Aceh

“ All these islands are densely wooded, and have rocky shores. The high mountains of the native State of Kedah close the view to the north, and on the other side of a very narrow channel are the palm groves and sugar plantations of Province Wellesley. The Leper Island looked beautiful in the dewy morning with its stilted houses under the cocoa-palms; and the island of Pinang, with its lofty peak, dense woods, and shores fringed with palms sheltering Malay kampongs, each with its prahus drawn up on the beach, looked impressive enough.
The fierce glory of a tropic sunrise is ever a new delight. ”

“ This event, added to the occurrence of other raids from across the border, led to an irregular expedition being led into Trengganu and Kelantan by the Resident of Pahang (Mr Hugh Clifford) in 1895, and this had the desired result. The rebel chiefs were banished to Siam, and no further breach of the peace has troubled the tranquillity of Pahang since that time. Pahang joined the Federated Malay States by a treaty signed in 1895, and the sultan and his principal chiefs were present at the federal durbar held at Kuala Kangsar in Perak in 1897. ”

“ Negri Calang, or the land of tin, was the designation of this part of the peninsula, and this depopulated region was formerly a flourishing dependency under the Malay sovereigns of Malacca. The population, such as it is, is chiefly composed of the descendants of a colony of Bugis from Goa in the Celebes, who settled in Selangor at the beginning of the eighteenth century under a Goa chief, who was succeeded by Sultan Ibrahim, an intense hater and sturdy opponent of the Dutch. ”

“ Trengganu has a considerable textile industry, while Kelantan exports sarongs to the neighbouring states. Tin also is everywhere, and some gold; while Europeans are already mining, prospecting and planting. The population of Kelantan is almost entirely Malay, and the native element is stronger than the Chinese all down the east coast. The whole region is rather more primitive 43 than the west side; the palace of the Sultan of Kelantan, with its curious wooden palisade and guard of spearmen, looks distinctly old-fashioned. ”

“ The Jĕlai valley has, from time immemorial, been ruled over by a race of Chiefs, who, though they are regarded by the other natives of Pahang as ranking merely as nobles, are treated by the people of their own district with semi-royal honours. The Chief of the Clan, the Dâto’ Mahrâja Pĕrba Jĕlai, commonly known as To’ Râja, is addressed as Ungku, which means 'Your Highness,' by his own people. ”

“ There are schools in the chief towns, but education has not yet been seriously undertaken.
Kedah was founded by colonists from India in A.D. 1200, about which time the Siamese had subdued Nakhon Sri Tammarat and claimed the whole Malay Peninsula. When the rise of Malacca shook Siamese authority in the peninsula, Kedah oscillated between them, and on the conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese, fell to Siam, though the capital was raided and burnt by the Europeans. The ruler and his people were converted to Islam in the 15th century. ”

“ In former days Pahang was far more thickly populated than in modern times, but the long succession of civil wars which racked the land after the death of Bendahara Ali caused thousands of Pahang Malays to fly the country. To-day the valley of the Lebir River in Kelantan and the upper portions of several rivers near the Perak and Selangor boundaries are inhabited by Pahang Malays, the descendants of these fugitives. The Pahang natives are almost all engaged in agriculture. The work of the mines, &c., is performed by Chinese and foreign Malays. ”

“ On Saturday, the 10th June, his Highness the Sultan signified his willingness to cede to the Rajah of Sarawak, and his heirs, all the country and rivers that lie between Points Kadurong and Barram, including about three miles of coast on the east side of Barram Point. Negotiations about the sum to be paid for this hundred miles of coast continued for three days, when the deed of cession was finally sealed and delivered. This deed of cession, sealed with the respective seals of his Highness the Sultan of Bruni and the Rajah of Sarawak, was read out in full court on the 10th June. ”

“ The Sakai still inhabit in greatest numbers the country which forms the interior of Pahang, the Plus and Kinta districts of Perak, and the valley of Nenggiri in Kelantan. Representatives of their race are also found scattered among the Malayan villages throughout the country, and also along the coast, but these have intermixed so much with the Malays, and have acquired so many customs, &c., from their more civilized neighbours, that they can no longer be regarded as typical of the race to which they belong. ”

“ Acheen, on the north-east coast of Sumatra, is chiefly familiar to the present generation as the scene of an apparently unending war between the Dutch and the local Malay power, arising out of the unwillingness of the natives to accept the yoke imposed permanently upon them by the arrangement made between Great Britain and Holland nearly a century ago, under which, roughly speaking, British rights in Sumatra were renounced in exchange for a like renunciation on the part of the Dutch Government of any title to Singapore or to political influence in the Peninsular States. ”

“ The men of Malaca and Pahang attacked them, and they gave way, and were broke and completely dispersed entirely. Maha Raja Dewa Sura fled to the uplands of Pahang, and proceeding straightly by land to Calantan, he returned to Legor. Then the raja of Pahang gave an honorary dress to the bandahara Sri Maha Raja, who took his leave and returned to Malaca. When Sultan Mahmud learned that Pahang had not been conquered he was greatly pleased, and he also conferred honorary dresses on those who had distinguished themselves according to their rank. ”

“ After I had followed the Tamileng up its course for 22 hours, I came to the mouth of a still smaller stream, the River Saat or Sat. From here Kwala Sat there are two ways further up the river Tamileng; eastward, a way to Tringgano (arrived at after a journey of 3 or 4 days.) The stream Sat, flowing in a northerly direction, marks the way to Kelantan. From Ulu Sat it took me 6 hours more to reach the small Kampong Chiangut, consisting of two huts. Further, the water of the Sat proved too shallow even for the smallest canoe, such a one as is only fit to carry two men and some baggage. ”

“ Not far from the Kwala Tamileng I found the river Pahang, though somewhat narrower than in its lower stream, was about 40 fathoms wide, or about as broad as in its middle course. At the mouth of the Tamileng on the right bank of that river, lies an important village called Kampong Roh. Here I found it necessary to transfer my rather large covered boat (in which all my baggage, two servants and five Malays had found room) into two small open canoes.
The bed of the river Tamileng is, it must be allowed, in many places rather narrow, and forms numerous rapids (Jeram) ”

“ In that same year, Captain Francis Light pointed out to the Governor-General of Bengal that a settlement at Pulau Pinang possessed greater advantages than one on the Achehnese coast: "Acheen is a good road but no place of security against an enemy there. ”

“ The Golok and Semarak rivers water the west and east parts of the state, falling into the sea a few miles on either side of the mouth of the Kelantan River. The climate of Kelantan is mild and singularly healthy in the open cultivated regions. The population is about 300,000 of which 10,000 are aboriginal tribes (Sakeis and Jakuns) , 10,000 Siamese and Chinese and the rest Malays. The Chinese are increasing and natives of different parts of India are resorting to the state for purposes of trade. ”

“ Peter Gross declared.
"But, Mynheer Gross, what can twenty-five do? Bulungan has more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, few of whom have ever paid a picul of rice or kilo of coffee as tax to the crown. On the coast there are the Chinese pirates, the Bugi outlaws from Macassar and their traitorous allies, the coast Dyaks of Bulungan, of Tidoeng, and Pasir, ay, as far north as Sarawak, for those British keep their house in no better order than we do ours. In the interior we have the hill Dyaks, the worst thieves and cut-throats of them all. ”

“ The whole territory of Achin was almost depopulated by wars, executions, and oppression. The king endeavoured to repeople the country by his conquests. Having ravaged the kingdoms of Johor, Pahang, Kedah, Perak, and Dilli, he transported the inhabitants from those places to Achin, to the number of twenty-two thousand persons. But this barbarous policy did not produce the effect he hoped; for the unhappy people, being brought naked to his dominions, and not allowed any kind of maintenance on their arrival, died of hunger in the streets. ”

“ From this apprehension he had lately been induced to expel the English and Dutch from their settlements at Priaman and Tiku, where the principal quantity of pepper was procured, and of which places he changed the governor every third year to prevent any connexions dangerous to his authority from being formed. He had likewise driven the Dutch from a factory they were attempting to settle at Padang; which place appears to be the most remote on the western coast of the island to which the Achinese conquests at any time extended. ”

“ Penang is opposite Acheen, and the Malays, who are engaged in such a desperate resistance to the Dutch, often cross the Straits, and may be seen at any time in the streets of the English settlement. Perhaps it is but natural that the English should have a sympathy with these natives, who are defending their country against invaders, though I do not perceive that this makes them more ready to yield the ground on their own side of the Straits, where just now, at Perak, they have a little war of their own. To this war in Acheen I may refer again, when I come to write of the Dutch power in Java. ”

“ Daly's Journal during the crossing from Ulu Muar and Jampol to Pahang, 1875.
"I cannot get even our man to accompany us, although we have offered very high wages,—so we are starting by ourselves. This is a drawback to me, as I always like to get some man who can give me the native names of rivers, hills, and kampongs, wherever I go."
"They say, as one of the objections to our going to Pahang, that we cannot find our way through the lake (Tassek Berâ) which we have to cross to strike again the stream that runs into the Pahang river. ”

“ The Malays of Sungei Ujong and several of the adjacent States are supposed to be tolerably directly descended from those of the parent empire Menangkabau in Sumatra, who conquered and have to a great extent displaced the tribes known as Jakuns, Orang Bukit, Rayet Utan, Samangs, Besisik, Rayet Laut, etc., the remnants of which live mainly in the jungles of the interior, are everywhere apart from the Malays, and are of a much lower grade in the scale of civilization. ”

“ The city of Padang is situated on a small plain, whence its name; padang in Malay, meaning an open field or plain. Its population numbers about twelve thousand, and is composed of emigrants from Nias, Java, some Chinese and Arabs, and their mestizo descendants, besides the natives and Dutch. The streets are well shaded and neat. Near the centre of the city is a large, beautiful lawn, on one side of which is the residence of the governor. On the opposite side is the Club-House, a large and well-proportioned building. ”

“ This may be considered the key to the geography of Perak in the North, just as the common source of the R. Muar and the southern branch of the R. Pahang is the key to the geography of the South of the Peninsula, and the knowledge of the country between the Northern branch of the R. Pahang and the R. Kelantan, is the key to the geography of the Interior of the Peninsula. ”

“ We discussed Sumatra and the endless war the Dutch wage with the Acheenese, which has gone on for somewhere about forty years. The Acheenese say—or once said—they would be content if the British got Sumatra, an improbable thing now—the Germans are simply dying to possess it, and one of their much-discussed aims is to have a settlement on its shores directly opposite Singapore, so as to render that key to the East useless whilst we hold it. Such a thing is out of the question. Singapore is now too important for us to allow any other Power to interfere with it. ”

“ The good-natured patroness of lovers is sometimes called Ni Kubayan (Mal. Kěbayan) . ↑ Juara, in Malay as well as Achehnese means the trainer of fighting cocks or other animals, the master of the ceremonies in the glanggang. The word is also used in Riau and Johor to signify a procuress. Wilkinson, Mal.-Eng. Dict. p. 235. (Translator) . ↑ The Achehnese sometimes follow the Arabs in applying the name "Jawa" to the Malays as well as the Javanese. This name is especially used in a contemptuous sense; for instance an Achechnese abusing a Padang man will call him "Jawa paléh" = "miserable Malay!" ”

“ That coast is indented with bays, on one of which is the Dutch capital, Padang. East of the mountains the island spreads out into vast plains, watered by noble rivers. The soil is very rich, yielding all the fruits of the tropics in great abundance. The tobacco especially is of a much finer quality than that of Java, and brings twice as much in the market. This fertility will attract population both from Asia and from Europe, and under a good government this island may yet be the seat of an empire worthy of its greatness. ”