The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-09-03

members the time when mere baby
boys were seen toddling about in Perak
with seven or eight formidable knives
stuck In their belts; and in these grand
old days the unfortunate Chinaman
who did the mental work were fire.
quently shot on sight, the only regret
being that they offered little or no re-
sistance, and therefore the sport was
tame. For a great number of years
Sir Frank Swettenham labored to
bring about a federation of the various
states of the peninsula, and two or
three years ago he had his reward, his
administration and diplomacy culmin-
ating in a splendid Durbar, at which,
for the first time in Malay history.
their ~highnesses the Sultans OF Perak,
Selangor, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, and
all the rest, met together in amicable
converse under benignant eye of the
high commissioner. Prominent among
the brilliant gathering sat the aged
Sultan of Pahang, whom Sir Frank de-
scribes as a person of wholly charming
manners, but with a record of SO muir
ders committed with his own hand!
We are not, however, SO much ON
cerned with the proceedings Of the
council as with the festivities that fol-
lowed. The picnic on that occasion
was like any other Malay picnic, save
that it was on rather a larger scale.
AS a fact, life with the Malay is nearly
all picnic and holiday. His idea Of
life Is to find a nice navigable river
where he can sit down on the bank
and make himself a garden, and watch
his produce grow. He loathes labor,
loves fishing, and is a great sportsman,
catching and tanning wild elephants,
and spearing tigers on a large scale.
But to the picnic. The first photograph
reproduced Is a very impressive one,
showing all the sultans and their ret
inues mounted on elephants out in the
Perak river. The whole of this extra
ordinary procession is about to start
for the scene of the festivities. BY this
time the sun is we'll up, there are per-
haps eighty people mounted IN rather
more than twenty elephants, these be-
ing attended by numerous boys and
followers OF foot. About half the pic
nickers are ome The Malay being
a born sportsman, 1t was only natural
that Sir Frank Swettenham should ar
range a great fish drive the day after
the council was held. All the Malay
sports are conducted in a highly orr
ginal manner. The big fishing expedi-
tions are really state functions, con
Quoted on a scale of regal magnif-
cence. On the great day, twenty or
thirty large house boats and a num-
Der of bamboo RATS, containing alto
gether between 100 and 200 people, as
semble in the river and make an i'm
posing procession. The RATS are SIM
ply floating houses. Flags are flown,
and other boats carry gongs and drums
and altogether the pleasure fleet makes
a brave show and considerable noisa.
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 their attend
ants and children, disembark and COM
mence digging out turtles eggs-an in
teresting ceremony which precedes the
fishing picnic proper. The ladies are
in their smartest garments and wear
their costliest jewels. Later on, every
one scrambles back into the boats,
which are then pushed out into deep
water. The pleasure fleet is making
for a long inviting backwater; and
presently the boats arrange themselves
in divisions, whilst the crews land,
make the fires, and boil the rice for
the midday meal. The backwater is
narrow, with a shallow entrance, which
is staked across. The sultan's barge
and a few other house boats pass
through the opening in the row Of
stakes; his highness' flotilla being ac-
companied by a fleet of perhaps fifty
uncovered "dug OUTS" each with a
light grating of split bamboos over
half it's length, and with one man
standing on the extreme end ready to
cast the net. By the way, to make the
cast so accurately that the net reaches
the water perfectly extended, requires
a very skilful hand. Presently the sui
tan gives the signal, and the boats at
once form themselves into a crescent
with the royal barges in the center.
The horns of the crescent drag to.
wards each other, and in an instant
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