and +debtors when once taken into a Rajah's household are looked upon as +being as much a part of his property as his cattle or elephants. Mr. +Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary of the Straits +Settlements, writes that "in Perak the cruelties exercised toward +debtors are even exclaimed at by Malays in the other States."* In +Selangor, where it is said that slavery has been quietly abolished, +only five years ago the second son of that quiet-looking Abdul Samat +killed three slave debtors for no other reason than that he willed it; +and when two girls and a boy, slave debtors of the Sultan's, ran away, +this same bloodthirsty son caught them, took the boy into a field, and +had him krissed. His wife, saying she was going to bathe in the Langat +river, told the two girls to follow her to a log which lay in the water +a few yards from her house, where they were seized, and a boy follower +of her husband took them successively by the hair and held their heads +under the water with his foot till they were dead, when their corpses +were left upon the slimy bank. The Sultan, to do him justice, was very +angry when his son went to him and said, "I have thrown away those +children who ran away." +[*For Mr. Swettenham's _Report on Slavery in the Native States_, see +Appendix B.] + +In Perak it has been the custom to hunt and capture the Jakun women and +make them and their children slaves. + +Instances of cruelty have greatly diminished since British influence +has entered Perak, and I should think that Mr. Low will ere long +mature a scheme for the emancipation of all persons held in bondage.* I +heard of a curious case this morning. The aunt of a Malay policeman in +Larut, passing near a village, met an acquaintance, and taking a stone +from the roadside sat down upon it while she stopped to talk, and on +getting up forgot to remove it. An hour later a village child tripped +over the stone and slightly cut its forehead. The placing the stone in +the pathway was traced to the woman, who was arrested and sentenced to +pay a fine of $25, and being unable to pay it she and her children +became slave-debtors to the father of the child which had been hurt. In +this case, though Captain Speedy lent the policeman money wherewith to +pay his aunt's fine, the creditor repeatedly refused to receive it, +preferring to exercise his prerogative of holding the family as his +rightful slaves. +[*Such a scheme is now under consideration. See Appendix C.] + +Slavery and polygamy, the usual accompaniments of Islamism, go far to +account for the decay of these States. + +I wish it were possible to know to what extent the Malays are a +"religious" people as Moslems. That they are bigots and have +successfully resisted all attempts to convert them to Christianity +there is no doubt, as well as that they are ignorant and grossly +superstitious. Their prayers, so far as I can hear anything about them, +consist mainly of reiterated confessions of belief in the Divine unity, +and of simple appeals for mercy now and at the last day. + +The pilgrimage to Mecca is made not only once, but twice and thrice by +those who can afford it, and at much cost earthen jars containing water +from the holy well of Zem-zem, the well said to have been shown to +Hagar in the wilderness, are brought home by the pilgrims for +themselves and their friends for use in the hour of death, when Eblis, +the devil, is supposed to stand by offering a bowl of the purest water +with which to tempt the soul to abjure its faith in the unity of God. +One of the declarations most commonly used is, "There is no God but God +alone, whose covenant is truth and whose servant is victorious. There +is no God but God without a partner. His is the kingdom, to Him be +praise, and He over all things is Almighty." There is a grand ring of +Old Testament truth about these words, though of a melancholy half +truth only. + +The men who make the Mecca pilgrimage are not regarded by the English +who know them as a "holy lot"; in fact, they are said to lead idle +lives, and to "live like leeches on the toil of their fellow-men," +inciting the people "to revolt or to make amok." Doubtless it adds to a +man's consequence for life to be privileged to wear the Arab costume +and to be styled Tuan hadji. Yet they may have been stirred to devotion +and contrition at the time as they circled the Kaabeh reciting such +special prayers as, "O God, I extend my hands to Thee, great is my +longing towards Thee. Oh accept Thou my supplications, remove my +hindrances, pity my humiliation, and mercifully grant me Thy pardon;" +and "O my God, verily I take refuge with Thee from idolatry, and +disobedience, and every hypocrisy, and from evil conversation, and evil +thoughts concerning property, and children, and family;" or, "O God, I +beg of Thee that faith which shall not fall away, and that certainty +which shall not perish, and the good aid of Thy prophet Mohammed--may +God bless and preserve him! O God, shade me with Thy shadow in that day +when there is no shade but Thy shadow, and cause me to drink from the +cup of Thy apostle Mohammed--may God bless him and preserve him! that +pleasant draught after which is no thirst to all eternity. O Lord of +honor and glory."* +[*I have preferred to give, instead of the translation of these prayers +which I obtained in Malacca, one introduced by Canon Tristram into a +delightful paper on Mecca in the _Sunday at Home_ for February, 1883.] + +As I write, I look down upon Taipeng on "a people wholly given to +idolatry." This is emphatically "The dark Peninsula," though both +Protestants and Romanists have made attempts to win the Malays to +Christianity. It may be that the relentless crusade waged by the +Portuguese against Islamism has made the opposition to the Cross more +sullen and bigoted than it would otherwise have been. Christian +missionary effort is now chiefly among the Chinese, and by means of +admirable girls' schools in Singapore, Malacca, and Pinang. + +In Taipeng five dialects of Chinese are spoken, and Chinamen constantly +communicate with each other in Malay, because they can't understand +each other's Chinese. They must spend large sums on opium, for the +right to sell it has been let for 4,000 pounds a year! + +Mr. Maxwell tells me that the Malay proverbs are remarkably numerous +and interesting. To me the interest of them lies chiefly in their +resemblance to the ideas gathered up in the proverbs of ourselves and +the Japanese.* +[*Mr. Maxwell has since published a paper on Malay proverbs in the +Transactions of the Straits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. I have +not been able to obtain it, but I understand that it contains a very +copious and valuable collection of Malay proverbial philosophy.] + +Thus, "Out of the frying-pan into the fire" is, "Freed from the mouth +of the alligator to fall into the tiger's jaws." "It's an ill wind that +blows nobody good," is, "When the junk is wrecked the shark gets his +fill." "The creel tells the basket it is coarsely plaited" is +equivalent to "The kettle calling the pot black." "For dread of the +ghost to clasp the corpse," has a grim irony about it that I like. + +Certain Scriptural proverbial phrases have their Malay counterparts. +Thus, the impossibility of the Ethiopian changing his skin or the +leopard his spots is represented by "Though you may feed a jungle-fowl +off a gold plate, it will make for the jungle all the same." "Casting +pearls before swine" by "What is the use of the peacock strutting in +the jungle?" "Can these stones become bread?" by "Can the earth become +grain?" "Neither can salt water yield sweet," by a very elaborate +axiom, "You may plant the bitter cucumber in a bed of sago, manure it +with honey, water it with molasses, and train it over sugar cane, but +it will be the bitter cucumber still," and "Clear water cannot be drawn +from a muddy fountain." + +Some of their sayings are characteristic. In allusion to the sport of +cock-fighting, a coward is called "a duck with spurs." A treacherous +person is said to "sit like a cat, but leap like a tiger;" and of a +chatterer it is said, "The tortoise produces a myriad eggs and no one +knows it; the hen lays one and tells the whole word." "Grinding pepper +for a bird on the wing" is regarded as equivalent to "First catch you +hare before you cook it." "To plant sugar-cane on the lips" is to be +"All things to all men." Fatalism is expressed by a saying, "Even the +fish which inhabit the seventh depth of the sea sooner or later enter +the net." "Now it is wet, now it is fine," is a common way of saying +that a day of revenge is not far off. Secrecy is enjoined by the +cynical axiom, "If you have rice, hide it under the unhusked grain." +"The last degree of stinginess is not to disturb the mildew," is a neat +axiom; and "The plantain does not bear fruit twice," tells that the +Malays have an inkling that "There is a tide in the affairs of men," +etc. + +I have found it very interesting to be the guest of a man who studies +the Malays as sympathetically as Mr. Maxwell does. I hope he will not +get promotion too soon!* +[*As I copy this letter I hear that Mr. Maxwell has been removed to a +higher and more highly paid post, but that he leaves the Malays with +very sincere regret, and that they deeply deplore his loss, because they +not only liked but trusted him. During the time in which he was +Assistant Resident, and living in the midst of a large Chinese +population, it was necessary to be very firm, and at times almost +severely firm, but the Chinese have shown their appreciation of official +rectitude by presenting him with a gorgeous umbrella of red silk, +embroidered with gold, which they call "A ten-thousand-man umbrella," +i.e., an offering from a community which is not only unanimous in making +it, but counts at least that number of persons.] + +I. L. B. + + + +LETTER XXIII + +"Gang Murders"--Malay Nicknames--A Persecuted Infant--The Last of the +Golden Chersonese + + +MR. JUSTICE WOOD'S, THE PEAK, PINANG, February 24. + +However kind and hospitable people are, the process of "breaking in" to +conventionalities again is always a severe one, and I never feel well +except in the quiet and freedom of the wilds, though in the abstract +nothing can be more healthy than the climate of this lofty Peak. The +mercury has been down at 68 degrees for two nights, and blankets have +been a comfort! + +Shortly after finishing my last letter I left Taipeng with Mr. Maxwell, +calling on our way to the coast at Permatang, to inquire if there were +any scent of the murderers of the revenue officer, but there was none. +The inspector said that he had seen many murdered bodies, but never one +so frightfully mutilated. These Chinese "gang-murders" are nearly +always committed for gain, and the Chinese delight in cruel hackings +and purposeless mutilations. The Malay assassinations are nearly all +affairs of jealousy--a single stab and no more. + +The last part of the drive on a road causewayed through the endless +mangrove swamp impresses the imagination strongly by its dolefulness. +Here are hundreds of square miles all along the coast nothing but swamp +and slime, loaded with rank and useless vegetation, which has not even +beauty to justify its existence, teeming with alligators, serpents, and +other vengeful creatures. There is a mournfulness in seeing the pointed +fruit of the mangrove drop down through the still air into the slime +beneath, with the rootlet already formed of that which never fails to +become a tree. + +A Sikh guard of honor of fifty men in scarlet uniforms lined the way to +the boat as a farewell to Major Swinburne, whose feet they had embraced +and kissed with every Oriental demonstration of woe two hours before. +We asked him what his farewells were, and he says that he said, "You +are a lot of unmitigated scoundrels; half of you deserve hanging; but +keep out of scrapes if you can till I come back, that I may have the +pleasure of hanging you myself." He really likes them though, and +called after Captain Walker, who is to act as his substitute, "Now, old +man, don't knock those fellows about!" The chief dread of the "fellows" +is that they will be at the mercy of an interpreter under the new +regime. The Malays give sobriquets to all Europeans, founded upon their +physical or mental idiosyncrasies. Thus they call Major Swinburne "The +Mad One" and "The Outspoken One." Captain Walker they have already +dubbed "The Black Panther." They call Mr. Maxwell "The Cat-eyed One," +and "The Tiger Cub." + +Just before sailing I had the satisfaction of getting this telegram +from Kwala Kangsa: "Eblis is a little better this morning. He has eaten +two grasshoppers and has taken his milk without trouble, but he is very +weak."* +[*Those of my readers who have become interested in this most bewitching +ape will be sorry to hear that, after recovering and thriving for a +considerable time, he died, to the great grief of his friends.] + +We embarked at 5:30 P.M. along with a swarm of mosquitoes, and after a +beautiful night anchored at Georgetown at 2 A.M., but it was a +ludicrously uncomfortable voyage. An English would-be lady, i.e., a +"fine lady," a product of imperfect civilization with which I have +little sympathy, had demanded rather than asked for a passage in the +Kinta, and this involved not only a baby, but an ayah and man-servant. +The little cabin of the launch can hold two on two coaches, but the +lady, after appropriating one, filled up most of the other with bags +and impediments of various kinds. The floor was covered with luggage, +among which the ayah and infant slept, and the man sat inside on the +lowest rung of the ladder. Thus there were five human beings, a host of +mosquitoes, and a lamp in the stifling den, in which the mercury stood +all night at 88 degrees. Then a whole bottle of milk was spilt and +turned sour, a vial of brandy was broken and gave off its disgusting +fumes, and the infant screamed with a ferocious persistency, which +contrasted with the patient wistfulness of the sick Eblis and his +gentle murmur of "ouf! ouf!" Before we anchored the lady asked me to go +and wake the gentlemen and get a teaspoonful of brandy for her, at +which request, though made with all due gravity, they laughed so +tremendously that I was hardly able to go back to her with it. Major +Swinburne, who professes to be a woman and child hater, was quite +irrepressible, and whenever the infant cried outrageously, called to +his servant, "Wring that brat's neck," the servant, of course, knowing +not a word of English, and at 2 A.M., when there was chocolate on deck, +and the unfortunate baby was roaring and kicking, he called down to me, +"Will you come and drink some chocolate to King Herod's memory?" Mr. +Maxwell, who has four children, did not behave much better; and it was +a great exertion to me, by overdone courtesy and desperate attempts at +conversation, to keep the mother as far as possible from hearing what +was going on! + +At 6 A.M., in the glory of the tropic sunrise, Mr. Maxwell and I landed +in Province Wellesley, under the magnificent casuarina trees which +droop in mournful grace over the sandy shore. The somberness of the +interminable groves of cocoa-palms on the one side of the Strait, the +brightness of the sun-kissed peaks on the other, and the deep shadows +on the amber water, were all beautiful. Truly in the tropics "the +outgoings of the morning rejoice." + +We found Mrs. Isemonger away, no one knew where, so we broke open the +tea-chest, and got some breakfast, at the end of which she returned, +and we had a very pleasant morning. At noon a six-oared gig, which was +the last of the "Government facilities," took us over to Georgetown, +spending an hour in crossing against an unfavorable tide, under a +blazing sun. This was the last of the Malay Peninsula. + + +S.S. Malwa, February 25.--We sailed from Pinang in glorious sunshine at +an early hour this afternoon, and have exchanged the sparkling calms of +the Malacca Straits for the indolent roll of the Bay of Bengal. The +steamer's head points northwest. In the far distance the hills of the +Peninsula lie like mists upon a reddening sky. My tropic dream is +fading and the "Golden Chersonese" is already a memory. + +I. L. B. + + + +APPENDIX A + +Residents. + +A policy of advice, and that alone, was contemplated by the Colonial +Office; but without its orders or even cognizance affairs were such +that the government of those Malayan States to which Residents have +been accredited has been from the first exercised by the Residents +themselves, mainly because neither in Perak, Selangor, or Sungei Ujong +has there ever been a ruler powerful enough to carry out such an +officer's advice, the Rajahs and other petty chiefs being able to set +him at defiance. Advice would be given that peace and order should be +preserved, justice administered without regard to the rank of the +criminal, the collection of revenue placed upon a satisfactory footing, +and good administration generally secured, but had any reigning prince +attempted to carry out these recommendations he would have been +overborne by the Rajahs, whose revenues depended on the very practices +which the Resident denounced, and by the piratical bands whose source +of livelihood was the weakness and mal-administration of the rulers. +The Pangkor Treaty contained the words that the Resident's advice +"_must be acted upon_," and consequently the Residents have taken the +direction of public affairs, organizing armed forces, imposing taxes, +taking into their own hands the collection of the revenues, receiving +all complaints, executing justice, punishing evil-doers, apprehending +criminals, and repressing armed gangs of robbers. These officers are, +in fact, far more the agents of the Governor of the Straits Settlements +than the advisers of the native princes, and though paid out of native +revenues are the virtual rulers of the country in all matters, except +those which relate to Malay religion and custom. As stated by Lord +Carnarvon, "Their special objects should be the maintenance of peace +and law, the initiation of a sound system of taxation, with the +consequent development of the general resources of the country, and the +supervision of the collection of the revenue so as to insure the +receipt of funds necessary to carry out the principal engagements of +the Government, and to pay for the cost of British officers and +whatever establishments may be found necessary to support them." Lord +Carnarvon in the same dispatch states: "Neither annexation nor the +government of the country by British officers in the name of the Sultan +[a measure very little removed from annexation] could be allowed;" and +elsewhere he says: "It should be our present policy to find and train +up some chief or chiefs of sufficient capacity and enlightenment to +appreciate the advantages of a civilized government, and to render some +effectual assistance in the government of the country." + +The treaty of Pangkor provides "that the Resident's advice must be +asked and acted upon (in Perak) on all questions other than those +relating to Malay religion and custom, and that the collection and +control of all revenue and the general administration of the country +must be regulated under the advice of these Residents." It was on the +same terms that Residents were appointed at Selangor and Sungei Ujong. + + + +APPENDIX B + +Slavery in the Malay States. + +Langat, 30th June, 1875. + +Sir--When on board the Colonial steamer Pluto last week, accompanying +His Excellency the Governor in a tour to some of the native States, His +Excellency made inquiry of me with regard to the present state of +debt-slavery in the Peninsula. + +This was a subject so large and important as hardly to admit of +thorough explanation in a conversation; I therefore asked His +Excellency's leave to report upon it. + +I now beg to give you a detailed account of the circumstances of +debt-slavery as known to me personally. + +In treating the question under its present condition--I mean under +Malay rule--it is necessary to consider the all-but slavery of the +debtors and the difficulty of making any arrangement between debtor and +creditor which while it frees the one will satisfy the other, and still +be in keeping with the "adat Malayu," as interpreted in these States. + +The relative positions of debtor and creditor in the Western States, +more especially in Perak, involve evils which are, I believe, quite +unknown to Europeans, even those living so near as Singapore. + +The evils to which I refer have hitherto been regarded as unavoidable, +and a part of the ordinary relations between Rajahs and subjects. + +I may premise by saying that though the system of "debt-slavery," as +it has been called, exists to some extent in all the States, it is only +seen in its worst light where a Rajah or chief is the creditor and a +subject the debtor. + +Few subjects in a Malay country are well off. The principal reason of +this is, that as soon as a man or woman is known to be in possession of +money, he or she would be robbed by the Rajah; or the money would be +borrowed with no intention of future payment, whether the subject +wished to lend or not. + +Thus, when a Ryot (or subject) is in want of money, he goes to his +Rajah or chief to lend it him, because he alone can do so. Either money +or goods are then lent, and a certain time stipulated for payment. If +at the expiration of that time the money is not paid, it is usual to +await some time longer, say two or three, or even six months. + +Should payment not then be made, the debtor, if a single man, is taken +into the creditor's house; he becomes one of his followers, and is +bound to execute any order or do any work the Rajah as creditor may +demand, until the debt is paid, however long a time that may be. + +During this time the Rajah usually provides the debtor with food and +clothing, but if the creditor gives him money, that money is added to +the debt. + +Often, however, the Rajah gives nothing, and the debtor has to find +food and clothing as he can. + +Should the debtor marry--and the Rajah will in all probability find him +a wife--then the debtor's wife, his children, his grandchildren, all +become equally bound with himself to the payment of this debt. + +Should the debtor be originally married, then not only he, but his wife +and children, are taken into the Rajah's house, and are his to order +until the debt is paid. + +Should the debtor be a woman, unmarried, or a widow, the same course is +taken, and whoever marries her becomes jointly responsible for the +debt; and this goes on through generations--the children and +grandchildren of the debtor being held in the same bondage by the +children and grandchildren of the creditor. + +Should at any time the debtor succeed in raising the amount of the debt +and proffer it to the creditor, then it would be customary to accept +it. If, however, a large family were in bondage for the debt, one whose +numbers seemed to the Rajah to add to his dignity, then he would +probably refuse to accept payment, not absolutely, but would say +"wait," and the waiting might last for years. + +Debtors once absorbed into the Rajah's household are looked upon as his +property, just as his bullocks or his goats, and those who alone would +have the power to interfere look on and say nothing, because they do +the same themselves. + +In different States this debtor-bondage is carried to greater or less +extremities, but in Perak the cruelties exercised toward debtors are +even exclaimed against by Malays in other States. + +Many chiefs in Perak have a following principally composed of young men +and girls, for the most part debtors. + +The men are treated as I have already described--either food and +clothes are found for them or not; they are usually found--for the +Rajah's power and his pride consists in the number of arms-bearing +followers he has at his beck and call; men, too, are useful to him in +many other ways. Those who have grown old in their bondage, whether +men or women, either for very shame the Rajah provides for, or he +compels their children to support them. + +The men either (1) follow because they like it (a very small percentage +indeed); or (2) they are debtors, or the children of debtors; or (3) +they are real slaves from Sumatra or Abyssinia, or the children of +slaves. + +The girls are treated differently; they are (1) either slaves or the +daughters of slaves; or (2) debtors, the daughters or granddaughters of +debtors; or (3) the Rajah has simply taken them from their houses into +his own house because he wanted them; or (4) they follow him for +pleasure. + +In Perak some of the chiefs do not provide their girls with food or +clothing, but they tell them to get these necessaries of life as best +they can, i.e., by prostitution--for the labor of the debtor being the +property of the creditor, prostitution is in this case a necessity and +not a choice. + +Each Rajah in his own district claims the privilege of fining, either +for a capital offence or for a trifling misdeed. Should, then, a man be +fined and not pay the fine, he and his family, if he has one, are at +once taken into this debt-bondage, not to work out the fine, but to +toil away their lives amid blows and upbraidings--the daughters driven +to prostitution, the sons to thieving, and even greater crimes. + +This is no exaggerated statement, but the plain truth. + +When the Rajah gives nothing, neither food nor clothes, or when he is a +passionate man, and threatens to kill one or other of his followers for +some trivial offence, or for no offence at all, it often happens that +one will seek refuge in flight. If caught, though, it may be said to be +the received custom to inflict only some slight punishment; yet that +would not deter a Rajah from punishing such an offence even with death +should it seem good to him. + +Bond-debtors are handed about from one Rajah to another without a +thought of consulting them. If one runs away and is caught, it is at +great risk of being put to death, while probably no one would move a +finger to save him, his master excusing himself on the plea that it is +necessary to frighten others from running away also. + +These Rajah-creditors would tell you smilingly that they knew by +Mohammedan law the creditors can take and sell all their debtor's +property for an overdue debt, and that then the debtor is free; but +they never act on that principle. + +Many men and women, however, rarely incur debts, knowing well what lies +before them in case of non-payment. + +Malays, by their laws, are allowed to buy and sell slaves, and if, +having for years lost sight of a slave, the owner finds him or her, he +takes the slave with his wife and family, if he has one, as his lawful +property. + +There is one other phase of debtor-bondage, and that a common one, +where the father or mother places one or more of their own children as +security with the creditor for a debt; thus in reality selling their +own flesh and blood into often a life-long bondage. If these children +die on the creditor's hands, the parents supply their places by others, +or the Rajah, should he wish it, can at any time after the debt is due, +take the whole family into his house. + +Only the other day a man here, for a debt of $40, placed his daughter +in a Rajah's hands and ran away. Probably he will never return; +meanwhile the girl must obey her master in all things like the veriest +slave. Such a state of things as this is only brought about by the +custom which allows it. + +Another common practice in the States, more especially in Perak, is to +capture, as you might wild beasts, the unoffending Jakun women, and +make them and their children slaves through generations. + +In April I was in Ulu Selangor, and the headmen there complained that a +chief from Slim had a fortnight before caught 14 Jakuns and one Malay +in Ulu Selangor, had chained them and driven off to Slim. Arrived +there, the Malay was liberated and he returned. + +Letters were written to Slim and Perak, but though we ascertained the +party had reached Slim, they did not remain there, and they have not +yet been discovered. + +I have already stated that the Rajah looks to the number of his +following as the gauge of his power, and other Rajahs will respect and +fear him accordingly. Thus he tries to get men into his service in this +way, and is rather inclined to refuse payment should the debtor be so +fortunate as to raise the requisite amount of his debt. + +Almost the only chance the debtor has of raising this amount is by +successful gambling. Of course it hardly ever happens that he is +successful; but, like all gamblers, he always thinks he will be, and +thus gambling becomes a mania with him, which he will gratify at all +costs, caring little by what means he gets money for play so long as he +does obtain it. + +These are the general facts relating to the position of the +slave-debtor, and these things which I have described, seemingly so +difficult of belief, are done almost daily; looked upon by those who do +them as a right divine; by the victims as a fate from which there is no +reprieve. + +To compel his followers to obey him implicitly, the Rajah treats them +with a severity which sometimes makes death the punishment of the +slightest offence to him. These followers he thus holds to do whatever +he bids them, even to the commission of the gravest crimes. + +They again, having to provide themselves with food and clothes, and yet +having to work for him, are led to prey on the defenceless population, +from whom, in the name of their Rajah-master, they extort whatever +there is to get, and on whom they sometimes visit those cruelties which +they have themselves already experienced. + +This system of debtor bondage influences, then, the whole population, +not slightly but deeply, in ways it is hardly possible to credit except +when seen in a constant intercourse with all classes of Malay society. + +The question at issue seems to be; how to deprive the Rajah of this +great power--an unscrupulous instrument in unscrupulous hands--how to +free the debtors from their bondage, the women from lives of forced +prostitution, the unoffending population from the robberies and +murderous freaks of Rajahs and their bondsmen.* +[*Some of these remarks apply specially to Selangor, in which State +slavery is now abolished. I. L. B.] + +In Perak it is different; the debtor-bondage is one of the chief +customs--one of the "pillars of the State"--an abuse jealously guarded +by the Perak Rajahs and Chiefs, and especially by those who make the +worst uses of it. + +I have often discussed this question of debt-slavery with the Malays +themselves, but they say they see no way under the rule of their Rajahs +to put down this curse of their country, with all the evils that follow +in its train. I have, etc. + +(Signed) Frank A. Swettenham, (Now Asst. Colonial Secretary +at Singapore.) +The Honorable the Secretary for Native States, Singapore, +Straits Settlements. + + + +APPENDIX C + +No. I + +From H.B.M.'s Resident, Perak, to Colonial Secretary, Straits +Settlements Residency, Kwala Kansa, December 14, 1878. + +Sir--In reference to your letter of the 28th June last, directing, by +command of His Excellency the Governor, my particular attention to the +plan adopted in Selangor for the extinction of the claims against +slave-debtors, by a valuation of their services to their creditors +according to a fixed scale, and directing me to consider to His +Excellency with a view to its being afterward submitted for the +consideration of the Council of State: + +1. I have the honor to state in reply that a copy of that letter and +its inclosure was supplied to the Assistant Resident of Perak, and its +contents communicated to the other magistrates, with instructions on +all occasions in which such cases should be brought before them, to +endeavor, with the consent of the creditors, to come to a settlement on +such a basis. + +2. The Toh Puan Halimah, daughter of the exiled Laxamana of Perak, and +chief wife of the banished Mentri of the State, had invested most of +her private money in advances of this description, which, up to the +time of British interference, was the favorite form of security, and +she is now the largest claimant in the country for the repayment of her +money. Another, Wan Teh Sapiah, has also claims of a like nature on +several families, and both these ladies willingly undertook to accept +of liquidation by such an arrangement. + +3. In the former case it has, I am sorry to say, fallen through, from +the impossibility of inducing the debtors to work regularly, and from +very many of them, who are living in entire freedom in different parts +of the country, declining to come into the arrangement, though +acknowledging their debts. + +4. In many other cases the creditors from the first put forward the +certainty of the failure of such a system from the above-mentioned +cause; others have objected that they had no regular employment in +which to place their debtors; others, that they are utterly ruined by +the events of recent years, and that they would accede to the proposal +if fairly carried out on the other part, provided the Government would +advance money as the native Rajahs did to enable them to open mines or +gardens in which they could employ their debtors; nearly all have +declared themselves willing, and even anxious, to accept a just amount +in payment of their debts, several suggesting that the State might +conveniently undertake to do this, employing the labor in public works +until the debtor should be free. + +5. I cannot undertake to say what may have been the practice in former +times, as to the treatment, in Perak, of this class of persons; but no +case of cruelty or any great hardship has been brought to my notice +since I came into the country. By far the larger number of the +slave-debtors live with their families apart and often at great +distances from their masters, enjoying all the fruits of their labor, +rendering occasional assistance to them when called upon to do so, +which, in the majority of cases, is of rare occurrence. + +6. The circumstances of Perak would probably be found to differ from +those of Selangor, which I understand has a much smaller population; +was governed by an enlightened ruler under the advice of British +Residents, who succeeded in introducing the present regulation +immediately after the conquest of the district. + +7. To introduce such a measure into Perak at the present time would, in +my opinion, have a very disturbing effect, and although I do not think +that it would lead to any extensive or organized armed resistance, I am +sure that it would so shake the confidence which has arisen between the +European officers and principal people that years would be required to +restore it. + +8. I confess that I am not able to devote all my sympathy to the weaker +class in this question. I concur with the principal natives that the +introduction of a measure which formed no part of the original contract +would practically amount to a confiscation of their property, the value +of the labor of this class of persons being scarcely more than nominal; +and I adhere to the opinion that the just and politic course is, as has +been done, to prohibit any extension or renewal of the practice either +of slave indebtedness or slavery; to secure good treatment for the +servile classes under penalty of enforced manumission; to reduce claims +when they come before the magistrates to the minimum which justice to +the creditor will permit; to await the increased means of freeing +themselves which must develop for the poorer classes upon the extensive +introduction of European capital into agricultural industries; and, +finally, to purchase at a rate which, in consequence of the notorious +discouragement with which every case is treated by the European +officers and the courts, and the pressure of other influences, will, in +time, be much diminished from what would probably be considered a fair +equivalent. I have, etc., + +(Signed) Hugh Low, Resident. +The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Straits Settlements, +Singapore. + + +No. II + +From H.B.M.'s Resident, Perak, to the Honorable the Colonial Secretary + +Teluk Anson, April 26, 1882. + +Sir--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the +14th instant, calling upon me for information as to the progress made +toward the extinction of debt slavery in this State since 1879, for +transmission to Her Majesty's Secretary of State. + +2. In reply I have the honor to report that the policy explained in my +letters to your predecessor, dated 28th May and 14th December, 1878, +has been steadily pursued in Perak; all slave debtors who have appealed +to the protection of the courts having their cases adjudicated upon on +the most liberal terms consistent with justice to the creditors, and a +considerable number have availed themselves of the facilities presented +to them and bought up the claims upon them. + +3. Further and more intimate knowledge of the people has confirmed the +impression that whatever may have been the case in former times, +cruelty to slaves or slave debtors has been very rare since the +establishment of settled government, and in every instance in which +such has come to my knowledge or to that of the British officers, +manumission without compensation was carried out. + +4. Three such cases have occurred in the families of two very high +officers of State, and these, with one other case, are all the +instances of cruelty which have been reported to me. + +5. An attempt was made in 1879 to procure a census of the population +through the chiefs of the village communities. Each of these chiefs +recorded the name of every householder in his district with the number +of persons, distinguishing their sex and condition. + +6. A total of 47,359 is thus arrived at for the free native Malay +population. Of these 14,875 were males above, and 9,313 below, 16 years +of age. The females numbered 14,761 and 8,410. + +7. The number of slaves was returned as 1,670, of whom 775 were males +and 895 females. The slave debtors were respectively 728 and 652, +giving a total of 1,380; the two servile classes numbering, of both +sexes, 3,050. I fear, however, that these numbers do not include all +the bond population, as His Highness the Regent and one or two others +with extensive claims did not give in returns. + +8. I regret to state that the attempt which, as reported in my letter +of the 14th December, was liberally made by the Toh Puan Halimah, chief +wife of the ex-Mentri of Perak, to facilitate the manumission of her +slaves and debtors by working off the just claims against them on fair +terms, was successful only to a very inconsiderable extent. The Malays +of Perak are, as a rule, so adverse to and so unaccustomed to steady +labor, and can so easily provide for their wants, that they altogether +decline, except for short periods, to perform services of any nature +even for high wages. + +9. The opinion of those having claims upon the servile classes is now +pretty general in favor of manumission upon equitable terms, and +although a few old Conservative families in such districts as Kinta +would prefer to adhere to the former state of things, I have considered +that the time has arrived when a general measure having this end in +view may be taken into consideration in the hope of carrying it out +completely in the year 1883. + +10. His Excellency the Governor may have observed in the minutes of the +March Session of the Council of State that the subject of manumission +of slaves and debtors was brought to the notice of His Highness, the +Regent by the Resident, and that a meeting of the Council was appointed +for the 15th May, for the purpose of considering the terms on which +such a measure should be based, and the manner in which it should be +carried out. + +11. My own idea is that a commission, consisting of one or two native +chiefs and the principal European officer of each district, should be +appointed to inquire, under written instructions, into the +circumstances of each case, and award, subject to the approval of the +Government, such compensation as may seem fair to both parties; that +the money necessary to pay the amounts awarded shall be advanced by the +Government; that the sum adjudged to be paid for manumission shall +remain in whole or in part, as may be determined in Council, a debt +from the freedman to the State, which he shall be bound to repay by a +deduction of a portion of his wages for labor on the public works of +the country, which he must continue until his debt is cleared off, +should he be unable or unwilling to raise the money by other means; +that male relatives shall take upon them the obligations incurred for +the freedom of female relations who may themselves be unable to pay; +and that, from the date of the completion of the measure, every person +in the State shall be absolutely free, and slavery and bond +indebtedness declared to be illegal institutions and forever abolished. + +12. I have formerly stated it as the opinion of the best informed +natives that a sum varying from $60,000 to $80,000 would be sufficient +to meet the necessary expenditure, but I fear that the larger amount +would be insufficient, as it would be advisable to deal with an +institution involving so great a change in the habits of, and loss to +the people, with a certain measure of liberality. I have, etc. + +(Signed) Hugh Low, Resident. +The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, etc., etc., etc., +Straits Settlements. + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither + |