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diff --git a/76055-0.txt b/76055-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cced1b --- /dev/null +++ b/76055-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6326 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76055 *** + + + + + +MALAY SKETCHES + + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + + +UNADDRESSED LETTERS + +_Crown 8vo, 6s. Third Edition_ + +“Deep gratitude is due to Sir Frank for giving these letters to the world +... the lazy descriptions of Eastern life, the musings on great scenes, +the stories, and the utterances of social wisdom are all delightful, +and add body to a book remarkable for a rare delicacy and charm.”—_The +Athenæum._ + +“His narrative style is admirable, and his episodes are always +interesting. One could read for many hours of the clever mongoose and +tigers and crocodiles.... Sir Frank Swettenham has a pretty humour.... +The style in which these ‘Unaddressed Letters’ is written is excellent.”— +_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + + +THE REAL MALAY + +PEN PICTURES + +_Crown, 8vo, 6s._ + +“No pen except that of Mr. Conrad has drawn the Malay character so +faithfully or so graphically.... It is a combination that is very +alluring, and we confess to finding Sir Frank Swettenham’s book of Malay +sketches most fascinating reading.”—_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + +“Sir Frank Swettenham understands perhaps better than any other roving +Englishman ‘The Real Malay.’”—_The Morning Post._ + + + + +[Illustration] + + MALAY SKETCHES + + BY + SIR FRANK ATHELSTANE SWETTENHAM + + JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEAD + LONDON AND NEW YORK MDCCCCIII + + THIRD EDITION + + Printed by BALLANTYNE HANSON & CO. + London & Edinburgh + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION ix + + I. THE REAL MALAY 1 + + II. THE TIGER 12 + + III. A FISHING PICNIC 19 + + IV. THE MURDER OF THE HAWKER 25 + + V. MĔNG-GĔLUNCHOR 31 + + VI. ÂMOK 38 + + VII. THE JÔGET 44 + + VIII. THE STORY OF MAT ARIS 53 + + IX. LÂTAH 64 + + X. THE ETERNAL FEMININE 83 + + XI. IN THE NOON OF NIGHT 92 + + XII. VAN HAGEN AND CAVALIERO 103 + + XIII. THE PASSING OF PĔNGLIMA PRANG SĔMAUN 112 + + XIV. BĔR-HANTU 147 + + XV. THE KING’S WAY 161 + + XVI. A MALAY ROMANCE 179 + + XVII. MALAY SUPERSTITIONS 192 + + XVIII. WITH A CASTING-NET 211 + + XIX. JAMES WHEELER WOODFORD BIRCH 227 + + XX. A PERSONAL INCIDENT 248 + + XXI. NAKODAH ORLONG 270 + + XXII. EVENING 281 + + + + +PREFACE + + +This is not a book of travels, nor is it, in even the smallest sense, the +record of a traveller’s experiences in a foreign land. It is a series of +sketches of Malay scenery and Malay character drawn by one who has spent +the best part of his life in the scenes and amongst the people described. + +These pages contain no statistics, no history, no geography, no science, +real or spurious, no politics, no moralising, no prophecy,—only an +attempt to awaken an interest in an almost undescribed but deeply +interesting people, the dwellers in one of the most beautiful and least +known countries in the East. + +The traveller will come in time, and he will publish his experiences of +Malâya and the Malays; but while he may look upon the country with a +higher appreciation and paint its features with a more artistic touch, he +will see few of those characteristics of the people, none of that inner +life which, I make bold to say, is here faithfully portrayed. + + FRANK SWETTENHAM. + +THE RESIDENCY, PERAK, _28 March 1895_. + + + + + “Quel est donc ce pays, disaient-ils l’un a l’autre, inconnu + a tout le reste de la terre, et où toute la nature est d’une + espèce si différente de la nôtre?” + + VOLTAIRE + + +Imagine yourself transported to a land of eternal summer, to that Golden +Peninsula, ’twixt Hindustan and Far Cathay, from whence the early +navigators brought back such wondrous stories of adventure. A land where +Nature is at her best and richest: where plants and animals, beasts of +the forest, birds of the air, and every living thing seem yet inspired +with a feverish desire for growth and reproduction, as though they were +still in the dawn of Creation. + +And Man? + +Yes, he is here. Forgotten by the world, passed by in the race for +civilisation, here he has remained amongst his own forests, by the banks +of his well-loved streams, unseeking and unsought. Whence he came none +know and few care, but this is the land that has given to, or taken from, +him the name of a Race that has spread over a wider area than any other +Eastern people. + +Malâya, land of the pirate and the _âmok_, your secrets have been well +guarded, but the enemy has at last passed your gate, and soon the +irresistible Juggernaut of Progress will have penetrated to your remotest +fastness, slain your beasts, cut down your forests, “civilised” your +people, clothed them in strange garments, and stamped them with the seal +of a higher morality. + +That time of regeneration will come rapidly, but for the moment the Malay +of the Peninsula is as he has been these hundreds of years. Education and +contact with Western people must produce the inevitable result. Isolated +native races whose numbers are few must disappear or conform to the views +of a stronger will and a higher intelligence. The Malays of the Peninsula +will not disappear, but they will change, and the process of “awakening” +has in places already begun. + +It might be rash to speculate on the gain which the future has in store +for this people, but it is hardly likely to make them more personally +interesting to the observer. This is the moment of transition, and these +are sketches of the Malay as he is. + + Jetons-nous dans cette petite barque, laissons-nous aller au + courant: une rivière mène toujours à quelque en droit habité; + si nous ne trouvons pas des choses agréables, nous trouverons + du moins des choses nouvelles + + “‘Allons,’ dit Candide, ‘recommandons-nous à la Providence’” + + VOLTAIRE + + + + +MALAY SKETCHES + + + + +I + +THE REAL MALAY + + He was the mildest manner’d man + That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat + + BYRON, _Don Juan_ + + +To begin to understand the Malay you must live in his country, speak +his language, respect his faith, be interested in his interests, humour +his prejudices, sympathise with and help him in trouble, and share his +pleasures and possibly his risks. Only thus can you hope to win his +confidence. Only through that confidence can you hope to understand the +inner man, and this knowledge can therefore only come to those who have +the opportunity and use it. + +So far the means of studying Malays in their own country (where alone +they are seen in their true character) have fallen to few Europeans, +and a very small proportion of them have shown an inclination to get to +the hearts of the people. There are a hundred thousand Malays in Perak +and some more in other parts of the Peninsula; and the white man, whose +interest in the race is strong enough, may not only win confidence +but the devotion that is ready to give life itself in the cause of +friendship. The Scripture says: “There is no greater thing than this,” +and in the end of the nineteenth century that is a form of friendship all +too rare. Fortunately this is a thing you cannot buy, but to gain it is +worth some effort. + +The real Malay is a short, thick-set, well-built man, with straight +black hair, a dark brown complexion, thick nose and lips, and bright +intelligent eyes. His disposition is generally kindly, his manners are +polite and easy. Never cringing, he is reserved with strangers and +suspicious, though he does not show it. He is courageous and trustworthy +in the discharge of an undertaking; but he is extravagant, fond of +borrowing money, and very slow in repaying it. He is a good talker, +speaks in parables, quotes proverbs and wise saws, has a strong sense +of humour, and is very fond of a good joke. He takes an interest in +the affairs of his neighbours and is consequently a gossip. He is a +Muhammadan and a fatalist, but he is also very superstitious. He never +drinks intoxicants, he is rarely an opium-smoker. But he is fond of +gambling, cock-fighting, and kindred sports. He is by nature a sportsman, +catches and tames elephants, is a skilful fisherman, and thoroughly at +home in a boat. Above all things, he is conservative to a degree, is +proud and fond of his country and his people, venerates his ancient +customs and traditions, fears his Rajas, and has a proper respect for +constituted authority—while he looks askance on all innovations, and +will resist their sudden introduction. But if he has time to examine +them carefully, and they are not thrust upon him, he is willing to be +convinced of their advantage. At the same time he is a good imitative +learner, and, when he has energy and ambition enough for the task, makes +a good mechanic. He is, however, lazy to a degree, is without method or +order of any kind, knows no regularity even in the hours of his meals, +and considers time as of no importance. His house is untidy, even dirty, +but he bathes twice a day, and is very fond of personal adornment in the +shape of smart clothes. + +A Malay is intolerant of insult or slight; it is something that to him +should be wiped out in blood. He will brood over a real or fancied stain +on his honour until he is possessed by the desire for revenge. If he +cannot wreak it on the offender, he will strike out at the first human +being that comes in his way, male or female, old or young. It is this +state of blind fury, this vision of blood, that produces the _âmok_. The +Malay has often been called treacherous. I question whether he deserves +the reproach more than other men. He is courteous and expects courtesy in +return, and he understands only one method of avenging personal insults. + +The spirit of the clan is also strong in him. He acknowledges the +necessity of carrying out, even blindly, the orders of his hereditary +chief, while he will protect his own relatives at all costs and make +their quarrel his own. + +The giving of gifts by Raja to subject, or subject to ruler, is a custom +now falling into desuetude, but it still prevails on the occasion of the +accession of a Raja, the appointment of high officers, a marriage, a +circumcision, ear-piercing, or similar ceremony. As with other Eastern +people, hospitality is to the Malay a sacred duty fulfilled by high and +low, rich and poor alike. + +Though the Malay is an Islam by profession, and would suffer crucifixion +sooner than deny his faith, he is not a bigot; indeed, his tolerance +compares favourably with that of the professing Christian, and, when +he thinks of these matters at all, he believes that the absence of +hypocrisy is the beginning of religion. He has a sublime faith in God, +the immortality of the soul, a heaven of ecstatic earthly delights, and a +hell of punishments, which every individual is so confident will not be +his own portion that the idea of its existence presents no terrors. + +Christian missionaries of all denominations have apparently abandoned the +hope of his conversion. + +In his youth, the Malay boy is often beautiful, a thing of wonderful +eyes, eyelashes, and eyebrows, with a far-away expression of sadness and +solemnity, as though he had left some better place for a compulsory exile +on earth. + +Those eyes, which are extraordinarily large and clear, seem filled with +a pained wonder at all they see here, and they give the impression of a +constant effort to open ever wider and wider in search of something they +never find. Unlike the child of Japan, this cherub never looks as if +his nurse had forgotten to wipe his nose. He is treated with elaborate +respect, sleeps when he wishes, and sits up till any hour of the night if +he so desires, eats when he is hungry, has no toys, is never whipped, +and hardly ever cries. + +Until he is fifteen or sixteen, this atmosphere of a better world remains +about him. He is often studious even, and duly learns to read the Korân +in a language he does not understand. + +Then, well then, from sixteen to twenty-five or later he is to be +avoided. He takes his pleasure, sows his wild oats like youths of a +higher civilisation, is extravagant, open-handed, gambles, gets into +debt, runs away with his neighbour’s wife, and generally asserts himself. +Then follows a period when he either adopts this path and pursues it, or, +more commonly, he weans himself gradually from an indulgence that has not +altogether realized his expectation, and if, under the advice of older +men, he seeks and obtains a position of credit and usefulness in society +from which he begins at last to earn some profit, he will, from the age +of forty, probably develop into an intelligent man of miserly and rather +grasping habits with some one little pet indulgence of no very expensive +kind. + +The Malay girl-child is not usually so attractive in appearance as the +boy, and less consideration is shown to her. She runs wild till the +time comes for investing her in a garment, that is to say when she is +about five years old. From then, she is taught to help in the house and +kitchen, to sew, to read and write, perhaps to work in the _padi_ field, +but she is kept out of the way of all strange menkind. When fifteen or +sixteen, she is often almost interesting; very shy, very fond of pretty +clothes and ornaments, not uncommonly much fairer in complexion than the +Malay man, with small hands and feet, a happy smiling face, good teeth, +and wonderful eyes and eyebrows—the eyes of the little Malay boy. The +Malay girl is proud of a wealth of straight, black hair, of a spotless +olive complexion, of the arch of her brow—“like a one-day-old moon”—of +the curl of her eyelashes, and of the dimples in cheek or chin. + +Unmarried girls are taught to avoid all men except those nearly related +to them. Until marriage, it is considered unmaidenly for them to raise +their eyes or take any part or interest in their surroundings when men +are present. This leads to an affectation of modesty which, however +over-strained, deceives nobody. + +After marriage, a woman gets a considerable amount of freedom which +she naturally values. In Perak a man, who tries to shut his womenkind +up and prevent their intercourse with others and a participation in +the fêtes and pleasures of Malay society, is looked upon as a jealous, +ill-conditioned person. + +Malays are extremely particular about questions of rank and birth, +especially when it comes to marriage, and _mésalliances_, as understood +in the West, are with them very rare. + +The general characteristics of Malay women, especially those of gentle +birth, are powers of intelligent conversation, quickness in repartee, +a strong sense of humour and an instant appreciation of the real +meaning of those hidden sayings which are hardly ever absent from their +conversation. They are fond of reading such literature as their language +offers, and they use uncommon words and expressions, the meanings of +which are hardly known to men. For the telling of secrets, they have +several modes of speech not understanded of the people. + +They are generally amiable in disposition, mildly—sometimes +fiercely—jealous, often extravagant and, up to about the age of forty, +evince an increasing fondness for jewellery and smart clothes. In these +latter days they are developing a pretty taste for horses, carriages, and +whatever conduces to luxury and display, though, in their houses, there +are still a rugged simplicity and untidiness, absolutely devoid of all +sense of order. + +A Malay is allowed by law to have as many as four wives, to divorce +them, and replace them. If he is well off and can afford so much +luxury, he usually takes advantage of the power to marry more than one +wife, to divorce and secure successors; but he seldom undertakes the +responsibility of four wives at one time. The woman on her part can, and +often does, obtain a divorce from her husband. Written conditions of +marriage, “settlements” of a kind, are common with people in the upper +classes, and the law provides for the custody of children, division of +property, and so on. The ancient maiden lady is an unknown quantity, +so is the Malay public woman; and, as there is no society bugbear, the +people lead lives that are almost natural. There are no drunken husbands, +no hobnail boots, and no screaming viragoes—because a word would get rid +of them. All forms of madness, mania, and brain-softening are extremely +rare. + +The Malay has ideas on the subject of marriage, ideas born of his +infinite experience. He has even soared into regions of matrimonial +philosophy, and returned with such crumbs of lore as never fall to the +poor monogamist. + +I am not going to give away the secrets of the life behind the curtain; +if I wished to do so I might trip over difficulties of expression; but +in spite of the Malay’s reputation for bloodthirstiness, in spite of +(or because of, whichever you please) the fact that he is impregnated +with the doctrines of Islam, in spite of his sensitive honour and his +proneness to revenge, and in spite of his desire to keep his own women +(when young and attractive) away from the prying eyes of other men, he +yet holds this uncommon faith, that if he has set his affections on a +woman, and for any reason he is unable at once to make her his own, he +cares not to how many others she allies herself provided she becomes his +before time has robbed her of her physical attractions. + +His reason is this. He says (certainly not to a stranger, rarely even +to his Malay friends, but to himself) “if, after all this experience, +she likes me best, I have no fear that she will wish to go further +afield. All Malay girls marry before they are twenty, and the woman who +has only known one husband, however attractive he may be, will come +sooner or later to the conviction that life with another promises new +and delightful experiences not found in the society of the first man to +whom destiny and her relatives have chosen to unite her. Thus some fool +persuades her that in his worship and passion she will find the World’s +Desire, and it is only after perhaps a long and varied experience that +she realizes that, having started for a voyage on the ocean, she finds +herself seated at the bottom of a dry well.” + +It is possible that thus she becomes acquainted with truth. + + + + +II + +THE TIGER + + Yon golden terror, barred with ebon stripes + Low-crouching horror, with the cruel fangs + Waiting in deathly stillness for thy spring + + ANON. + + +Some idea of what Malays are in their own country may best be conveyed +by taking the reader in imagination through some scenes of their daily +life. The tiger, for instance, is seldom deliberately sought; if he +kills a buffalo a spring gun is set to shoot him when he returns for his +afternoon meal, but sometimes the tiger comes about a village, and it is +necessary to get rid of so dangerous a visitor. Let me try and put the +scene before you. + +But how describe an Eastern dawn? Sight alone will give a true impression +of its strange beauty. Out of darkness and stillness, the transition to +light—intense brilliant light—and the sounds of awakened life, is rapid +and complete, a short half hour or less turning night into tropical day. +The first indication of dawn is a grey haze, then the clouds clothing +the Western hills are shot with pale yellow and in a few minutes turn to +gold, while Eastern ranges are still in darkness. The light spreads to +the Western slopes, moves rapidly across the valleys, and suddenly the +sun, a great ball of fire, appears above the Eastern hills. The fogs, +which have risen from the rivers and marshes and covered the land, as +with a pall, rise like smoke and disappear, and the whole face of nature +is flooded with light, the valleys and slopes of the Eastern ranges being +the last to feel the influence of the risen sun. + +That grey half-light which precedes dawn is the signal for Malays to be +stirring. The doors are opened, and, only half awake and shivering in +the slight breeze made by the rising fog, they leave their houses and +make for the nearest stream, there to bathe and fetch fresh water for the +day’s use. + +A woman dressed in the _sârong_, a plaid skirt of silk or cotton, and +a jacket, walks rapidly to the river, carrying a long bamboo and some +gourds, which, after her bath, she fills, and begins to walk home +through the wealth of vegetation that clothes the whole face of the +country. She follows a narrow path up from the bed of the clear stream, +the jungle trees and orchards, the long rank grasses and tangled creepers +almost hiding the path. Suddenly she stops spellbound, her knees give way +under her, the vessels drop from her nerveless hands, and a speechless +fear turns her blood to water; for there, in front of her, is a great +black and yellow head with cruel yellow eyes, and a half-open mouth +showing a red tongue and long white teeth. The shoulders and fore feet +of the tiger stand clear of the thick foliage, and a hoarse low roar +of surprise and anger comes from the open mouth. An exceeding great +fear chains the terrified woman to the spot, and the tiger, thus faced, +sulkily and with more hoarse grumbling, slowly draws back into the jungle +and disappears. Then the instinct of self-preservation returns to the +woman, and, with knees still weak and a cold hand on her heart, she +stumbles, with what speed she may, back to the river, down the bank, and +to the friendly shelter of the nearest dwelling. + +It takes little time to tell the story, and the men of the house, armed +with spears and _krises_ and an old rusty gun, quickly spread the +news throughout the _kampong_, as each cluster of huts and orchards +is called. Every one arms himself with such weapons as he possesses, +the boys of sixteen or seventeen climb into trees, from which they +hope to see and be able to report the movements of the beast. The men, +marshalled by the _ka-tua kampong_, the village chief, make their plans +for surrounding the spot where the tiger was seen, and word is sent by +messenger to the nearest police-station and European officer. + +Whilst all this is taking place, the tiger, probably conscious that too +many people are about, leaves his lair and stealthily creeps along a path +which will lead him far from habitations. But, as he does so, he passes +under a tree where sits one of the young watchmen, and the boy, seizing +his opportunity, drops a heavy spear on the tiger as he passes, and gives +him a serious wound. The beast, with a roar of pain, leaps into the +jungle, carrying the spear with him; and, after what he considers a safe +interval, the boy climbs down, gets back to the circle of watchers, and +reports what has occurred. + +For a long time, there is silence, no one caring to go in and seek a +wounded tiger—but this monotony is broken rudely and suddenly by a shot +on the outskirts of the wide surrounding ring of beaters where a young +Malay has been keeping guard over a jungle track. Instantly the nearest +rush to the spot only to find the boy badly wounded, after firing a shot +that struck the tiger but did not prevent him reaching and pulling down +the youth who fired it. + +Hardly has a party carried the wounded man to shelter, than news arrives +that, in trying to break the ring at another point, the tiger has sprung +upon the point of a spear held in rest by a kneeling Malay, and, the +spear, passing completely through the beast’s body, the tiger has come +down on the man’s back and killed him. The old men say it is because, +regardless of the wisdom of their ancestors, fools now face a tiger with +spears unguarded, whereas in the olden time it was always the custom to +tie a crosspiece of wood where blade joins shaft to prevent the tiger +“running up the spear” and killing his opponent. + +The game is getting serious now and the tiger has retired to growl and +roar in a thick isolated copse of bushes and tangled undergrowth from +which it seems impossible to draw him, and where it would be madness to +seek him. + +By this time, all the principal people in the neighbourhood have been +collected. The copse is surrounded and two elephants are ridden at +the cover, in the hope of driving the wounded tiger from his shelter. +A vain hope, for, when the huge beasts get inconveniently near to +him, the tiger, with a great roar, springs on to the shoulder of the +nearest elephant and brings him to his knees. The terrified occupants +of the howdah are thus deposited on the ground, but lose no time in +picking themselves up and getting away. The elephant with a scream of +terror whirls round, throwing off the tiger with a broken tooth, and, +accompanied by his fellow, rushes from the place and will not be stopped +till several miles have been covered and the river is between them and +their enemy. + +Severe maladies want desperate and heroic remedies. After a short +consultation, a young Malay chief and several of his friends, armed only +with spears, express their determination to seek the tiger where he lies. +They immediately put the plan into execution. Shoulder to shoulder and +with spears in rest, they advance to the copse. They have not long to +wait in doubt for the wounded and enraged beast, with open mouth and eyes +blazing fell purpose, charges straight at them. There is the shock of +flesh against steel, an awful snarling and straining of muscles and the +already badly wounded tiger is pinned to the ground and dies under the +thrusts of many spears. + +The general result of a tiger hunt, under such circumstances, is the +death or serious injury of one or two of the pursuers. + + + + +III + +A FISHING PICNIC + + I have given you lands to hunt in, + I have given you streams to fish in, + Filled the river full of fishes + + LONGFELLOW + + +Now come to a Malay picnic. + +Again, it is early morning, the guests have been invited overnight and +warned to come on their elephants and bring “rice and salt.” By the time +the sun is well up there are fifty or sixty people (of whom about half +are women), mounted on twelve or fifteen elephants, and some boys and +followers are prepared to walk. + +The word is given to make for a great limestone hill rising abruptly out +of the plain, for, close round the foot of this rock, eating its way into +the unexplored depths of subaqueous caves, flows a clear mountain-bred +stream, and, in the silent pools which lie under the shadow of the cliff, +are the fish which with the rice and salt, will make the coming feast. + +The road lies through six or seven miles of open country and virgin +forest, and it is 9 or 10 A.M. before the river is reached, the elephants +hobbled, and the men of the party ready for business. + +In days gone by, the method would have been to _tuba_ the stream above +a pool, but this poisoning of the water affects the river for miles, +and dynamite which is not nearly so destructive is preferred. The plan +is to select a large and deep pool round which the men stand ready to +spring in, while the women make a cordon across the shallow at its lower +end, ready to catch the fish that escape the hands of the swimmers. Two +cartridges of dynamite with a detonator and a piece of slow match are +tied to a stone and thrown into the deepest part of the pool, there is +an explosion sending up a great column of water, and immediately the +dead fish come to the surface and begin to float down stream. Twenty +men spring into the pool, and with shouts and laughter struggle for the +slippery fish; those which elude the grasp of the swimmers are caught by +the women. It will then be probably discovered that no very big fish have +been taken; and, as it is certain that some at least should be there, +the boldest and best divers will search the bottom of the pool and even +look into the water-filled caves of the rock that there rises sheer out +of the stream. Success rewards this effort, and, from the bed of the +pool, some sixteen or eighteen feet deep, the divers bring up two at a +time, great silvery fish weighing ten to fifteen pounds each. There is +much joy over the capture of these _klah_ and _tengas_, the best kinds of +fresh water fish known here, and, if the total take is not a large one, +the operation will be repeated in another and yet another pool, until a +sufficient quantity of fish has been secured and every one is tired of +the water. + +There is a general change of wet garments for dry ones, no difficult +matter, while long before this fires have been made on the bank, rice +is boiling, fish are roasting in split sticks, grilling, frying, and +the hungry company is settling itself in groups ready for the meal. It +is a matter of honour that no plates should be used, so every one has a +piece of fresh green plantain leaf to hold his rice and salt and fish, +while nature supplies the forks and spoons. Whether it is the exercise, +the excitement, or the coldness of the two hours’ bath, that is most +responsible for the keen appetites is not worth inquiring, but thorough +justice is done to the food; and if you, reader, should ever be fortunate +enough to take part in one of these picnics, you will declare that you +never before realised how delicious a meal can be made of such simple +ingredients. Some one has smuggled in a few condiments and they add +largely to the success of the Malay _bouille-abaisse_, but people affect +not to know they are there, and you go away assured that rice and salt +did it all. That is part of the game. + +And now it is time to return, the sun has long passed the meridian, and +there is a mile or two of forest before getting into the open country. +The timid amongst the ladies feign alarm (Malays are sensible people who +take only the young to picnics, and leave the old to mind the houses), +and a desire to get away at once, but there are others who know what is +in store for them. + +The elephants are brought up and each pannier is found to be loaded +with jungle fruit, large and small, ripe and unripe, hard and soft, +but generally hard as stones. Every one knows the meaning of this and, +as the elephants kneel down to take their riders, you may observe that +usually two men sit in front, two women behind, and the latter are +anxious about their umbrellas and show a tendency to open them here +where, in the gloom of the forest, they are not needed. The first two +or three elephants move off quickly, and, having turned a corner in the +path, disappear. It is necessary to proceed in Indian file, and as the +next elephant comes to this corner he and his company are assailed by +a perfect shower of missiles (the jungle fruit) from the riders of the +first section of elephants who are slily waiting here to surprise those +behind. The attack is returned with interest and the battle wages hot +and furious. The leaders of the rear column try to force their way past +those who dispute the path with them, and either succeed or put the enemy +to flight only to find a succession of ambuscades laid for them, each +resulting in a deadly struggle, and so, throughout the length of the +forest, the more venturesome pushing their way to the front or taking up +an independent line and making enemies of all comers, until, at last, +the whole party clears the jungle and, taking open order, a succession +of wild charges soon gets every one into the fray and, the supply of +ammunition having run out, there is nothing left but to count the damage +done. + +It is principally in broken umbrellas which have been used as shields, +but some garments are stained, and there may be a few bruises treated +with much good humour, and, by the time the party has straightened its +dishevelledness, it is found that miles of otherwise tedious journey have +been passed and every one is home ere the lengthening shadows suddenly +contract and tell the sun has set. + + + + +IV + +THE MURDER OF THE HAWKER + + It is a damned and bloody work, + The graceless action of a heavy hand + + _King John_ + + +One afternoon, in 1892, a foreign Malay named Lenggang, who made a living +by hawking in a boat on the Perak River, left Bota with his usual cargo +and a hundred dollars which his cousin, the son of the _Penghulu_, had +been keeping for him. He was alone in the boat and dropped down stream, +saying he would call at some of the villages that line at intervals the +banks of the river. + +The next day this man’s dead body, lying partly under a mosquito curtain, +was discovered in the boat as it drifted past the village of Pulau Tiga. +The local headman viewed it, but saw nothing to arouse his suspicions, +for the boat was full of valuables and a certain amount of money, while +nothing in it seemed to have been disturbed, and there were no marks of +violence on the corpse, which was duly buried. + +When the matter was reported, inquiries were made but they elicited +nothing. Some months after the relatives of the dead man appeared at +Teluk Anson, and said they had good reason to believe that he had met +with foul play, indeed that he had been murdered at a place called +Lambor—a few miles below Bota and above Pulau Tiga. An intelligent Malay +sergeant of police proceeded to the spot, arrested a number of people, +who denied all knowledge of the affair, and took them to Teluk Anson. +Arrived there, these people said they were able to give all the necessary +information if that would procure their release, as they had only +promised to keep their mouths shut so long as they themselves did not +suffer for it. + +The details of the story as told in evidence are as follows, and they are +very characteristic of the Malay: + +It appears that the hawker duly arrived in his boat at Lambor, and there +tied up for the night to a stake, about twenty feet from the bank of the +river. Shortly afterwards a Malay named Ngah Prang, stopped three of +his acquaintances walking on the bank, asked them if they had seen the +hawker’s boat, and suggested that it would be a good thing to rob him. +They said they were afraid, and some other men coming up asked one of +those to whom the proposal had been made what they were talking about, +and, being told, advised him to have nothing to do with the business and +the party dispersed. + +That evening, at 8 P.M., several people heard cries of “help, help, I +am being killed,” from the river, and five or six men ran out of their +houses down to the bank, a distance of only fifty yards, whence they saw, +in the brilliant moonlight, Ngah Prang and two other men in the hawker’s +boat, the hawker lying flat on his back while one man had both hands at +his throat, another held his wrists, and the third his feet; but it is +said that those on the bank heard a noise of rapping as though feet were +kicking or hands beating quickly the deck of the boat. It only lasted for +a moment and then there was silence. + +As those who had been roused by the cries came down the bank they called +to the men in the boat, barely twenty feet away, and lighted at their +work by the brilliancy of an Eastern moon, to know what they were doing; +they even addressed them by their names, but these gave no answer, and, +getting up from off the hawker, untied the boat, one taking a pole and +another the rudder and disappeared down the river. The hawker did not +move. He was dead. + +The witnesses of this tragedy appear then to have returned to their homes +and slept peacefully. Several of them naïvely remarked that they heard +the next day that the hawker had been found dead in his boat, and it +appears that when one of these witnesses, on the following day, met one +of the murderers, he asked him what he was doing in Lenggang’s boat, and +the man replied that they were robbing him, that he held the hawker by +the throat, the others by the hands and feet, but that really they had +got very little for their trouble. + +Meanwhile the three murderers told several of the eye-witnesses of the +affair that, if they said anything, it would be the worse for them, +and nothing particular occurred till a notice was posted in the Mosque +calling upon any one who knew anything about Lenggang’s death to report +it to the village Headman. Then Ngah Prang, who apparently was the +original instigator of the job, as so often happens, thought he would +save himself at the expense of his friends, and actually went himself to +make a report, and, meeting on the way one of the eye-witnesses going on +a similar errand, he persuaded him to give a qualified promise to help in +denying Ngah Prang’s complicity while convicting the others. + +Needless to say that, from the moment the first disclosure was made and +communicated to the police, resulting in the arrest of a number of those +who had actually witnessed the crime, every smallest detail was gradually +brought to light, the hawker’s property, even his own clothes, gradually +recovered, the money stolen from him traced, and no single link left +wanting in the chain of evidence strong enough to convict and hang the +guilty men. That indeed was the result. + +I have told the story of this crime, which is devoid of sensational +incident, because it will give some idea of the state of feeling in +a real Malay _kampong_ of poor labouring people far from any outside +influence. The man murdered was a Malay; the idea that he was worth +something which could be obtained by the insignificant sacrifice of his +life seems to have at once suggested that Providence was putting a good +thing in the way of poor people, and those who were not afraid determined +that the opportunity was not to be lost. The murder is discussed +practically in public; it is executed also in public, in the presence of +a feebly expostulating opposition, and then every one goes to bed. The +only further concern of the community in the matter is as to how much the +murderers got. For them the incident ends there, and, if any one has any +qualms of conscience, they are silenced by the threats of the men who so +easily throttled the hawker. + +It is only when inquiries are pushed, and things are made generally +unpleasant for every one, that the truth is unwillingly disclosed, and +the penalty paid. + + + + +V + +MĔNG-GĔLUNCHOR + + And falling and crawling and sprawling, + And driving and riving and striving, + And sprinkling and twinkling and winkling, + And sounding and bounding and rounding, + Dividing and gliding and sliding, + And trumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, + And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing + + SOUTHEY + + +The Malays of Perak occasionally indulge themselves in a form of +amusement which, I believe, is peculiar to them. Though of ancient +origin, it is not well known even here, and, as new sensations are the +desire of our time, I offer it to the jaded pleasure-seekers of the West. + +Given a fine sunny morning (and that is what most mornings are in Perak) +you will drive four or five miles to the appointed place of meeting, and +there find a crowd of one or two hundred Malay men, women, and children, +who have been duly bidden to _mĕng-gĕlunchor_ and to take part in the +picnic which forms a recognised accompaniment to the proceedings. + +A walk of a couple of miles along a shady jungle path brings the party to +the foot of a spur of hills, whence a clear mountain stream leaps down +a succession of cascades to fertilise the plain. There is a stiff climb +for several hundred feet until the party gains a great granite rock in +the bed of the stream, large enough to accommodate a much more numerous +gathering. In a “spate” this rock might be covered, but now the water +flows round it and dashes itself wildly over the falls below. Up-stream, +however, there is a sheer smooth face of granite, about sixty feet long, +inclined at an angle of say 45°, and, while the main body of water finds +its way down one side of this rock and then across its foot, a certain +quantity, only an inch or two deep, flows steadily down the face. The +depth of water here can be increased at will by bamboo troughs, leading +out of the great pool which lies at the head of the waterfall. At the +base of the rock is an inviting lynn not more than four feet deep. On +either side, the river is shut in by a wealth of jungle foliage through +which the sun strikes at rare intervals, just sufficiently to give the +sense of warmth and colour. + +It is delightfully picturesque with all these people in their +many-coloured garments, grouped in artistic confusion, on bank and rock. +They only sit for a brief rest after the climb, to collect wood, make +fires and get the work of cooking started, and you will not be left long +in doubt as to the meaning of _mĕng-gĕlunchor_. It is to slide, and the +game is to “toboggan” down this waterfall into the lynn at its base. + +A crowd of little boys is already walking up the steep, slippery rock. +They go to the very top, sit down in the shallow water with feet straight +out in front of them and a hand on either side for guidance, and +immediately begin to slide down the sixty feet of height, gaining, before +they have gone half way, so great a speed that the final descent into the +pool is like the fall of a stone. They succeed each other in a constant +stream, those behind coming on the top of those who have already reached +the lynn. + +But now the men, and lastly the women, are drawn to join the sliders and +the fun becomes indeed both fast and furious. The women begin timidly, +only half way up the slide, but soon grow bolder, and mixed parties of +four, six, and eight in rows of two, three, or four each, start together +and, with a good deal of laughter and ill-directed attempts at mutual +assistance, dash wildly into the pool which is almost constantly full of +a struggling, screaming crowd of young people of both sexes. + +If you understand the game, the slide is a graceful progress, but, if you +don’t, if you fail to sit erect, if you do not keep your feet together, +above all, if you lose your balance and do not remain absolutely straight +on the slide, then your descent will be far from graceful, it may +even be slightly painful, and the final plunge into the lynn will be +distinctly undignified. It is well to leave your dignity at home, if you +go to _mĕng-gĕlunchor_ with a Malay party, for those who do not weary +themselves with tobogganing become absolutely exhausted with laughing at +the sliders. The fascination of the thing is extraordinary, and, to read +this poor description, you would think it impossible that any sane person +would spend hours in struggling up a steep and slippery rock to slide +down it on two inches of water, and, having gained a startling velocity, +leap into a shallow pool where half a dozen people will be on you before +you can get out of the way. And yet I am persuaded that, if your joints +are not stiff with age and you are not afraid of cold water, or ridicule, +or personal damage (and you will admit none of those things) you would +_mĕng-gĕlunchor_ with the best of them, nor be the first to cry “hold, +enough.” + +It is usual for the men, when sliding down the rock, to sit upon a +piece of the thick fibre of the plantain called _upih_. It is perhaps +advisable, but the women do not seem to want it. It is surprising that +there are so few casualties and of such small importance—some slight +abrasions, a little bumping of heads, at most the loss of a tooth, will +be the extent of the total damage, and with a little care there need be +none at all. + +By 1 P.M. every one will probably be tired, dry garments are donned, +and a very hungry company does ample justice to the meal. An hour will +be spent in smoking and gossip, and, as the shadows begin to lengthen, +a long procession slowly wends its way back, down the slippery descent, +across the sunny fields, and through the forest, to the trysting-place +where all met in the morning and whence they now return to their own +homes. + +The intelligent reader will realise that this is a game abounding in +possibilities, but the players should be chosen with discrimination and +with due regard to individual affinities. + +A sunny climate and surroundings of natural beauty are necessary; but +a wooded ravine on the Riviera or by the shore of an Italian lake, a +clear stream leaping down a steep rocky bed, and the rest can be easily +arranged by a little cutting and polishing of stone. + +Besides the novelty and charm of the exercise, the exhilarating +motion, the semblance of danger, the clutchings at the nearest straws +for help—there are infinite opportunities for designing and donning +attractive garments wherein the graceful lines of the human form would be +less jealously hidden than in the trappings of stern convention. + +Puffed sleeves and a bell skirt, Louis XIV. heels and an eighteen inch +waist, would be inconvenient and out of place when sliding down a +waterfall in the hope of a safe and graceful plunge into a shallow lynn. + +But if the company be well chosen, the _venue_ and the climate such as +can be found at a hundred places between St. Tropez and Salerno, if +there is in the costumes and the luncheon only a fair application of +Art to Nature, the Eastern pastime is capable of easy and successful +acclimatisation in the West. And as the knights and dames stroll slowly +down the wooded glen, and the sinking sun strikes long shafts of light +across their path, glorifying all colours, not least the tint of hair +and eyes, the pleasure-seekers, if they have not by then found some more +mutually interesting topic, will be very unanimous in their praise of +_Mĕng-gĕlunchor_. + + + + +VI + +ÂMOK + + There comes a time + When the insatiate brute within the man, + Weary with wallowing in the mire, leaps forth + Devouring ... and the soul sinks + And leaves the man a devil + + LEWIS MORRIS + + +Mention has been made of the Malay _âmok_, and, as what, with our happy +faculty for mispronunciation and misspelling of the words of other +languages, is called “running amuck,” is with many English people their +only idea of the Malay, and that a very vague one, it may be of interest +to briefly describe this form of homicidal mania. + +_Mĕng-âmok_ is to make a sudden, murderous attack, and though it is +applied to the onslaught of a body of men in war time, or where plunder +is the object and murder the means to arrive at it, the term is more +commonly used to describe the action of an individual who, suddenly and +without apparent cause, seizes a weapon and strikes out blindly, killing +and wounding all who come in his way, regardless of age or sex, whether +they be friends, strangers, or his own nearest relatives. + +Just before sunset on the evening of the 11th February, 1891, a Malay +named Imam Mamat (that is Mamat the priest) came quietly into the house +of his brother-in-law at Pâsir Gâram on the Perak River, carrying a spear +and a _gôlok_, _i.e._ a sharp, pointed cutting knife. + +The Imam went up to his brother-in-law, took his hand and asked his +pardon. He then approached his own wife and similarly asked her pardon, +immediately stabbing her fatally in the abdomen with the _gôlok_. She +fell, and her brother, rushing to assist her, received a mortal wound in +the heart. The brother-in-law’s wife was in the house with four children, +and they managed to get out before the Imam had time to do more than stab +the last of them, a boy, in the back as he left the door. At this moment, +a man, who had heard the screams of the women, attempted to enter the +house, when the Imam rushed at him and inflicted a slight wound, the man +falling to the ground and getting away. + +Having secured two more spears which he found in the house, the murderer +now gave chase to the woman and her three little children and made short +work of them. A tiny girl of four years old and a boy of seven were +killed, while the third child received two wounds in the back; a spear +thrust disposed of the mother—all this within one hundred yards of the +house. + +The Imam now walked down the river bank, where he was met by a friend +named Uda Majid, rash enough to think his unarmed influence would prevail +over the other’s madness. + +He greeted the Imam respectfully, and said, “You recognise me, don’t let +there be any trouble.” + +The Imam replied, “Yes, I know you, but my spear does not,” and +immediately stabbed him twice. + +Though terribly injured, Uda Majid wrested the spear from the Imam, who +again stabbed him twice, this time in lung and windpipe, and he fell. +Another man coming up ran unarmed to the assistance of Uda Majid, when +the murderer turned on the new-comer and pursued him; but, seeing Uda +Majid get up and attempt to stagger away, the Imam went back to him +and, with two more stabs in the back, killed him. Out of the six wounds +inflicted on this man three would have proved fatal. + +The murderer now rushed along the river bank, and was twice seen to wade +far out into the water and return. Then he was lost sight of. + +By this time the news had spread up stream and down, and every one was +aware that there was abroad an armed man who would neither give nor +receive quarter. + +For two days, a body of not less than two hundred armed men under the +village chiefs made ceaseless but unavailing search for the murderer. At +6 P.M. on the second day, Imam Mamat suddenly appeared in front of the +house of a man called Lasam, who had barely time to slam the door in his +face and fasten it. The house at that moment contained four men, five +women, and seven children, and the only weapon they possessed was one +spear. + +Lasam asked the Imam what he wanted, and he said he wished to be allowed +to sleep in the house. He was told he could do so if he would throw away +his arms, and to this the Imam replied by an attempt to spear Lasam +through the window. The latter, however, seized the weapon, and with the +help of his son, wrested it out of the Imam’s hands, Lasam receiving a +stab in the face from the _gôlok_. During this struggle, the Imam had +forced himself halfway through the window, and Lasam seizing his own +spear, thrust it into the thigh of the murderer, who fell to the ground. +In the fall, the shaft of the spear broke off, leaving the blade in the +wound. + +It was now pitch dark, and, as the people of the house did not know the +extent of the Imam’s injury or what he was doing, a man went out by the +back to spread the news and call the village headman. On his arrival the +light of a torch showed the Imam lying on the ground with his weapons out +of reach, and the headman promptly pounced upon him and secured him. + +The Imam was duly handed over to the police and conveyed to Teluk Anson, +but he died from loss of blood within twenty-four hours of receiving his +wound. + +Here is the official list of killed and wounded— + + KILLED. + + Alang Rasak, wife of Imam Mamat _aged_ 33 + Bilal Abu, brother-in-law of Mamat ” 35 + Ngah Intan, wife of Bilal Abu ” 32 + Puteh, daughter of Bilal Abu ” 4 + Mumin, son of Bilal Abu ” 7 + Uda Majid ” 35 + + WOUNDED. + + Kâsim, son of Bilal Abu _aged_ 14 + Teh, daughter of Bilal Abu ” 6 + Mat Sah ” 45 + Lasam — + +It is terrible to have to add that both the women were far advanced in +pregnancy. + +Imam Mamat was a man of over forty years of age, of good repute with his +neighbours, and I never heard any cause suggested why this quiet, elderly +man of devotional habits should suddenly, without apparent reason, +develop the most inhuman instincts and brutally murder a number of men, +women, and children, his nearest relatives and friends. It is, however, +quite possible that the man was suffering under the burden of some real +or fancied wrong which, after long brooding, darkened his eyes and +possessed him with this insane desire to kill. + +An autopsy was performed on the murderer’s body, and the published +report of the surgeon says: “I hereby certify that I this day made a +_post-mortem_ examination of the body of Imam Mahomed, and find him to +have died from hæmorrhage from a wound on the outer side of right thigh; +the internal organs were healthy except that the membranes of the right +side of brain were more adherent than usual.” + + + + +VII + +THE JÔGET + + Every footstep fell as lightly + As a sunbeam on the river + + LONGFELLOW’S _Spanish Student_ + + +Malays are not dancers, but they pay professional performers to dance +for their amusement, and consider that “the better part” is with those +who watch, at their ease, the exertions of a small class whose members +are not held in the highest respect. The spectacle usually provided +is strangely wanting in attraction; a couple of women shuffling their +feet, and swaying their hands in gestures that are practically devoid +of grace or even variety—that is the Malay dance—and it is accompanied +by the beating of native drums, the striking together of two short +sticks held in either hand, and the occasional boom of a metal gong. The +entertainment has an undoubted fascination for Malays but it generally +forms part of a theatrical performance, and for Western spectators it is +immeasurably dull. + +In one of the Malay States, however, Păhang, it has for years been the +custom for the ruler and one or two of his near relatives to keep trained +dancing girls, who perform what is called the “Jôget”—a real dance with +an accompaniment of something like real music, though the orchestral +instruments are very rude indeed. + +The dancers, _bûdak jôget_, belong to the Raja’s household, they may even +be attached to him by a closer tie; they perform seldom, only for the +amusement of their lord and his friends, and the public are not admitted. +Years ago I saw such a dance, and though peculiar to Păhang as far as +the Malay States are concerned, it is probable that it came originally +from Java; the instruments used by the orchestra and the airs played are +certainly far more common in Java and Sumatra than in the Peninsula. + +I had gone to Păhang on a political mission accompanied by a friend, +and we were vainly courting sleep in a miserable lodging, when at 1 +A.M. a message came from the Sultan inviting us to witness a _jôget_. +We accepted with alacrity, and at once made our way to the _astâna_, a +picturesque, well-built and commodious house on the right bank of the +Păhang river. A palisade enclosed the courtyard, and the front of the +house was a very large hall, open on three sides, but covered by a lofty +roof of fantastic design supported on pillars. The floor of this hall was +approached by three wide steps continued round the three open sides, the +fourth being closed by a wooden wall which entirely shut off the private +apartments save for one central door over which hung a heavy curtain. The +three steps were to provide sitting accommodation according to their rank +for those admitted to the _astâna_. The middle of the floor, on the night +in question, was covered by a large carpet, chairs were placed for us, +and the rest of the guests sat on the steps of the daïs. + +When we entered, we saw, seated on the carpet, four girls, two of them +about eighteen and two about eleven years old, all attractive according +to Malay ideas of beauty, and all gorgeously and picturesquely clothed. + +On their heads they each wore a large and curious but very pretty +ornament of delicate workmanship—a sort of square flower garden where all +the flowers were gold, trembling and glittering with every movement of +the wearer. These ornaments were secured to the head by twisted cords of +silver and gold. The girls’ hair, combed down in a fringe, was cut in a +perfect oval round their foreheads and very becomingly dressed behind. + +The bodices of their dresses were made of tight-fitting silk, leaving the +neck and arms bare, whilst a white band of fine cambric (about 1½ inches +wide), passing round the neck, came down on the front of the bodice in +the form of a V, and was there fastened by a golden flower. + +Round their waists were belts fastened with large and curiously worked +_pinding_ or buckles of gold, so large that they reached quite across the +waist. The rest of the costume consisted of a skirt of cloth of gold (not +at all like the _sârong_), reaching to the ankles, while a scarf of the +same material, fastened in its centre to the waist-buckle, hung down to +the hem of the skirt. + +All four dancers were dressed alike, except that the elder girls wore +white silk bodices with a red and gold handkerchief, folded cornerwise, +tied under the arms and knotted in front. The points of the handkerchief +hung to the middle of the back. In the case of the two younger girls the +entire dress was of one material. + +On their arms the dancers wore numbers of gold bangles, and their fingers +were covered with diamond rings. In their ears were fastened the diamond +buttons so much affected by Malays, and indeed now by Western ladies. +Their feet, of course, were bare. + +We had ample time to minutely observe these details before the dance +commenced, for when we came into the hall the four girls were sitting +down in the usual[1] Eastern fashion, on the carpet, bending forward, +their elbows resting on their thighs, and hiding the sides of their +faces, which were towards the audience, with fans made of crimson and +gilt paper which sparkled in the light. + +On our entrance the band struck up, and our special attention was called +to the orchestra, as the instruments are seldom seen in the Malay +Peninsula. + +There were two chief performers, one playing on a sort of harmonicon, +the notes of which he struck with pieces of stick held in each hand. The +other, with similar pieces of wood, played on inverted metal bowls. Both +these performers seemed to have sufficiently hard work, but they played +with the greatest spirit from 10 P.M. till 5 A.M. + +The harmonicon is called by Malays _chĕlempong_, and the inverted bowls, +which give a pleasant and musical sound like the noise of rippling +water, a _gambang_. The other members of the orchestra consisted of +a very small boy who played, with a very large and thick stick, on a +gigantic gong—an old woman who beat a drum with two sticks, and several +other boys who played on instruments like triangles called _chânang_. + +All these performers, we were told with much solemnity, were artists of +the first order, masters and a mistress in their craft, and if vigour of +execution counts for excellence they proved the justice of the praise. + +The Hall, of considerable size, capable of accommodating several hundreds +of people, was only dimly lighted, but the fact that, while the audience +was in semi-darkness, the light was concentrated on the performers added +to the effect. Besides ourselves I question whether there were more than +twenty spectators, but sitting on the top of the daïs near to the dancers +it was hard to pierce the surrounding gloom. + +The orchestra was placed on the left of the entrance to the Hall, that +is rather to the side and rather in the background, a position evidently +chosen with due regard to the feelings of the audience. + +From the elaborate and vehement execution of the players, and the want +of regular time in the music, I judged, and rightly, that we had entered +as the overture began. During its performance, the dancers sat leaning +forward, hiding their faces as I have described; but when it concluded +and, without any break, the music changed into the regular rhythm for +dancing, the four girls dropped their fans, raised their hands in the act +of _Sèmbah_ or homage, and then began the dance by swaying their bodies +and slowly waving their arms and hands in the most graceful movements, +making much and effective use all the while of the scarf hanging from +their belts. + +Gradually raising themselves from a sitting to a kneeling posture, +acting in perfect accord in every motion, then rising to their feet, +they floated through a series of figures hardly to be exceeded in grace +and difficulty, considering that the movements are essentially slow, +the arms, hands and body being the real performers whilst the feet are +scarcely noticed and for half the time not visible. + +They danced five or six dances, each lasting quite half an hour, with +materially different figures and time in the music. All these dances I +was told were symbolical; one, of agriculture, with the tilling of the +soil, the sowing of the seed, the reaping and winnowing of the grain, +might easily have been guessed from the dancer’s movements. But those of +the audience whom I was near enough to question were, Malay-like, unable +to give me much information. Attendants stood or sat near the dancers and +from time to time, as the girls tossed one thing on the floor, handed +them another. Sometimes it was a fan or a mirror they held, sometimes +a flower or small vessel, but oftener their hands were empty, as it is +in the management of the fingers that the chief art of Malay dancers +consists. + +The last dance, symbolical of war, was perhaps the best, the music being +much faster, almost inspiriting, and the movements of the dancers more +free and even abandoned. For the latter half of the dance they each held +a wand, to represent a sword, bound with three rings of burnished gold +which glittered in the light like precious stones. + +This nautch, which began soberly, like the others, grew to a wild revel +until the dancers were, or pretended to be, possessed by the Spirit of +Dancing, _hantu mĕnâri_ as they called it, and leaving the Hall for +a moment to smear their fingers and faces with a fragrant oil, they +returned, and the two eldest, striking at each other with their wands +seemed inclined to turn the symbolical into a real battle. They were, +however, after some trouble, caught by four or five women and carried +forcibly out of the Hall, but not until their captors had been made to +feel the weight of the magic wands. The two younger girls, who looked +as if they too would like to be “possessed,” but did not know how to +accomplish it, were easily caught and removed. + +The band, whose strains had been increasing in wildness and in time, +ceased playing on the removal of the dancers, and the nautch, which had +begun at 10 P.M., was over. + +The Raja, who had only appeared at 4 A.M., told me that one of the elder +girls, when she became “properly possessed,” lived for months on nothing +but flowers, a pretty and poetic conceit. + +As we left the Astâna, and taking boat rowed slowly to the vessel waiting +for us off the river’s mouth, the rising sun was driving the fog from the +numbers of lovely green islets, that seemed to float like dew-drenched +lotus leaves on the surface of the shallow stream. + + + + +VIII + +THE STORY OF MAT ARIS + + I smote him as I would a worm, + With heart as steeled, with nerve as firm; + He never woke again + + WHITTIER + + +It was in the year 1876 that a man named Mat Aris, of no occupation and +less repute, persuaded one Sâhit to take his wife Salâmah and start on a +journey through the jungle to a distant country. The interest of Mat Aris +in this couple was a desire to get rid of Sâhit and possess himself of +the woman Salâmah, for whom he had conceived an overmastering passion. + +The travellers began their journey at a spot many miles up the Perak +River; their road lay along a jungle track, and so sparsely inhabited +was the country they were to pass through, that they could not even find +a habitation in which to pass the night. They had to look forward to +many days’ journey through the primæval forest, the home of wild beasts +and Sakai people, aboriginal tribes almost as shy and untamed as the +elephant, the bison and the rhinoceros, with which they share the forests +of the interior. + +Sâhit and his wife started on their journey in the company of two +brothers of Mat Aris, but meeting him the brothers returned, Mat Aris +undertaking the part of escort. In the afternoon of the first day’s march +a Sakai named Pah Patin met the three, and, being known to Mat Aris, that +worthy ordered him to accompany them. Pah Patin did as he was told, and +when evening came on, as there was no dwelling within miles, a shelter +was built in the jungle wherein the night was to be passed. + +It is as well to understand what a Malay jungle is like, for a good soil, +well watered, in one of the hottest and dampest climates in the world, +produces a forest that is not altogether the counterpart of all other +forests. + +The reading public, no doubt, believes that the jungle of Darkest Africa +is a place of gloom, terror and difficulty without parallel. It may be +so, but few of those who know it have visited Malâya, and one is apt to +exaggerate one’s own troubles. Whatever gruesome peculiarities there +are about the African jungle, it seems possible for large bodies of +men and women to make their way through it at a fair pace without great +difficulty. In that respect at least it has the advantage of the Malay +forest. + +To begin with there are the trees of all sizes, from the smallest shoot +to the giants of the jungle, towering to a height of 150 feet. I know +that is not excessive, but in this forcing climate there are an enormous +number of such trees, treading on each others roots and crowding the +older and feebler out of existence. These are nothing, they afford +a pleasant shade from the pitiless rays of the sun, and though this +mitigated light cannot by any stretch of imagination be called darkness, +it is possible to take off your hat without fear of sunstroke. If it were +only for the trees jungle walking would be pleasant enough. + +Under them, however, there is an undergrowth so thick as to beggar +description. Every conceivable kind of palm, of bush, of creeper, +flourishes there with a luxuriance, with a prodigality of vegetable +life, that shows how richly Nature deserves her title of Mother. It is +a curious fact, remarked by every one who has been brought in contact +with the Malay forest, that a very large number of its shrubs, many of +its palms, and most of its creepers are armed with spikes of various +length, but all of about equal sharpness. Some are so formidable that the +thickest skinned beasts avoid contact with them, and no human apparel +has been devised, short of armour, that will resist their powers of +penetration and destruction. Under the creepers lie fallen trees, and the +ground is covered with ferns, rank grasses, and what is generally termed +undergrowth, so thick that the soil is often entirely hidden. It may be +added as a minor but unpleasant detail that this tangle of vegetation +harbours every species of crawling, jumping, and flying unpleasantness; +myriads of leeches that work their way through stockings and garments of +any but the closest texture; centipedes, scorpions, wasps, and stinging +flies, caterpillars that thrust their hairs into the skin and leave them +there to cause intolerable irritation, snakes poisonous and otherwise, +ants with the most murderous proclivities, and last, but not least, +mosquitoes that, when they find a human being, make the most of their +opportunity. I have not exhausted the catalogue of pests, but only given +a sample of what any traveller will meet in a day’s journey through a +Malay jungle. There is a wasp called “the reminder,” a thorn called +“Kite’s talons,” and an ant known as the “fire ant.” The names are as apt +as they are suggestive. + +To force a way through such a place is an impossibility, even on all +fours it could not be crawled through, the only means of progress is by +cutting a path. + +No one attempts to walk through virgin forest unless he be in pursuit +of game, or has some special object and the means to clear his way. All +Malay jungle is not as thick as that I have described, and as the beasts +sought by the sportsman naturally frequent the more open places, tracking +is possible, though severe enough work even at the slow rate of progress +necessary to enable the pursuers to approach the quarry without being +seen or heard. + +The lower and more swampy the country the thicker the undergrowth, and I +have often noticed that, where a river flows between low banks clothed +with virgin forest, it would be almost impossible for even a strong +swimmer to force his way out of the water on to the land through the +thickly interlaced tangle of branches, rattans, and other thorny creepers +that stretch their uninviting arms from the bank far over the water of +the stream. + +It will naturally be asked how travellers make their way through jungle +such as I have described. The reply is that there are existing tracks +(not worthy of the name of footpaths) which have been used for ages, +originally no doubt formed by the passing and repassing of wild beasts, +then adopted by the Sakais, and lastly by Malays. In other cases similar +means of passage have been formed by driving tame elephants through the +forest from place to place. For the pedestrian, especially if he be clad +in the garments and boots of western civilisation, progress through the +succession of holes filled with water and mud which marks the track of +elephants is neither rapid nor pleasant. + +That is the jungle of daylight. + +When once the sun has set darkness falls upon everything within the +forest, and it is a darkness so absolute as to give to wide-open eyes +the impression of blindness. Those who have been so unfortunate as to be +benighted in a Malay jungle without torches or lanterns know that there +is nothing to be done but to sit down and wait for day. + +Such were the surroundings in which Sâhit and his wife found themselves +compelled to spend a night in the company of Mat Aris and his Sakai +acquaintance. + +Mat Aris had a house in this neighbourhood, and on the day following the +events already narrated a Malay went to the Headman of his village and +said there was a woman in the house of Mat Aris sobbing and saying her +husband had been murdered. The Headman went to the place and saw Mat Aris +was there and a woman with him. Mat Aris had a reputation which probably +induced this Headman not to attempt to interfere with him further than to +keep a watch on his proceedings. + +In places where there are no roads, and often when they do exist, Malays +live on or close by the bank of a river, and, on the following day, the +Headman observed Mat Aris and the woman in a boat going down the stream, +here a succession of rapids and very difficult to navigate. The Headman +followed by a jungle track, and getting near to a place called Kôta +Tampan, the first police station, he hurried on and gave the information +he possessed. + +When Mat Aris arrived at Kôta Tampan he landed, and was at once arrested +by the native sergeant in charge of the station, who accused him of +murdering Sâhit. Mat Aris denied the charge, but the woman said her +name was Salâmah, and the sergeant said he must take them both to his +Divisional Headquarters at Kuala Kangsar, distant thirty miles or more by +river. Accordingly the sergeant and some police entered the boat and a +start was made for Kuala Kangsar. It shortly appeared that the police, +who were natives of India, were not very skilful in the management of the +boat, and, as Mat Aris offered his services to steer and there was no +doubt of his ability, this important post was given to him. Choosing a +convenient place where the stream was both deep and rapid, Mat Aris upset +the boat and threw every one into the water. Then seizing the woman, he +swam with her to the opposite bank and they both disappeared. The police +had enough to do, hampered by their uniforms, to get out of the river +with their lives. + +For the next eight years Mat Aris eluded all attempts at capture. He +lived in the jungle beyond the jurisdiction of the Perak Government, and, +with his brothers, became the terror of the neighbourhood, levying black +mail on all who passed his way. Mat Aris was the ringleader, and even +more serious crimes were laid at his door. + +The woman Salâmah was known to be living with Mat Aris as his wife, and +it was also known that she had a child by him. Of Sâhit nothing more was +seen or heard. + +Meanwhile the Government of Perak had established a station in the +neighbourhood of the spot where Sâhit had disappeared, and complaints of +the lawless proceedings of Mat Aris were constantly made to the officer +in charge of it, but he was helpless, for the outlaw was beyond his reach. + +Eight years is, however, a long time, especially to an Eastern, +and travellers worth robbing having grown scarce, Mat Aris, in the +consciousness of his own rectitude, went to the Perak officer and asked +for work. That mistaken step resulted in his arrest on the strength of +the warrant issued eight years before. + +This time the prisoner was conveyed in safety to Kuala Kangsar, where he +was duly tried. + +It is one thing to give information against a man who is free, willing, +and able to resent it, and quite a different thing to say what you know +when that man is in the toils. There was a witness who was likely to know +what had happened to Sâhit, and that was Pah Patin the Sakai, but Pah +Patin did not speak, and Mat Aris and Salâmah were the only other people +who knew what he could say. At least that appeared to be so, for who +else would be likely to know what happened at night in the depths of the +jungle miles from the nearest habitation? + +As for Salâmah, like the Sabine women, she seemed to have reconciled +herself to her captor. + +But the strange part of this story is that, impossible as it may seem, +there was a witness who saw what took place in that hut in the forest, +whither the unsuspecting Sâhit had been lured with his wife under the +escort of Mat Aris. + +That witness was a Sakai man who had been collecting _gĕtah_ +(gutta-percha), and, attracted by the firelight, noiselessly approached +the hut and, whilst wondering at the unusual sight of these strangers +sleeping in his wild and lonely jungle, he saw Mat Aris get up and stab +to death the man, who stood between him and the woman he had determined +to possess. + +The Sakai saw more than that, but when once he had disclosed what he +knew, Pah Patin was found and induced to tell his tale, and other Sakais +completed the narrative. + +It will be remembered that Sâhit and his wife, Mat Aris and the Sakai Pah +Patin had built a shelter where they proposed to spend the night. A fire +was lighted, food was cooked and eaten, and the four lay down to sleep. +On one side of the fire Mat Aris, next him Salâmah, and then Sâhit; on +the other was the Sakai. + +The man and his wife slept, the other Malay pretended to sleep, and the +Sakai fell into that state which passes for sleep with creatures that are +always on the alert for possible danger. + +Half an hour later Mat Aris rose up softly and with a _kris_ stabbed +Sâhit in the throat. The wretched man staggered to his feet, fell and +tried to struggle up again when Mat Aris shouted to the Sakai to strike +him or he would kill him also. Pah Patin obeyed, and hit the wounded man +on the head with a stick. “Then,” said Pah Patin when at last he told the +story, “there was a little life in him, but he never moved after I struck +him.” + +The woman rushed out of the hut, but Mat Aris followed her and brought +her back to the mat by the body of the murdered man, and there they slept +together, the Sakai returning to his place on the other side of the fire. +The night was young then. + +Before daylight Pah Patin left Mat Aris and Salâmah still sleeping by the +corpse, and by order of Mat Aris fetched two more Sakais, and these three +buried Sâhit by the bank of the river in the presence of Mat Aris and the +woman. + +Years afterwards, when the details were known, an attempt was made to +find the body, but it failed; decomposition in this climate is rapid, +even bones disappear, and the river had many times flooded its banks, +trees had gone and others grown, the landmarks were no longer the same, +and possibly the exact site of the grave was missed. + + + + +IX + +LÂTAH + + Ofttimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water + + MATTHEW xvii. 14 + + +In the spring of 1892 I was privileged, by the kindness of a friend +and the courtesy of Dr. Luys, to visit the Hospital _de la Charité_ in +Paris, where I witnessed some very remarkable and interesting experiments +in suggestion. There were patients undergoing successful treatment for +nervous disorders where the disease was in process of gradual relief +by passing from the afflicted person to a medium without injury to +the latter; there was the strange power of hypnotising, influencing +and awakening certain _sujets_ whose nervous organisations seem to +be specially susceptible, and there was the astonishing influence of +the magnet over these same _sujets_ when already hypnotised. There is +something more than usually uncanny in the sight of a person filled +with an inexplicable and unnatural delight in the contemplation of the +positive end of a magnet, and when the negative end is suddenly turned +towards him, to see him instantly fall down unconscious as though struck +by lightning. + +The _sujets_ (there were two of them, a man and a woman) described the +appearance of the positive end of the magnet as producing a beautiful +blue flame about a foot high, so exquisite in colour and beauty that it +transported them with delight. As to the negative end, they reluctantly +explained, in hesitating words and with every appearance of dread, that +there also was a flame, but a red one of fearful and sinister import. + +I was deeply interested in these “manifestations,” both for their own +strangeness and because I had in the Malay Peninsula seen equally +extraordinary proceedings of a somewhat similar kind. + +Amongst Malays there is a well-known disease (I use the word for want of +a better) called _lâtah_; it is far more common at certain places than +at others, and amongst certain divisions of the great Malay family. Thus +while there is generally one or more _ôrang lâtah_ to be found in every +_kampong_ in Krian, where the Malays are mostly from Kĕdah, in other +parts of Perak it is rare to ever meet a _lâtah_ person. Again, speaking +generally, the disease seems to be more common amongst the people of +Amboina, in Netherlands India, than those of Java, Sumatra or the Malay +Peninsula. In both cases heredity is probably accountable for the result, +whatever may have been the original cause to produce the affliction in +certain places more than in others. I can only speak of my own experience +and what I have personally seen, for no English authority appears to +have studied the matter or attempted to either observe _lâtah_ people, +diagnose the disease (if it is one), search for its cause or attempt to +cure it. I can vouch for facts but nothing more. + +In 1874 I was sent in H.M.S. _Hart_ to reside with the Sultan of +Selangor. Though His Highness’s personal record was one of which he might +be proud, for he was said to have killed ninety-nine men (_sa’ râtus +kûrang sâtu_) with his own hand, his State was not altogether a happy +one, for it had been the fighting-ground of several ambitious young Rajas +for some years. An unusually hideous piracy, personally conducted by one +of the Sultan’s own sons, and committed on a Malacca trading vessel, had +necessitated a visit from the China fleet, and when the perpetrators, +or those who after due inquiry appeared to be the perpetrators, had +been executed (the Sultan lending his own _kris_ for the ceremony), I +was sent to see that these “boyish amusements,” as His Highness called +them, were not repeated. The place where the Sultan then lived was +hardly a desirable residence, even from a Malay point of view, and it +has for years now been almost deserted. _Bandar Tĕrmâsa_, as it was +grandiloquently styled, was a collection of huts on a mud flat enclosed +between the Langat and Jugra rivers. It was only seven miles from the +sea, and at high tide most of the place was under water. + +With me there went twenty-five Malay police from Malacca, and we lived +all together in an old stockade on the bank of the Langat river. Whether +it was the mosquitoes, which for numbers and venom could not be matched, +or whether it was the evil reputation of the place for deeds of violence +is needless to inquire, but the police were seized with panic and had +to be replaced by another batch from Singapore, selected not so much +on account of their virtues as their so-called vices. The exchange was +satisfactory, for whatever sins they committed they showed no signs of +panic. + +Later on I was encouraged by the statement that Bandar Tĕrmâsa, for all +its unpromising appearance, was a place for _men_, where those who had +a difference settled it promptly with the _kris_, and cowards who came +there either found their courage or departed. A story that amused the +gossips was that, as a badly wounded man was carried from the duelling +field past the palisade which enclosed the Sultan’s house, His Highness +had asked, through the bars, what was the matter, and, being told, had +laconically remarked, “If he is wounded, doctor him; if he is dead, bury +him.” + +During my residence in the place a lady, for jealousy, stabbed a man of +considerable note thirteen times with his own dagger, and sent the next +morning to know whether I would like to purchase it, as she did not much +fancy the weapon. The man was not killed, and made no complaint. Another +lady, for a similar reason, visited our stockade one night, pushed the +sentry on one side, and, finding the man she wanted, attempted to stab +him with a long _kris_ she had brought for that purpose. + +That was then the state of society in Bandar Tĕrmâsa. + +I have said we lived all together in a stockade. It was a very rude +structure with log walls about six feet thick and eight feet high, a mud +floor, a thatch roof, and no doors. Outside it was a high watch-tower of +the same materials, but the ladder to it had fallen down. Of roads there +were none, but a mud path ran through the stockade from river bank to +village, distant some 300 yards. My own accommodation was a cot borrowed +from the _Hart_ and slung between two posts, while the men slept on the +walls of the stockade. + +The place had drawbacks other than mosquitoes, for the public path ran +through it, the tide at high water completely covered the floor, and the +log walls were full of snakes. The state of the surroundings will best be +understood when I say that during the many months I lived there I did not +wear boots outside the stockade, because there was nothing to walk upon +but deep mud, and that the only water fit to use was contained in a well +or pond a quarter of a mile off, to which I walked every day to bathe. + +With the second batch of police had come an European inspector, and he +and I were the only white men in the country. + +Amongst the twenty-five police were two men of the name of Kâsim; they +were both natives of Amboina, but very different in disposition, and they +were known among their comrades as Kâsim _Bĕsar_ and Kâsim _Kĕchil_—that +is Kâsim Major and Kâsim Minor. + +Kâsim Major was a quiet, reserved, silent man of about twenty-five, and +I afterwards realised that he had a somewhat violent temper when roused. +Kâsim Minor, on the contrary, was a smiling, talkative, happy, and +pleasant-looking young fellow of about twenty. They were not related to +each other in any way. + +I used often to be away on the coast and up river, and on my return from +one of these expeditions I noticed the men teasing Kâsim Minor, and saw +at once that he was _lâtah_. I questioned the inspector, and he told me +that during my absence he had one day been away on duty for some hours, +and when he returned, about 4 P.M., he saw Kâsim Minor up a coco-nut tree +just outside the stockade. On asking him what he was doing there, he +replied he could not come down because there was a snake at the bottom of +the tree. In reality there was a bit of rattan tied round the tree, and, +this being removed, Kâsim came down. + +Now, it is no easy matter to climb a coco-nut tree; it requires a special +training to do it at all, and Kâsim did not possess it. But the inspector +ascertained that the other police had found out by accident that their +comrade was _lâtah_, that they had ordered him to climb the tree, which +he had at once done, and that then, out of sheer devilry, some one had +taken a bit of rattan, said, “Do you see this snake? I will tie it round +the tree, and then you can’t come down,” and so left him from 10 A.M. +till the afternoon, when the inspector returned and released him. + +The time of Kâsim’s penance was probably greatly exaggerated, but that +is how the story was told to me, and of all that follows I was an +eye-witness. + +I made Kâsim Minor my orderly, and as he was constantly with me I had +better opportunities of studying his peculiarities. About this time also +I learnt that Kâsim Major was also _lâtah_. + +Speaking generally, it was only necessary for any one to attract the +attention of either of these men by the simplest means, holding up a +finger, calling them by name in a rather pointed way, touching them +or even, when close by, to look them hard in the face, and instantly +they appeared to lose all control of themselves and would do, not only +whatever they were told to do, but whatever was suggested by a sign. + +I have seen many _lâtah_ people, male and female, but never any quite +like these two, none so susceptible to outside influence, so ready to +blindly obey a word or a sign. + +The kindly disposition of Kâsim Minor made him quite harmless, but the +other Kâsim was rather a dangerous subject to play tricks with, as I will +presently explain. + +The _lâtah_ man or woman usually met with, if suddenly startled, by a +touch, a noise, or the sight of something unexpected, will not only show +all the signs of a very nervous person but almost invariably will fire +off a volley of expressions more or less obscene, having no reference +at all to the circumstance which has suddenly aroused attention. As a +rule it is necessary to _startle_ these people before they will say +or do anything to show that they are differently constituted to their +neighbours, and when they have betrayed themselves either by word or +deed their instinct is to get away as quickly as possible. Children +and even grown-up people cannot always resist the pleasure of “bating” +a _lâtah_ person; for one reason because it is so exceedingly easy, +for another because they are inclined on the spur of the moment to do +ludicrous things or say something they would under ordinary circumstances +be ashamed of. _Almost_ invariably _lâtah_ people of this class (and it +is by far the most common one) are very good humoured and never seem to +think of resenting the liberty taken with their infirmity. If by word or +deed they commit themselves (and that is not uncommon) they either run +away, or appear to be unconscious of having said or done anything unusual +(this however is rare), or they simply say, “I am _lâtah_,” as a full +explanation and excuse. + +If any one present accidentally drops something on the floor, if a lizard +falls from the roof on to or near a _lâtah_ person, if the wind blows the +shutter of a window to with a bang, a _lâtah_ person of the class I speak +of will probably find it necessary to at least say something not usually +heard in polite society. Of this class by far the majority are women. + +I have never seen a _lâtah_ boy or girl, but I know they are to be found, +though the disease certainly becomes more evident as the subject grows +older. + +It must be understood that except when under influence, when actually +showing the evidences of this strange peculiarity, _lâtah_ people are +undistinguishable from others. It is sufficient proof of this that +amongst my twenty-five police there should have been two men more +completely _lâtah_ than any I have seen before or since. + +I took occasion to carefully observe the two Kâsims. It was impossible to +always prevent their companions teasing them, especially in a place where +there was absolutely no form of amusement and all the conditions of life +were as unpleasant as they well could be, but no harm was ever done, and +I am satisfied that while influence was in any way exercised over the +_lâtah_ man he was not conscious of his own actions, and directly it was +removed he became his reasoning other self, and the utmost that remained +on his mind, or came to him with the recovery of his own will, was that +he might have done something foolish. + +If the attention of either of these men was arrested, as I have said by +word, sign, or a meaning glance, from that moment until the influence was +removed, the _lâtah_ man would do whatever he was told or signed to do +without hesitation, whether the act signified were difficult, dangerous, +or painful. When once under this influence any one present could give the +order and the _lâtah_ man would immediately obey it; not only that, but +even at some distance (as in the coco-nut tree incident), he appeared to +be equally subject to the will imposed on his actions. + +A curious thing about both these men was that, having attracted the +attention of either, if you said, “Kâsim, go and hit that man,” he would +invariably repeat what was said, word for word, including his own name, +while he carried out the order. When the person hit turned on him, Kâsim +would say, “It was not I who hit you, but that man who ordered me.” + +I have seen Kâsim the younger, when the man influencing him put his own +finger in his mouth and pretended to bite it, imitate the action but +really bite his finger and bite it hard. Similarly I have seen him, in +imitation and without a word being said, take a lighted brand from the +fire, and he would have put it in his mouth if the experiment had been +carried so far. Some one told him one day to jump into the river, and he +did not get out again till he had swum nearly two hundred yards, for the +stream was both broad and deep, with a terrible current, and infested +by crocodiles. If at any moment you called out “_Tôlong_ Kâsim” (“help! +Kâsim”), the instant he heard it he would jump up and crying “_Tôlong_ +Kâsim,” dash straight to you over all obstacles. If then you had put a +weapon in his hand and told him to slay any one within reach I have not +the slightest doubt he would have done it without hesitation. + +I have said there was a ladderless watch-tower outside the stockade. The +police wanted firewood, they were not allowed to burn the logs forming +our walls, but at the top of the watch-tower there were also log walls +that they were told they could burn. They were lazy, however, and did +not see how they were going to get up, so they ordered Kâsim the younger +to climb up, which he did as he had climbed the coco-nut tree, and, when +once there, they told him to throw down logs until they thought they had +enough. I watched that operation, and the feverish haste with which the +man swarmed up one of the supports, gained the platform of the tower, +and threw down huge logs as though his life depended on it, was rather +remarkable. I gave orders that the man’s infirmity was not to be used +for this purpose again, but in my absence I know that when more firewood +was wanted Kâsim went up to the watch-tower for it until that supply was +exhausted. + +The path from the stockade to the village was in sight of the stockade +throughout its length, and one day I noticed Kâsim Minor, as he walked +leisurely down this mud embankment, stop every now and then and behave +in a peculiar fashion as though he were having conversation with the +frogs, snakes and other denizens of the ditches that bordered the path. +When he had gone half way he stopped and peeped up into the branches of +a small tree on the road side, then he seemed to be striking blows at an +invisible enemy, ran to the ditch and began throwing lump after lump of +hard mud into the tree. I had not seen this phase of his peculiarities +before and could not make it out, but suddenly his arms went about his +head like the sails of a windmill, and I realised that his enemies were +bees or hornets, and that he was getting a good deal the worst of an +unequal fight. I sent some of the men to fetch him back and found he had +been rather badly stung, and when I asked him why he attacked the nest he +said his attention was caught by things flying out of the tree and he was +impelled to throw at them. + +I understood that the hornets flying out of the nest appeared to be +thrown at him, and he could not help imitating what he saw in the best +way he could, and so he took what was nearest his hand and sent it flying +back. + +Kâsim the elder was quite as susceptible as his namesake, but his +comrades were a little shy of provoking him as they soon realised that +his temper made the amusement dangerous. One day they must have been +teasing him, and, when he was allowed to recover his own will, I +suppose their laughter made it evident to him that he had made himself +ridiculous, for he suddenly ran to the arm-rack, and seizing a sword +bayonet made for his tormentors with such evident intention to use it +that they precipitately fled, and in a few seconds were making very good +time across the swamp with Kâsim and the drawn sword far too close to be +pleasant. I had some difficulty in persuading him to abandon his purpose, +but after that and a lecture his comrades did not greatly bother him. + +I remember, however, that on another occasion we had secured and erected +a long thin spar to serve as a flagstaff, but the halyard jammed and it +seemed necessary to lower the spar when some one called out to Kâsim the +elder to climb up it. Before I could interfere, he had gone up two-thirds +of the height, and he only came down reluctantly. Had he gone a few feet +higher the pole would inevitably have snapped and he would have had a +severe fall. + +About this time a friend came and shared my loneliness for a fortnight. +He had had experience of _lâtah_ people before, but the two Kâsims were +rather a revelation, and he was perhaps inclined to doubt what I told him +they could be made to do. One morning we were bathing as usual at the +pond, and Kâsim the younger was in attendance carrying the towels, &c. + +The bath was over, and we were all three standing on the bank, when my +friend said to Kâsim: + +“_Mâri, kîta tĕrjun_” (come, let us jump in), at the same time feigning +to jump. Kâsim instantly jumped into the pond, disappeared, came up +spluttering, and having scrambled out, said: “_Itu tîdak baik, Tûan_” +(that is not good of you, sir). + +My friend said, “Why, I did nothing, I only said let us jump in and +went like this,” repeating his previous action, when Kâsim immediately +repeated his plunge, and we dragged him from the water looking like a +retriever. + +When I was first ordered to Selangor, I thought it possible that some +sort of furniture might be useful, and I took up a few chairs and other +things, including a large roll of what is known as Calcutta matting. The +things were useless in a place where the mud floor was often under water +twice during twenty-four hours, and they lay piled in a corner of the +stockade, and whenever a Malay of distinction came to see me for whom it +was necessary to find a chair, it was advisable to see that the seat was +not already occupied by a snake. The roll of matting, about four feet +high and two-and-a-half feet in diameter naturally remained unopened. + +Every night, owing to the myriads of mosquitoes, a large bonfire was lit +in the middle of the stockade, for only in the smoke of that fire was it +possible to eat one’s dinner. One night some Malays from the village had +come in, and the police were trying to amuse them and forget their own +miseries by dancing and singing round the fire. Under such circumstances +Malays have a happy knack of making the best of things, they laugh +easily and often, and as I have said elsewhere, they have a strong sense +of humour if not always of a very refined description. Some one had +introduced one of the Kâsims, in his character of an _ôrang lâtah_, for +the benefit of the strangers, and one of the men was inspired to fetch +the roll of matting, and solemnly presenting it to Kâsim the younger, +said, “Kâsim, here is your wife.” + +Even now I do not forget the smile of beatitude and satisfaction with +which Kâsim Minor regarded that undesirable and figureless bundle. +Breathing the words in a low voice, almost sighing to himself, “Kâsim, +here is your wife,” he embraced the matting with great fervour, +constantly repeating “My wife! my wife!” Some one said, “Kiss her!” +and he kissed her—repeatedly kissed her. Then by another inspiration +(I do not say from whence), some one brought up the other Kâsim, and +introducing him to the other side of the roll of matting, said, also very +quietly, “Kâsim, this is _your_ wife!” and Kâsim the elder accepted the +providential appearance of his greatly-desired spouse, and embraced her +with not less fervour than his namesake and rival. + +It was evident that neither intended to give up the lady to the other, +and as each tried to monopolise her charms a struggle began between them +to obtain complete possession, during which the audience, almost frantic +with delight, urged the actors in this drama to manifest their affection +to the lady of their choice. In the midst of this clamour the Kâsims and +their joint spouse fell down, and as they nearly rolled into the fire and +seemed disinclined even then to abandon the lady, she was taken away and +put back in her corner with the chairs and snakes. + +It is a detail, which I only add because some readers hunger for detail, +that neither of the Kâsims possessed a wife. + +I do not pretend to offer any explanation of the cause of this state +of mind which Malays call _lâtah_. I imagine it is a nervous disease +affecting the brain but not the body. + +I have never met a medical man who has interested himself in the matter, +and I cannot say whether the disease, if it be one, is curable or not—I +should doubt it. + +I have somewhere read that individuals similarly affected are found +amongst the Canadian lumber-men. + + + + +X + +THE ETERNAL FEMININE + + Le bonheur de saigner sur le cœur d’un ami + + PAUL VERLAINE + + +There was a woman of Kelantan named Siti Maämih; she was born of the +people, neither good nor beautiful, nor attractive, nor even young, as +youth goes in the East, but she had chosen to ally herself to a white man +whom I will call Grant. + +I know nothing of these two, but that he had work far away in a Malay +jungle and she shared his loneliness, herself a stranger in that country. +It was apparently an arrangement formed for mutual advantage, like many +others of a more permanent character. If the connection began without +any semblance of romance, it more than satisfied the expectations of +the contracting parties, and when the moment of trial came the highest +affection and the most sacred bond could hardly have suggested a greater +sacrifice than this woman offered. + +Whilst these two were living their unattractive lives there came +difficulties between white man and brown—not specially between this white +man and any with a darker skin: the quarrel was between white authority +and Malay resentment of interference. Grant was not even remotely +connected with the matter, but he was white, and under such circumstances +a want of discrimination is not uncommon. There followed what is known +as “a state of reprisals.” Uncivilised people, who do not understand +fine distinctions in such matters, called it war. The disturbance was, +however, comparatively local, Grant’s immediate neighbourhood did not +seem affected, and he was probably unconcerned. Therefore he went about +his work and took no special precaution, fearing no attack. + +But his hut was isolated, there was only one other white man anywhere +near him, no police within miles, and Maämih, who understood Malays +better than her protector, was on the watch for trouble. + +To expect is, sometimes, to go half way to meet, and the trouble came +quickly. + +One morning two Malays appeared at Grant’s house, and, having given some +trivial excuse for their presence and looked about the premises, took +their departure. There was nothing unusual in that, and only a very +nervous person would have seen in so simple an event any cause for alarm. +But even ere this, prudence would have told most white men under similar +circumstances that it would be well to see to their arms and keep them +handy. Grant, however, took no precautions, as he had probably convinced +himself that none were necessary; as for arms, he does not appear to have +had any. + +That morning, or it may have been the evening before, three large boats +and two small ones arrived in the river close by, but kept out of sight +of Grant’s hut, and he probably did not know they were there. They +belonged to a minor chief who had no connection with the Malays then in +arms. + +The day wore on, Grant had been out all morning looking after his work, +he had returned to breakfast, been out again, and now he was back and +had thrown himself down to rest, glad to get under shelter from the +oppressive heat. He was a busy man and his work took him out of doors, +but though he had been about all day he had seen and heard nothing to +arouse his suspicions. + +Seen nothing, certainly. That was not strange, it was a jungly place, +and to be ten yards off in the jungle is as good, for those who seek +concealment and know the jungle, as to be in another district. As +for hearing anything, that too was most unlikely: the only people he +could hear from were Malays, the only means of communication the Malay +language, of which Grant knew very little, and the only condition on +which information is to be obtained from Malays about Malays would be an +intimacy with and respect for the threatened man to which Grant could +hardly aspire. There must be some very powerful influence at work to +induce a Muhammadan, who is not personally in danger, to tell a Christian +that there is a Muhammadan plot against his life. Grant, at any rate, if +he thought about it at all, could hardly expect that he, a new-comer, +possessed friends who would do so much for him. + +He was still resting when, about 4 P.M., a party of nearly twenty armed +men suddenly appeared in front of the house and stood some fifty yards +away, while two of them, carrying only the ordinary jungle knives, came +up to the house and asked Grant if he wanted to buy fowls. He told the +inquirers to take them to his servant, and got up as the Malays left him. + +The men had no fowls, and instead of going to the servant’s quarters they +rejoined their companions, and the whole body advanced towards the house. + +At this moment Maämih appeared, and instantly divining that the +strangers meant no good, she screamed out, “They are going to murder us.” +But Grant said that he and she had done no harm and the Malays could mean +none, and, taking the woman with him, he went out of the house and a few +steps forward to meet his assailants. + +These last stopped some twenty yards from Grant and the woman, and she +said, “What harm have we done?” The answer was “_Titah_”—it is by order +of the Raja—and they told the woman to leave the infidel and go away. But +she replied, “I shall stay with him.” + +Then several men said, “If you do not go, we will kill you as well as the +white man.” + +Grant may not have understood this sentence of death on himself, he may +not have realised how strangely the times were out of joint, that he who +was the enemy of no man, who had done no wrong, who represented no cause, +should suddenly, in the broad light of day, hear his own death sentence, +and in the same breath learn that he was facing his executioners and his +account with the world was closed. There was no time to think: instinct +said, “There is Death,” and doubtless instinct also said, “Death is +disagreeable: shun it.” + +It is commonly reputed that there are people who do not know what fear +is; to them in such a situation instinct no doubt suggests that death +is a new and pleasant experience. With this man it was different; as he +saw here and there a gun raised and pointed at him from a distance of a +few paces, he probably felt the fear of sudden and violent death, and +if he was in any way responsible for what he did in that supreme moment +his thought must have suggested that these men would not harm a woman of +their own nationality and religion, for he took her in his arms. + +A shot was fired, and the bullet shattered Maämih’s left arm. Then, +seeing what had happened, Grant put her behind him and two more shots +were fired, one of which struck Grant in the breast, and saying, “They +have killed me,” he fell on his face to the ground. + +A Malay rushed up with a heavy chopping knife, but the woman threw +herself on the body and put her unwounded arm over Grant’s neck to save +him. The Malay’s first blow inflicted a deep wound on Maämih’s arm and +made her loose her hold; the man then struck Grant a heavy blow on the +back of the neck, but he was already dead. + +The murderers took no further notice of the woman, except to try and rob +her of the jewellery she wore, but they plundered the house, and having +decapitated the dead man and otherwise mutilated his body, they threw the +remains into the river and departed. + +The woman was cared for by a countryman of her own until she could be +removed to a hospital, where, after weeks of suffering, she recovered +from her injuries. + +The motive of this outrage was simply the desire of an individual and +his small following to wipe out the white man, and as Grant’s isolated +position made him a specially easy prey, he fell a victim. His only +European neighbour was also murdered by the same band. I know of no +similar attack being made by Malays on a white man within modern times, +and I question whether there is such another instance of a Malay woman’s +devotion—not that they are not capable of such self-sacrifice, I think +they are, but the circumstances necessary to call it forth very seldom +arise. + +This woman realised what was going to happen before she left the shelter +of the house, she had time after that to think, her life was not sought, +she was told to go away and warned that if she did not separate herself +from the white man she would share his fate. Moreover, she knew that no +sacrifice of hers could save him, and more than all, as affecting her +woman’s nerves, she saw face to face the men with murder in their faces +and the means to accomplish it in their hands. + +The motive which kept Maämih by Grant’s side and which led her, after +receiving the first shot, to interpose herself between his body and the +weapons of his foes, must have been as high as it was powerful. Just as +there was nothing to fear by standing aside (for none would have blamed +her), so there was nothing to hope from the forbearance of Grant’s +murderers, and that she did not also lose her life by her devotion to +him was the accident of an ill-directed shot and a well-aimed blow which +sought to sever the woman’s arm and reach the neck it protected—the neck +of a dead man. + +United to the devotion which deemed no sacrifice too great for one she +loved, was that other sort of courage which comes of knowledge and +deliberate intention. No one can fail to admire the pluck which takes no +thought of danger, the instinct which impels a wild beast to charge an +enemy and probably achieve thereby its own destruction. Even then it can +hardly be said that the sensation of fear has never been and cannot be +experienced by the most formidable and gallant denizens of the forest +and the desert. All sportsmen know the contrary, and a child has put a +tiger to flight by suddenly throwing a basket in the face of the beast. +Had the child run away, its death was probable, whereas it saved the life +of an old man already in the tiger’s clutches, and yet the child’s action +was not the result of courage but of fear. + +This Malay woman, in whom the love of life was strong, and on whose +nerves the horror and certainty of what awaited her must have had a +terrifying effect, deliberately renounced safety, with that higher +resolve which, vanquishing fear, faces the unknown in the spirit +described by the Persian who, writing eight centuries ago, has found so +worthy an interpreter in the author of the lines— + + “So when the Angel of the darker Drink + At last shall find you by the river brink + And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul, + Forth to your Lips to quaff— + You shall not shrink.” + + + + +XI + +IN THE NOON OF NIGHT + + Her soul upheld + By some deep-working charm + + KIRKE WHITE + + +On the western coast of the Peninsula, more especially that part of +it which forms one side of the Straits of Malacca, the shore-line is +generally one long stretch of mud, covered with mangrove trees to the +verge of high-water mark and rather further, for when the tide is up +there are thousands of acres of mangrove whose roots and several inches +of the stems are submerged. Beyond this forest the receding tide leaves +great wastes of evil-smelling mire, soft and clinging, in which the +searcher for shell-fish sinks almost to his waist. + +Many rivers, small and great, find their way to the sea through this wide +flat. At high water they look imposing enough, but when the tide is out +a narrow and shallow channel is left winding about between low slimy +banks, and right and left the eye wanders over a desolation of glistening +mud with an almost imperceptible slope to the edge of the distant sea. + +Pools of shallow water and tiny channels, through which the receding +tide finds easier road to river or sea, alone break the monotony of the +unsightly waste. + +That is as far as physical features go. The mud-flats have their +denizens, but they are not over-attractive. + +First, there is the Malay fisherman, hunting for mussels and other +shell-fish. If he is there at all he will be hard to see, for he pushes +his little dug-out fifty or a hundred yards up a mud creek, leaves it and +fossicks about, sunk above his knees in the mire. + +Then there are myriads of birds, attracted by the great possibilities of +gain to the industrious searcher after garbage, stranded fish, and all +sorts of particularly loathsome-looking and foul-smelling dead things +to be found in such a place. These birds are often strange-looking +creatures, vast of size, long and lank of leg, snaky of neck and spiky +of bill. But they are wary to a degree, they always seems to be standing +just in the tiny ripple of the smallest wavelets where you instinctively +know the mud and sea meet, and there they watch the gradually receding +tide with melancholy abstraction, as though they took no real interest in +the daily toil of sustaining life. + +Last, there is something else here, and, if you are not quite a stranger, +you will look first, look longest, and look always for this other thing. +Perhaps it is the extraordinary fitness of her surroundings (I say _her_ +advisedly), perhaps the art with which nature has designed the body of +the saurian to make you think her a log, or a stranded palm-branch, a +half-buried spar of a wrecked boat, or even a lighter or darker ridge +of the surrounding mud—certain it is that as the crocodile lies there, +basking in the sun which makes air and water and blistering slime shimmer +and dance before your eyes, you will not notice the creature, nay, even +when pointed out to you, it is ten to one that you will not even then +realise that she is there. + +But get nearer, speak no word and let your rowers pull a long and +noiseless stroke till some one with a quick eye and a steady hand can +put a bullet in the reptile’s neck. As that great mouth suddenly opens, +disclosing the rows of shining teeth, as it shuts again with the noise +of a steel trap, as the horrible scaly claws dig deep into the mud in +their agony and the great spiked tail lashes round in fury, as the +loathsome yellow belly slides over the ooze and you catch sight of the +stony cruelty of the crocodile’s eye, then you will realise what manner +of thing she is, and you will probably conceive for her and all her kind +a deadly horror and loathing, and a consuming desire to slay the whole +brood will seize you then and remain with you for all time. + +If it should happen to you to have to fight a wounded crocodile at close +quarters, if accident brings you in contact with a man who has just lost +arm or leg, or with a corpse out of which a crocodile has torn the life, +your feelings towards these river-murderers will not be softened. + +There are Malay rivers so infested by these reptiles that at low water +for a mile or two from the river’s mouth they will be seen, in twos and +threes or larger groups, lying on either bank basking or sleeping in the +sun. It repeatedly happens that they knock people out of their boats +and then kill and devour them, and in places where the creatures are +specially numerous, if a crocodile is shot dead on the bank, in less than +half an hour the carcase will be dragged into the river and a crowd of +the reptiles will be tearing it in pieces and fighting for the remains. + +Villages on the Malay coast are nearly always situated on the bank of +a river; the sea is full of fish and the men of a coast village are +mostly fishermen. If the village is of any size and the industry of any +importance, the catching of fish is supplemented by curing—that is, +salting and drying them. + +The whereabouts of a village of this kind may be recognised by the +traveller on sea or land when he is yet a great way off. Probably for +that reason, and because the cleaning of thousands of fish loads the +water with food of a kind that is specially attractive to the saurian, +the immediate neighbourhood of a fishing village is the favourite resort +of the crocodile. + +At the mouth of a wide river on the Perak coast there is just such a +village. It is thriving, and as there are a number of Chinese as well as +Malay fishermen, it boasts a police-station. The houses are built for +the most part on piles; at high water the sea washes under them, and the +means of inter-communication are wooden stagings from house to house. At +low water there is mud, great stretches of mud, running from the edge of +the mangrove swamp which backs the village far out to the west and the +waters of the Straits of Malacca. + +It was in the month of Ramthân, when begin those forty days of fast +observed by all good Muhammadans—though so few of them know why they +fast, or the details of the touching story which tells the sufferings +of the Martyrs of Kerbela—that one night, past the middle of the month, +but when the moon still lit up the water and made things plain as day, a +strange thing happened at this small coast village. + +In it there lived a Malay revenue officer with his wife and child, and on +the night in question these three, being at home, went to sleep about 10 +P.M. as was their wont. + +A slight breeze was blowing off the sea, blowing against the falling +tide, and the moonlight glorified the hideous expanse of slime +till it looked like a limitless mirror, blending far away with the +haze-enshrouded waters of the sea, but bordered landwards by that dark +fringe of mangroves, the thick forest forming a striking contrast to the +moonlit beauty of the glistening shore. + +The wind sighed up the river, played through the great brown nets hanging +up to dry, and, scarcely stirring the tops of the mangroves, swept gently +towards the distant hills. + +All the village slept, except the one Guardian of the Peace, who showed +his devotion to duty by punctually striking the hours on a huge metal +gong. + +The night was far advanced, when suddenly he heard a child crying in the +house of the Malay revenue clerk. Then there was the noise of footsteps +and the voice of the man calling to his wife, but no answer. After a few +minutes there was the sound of approaching feet, a shout from the Malay, +followed by the man himself. + +The constable called out, “What is the matter, Che Mat?” + +Che Mat replied, “I was asleep, but awoke hearing the child crying for +its mother. I could not see her anywhere, and she did not answer when I +spoke. Then I got up and saw at once the door of the house was open, but +she is nowhere to be seen. Have you heard anything of her?” + +The constable had heard nothing, but there was evidently something +uncanny about this disappearance, for, in a village such as this, where +the houses are more in the water than on land, where the pathless +mangrove is the background, and the waters of the river the foreground, +there are few places left in which to look for any one or anything with +any chance of finding them. + +The man on guard roused his comrades, and, as Malays do not sit down +and discuss plans of action, some one at once made a move; the others +followed, and they all walked out to the last house on the platform, and +then listened. + +“Hark! did you not hear something?” Yes, through the silence of the +night, wafted on the incoming breeze, there was a distinct but faint cry +from the direction of the sea. + +It did not take the men long to get down to the ground, and first +hurrying along the edge of the trees, they went some distance, hearing +the cries at intervals and ever more plainly, till it became necessary to +strike right out across the mud. By this time there was no doubt about +the source of the cries, for the voice of the object of their search +was recognised, and that the woman was in sore distress did not admit +of doubt. Making all the speed they could, sinking above their knees at +every step, stumbling, falling, but ever pressing on, they saw at last to +their horror, in the brilliant moonlight, the woman on the ground being +literally worried by three crocodiles, each six or eight feet in length. + +As crocodiles go, six or eight feet is no great length, but to go to +sleep in your own house and wake up at midnight within a hundred feet +of the sea, but with half a mile of mud between you and anything like +dry land, and at the same time assailed by _three_ crocodiles quite big +enough to kill you, is calculated to shock the strongest nerves. + +After a short but exciting fight, the police beat off the scaly beasts +with difficulty, and found the woman had been badly torn in legs, and +arms, and neck. + +Whilst the men were arranging to carry her back, no easy matter over half +a mile of soft but sticky wet mud and ooze, she told her tale: + +“I was sleeping,” she said, “and had a vision. Two radiant Beings +appeared to me and bid me rise and follow them, and they would show me +a sight more glorious than is vouchsafed to mortals. Transported with +joy, I rose and followed them, and whilst filled with ecstatic rapture by +the companionship of these Celestial Beings, I seemed to be borne along +without effort of my own through enchanted fields of more than earthly +beauty. Suddenly I was awakened by feeling the teeth of a crocodile in my +leg, and, to my horror, I found I was out here on this mud-flat half a +mile from home, but close to the sea, with three crocodiles attacking me, +no means of defending myself, and little hope of help. I fell, and the +beasts tore and worried me, biting my arms, and legs, and neck, while I +screamed for help until you came and rescued me.” + +Well, after all, there is nothing very strange in that. A woman of +peculiar nervous organisation, a somnambulist, dreams a dream and walks +out into the balmy atmosphere of a moonlit Eastern night. She walks +rather far, and has a rude awakening. That is nothing; other sleepers +have walked further, and their awakening has been to the life beyond the +grave. + +Only this was curious: that while the men sank deep into the mud at every +step, the woman had never sunk in at all. When found, there was only mud +on the _soles_ of her feet, and, though she had walked half a mile across +the flat, and her tracks were plainly visible in the moonlight, they were +all on the surface, and she had crossed the soft, unstable mire as easily +as though it had been a metalled road. + +So the men bore her home, not wondering overmuch, for in this thing +they saw the hand of the Celestial Beings who guided her feet with +such consideration, to abandon her to the ferocious attentions of the +crocodiles. + +The woman herself, her husband, and the police were satisfied as to the +means, but found the end too hard for their understanding. + +The ideal woman, the product of higher education and deep research in +divers subjects, supplies the real clue to the phenomenon, for, when +asked “where the true Spirit of God is,” she modestly replies, “I can +tell you: it is in us _women_. We have preserved it and handed it down +from one generation to another of our own sex unsullied.”[2] + +Doubtless—from the time when the Spirit moved upon the face of the +waters, and, later, on the Sea of Galilee; but it is more difficult +to understand how woman, unaided, has handed anything down from one +generation to another. + +The same idea is, however, more happily conveyed in the injunction of the +President of the Scraggsville Woman’s Suffrage League to her husband, +when ordering him to go and purchase a divided skirt. “If you are afraid, +pray to God for courage; _She_ will help you.” + +The mere male has his uses, one of which is to assist the unsullied sex +to perpetuate the Spirit of God, and another to be within hail when there +are crocodiles about. + + + + +XII + +VAN HAGEN AND CAVALIERO + + How loved, how honoured once, avails thee not, + To whom related, or by whom begot, + A heap of dust alone remains of thee + + POPE + + +Not many months after my first arrival in the East I met, in a club in +Singapore, an Italian called Cavaliero. He was quite young, tall, dark, +and good-looking, of a pronounced Italian type. What his occupation was +I have no idea; I suppose he had some sort of business, but it could not +have been very attractive or profitable, for one day I was told that he +and a Hollander named Van Hagen had collected about a hundred natives of +all sorts and conditions and had accepted service with the Viceroy of the +Sultan of Selangor. + +Selangor was then an absolutely independent Malay State, so independent +in fact that the principal and almost only employment of its inhabitants +was fighting. + +The Sultan was and is an old gentleman for whom I have the highest +regard, and I desire to speak of him with the greatest respect. He had +had his own fighting day and was tired of it, he wished to be left alone, +that was all; but he recognised that boys will be boys, and if the young +Selangor Rajas took their pleasure in this way, he was inclined to regard +their escapades with an indulgent eye, provided they did not interfere +with his _opium cum dignitate_ and his immediate surroundings. + +The Sultan’s own sons were very much interested in the guerilla warfare +that was then being carried on throughout Selangor, and the feature of +the disturbances was that every chief said he had the Sultan’s approval +of his proceedings. Some time later I was myself in Selangor, and, as +this statement was constantly being dinned into my ears, I took the +liberty of asking his Highness what it meant. + +He promptly pointed out that each of these Rajas in turn came to him, +stated his case, and asked the Sultan if that was not correct. His +Highness always replied, “Quite correct,” but, as he explained to me, +“_bĕnar ka-pâda dia, bûkan bĕnar ka-pâda kami_,” which being interpreted +means, “correct in their view, not in mine.” He was evidently tickled by +this happy inspiration and laughed heartily at his own ingenuity. + +The gossips declared that his Highness was always requested to give a +tangible proof of his approval in the shape of gunpowder and lead, and +that he gave them to every applicant with strict impartiality. On this +point the Sultan told me nothing, and I was not indiscreet enough to +inquire, but as Selangor is no more free from gossip than its neighbours, +I put the statement down to irresponsible chatter. + +All this is, however, by the way. Certain Rajas held certain important +strategical points from which other Rajas kept trying to oust them, and +the fight waxed hottest about Klang, the principal port of the State, and +Kuala Lumpor, the principal mining centre. + +As to Klang, it had just been captured by a notable warrior named Raja +Mahdi, and its whilom defenders driven out when the Sultan gave his only +daughter in marriage to Tunku dia Udin, brother of the Sultan of Kĕdah. +The Sultan’s son-in-law espoused the cause of those who had been driven +from Klang, and, as he was created Viceroy and had powerful support in +Singapore, matters were further complicated. + +The Viceroy and his friends recovered possession of Klang and secured the +friendship and assistance of the Chinese miners at Kuala Lumpor. + +These Chinese were led by one Ah Loi, a remarkable man, styled the +“Capitan China,” whose instincts were distinctly warlike and his +authority with his countrymen supreme. + +Raja Mahdi also had friends who were acting against the Chinese in the +interior, and supporters outside the State who helped him with money, +stores, and arms, and thus the ball rolled merrily along. + +Dame Fortune was, as usual, fickle, and success was now with the Viceroy +and now with Mahdi and his friends. The Capitan China did his share in +his own way. He offered fifty silver dollars for every enemy’s head +delivered in the market-place in front of his house at Kuala Lumpor, and +he told me himself that his man who stood there ready to receive the +hideous trophies and pay the money did quite a brisk business. + +As with all Malay war, the operations languished and revived by fits and +starts. Plenty of money meant plenty of men, arms, and ammunition, and +with them a spasmodic effort would be made and probably a success gained. +Then would follow dire scarcity, and the other side, having raised some +money, would in their turn gain an advantage. + +Thus the tide of battle ebbed and flowed for months and years, and the +only plain and evident result was that the population of Selangor was +rapidly diminishing, the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of Kuala +Lumpor town being thickly planted with corpses, for there the battle was +always the hottest, both because of the Capitan China’s special method +and because of the value of the mines. The survivors on both sides +were not only being reduced to penury, but their leaders were becoming +involved in debts which only the complete success of one side followed by +lasting peace and order could enable the victors to pay from the revenues +derived from the tin-mines. The debts of the defeated would naturally be +irrecoverable. + +While the State was distracted by all this trouble the Sultan still +secured a comparative tranquillity by his diplomatic sympathy with the +combatants, and whichever side held the Klang custom-house supplied him +with funds. That was the price of his qualified approval. + +It was at this time that the Viceroy’s party, being in funds, conceived +the plan of raising a force in Singapore with which they hoped to deal +an effective blow to their enemies. + +I have said I knew little of Cavaliero, but of Van Hagen, who took +command of the recruits, I know less. I was told that he had been an +officer in the Netherlands army, and that he lost his commission owing to +some breach of discipline, but that he was a man of birth, character, and +courage. + +His heterogeneous force, composed of natives of half-a-dozen +nationalities, went by sea to Klang, disembarked and made its way +with guides through the jungle to Kuala Lumpor. There they stockaded +themselves on a hill above the town and did valiantly in its defence. But +the place was invested by the enemy, supplies were cut off, and while the +force was daily harassed by the fire from the enemy’s works, provisions +ran short and the men were threatened at once with starvation and the +probability of being surrounded and entirely cut off from their base at +Klang, twenty-five miles distant by a jungle track. + +Under these circumstances, and probably moved by the growing discontent +of their men, Van Hagen and Cavaliero determined, ere it should be too +late, to endeavour to make their way back to the port. + +They were all strangers in the country, and they could find no one to +guide them through the jungle, but their difficulties became so great +that they decided to risk the journey as a choice of evils, and early one +morning they set out. + +I have elsewhere tried to describe a Malay jungle, and the path which +these men had to traverse was, as I know from my own experience, beset +with peculiar difficulty, and led for a great deal of the way through +swamp and water, where, of course, there was no track visible. It is not +surprising that the party lost its way. Not only that, but weak from want +of food, wanting in cohesion and discipline, and with the knowledge that +they were seeking blindly for a road unknown to all, a feeling of despair +overcame many of them, and they wandered off in different directions +never to be seen or heard of again. + +The main body, with Van Hagen and Cavaliero, after a weary day’s march +and no food, arrived in the evening, utterly exhausted, at a place called +Patâling, only four miles from Kuala Lumpor! They had been walking in a +circle, and had got back to a point not far from that of their original +departure. + +Patâling was held by a considerable body of the enemy under two Malay +Rajas, and the weary wanderers walked straight into their arms and gave +themselves up without a struggle. + +Another story says that, at the last moment before leaving Kuala Lumpor, +a guide presented himself and offered his services, which were accepted; +that he led the party hither and thither through the jungle, and in the +evening, when thoroughly exhausted, took them into Patâling. + +I never heard rightly what became of the rank and file; they may have +been given their liberty and told to find their own way out of the State. +For the officers was reserved another fate. + +Finding the principal defenders of Kuala Lumpor had withdrawn, the place +was occupied without difficulty by those who had for so long invested it. +The leading Chinese were made very uncomfortable, but on them depended +the working of the mines, and they were allowed to purchase their lives. + +I do not think this alternative was offered to Van Hagen and Cavaliero. +They were escorted from Patâling to Kuala Lumpor, and, arrived there, +they were taken out and shot. + +In excavating for the foundations of the houses which now form the town +of Kuala Lumpor, it was usual to dig up a large number of skeletons, the +bones of those who had fallen during the years of Selangor’s internecine +strife. As many as sixteen skeletons have been discovered in digging out +the foundations for one house. + +One day, not many years ago, two skeletons were thus discovered. The +bones were larger, the figures taller, than those usually met with. They +were the skeletons of two men face to face, and locked in each other’s +arms. + + + + +XIII + +THE PASSING OF PĔNGLIMA PRANG SĔMAUN + + Oh vengeance! thou art sweet + + LEWIS MORRIS + + +On the Perak River, about fifty miles from its mouth, and just above +the tidal influence, where the water is clear and shallow and the banks +are lined with palm groves and orchards, there is a large Malay village +called Bandar. + +More than twenty years ago there dwelt in this village a man named Mĕgat +Raja, married to a particularly well-favoured girl named Mĕriam. The fact +of her marriage drew her into some sort of notoriety, and her attractions +were soon the gossip of the place. The gilded youths of Bandar were fired +by the description of Mĕriam’s charms, and one of them, a boy of good +family, position, and means, got sight of and fell in love with her. + +The husband, Mĕgat Raja, was conveniently called away to accompany the +Sultan on a journey to Penang and Che Nuh, the youth aforesaid, profiting +by that opportunity, pushed his addresses with such fervour and success +that he became the lady’s lover. + +Late one night when Che Nuh was in the house of his mistress, Mĕgat Raja +unexpectedly returned and the first the lovers knew of their danger was +the demand of the husband to be admitted. The house was a large one +enclosed by a palisade, and Mĕriam thus suddenly surprised, and fearing +instant death if her husband should discover Che Nuh, implored her lover +to escape by the door at the back of the house while that at the front +was being opened. + +Che Nuh complied, but the husband had evidently heard something of what +had been going on in his absence, and, as the lover was about to descend +the steps, he drew back seeing Mĕgat Raja waiting on the ground beneath +them. + +He drew back, but not before his presence had been perceived. + +Mĕgat Raja called out “Who is that?” + +Che Nuh replied “It is I, Che Nuh.” + +The husband, drawing his _kris_, said “What are you doing in my house at +this time? Come down on to the ground.” + +Mat Nuh was alone and Mĕgat Raja was accompanied by two other men, but +the youth unsheathed his _kris_ and went down ready to accept the chances +of a hand-to-hand struggle. + +Seeing that Mat Nuh would defend himself, and knowing that he was no +contemptible adversary, the three men hesitated. What was of more account +in their minds was that Che Nuh belonged to a powerful family, and +his father was one of the principal chiefs in the country. There was, +therefore, the certainty of retaliation should they kill him, and the +uncertainty of his guilt, for Mĕriam was not the only woman in the house. +As the men stood mutually on the defensive, Mĕgat Raja asked him whom he +had come to see, and Che Nuh replied that it was a girl in the house. +Thinking to assure himself on this point, the husband entered the house +and questioned one of the servant-women, but dissatisfied with what he +heard he dashed out again determined to attack Che Nuh. + +The latter had, however, taken advantage of Mĕgat Raja’s momentary +absence to get outside the gate of the palisade, and once there he +shouted for help and was soon surrounded by his friends. + +In reply to a call, Che Nuh bid his adversary come outside the gate and +he would give him any satisfaction he pleased. + +That of course meant an internecine struggle between the two parties, and +Mĕgat Raja declined it, for the odds were now against him, and he was +still uncertain whether his wife were unfaithful or not. + +On the strong suspicion that he held, his inclination was to at least +make short work of the woman, but here again he was deterred by the +knowledge that her relations would certainly be revenged on him. He, +therefore, decided on another course of action. On the assumption that +his wife was guilty (and of this he became tolerably well assured), he +treated her as though he held the proofs, divorced her, turned her out of +his house, and declined to let her have any of her own possessions or to +remove any of his. + +This action was considered a very serious indignity by Mĕriam’s friends, +and it so happened that she possessed a relative named Pĕnglima Prang +Sĕmaun, an adherent of the Sultan’s Wazîr, the Raja Bĕndahâra, and he was +reputed one of the principal warriors in the country. + +Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun called upon the Chief of Bandar and laid a formal +complaint against Mĕgat Raja, demanding to know why he had taken the +law into his own hands and treated Mĕriam in a manner to put all her +relatives to shame. + +The Chief of the village of Bandar was also one of the great officers +of State named the Ôrang Kâya Shabandar. He was a man renowned for his +courage, was wealthy, a trusted officer of the Sultan, the receiver of +customs, and lived at the upper end of the village. + +He listened politely to Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, and when the latter wound +up his complaint by saying he would certainly attack Mĕgat Raja if he +obtained no redress, the Shabandar put his advice in the form of this +ancient saw: + +“If you have no gold, it is well to sing small; if you have no pivot-guns +(jingals), it is well to put a pleasant face on the matter; and if you +have no cannon, it is better to be quiet.” + +The advice was meant in good part and not as a taunt, but Pĕnglima Prang +Sĕmaun took it as the latter and retired with rage in his heart, saying +“It is well for you who have gold and jingals and cannon to tell me I +have none of these things, but I will have my revenge of you with only a +_kris_.” + +Then he returned to his own home to think how this was to be worked out. + +The Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun’s house was between these of the Shabandar, +up stream, and Mĕgat Raja, down stream, and he knew that he was not +strong enough to resist a combined attack from both of them. Therefore he +determined that force must be backed by cunning if he was to achieve his +end. He concluded that his only plan was to attack the Shabandar, dispose +of him first as the most important, and then deal with Mĕgat Raja at his +leisure. + +Meanwhile, Che Nuh had expressed his desire to marry Mĕriam, but as his +relatives recognised that such an open avowal of his _liaison_ must lead +to trouble with Mĕgat Raja and his folk, they declined to allow him to do +this, and Che Nuh’s negative attitude towards the lady only increased the +wrath of her kinsman, Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun. + +I have said that this bravo, for that was his _métier_, was the henchman +of the Raja Bĕndahâra, the highest authority in the State after the +Sultan. Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, having determined to kill the Shabandar, +felt it necessary to report the intention to his master and, mindful of +possible wrath to come, to ask his sanction. + +Accordingly the Pĕnglima went up river to Blanja where the Bĕndahâra +lived, told his tale and asked for leave to kill the Shabandar. + +The reply of the Bĕndahâra was, “If you think you are able to do it, go +on.” + +That was enough. Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun returned to Bandar with a kindred +spirit named Haji Ali, another bravo of reputation as evil as his own, +and these two worthies soon settled their plan of operations. + +The Sultan was at Pâsir Panjang (only a few miles above Bandar), with a +large following and a crowd of boats, and the Pĕnglima and his friend +determined to wreak their vengeance on the Shabandar on the _Râya Haji_, +the day to which the most religious Muhammadans prolong the fast of +Ramthân. + +The day did not, however, suit, there were too many people constantly +about the Shabandar’s house, and the conspirators had to return home +without effecting their purpose. + +On the following day, however, in the afternoon, Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, +Haji Ali, and three others, made a formal visit to the Shabandar, +obtained admission to his house, and found in it no one besides himself +and a Sumatran Raja, a visitor from down river. I say no one else but, +as Pĕnglima Prang well knew, there were in the Shabandar’s house two aged +ladies, the mother of the Sultan’s children and her sister. + +The five men waited until they saw the Sumatran Raja take his departure, +and in order to do this visitor honour, the Shabandar unarmed and +unattended, accompanied him to the river-bank and there bid him farewell. + +This was the moment for the development of the plot. + +Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun took leave of the Shabandar and shook hands with +him. Haji Ali, a very big powerful man, then also took leave and grasped +the Shabandar’s hand, but instead of letting it go he drew the Dâtoh +towards him, and the reply to his question of what this meant was a stab +in the back from Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun’s _kris_. + +The blade did not pierce the skin, it bent, and the thrust was repeated +with the same result, Haji Ali all the while holding the unarmed man by +the hand. + +Then the Pĕnglima threw away the useless weapon, and, seizing another +_kris_, plunged it time after time into the helpless body of the +Shabandar, who fell to the ground, while Haji Ali and each of the others +stabbed him in turn. + +Leaving the body lying on the bank, the men rushed straight back into the +house, shut the gates of the enclosure and immediately prepared to defend +themselves, taking particular care that the two ladies already mentioned +should not get away. + +The news of a murder perpetrated like this is carried on the breeze, +and for a few minutes the Shabandar’s adherents rushed up one after the +other to be slaughtered as they arrived by the Pĕnglima and his party +reinforced by their own men who had been awaiting the _dénoûement_. + +Then gates and doors were closed, windows barred, cannon, pivot-guns, +and muskets loaded, and Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun having rifled the house +(which contained the customs collections as well as the Shabandar’s +private property), and thus possessed himself of all those things which +he previously lacked, sat down to calmly await the development of events. + +The plot had been cunningly conceived. The brutal murder of the unarmed +chief was certain to be instantly avenged, and that would have been done +by an attack on the house had it not been that it contained, besides the +murderers, the Sultan’s late wife and her sister, who were well-nigh sure +to come to harm in the assault. + +The risk of that possibility deterred the Sultan’s people, who had +surrounded the house with stockades, and all that could be done was to +prevent the Pĕnglima, Haji Ali, and their men, from escaping. The process +of starving out the besieged could not be resorted to, for here also the +ladies would have suffered. + +The moment the deed was done, Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun proclaimed that he +was merely the instrument of the Sultan’s Wazîr, and that he had acted on +the authority of the Raja Bĕndahâra. That, if true, complicated the case +considerably, and as matters had arrived at an _impasse_, a parley was +called, and it was arranged that the Pĕnglima and his people should be +given a safe-conduct to the Sultan at Pâsir Panjang. + +Accordingly, the Pĕnglima Prang, Haji Ali, and the others left their +shelter and embarked in boats provided for them, but they took good care +not to let the ladies, who were their prisoners, get out of reach. + +Arrived at Pâsir Panjang, Pĕnglima Prang at once sent a messenger to +the Raja Bĕndahâra to inform him of the state of affairs and ask his +aid. The Bĕndahâra responded to this appeal by taking boat, and, with a +great following, descended the river to Pâsir Panjang. Once there, he +availed himself of an ancient custom called _îkat-diri_—that is, to “bind +yourself”—and, accompanied by all his people, he went and stood in front +of the Sultan’s house with his hands loosely tied behind his back with +his own head-kerchief, and, thus uncovered in the sun, he and all his +following shouted _âmpun Tûan-ku, be-rîbu-rîbu âmpun_—“Pardon, my lord, a +thousand-thousand pardons.” + +After a quarter of an hour’s waiting, while the air was filled with this +plea for mercy, and the Bĕndahâra and his company stood like prisoners in +front of the closed house, a door opened, a herald bearing the Sultan’s +insignia appeared and cried out: “Our lord pardons you, and permits you +to enter into his presence.” + +That settled the affair. The Sultan’s minister had accepted the +responsibility for what had been done; he was far too great a man to +be treated as a criminal, and, taking advantage of an old custom, he +confessed his fault, offered himself a prisoner, sought and obtained the +Sultan’s pardon. + +Amongst those who had received the message of peace, and who entered into +the presence, were the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, Haji Ali, and the three +other murderers of the Shabandar. + +Now, the Shabandar had a brother, and he was a man of war, and the Sultan +well knew that this method of dealing with the murderers would not +satisfy him, so he at once created him Dâtoh Shabandar in succession to +the dead man, in the hope that the gift of this dignity might make for +the general peace. + +The Raja Bĕndahâra, accompanied by Pĕnglima Prang and his friends, then +returned to Blanja. + +The new Shabandar had no intention of leaving his brother’s murderers +to boast of their exploit, and, in a very short time, he asked for the +Sultan’s permission to attack them and wipe out the disgrace of his +relative’s unavenged death. + +The Sultan said the request must be preferred to the Raja Bĕndahâra, for +so long as the Pĕnglima Prang was in his village he could not be attacked +without the Wazîr’s sanction. Application was duly made to the Bĕndahâra, +who replied that it would be contrary to custom to attack the Pĕnglima +Prang while living at his door, but that if they could get him away they +might do what they pleased. + +The Pĕnglima Prang was, however, far too wary to be lured away from +safety, and matters were in this state when there returned from a +pilgrimage to Mecca a man called Haji Mûsah, nearly related to the late +Shabandar. + +Haji Mûsah was at this time a rather small, spare man of middle age, but +his heart was out of proportion to the size of his body, and when he +heard what had recently taken place in Bandar, and how Pĕnglima Prang +Sĕmaun and Haji Ali had got away unpunished, his anger knew no bounds. + +He promptly waited upon the Sultan and begged for permission to attack +the Pĕnglima, and, if necessary, to include in the operations his +protector, the Raja Bĕndahâra. + +The Sultan hesitated to give the desired permission, but the fact that +the proposal had been made very soon reached Blanja and the ears of both +the Wazîr and Pĕnglima Prang. Whatever the latter was he could not be +accused of cowardice, and he at once offered to anticipate an attack by +making an expedition against Haji Mûsah to silence so arrogant a foe. + +The Raja Bĕndahâra enraged at the idea that his name should have been +mentioned with so little respect, and apprehensive that Haji Mûsah might +find the means (as he knew he had the will) to carry out his suggestion, +cordially approved the Pĕnglima’s proposal. + +It did not take long to collect from the neighbouring village of Lambor +enough men to fill two boats, and, as that was all the Pĕnglima wanted +for his purpose, the party had started for Bâtak Râbit (Haji Mûsah’s +village) before the down-stream people had the smallest inkling of their +intention. The time was specially well chosen from the fact that the +Shabandar was absent in a remote district. + +In Japan they say, “If you have not seen Nikko you cannot say _gekko_,” +and if there is anyone who knows the Malay Peninsula and yet has never +watched the sun set across the rice-fields, when the ripe grain hangs +heavily in the ear, his knowledge of the beauties of Malay scenery is +very incomplete. + +A wide, flat plain covered by the golden harvest, the rice-stalks +standing five or six feet above the ground from which they have sucked +all the water which nourished them in the earlier stages of growth. One +yellow sea of yellow ears, the green stalks only discernible in the near +foreground. + +This sea is broken by islands of palms and fruit-trees in which nestle +the picturesque brown huts of cottagers, houses of wood, built on wooden +piles with palm-thatched roofs and mat walls. + +The setting sun strikes in great beams of saffron light across this +wide expanse of grain bounded by distant ranges of soft blue hills. How +greedily one drinks it all in! and, as the Eye of Day droops lower, +there shoot from between its closing lids rays of fire which tinge the +glistening palms with a rosy effulgence, followed all too soon by the +pale opalescent shades which proclaim the approach of the fast-driving +chariot of night. + +A grey haze rises from the damp earth, spreads in thin wreaths across the +darkening plain, thickens to a heavy dead-white vapour, and as the silver +sickle rises over the distant hills it shines upon clustered plumes of +dark fronds mysteriously poised above a motionless drift of snow-like +cloud. + +On the edge of such a field was the home of Haji Mûsah. Behind stretched +the rich plain, in front a great river, both wide and deep, its banks +lined by groves of coco-nuts in the neighbourhood of villages, but +elsewhere covered by forest and the _nipah_ palm. + +The dwelling stood a few feet back from the river, and, as its owner was +a man of means, the structure was of some size, the floor and walls of +stout planks and a strong palisade enclosed the surrounding yard. The +house was, as usual, on wooden piles, and the kitchen, also on piles but +separated from the main building, was connected with it by a platform. + +It was here that Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, Haji Ali, and the rest of their +crew arrived one morning before daylight and quickly landed under the +cover of darkness. + +The enterprise they had undertaken was a perilous one. Their force +numbered about thirty men all told, they had come about ninety miles +right into the heart of the enemy’s country, and, if there were any +failure, retreat was a choice between a return against the current with a +hostile people on either bank, or a long pull to the river’s mouth under +the same conditions and then the sea. + +Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun had, however, calculated the chances, and he +counted on a successful surprise and, if need be, the pursuit of those +tactics which he had already, at Bandar, found so useful. + +Once on shore the palisade of Haji Mûsah’s house was cautiously +approached, and, the gate being locked, it was scaled, and the whole +party noiselessly established themselves beneath the house and waited for +daylight. + +It so happened that the house contained only two men and two women—Haji +Mûsah and his wife, Haji Hawah, and their daughter and son-in-law, the +latter named Haji Sâhil. + +At daybreak the back door of the house was opened and the two women came +out and went into the kitchen. In a moment Haji Hawah discovered that +the space beneath the house was full of armed men, and with a scream she +rushed back towards the door. Ere she could gain it, Haji Ali sprang upon +the platform and seized one of her hands, while her husband, unpleasantly +alive to the situation, caught hold of the other and tried to pull her +within the door, an effort which she seconded with all her might. + +A real tug-of-war was carried on for a few moments, and Haji Ali was +joined by another man. + +Local tradition says that Haji Ali experienced suddenly a feeling that +something dire was going to happen, and he asked his companion to relieve +him of his hold of the woman’s hand. The man took it, and Haji Mûsah from +the inside making a great effort drew his wife towards him, and at the +same time, with a spear, thrust out beyond her with so true an aim that +he transfixed her would-be captor. The man released his hold, fell with +a groan into Haji Ali’s arms, and Haji Mûsah, drawing his wife into the +house and believing he had wounded Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, shouted as he +closed the door, “That has wetted you, Pĕnglima!” + +Wetted him with blood. + +Haji Ali called to the Pĕnglima, “Help me, a ‘watering’ has befallen our +friend”; a polite way of expressing a disaster. By the time they got the +man to the ground he was dead, for the spear had struck home. + +The Pĕnglima, furious at this sight, leapt on the platform, and, finding +the door immovable, dashed open a small side-window with the butt end of +a musket and fired into the house, but hurt no one. + +In the scuffle before the door was closed Haji Mûsah had accidentally +given his son-in-law a flesh wound on the shoulder, and that had disabled +him, so the defence of the position rested on one man alone. + +Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun now summoned Haji Mûsah to surrender, but the reply +was, “I will not surrender.” + +“Then,” said the Pĕnglima, “I will riddle the house with bullets.” + +“Shoot away,” was the reply. + +“I will burn the house down.” + +“Burn it,” said Haji Mûsah, “and do whatever else you like, but I will +not give in.” + +“Let us burn it,” said the Pĕnglima. But Haji Ali protested. “Are you +mad,” he urged, “already our enemies are collecting outside, you would +burn the house down and these people in it, and then what should we do? +Caught like fish in a basket, without walls or roof to shelter us, what +will become of us?” + +The wisdom of this advice was apparent, and as it was necessary to deal +with those in the house quickly the leader set to work to devise another +plan. + +An evil inspiration came to the Pĕnglima, and he told Haji Ali to get +Haji Mûsah into conversation again while he, having loaded with all +manner of missiles a pivot-gun which he found under the house, listened +attentively to the sound of Haji Mûsah’s voice, and tying the gun to a +post just beneath the spot where he thought the Haji must be standing, +fired it. + +A large hole was rent in the floor, and, the various missiles scattering +in all directions, one of them struck Haji Mûsah in the thigh, seriously +wounding him and placing him _hors de combat_. His wife was also hit, but +only slightly injured. + +The assailants realised the effects of the shot from what they heard +said within and again called upon Haji Mûsah to yield, but he declined +utterly to do so. + +His wife said, “What is the use, you are wounded and cannot fight, so am +I and so is Haji Sâhil, what can we do, better make terms with them?” +Haji Mûsah stubbornly declined to listen to this persuasion and only +said, “Let them do their worst, I will not yield.” + +Strange to say it was only then that Haji Hawah realised that her +daughter was missing. She remembered that the girl had left the house +with her and gone into the kitchen, but until that moment, what with the +discovery that the enemy was within their gates, the struggle at the door +and subsequent events, she had not thought of the girl further than to +suppose she was sitting terrified in some corner of the never brilliantly +lighted house. + +Now, however, it was certain that she had failed to get back before the +door was closed and must have fallen into the hands of the enemy. + +As a matter of fact nothing of the kind had happened. On the first alarm, +seeing the crowd of strange men and her mother’s struggles to gain the +house, the girl was too terrified to leave her shelter and had hidden +herself in the kitchen. The enemy being all under the house when the +women first came out, no one had particularly noticed the girl or ever +thought of entering her hiding-place. + +The moment Haji Hawah was convinced her daughter was not in the house, +she became equally certain she was in the hands of the enemy, and that +was an intolerable idea. She, therefore, besought her husband to offer +to yield provided the girl were restored. This new factor in the case +persuaded him, and Haji Mûsah called out that he would yield if his +daughter were given back to them. + +At first the besiegers could not understand the meaning of this proposal, +but light very soon came to them and they argued that if the girl was not +inside the house or in their hands, she must be in the kitchen, and a +search of that place very soon discovered her. + +The Pĕnglima accordingly replied that he accepted the proposal and would +restore the girl on condition her father yielded. The door was then +opened and the girl admitted, but no sooner was she in the house than it +was closed again and Haji Mûsah declined to give himself up. + +Shortly after, however, the loss of blood and pain of his stiffening limb +made movement impossible and compelled Haji Mûsah to abandon all idea of +further resistance. + +The Pĕnglima and his friends having gained the house proceeded to make +themselves comfortable and did not attempt to disturb or annoy Haji +Mûsah and his family. These latter occupied a curtained portion of the +principal room, and underneath their only window a sentry was placed +night and day. + +Meanwhile the Shabandar, informed by messenger of what had taken place, +hurried back to the neighbourhood and reinforced the adherents of Haji +Mûsah, who so far had contented themselves with building and occupying +stockades to command Haji Mûsah’s house. + +The Pĕnglima’s tactics were again completely successful, and as it was +impossible to fire on the captors without danger to their imprisoned +friends the Shabandar, who now commanded the investing force, set himself +to devise a plan whereby he might gain his end by craft. + +The Pĕnglima’s men occupied the house and one or two small stockades +close by it. The Shabandar’s party had built a series of enclosing works +which practically cut off escape to landward. In front was the river +and here again, both up stream and down, there lay a small fleet of +guard-boats. + +The Pĕnglima’s own two boats were chained to the landing-stage where they +were safe, for it would have been impossible to seize them without being +exposed to fire from the house, to which no reply could be made. + +A month went by, and in that time Haji Mûsah, his wife, and son-in-law +had fairly recovered from their injuries. Meanwhile the Shabandar, by +means of spies, learned that the prisoners occupied a side of the house +where there was but one window, and that always guarded at night by the +same man. Through this man there was the best chance of escape for the +prisoners, if only he could be bought over. + +This sentry, who had some authority over part of the band, was a +foreigner, he was getting tired of the game and probably did not +altogether like the outlook or see how his party was to turn the +situation to their own advantage. At any rate communications were opened +between the Shabandar and him, and for a sum of two thousand dollars he +promised to get the prisoners out of the window and through the lines to +their friends. + +In the dead of a dark night (and moonless Eastern nights can be black as +a sepulchre) he assisted the four prisoners to make their escape through +the window, while the Pĕnglima, Haji Ali, and a number of their men slept +peacefully on the other side of the sheltering curtain that gave privacy +to the women. + +Guided by the traitor, their movements hidden in Cimmerian darkness, +the little party made its way in safety to the friendly shelter of the +Shabandar’s stockade. He was expecting them, and he had also prepared +an unpleasant surprise for the cuckoos in temporary occupation of their +stolen nest. + +Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun and his friends were awakened from sleep by the +banging of jingals and muskets and a hail of various missiles. + +A moment’s search showed that the prisoners had escaped, and the Pĕnglima +instantly realised that he was in the toils. + +He had already shown that he was a man of resource, and his presence of +mind did not desert him in this dangerous crisis. The darkness alone +protected them, and that would not last; moreover, he could not tell at +what moment his position might not be rushed. It was clear that for them +was reserved the fate of those who when they got up in the morning were +all dead men. + +The Pĕnglima called his followers together, explained the situation and +its urgency, pointed out the choice that lay before them—an attempt +to pass the enemy’s stockades under cover of the night or to run the +gauntlet of the guard-boats, where capture was, as he said, certain. + +The men of the band, the wretched Lambor contingent, elected, as the +Pĕnglima had meant they should do, to try and force their way through +the enemy’s lines, never thinking that if they succeeded they would only +reach a pathless jungle swamp, where they, strangers in that part of the +country, must either perish miserably or return to the tender mercies of +the investing foe. + +Of these deplorable eventualities they took no thought; there was little +time for hesitation; tightening the grasp upon their weapons they went +out into the night, and in a few moments the shouts from the surrounding +stockades showed that their intention had been discovered. + +This was exactly what Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun had expected; he had created +a diversion, and seizing his opportunity, accompanied by Haji Ali and a +few of his particular associates, he made for the river and got into one +of his boats, cast off and pulled out into the stream. + +A very wily man was the Pĕnglima. Every one in the guard-boats was on the +alert, the firing and shouts from the shore had warned them that the fox +was being hunted in the covert, and the pack were after him in full cry. +Still there was just a trifle of uncertainty about it, and that was the +Pĕnglima’s one chance of salvation. + +The slightest hesitation now, the smallest of false steps, and neither +the Pĕnglima nor any of those with him would ever see the dawn. He knew +it well enough, and as he ordered those who had taken the oars to pull +out boldly into the stream, he grasped the helm and steering straight up +the middle of the river, _against_ the tide, he gave orders that no man +should speak, undertaking the whole responsibility himself. + +It was still so dark that no one could see quite whence this boat came, +or distinguish who was in it, but as it moved with plenty of noise and no +attempt at concealment right towards the line of guard-boats, some one +called out, “Who goes there?” + +“It is I,” replied the Pĕnglima, “I bring the Shabandar’s orders to you +to keep a good look-out, they are attacking the Pĕnglima Prang, and as +he can’t hold out he will probably try to escape by the river. Be ready +for him, I am going to warn the boats down stream,” and turning round the +craft disappeared towards the other line of river-sentinels. + +No one of course suspected a ruse under such a bold disguise as that, +and, pulling straight for the down-stream boats, steering right on and +through them, the Pĕnglima called out, “_Jâga-jâga_, ‘be on your guard,’ +the Shabandar sends orders to watch for the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, he is +trying to escape, I am warning all the boats.” + +No one could distinctly see who this messenger was, or even catch more +than a shadowy glimpse of a spectral craft as she glided through the +line, and in the excitement of expectation, the noise of firing and +rival battle-shouts on shore, no one took special heed as to which way +the messengers went, or whether that was the sound of their oars echoing +faintly in the distance. + +The Shabandar on his part made no long tarrying, but eager to revenge the +murder of his brother, and feeling that at last the Pĕnglima and Haji Ali +were in his power, he determined to _mĕng-âmok_, to rush the house at +once without waiting for daylight. + +Whilst summoning his men for the assault, he heard the cries that told +him the besieged were making an attempt to break through his stockades, +and without further delay he dashed into Haji Mûsah’s house, only to find +it empty, the renowned Pĕnglima and his amiable friend gone, and with +them a considerable quantity of dollars and everything that was both +valuable and easily portable. + +Torches and an examination of the muddy ground soon established the +direction taken, and the missing boat, coupled with the missing property, +convinced the least astute that by this way went the Pĕnglima Prang +Sĕmaun. + +Many shouted questions from the bank drew forth many assurances from +those on the water that no enemy had passed that way. The evidence to the +contrary was, however, all too plain, and as the boats one by one came up +to the landing-place, and the watchers told their tale, it became evident +that once again the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun had justified his reputation +for both daring and resource. + +He had made for the sea, his party did not number ten, and they were +in one boat. There was still time to overtake or intercept them at the +river’s mouth, and, as the grey light of dawn began to lift the veil of +mist and the freshening breeze swept in chilly gusts over the water, a +fleet of boats set off to search the creeks and backwaters, while others +had orders to pull straight to the river’s mouth, and there take line and +see that none passed out to sea. + +The Pĕnglima meanwhile had wasted no time. ’Twixt the devil behind and +the deep sea in front, he had no difficulty in determining which way +lay safety; but he also realised that it could not be an hour, it might +be only a few minutes before his ruse would be discovered, and with his +crew he could not hope to reach the sea without being overtaken. The +rowers needed little exhortation to strain every nerve, and after a few +miles had been travelled, the boat was forced through heavy overhanging +branches into an all but imperceptible creek, so narrow the entrance and +so thoroughly concealed that no one would dream of its existence. The +boat could only be got a few yards up this ditch, and the party, leaving +it entirely hidden, ensconced themselves in a tangled mass of jungle +foliage from which they commanded a view of the river. + +Here the fugitives lay all day, and watched the boats of their enemies +pass by intent on the fruitless search. + +It was not a pleasant place nor did they spend an altogether happy day, +for they were not yet out of the wood, indeed the chances of escape were +still decidedly against them, but for the moment they were safe, and +whatever was to come could not be worse than the situation from which +their leader had already extricated them. + +Whilst the Pĕnglima was running the gauntlet of the guard-boats his late +companions, the men of Lambor, some twenty or thirty in number, were +having a worse experience on shore. + +Being a large party and in their haste not over-cautious, they were, of +course, discovered as they tried to break through the line of stockades. +Some were shot, others were speared and _krised_ in hand-to-hand +encounters, while a few got away to the forest under cover of the +darkness. But when these stragglers fully realised that it was a choice +between the enemy and painful wandering in a swampy and well-nigh +impenetrable jungle, with the prospect of starvation and a lingering +death, they chose rather to return to the light and a speedier reckoning. + +None of this band returned to Lambor, and if they sought their fate and +made an unprovoked attack upon Haji Mûsah it is not altogether surprising +that to this day there is no wasted affection between the people of +Lambor and the Lower Perak Chiefs. + +All through that sultry day, as one by one these doomed men appeared +from the jungle fastness and went down before the weapons of their +adversaries, waiting tirelessly expectant in the certainty that no +refuge would be found in those inhospitable depths, the Pĕnglima and his +little band lay close in their concealment and longed for sheltering +night. + +All day long the Shabandar’s boats passed hither and thither, and with +the nightfall many appeared to abandon the search and returned on the +rising tide. + +Then an hour or two of the new-born moon, and after that thick darkness. + +The Pĕnglima and his friends had regained their boat, and as, about +midnight, the tide began to ebb, the vessel was pushed noiselessly out +into the river and bracing themselves for a final effort the rowers +gripped their oars, stiffened their backs and put their whole strength +into the work before them. + +The river as it approaches the sea grows wider at every bend, the +searchers were exhausted and asleep, or had already returned up-stream, +the night was dark and the fugitives were unmolested until, between 4 +A.M. and 5 A.M., in the last reach, they saw a line of boats guarding the +river’s mouth. + +There were wide intervals between each vessel, but even in that uncertain +light it was impossible for a boat to run this blockade without being +seen. + +At this final juncture the Pĕnglima’s Familiar did not desert him. + +Of course the earth ought to have opened and swallowed up this hardened +criminal as it did Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and all their company; he ought +to have been shot or drowned or speared if he were not being reserved +for hanging. At any rate this was an excellent opportunity for getting +rid of two hardened villains, and a few other passably wicked men. The +Lambor people, whose crimes were as snow compared to those of these two +arch-criminals, had all met with violent deaths and no miracle, not even +so much as a small streak of luck, like falling into a well and being +tended by a beautiful maiden, had saved the life of one of them. + +Why was it then that, as these cold-blooded assassins cowered together +and wondered how they were going to elude the vigilance of their enemies, +a palpable miracle was wrought to save their miserable skins? + +It cannot be said that anything very unusual happened, because the thing +is of common occurrence, but it was certainly thoughtfully arranged that +at that moment there should sail round the bend of the river, in the +strongest flow of the ebb-tide (now of course slackening), an enormous +mass of floating palms, a very island of foliage broken away from some +undermined bank and drifting majestically to the wider waters of the sea. + +If these great clumps of root and branch and foliage may be seen sailing +every day down a Malay river into the Straits of Malacca, this particular +island was so gigantic, that in size at least it was miraculous. It is +possible that to another man the passing drift would have suggested +nothing, but the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun was on such terms with Fortune +that he knew exactly the psychological moment at which to take her. Here +he remembered that the Malays call these floating islands _âpong_, and +that boats know very much better than to get in their way. His craft then +he promptly steered right into the back of this Satan-sent refuge, and, +forcing it in amongst the palms and covering it as well as was possible, +he calmly sat down and awaited the issue. + +The island sailed slowly along, and when the huge mass got near enough +to the guard-boats for them to realise their danger, there was a deal of +shouting and pulling of anchors, kicking up sleepy boatmen and frantic +struggles to avoid this river Juggernaut. + +So passed the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun; not to the vales and Queens of +Avilion, but to the open sea, from sore stress to safety, from an earthly +death to an earthly life. + +One can almost hear him chuckle as he sails through that last danger and +watches his enemies’ efforts to get back into their places. + +Malays do not pine for manual labour, they had already had more than +enough of it, and as they were now being towed idly along, they lay +down to sleep, vaguely wondering, in that moment of tired but delicious +drowsiness, what occult powers this leader possessed to secure at such a +moment the powerful help of this great leviathan, under whose green and +shady sails they were being wafted to safety and “the haven where they +would be.” + +A day or two of pleasant coasting, a walk across country, and Pĕnglima +Prang Sĕmaun, with Haji Ali and a considerable booty, arrived safely at +Blanja and received the congratulations of his master, the Raja Bĕndahâra. + +We read that when it was the fashion for knights to devote themselves to +the service of distressed damsels, they wrought many startling deeds, +which cannot always be satisfactorily explained without recognising that +devotion in so good a cause was sometimes supernaturally aided. + +Unfortunately, the practice has fallen into desuetude; let us hope it is +because the damsels of the nineteenth century are never in distress, want +no assistance, or despise that of the mere man. + +Malays are perhaps, in some respects, a few hundred years behind the +age, and I like to think that in this veracious story the Pĕnglima Prang +Sĕmaun made his first appearance as the champion of a lady in distress. + + + + +XIV + +BĔR-HANTU + + Striving to reach the mystic source + of things, the secrets of the earth + and sea and air + + L. MORRIS + + +We could all see the _tunggul mêrah_, the crimson streak which boded the +death of the King. Looking from the top of our green-terraced hill across +the clear wide river late one afternoon, this curious phenomenon appeared +in the sky, above the last spur of a picturesque range of mountains which +separates the valleys of two considerable streams whose united waters +flow into the Straits of Malacca. + +Standing on the right bank of the river, a stretch of level land lies +between the opposite bank and the foot of this range, and the wealth +of foliage hides from view the houses, orchards, and rice-fields which +cover that fertile plain. But the Sultan’s house, a palm-thatched wooden +structure, three houses on piles joined together by short platforms +after the accepted Malay pattern, stands out clearly enough, rather +down-stream than opposite the point of view. + +The crimson portent is not visible for long, and we realise that, +whatever it means, it is accounted for by the segment of a rainbow +shining through a bank of low clouds which obscure the rest of the “arch +of heaven,” and so blur the prismatic colours that nothing is clearly +discernible but a short column of flame, all the more striking for its +dull grey background. The tradition of ill-omen is of ancient origin, +but the fact that the Sultan now lies grievously ill gives an air of +probability to the gossip of the prophets. + +That evening, as we sat at dinner, we were suddenly startled by the +cry of the banshee. Up till that moment we had none of us had any +personal acquaintance with the banshee, but this was it sure enough. +A long-drawn-out distressing wail, as of a lost child, repeated at +uncertain intervals, now here now there, first on one side of the house +and then on the other, at one moment unpleasantly close, and the next a +piteous little half-choked sob in the distance. Without any doubt this +was the banshee, and as the moonlight was now streaming fitfully through +the clouds across the white pillars of the verandah, we thought we might +have the good fortune to see this harbinger of doom. + +We walked out on to the moonlit terrace, and the beauty of the night was +so intense that one felt it as through a new sense. + +The hill on which the house stood was cut into a series of terraces, and +the highest of these, a wide lawn of velvety grass, was surrounded by +tall graceful coco-nut trees, not close together but each standing alone +with its spiky leaves clearly delineated against the sky. + +Overhead a moon shedding that wonderful soft light only seen in the +East, where atmosphere, foliage, and all the surroundings seem specially +designed to make the ascendancy of the Queen of Night superbly beautiful. + +The exquisite feathery fronds of the bamboo, bending in graceful curves, +with each leaf clearly defined against a background of grey-blue sky; a +dozen varieties of palms, from the lofty coco-nut and the stately jagary +to the thick clumps of _bertam_, like gigantic ferns; picturesque groups +of flowering trees and shrubs on terrace after terrace, carry the eye +down to the shimmering gleam of the wide river on which the moonlight +falls lovingly, throwing into greater contrast the deep shadows that +lie under the overhanging foliage of the banks. Four miles of glistening +water, then the river narrows and fades into the mist-enshrouded forest. + +Close beneath us twinkle the lights of the village, the houses spreading +from river-brink to the high ground which rises abruptly on our left. +In front and on either side, range after range of jungle-covered hills, +from fifteen hundred to several thousands of feet in height. There is a +luminous haze over all distant objects, giving the idea of indefinite +height and distance, making all things vague and unsubstantial, yet +infinitely satisfying that other sense which only awakes under the +influence of perfect beauty. + +The extraordinary charm of this scene intoxicated us as with draughts of +nectar, and in that enravishment, kings, omens, and ghostly warnings were +forgotten. + +But hark! Yes, there is the cry, wailing in the distance—now much nearer, +and now—before our very eyes the banshee itself! + +Sailing slowly through the air between the feathery leaves of the +palms, like a lost soul wending its uncertain, purposeless way through +the balmy Eastern night, was a creature with heavy dark wings, a head +disproportionately large, and horns, veritable horns! As it slowly passed +and moaned its childlike plaint, no reasonable being could doubt that he +had heard and seen the messenger of death. + +That weird apparition, sobbing its fateful cry, broke the spell under +which we had stood enthralled, and though we felt that the King’s fate +was sealed, that did not prevent us from returning to dinner. + +Just after midnight a scared Malay came to say that it was feared the +Sultan was dying. I hurried down the hill, took boat across the river, +and, stumbling along the bank, reached the house where the sick man lay. + +I entered upon a peculiar scene. I said the building was in three parts, +the first a sort of ante-room, beyond which strangers of inferior +rank did not in ordinary circumstances pass; then came the principal +structure, which consisted of one large room, wooden pillars dividing off +verandahs on either side, while the third house was exclusively devoted +to women, and attached to it was an excrescence forming the kitchen. + +The unsteady light of several lamps and many candles showed that both +the centre and ante-rooms were full of people sitting on the mats which +covered the floor. There must have been between one and two hundred +present, and I noticed that there were about equal numbers of men and +women, and all the principal Malays of the neighbourhood were there. The +curtains which usually divided the centre room were up, but on one side +there was evidently a bed, screened by patchwork hangings, and there I +concluded His Highness lay. + +It was plain from the preparations that, despairing of effecting a cure +by native medicines administered by native doctors, it was intended +to try a little witchcraft and have a performance of what is called +_Bĕr-hantu_. That seemed to me to fall in very well with the _tunggul +mêrah_ and the banshee, and I was therefore quite prepared for the +raising of the Devil or any other uncanny manifestation. + +I may as well say here that _hantu_ is a ghost, devil or spirit, and +_bĕr-hantu_ means _to devil_, to raise the devil, or, at any rate, to +engage in something as nearly akin to a witches’ revel on the Brocken as +Malay traditions and surroundings will permit. It is a treatment commonly +resorted to in Perak when other remedies fail. When, however, the friends +of the patient decide that the time has arrived for _bĕr-hantu_, nothing +will satisfy them but to have it, and if the sick man or woman dies +during the performance, there is still the satisfaction of knowing that +everything was done for them which love and skill could devise, and the +issue was with God. _La-illahâ il-Allah, Muhammad Rasul-Allah_—“There is +but one God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.” + +This pious confession of faith has, however, nothing to do with the +_bĕr-hantu_; it comes in afterwards when the seal of death is so +evidently on the lips of the sufferer that his friends cease to call on +the Devil, and commend the soul of the dying man to God. The _bĕr-hantu_ +is, of course, a survival of præ-Islam darkness, and the priests +abominate it, or say they do; but they have to be a little careful, +because the highest society affects the practice of the Black Art. + +To return to the King’s house. In the middle of the floor was spread +a _puâdal_, a small narrow mat, at one end of which was seated a +middle-aged woman dressed like a man in a short-sleeved jacket, trousers, +a _sârong_, and a scarf fastened tightly round her waist. At the other +end of the mat was a large newly-lighted candle in a candlestick. Between +the woman and the taper were two or three small vessels containing rice +coloured with turmeric, parched _padi_, and perfumed water. An attendant +sat near at hand. + +The woman in male attire was the _Pâwang_, the Raiser of Spirits, the +Witch, not of Endor, but of as great repute in her own country and among +her own people. In ordinary life she was an amusing lady named Raja +Ngah, a scion of the reigning house on the female side and a member of +a family skilled in all matters pertaining to occultism. In a corner of +the room were five or six girls holding native drums, instruments with a +skin stretched over one side only, and this is beaten usually with the +fingers. The leader of this orchestra was the daughter of Raja Ngah. + +Shortly after I sat down, the proceedings began by the _Pâwang_ covering +her head and face with a silken cloth, while the orchestra began to +sing a weird melody in an unknown tongue. I was told it was the spirit +language; the air was one specially pleasing to a particular _Jin_, or +Spirit, and the invocation, after reciting his praises, besought him to +come from the mountains or the sea, from underground or overhead, and +relieve the torments of the King. + +As the song continued, accompanied by the rhythmical beating of the +drums, the _Pâwang_ sat with shrouded head in front of the lighted taper, +holding in her right hand against her left breast a small sheaf of the +grass called _daun sambau_ tied tightly together and cut square at top +and bottom. + +This _châdak_ she shook, together with her whole body, by a stiffening of +the muscles, while all eyes were fixed upon the taper. + +At first the flame was steady, but by and by, as the singers screamed +more loudly to attract the attention of the laggard Spirit, the wick +began to quiver and flare up, and it was manifest to the initiated that +the _Jin_ was introducing himself into the candle. By some means the +_Pâwang_, who was now supposed to be “possessed” and no longer conscious +of her actions, became aware of this, and she made obeisance to the +taper, sprinkling the floor round it with saffron-coloured rice and +perfumed water; then, rising to her feet and followed by the attendant, +she performed the same ceremony before each male member of the reigning +family present in the room, murmuring all the while a string of gibberish +addressed to the Spirit. This done, she resumed her seat on the mat, +and, after a brief pause, the minstrels struck up a different air, and, +singing the praises of another _Jin_, called upon him to come and relieve +the King’s distress. + +I ascertained that each Malay State has its own special Spirits, each +district is equally well provided, and there are even some to spare for +special individuals. In this particular State there are four principal +_Jin_; they are the _Jin ka-râja-an_, the State Spirit—also called +_Junjong dŭnia udâra_—Supporter of the Firmament; _Mâia udâra_, the +Spirit of the Air; _Mahkôta si-râja Jin_, the Crown of Royal Spirits; and +_S’tan Ali_. + +These four are known as _Jin âruah_, Exalted Spirits, and they are the +guardians of the Sultan and the State. As one star exceeds another +in glory, so one _Jin_ surpasses another in renown, and I have named +them in the order of their greatness. In their honour four white and +crimson umbrellas were hung in the room, presumably for their use when +they arrived from their distant homes. Only the Sultan of the State is +entitled to traffic with these distinguished Spirits; when summoned they +decline to move unless appealed to with their own special invocations, +set to their own peculiar music, sung by at least four singers and led by +a _Bĕduan_ (singer) of the royal family. The _Jin ka-râja-an_ is entitled +to have the royal drums played by the State drummers if his presence is +required, but the other three have to be satisfied with the instruments I +have described. + +There are common devils who look after common people: such as _Hantu +Songkei, Hantu Malâyu and Hantu Blîan_; the last the “Tiger Devil,” but +out of politeness he is called “Blîan,” to save his feelings. + +Then there is _Kĕmâla ajâib_, the “Wonderful Jewel,” _Israng_, Raja +Ngah’s special familiar, and a host of others. Most _hantu_ have their +own special _Pâwangs_, and several of these were carrying on similar +proceedings in adjoining buildings, in order that the sick monarch might +reap all the benefits to be derived from a consultation of experts, and, +as one spirit after another notified his advent by the upstarting flame +of the taper, it was impossible not to feel that one was getting into the +very best society. + +[Illustration] + +Meanwhile a sixteen-sided stand, about six inches high and shaped like +this diagram, had been placed on the floor near the _Pâwang’s_ mat. The +stand was decorated with yellow cloth; in its centre stood an enormous +candle, while round it were gaily decorated rice and toothsome delicacies +specially prized by _Jin_. There was just room to sit on this stand, +which is called _Pĕtrâna panchalôgam_ (meaning a seat of this particular +shape), and the Sultan, supported by many attendants, was brought out and +sat upon it. A veil was placed on his head, the various vessels were put +in his hands, he spread the rice round the taper, sprinkled the perfume, +and having received into his hand an enormous _châdak_ of grass, calmly +awaited the coming of the _Jin Ka-râja-an_, while the minstrels shouted +for him with all their might. + +The Sultan sat there for some time, occasionally giving a convulsive +shudder, and when this taper had duly flared up and all the rites had +been performed, His Highness was conducted back again to his couch, and +the _Pâwang_ continued her ministrations alone. + +Whilst striding across the floor, she suddenly fell down as though shot, +and it was explained to me that Israng, the spirit by whom she was +possessed, had seen a dish-cover, and that the sight always frightened +him to such an extent that his _Pâwang_ fell down. The cause of offence +was removed, and the performance continued. + +There are other spirits who cannot bear the barking of a dog, the mewing +of a cat, and so on. + +Just before dawn there was a sudden confusion within the curtains which +hid the Sultan’s couch; they were thrown aside, and there lay the King, +to all appearance in a swoon. The _Jin Ka-râja-an_ had taken possession +of the sick body, and the mind was no longer under its owner’s control. + +For a little while there was great excitement, and then the King +recovered consciousness, was carried to a side verandah and a quantity of +cold water poured over him. + +So ended the _séance_. + +Shortly after, the Sultan, clothed and in his right mind, sent to say he +would like to speak to me. He told me he took part in this ceremony to +please his people and because it was a very old custom, and he added, “I +did not know you were there till just now; I could not see you because I +was not myself and did not know what I was doing.” + +The King did not die, after all—on the contrary, I was sent for twice +again because he was not expected to live till the morning, and yet he +cheated Death—for a time. + +That reminds me of the banshee. I saw it sitting in a Malay house +some months later, and they told me the boys had caught it, that +it was an owl, and its name was _Toh ka-tampi_. It had very round, +yellow eyes, and there was no mistake about the horns. It seems that +with Malays it is an ill-omened bird, the herald of misfortune and +death, and it shares this reputation with two other owls, which are +called respectively _Tumbok lârong_, that is “Nail the coffin,” and +_Chârek kafan_, “Rend the cloth for the shroud.” _Toh ka-tampi_ means +“Old-man-winnow-the-rice-for-the-burial-feast.” The names are rather +gruesome, and are said to be suggested by the peculiar cries of these +“ghost birds.” + + + + +XV + +THE KING’S WAY + + We know what Heaven or Hell may bring + But no man knoweth the mind of the King + + RUDYARD KIPLING + + +He was the Sultan of an important Malay State, but to those who knew him +best he was, and will remain, “Craddock’s King,” principally because he +always sent for Craddock whenever he wanted anything that he thought +needed the assistance of a European officer, and, on the rare occasions +when he travelled outside his own dominions, Craddock used to go with him +as guide, interpreter, and shield. + +The King was one with whom things had gone badly until the appearance +of the white man in his country. His character had not endeared him to +the people, who should have been his subjects, but were, almost without +exception, his enemies; and the consequence was that when he ought to +have been elected to a high office, and later, when his birth entitled +him to be nominated Sultan, his claims were ignored in favour of junior +men. Up to the age of fifty or more he had passed his life in poverty, +and even in want, and often in open resistance to such authority as +existed. These strained relations with his own people made him loyal to +the British, and as his claims were indisputable, and the opportunity +came when they might be satisfied, he at last attained to the position +which was his by right. + +I will try to draw the man as he was at this time. Tall for a Malay, +rather fair, with grey hair and a white moustache; very broad-shouldered +and thick-set, a powerful figure, though now inclined to over-stoutness; +a firm, upright carriage; in his face an exceeding _hauteur_, and in +his manner something more than this—the plain evidence of a masterful +and overbearing disposition. The strength of mind, the obstinacy of +character, were writ large in both face and figure; while an imperious +manner was accentuated by a loud voice and impatient speech, caused to +some extent by the difficulty of understanding one whose teeth were few, +and whose tongue was plainly over-large. + +The King affected gay colours, and his appearance, when he took his +walks abroad, was striking, not to say remarkable. A tartan silk jacket, +combining many violent colours and fastened at the neck only, clothed +his body; this jacket had a high collar which enclosed the wearer’s +bull-neck and reached to the ears. The nether garment was a pair of very +wide and loose white silk trousers fastened by many yards of a scarlet +silk waist-cloth. These trousers reached a point low down on the calf of +the leg, leaving a fair expanse of uncovered limb between them and the +sky-blue canvas shoes which encased the stockingless feet. On his head, +tilted rakishly over one ear, the King wore a wonderful round bright +yellow cap, flat on the top with stiff sides, on which were sewn, in +Arabic characters of black cloth, a verse from the Korân. + +In his waist-cloth the King usually carried a short knife in a polished +wooden sheath, and when walking he leant upon a spear or long bamboo +stick. Both hands and feet were white with an unnatural and mottled +whiteness, caused, His Highness averred, by eating the flesh of the white +buffalo, and, in walking, the toes were turned out to such an extent as +to give a decided waddle. + +For people with whom loyalty to their rajas is an article of faith, the +dislike in which the King was held by them was extraordinary. It is +charitable to suppose that early disappointment had embittered his life, +for he possessed good qualities. He was undeniably intelligent, and had +a wider knowledge of his country and its ancient customs than any other +man in it. He knew his own mind, was determined to obstinacy, and asked +counsel of few. He was a keen sportsman, courageous, and, having sought +the friendship of the British, never wavered in his loyalty. If it be +said that in this he consulted his own interest and knew his unpopularity +with his own people, his consistency and good faith were still a merit. +On the other hand, his defects and vices were numerous, and just those +likely to earn him the dislike of Malays. He was incredibly mean, he was +overbearing to cruelty, rapaciously grasping, jealous of the good fortune +of any of his subjects, selfish, difficult of access, and unconcerned +with the misfortunes of others; vindictive to those who offended him or +opposed his wishes, a gambler who nearly always contrived to win, and +in matters where the other sex were concerned, decidedly unreliable. +He was not an opium-smoker, nor was he in any sense a religious man, +and, though the “Defender of the Faith” in his own country, he observed +none of its outward forms. It cannot, therefore, be said that he was in +good odour with the priesthood and yet one of his firmest friends—for a +time—was the priest of the neighbouring village who, whenever a witness +was needed to support the King in any action or statement, was ready both +to vouch to supposed facts and prove his master’s case by the authority +of Muhammadan writings. + +The constant appeal to the priest for justification and the persistence +with which this man found excellent reasons for the King’s peculiar +methods was a little discouraging; but there came an estrangement. The +King, accompanied by the priest and others, visited a neighbouring +British possession, stayed there some days, and at the moment of his +return was faced by a serious indignity. It appeared that someone in this +place who did not understand the King’s peculiarities had, or thought he +had, sold to His Highness a tricycle and a musical-box for which he could +not obtain payment, and, having ascertained that the King was going and +did not care about the things, this misguided individual somehow obtained +a summons against His Highness to appear before a local tribunal and +answer to the plaint. + +The King, being informed, expressed his extreme unconcern, and said +that, as it was the priest’s business and his only, he could settle it. +The priest raised the amount necessary to meet the bill, and the party +returned to their own State with the musical-box and tricycle. + +Then “a private pique arose” between King and Priest as to who should +finally pay for these playthings. For the first time these firm friends +appeared in opposition to each other, and both parties gave their +respective versions of the transaction before a highly edified and +delighted Council of Arbitration. + +First the King: He knew nothing of any musical-box, did not like +musical-boxes, had no ear for music, and did not understand the +discordant noises made by these inventions of the white man. He had seen +a thing of the kind in his house, had heard it, had even himself made it +play its absurd tunes, did not enjoy it in the least, and had done it +without thinking, but knew it would please the priest as he had bought +the thing, and he supposed he would not have done so unless he wanted to +have it played. + +As for the tricycle, how in the name of misfortune could a tricycle +concern him? The bare idea of a man of his age and figure riding a +tricycle was enough to make a dog bark (and here His Highness laughed +consumedly at the spectacle he had conjured up). Had anyone ever seen +him ride a tricycle? Where was he going to ride it? Was it on the sandy +shore of the river where he lived? and if not there, then where? He +understood that tricycles would neither go through the jungle nor across +_padi_ fields, and, if he were to take “the creature” out shooting, +he supposed it would not greatly help him to get a shot at a bison or +a rhinoceros. Did anyone imagine he was going to carry letters? that +he was going to join the Post Office? If the imputation were not so +stupid he could almost be angry with the priest, a man whom he had heard +over and over again say that the one thing he desired was a tricycle, +something on which he could take exercise, and at the same time get +about his district. He had even asked him, the King, to lend him money +to buy the machine, but he had no money to lend and tried to dissuade +the man because he thought that in his inexperience he might fall and +hurt himself. Malays did not understand things that ran on three wheels +without ever a horse or a bullock, or even a buffalo to pull them. He saw +the tricycle lying under his house, and he heard the priest haggling +with someone about the price, but he would take any oath that the priest +or anyone else could devise that he had never set eyes on the man who +sold the thing. All he knew was that he had been insulted by the issue of +a summons because of the priest’s extravagant tastes, and, while any one +who liked might pay, it would not be he. + +Then the Priest: + +Long before they left the State, His Highness told him that when +they made this visit it was his desire to purchase a musical-box (in +the sweet strains of which his soul delighted) and a tricycle, the +beautiful three-wheeled silent carriage which cost little to start with +and nothing to keep, wanted no horses, nor harness, nor expensive and +impertinent horse-keepers, which never shied at bullock-carts or ran +away from elephants, and which lasted through the lives of many beasts. +Therefore, he, the priest, the obedient slave of the King, had sought the +sweet-voiced box and the stomachless carriage, and after much difficulty +he had found them. By the express order of the King the priest had bidden +the owners bring them to the house in which the King was lodging, and +there the whole details of the two transactions were arranged. The +people who trafficked in these goods could not be taken into the presence +of his master, and, indeed, the King had expressly declined to see them +(was not the King all-wise?), but they had been brought into a room of +the house across which hung a heavy curtain, and while he, the priest, +discussed the terms with the seller on one side, the King sat on the +other, and not only heard all that was said, but in the end, when the +priest went behind the curtain to consult his royal master, had expressed +his entire approval of the price, only stipulating that he should first +hear the box sing and ride the stomachless horse. This he had arranged +with some little difficulty, because the sellers were needy men and +wanted the money; moreover, they seemed to distrust his master, the King, +for some reason which he could not fathom. But he arranged that the +singing-box and the seat on three wheels should stay with his master for +four days, and that then they should be returned or paid for; those were +the orders of the King. So they stayed, and the King turned the handle of +the box and made it sing, or, more often, from prayer-time to prayer-time +he, the priest, had to turn the handle and make music, and the King drank +in the sound and was glad. As for the three wheels, they lay under the +house, and the King looked upon the machine and said it was good and +cheap and would eat nothing. + +These are the words of the Priest: “The four days went by and the men +came to be paid, and I told my master, but he seemed to be busy with +other things, and I sent them away to come again the next day. In this +way the time passed till the day for our departure, and I knew the men +who owned the box and the carriage were angry, but I saw my master wanted +the things. When at last the trouble came, and the King said it was not +his business but mine, I told the men they could take the box and the +carriage back because they did not please the King, but they would not, +and I was afraid lest shame should come on my master, and I went out and +borrowed the money and paid it. Could I, who am a priest, play with a box +that sings not of God nor the Prophet? Can I, who am a poor man, who only +live to pray and to preach, to exhort the living and to bury the dead, +can I ride on the stomachless horse with three wheels, I whose duty is in +the mosque and by the grave? My master the King knows that in this thing +as in others I have but obeyed the voice of my master.” + +So Church and State quarrelled, and the priest found no more favour in +the sight of the King. But there were many who said: + + “_Sĕpĕrti Nasrûan dëngan Bahtek_ + _Bĕr-sâtu rangkêsa_ + _Bĕr-chĕrei jâdi sentôsa._” + +“They are like Raja Nasrûan and his minister Bahtek; their union +brought ruin, their divorce solace.” Indeed, it was the opportunity of +the proverb-monger, and such sayings as, “It is sometimes one’s own +forefinger which pokes one in the eye,” and, “While you carry the Raja’s +business on your head, don’t forget to keep your own under your arm,” +were heard on all sides. + +The King had a clerk who had served him faithfully for twenty years or +more. The clerk had a wife, and the King’s eye fell upon her approvingly; +so the King sent the clerk into a far country to chase a wild bird, and +bestowed his favour upon the wife who remained under his care. The King +also bestowed upon the lady sundry jewels of price, things that please +poor heathen women with hardly any moral character and no education to +speak of. + +By-and-by the King got tired of the woman, as unprincipled Eastern kings +will do, and he sought about for some means, not to rid himself of her, +that was simple enough, but to get back his gifts (for they would serve +again as they had done already) and at the same time to throw a little +dust in the eyes of the clerk, who was known to be on his way back. +Accordingly, a youth of no account was arrested by the King’s people, and +charged with carrying on a _liaison_ with the lady during the absence of +her husband. The crime was, of course, aggravated by the fact that she +was under the special protection of the King! The clear proof of guilt +was the alleged possession by the woman of a _sârong_[3] belonging to the +man. + +This charge was sufficient ground for the display of royal displeasure, +and procured the restitution of the jewels, but it failed to convince +anyone that the man accused by the King had done any wrong, and, in spite +of the strenuous exertions of His Highness to get the man banished from +the country, nothing was done to him. The plan, therefore, miscarried to +some extent, and when the clerk returned it is probable that he learnt +the facts, for he declined to further serve the King, and even said +bluntly things about his late master that were not altogether loyal. + +I have elsewhere stated that Malays try to wipe out, what in their +uncivilised minds they count as dishonour, in a savage and bloodthirsty +fashion, but this does not apply when the offender is a raja and the +injured man of lesser rank. The person of a raja is sacred to a Malay, +and if he feels that he has been disgraced beyond bearing, the result +will probably be, sooner or later, an access of blind fury resulting in a +case of _âmok_. + +The King had as many wives as the Muhammadan law permitted, and, as his +country possessed the infinite blessing of a civil list which limited +his own income, he was always anxious that whenever he took to himself +a new wife she should receive an allowance from the State. His Highness +made a special point of this grant to the ladies, because he said the +knowledge that if they divorced him or compelled him to divorce them they +would lose the allowance, had an excellent effect on their behaviour. +He had succeeded in securing allowances for several wives, when a new +lady, named Raja Sarefa, consented to share the royal smiles, and the +King immediately applied on her behalf for the usual civil list. The +application, however, was not successful, though several times renewed. + +Then the King fell ill of some fell disease that no native medicine-man +could diagnose, and the evil spirit, with which he seemed to be +troubled, had its will of him, so that all men said the King must die. + +During an interval of temporary return to consciousness, when for a +few hours the patient seemed to have a rest from the attacks of the +tormentor, he ordered that a young nephew should be sent for, also a +divorced wife of his own, and a priest. Then, against the earnest wishes +of both parties, he insisted upon these young people being married in his +presence, and shortly after relapsed into his former state. + +After weeks of torment, when every day seemed certain to be his last, the +iron constitution prevailed, and the King recovered. In the first days of +his convalescence I went to see him, and found him lying on his bed, in +his eyes the light of consciousness and intelligence, and sitting by him +the wife, Raja Sarefa. + +He was weak, spoke slowly and in a small voice, but said that by God’s +grace he only wanted time to regain his strength. After expressing my +thankfulness at seeing him so well on the way to recovery, I said that I +had often been over to see him when he was ill, and that the Raja Sarefa +had tended him with extraordinary devotion, never seeming to leave his +bedside. At once he said, “You noticed that, did you?” I replied that I +had been very much struck by her care of him. “I was blind,” he said; “I +do not know what happened, but I am very glad you remarked how carefully +Sarefa nursed me, and that you have mentioned it, for now you will +recognise that she ought to have an allowance.” + +In the presence of the lady, even though she did not raise her eyes from +the floor, it was difficult not to recognise that, if curses come home to +roost, blessings sometimes go astray. + +After a respite of eighteen months, the evil spirit again took possession +of the King, and this time made short work of him. + +The scientific explanation, deriding the evil-spirit theory, said that a +tumour on the brain, caused by no matter what, accounted for the first +attack, and that as sometimes, but rarely, happens, the growth was for a +time arrested, the tumour contracted, and the pressure on the brain was +removed. But the mischief was there, and a sudden rapid development of +the disease brought on a return of the symptoms, a violent but hopeless +struggle, and death. + +It is the custom in the country of which I now write to, in a manner, +canonise its Sultans. At the burial, when the moment arrives for +carrying the body to the place of sepulture, the dead man is given a new +name, by which he is ever afterwards known. That name is chosen with +some reference to his earthly life. Thus, there is Al-mĕrhum or Mĕrhum +Pâsir Panjang (that is, “The Sultan who died at Pâsir Panjang”), Mĕrhum +Kahar-Allah (“The late Sultan to whom God gave strength”), and so on. + +When this King was buried, the name conferred upon him was Mĕrhum +Rafir-Allah, and the meaning is, “May God pardon him.” + + * * * * * + +NOTE.—Since writing the above, I have read the following in the _Home +News_: + + “In the Lord Mayor’s Court on Oct. 14, before the Assistant + Judge and a jury, the case of ‘Fischer _v_. Brown’ was + concluded. This (says the _Times_) was an action brought by + Fischer and Co., a firm of Bombay merchants, to recover from + Messrs. Brown, Saville, and Co., who carry on business in + this country, the sum of £73, money paid by the plaintiffs to + the defendants, for which they had received no consideration. + It appeared that in July, 1892, the plaintiffs received an + order for a special perambulator, which was to be given to + His Highness Tikah Sahib, Rajah of Patalia, as a birthday + present by his secretary, Sham Shir Sing. The perambulator was + to be painted dark green and old gold, which were the colours + of the Rajah, and there was to be a good strong musical-box + under the seat, and also an automatic arrangement by which the + perambulator, on being wound up, would run by itself. This + order was given to the defendants by the plaintiffs on July 4, + and the perambulator was to be ready for shipment to Bombay + by Aug. 15, in order that it should reach the Rajah by Oct. + 1, which was the date of his birthday. The defendants did not + finish the work in time, and the Rajah’s birthday had passed + before the present arrived, and then the secretary refused + to take it, and it had to be sent back. In the meantime the + defendants had drawn a bill upon the plaintiffs for the price + of the perambulator, and this the plaintiffs had accepted and + had paid the money, which they were now suing to recover. + For the defence it was stated that the cause of the delay in + delivering the perambulator was Mr. F. Fischer’s interference. + The wheels and springs of the perambulator, it had been agreed, + should be electro-plated, but when Mr. Fischer heard this he + said it would not suit the Rajah, and they must be gilded. He + was told this could not be done in time, and it was implied + by the orders he gave (which were that the perambulator should + have elephant-headed handles and papier-maché figures of + elephants and peacocks) that a further allowance of time would + be given. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiffs for the + amount claimed.” + + + + +XVI + +A MALAY ROMANCE + + Every heart in which heaven has set the lamp of love, whether + that heart inclines to Mosque or Synagogue, if its name be + written in the Book of Love it is freed from the fear of Hell, + and the hope of Paradise + + JUSTIN MCCARTHY’S _Omar Khayyam_ + + +A quarter of a century ago there lived on the bank of a broad river, just +at the point where stream meets tide, a Malay Raja and his youthful wife. +She has been dead for twenty years, but in this land of brief regrets her +memory is still green, the fame of her wit and beauty has become a byword +with the people. + +She was a girl of royal descent; her name, Raja Maimûnah. Exceeding fair, +for a Malay, slight but graceful in figure, with very small hands and +feet, an oval face and splendid eyes, glistening blue-white wells in +which floated, lotus-like, the dark iris, flashing or wooing in changeful +expression from wide-open or half-closed lids deeply shaded by long +black lashes. Her nose was small, straight, and well cut, and the curved +smiling lips disclosed teeth of perfect shape and singular whiteness. In +either cheek a dimple, _lĕsong mâti_, as the Malays call it, the dimple +which so fascinates the beholder that it will lure him even unto death. +Her jet-black hair, fringing the forehead in an oval frame, was drawn +straight back over the well-shaped head and fastened in a simple knot +with four ruby-studded hairpins; the heads firmly fixed against one side +of the coil, while the golden points protruded for an inch or more beyond +the other. + +Her dress was that worn by all ladies of rank, and usually consisted of a +silk skirt of softly-blended colours reaching to the ankles and fastened +at the waist by a belt with a large golden buckle. The only other +garment was a satin jacket of some dark colour on which were stitched +cunningly-wrought designs of beaten gold. This jacket had a tight collar, +and the close-fitting sleeves were fastened by a long row of jewelled +buttons reaching almost from wrist to elbow; it was loose at the waist +and just covered the belt. Tiny heelless shoes, embroidered with gold and +silver thread, completed the attire. + +When out of doors, the Raja Maimûnah would wear a veil of darkest blue, +black or white gossamer embroidered with very narrow gold ribbon, a most +becoming head-dress, the product of Arabian skill. Over this, again, was +held coquettishly, to conceal the face from male eyes, a scarf of rich +Malay-red silk, heavy with interwoven threads of gold, while one or two +more silken _sârongs_ of varying colour and richness of material were +worn over the under-skirt. + +Jewels depend upon the wealth and station of the wearer, but Maimûnah’s +jacket was fastened with buttons that matched the hairpins. She was +seldom seen without diamond solitaires in the ears and a number of +diamond rings on her fingers, while on State occasions she wore heavy +gold bangles on her wrists and one or more gold necklaces. + +I cannot draw an equally attractive picture of Raja Iskander, the +husband of this lady. He was about thirty years of age, while she +was one-and-twenty. He was short and spare for a Malay, and his +distinguishing features were a large ugly mouth with a downward turn at +the corners and an almost perpetual expression of extreme discontent. + +His vanity was inordinate, his extravagance continually led him into +difficulty, and he smoked opium to excess and to the neglect of all his +duties and his interests; moreover, he lacked courage, and sought counsel +from men of no standing, whose only thought was their own profit. + +A Malay Raja has many wives. He begins early and rings the changes often, +until (especially if he have pretensions to become ultimately the ruler +of his country, as was the case with Iskander) his relatives decide that +he should marry a lady of his own rank. Then, if he is young, her people +usually insist that any wife he has must be divorced, and, that done, the +marriage takes place. + +At the time of which I write, Raja Iskander had been married to Maimûnah +for about three years; she was the mother of two children, but her +husband thought he had good reason to doubt her fidelity, and he was +palpably neglecting her for a concubine. That he should have other wives +or concubines was of course only what she had been educated to expect, +and, in acting on his right, Raja Iskander was simply following the +practice of his ancestors and the custom of the country. The Muhammadan +law is nevertheless extremely strict in its injunctions that all wives +are to be treated with equal consideration, and, while their claims are +clear, the concubine has none. To neglect a wife for a concubine is a +dire offence to Malay women, and the slight is enormously exaggerated +when the wife is of high birth, and the favourite only a woman of the +people. + +The house where Raja Iskander then lived was within a hundred feet of +the bank of the stream, an unattractive spot fifty miles from the mouth +of the river, but yet not far enough to escape the tidal influence and +the unlovely accompaniments of turbid water, muddy banks, and flat +surroundings. Raja Iskander passed a good deal of his time in boats, the +lazy life suited him and his habits, and, instead of having to provide a +house for each of the ladies in his harem, he supplied a boat. That was +much more economical, and economy was an object, for, like many people +with extravagant tastes, his extravagance was purely selfish. + +The boats lay in the river in front of the house, and as Raja Iskander’s +presence was the excuse for a rendezvous of all the gamblers, +cock-fighters, and opium-smokers of the neighbourhood, a good many boats +besides his own were always in attendance. + +Amongst the visitors attracted to this spot at this time was a man called +Raja Slêman, a stranger from a neighbouring State. + +It might have been the cock-fighting or the gambling always to be found +in the society of Raja Iskander that drew Raja Slêman to the place. It +might also have been the congenial society of another opium-smoker, or +possibly the fame of Raja Maimûnah’s attractions. Whatever the lodestone, +Raja Slêman appeared with two boats and about fifteen followers, and, +once arrived, he elected to remain. + +Raja Iskander passed most of his time on the water, but Maimûnah lived +in the house on shore. A very modest dwelling it was; a building of mat +sides and thatched roof raised from the damp and muddy earth on wooden +piles, a flight of steps led into the front of the house and a ladder +served for exit at the back. The interior accommodation consisted of a +closed-in verandah, one large room, and a kitchen tacked on behind. + +The edges of the muddy river were fringed by the _nipah_ palm, which +is never seen beyond tidal influences; the banks were covered by rank +grasses, the country was flat and desolate, the jungle insignificant, and +in the heat of the day the oppression of steaming mud and shelterless +plain was so great that sleep seemed to force itself on insect, reptile, +and every living thing. + +At night the myriads of fireflies sparkling in the riverside bushes, +their twinkling lights reflected in the water, gave some relief to tired +eyes; but the gain in the change of temperature and scene was hardly +appreciated when the mosquitoes and sand-flies began their merciless +attacks. + +Under such circumstances and amidst such surroundings, Raja Slêman came +into the life of Maimûnah. + +He was about the same age as Raja Iskander, but in other respects there +was a striking difference between the two men. Slêman was a man of +pleasing features, extremely quiet, and of courtly manners; the casual +observer would probably fail to realise that this outward appearance +concealed a firm determination and a dauntless courage. Of worldly goods +he had little enough, and small prospect of multiplying them, but in rank +he was almost, if not quite, the equal of Raja Iskander. + +One day as Slêman sat in his boat he saw Maimûnah and her maidens come +down to the river to bathe. In his country he had never beheld a woman +as beautiful as this one, and he fell hopelessly in love with Iskander’s +wife. Then each day he watched for her, and never failed, morning and +evening, to follow her with his eyes for the few moments when she slowly +wended her way from house to river and back again. + +Meanwhile, Maimûnah, suffering from the _spretæ injuria formæ_ and +chafing under the monotony of existence, had heard all about the arrival +of Slêman and readily listened to the tales of his valorous deeds. Soon +she began to look for him, and as he was ever watching for her coming it +was not long before their eyes met. He pleased her, and, when she saw +in his face the admiration he had no desire to conceal, she would drop +the covering that hid all but her eyes, and what he then beheld only +increased his passion. + +Malay ladies are adepts in speaking the language of the eyes, the chances +of verbal speech are but few, and so carefully is this art cultivated, +so thoroughly understood, that principals and witnesses never fail to +rightly interpret the signs. + +Slêman and Maimûnah had already mutually declared themselves without the +exchange of a syllable, and it was with perfect confidence that Slêman +sought a closer intimacy by the friendly aid of a messenger. + +Iskander was too much engaged with his opium and his latest favourite, +too generally satisfied with himself, to notice what was going on. Had +he realised the state of affairs he would not have been indifferent to +the disgrace that must be his, should his wife’s _liaison_ become public +property. It is unlikely that he had any suspicion of Slêman, but, if he +had, it would never occur to him that any man would have the courage to +do more than carry on a clandestine intrigue, and of that he suspected +Maimûnah had already been guilty. Least of all would it seem possible +for a foreigner supported by a dozen followers to brave the power and +resentment of well nigh the greatest chief of a powerful State. + +In this, however, he was misled by the _suave_ manners of the quiet +stranger. + +Slêman’s suit prospered, and he was not satisfied to continue +indefinitely filling the _rôle_ of false friend to Iskander and fearful +lover to his wife. However much he despised the man, however easily he +found he could profit by Iskander’s indifference, he meant to play a +bolder game and make Maimûnah his own at all hazards if she were prepared +to face the risk. + +Her courage was equal to his own (for failure meant probably death to her +as to him), and one night, while Iskander lay in his boat dreaming over +his opium-pipe, the stranger was carrying off his royal spouse within +earshot, almost from under his very eyes. + +Once in Slêman’s boat, and the bark had been silently unmoored and +allowed to drift out of sight and hearing, little time was lost in +getting out the oars and pulling with might and main down river towards +the coast. + +All night long the rowers bent to their work, but when morning broke and +less than half the distance to the river’s mouth had been traversed, +Slêman ordered the men to pull in to the bank, fasten up the boat and +rest. + +It seemed a foolhardy proceeding to waste the precious time, for with the +dawn the elopement would be discovered and Iskander would be in pursuit +before the sun had cleared the tops of the jungle trees. + +Raja Slêman’s quiet serenity was not disturbed by anticipations of +capture or fear of the outraged husband’s fury. On the contrary, he +procured a small boat and a messenger, and he indited a letter to Raja +Iskander, informing him he had carried away the Raja Maimûnah, but that +he had not gone far, having only reached the place he named. He added +that he would wait there for one night and one day against the coming of +any who might wish to try and take the lady from him, and that after that +time he should continue his journey to the coast and thence to his own +country. + +Raja Iskander received this missive whilst yet undecided what course to +take in the untoward disaster that had befallen him. The letter did not +greatly help him to arrive at a decision, and he was still discussing +with his chiefs who should have the honour of pursuing and punishing the +abductor when the twenty-four hours expired. + +Neither Iskander nor any of his people ever started on that quest, and +Raja Slêman carried Maimûnah in safety to his own country. + +The disconsolate husband, whose ideas were in accord with a civilisation +beyond the education or sympathetic comprehension of his subjects, +decided to divorce his faithless wife and leave her lover to marriage +and the punishment of his own conscience. It is a painful fact that this +conduct earned him not the admiration but the contempt of his people. + +Iskander had one revenge: he discovered amongst Maimûnah’s women two who +had carried messages between the lovers. One was a woman of twenty-five, +the other a girl of fourteen, and both were incontinently strangled. + +As for Slêman and Maimûnah, they were duly married, and she bore him a +daughter in all respects like her mother, though not, the old people +say, her peer in beauty. The _laudator temporis acti_ is a common and +flourishing plant in Malâya. + +In the two children born before the elopement, it is difficult to trace +any resemblance to their mother. + +Maimûnah died years and years ago, the victim of a malignant disease; +but Slêman still lives in his own country, his hair is getting grey, +but otherwise he shows few signs of age. Time has only intensified +the courteous bearing and quiet repose of manner which seem to fitly +accompany his gentle winning voice; no one would suspect that this man, +almost single-handed, carried off the chief spouse of an Oriental prince, +and then defied the whole country to take her from him. + +There are no local bards to record Slêman’s story in deathless song, and +the people are so impregnated with vice that they seek for no excuses +to palliate his conduct, and have no condemnation for this ruthless +destroyer of Iskander’s happy home. But they are Muhammadans, and seldom +allow themselves the luxury of burning moral convictions. I have never +seen a missionary proselytising amongst the Malays, but many years ago +I was told that a Christian missionary came to Malâya full of zeal and +confident of success. He began with a man who seemed an earnest, truthful +person, anxious to learn, a promising subject. The missionary told him +the story of the Immaculate Conception. The Malay listened to the end, +showing great interest in the miraculous narrative of the Blessed Virgin; +then he said, “If that had happened to my wife, I should have killed +her.” + + + + +XVII + +MALAY SUPERSTITIONS + + There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, + Than are dreamt of in your philosophy + + _Hamlet_ + + +Malay superstitions are the survival of a time antecedent to the advent +of the gospel of Islam, and their strong hold on the people is only +another proof of the conservative tendencies of the race. What was the +Faith of Malâya seven hundred years ago it is hard to say, but there is +a certain amount of evidence to lead to the belief that it was a form of +Brahmanism and that no doubt had succeeded the original Spirit Worship. + +I do not propose to attempt to enumerate all the various forms of +superstition, their name is legion, but only to describe a few that are +both curious and interesting. + +I have already referred to what is known as _bĕr-hantu_, the practice +of a kind of witchcraft for the healing of the sick; it reminds one +of “casting out devils in the name of Beelzebub the Prince of the +devils”—and I might here give some of the incantations commonly spoken +by the exorcist, but one will suffice. Here is the translation of a most +potent exorcism believed to be efficacious against the malevolent attacks +of a thousand lesser demons: + +Heigh! thou Spirit whose name is Jin Pari of the Jin Âruah; Rabiah Jâmil +was thy mother’s, Imam Jâmil thy father’s name; thou art the grandchild +of Hakim Baisuri, the great-grandchild of Mâlim of the Forest. Thou +Spirit of the path Lôrin, Spirit of the rising ground Sri Permâtang, +Spirit of the ant-hill known as “Piebald Horse.” Heigh! you white ants +Sekutânai, why do you, Sekutâpa, flying up stream make me think you are +on your way down, and flying down stream give the impression that you are +going to the interior? + +I know your origin, spawn of Hell’s spouting flame; do not any longer +torment this person. + +If you disobey, I will curse you by the name of the Most High, saying, +“By the Grace of God, by the Grace of God, by the Grace of God.” + +The final threat to drive out the demon by using the name of the Almighty +is curious as showing how the exorcist seeks by a judicious blending of +tradition with his latter-day Faith to get the better of the tormentor. + +A very widespread superstition is that certain persons have familiar +spirits who will, at the instance of their owners, enter into and plague +any one whom it may be desired to injure. These evil spirits are known +as _Bâjang_, _Pôlong_, _Pĕlsit_, and _Langsûior_, the last being a +female spirit. They are either inherited or acquired by the practice of +witchcraft, and the way in which their possession is brought home to any +member of the community is as little reasonable as the “proof” of the +exercise of similar powers in the Western witch not so many centuries ago. + +Some one in a village falls ill of a complaint, the symptoms of which +are unusual; there may be convulsions, unconsciousness, or delirium, +possibly for some days together or with intervals between the attacks. +The relatives will call in a native doctor, and at her (she is usually +an ancient female) suggestion, or without it, an impression will arise +that the patient is the victim of a _bâjang_. Such an impression quickly +develops into certainty and any trifle will suggest the owner of the +evil spirit. One method of verifying this suspicion is to wait till the +patient is in a state of delirium and then to question him or her as to +who is the author of the trouble. This should be done by some independent +person of authority who is supposed to be able to ascertain the truth. + +A further and convincing proof is then to call in a “_Pâwang_” skilled in +dealing with wizards (in Malay countries they are usually men), and if he +knows his business his power is such that he will place the sorcerer in +one room, and, while he in another scrapes an iron vessel with a razor, +the culprit’s hair will fall off as though the razor had been applied to +his head instead of to the vessel! That is supposing he _is_ the culprit; +if not, of course he will pass through the ordeal without damage. + +I have been assured that the shaving process is so efficacious that, as +the vessel represents the head of the person standing his trial, wherever +it is scraped, the wizard’s hair will fall off in a corresponding spot. +It might be supposed that under these circumstances the accused is +reasonably safe, but this test of guilt is not always employed. What more +commonly happens is that when several cases of unexplained sickness have +occurred in a village, with possibly one or two deaths, the people of +the place lodge a formal complaint against the supposed author of these +ills and desire that he be punished. + +Before the advent of British influence it was the practice to kill the +wizard or witch whose guilt had been established to Malay satisfaction, +and such executions were carried out not very many years ago. + +I remember a case in Perak less than ten years ago when the people of an +up-river village accused a man of keeping a _bâjang_, and the present +Sultan, who was then the principal Malay Judge in the State, told them he +would severely punish the _bâjang_ if they would produce it. They went +away hardly satisfied and shortly after made a united representation to +the effect that if the person suspected were allowed to remain in their +midst they would kill him. Before anything could be done they put him, +his family, and effects on a raft and started them down the river. On +their arrival at Kuala Kangsar the man was given an isolated hut to live +in, but not long afterwards he disappeared. + +The hereditary _bâjang_ comes like other evils, the unsought heritage +of a dissolute ancestry, but the acquired _bâjang_ is usually obtained +from the newly-buried body of a stillborn child, which is supposed to +be the abiding-place of a familiar spirit until lured therefrom by the +solicitations of someone who, at dead of night, stands over the grave and +by potent incantations persuades the _bâjang_ to come forth. + +_Pôlong_ and _Pĕlsit_ are but other names for _Bâjang_, the latter is +chiefly used in the State of Kĕdah where it is considered rather _chic_ +to have a _pĕlsit_. A Kĕdah lady the other day, eulogising the advantages +of possessing a familiar spirit (she said that amongst other things it +gave her absolute control over her husband and the power of annoying +people who offended her), thus described the method of securing this +useful ally: + +“You go out,” she said, “on the night before the full moon and stand with +your back to the moon and your face to an ant-hill so that your shadow +falls on the ant-hill. Then you recite certain _jampi_ (incantations), +and bending forward try to embrace your shadow. If you fail try again +several times, repeating more incantations. If not successful go the next +night and make a further effort, and the night after if necessary—three +nights in all. If you cannot then catch your shadow, wait till the +same day on the following month and renew the attempt. Sooner or later +you will succeed, and, as you stand there in the brilliance of the +moonlight, you will see that you have drawn your shadow into yourself, +and your body will never again cast a shade. Go home and in the night, +whether sleeping or waking, the form of a child will appear before you +and put out its tongue; that seize and it will remain while the rest +of the child disappears. In a little while the tongue will turn into +something that breathes, a small animal, reptile or insect, and when you +see the creature has life put it in a bottle and the _pĕlsit_ is yours.” + +It sounds easy enough, and one is not surprised to hear that everyone in +Kĕdah, who is anybody, keeps a _pĕlsit_. + +_Langsûior_, the female familiar, differs hardly at all from the _bâjang_ +except that she is a little more baneful, and, when under the control of +a man, he sometimes becomes the victim of her attractions, and she will +even bear him elfin children. + +It is all very well for the Kĕdah ladies to sacrifice their shadows +to obtain possession of a _pĕlsit_, leaders of society must be in the +fashion at any cost; but there are plenty of people living in Perak who +have seen more than one ancient Malay dame taken out into the river, and, +despite her protestations, her tears and entreaties, have watched her, +with hands and feet tied, put into the water and slowly pushed down out +of sight by means of a long pole with a fork at one end which fitted on +to her neck. Those who witnessed these executions have no doubt of the +justice of the punishment, and not uncommonly add that after two or three +examples had been made there would always ensue a period of rest from the +torments of the _bâjang_. I have also been assured that the _bâjang_, in +the shape of a lizard, has been seen to issue from the drowning person’s +nose. That statement, no doubt, is made on the authority of those who +condemned and executed the victim. + +The following legend gives the Malay conception of the origin of all +_Jin_, _hantu_, _bâjang_, and other spirits. + +The Creator determined to make Man, and for that purpose He took some +clay from the earth and fashioned it into the figure of a man. Then He +took the Spirit of Life to endue this body with vitality and placed the +spirit on the head of the figure. But the spirit was strong, and the +body, being only clay, could not hold it and was reft in pieces and +scattered into the air. Those fragments of the first great Failure are +the spirits of earth and sea and air. + +The Creator then formed another clay figure, but into this one He +wrought some iron, so that when it received the vital spark it withstood +the strain and became Man. That man was Adam, and the iron that is in +the constitution of his descendants has stood them in good stead. When +they lose it, they become of little more account than their prototype the +first failure. + +Another article of almost universal belief is that the people of a small +State in Sumatra called Korinchi have the power of assuming at will the +form of a tiger, and in that disguise they wreak vengeance on those they +wish to injure. Not every Korinchi man can do this, but still the gift of +this strange power of metamorphosis is pretty well confined to the people +of the small Sumatran State. At night when respectable members of society +should be in bed, the Korinchi man slips down from his hut, and, assuming +the form of a tiger, goes about “seeking whom he may devour.” + +I have heard of four Korinchi men arriving in a district of Perak, +and that night a number of fowls were taken by a tiger. The strangers +left and went further up country, and shortly after only three of them +returned and stated that a tiger had just been killed, and they begged +the local headman to bury it! + +On another occasion some Korinchi men appeared and sought hospitality in +a Malay house, and there also the fowls disappeared in the night, and +there were unmistakable traces of the visit of a tiger, but the next day +one of the visitors fell sick, and shortly after vomited chicken-feathers! + +It is only fair to say that the Korinchi people strenuously deny the +tendencies and the power ascribed to them, but aver that they properly +belong to the inhabitants of a district called Chenâku in the interior +of the Korinchi country. Even there, however, it is only those who are +practised in the _elĕmu sĕhir_, the occult arts who are thus capable of +transforming themselves into tigers, and the Korinchi people profess +themselves afraid to enter the Chenâku district. + +It was my misfortune some years ago to be robbed of some valuable +property, and several Malay friends strongly advised me to take the +advice of an astrologer or other learned person who (so they said) would +be able to give the name of the thief, and probably recover most of +the stolen things. I fear that I had no great faith in this method of +detection, but I was anxious to see what could be done, for the East is +a curious place, and no one with an inquiring mind can have lived in it +long without seeing phenomena that are not always explained by modern +text-books on Natural Philosophy. + +I was first introduced to an Arab of very remarkable appearance. He was +about fifty years old, tall, with pleasant features and extraordinary +grey-blue eyes, clear and far-seeing, a man of striking and impressive +personality. I was travelling when I met him, and tried to persuade him +to return with me, but that he said he could not do, though he promised +to follow me by an early steamer. He said he would be able to tell me all +about the robbery, who committed it, where the stolen property then was, +and that all he would want was an empty house wherein he might fast in +solitude for three days, without which preparation, he said, he would not +be able to see what he sought. He told me that after his vigil, fast, and +prayer, he would lay in his hand a small piece of paper on which there +would be some writing, into this he would pour a little water, and in +that extemporised mirror he would see a vision of the whole transaction. +He declared that, after gazing intently into this divining-glass, the +inquirer first recognised the figure of a little old man. That having +duly saluted this _Jin_, it was only necessary to ask him to conjure up +the scene of the robbery, when all the details would be re-enacted in +the liquid glass under the eyes of the gazer, who would there and then +describe all that he saw. I had heard all this before, only it had been +stated to me then that the medium through whose eyes the vision could +alone be seen must be a young child of such tender years that it could +have never told a lie! The Arab, however, professed himself not only able +to conjure up the scene, but to let me see it for myself, if I would +follow his directions. Unfortunately, my grey-eyed friend failed to keep +his promise, and I never met him again. + +A local Chief, however, declared his power to read the past by this +method, if only he could find the truthful child. In this he appeared +to succeed, but when, on the following day, he came to disclose to me +the results of his skill, he said that a difficulty had arisen because +just when the child (a little boy) was beginning to relate what he saw +he suddenly became unconscious, and it took the astrologer two hours +to restore him to his normal state. All the mothers of tender-aged and +possibly truthful children declined after this to lend their offspring +for the ordeal. + +My friend was not, however, at the end of his resources, and, though +only an amateur in divination, he undertook to try by other methods to +find the culprit. For this purpose he asked me to give him the names of +everyone in the house at the time the robbery was committed. I did so, +and the next day he gave me one of those names as that of the thief. I +asked how he had arrived at this knowledge, he described the method and +consented to repeat the experiment in my presence. That afternoon I went +with him to a small house belonging to his sister. Here I found my friend +the Chief, his sister, and two men whom I did not recognise. We all sat +in a very small room, the Chief in the centre with a copy of the Korân +on a reading-stand, near to him the two men, opposite to each other, +the sister against one wall and I in a corner. A clean new unglazed +earthenware bowl with a wide rim was produced. This was filled with +water, and a piece of fair white cotton cloth tied over the top, making a +surface like that of a drum. + +I was asked to write the name of each person present in the house when +the robbery was committed on a small piece of paper, and to fold each +paper up so that all should be alike, and then to place one of the names +on the cover of the vessel. I did so, and the proceedings began by the +two men placing each the middle joint of the forefinger of his right +hand under the rim of the bowl on opposite sides, and so supporting it +about six inches above the floor. The vessel being large and full of +water was heavy, and the men supported the strain by resting their right +elbows on their knees as they sat cross-legged on the floor and face to +face. It was then that I selected one of the folded papers, and placed +it on the cover of the vessel. The Chief read a page of the Korân, and +as nothing happened he said that was not the name of the guilty person, +and I changed the paper for another. This occurred four times, but at +the fifth the reading had scarcely commenced when the bowl began to +slowly turn round from left to right, the supporters letting their hands +go round with it, until it twisted itself out of their fingers and fell +on the floor with a considerable bang and a great spluttering of water +through the thin cover. “That,” said the Chief, “is the name of the +thief.” + +It was the name of the person already mentioned by him. + +I did not, however, impart that piece of information to the company, but +went on to the end of my papers, nothing more happening. + +I said I should like to try the test again, and as the Chief at once +consented we began afresh, and this time I put the name of the suspected +person on first, and once more the vessel turned round and twisted +itself out of the hands of the holders, till it fell on the floor and +I was surprised it did not break. After trying a few more I said I was +satisfied, and the ordeal of the bowl was over. + +Then the Chief asked me whose name had been on the vessel when it moved, +and I told him. It was a curious coincidence certainly. I wrote the names +in English, which no one could read; moreover, I was so placed that no +one could see what I wrote, and they none of them attempted to do so. +Then the papers were folded up so as to be all exactly alike, they were +shuffled together, and I did not know one from the other till I looked +inside myself. Each time I went from my corner and placed a name on the +vessel already held on the fingers of its supporters. No one except I +touched the papers, and no one but the Chief ever spoke till the _séance_ +was over. I asked the men who held the bowl why they made it turn round +at that particular moment, but they declared they had nothing to do with +it, and that the vessel twisted itself off their fingers against their +inclination. + +The name disclosed by this experiment was certainly that of the person +whom there was most reason to suspect, but beyond that I learnt nothing. + +Another plan for surprising the secret of a suspected person is to get +into the room where that person is sleeping, and after making certain +passes to question the slumberer, when he may truthfully answer all +the questions put to him. This is a favourite device of the suspicious +husband. + +Yet another plan is to place in the hand of a _pâwang_, magician, or +medium, a divining-rod formed of three lengths of rattan tied together at +one end, and when he gets close to the person “wanted,” or to the place +where anything stolen is concealed, the rod vibrates in a remarkable +manner. + +A great many Malays and one or two Europeans may be found who profess +to have seen water drawn from a _kris_. The _modus operandi_ is simple. +The “pâwang” (I dare not call him conjurer) works with bare arms to show +there is no deception. He takes the _kris_ (yours, if you prefer it) from +its wooden handle, and, holding the steel point downwards in his left +hand, he recites a short incantation to the effect that he knows all +about iron and where it comes from, and that it must obey his orders. +He then with the thumb and first two fingers of his right hand proceeds +to gently squeeze the steel, moving his fingers up and down the blade. +After a little while a few drops of water fall from the point of the +_kris_, and these drops quickly develop into a stream that will fill a +cup. The “pâwang” will then hand round the blade and tell you to bend it; +this you will find no difficulty in doing, but by making two or three +passes over the _kris_ the “pâwang” can render it again so hard that it +cannot be bent. + +The only drawback to this trick or miracle is that the process ruins the +temper of the steel, and a _kris_ that has been thus treated is useless. + +One evening I was discussing these various superstitions with the Sultan +of Perak, and I did not notice that the spiritual teacher of His Highness +had entered and was waiting to lead the evening prayer. The _guru_, +or teacher, no doubt heard the end of our conversation and was duly +scandalised, for the next day I received from him a letter, of which the +following is the translation: + + “First praise to God, the Giver of all good, a Fountain of + Compassion to His servants. + + “From Haji Wan Muhammad, Teacher of His Highness the Sultan of + Perak, to the Resident who administers the Government of Perak. + + “The whole earth is in the hand of the most High God, and He + gives it as an inheritance to whom He will of His subjects. + The true religion is also of God, and Heaven is the reward of + those who fear the Most High. Salvation and peace are for those + who follow the straight path, and only they will in the end + arrive at real greatness. No Raja can do good, and none can be + powerful except by the help of God the Most High, who is also + Most Mighty. + + “I make ten thousand salutations. I wish to inquire about the + practice of _bĕr-hantu_, driving oneself mad and losing one’s + reason, as has been the custom of Rajas and Chiefs in this + State of Perak; is it right according to your religion, Mr. + Resident, or is it not? For that practice is a deadly sin to + the Muhammadan Faith, because those who engage in it lose their + reason and waste their substance for nothing; some of them cast + it into the water, while others scatter it broadcast through + the jungle. How is such conduct treated by your religion, Mr. + Resident, is it right or wrong? I want you in your indulgence + to give me an answer, for this practice is very hard on the + poor. The Headmen collect from the _rayats_, and then they make + elaborate preparations of food, killing a buffalo or fowls, + and all this is thrown away as already stated. According to the + Muhammadan religion such proceedings lead to destruction. + + “I salute you many times, do not be angry, for I do not + understand your customs, Mr. Resident. + + “(Signed) HAJI MUHAMMAD ABU HASSAN.” + + + + +XVIII + +WITH A CASTING-NET + + Where fountains of sweet water run between, + And sun and shadow chequer-chased the green + + JÂMI + + +Perak is one of the largest and most populous of the States of the Malay +Peninsula, it is the one where probably the rulers can claim the clearest +genealogy and the longest recorded descent, and it is unquestionably here +that all ancient rites and customs have been most carefully preserved. + +Whilst it was to Perak that the first British Resident was appointed, and +this State is now the most wealthy, advanced, and prosperous of all those +under British influence, the Malays still maintain their traditions and +observe their honoured customs as though railways and steamers, education +and sanitation had no more part in their lives than when Albuquerque was +striving to effect a landing on the shores of Malacca. + +For ages it has been a practice of the Sultans of Perak to reserve +certain waters for their own fishing, and certain jungle tracts (usually +surrounding a hot spring of mineral water) for their own hunting. There +they would resort, annually or oftener, and with their relatives, chiefs, +and followers take their kingly pleasure, as it was duly chronicled had +been the custom of their ancestors. + +In the lull after the first heavy rains, that is about the month of +December, when the river has been swollen to flood-height for a couple +of months, the _tuntong_ or river-turtles ascend the Perak River in +considerable numbers and lay their eggs on certain convenient sand +stretches in the neighbourhood of Bota, about 100 miles from the river’s +mouth. + +The most frequented of these laying grounds is a place called _Pâsir +Tĕlor_ (egg-sand), just below Bota, and it is here that the ladies of the +Court annually assemble to dig up the eggs, which the Malay considers one +of the greatest delicacies known to him. + +The river-turtle is a great deal smaller than the sea-turtle, but it lays +a larger egg, and one much more valued by Malays. + +As soon as the river rises watchers are stationed on the sands, and the +turtles are said to lay three times. The nests are dug between two and +three feet under the sand, and contain from about fifteen to thirty-five +eggs each. During the laying season boats are not allowed to stop at the +sands for fear they should disturb the turtles. + +When the first set of eggs has been laid and the turtles have returned +to the river, the watchers open the nests and send the eggs up to the +Sultan. The second set of nests is opened by the royal party, and the +third is left to hatch, an operation that takes six months. There is no +sitting, the young turtles simply emerge from the sand, walk down into +the river and swim away. + +It is said that if the first and second nests are left untouched, the +turtles themselves open them and scatter and destroy the eggs; but that, +after the third “lay,” they take their departure, having accomplished +their task. + +Directly the watchers report that the turtles have made the second +nests, the Sultan and his family, with the neighbouring chiefs and their +families, take boat and paddle down the stream to Pâsir Tĕlor. + +Fifteen or twenty large house-boats and several bamboo rafts containing +about one hundred and fifty people make an imposing procession. The rafts +are simply floating houses, with mat walls and a high thatched roof, +and are manned by crews of from four to sixteen polers; but the boats +are graceful and picturesque barges, of which the foundation is a long +dug-out of hard wood drawing very little water, the freeboard is raised +by the breadth of one or two planks, and over the stern half of the +boat is built a palm-thatched covering on a slight wooden frame, while +curtains secure privacy. Inside this house, the roof of which rises in a +sharp curve towards the stern, sit and lie on mats and cushions the owner +and his family or friends. The crew occupy the forward half of the boat, +where they sit to paddle down stream or stand to pole up. The steersman +has a high seat in the stern, from whence he is able to see clear of the +cabin-roof. + +The covered portion of the barge which carries the Sultan’s principal +wife is decorated with six scarlet-bordered white umbrellas. Two officers +stand all day long, just outside the state-room, holding open black +umbrellas with silver fringes, and two others are in the bows with long +bamboo poles held close together and erect. The royal bugler sits on +the extreme end of the prow, and from time to time blows a call on the +antique silver trumpet of the regalia. Flags are flown, other boats carry +gongs and drums, and altogether the pleasure-fleet makes a brave show and +a considerable noise, attracting the attention of all the dwellers on the +riverine. + +The journey from the Sultan’s palace at Kuala Kangsar occupies two days, +and on the morning of the third all the ladies of the party, with all +their attendants and children (a good many still in arms), disembark for +the ceremony of digging out the turtle-eggs. + +The ladies are in their smartest garments and wear their costliest +jewels. It is a blaze of brilliant-coloured silks, of painted _sârongs_, +cloth-of-gold scarves, and embroidered gauze veils; of bright sunshades, +gold bracelets, necklaces, and bangles; of curious jewelled brooches, +massive hairpins, and rings flashing with the light of diamonds and +rubies. + +The men appear in jackets, trousers, and _sârongs_ of hardly less +striking hues; but the horror of Western dyes and Western schemes of +colour has not yet demoralised the Malay’s innate sense of beauty and +fitness, and nothing offends the eye as all this wealth of bravery moves +slowly across the strand. + +A scorching sun shines down on the gaily-clad figures with their +background of dark jungle, on the yellow sands and sparkling river, with +its burden of picturesque boats, and gives light and shadow to a charming +picture. + +The watchers have marked with twigs the various nests, and each lady of +rank, with her little crowd of attendants, makes for one of these, and +with her hands begins to dig up the sand in search of the eggs. But the +nest is deep down, and the sides of the hole have a way of falling in on +the digger, so a man or boy is desired to remove the overburden and make +things easy for the lady. The overlying sand is quickly scooped out until +one or two of the white eggs are disclosed, and then the lady, sitting on +the edge and stooping far down, can just manage to reach the nest, and +the eggs are carefully handed up. + +Besides the pleasure of actually removing the eggs with one’s own hand, +of displaying to admiring eyes a vision of taper fingers and rounded +wrist, of showing how little it matters that the costliest garments +should trail in the sand, there is the rivalry of whose nest yields +the largest number of eggs. Anything over twenty-five is considered a +satisfactory find. + +By the time all the nests have been rifled, the sands are growing so hot +under the rays of the fiery sun that bare feet can hardly endure what +is little short of torture. There is an almost hurried return to the +boats, the finery is exchanged for simpler garments, and all the men and +many of the ladies take to the river, and there disport themselves in +a manner that is refreshing to sun-scorched bodies and the eyes of the +Western spectator who is fortunate enough to see how it is possible to be +unconventionally natural and yet perfectly modest. + +It is only on such occasions as this that a strange man can see these +ladies unveiled and even so he is not expected to look at them or go very +near them; but their bathing-costume differs hardly at all from that +which they commonly wear, and they thoroughly enjoy this opportunity of +revelling in the clear waters of the sand-bedded stream. + +Then every one scrambles back into the boats, which are pushed off into +deep water, the rowers seize their paddles and with beat of gong and the +musical notes of the silver _serûnai_, with jest and laughter, pennons +waving, and bright eyes sparkling behind the rainbow-coloured blinds, the +picturesque flotilla glides on its course down the long sunny reach, +in and out amongst the islets, round a heavily-wooded, deeply-shadowed +headland, past the riverside hamlets and the orchards, the stately palms, +the clusters of bamboo that overhang the water like great plumes of pale +green feathers, and so ever onward through sunlight and shadow till +another bourne is reached. + +The graceful turn of the leading barge towards a sand-spit flanked by a +long inviting backwater, the roll of a drum and every prow is headed for +the shallows of the bank that divides the _âyer mâti_, the “dead water,” +from the living hurrying stream. + +The boats arrange themselves in divisions, the crews land, make fires, +and boil the rice for their mid-day meal, while the cooking and +breakfasting of the members of the “court” is done on board the various +barges. + +In this feudal and conservative country when the people eat they +_mâkan_, but the Raja does not _mâkan_, with him it is _santap_. When +“the masses” bathe they _mandi_, but the same operation in the case of +a Raja is called _sêram_; a chief or a beggar may sleep and that is +_tîdor_, but when the Raja sleeps he is said to _bĕr-âdu_. This does +not mean that a wide gulf divides Malay classes, there is rather that +communion as of the members of an old Scotch clan, but respect and +courtesy are characteristic of the race, a prized legacy which it is not +yet considered a sign of either independence or good manners to despise. +People of the same class, rajas and chiefs, children and parents, +brothers and sisters, speak to each other with studied deference and +never forget the little distinctions that mark fine shades of rank or +age. Boys and girls are as careful in the observance of these courtesies +as are their elders. + +Education and contact with Europeans will alter all this, and in the +next century there will be more equality and probably less politeness +and fraternity. But then also there will be no royal preserves, no class +privileges, and no State junketings where noble and peasant meet in +generous rivalry of skill with a single desire to snatch from the toil, +the disappointments, and the sorrows of life one week of pleasure wherein +individual joy may grow greater in the knowledge that it is shared by +many. + +Future possibilities do not disturb our friends, whose guiding principle +is rather “insufficient for the day is the pleasure thereof.” They +have attacks of hatred and gloom, and then they kill, if the desire is +strong enough, but these fits are rare, and when not actively engaged +in amusing themselves they are lotus-eating, sometimes figuratively, +sometimes in reality. + +This is a time for action, and, the mid-day meal disposed of, all the men +of the party get ready their casting-nets and don the garments that will +least hamper the free use of their limbs and will not be injured by a +thorough wetting. + +The backwater has a narrow and shallow entrance on the river, and this +entrance is staked across to guard it from what in the West would be +called poachers. Through the stakes a way has now been made wide enough +to admit of the passage of boats. The Sultan’s barge and a few other +house-boats have passed the barrier, and these are accompanied by a fleet +of fifty uncovered dug-outs, each with a light grating of split-bamboos +over half its length, and each carrying two or three paddlers, one of +whom steers and one man standing on the extreme end of the bow ready to +cast the net. + +These nets are of local make, the mesh is small, the thread of twisted +strands of finest cotton, and the length varies according to the ability +of the owner to cast it. A very short net is five or six cubits in length +from centre to edge, a long one is twelve or thirteen cubits, and to +cast that with accuracy so that it reaches the water perfectly extended +requires a very skilful hand. The bottom or edge of the net is weighted +with small leaden rings that sink it rapidly through the water, while a +fine cord from the centre is attached to the right wrist of the thrower. +The net is usually dyed a dark brown with a solution made from the bark +of the mangrove. + +The backwater where this annual netting is done is a long narrow strip +of fairly deep water widening slightly in the centre and contracting at +the ends. On one side it is bordered by a low grass-grown shore and on +the other by a jungle-covered bank from which the overhanging branches +cast dark shadows on the glassy surface, stirred here and there into tiny +wavelets by every passing zephyr. + +By 3 P.M. all is ready; some of the oldest and most skilful netters stand +in the bows of the royal barges, a dozen young rajas are in dug-outs +and the others are occupied by their owners, men from the neighbouring +villages who have come to join in the sport. + +The Sultan gives the signal, and the boats move off slowly and at once +form themselves into a crescent, with the royal barges in the centre. +The horns of the crescent draw towards each other, the boats make a +simultaneous in-turn, the circle is completed, and at the moment when +it becomes sufficiently circumscribed every net is cast, covering the +whole surface of the water within the ring of boats. Directly the nets +have been cast they sink, the paddlers back-water, and each net is slowly +drawn to the surface and the fish taken are disengaged from the fine +meshes and thrown into the boat under the bamboo grating. + +Almost every net contains fish, and the numbers vary from two or three +to fifty or sixty bright silvery fishes weighing from half a pound to a +pound each. + +The operation is then repeated, and the fleet of boats works its way +slowly from end to end of the backwater, a distance of about a mile. + +Sometimes every net makes a good haul, sometimes only one or two do very +well, and all the rest indifferently. It is no easy matter with such +an insecure foothold to cast a long and heavy net, but, well done, the +act of casting is graceful and attractive. First the slack of the cord +is taken up in loops in the right hand and after it the net, until the +leaden rings clear the boat and reach to about the thrower’s knee. Then +with his left hand he takes up part of the skirt of the net and hangs +it over his right arm and shoulder. This done he seizes the balance of +the skirt in his left hand, swings his body backwards and then forwards +with a strong propelling movement of arm, shoulder, and back that sends +the net straight out over the water to fall perfectly extended, like a +huge brown cobweb, the outer edges sinking instantly under the weight of +the leaden rings and drawing together by reason of the resistance of the +inner surface of the net. + +The game _looks_ easy enough, but try it and you will probably find +yourself in the water at the first cast with the net tied up into an +inextricable knot. + +Watch the experienced hand. The boats are now at a bend in the middle of +the backwater, the circle is formed, the in-turn is given to the bows, +the ring narrows, and at this moment the scene is picturesque to a degree +and strangely weird. + +Atmospheric changes come quickly here; the sky has become suddenly +overcast, a heavy rain-cloud is being rapidly driven before a rising +wind, and the water is now dark and gloomy. This _cordon_ of low black +boats, so close to each other that they almost touch, on every bow a +half-bent, quaintly-clad form with the net hanging in graceful folds +from arm and shoulder, while fifty dark earnest faces gaze eagerly on +the narrowing space. In that instant it flashes across the spectator’s +mind that some mystic rite of fell intent is to be performed within that +magic zone. Then heigh! Abracadabra! The word is given to cast, and from +fifty boats the nets fly out with a swirl and settle on the water with a +gentle hiss. But the skilful thrower waits for a second or two, knowing +that the fish, frightened by this rain of lead, will dash for the only +spot where there seems to be a gap. Then deftly he casts a net with a +diameter of forty feet, and the moment he strains the cord he realises +that he has made an extraordinary capture. He pulls the net up a little +way, and then, plunging his arms into the water, grasps the meshes on +either side and calls for help to raise the struggling mass of fish. All +eyes are fixed on the lucky Raja, and as the take is lifted into the boat +there are shouts of delight and congratulation and clapping of hands from +the ladies, who are keenly interested. By this single cast the thrower +has secured one hundred and twenty-one fish, and his contribution for the +afternoon is over seven hundred “tails.” + +Just as the furthest end of the backwater is reached the rain, which has +been long threatening, comes down in torrents, and there is a race for +shelter and dry clothes. The dug-outs with three or four paddlers easily +beat the barges with a dozen, but long before the river is reached the +netters are as wet as the fish, and have a swim in the warm water of the +river before changing into dry clothes. + +Then there is a lull in the storm, and the more enthusiastic return to +the netting and, unmindful of hunger, darkness, and rain, still cast the +nets till 10 P.M., when they return thoroughly tired out, but happy in +the knowledge that the bag numbers over ten thousand fish. + +Amongst these late comers and most ardent sportsmen are several ladies +who, not satisfied with the ease and dignity of a royal barge, have +braved the elements and gone fasting to share the excitement of the +netting in the discomfort of the dug-outs. + +That is how the Sultan of Perak’s annual fishing party takes its +pleasure, and about the very same time His Highness of Păhang will be +leading a similar expedition in the quiet waters of an old channel of the +Păhang River. + +There, however, the method is rather different—the water is poisoned with +the juice of the _tuba_ root, and the stupefied fish are speared and +netted as they float and swim aimlessly about. The fun is much the same, +perhaps, but the pursuit is less sporting than by the means employed +in Perak. It is not however, perfectly easy to spear even drugged fish +without both skill and practice. + +In Păhang, also, the pageant is conducted with much state and ancientry, +and, as the nature of the pastime requires only a moderate effort, the +ladies of the Harîm smile on the proceedings and, armed with silken nets +on hafts of gold, themselves essay to scoop up the scaly quarry. Amongst +the ladies of the Court are some the exceeding fairness of whose skin, +the perfect oval of their faces, and the glances of their liquid eyes so +embarrass the men of the party that many a spear flies wide of its mark. + +There are some things still hidden from the ken of Cook and the race +of Globe trotters, and I do not fear to reveal the secrets of this +remote corner of the earth, for, if any be thereby induced to visit the +Peninsula in search of such displays as I have tried to describe, he will +meet with disappointment. + +You cannot, in the language of Western culture, put a penny in the slot +and set in motion the wheels of this barbarous Eastern figure. + + + + +XIX + +JAMES WHEELER WOODFORD BIRCH + + Such was our friend, formed on the good old plan, + A true and brave and downright honest man + + WHITTIER + + +On the 2nd November 1875, Mr. James Wheeler Woodford Birch, British +Resident of Perak, was assassinated by Malays at a place called Pâsir +Sâlak on the Perak River. I propose to describe why and how this murder +was committed. + +Mr. Birch began life as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. He abandoned the +sea for Government employment in Ceylon, where he spent the best years +of his life, and was promoted to be Government Agent of the Eastern +Province, one of the highest positions in the Island. In 1870 Mr. Birch +was appointed Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements, and when +Major-General Sir Andrew Clarke, R.E., then Governor of the Straits +Settlements, concluded the Pangkor Treaty with the Perak Chiefs in 1874 +and introduced a new departure in the relations between the British +Government and the Malay States, he selected Mr. Birch for the difficult +post of adviser to the Sultan of Perak. + +Mr. Birch assumed his duties in the end of 1874, and very soon found +that, looking to the people with whom he had to deal and his own +powerlessness to enforce an order, he had undertaken a well-nigh +impossible task. At that time the Malay Peninsula was a _terra incognita_ +to white men, and the characteristics, customs, peculiarities and +prejudices of the Malay had yet to be learnt. + +Of all the States in the Peninsula Perak was probably the least well +suited for the schooling of a Resident and the initiation of the +interesting but dangerous experiment of Government by the advice of a +British officer. + +It had a large Malay population, people whose ancestors had for +generations belonged to the place and who were saturated with ancient +customs, prejudices, and superstitions that had to be learned, and with +many of which it was difficult to sympathise. It had an unusual number of +Rajas and Chiefs, each with some kind of privilege or vested interest. +The revolting practice of debt-slavery, under which the slaves often +suffered indescribable wrongs, was rife in the land, and, though contrary +to the Muhammadan religion, was supported and clung to by all the upper +classes. The State was torn by internal dissensions, the jealousies and +rivalries of opposing claimants to the Sultanship and other high offices. +The rivers and jungle tracks were the only means of getting about the +country. The white man was an unknown and unfeared quantity. + +Mr. Birch, unfortunately, for all his long Eastern experience, knew very +little of Malays and almost nothing of their language, and, though he +always had with him a very capable Malay interpreter, the inability to +carry on a direct conversation with chiefs and people greatly increased +his difficulties. He was not, however, the man to sit down in the face +of opposition either to save himself trouble or to acknowledge defeat, +and the consequence was that his extraordinary energy in travelling about +the country, “spying out the land,” and his persistence in attempting to +redress grievances, to save lives, to bring the guilty to punishment, +and to induce the then Sultan, Abdullah and his immediate following to +mend their ways, earned him the determined opposition of all those +who disliked interference, and preferred the state of uncontrolled +lawlessness to which they were accustomed. + +Mr. Birch lived in Perak as its Resident for barely twelve months, but +to trace with care the reasons why his relations with Abdullah grew +daily more strained till matters culminated in the assassination of the +Resident, would be to write a volume. It is sufficient to state a few of +the more prominent facts. + +First, it is necessary to say in the most positive terms that Mr. Birch +was assassinated solely and entirely for political reasons, for the +reasons I have already given. He was white, he was a Christian and a +stranger, he was restless, climbed hills and journeyed all over the +country, he interfered with murderers and other evil-doers, he constantly +bothered the Sultan about business and kept pressing him to introduce +reforms, while every change is regarded by the Malay with suspicion and +distrust. That was his crime in their eyes; of personal feeling there +was none, wherever Mr. Birch went there were people who had to thank him +for some kindness, some attention. The Malays have always admitted this, +and, if it seems strange that I should make a point of the motive, it is +because Europeans who did not know have suggested that the Resident’s +murder was due to non-political causes, a suggestion for which there is +not a semblance of foundation. + +By September 1875, matters had come to a deadlock. With the Resident, +in what was called the down-stream country, was a Sultan, Abdullah, +created by the British Government, but declining to accept the advice +of the Resident who had been appointed at his special request. +Abdullah’s opposition was mainly negative but absolutely effective, for +as the Resident could only tender advice and had no commission, and +no sufficient means to compel its adoption, his voice was that of one +“crying in the wilderness.” Up-stream there was another Sultan, Ismail, +elected by some of the chiefs but admitted to have no sufficient claim +to the post. Between the partisans of these rival Sultans, very strained +relations existed. + +Then there was another claimant to the Sultanship in the person of the +Raja Muda Jusuf, who lived still further up country, and while his claims +were undoubtedly the best, his personal unpopularity was so great that +the people would not accept him as Sultan. + +The success of the Residential idea (for no one had attempted to +formulate any scheme or system) depended on the existence of mutual +confidence and friendship between Sultan and Resident. That was, +unfortunately, wanting, and, as after many months of patient effort on +the part of Mr. Birch the desired result seemed further away than ever, +the governor of the neighbouring colony (then Major-General Sir W. +Jervois, R.E.) determined to visit Perak and see what chance there was of +establishing administrative authority, collecting revenue, and otherwise +carrying out the provisions of the Pangkor Treaty. + +As the result of that visit and of interviews between the Governor and +the Chiefs, a proposition was made to Sultan Abdullah that the government +of the State should be carried on in his name by British officers. He +hesitated for some days, but, finding that the Raja Muda and others had +at once and gladly accepted the suggestion, he determined to do the +same, fearing, no doubt, that otherwise he might be left out of the +administration altogether. + +It was the Malay fasting-month, the _bûlan puâsa_, when these last events +occurred. It is not an auspicious time for conducting negotiations with +Malays, they do not even attempt to work for that month, they sleep +for most of the day and sit up most of the night, eating and talking, +discussing affairs and hatching plots. This, at least, is the case with +the upper classes, and it is they only who are concerned in political +movements; the common people do not fast as a rule, and leave the +plotting to the chiefs, whose business they think it is to scheme and to +direct, theirs to obey. + +In Lower Perak during this particular month of Ramthân, an unusual amount +of discussion had been carried on between Sultan Abdullah and his chiefs, +and they determined not only that the British Resident should be got rid +of, but one of them, entitled the Maharaja Lela, undertook to do the +business the next time Mr. Birch visited him. + +This man, the Maharaja Lela, was a chief of considerable rank, after the +Sultan he was the seventh in the State. He lived at Pâsir Sâlak, on the +right bank of the Perak River, about thirty miles above the residence +of Sultan Abdullah, and about forty below that of ex-Sultan Ismail. He +avoided Mr. Birch whenever it was possible (though living only five miles +from him), and managed to keep friends with both Sultans. + +During the month, Sultan Abdullah, who was then with his boats at Pâsir +Panjang, a couple of miles below the Maharaja Lela’s house, summoned his +chiefs and informed them that he had given over the government of the +country to Mr. Birch. This announcement was received in silence by the +others, to whom it was doubtless no news, but the Maharaja Lela said, +“Even if your Highness has done so, I do not care at all. I will never +acknowledge the authority of Mr. Birch or the white men. I have received +letters from Sultan Ismail, the Mĕntri and the Pĕnglima Kinta telling me +on no account to obey the English Government in Perak. I will not allow +Mr. Birch to set his foot in my kampong at Pâsir Sâlak.” + +The Sultan said, “Do you really mean that, Maharaja Lela?” and the Chief +replied, “Truly I will not depart in the smallest degree from the old +arrangement.” + +Another chief, the Dâtoh Sâgor, who lived on the other side of the river, +exactly opposite to Pâsir Sâlak, said, “What the Maharaja Lela does I +will do.” + +The Sultan then got up and withdrew. + +Two or three days before the end of the month the Sultan called another +meeting of his chiefs at a place called Durian Sa’bâtang, ten miles below +the small island on which the Resident’s hut stood. At that meeting +the Sultan produced the proclamations which were to be issued, placing +the administration in the hands of British officers, and asked his +chiefs what they thought of them. The Laksâmana, an influential chief, +said, “Down here, in the lower part of the river, we must accept the +proclamations”; but the Maharaja Lela said, “In my kampong I will not +allow any white man to post those proclamations. If they insist on doing +so, there will certainly be a fight.” To this the Sultan and other chiefs +said, “Very well.” + +The Maharaja Lela immediately left, and having loaded his boats with +rice, returned up river to his own kampong. + +Pâsir Sâlak was the usual collection of Malay houses scattered about +in groves of palm and fruit trees by the river-bank. Prominent amongst +these was the Maharaja Lela’s own dwelling, a large and comparatively new +building of a more than ordinarily substantial kind, round which he had +for months past been digging a great ditch and throwing up a formidable +earthwork crowned by a palisade. These preparations had been duly noted +by the Resident. + +Arrived at his own home, the Maharaja Lela sent out messengers to summon +all the men in his immediate neighbourhood, and when they were collected +he addressed them and stated that Mr. Birch was coming up the river in +a few days, and that, if he attempted to post any notices there, the +orders of the Sultan and the down-river chiefs were to kill him. The +assembled people said that, if those were the commands of the Sultan and +the Maharaja Lela, they would carry them out. The chief then handed his +sword to a man called Pandak Indut, his father-in-law, and directed that +everyone should give to him the same obedience as to himself. The people +then dispersed. It was one or two days after this that Mr. Birch arrived +at Pâsir Sâlak. + +Before describing the events of the 2nd November I must go back for a +moment. + +A number of officers, of whom I was one, had accompanied Sir W. Jervois +in his journey to Perak. When the Governor and those with him left the +State I was directed to remain behind with Mr. Birch to assist him in his +negotiations with the chiefs. A fortnight later I went to Singapore with +important papers and the drafts of proclamations defining the authority +of the Resident under the new arrangement. These proclamations were +printed, and I returned to Perak with them, joining Mr. Birch in his +house on the 26th October. + +I found the Resident had met with an accident; he had slipped down and +so badly sprained his ankle that he could not walk without crutches. +Lieut. Abbott, R.N., and four bluejackets were at Bandar Bharu (the +Residency), where were also quartered the Sikh guard (about eighty men), +the boatmen, and others. + +Mr. Birch undertook to distribute the proclamations himself in the +down-river districts, and directed me to go up river, to interview the +ex-Sultan Ismail, the Raja Muda, the Raja Bĕndahâra, and other up-country +chiefs, and, having distributed the proclamations at all important +villages from Kôta Lâma downwards, to try to meet him at Pâsir Sâlak on +the 3rd November. There, he told me, he expected trouble for which he was +quite prepared. + +The Sikh guard was in a state bordering on mutiny in the evening of +the 27th, but by the following morning they seemed to have returned to +their senses, and about noon I left Bandar Bharu with two boats for the +interior, Mr. Birch starting down stream at the same time. + +He must have got through his part of the work more rapidly than he +expected, for he reached Pâsir Sâlak with three boats at midnight on the +1st November, and anchored in midstream. The 1st November was the _Hâri +Râya_, the first day after the Fast. At daylight his boats went alongside +the bank, and the Resident’s own boat was made fast to the floating +bath-house of a Chinese jeweller, whose little shop stood on the high +bank a few feet from the riverside. This was the only Chinese house in +Pâsir Sâlak. + +Mr. Birch was accompanied by Lieut. Abbott, an armed guard of twelve +Sikhs, a Sikh orderly, the Malay interpreter (an eminently respectable +Malay of nearly fifty named Muhammad Arshad), and a number of Malay +boatmen and servants. There must have been about forty people in the +party. Mr. Birch had with him a 3-Pr. brass gun, a small mortar, and a +number of English firearms and Malay weapons, besides other property. + +Directly after their arrival Mr. Abbott borrowed a small boat from the +Chinaman and went across the river to Kampong Gâjah to shoot snipe, the +Chief of that place, the Dâtoh Sâgor, returning in the boat to Pâsir +Sâlak, where he at once sought an interview with Mr. Birch. + +After this conversation, which was held in the Resident’s boat, the Dâtoh +Sâgor and Mr. Birch’s interpreter went to the Maharaja Lela’s house, +and the interpreter said to the Maharaja Lela that the Resident wished +to see him and would go to his house for that purpose, but if the Chief +preferred it, and would go to Mr. Birch’s boat, he would be glad to meet +him there. The Maharaja Lela said, “I have nothing to do with Mr. Birch,” +and the interpreter returned to the boat and reported to his master the +result of his interview. + +The news of the Resident’s arrival had been spread in every direction, +and all those in the neighbourhood were ordered to come in. By this +time, sixty or seventy men had assembled and were now standing about on +the bank of the river close to Mr. Birch’s boats. They were all armed +with spears and _krises_, and Mr. Birch asked the Dâtoh Sâgor what they +wanted, and that they should be told to stand further away. The Dâtoh +told them to move away, and they gave a few yards, but at the same time +began to abuse the Resident, calling him an “infidel,” and asking what +he meant by coming there asking questions and speaking like one in +authority. Probably the Resident did not understand these ominous signs, +but his boatmen heard and realised that trouble was brewing. + +Mr. Birch now gave some proclamations to the interpreter, who took them +on shore and posted them on the shutters of the Chinaman’s shop. Almost +immediately, Pandak Indut, the Maharaja Lela’s father-in-law, tore them +down and took them off to the Maharaja Lela’s house. That chief’s dictum, +was “Pull down the proclamations, and, if they persist in putting them +up, kill them.” Then it may be supposed he washed his hands of all +responsibility, and Pandak Indut went out to execute his master’s orders. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Birch had handed to his interpreter some more +proclamations to replace those removed, and, after giving directions to +prepare his breakfast, went into the Chinaman’s bath-house to bathe, +leaving his Sikh orderly at the door with a loaded revolver. This +bath-house was of the type common in Perak, two large logs floating in +the stream, fastened together by cross-pieces of wood, and on them built +a small house with mat sides about five feet high, and a roof closing on +the sides but leaving two open triangular spaces at front and back. The +structure is so moored that it floats parallel to the bank, and a person +even standing up inside it cannot see what is taking place on the shore +close by. + +It was now about 10 A.M., and in spite of the threatening attitude of the +large crowd of armed Malays standing in groups and passing between the +river-bank and their chief’s house, the Resident was composedly bathing +in the river, while his people were some of them cooking on the bank, +others sleeping in the boats, and a few, the Malays, anxiously expectant, +fearing the signs boded a catastrophe. + +They had not long to wait. The interpreter was still replacing the +proclamations on the Chinaman’s hut, when Pandak Indut and a number of +other men came quickly from the Maharaja Lela’s house. + +The crowd asked, “What are the Chief’s orders?” + +Pandak Indut replied, “He leaves the matter to me.” + +Going straight up to the Chinese shop, he began tearing down the +newly-posted papers; the interpreter protested, and, seeing no heed was +paid to him, turned towards the bath-house. He had not made half a dozen +steps, when Pandak Indut overtook him and thrust his spear into the man’s +abdomen. The wounded man fell down the bank into the river and caught +hold of his master’s boat, but others followed him and cut him over the +head and hands, so that he let go and struggled out into the stream. + +The interpreter disposed of, Pandak Indut cried out, “Here is Mr. Birch +in the bath-house, come, let us kill him,” and, followed by three or four +others shouting _âmok, âmok_, they leapt on to the floating timbers and +thrust their spears through the open space in the front of the house. + +At that time men in the boats could see Mr. Birch’s head above the mat +wall; it disappeared without any sound from him, and a moment after +he came to the surface of the water astern of the house. Some of the +murderers were already waiting there, and one of them, a man called +Sipûtum, slashed the Resident over the head with a sword. He sank and was +not seen again. + +The Sikh orderly, standing with a revolver at the door of the bath-house, +jumped into the river without any warning to his master, swam off to one +of the boats and saved himself. + +The river-bank was now the scene of a general _mêlee_. A Malay boatman +and a Sikh had been killed, but the others had got one of the boats away +from the bank into midstream and towards it two of Mr. Birch’s Malays +were swimming while they supported the grievously wounded interpreter. +With difficulty they gained the boat and got the man in. As they +dropped down the river Mr. Birch’s coxswain urged the Sikhs to fire +on the Malays, but they said they could not do so without an order! He +accordingly gave the order, and some shots were fired which for a moment +cleared the bank. A small boat with two men in it put out lower down +stream to intercept the fugitives, and two of them were wounded by shots +from these men. The coxswain then wrenched a rifle from a Sikh and shot +one of these assailants. After this the boat proceeded unmolested to +Bandar Bharu. Long before they arrived there the interpreter died. + +Mr. Abbott, shooting on the other bank, was warned of what had taken +place, and with great difficulty got into a dug-out and made his way down +stream under the fire of the Malays on the bank. + +The attack, the murder of the Resident, his interpreter, the Sikh and +the boatman, and the escape of the rest of the party was the work of a +few minutes. Whilst still the passion of strife and bloodthirst swayed +the crowd, the Maharaja Lela walked into their midst and asked whose +hands had done the Resident and his men to death. Instantly Pandak Indut, +Sipûtum, and the others, claimed credit for their murderous work. The +Chief said, “It is well, none but those who struck blows can share in +the spoil.” He then called a man forward and said, “Go and tell the +Laksâmana that I have killed Mr. Birch.” The message was delivered the +same day, and the Laksâmana said, “Very well, I will tell the Sultan.” + +That evening the Maharaja Lela sent a letter to ex-Sultan Ismail +describing what he had done, and, to remove any doubt on the subject, he +sent with it the Resident’s own boat. + +These are the facts about Mr. Birch’s assassination, and it may be of +some interest to add that the Resident’s two boats were immediately +rifled and all their contents carried up to the Maharaja Lela’s house. + +An attack upon the Residency was planned, ordered to be carried out that +night, and a number of men started on the expedition, and even got within +a few hundred yards of Bandar Bharu; but it began to rain, and a man at +whose house the party called told them they would get a warm reception, +and it would be quite a different thing to murdering the Resident, so +they elected to return with their object unattained. + +By the help of a friendly Malay, a foreigner, Mr. Birch’s body was +recovered, brought to Bandar Bharu, and there buried on the night of the +6th November. + +The Maharaja Lela and his neighbour the Dâtoh Sâgor, having “burnt their +ships,” proceeded to stockade their villages, and those stockades were +subsequently taken, the rebels driven out, and their villages destroyed. + +Sooner or later punishment overtook every man directly concerned in this +crime, and also nearly all those who were indirectly responsible. Some +fell during the subsequent fighting, one died an outlaw in the jungle. + +The first man captured was Sipûtum. He was brought in to Bandar Bharu +late one evening in the early part of 1876, and I went to see him in the +lock-up about midnight. A wilder looking creature it would have been hard +to find. He was a _Pâwang_, a medicine man, a sorcerer. For many weeks +he had been a hunted outcast, and he seemed to think that capture was +almost preferable to the life he had been leading. He sat on the floor +and described to me his share in Mr. Birch’s murder, pausing between the +sentences to kill mosquitoes on the wall of his cell. He volunteered the +statement that Mr. Birch was a good man, who had been kind to him, and +that what he did was by order of his Chief, whom he was bound to obey. +The responsibility of the individual for his own actions was a doctrine +that was strange to him, and he learnt it too late to profit by it. + +In December 1876, the Maharaja Lela, the Dâtoh Sâgor, Pandak Indut, and +four others were arraigned before the Raja Muda Jusuf and Raja Alang +Husein, and charged with murdering Mr. Birch and the others at Pâsir +Sâlak on the 2nd November 1875. + +They were prosecuted by Colonel Dunlop, R.A., and myself, on behalf of +the Government, and defended by an able and experienced member of the +Singapore Bar. After a trial which lasted eight days, they were severally +found guilty and condemned to death, but the extreme penalty was exacted +only in the cases of the three first named. + +Sultan Abdullah, and other Chiefs whose complicity in the assassination +was established by the fullest evidence, were banished from the State, +and a like sentence was passed upon the ex-Sultan Ismail and some of his +adherents. + +In Mr. Birch the British Government lost one of its most courageous, +able, and zealous officers, but, by the action which his death made +necessary, the State of Perak gained in twelve months what ten years of +“advice” could hardly have accomplished. That was not all, for the events +of those twelve months, when they came to be fully known, threw a light +on the inner life of the Malay and his peculiar characteristics, that was +in the nature of a revelation. It is all too soon to forget the lesson or +disregard its teachings. + + + + +XX + +A PERSONAL INCIDENT + + Haud multum abfuit quin interficeretur + + HORACE + + + _From CAPTAIN SPEEDY, Queen’s Commissioner, + Larut, to H.E. SIR WILLIAM JERVOIS, + Governor of the Straits._ + + LARUT, _November 9th, 1875_. + + [Extract:] + + “In the second report, that of 7th instant, Sergeant Din + states that he was told by one Kulup Riau that Mr. Swettenham + had been murdered by the Raja Lela at Pâsir Sâlak on the 5th + instant. I regret to state that I have every reason to believe + that the report is but too true. My inspector, Din Mahomed, + reached Kuala Kangsar (where I sent him with a party of men + immediately on hearing of Mr. Birch’s death, to warn and guard + Mr. Swettenham) at 2 P.M. on 4th instant, but, on his arrival, + he found that Mr. Swettenham had unfortunately left, to return + by the river a few hours previously; owing to the rapidity of + the current, the boats should have reached Pâsir Sâlak by the + following day. I have sent detectives, both Chinese and Malay, + to inquire into the matter, and to obtain, if possible, the + remains of these unfortunate officers.” + +I came across the above passage in a Blue Book, and I will explain why +Captain Speedy had every reason to believe in the certainty of my death, +and how it was that my remains were not to be collected just then. + +In the preceding sketch I mentioned that I left Bandar Bharu at noon on +the 28th October with two boats, and intended, if it were possible, to +meet Mr. Birch at Pâsir Sâlak about the 3rd November. + +Besides the Malay boatmen, I had with me a very celebrated Selangor +chief named Raja Mahmud, a man whose whole life had been passed in +jungle warfare, and as he had come through it scathless he was regarded +by Malays as invulnerable and respected accordingly. His latest exploit +had been to take command of a body of Malays in an engagement with Her +Majesty’s troops in a neighbouring State (Sungei Ujong), and as I had +subsequently persuaded him to go to Singapore and give himself up to +the Governor, he had attached himself to me and thoroughly enjoyed the +possibility of trouble in Perak. + +Then I had a Manila boatman, one of the best coxswains on the river, a +marvellous dancer of hornpipes and no less courageous than Raja Mahmud +himself—more so he could hardly be. Lastly, Mahmud had a couple of men +devoted to himself, and I had a Chinese servant. + +This being the wet season the river was high, poling difficult and +progress slow, so that it was not till the morning of the 30th that we +reached Blanja, the village of Sultan Ismail. As Ismail had been elected +Sultan by a number of influential chiefs who declined to recognise either +Jusuf or Abdullah (though both of them had far superior claims), and, as +by the Pangkor Treaty and recognition of Abdullah, Ismail no doubt felt +aggrieved, I did not expect a very friendly reception from him, nor did I +suppose that I should be specially welcome as the bearer of proclamations +which could not be otherwise than distasteful to him. It was only +six weeks since I had been at Blanja with the Governor, and again a +fortnight later I went there alone. Since then Ismail (or his advisers +in his name) had summoned nearly all the principal people of the upper +country, and a very large number of boats had arrived at Blanja, bringing +all the chiefs and their retainers. Moreover, to increase his following +the ex-Sultan had resorted to an expedient not unknown in England; +certain high offices of State were vacant, and into these he inducted his +own adherents—in fact, created peers, to give himself a majority in the +Upper House. + +I waited half the day hoping to see Ismail, but failed. They said he was +asleep and meant to remain asleep a long time. That is a common form of +Malay diplomacy, and, as I could not afford to delay longer, I explained +the proclamations, left a number of copies and said I would call on +Ismail on my way back in a few days. As a piece of news they told me a +customs station had been established at Blanja, and everyone who passed +would be taxed, white men or Malays. I said I should be glad to see the +collector, and he was introduced, but seemed embarrassed, and assured me +he was only carrying out his master’s orders, so I continued my journey. +If any conclusion could be drawn from the conversation and manner of the +Blanja people, disturbances (war, they called it) were imminent. + +The next day I was at the Raja Muda’s village, and had a long talk with +him. He also was for war, but did not think the Malays would begin it. +He said no good would be done in the country, till “the malcontents” +had been taught a lesson. Unfortunately, as far as could be seen, all +the chiefs with very few exceptions, were in that category. The people +hardly count, they are passive and recognise that they live to obey their +leaders. + +That night I reached Kuala Kangsar, and the then important personage of +the place, an old lady who lived on the hill where now the Residency +stands, informed me that she had been living in daily fear of attack by +the people of a neighbouring village called Kôta Lâma. The shops in Kuala +Kangsar were all closed, and everyone was waiting for the bursting of the +storm. + +The latest excitement here was that a notoriously bad character named +Raja Alang, living in a house by the path which led from Kuala Kangsar to +the neighbouring district of Larut, saw a foreign Malay (a man of Patâni) +walking past with his wife and two children. When the man got opposite +Raja Alang’s house he raised his trousers to keep them out of the mud, +and as Raja Alang considered this disrespectful to him, he called to the +man and told him he must pay a fine of a hundred dollars. The man was +of course unable to comply with this monstrous demand, so the Raja took +him, his wife and children, into the house, and said he would keep them +there till the money was paid. After a couple of days, during which they +were given no food, Raja Alang said he would sell the woman and children +to raise the amount of the fine. Just at dawn on the following morning +the Patâni man got up, took from a Malay lying near him a _kris_, and +with it stabbed the owner to death. Then he struck out wildly, killing +another man, a woman, his own two children, and a child of Raja Alang, +while he wounded his own wife. Raja Alang hastily left the house, hurting +himself considerably, for he forgot the steps in the hurry of his exit. +The murderer went next door and killed two more women and then escaped. +Altogether he killed nine people and wounded three. It is a detail, +I mention it only as showing the state of society, and because this +incident, at the time of my arrival, was, with rumours of war, dividing +the interests of the people of Kuala Kangsar. + +On the 1st November I read and posted the proclamations in Kuala +Kangsar, and on the following day I went to see the Raja Bĕndahâra, the +third highest officer in the State. He lived across the river, and to him +and a large crowd of his followers I read the proclamation, and gave the +Bĕndahâra some copies, which I asked him to have posted. + +Amongst the crowd was Raja Alang, who gave me his version of the _âmok_, +and denied that he had ill-treated the Patâni man. I see from the journal +I kept in those days that I expressed my surprise that such things were +not of daily occurrence, looking to the infamous way in which the people +were treated by the Rajas, to which he replied that he had done wrong +but was now _taubat_ (a reformed character), that he wished to go to +Mecca (the desire of all Malays who want to wipe out a bad record and +rehabilitate themselves with society), and would be obliged if I would +lend him a thousand dollars for the purpose! + +On the 3rd November I distributed the proclamations in villages between +Kuala Kangsar and Larut, and in the afternoon went with Raja Mahmud and +one boat up river to Kôta Lâma. This village had then, as indeed it has +still, the unenviable reputation of being the most impossible place +in Perak. It was a very large village, and the people in it prided +themselves on their independence; their neighbours called it impudence. A +few months before Mr. Birch had visited Kôta Lâma, but the people turned +out with firearms, and said that if he landed they would shoot him. He +had no means of forcing a landing then, nor of compelling an apology +later, and, therefore, he had not since been to the place. + +I had been in Kôta Lâma a month before this; I went to see a man who +had been shot through the shoulder the night before by two men who had +a grudge against him, and had settled it in a truly Irish fashion. They +called at his house, and while engaging him in conversation and eating +his _sîreh_, had measured the distance of his sleeping mat from the walls +of the house. It was a wooden building, and, like all Malay houses, +the floor was raised high above the ground. That night they had got +underneath it, and, having carefully calculated their host’s position, +they fired simultaneously and decamped. One bullet missed the victim’s +head by an inch or two, and the other went through the floor and the mat +and penetrated his shoulder. + +I now went to see this man again and found him doing badly, and advised +his relatives to send him to Kuala Kangsar. Then we walked about the +village, talked to the people, and in the absence of the headman I sent +for his deputy. He came accompanied by four or five men all armed to the +teeth, and we had a conversation wherein I think each side did its best +to “bluff” the other. It so happened that we had come away without the +proclamations, and I asked the headman to send to Kuala Kangsar, when I +got back, and I would give the papers, that he might post them in Kôta +Lâma. + +He said they only acknowledged one chief in Kôta Lâma, and he was the +Raja Bĕndahâra, and they would do nothing without his orders. I told +them I would ask the Bĕndahâra to give the necessary instructions, but +inquired, “What about the Sultan?” To which they replied that he lived +a long way off. They added, “We won’t hinder you if you want to post +the proclamations,” but they did not say it in the politest fashion, +and I told them the permission was unnecessary, as, if I had had the +proclamations, I should have posted them. After this we had a long and +comparatively friendly talk, and it was nearly dark when I left them. + +Raja Mahmud stood by and said nothing, but they knew well enough who +he was, and it is possible they might have acted differently had he +not been there. On our way back he told me he was so amazed at the +way the Kôta Lâma men talked that he felt it wiser not to join in the +conversation. + +Arrived at Kuala Kangsar, I found the Raja Muda Jusuf, and told him +the result of my visit to Kôta Lâma. The Raja Muda’s feelings towards +the Kôta Lâma people were quite beyond expression, and they were very +cordially reciprocated. + +The next morning, the 4th November, my work being done, I started +down river at 8.30 A.M. I saw the Raja Muda before I left, and, again +referring to my journal, I find that he said: “No early or permanent +settlement can be made without force, without making an example of some +of the opposition. They are quiet now because you are here; as soon as +you go they will begin again. If you and Raja Mahmud will come, and we +may use force, we can settle the matter in a fortnight.” + +Little as he thought it, the time for force was at hand, for some was +already past; but if his prediction was right, his estimate of the means +required to settle matters was over-sanguine. + +Stopping only for breakfast, my boats reached Blanja at 4 P.M. It was +my intention to spend the night there, interview ex-Sultan Ismail, and +continue my journey the next day. + +The river at Blanja shoals rapidly towards the left bank, which is +bordered by a long and wide strip of sand. The boats of those who call +here are dragged as close in as possible, and while our men were engaged +in doing this, and still some distance from the shore, a man called Haji +Ali waded out to my boat and came on board. We had noticed the unusual +number of people on the sands—not less than two or three hundred—and of +boats alongside there were at least fifty, but we were hardly prepared +for the news that awaited us. + +This Haji Ali, a tall, well-made man in the prime of life, was the +genial person of evil reputation who, with Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, had +already distinguished himself by murdering one of the low-country chiefs. +Notwithstanding this fact the Haji was always anxious to convey the +impression that he was entirely friendly to me, but I distrusted him in +common with the rest of the Blanja faction. + +Haji Ali seated himself in my boat and at once stated that Mr. Birch had +gone to Pâsir Sâlak, that there he and sixteen of his people had been +murdered by the Maharaja Lela, who had then attacked and captured Bandar +Bharu, killing all the Sikhs who had not saved themselves by flight. This +news was so startling that I could not believe it and said so, but the +man assured me it was true, and added as a proof that the Maharaja Lela +had sent Mr. Birch’s own boat to Blanja to prove to Ismail the truth of +his statement. Ismail, he said, had declined to receive the boat, telling +the men who brought it that as the Maharaja Lela had killed Mr. Birch he +had better keep his boat, and the messengers had accordingly left with it +only two hours before our arrival. + +At Haji Ali’s first words Raja Mahmud had caught up his _kris_, and was +now tightening his waist-belt and preparing for instant trouble. + +The Haji completed his information by considerately telling me that the +Maharaja Lela and his people had staked the river right across at Pâsir +Sâlak, making it impassable for boats, that they knew I was returning, +and were waiting for me, it being their belief that when once they had +got rid of Mr. Birch and myself they would have no further interference +from white men, as no one else knew the country. He concluded with an +invitation from the ex-Sultan to go and see him on shore. + +I thanked him, and to get rid of him asked him to go back and say that I +was coming. + +As soon as he had left the boat I held a hasty consultation with Raja +Mahmud, who said it would be madness to land at Blanja, where we should +be like rats in a trap, and the only course was to go on at once and at +all hazards before they had time to stop us. + +The idea of returning up-river was unpleasant and well nigh impossible, +it was therefore discarded at once. + +All the men in both my boats had heard what Haji Ali said, and as some +of them did not relish the prospect of trying to run the gauntlet, I +decided to leave one boat and only take those who volunteered to go. That +question was very soon settled, every Perak man declined the journey; +my Manila boy took the rudder, three foreign Malays and Mahmud’s two +men formed the crew, and Mahmud and I were the passengers. There was my +Chinese servant, he was not a man of war, and I thought he would prefer +to remain where he was, for they all realised that the danger would be +in staying with me. When I asked him, however, he smiled a not quite +pleasant smile, and producing a long knife said he did not mean to move. +It was quite clear that if it came to close quarters he would give a good +account of himself. + +By this time we were ready to start, but just as the men were preparing +to get the boat out into the stream, Haji Ali appeared again to take us +on shore. I at once told him that if his story was true I could not +stop at Blanja and must go on at once. How far he had been acting before +was doubtful, but his surprise now was genuine enough. He said, “It is +impossible, the whole country down stream is in arms, you cannot pass, it +is certain destruction.” We told him that whatever it was we were going, +and we pointed out to him that as the boat was moving into deep water he +had not much time to get out if he wanted to return to the shore. He got +out, and it was rather deep, but he stood there and shouted, “No doubt +you think yourselves very fine fellows, but you will be killed all the +same.” + +He was still standing in the same place when we had gone some distance, +and as we passed outside the long line of boats the many people on shore +realised that we had started again and were rapidly dropping down stream. +It seemed to us that for them the unexpected had happened. + +The pleasure of thinking that we had at any rate cheated the Blanja +people did not last us long and I believe every man in the boat—certainly +I can speak for myself—believed that he had started on a journey of which +sudden death was the inevitable bourne. + +The Resident, we were told, had been murdered at Pâsir Sâlak, and we +could not well doubt the truth of that report. Then the people on both +banks of the river for miles above and below Pâsir Sâlak were on the +watch for us; the Residency was in the hands of the Maharaja Lela’s +people, the Sikhs killed or fugitives in the jungle; worst of all, the +river at Pâsir Sâlak was staked from bank to bank, and if so no boat +could pass that barrier. + +There were two points of minor moment—first, that the Residency boats +were all painted white, we had one of them, and no native-owned boat in +the country was white. That fact made us so conspicuous that we did not +think it worth while to lower the Union Jack we carried at the stern. +Secondly, up to that time no house-boat had ever made the journey from +Blanja to Pâsir Sâlak in anything like twelve hours, and we calculated, +therefore, that we should reach the point of greatest danger in broad +daylight, probably about 9 A.M. the next morning. Speed was our best +chance, but here again we were handicapped by the fact that our men had +been paddling since 8.30 A.M., they had had one meal, and now there was a +night’s work before them and no time to stop for cooking. + +If the conditions were as they had been stated, and as we believed them +to be, nothing could save us, for with two rifles and a shot gun we could +hardly hope to force the barrier unless aided by a miracle. + +The river was high, the current strong, and just at dusk we reached Bota. +Fastened by an island opposite the village we saw Mr. Birch’s own boat, +the “Dragon,” and with that all doubt as to his fate was at an end. Raja +Mahmud suggested that we might stop and attack the people in charge. The +idea was attractive and no doubt it would have been a surprise to them, +but we decided that it was unwise to waste the time and rouse the whole +village. As we passed the boat we could see no one in or about it. + +The night was moonless but starlit, fine and clear enough for our +purpose, dark enough to conceal us when we were in the middle of the +stream. But the Perak is a river where the navigable channel wanders +from side to side in a way that often baffles the most skilful pilot. +The height of the water lessened our difficulties, but for all that we +were driven at times very close to the banks. Between 9 and 10 P.M. a +thick white mist came down and enveloped the river in impenetrable fog. +This was very confusing, for, while it lasted, it was impossible to see +half a boat’s length in any direction. The mist lifted and fell again at +intervals all through the night, and so dense was it that at one time we +lost our way, and at last discovered by a snag that we had got the boat +completely round and were paddling up stream! + +That discovery gave us rather a bad shock, for we calculated that we had +lost half an hour of precious time, and if we could make such a mistake +once it might occur again. It was possible because we dared not have any +light, and only smoked with the utmost precaution. + +I was so tired that about half-past ten I could no longer keep awake, and +several times the wearied boatmen dropped asleep over their paddles. We +were not at all certain of our whereabouts, but some time after eleven +o’clock we realised, by the succession of watch-fires on the banks and +the numbers of men moving about, that we were getting into the zone of +danger. It seemed to me, dozing and waking, that this lasted for a long +time; we were getting callous of the people on the bank when we found +that no one seemed to observe us however close we were forced to go. + +I had told them to rouse me when we got near to Pâsir Sâlak, for now, to +our great surprise, it seemed evident that we should reach the place +hours before dawn. About 1.30 A.M. Mahmud quietly woke me, and the +boatmen nerved themselves for the final effort. + +We knew that to get past Pâsir Sâlak it was necessary to go right under +one bank or the other, and the deepest water was on the left or Kampong +Gâjah side. That we decided to take. Huge fires were blazing on the bank, +and round each were grouped a number of armed men—indeed, the whole place +was apparently on the _qui vive_. As noiselessly as possible, but none +the less vigorously, the men plied their paddles, and we made for the +deep water under the bank. Just at this moment the thick white veil of +mist came down over the river, and under its sheltering cover we glided +swiftly down, the light of the blazing logs, close though they were, +shining vaguely through the fog, while now and then a man’s figure, of +seemingly gigantic proportions, loomed out from the fire-lit haze. + +Every instant we expected to feel the shock of the boat against the +barrier, and we had determined that when that happened we would push +our boat along it till we found the usual opening closed by a floating +log and guarded, as we supposed, by boats. In the darkness we meant to +try and force our way through or take one of the enemy’s boats on the +down-stream side of the stakes. + +We could hardly realise the truth when we found ourselves at the lower +end of the village without having encountered any obstruction. The +barrier never existed in fact—only in the imagination of Haji Ali, or, +more probably, the Maharaja Lela had intended to make it, but the Malay +habits of laziness and procrastination defeated his plan. + +Just as I was thinking a very sincere thanksgiving, the bow of the boat +suddenly ran on the shore and stuck there fast. We were so close to the +bank that this happened without the slightest warning. For an instant +the steersman had given the rudder a wrong turn, and we were stranded. +To my dismay, I saw on the high bank, exactly over us, a large fire with +eight or ten men round it. I seized the shot-gun, Mahmud had a rifle, and +we knelt with fingers on trigger covering two of the figures that were +distinct enough in spite of the mist, for we were hardly ten feet distant +from them. + +Two of our men with poles were making superhuman efforts to push off the +boat, when a man on the bank called out, “Whose boat is that?” One of our +men replied, “Haji Mat Yassin’s,” having seen his boat at Blanja. “Where +are you from?” was the next inquiry, and the reply was, “Blanja.” “Where +are you for?” and other questions followed, but by this time the bow of +the boat was off and we were drifting stern-foremost out into the stream +and the sheltering fog. As the distance widened and shouts came to stop, +the answers returned were derisive and misleading, for everyone felt that +the real danger was past and the life he had made up his mind to lose +would not be required of him that night after all. + +It was true that we had yet to pass the Residency at Bandar Bharu, five +miles lower down, and we had been told this was in the hands of the +Maharaja Lela, but there at least there was no barrier, and we were +confident that we had nothing more to fear. + +We passed Bandar Bharu quietly, we saw a light on each bank and a man on +watch by the light, and we said to each other that it would be very easy +to shoot the men as they placed themselves so conveniently _en évidence_. + +Ten miles lower down the river, it being then only 3 A.M., we were +suddenly hailed by a voice threatening death and other penalties if +we did not immediately declare who we were. That was a very welcome +challenge, for I recognised the voice, and in a few seconds we were +alongside a Selangor steam-launch. + +Only then we learnt that Bandar Bharu had not fallen into the hands +of the enemy, and we had therefore come ten miles further than was +necessary; but we congratulated ourselves on the forbearance we had shown +in not shooting the sentries, and later in the morning, when we got up +to the Residency, suggested that if the Sikh felt lonesome in the night +watches it would perhaps be wiser for him not to stand in the full blaze +of a large lamp. + +The Maharaja Lela and his friends professed themselves both surprised and +disappointed when they found I had arrived at Bandar Bharu, having passed +Pâsir Sâlak without their knowledge. I daresay, however, that some of +them were not altogether sorry that they had been spared a meeting with +Raja Mahmud, for he was reckoned a mighty man of valour. In my case he +was also a wise counsellor, for subsequent disclosures proved that had +I landed at Blanja the intention was to immediately attack and murder +me, and when we so abruptly left that place the ingenuous Haji Ali and +his friend the Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun with a number of their men were +sent after us in fast boats on a mission similar to the one they had +previously undertaken and successfully carried out. As we saw nothing of +them I conclude they did not exert themselves to overtake us. + +During the subsequent military operations in Perak, Haji Ali fell into +our hands, and, after some weeks spent on a British man-of-war, he became +quite a reformed character. I occasionally see him now, but he seems +depressed, and when I find him looking at me there is no anger in his +face, only a great sorrow as of a man who is misunderstood by the world +and who suffers without resentment. + +I don’t know why, but this expression is a source of unfeigned amusement +to the Malays who happen to see it. It is very unfeeling of them. + + + + +XXI + +NAKODAH ORLONG + + Two things greater than all things are, + One is Love and the other War + + RUDYARD KIPLING + + +On the day after my arrival at Bandar Bharu, Captain Innes, R.E., came +from Penang accompanied by two officers and sixty men of the First +Battalion of H.M. 10th Regiment, together with the Superintendent of the +Penang Police (Hon. H. Plunket) and twenty native constables armed with +rifles. + +Captain Innes, an exceptionally able member of his distinguished corps, +was then in civil employ as head of the Public Works Department in +Penang. When the news of Mr. Birch’s murder reached that place, the +nearest British Settlement, Captain Innes was sent with a force to take +charge of the Residency. + +It is not my intention to detail the subsequent events except in so far +as is necessary for a right understanding of an incident connected with +the death of a man called Nakodah Orlong, a Sumatran Malay. + +With the force at our disposal, which included Lieut. Abbott, R.N., his +four bluejackets, and about fifty so-called Sikhs, it was determined to +attack Pâsir Sâlak before the Maharaja Lela had time to collect a large +following. An immediate advance was also considered advisable to prevent +the number of our enemies being increased by what might look like our +indecision. With Easterns, to sit still and stockade your position is +probably, under such circumstances, the worst course possible. + +We knew that the Maharaja Lela was throwing up works, not only in his +village, but outside of it, and to force them it was decided to take two +howitzers and a rocket-tube. + +The distance from Bandar Bharu to Pâsir Sâlak was five miles, every yard +of it covered with vegetation of some sort, the only road a narrow path +by the river-bank; moreover, Pâsir Sâlak was not on our side of the +river. It was, therefore, settled that we should start at daylight the +next morning, the 7th November, in boats, that we should pole up stream +two miles and walk the rest, the guns being served by the bluejackets +from two boats that would be kept in line with the shore party. + +All that was wanted was a body of scouts to feel the way, and I undertook +to find these. There were Raja Mahmud, his two followers, and the Manila +boy already spoken of, but it was hard to say where any other trustworthy +Malays could be got at such short notice. Late that evening, however, +Nakodah Orlong, whom I knew well, came in, and when I asked him if he +would join us he at once consented, and said he could bring fourteen of +his own men with him. That made us twenty, and was enough for the purpose. + +We were up at 4.30 A.M. on the 7th, got all the men into boats, and made +a start by 7.30 A.M., not without difficulty, however, for we were hard +pressed for hands to do the poling. It was only after we had started +that I learnt the intention of taking guns had been abandoned, a very +unfortunate change of plan as it turned out. To attack, without guns, any +work defended by Malays means a certain sacrifice of life, as we found to +our cost, and took care that the mistake was never repeated. The carriage +of guns and rockets through the jungle means delay and hard work, but, +whatever the trouble and delay, hardly any consideration will justify an +attack without at least one gun. + +The river journey was accomplished without incident, a landing was +effected, and the party moved off. The scouts were in front, followed at +an interval by half the detachment of the 10th, Captain Innes and the +sailors with a rocket-tube came next, then the Sikhs and Penang Police +under Mr. Plunket, and last of all the remainder of the 10th Regiment. + +We began the march gaily enough, not expecting to meet with any +resistance till near Pâsir Sâlak. After walking a mile or so, always +close by the river-bank, we came to a large field of Indian corn. The +plants were eight or ten feet high, and so thick and close that it was +impossible to see more than three or four yards in any direction; the +ground between the corn-stalks was planted with hill-padi, and that was a +couple of feet in height. + +On entering this field we opened out to cover as large a front as +possible, and, when half way through the corn, passed a gigantic fig-tree +growing on the edge of the river bank. On my right was Nakodah Orlong, +and to the right of him one of his men called Alang; on my left was Raja +Mahmud the Manila boy, and the rest of the scouts. We had been walking +fast, and of the rest of the force we could see and hear nothing. + +We were talking and laughing (being still a long way from Pâsir Sâlak) +when suddenly we came to the end of the cover, for the last few feet of +the corn had been cut down. At this moment Nakodah Orlong said, “There +they are,” and the words were hardly out of his mouth when we were +greeted by a volley from the enemy concealed behind a stockade not a +dozen yards in front of us. + +Nakodah Orlong fell without uttering another sound, and, the enemy +maintaining a brisk fire, our position was so uncomfortable that my +own inclination was unhesitatingly to get out of the way. Probably my +intention was apparent, for Raja Mahmud said, “Stand fast and shoot.” I +was obliged to him and followed his advice, but as the Manila boy and I +were the only possessors of shooting-weapons, and the enemy were hidden +behind a rampart of logs and banana-stems, while we had no shelter +whatever, our continued existence was due simply to their want of skill. + +The absurdity of the situation was apparent, and its unpleasantness was +heightened by the opening of a brisk fusilade in our rear. That decided +us and we stepped back under cover, and then moved to the sheltering +trunk of the fig-tree. Arrived there we found that besides Nakodah Orlong +(about whose fate there was no doubt, for he fell within a yard of me), +Alang was the only one missing. He was the last man on the right, and, as +no one had seen him, we concluded that he also had been killed. It was +at once proposed that we should go back and secure the bodies, but our +own people keeping up a merciless discharge in rear, and the enemy doing +their best in front, we were between two fires, and thought it best to +try and stop our friends at any rate from shooting us. + +We shouted, but that, of course, was no use, no one could either see or +hear us, and it was some minutes before we were able to let Captain Innes +know of our position. In that time we realised that even a large tree +offers poor shelter from a cross fire. It did not, however, take us long +to decide that the side towards the enemy was the safest. + +That was only the beginning of misunderstanding; twice again during the +day we were placed in the same uncomfortable position, and a man kneeling +behind me was shot in the _back_ of his thigh. Once also the Sikhs made +a determined attack on the men with me as we were trying to outflank the +Malays, and in spite of our shouts only desisted when almost within +touch of us. It is true, of course, that the cover was so dense they +could not see us until the last moment. They were so dispirited by this +waste of effort, that they incontinently left the place and went straight +home in spite of all Plunket’s attempts to stop them. That was in no +sense his fault, for they were not his men, and he had never seen them +before the previous evening. The Penang police had retired _en masse_ at +an even earlier hour, and explained afterwards, with much force, that it +was not for this kind of work that they had engaged. + +The enemy’s stockade was a long rampart impenetrable to bullets; it was +faced by a deep and wide ditch cut at right angles to the river, with one +end on the bank and the other in high jungle. The work was backed by a +thick plantation of bananas, affording perfect cover, and those defending +it were commanded by the Maharaja Lela in person, and his father-in-law +Pandak Indut, foremost of Mr. Birch’s murderers. + +I am not now concerned with the details of the attack, it is sufficient +to say that it did not take long to prove how serious a mistake had been +made in leaving the howitzers behind. The rockets, an old pattern, were +ineffective, and as they all went over the top of the stockade were +greeted by the jeers of the enemy. We were close enough to hear even what +they said in the intervals between the firing. Experience is usually +costly, and what we learnt on the 7th enabled us, a week later, to carry +this and a succession of other stockades without the loss of a man. + +About 1 P.M. (our force being then reduced to the officers, the men of +the 10th, bluejackets, and Malay scouts) Captain Innes gave the order to +charge the stockade. That was done, but without guns to clear the way it +was a hopeless task. We could not get across the ditch in the face of +an unseen, protected enemy, while we were entirely at their mercy. We +had to retire with the loss of Captain Innes killed, both the officers +of the 10th (Lieutenants Booth and Elliott) severely wounded, and other +casualties. If men with weapons of precision and the knowledge to handle +them had held the work, none of our party ought to have escaped. But with +Malays you can take liberties; their weapons take some time to load, but +they are deadly enough at a few yards distance if the men who hold them +would not fire at the tree-tops. The Malay’s idea is to loose off his +piece as often as he can, it makes a noise and that puts heart into the +man who fires, fear into the enemy. + +Though we had gained nothing by rushing the place, the enemy did not +like that style of attack and retired, only we did not know it then. We +were engaged in counting the cost, picking up the wounded and organising +an orderly retreat, for it was late, we had some miles to go, and +we expected the Malays would leave their shelter and come after us. +Personally I did not know Captain Innes had been killed, I was in the +centre and he was on the extreme right. My party was hampered by having +to carry a wounded man, and when we got back to the middle of the field +where Abbott and Plunket were waiting, Innes and the others had already +been taken away. We had no surgeon, no stretchers, and the return journey +was one that is not pleasant to recall. + +We reached our boats at 3 P.M., and the Residency a quarter of an hour +later. + +For some time I was very busy trying to attend to the wounded, but then +my Malay friends asked me for a boat, as they said they must go and +fetch Nakodah Orlong’s body, and see what had become of Alang. A British +soldier was also missing. I gave the boat and they started. + +About 8 P.M. they returned with Alang and the body of his chief; they had +met the lad swimming down the river with his master’s body. + +When Nakodah Orlong fell, and the rest of us got away behind the great +tree, this boy stayed by the dead man, and as he was right in the line of +the thickest cross-fire, Alang pulled the body as close to the bank as +he could, and there remained from morning till evening, making no sign, +but simply declining to abandon the corpse. A man even came out from the +stockade and attacked him with a _kris_, wounding him on the hand, but +Alang beat him off. After the final charge, when our people passed close +by him, it was he who saw the Malays retire, and he allowed us all to go +away and leave him without giving any indication of his whereabouts. + +Then, the coast being clear, unable to carry the body so great a +distance, he dragged it into the river and was swimming down stream with +it when the boat met him. + +I went down to the boat to see Nakodah Orlong; he looked just as I had +seen him last, except that his hair and clothes were drenched with water +and there was a great hole in the centre of his forehead, marking, no +doubt, the track of an iron bullet from a swivel-gun. Of that, however, +he could never have been conscious, nor yet of the devotion of the man +whose life had been in extremest peril throughout a long day to guard +his chief’s dead body, without thought of gain or praise, only determined +that none but loving hands should be laid upon the voiceless, pulseless +clay he once called master. + +Given a glorious sunny day and a good cause, the idea of ending existence +suddenly and painlessly in the pride of life and in face of the foe has +its attractions, and robs the inevitable of its sting. + +But who can hope that after his death there will be one other being whose +love is great enough to offer his own life a willing sacrifice to guard +the thing that was to-day a friend and to-morrow will be corruption? + + + + +XXII + +EVENING + + Phœbus loosens all his golden hair + Right down the sky + + ERIC MACKAY + + +The tale of these little lives is told. If I have failed to bring you +close to the Malay, so that you could see into his heart, understand +something of his life, and perhaps even sympathise with the motives that +will lead him to acts of high courage and self-sacrifice, then the fault +is mine. + +The glory of the Eastern morning, the freshness and the fragrance of the +forest, the sultry heat of these plains and slopes of eternal green on +which the moisture-charged clouds unceasingly pour fatness—these are the +home of the Malay, the background against which he stands. + +Come, we have done with it all; let us leave the plain, seething in the +heat of early afternoon, and ride up this mountain path, through all the +wealth and the magnificence of tropical jungle, and look down on the +land for the last time. + +Our callous eyes—surfeited with years of gazing on brilliant colours, +great stretches of sea and forest, huge trees, a bewildering luxury of +foliage, beasts measured by the elephant and rhinoceros, birds by the +argus pheasant and the peacock—are blind to the infinite beauty of our +surroundings. This path, by which we slowly rise to cooler altitudes +and a new flora, would excite in the stranger feelings of wonder and +rapturous delight. + +The road itself is cut through soil of a deep shade of _terra cotta_, +the colour all the more vivid by reason of the hues of green by which +it is environed. The sunlight strikes in rays of brilliant light across +this path, falling on red soil, granite boulder and massive tree-trunk, +intensifying colour and deepening shadow. Here and there are seen +glimpses of the plains below, the distant sea, the peaks and valleys of +other hill ranges, and the ear constantly catches the delightful sound +of falling water, the voices of numerous streams dashing down the steep +mountain sides in cascades of sparkling foam. + +The path twists and winds, often by sharp zigzags, up the face of the +hill, across a narrow saddle and then by an even steeper ascent, till at +last we gain the summit of the mountain. + +Stand here. The limit of vision is wide; you will scarce find a grander +spectacle in this Peninsula. We are nearly 5,000 feet above the sea, +and from north to south the eye travels over a distance not far short +of two hundred miles. Eastward, those distant hills are fully a hundred +miles away, and soon on the western horizon the sun will meet the sea in +a blaze of glory, as though kindling at the touch of loving arms long +waiting for his coming. + +That faint blue peak in the north, hazy and indistinct, is Gûnong Jerai +in Kĕdah, and the island to the westward, which smiles through a golden +veil, is Penang. A grey streak of water shot with gleams of sunlight +divides it from the mainland, and the forty miles of country thence to +the foot of this hill, and far south again to those blue islets off the +Dinding coast, lie flat and fertile, a feast for the eyes. Vivid green +patches mark thousands of acres of sugar-cane and rice-field, but the +general effect is an unbroken expanse of dark jungle, mostly mangrove, +for all this land from hill-base to sea-shore is of comparatively +recent formation, the erosion from the hills carried down seawards and +covered with a wealth of foliage ever renewed by the excessive heat and +excessive moisture of this forcing tropical climate. No rocks, no bare +hills, no arid plains, everything covered with vegetation: new graves +look old in a month, the buildings of a year, for all their seeming, +might have stood for half a century. + +Only at our feet does the hand of man make any mark on the landscape. +There, amid trees and gardens, nestle the red roofs of Taiping. You might +cover the place with a tablecloth for all its many inhabitants, its long +wide streets, open spaces, and public buildings. + +And those pools of water all around the town, what are those? + +They are abandoned tin-mines, alluvial workings from which the ore has +been removed, and water mercifully covers, in part, this desolation of +gaping holes and upturned sand. + +The shore, due west and distant some twenty miles from the foot of the +range on which we stand, is deeply indented by three great bays. They +are the mouths of three rivers, short, shallow and insignificant in +themselves; it is difficult to understand why they should make such an +imposing entry on the sea. A mile or two inland from the coast the eye +is caught by twenty little lakes, on which the sun loves to linger, +burnishing them to gold when the setting in which these jewels lie has +turned to purple. They are fragments of estuaries, deep waveless lagoons +winding through the mangroves, and showing to the distant spectator only +broken reaches, glimpses of bay and headland. + +The shore-line is a ribbon of glistening light, bordering the wide +expanse of forest trees, whose roots stand deep in water when the tide is +high. The mangrove cannot live beyond the reach of the brine from which +it seems to draw the sap of life, and these mud flats, in their gradual +accretion, are as yet scarcely above the level of the sea. + +Turning to the north-east, a deep valley lies beneath us, the source of a +long river, the Kurau. Miles and miles beyond rise range after range of +lofty mountains, Biong and Inas and Bintang, running into the heart of +the Peninsula. Further eastward is the country near the sources of the +Perak River, and across the narrow valley, through which its upper waters +dance in a succession of rapids, may be discerned peaks of the main range +which look down on the China Sea. + +Now we are facing the south-east and the valley of the Perak River. The +ridge on which we stand divides it from the Province of Larut, and surely +there are few fairer sights in the East than this same valley through +which the river, plainly visible twenty miles away, winds in a silver +streak. On the right stands Gûnong Bubu, the isolated mass terminating +in a needle-like point nearly 6000 feet high. The spurs of this mountain +spread out in every direction, north to the Pass from Larut into the +Perak Valley, east to the Perak River, and southwards nearly to the +coast. In the south-east, across the Perak River, rise five or six ranges +of hills of ever-increasing height. Over the first range can be seen the +valley of the Kinta, with its many fantastic limestone cliffs standing +clearly out; then follow Chabang, Korbu, and finally the mountains +dividing Perak from Păhang. Those hills fading out of sight in the +far-away south are near the borders of Perak and Selangor. + +As we turn our faces back to the setting sun, the great disc, now grown +a deep crimson, is sinking through a bank of clouds into a sea of flame. +The waters beyond the influence of the sun’s light are a brilliant +sapphire, a reflection of the sky above. There is only one long, low bank +of cloud, and that is on the horizon. + +A moment later and the sun itself has gone, but from the spot where it +disappeared is radiating a lurid glow which kindles the clouds into fire +and shoots rays of gold over Penang in the north and the Dinding Islands +in the south, seventy miles apart. This golden light spreads for a space +upward through the bank of clouds, till, paling into a belt of grey that +again deepens into blue, and ever gaining in intensity, it rises to the +zenith and fills the empyrean. + +Meanwhile the darkness which seemed to be settling over the distant +eastern ranges is gradually suffused with soft tints of _rose dorée_, +transfiguring peak after peak and clearly defining every ridge and +valley. This aftermath of day, wherein the sun returns to kiss the hills +with one last lingering caress, fills the whole atmosphere with a rosy +effulgence, then fades reluctantly away. ’Twixt western sea and eastern +hill lies that great sea-indented plain over which night settles slowly +but surely, while still the sky and hills are vivid with colour. But even +the plain assumes its night garb with no less grace and beauty. A faint +mist has risen from swamp and river, and, spreading itself over the land, +takes soft hues of opal and heliotrope deepening into purple, while only +the pools and river-reaches shine out, like scraps of mirror stealing +borrowed glory from the sky. + +Soon this light wanes; purple turns to grey, the colours fade from sky +and sea, only the shore-line keeps its sheen. Then this too dies, and +great white clouds, coming from out the mines and marshes like a troop +of giant spectres risen in their grave-clothes, stalk slowly round the +foothills of the mountain, through the Pass into the valley of the Perak +River. + +Here, at this elevation, the night is not quite yet. + +Close around us still the jungle, but the trees are dwarfed, the boughs +are covered with moss and lichen, orchids and ferns flourish in the +forks, gorgeously blossomed creepers twine round the branches and hang +from tree to tree. The air is full of the scent of the magnolia, the +moss-carpeted ground is gay with a myriad flowers, some brilliantly +plumaged songless birds flit silently between the trees, and a great bat +sails aimlessly across the waning light. The shrill scream of the cicada +is but faintly heard far down the height, and night comes, like a closing +hand grasping in resistless darkness all things visible. The only sound +to break the silence is the fitful and plaintive croak of a wood-frog. + +If night treads closely on the heels of day, there is no need for +regret. The darkness is but for a moment, and over the eastern peaks +spreads a silvery sheen, herald of that great orb of splendour which, +rising rapidly, clears the mountain and sheds a flood of wonderful, +indescribable, mellow radiance over forest, plain, and sea, softening +what is crude, pointing with brilliance the most striking features, +and casting into a fathomless shadow the dark valleys of the western +slopes. There is nothing cold about this Eastern moon. Seen, half-risen, +against the dark foliage of the mountain, it glitters like molten silver, +dazzling the eyes, and as it soars serenely upward seems the very +perfection of beauty, light, and purity. + +Strange that the delight and glory of mankind since ever the earth was +peopled, the emblem of unattainable longing, should be only a gigantic +cinder. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] The attitude is that obtained by transferring the body directly from +a kneeling to a sitting position. + +[2] “The Heavenly Twins,” book iii., chap. iii. + +[3] The _Sârong_ is the Malay national garment, a sort of skirt, usually +in tartan, worn by men and women alike. + + + + +NOTE ON THE COVER DESIGN + + +_The colours used on the cover of this book are those recognised as +“Royal” colours in one or other of the Malay States. Throughout the +Peninsula yellow is the special colour worn or used by those of Raja +birth. By the ancient Malay sumptuary laws the lower classes were not +allowed to wear yellow garments, nor to use this colour in the decoration +of furniture of their houses. These laws are no longer rigidly observed, +but in most Malay States the use of yellow fabrics is confined to the +Raja class._ + +_It is a universal practice to put letters addressed to Malay rulers +(when they are of Raja birth) into covers of yellow cotton cloth or +yellow satin, while those addressed to Rajas who have no official +position, or to chiefs of importance but not of Raja birth, are stitched +into covers of white cotton._ + +_In some of the States the royal flag is yellow, in others it is white or +black, while in several of the more important States of Sumatra (as for +instance in Acheen), black garments are the special privilege of the Raja +class._ + +_In Perak the three highest native authorities in the State, the Sultan, +his heir (styled Raja Muda), and his Wazîr (the Raja Bĕndahâra), fly +flags of white, yellow, and black respectively, and these three colours +united have, for the last twenty years, been adopted as the Perak State +flag._ + +_The three daggers on the cover are good types of the Malay “kris,” the +favourite national weapon. The originals of these particular specimens +are in the Perak museum and were photographed for this design._ + + _F. A. S._ + +_Xmas day, 1895._ + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76055 *** |