Pahang

“ The natives of Trĕnggânu are of a very different type. First and foremost, they are men of peace. Their sole interest in life is the trade or occupation which they ply, and they have none of that pride of race and country, which is so marked in the Pahang Malay. All they ask is to be allowed to make money, to study, or to earn a livelihood unmolested; and they have none of that 'loyal passion' for their intemperate Kings, which is such a curious feature in the character of the people of Pahang, who have had to suffer many things at the hands of their râjas. ”

“ This proceeding of the raja of Pahang was reported to the Sultan of Malaca. Then the Prince asked amid his champions, "Who of you now, will go and bring me the elephant of the raja of Pahang, with which he threatens to assault the hall of my palace. Whoever shall bring it, all his faults shall be forgiven, even though he have slain a man." Then said the laksamana Khwajeh Hasan, "If Your Majesty will give me permission, I will go to Pahang to bring this elephant." ”

“ Their efforts, however, have not hitherto been successful. A magnificent road over the mountains, with a ruling grade of 1 in 30, joins Kuala Lipis, the administrative capital of Pahang, to Kuala Kubu, the nearest railway station in Selangor. The road measures 82 m. in length. Pekan, where the sultan has his residence, was the capital of Pahang until the middle of 1898, when the administrative headquarters were transferred to the interior as being more central. None of these towns is of any size or importance. ”

“ The Tembeling has its rise in the hills which divide Pahang from Kelantan, but some of its tributaries rise on the Trengganu frontier, while the largest of its confluents comes from the hills in which the Kuantan River takes its rise. The Pahang is navigable for large boats as far as Kuala Lipis, 200 m. from the mouth, and light-draught launches can also get up to that point. Smaller boats can be taken some 80 m. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Gunong Tahan is situated on the boundary between Pahang and Kelantan. Its height is estimated at 8000 ft. above sea-level, but it has never yet been ascended. Pahang, like the states on the west coast, is covered almost entirely by one vast forest, but in the Lipis valley, which formerly was thickly populated, there is a considerable expanse of open grass plain unlike anything to be seen on the western seaboard. The coast is for the most part a sandy beach fringed with casuarina trees and there are only a few patches of mangrove-swamp throughout its entire length. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Meanwhile the rumor reached us that an immense herd of elephants was crossing from the State of Pahang into Trengganu, and I made up my mind to act instantly. A roaming herd of elephants is so serious a menace to rice-crops that I thought the Sultan might not object to having the assistance of a foreigner in capturing them. ”

“ The Slim Valley lies across the hills which divide Pahang from Pêrak. It is peopled by Malays of various races. Râwas and Mĕnangkâbaus from Sumatra, men with high-sounding titles and vain boasts, wherewith to carry off their squalid, dirty poverty ”

“ Every man in Pahang was, at that time, a soldier; and the people of Jĕlai and Lĭpis were among the most warlike of the inhabitants of the country. All the people of the interior followed Wan Bong like sheep, and he speedily found himself at the head of a following of many thousands of men. For a noble to rise up against his sovereign, with the object of placing his own family upon the throne, was an altogether unheard of thing among the natives of the Peninsula ”

“ The Federation Estimates for 1956 provide for transitional grants to Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, and Perlis. The grant, if paid, is required to be of such amount as will ensure a surplus not exceeding $500,000 or to be the equivalent of a capitation grant of $2, whichever is the less; and in spite of grants so calculated Kedah, Pahang and Perlis still had estimated deficits for 1956. ”

“ Towards the interior, landward, there is a plain of great extent, and the woods abound in elephants, rhinoceros, and apes. It is said that the nilghau and the ape are only about one-fourth inferior to the elephant. Formerly Pahang was an extensive country, dependent on Siam, and its raja was named Maha Raja Dewa Sura, of the same lineage as Paduca Bubanyar.
When Sultan Mansur Shah heard of this country, he became very desirous to possess himself of it, and he directed his bandahara Paduca Raja to invade it. ”

“ Thus, from one generation to another, various rival claimants to the throne strove for the mastery during successive centuries. The land was always more or less on the rack of civil war, and so to-day the largest State in the Peninsula carries a population of only some four human beings to the square mile.
War was lulled, and peace fell upon Pahang when Bĕndahâra Äli, the father of the present Sultân, came to the throne; but, when he died in his palace among the cocoa-nut trees, across the river opposite to the Pĕkan of to-day, civil war broke out once more with redoubled fury. ”

“ The state is the largest in the peninsula, its area being estimated at 15,000 sq. m. The ports on the coast are the mouths of the Endau, Rompin, Pahang and Kuantan rivers, but during the north-east monsoon the coast is not easy of approach, and the rivers, all of which are guarded by difficult bars, are impossible of access except at high tides. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Whether in Pahang, Trĕnggânu, or Kĕlantan it is much the same. Up country the natives live more chastely than do the people of the capital; they work harder, age sooner, lie less softly, experience less change, and are chiefly occupied in supporting themselves and their families. ”

“ 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. ”

“ From Chiangut there is a footpath of only 8 or 9 hours walking to Kwala Limau, which belongs to the water-system of the river Kelantan. From Chiangut following the course of the streamlet Preten (a tributary of the Sat) and always keeping in a northerly direction, one reaches further up to Batu Atap.
This hill forms the political frontier of the territories Pahang and Kelantan, and at the same time the watershed of the two river systems (R. Pahang and R. Kelantan) . A second hill must be crossed, of much the same height, about 100 feet above Chiangut. ”

“ 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) ”

“ I do not prevent you from marrying another,
But that is not the agreement between us."
Then the bandahara went and presented himself before the Sultan of Pahang, who was highly gratified at receiving this assistance from Malaca. "Our fort is not yet finished," said the raja, "but it will now be completed by your assistance." "Very well," said the bandahara, and he ordered the Malaca men to exert themselves in constructing the fortifications; and he ordered the laksmana to superintend their operations. ”

“ The Resident of Pahang has the devoted friendship of Umat, the punkah-puller, he has an individual faculty of vision, a large sympathy, and the scrupulous consciousness of the good and evil in his hands. He may as well rest content with such gifts. One cannot expect to be, at the same time, a ruler of men and an irreproachable player on the flute.
A HAPPY WANDERER--1910
Converts are interesting people. ”

“ But To’ Râja's own followers clove to him with the loyalty for which, on occasion, the natives of Pahang are remarkable. The Bĕndăhâra spared no pains to seduce them from their allegiance, and the three principal Chieftains who followed in To’ Râja's train were constantly called into the King's presence, and were shown other acts of favour, which were steadfastly denied to their master. But it profited the Bĕndăhâra nothing, for Imâm Bakar, the oldest of the three, set an example of loyalty which his two companions, Imâm Prang Sâmah and Khatib Bûjang, followed resolutely. ”

“ It is an island and town located at the extremity of the Malacca Peninsula, and is a busy mart of trade. Pahan is Pahang (called Pam by the Portuguese, and properly spelt Päang) , which is a city and district or province of the eastern part of the Malacca Peninsula. Calantan (Kalantan) and Patani are districts of the eastern part of the peninsula of Malacca whose chief towns have the same names. Both states were from early times tributary to Siam. Lagon is the Siamese province of Ligor (called Lâkon by the Siamese) . ”

“ There, where mountainous fertility ceases, one to the east and the other to the west, lie the plains of Pahang and Perak whose industrious hands guided by civilized ideas are carrying on a work of redemption from abandonment and malaria by the extension of cultivation and sanitary principles. ”

“ The cool, moist fruit groves call aloud to all mankind to come and revel in their fragrant shade during the parching hours of mid-day, and the Malay has caught the spirit of his surroundings, and is very much what Nature has seen fit to make him.
Some five-and-thirty years ago, when Che’ Wan Âhmad, now better known as Sultân Âhmad Maätham Shah, was collecting his forces in Dûngun, preparatory to making his last and successful descent into the Tĕmbĕling valley, whence to overrun and conquer Pahang, the night was closing in at Ranggul. ”

“ The Râjas at Pĕkan were very far away, while Wan Bong, with unlimited power in his hands, was at their very doors. Therefore the natives of the upper country had no hesitation in selecting the side to which it was most politic for them to adhere.
Wan Bong installed his father as Bĕndăhâra of Pahang with much state, and many ceremonial observances. All the insignia of royalty were hastily fashioned by the goldsmiths of Pĕnjum, and, whenever To’ Râja or Wan Bong appeared in public, they were accompanied by pages bearing betel boxes, swords, and silken umbrellas, as is the manner of Malay kings. ”

“ The following description of birth-taboos in Pahang, taken from Mr. H. Clifford’s Studies in Brown Humanity, will give a good general idea of this part of the subject:—
“When Umat has placed the sîrih leaves he has done all he can for Sĕlĕma, and he resigns himself to endure the anxiety of the next few months with the patience of which he has so much command. ”

“ Pahang owes something over $3,966,500 to Selangor and $1,175,000 to Perak, which have financed it now for some years out of surplus revenue. The value of the imports in 1905 was $1,344,346, that of the exports was $3,838,928, thus making a total trade value of $5,183,274. The most valuable export is tin, the value of which in 1905 amounted to $2,820,745. The value of the gutta exported exceeded $140,000, that of dried and salted fish amounted to nearly $70,000, and that of timber to $325,000. ”

“ District Officer, Coast of Negri Sembilan, 1899; acting Secretary to Resident, Senior Magistrate, Warden of Mines, and Protector of Chinese, Pahang, 1901; acting District Officer, Kuala Lipis; Senior Magistrate, and Registrar of Titles, Pahang, since 1903. Address: Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Federated Malay States. ”

“ Malay Orang kāya. In the Archipelago, a person of distinction, a chief or noble, corresponding to the Indian omrah; literally 'a rich man,' analogous therefore to the use of riche-homme by Joinville and other old French authors. [Mr. Skeat notes that the terminal o in arangkaio represents a dialectical form used in Sumatra and Java. The Malay leader of the Pahang rising in 1891-2, who was supposed to bear a charmed life, was called by the title of Orang Kāya Pahlawan (see PULWAUN) .] ”