Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-07-21
SATURDAY PRESS
SATURDAY. iuty -, ,ssi
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" that rouion ot The Malay Peninsula. asyct
hat impcHectl, known 10 the outside world.
tot tbr.c extract, tho Pres anil Us readers
afs indebted to the courtesy o Rev $. {.
Damon
Tho Golden thctsanc,c is sin somewhat "
q lsfB.g jH.afHffa thctc h. No point on ity ]
mainland at which European steamer call, I
anil the usual conception ~ 1t b ~ q vast and
malarous equatorial Jungle srnucN peoplrd |
lN a race " som. civilized and ltchchotous
Nohammclans IN iau. % 3, o. little known
ia u,si people astt was tp myself hyi"ic !
visited w., AMI IS tcliahlc information cuncgr
m, Il ,,isi. mainly iu valuable volumes puW
owl " punt ~ ,,aticicl through blue huok
and The transactions vi the A,ial,r Society NJ
Singapore. ! wake no apology lot wcA,ing
M, iciicr fum the Malay Peninsula With O..
man, bucl preliminary statements aa emll
serve io make them mtellEihc requesting
those ui my readers WIN atc familiar with ihD
subject, u sllp th, chapter aluHuh,r
tIr tHUai th.TuHYNt NJ ltulrwN thD
"tubl,n hrruuD.c NJ Milton, The MALAY
rsnIn.ul, Ut um Js,, h,, up legitimate ,lam
io an ancient history The cpntu,r y =.
sre,ing thr idrniiy oi iu Mount pphu vuh
the Oplm Ut Solomon has been "tmc,hci
uui without much result. and The Supposed
allusian lo thr Nila,ta Strait, hi lliny, h. l"o
vogue ta w. interesting.
Tho ,criun may bc said Ia have been rrdl,'
covered miSti by the Portuguese, anu the
hfst definite statement concerning u Appears
lo be In a lcttct from Emanuel Ring vi For
Wgal, tp the pope ln the antique aud cNoH
gctatcd Language ~ The day, he relates that bis
general the iamuus Albuquerque, after sur
luising conquest, in India had sailed tu the
luna Chstiop2Af. called by It's inhabitants
Maacca lie had pputcd the city ol Ma.
ncra. sacked it, slaughtered the Moor tMo'
hammclan>l who defended 1t, destroyed It's
iwcnt, i've thousand houses Astounding IN
gold, pearls, precious stones and spices, aud
IN It's site had built . fortress with walls fifteen
irei thick, out ol the ruins vi It's mosques.
The king. who fought upon an elephant was
badly wounded and fed, Further, on hearing
Of the victory, the King OF siam, from whom
Malacca had been "usurped 10y the Mpots,
scni to the conqucror q cup ol gold, a carhun
Gle. and a sword inlaid with gold. This con.
quest WI, ,annicd Of as gtcat triumph 10y the
eros, over the crescent, aud as lis result, 10y
the yes; 1850, nearly the whole commerce ul
the strait, had fallen into the hands OF the For
tuguc~c,
OF the remaining Moorish OF Malay
kingdoms, Achrcn, in Sumalra, was the most
powerful so powerful indeed, that is king
was able ~ he,cgs the great stronghold ui
Mahcca mote than once with fleet, accord
inr To thc auuali,l, ol "morc than i've hun
died sail. one hundred 81 which were OF greater
size than any then constructed in Europe, and
the warriors or mariners that It bore amounted
tu sixty thousand, commanded by the king in
person The first mention ul lohurc. ur
thor. and rcIlk, occurs about the same time,
Peak being represented as very powerful
aud wealthy state.
The Portuguese 10y their pcrscycring and 10.
lentless crusade against the Mohammc'lans,
converted all the states which were adjacent Ia
their cunqucsts into enemies, and 10y ibiI,
then empire in the straits was seized upon by
the Dutch, who, moi being troubled 10y muc,
religious earncsincss, got ON very well with the
Malay princes, aud succeeded in making ad-
vanlageous commercial treaties with them.
a curious but fairly accurate map OF the
coasts OF the peninsula was prepared IN Paris
in 1908, TO accompany the narrative oi the
French envoy TO the court OF Siam, but neither
the mainland not the adjacent islands attracted
any interest in this country till the East India
Company acquired pinang in I775, Provence
Wellesley in 1898, Singapore in 1898, and
Malacca in 1924. These small but important
colonies were consolidated in 1907 into our
government under the crown, and are now
known as the Straits Settlements, and prizcd
as among the most valuable of our possession.
in the far east. Though these settlements are
merely small islands OF narrow strips of terri
tory ON the coast, their population, 10y the cen
Sus OF 1851, exceeded four hundred and
twenty-five thousand souls, and in 1850, The
Exports and imports amounted to E3a,353ooo
Besides these little bits OF British territory
scattered along a ooas,linc nearly four hun
died miles in length, there are ON the west sid,
Of the peninsula, the native states of kedah
Pcrak Selangor, and Sungei Ujong, the las
three Of which are under British "pro,ection;
and on the east are Paiani, kclantan, Iring
ganu and Pahang the southern extremity he
ing occupied lay the State Of Johore. The in
terror, which is scarcely at all known, contains
towards It's cenifc the Negri Sembian, con
federation Of eight formerly ninel small
states. The population Of the native states @
the Peninsula is not accurately known, but ~
elusive OF a few wild Tribes and the Chinese i'm
migrants, il is estimated at three hundred apt
ten thousand, which gives under nine inhabi
tanis to the square mile, the population Of III,
British settlements being about four hundfc,
and twenty to the square mile.
The total length OF the peninsula is eigh
hundred miles, and its breadth varies from
sixty TO one hundred and fifty miles. II rum
down from latitude I5' so n. TO 4 AZ n
The northern paris, forming the ls,hmus O
kfaw, which II is proposed TO pierce Tor shiI
canal. runs nearly due north and south ior on,
hundred and forty miles, and is inhabited by
mixed race, mainly Siamese, called by thu
Malays, Sansam. This isihmus is under III,
rule OF Siam, which is its northern boundary
and the northern and eastern States OF kedah
Paiani kelanlam. pahang and Thngganu art
more or less tributary to this ambitious EN-
t,h ak has rtal t.il ,.t
rose, the token OF vasSalage, from every stat,
in the peninsula. except at the point wher'
the IIhmus Of kraw joins Siam, the peninsul.
surrounded by the sea-to the east, by III,
China Sea and the Gulf Of Siam, aud to III,
south and west 10y the Straits OF Malacca anC
the hay OF Bengal. The area Of the mainlan,
Is conjrcturcd 10 be the same as that OF Britain
but the region occupied 10y the MalayS doe
not exceed siuy-one thousand one hundrc,
and fifty square mRes, and is about half tn
sire of lava.
dts conhguraiion is not very well known, bu
granitic mountain chain rising in Perak Il
ascertaincd heights Of eight thousand feet, run
down its whole length near the center, will
extensive outlying spurs, and alluyial plains 81
h.sh sides densely covered with Jungle, a. az
alsl the mountains. There are no traces o
volcanic formation, though thermal springs ex
i1 IN Malacea. The rivers arc numerous, but
with one exception, small, and are seldom
nsyigablr beyond the reach OF the tides, escel
b, hai,bo,iomed boats. II is believed tina
there are scarcely any lakes.
The general formation is granite, OVERLAP,
by sandstone. latsrile OF clay iIonsione, and 4
the north by limestone. Iron ares are ioun
everywhere, and are ~ little regarded for thei
metallic contents that. though containing, &C
cordine 10 Mr.. Logan, skilliul geoI"gisi
SIXTY per cent, Al pure metal, they are used i
singapore COZ maeadamiling the roads. Cob
has been Obtained in all ages, and formerly i
considerable quantities, bui the annual yicl
does No, now exceed nineteen thousand ounccs
The yasiesl tin fields in the world are found !
the western Malay STATES and hitherto IN