ONE DAY IN A MALAY STATE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12867, 27 July 1907, Page 7

ONE DAY IN A MALAY STATE.

(NEGiU SEM3ILAN.)

(Bx M\r.«- Bowr.s). 0 „r rtart for the distant village of IJU--i nt 7 -i.m. from Port Dicksonla bsrhn.ou, British exchange f..r the iftpp na.:ve name Avaiu-Arang, « dflnv „l by nn untoward incident. Thm ornw.ixb'»-ore. the captain of a coastL ste.imer bad "dumped down on ho "barf five Tamil coolie.*, two or thpn very ill *«>> cholera, and had i„ r "ff as fast as possible Mm „ he could Ix> /«lb*d to amount by tho district officer nt who*** house I wa« stay.ne. A If .!-ram was at once despatched to the'fJovf-rniwnt authorities at Kuala Kl-nf! the captain's next port of call. -wi another to summon the State sur-P--n who. on arrival, had the unfor,,e lll;n five promptly conveyed to the „„v coral rpianuitine i.dand half a mil ; oi . r ,o from the shore. There thoy f pent the night in a.s much com fort ~, ofTicinl exertion and medical skill and care could command. Alas! by 'morning's dawn two of the five poo. wretrhes trcr« dead.-far away in a foreign land' whither they had come, with hundred, of others, to lal>our for hire on rubber estates,— hoping to return to some probably famine-stricken district in Snithern India—fat and rich owing to the good living and high pay obtainable in the-sc prosperous

States. . Co much delay was necessarily mrurred by arrangement for transferring the surviving coolies (not so fur infected) to an isolated spot on the mainland where they could be under more immediate supervision, that we did not start on'our three boms' trip in the Govornment launch till 9.30 a.m. A f li ß htly overcast day promised not too much tropical heat; and a calm sea threatened no "mal de mer," as we stopped into tho station boat in which we were to be rowed out to th© Hilda by five jolly swarthy, muscular Malay tarn in upprovod blue-jacket uniform. Arrived on board the trim launch wo were greeted by tho Fillipino captain, nnd the Chinese cook in a complete suit of khaki. I thought I recognised that "smile so childlike and bland" ("Ah Sin" was his name too, oddly enough): at first I mistook him for a Government peon at our ■tat/ion, Kuala Kubu, and smilingly nodded a. greeting in return, whereupon he camo up—still smiling—and i-..iked if ".Monies Ritchil-Boy*' (second indoor servant, footman and hoiiviemuid combined!) had ever found the twenty dollars ho had lost. I hesitated a moment, and then it flashed upon mo who ho was. Meanwhile my friend, totally unabashed, waa at great pains to recall himself to remembrance, and to remind,.mo that he had been some three years back my head boy, and that the Tuan (master) had turned him away one night on supposition of having stolen the money! There waa as little supposition on that occasion ss on another when ho* had tried l to steal the ring 1 waa at that moment wearing I -Any other human being would have tried to efface himself in order to avoid such an encounter, feeling, if innocent, too much anger, and! it guilty, too much shame. Not so tue ",-jsathen Chine©.*' It was simply delicious on the water, •ailing, or rather steaming, on these summer seas. Our course lay down the Straits of Malacca, along the coast, past pretty Magnolia Bay with its : white sands and red iron-iooks crowned with its namesake trees, and with coooanuta and other palms; past Cape Hichardo with its rocky point, whence a climb brings one, through crevices filled with maiden-hair fern, to the lighthouse on the top showing whit© amongst green; past mail Steamers, Chinese junks, and Malay "prau"—till •after a two hours' run we found ourselves entering the wide Liuggi river, j which is divided at th© mouth by a disused and decaying beaoon, whilo a i white police atation peeps out between :..tfjMs on the left bank. This river is' *, this boundary between the native State •of Negri Semhilan (signifying "nine though now all under one chief »." Kajah) aud the Straits Settlement ot . Malacca. On thi* river I had' pinned I my.hopes of seeing the tearful croco'dil© in its native wilds; five years on the borders of the jungle hay© brought tt* no sight of any wild beast—beyond monkeys and snakes. But, alas! nothing but the nose of a "croc"' was to • W seen—that sharply defined ridge appeared just for a second above tne water and then vanished fj-om view. Yet on the yellow mud banks—discoloured, like the river, tin workings higher mi —I had been led to look out for crocodiles basking in swarms. These banks are rather monotonous, bordered by mangrove trees for miles; hut th© absence of the busy activity ot most large rivers is componented for hy ths realisation that this vast, long, silent highway was indeed 1 remote, notonly from the madding crowd, but from 'he haunts of men. md wandered though the wilds of Nature. _■ Soon after entering the river we put i ashore the Settlement Officer, who had '..» day's work to do in the jungle, and was to rejoin us at a point up the coast on our return. At the same place a Malay pulled up too, aJid wontoff, gun in hand, to shoot bears; but, , *tth the exception of a couple of canoM, the river was bare of amy ■ craft or any sign of life durinK tho hour n-p steamed up—slowly at last, to /avoid running aground, as the tide * *«s going out. Lunch now appeared -* deck, and before it was over w© had arrived at Pengkalau Kampas, °oeathe port to which tin was brougjht •town f ron _ T j_ o interior, but now only * small settlement oi the übiquitous --b.inii-r.an. In early days there was no stp a in launch on'tlu* river. arW it wjok days to saril to the limits of th© 'jjwrrirt. Hero. I regret to say, I '■"Wtrievably disgraced myself in tho *?*» of my kind host and ho-itec-s; the «w» Iwing low, th-.- deck was many foot jHow the level of the landing stage. A"Miy elum.berod up with the utmost •Bihty. whil;« I wn.s left lie low proi*»tir w that to remain all day om board *oukl hi. prriiTiible to the iieoni-ung •*Hsatioti ot a climb bu-h above water *lti possible crocodiles lurking be-

ncath; as my wretched head always fails mo in 'these "cra.akej"' placte; no husband, either, at hand to encourage a u<l ef>iiuinwid. However, my h-ut a.-j,;niii'<l tihe command, aiiwl tho ca.ptain inspired the courage with a hhu> tor. by moans of which I manages to tcramble a-ci-ods urA up to thf» whwiri, n.-iirly my iiolpnil licet nvto the water, ilist e i<l of myself. So ii.oar.ii of' ci.T.Tcyuaco to the in»lati 1 village. «-f Liug_{i (our tion) bfiiij; locally procurable, t.vo had bn-ii whipped. These win.' ji'iw. with .soir.o diilicUity. hoh>ic<i up, and liri \h»:v. Miss E. and I seated ourselves. tn<« (.-hiiirtio puiicr* having at-sur.-d tip- (I'irstriot officer when ciitor to-day that they would follow him lor a month it uwwisary. After tranuicting 6onie alLuis "of trtate. th« latri r led tin- Wiiy an-niiipaiiitt:l. by the Pengliulu, or headman ol that place—both Gil li;< yrlr-.-N - ;i;id wo had not gunb far alol the only road when he pulled up t<> f>huw uts one 01 tiie chief objects of rh« oAjindit iou, n.imely. a vory ancient toiiii>, prehistoric in so far tlut the inMTiptioii on ttie headstone has bufflod the tittcmpts of of nil timo to encipher it; yet the lettering is inarvel!ou-iy cloar, as is the scrolllike pattern ;.t it*, baee. The tomb ittoi-Jt ia composed of a long, low mat* of lock, hewn into lour smooth pieces, rich something in the ahapo of a huge scroll, and is the more remarkable iv that there is no rock or stono to be found in the neighbourhood. The toni(> ie now defaced by ant heaps, hard as concrete, and also by a rougn table covering one end, and forming an altar for the offerings, censor, arid jjcss-fcticke of superstitious Chinamen. I his is a sad eyesore on a monument held in reverence by the Mal.-iys, who. despite a veneer of Islamism, cling -to their old faith in magic, and really Lelievo that the tiger which is said to eleep in tho centre of the tomb every night, is the embodiment ot tho spirit of the Great Dead there interred. Certainly, we came upon the Iresli tracks of a tiger on the road outside! Tho wholo tomb is covered, for the sake of protection by an "attap" ro;>f—« pity thie doe* not also extend to what appears to be the remains of another tomb hard by, this one of undoubtedly Hindu oripn ; little of this ig visible but c sword-shaped piece ot stoao .standing up on end, and quaintly carved with Hindu eymbole. It is well known that tho precursors of tho Malays were Indonwrien tribes who, according to Skoat, Wilkinson, and othor tmthoritiec, loft their maxk in Maliy beliefs. Once nore regaining our rarious conveyances, another mile or so brought ue to a hamlet., Permatang Fassir (Sandy Ridge), boasting of the brat of those carved, houees we had come so far to ccc. This one formerly (>e!oQged to a. family of v<?ry old standing, and of great consideration, too. judging from ite eize. It now forme the village mosque, the district omeer having wisely acquired it for thate purpoet; since its preservation from decay is now assured. Like all Malay houeee, it stands on wooden piles—a vestige of ancient timee, when settlements Y ro mostly made beside tidal rivers th« Malays being a seafaring race, and oelobratad pirates. '1 his wooden housv has delioately carved horizontal pan els running right round outeide, and, like tho typical Malay dwelling, look all roof aaxd piles. In these arapUpointed, ail-emb«wing roofs are hidden wide chambers. We could not, of course, enter the mosque, so pushed on along the x»ad through the jungle, til! fchree miles brought tie to groves of fruit 'trees—durian, mangosteen. pumolo, ranobntan; etc.; euch orchards one rarely sees nowadays, the Mala: having grown lazy under the blessing-, of civilisation and cheaply imported foreign foods and stuffs. And now at last ■Wβ saw the real Malay at home. Dotted about in th«? semi-cleared jungle, amid towering arecanut and coooanut trees, one cles" cried steep roofs, overhanging eaves, low dark wooden walls, barred anc , carved lattices, little verandahs, abov< entranco ladders, and sturdy piles supporting all. Round the houses—literally glorified huts—beneath the lattice the woodwork is deeply carved, each small pannel in a different floral 01 conventional d«aign. In one or two instances tlio carving is painted in several colours—tJiis. while more effective, especially in conjunction with a charmingly curved roof of Malacca tiles, i« not in such good taste ac the unadorned carving. Evidently tho inhabitants rarely sec Europeans, and never white women, fc two girls of fifteen or thereabouts fled at our approach. But though bashfu at. first, the women, ac -well as the men soon came about Uβ, and we were then, with tho unvarying courtesy character ietic of tho Malays, invited into then picturesque dwellings—for their "tuan" is a well-known figure. The wide, long, bare rooms showed to advantage the carved collars, carved panels, and • carved bedsteads, or, rather, nlcoves im "which the memlbens of these large hou.seholde sk«p, stretched on fin-e "Mengknang" matting, their heads on> hardl pillows with ondte gaily dcoorated itn red and s<?ld embroxlnry. A pwp into one room displayed a charming cradle eu*ppnided from tie cedlinip - . and beautifully carved: in grooves. Brase trays a,nd pot.i of many shapes far many tieee, some of them of ancicnit. dfr'ign and origin, and preltily oh need China, pots and plates more or le«> valuable brightened up du.rk worxlon wnlls. In the ftrst Iw.isi? wo onlered, the brass ware was highly polished, owing to a. recn'int wedd.in.g. A seaafkee. or vessel in which the hands arc washed, I was a.L'ow<«l to carry away—as rt turned out aftwwards, at about three timee its value—co little unsophisticated are bkefw iprimiitive peajTl-". nnrl so little awir*K to parting with their aiuoictnit- p-xswittiio.iß! In one house, n-hilo wo sat on- the floor of nn inner and upper courtyard talking to soma gaily and pioturpsquely attired women, wo noticed .1 frirndof theirs all in white, probably a haji, prnyin<g an a n*at in the corner, bowing h<?nK".f repeateiD<y to the floor. In a second house thvy were makvjug pillow lnco from a pattern semt by Mi*» X.. ■who Tms maki»R her first vtF.it to the "knmporvg" (village), amd we were shown various dies for stTUnspi.-ig patterns 011 a earong (tilie kind of skirt common to both sexee); and in a third house, frt>m the verandah of which were hanging come pure wihite ovstej- sheik (set there <to make a pretty tiniklins noiee im tho wind), we werepronweed a sight of <a silk earong in the course of beine woven. Here, again, my oourage nea-riy failed mc, for in this house the flooring, m is often tlie case, ie made of split bamiboo-shoM-ine between the eqtwwe crevices a a horrid dopth of space between it n.ad the grouiwf below, and looking most insecure; and tihis onre crosaed one ported to the Middle Ages—to a loft or chamber in the roof. This jeopardwis climb was well worth tae effort, for one sewned eudidenfiy trao-JS-ported to the Middle Ages, to a living pkrture of okten times: the loft ia long, hm a poiated roof, and was empty .but for an ancient spectacled dame aeated at a larjre loom weaving a crimson sarong shot -Pith gold thread on which the sun. st-earning through a square open

trap in tho side of the roof, shed the lustre of his rays. A net was spread and on it we sat for a while watching „-ith tu-sci nation the wrinkled, vet delt final.s hurl the darting shuttle baekwaTda and forwards through the giow--11, ,iii*e.i<is. Alas! It is diUictilt to" get the vojinger women to learn tm.£< delicaw* and lovely arte now that Bruintnagen goods are universally and cheaply w>ld. All honour to those who try to revive the dying art and industries of a raoe daily growing richer and lazier- It is worthy or mention here that the dexterity of Malay women in the straw plaiting 's being turned to mo-Jem account, lor a yearly increasing industry has been started iv I'oit Dickson for supplying, not only an excellent substitute for the paiiaiiia hat, out also Mengkn.mg plaited articles of all d».scuptions fvr which tliere is a growing remand. The Malay at homo is so capable and intelligent, as well as courteous, digniried and often learned, in a word, so superior to many of th.races we try u> govern, that one ib tempTPd to regret he ever came into contact with western civih>at.on wiiit.i is uiihtted really to east-em life, tnouglit, and climate.

but 1 niiiat not Linger longer in tins delijilitiul Areauy. ine district oiuicr iiad more work to do, so we had to hio lis back to tho launch, now easily regained as tho tide had ris^n: it ceitainiy would have been a matter of lnsting loss to mc had I remained on board! The indispensable aiiernoon tea was served while the chattering Chinamen hoisie-l aboard their rickshas and we wem oft down tne l.tiiggi river to the sea. Arrived off Passir Panjang (Long rSands) we ha.! to He to, \\ h.le Mr l'j. pro<eide<l ashore on business and fo pick up the Hettlement Ofiieei- whom wo had dropped on the river bank.

As we mused on the varied events oi this most interesting day, stretched on deck in the cool evening breeze, the calm water gently lapping around us, an hour of waiting passed quickly to one, if not both of us. Meanwhile Nature treated us to one of her gorgeous sunsets; the monarch of day descended .n crimson glory ksving wide streamers flyi*ng north and south in the heave.?--*, soon fading in the gathering darkne.s-s. not so rapidly, however, as tho tropica! night advances in travellers' tales, leaving for a time the :-lear cut outline of Tanjong Tuan (Cape Richardo) silhoutted against the iky. But it was quit© dark when we weighed anchor and another hour :ind a half brought us within sis;ht of our port and in time to witniss the end of the little tragedy cf tho morning; tor from th© quarantine island arose high in the starry sky and reflected far in the darkened waters tho blaze of the dead Indians' funeral pyre.