Perak

“ S. Ujong and Sri Menanti were little better; Muar, Birnam, Perak, and Kurau could not then be named without an affectation of special, not to say pedantic knowledge. I do not believe that any person then knew of the true course of the R. Perak, or of the short route from Larut to Ulu Perak, which I have already called the key to the geography of that part; and as to which it has been seen that Captain Forrest ninety years before had possessed some information. ”

“ Road-making has not made great strides in Perak, but railroads are being planned, and a good road extends from the port of Larut to the great Chinese mining town of Taipeng, and thence to the British residency at Kwala Kangsa, a distance of over thirty-three miles, the electric telegraph accompanying the road. ”

“ What is more certain is the tradition that Perak was twice invaded by the Achinese, and its rulers carried off into captivity, one of them, Sultan Mansur Shah, subsequently becoming the ruler of Achin. The first European settlement in Perak was made by the Dutch in 1650, under a treaty entered into with the Achinese, but the natives of the country rose against the Dutch again and again, and it was abandoned in 1783, though it was afterwards reoccupied, the Dutch being finally ejected by the British in 1795. ”

“ In different States this debtor-bondage is carried to greater or less extremities, but in Perak the cruelties exercised toward debtors are even exclaimed against by Malays in other States.
Many chiefs in Perak have a following principally composed of young men and girls, for the most part debtors.
The men are treated as I have already described—either food and clothes are found for them or not; they are usually found—for the Rajah's power and his pride consists in the number of arms-bearing followers he has at his beck and call; men, too, are useful to him in many other ways. ”

“ Along the shores of these streams most of the Malay kampongs are built.
The interior of Perak is almost altogether covered with magnificent forests, out of which rise isolated limestone hills, and mountain ranges from five thousand to eight thousand feet in height. The scenery is beautiful. The neighborhood of the mangrove swamps of the coast is low and swampy, but as the ground rises, the earth which has been washed down from the hills becomes fertile, and farther inland the plains are so broken up by natural sand ridges which lighten the soil, that it is very suitable for rice culture. ”

“ The methods of mining both for tin and gold are of the most elementary kind, and it is probable that Perak has still vast metallic treasures to yield up to scientific exploration and Anglo-Saxon energy.
Rice is the staple food of the inhabitants. Dry rice on the hillsides was the kind which was formerly exclusively cultivated, but from some Indians who came from Sumatra to Perak the Malays have learned the mode of growing the wet variety, and it is now largely practiced. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The extreme distance from the most northerly to the most southerly portions of the state is about 172 m., and the greatest breadth from east to west is about 100 m. The total area of the country is estimated at about 10,000 sq. m.
The Perak river, which runs in a southerly direction almost parallel with the coast for nearly 150 m. of its course, is navigable for small steamers for about 40 m. from its mouth, and by native trading boats for nearly 200 m. The Plus, Batang, Padang and Kinta rivers are its principal tributaries, all of them falling into the Perak on its left bank. ”

“ This difficulty about labor will possibly have to be solved by the introduction of coolies from India, for the Malays won't work except for themselves; and the Chinese not only prefer the excitement of mining, and the evening hubbub of the mining towns, but in lonely places they are not always very manageable by people unused to them.
Even for clearing the jungle foreign labor must be employed. Perak is a healthy and splendid State, and while the low grounds are suited for sugar, tapioca, and tobacco, the slopes of the hills will produce coffee, cinchona, vanilla, tea, cloves, and nutmegs. ”

“ Of the Perak regalia we read: “Tan Saban was commanded by his mistress to open negotiations with Johor, and this having been done, a prince of the royal house of that kingdom, who traced his descent from the old line of Menangkabau, sailed for Perak to assume the sovereignty. ”

“ In spite of the notable development above referred to, only a very small fraction of the entire area of the states has as yet been touched either by mining or agricultural enterprise. It is not too much to assert that the larger half of the forest-lands has never been trodden by the foot of man. (For information concerning the botany, geology, &c., of the Malay States see Malay Peninsula. For the ethnology see Malays.)
Perak is situated between the parallels 3° 37′ and 6° 5′ N. and 100° 3′ to 101° 51′ E. on the western side of the Malay Peninsula. ”

“ It brings us accordingly to the consideration of a whole class of such cases, for the mediate expulsion of evils by means of a scapegoat or other material vehicle, like the immediate expulsion of them in invisible form, tends to become periodic, and for a like reason. Thus in Perak, a state on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, it was in ancient times the custom to perform periodically a ceremony intended to ensure the prosperity of the country by the propitiation of friendly spirits and the expulsion of evil influences. ”

“ A second line runs south from Perak and connects with the railway system of Selangor, which in its turn connects with the Negri Sembilan and Malacca line, thus giving through railway communication between the last-named town and Penang. Perak also possesses some 600 miles of excellent metalled cart-road, and the length of completed road is annually increasing. ”

“ It is as unpretending a dwelling as can be. It keeps out the sun and rain, and gives all the comfort which is needed in this climate, but nothing more. My journey of thirty-three miles from the coast has brought me into the interior of the State, where the Kangsa river joins the Perak, at a distance of a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, and I am alone in the wilds! ”

“ It has been found, after long and carefully-conducted experiments, that the lower mountains of Perak are admirably suited for the growth of tea, cinchona, and Arabian coffee, while Liberian coffee grows equally well on the lower lands. ”

“ Both Penang and Singapore had beheld troubles almost as grave. Perak was a native state at the time, rich in antimony mines, which had attracted fifty thousand Chinamen, every single one belonging to a society established at Penang. Freed from all restraint, they followed their own instincts. The Malay Rajah did not interfere so long as they paid their dues. Pitched battles were incessant. On one occasion thirty thousand men engaged, of whom two thousand were left dead upon the field. The mother lodges at Penang took up these quarrels and attacked one another. ”

“ The little horse walked very fast and cantered easily. How peaceful Perak is now, to allow of a lady riding so far through the jungle with only an unarmed Malay attendant! Major M'Nair writes: "The ordinary native is a simple, courteous being, who joins with an intense love of liberty a great affection for his simple home and its belongings," and I quite believe him. Stories of amok running, "piracies," treachery, revenge, poisoned krises, and assassinations, have been made very much of, and any crime or slight disturbance in the native States throws the Settlements into a panic. ”

“ The timber is magnificent, and under the unworthy name of "jungle produce" a large trade is done in it. Perak is the land of palms, and produces the invaluable cocoa-palm, most parts of which have their commercial value, the areca palm which produces the betel-nut, the gomuti palm from whose strong black fibres they make ropes, cordage, and strands for capturing the alligator; the jaggary-palm, from which sugar is made, as well as a fermented beverage; the nibong palm, which grows round the Malay kampong, and is used for their gridiron floors and for the posts of their houses ”

“ Exclusive of tin, the principal exports were $108,000 worth of Para rubber, $181,000 of copra, $54,000 of hides, $48,000 of patchouli, and considerable quantities of timber, rattans and other jungle produce. The agricultural development of the state is still in its infancy, but rubber is cultivated in rapidly increasing areas, and the known fertility of the soil, the steady and regular rainfall, the excellent means of communication, and the natural and artificial conditions of the country, justify the expectation that the future of Perak as an agricultural country will be prosperous. ”

“ The federated states, under the protection of Great Britain, but not British possessions, are Perak, Selangor and the confederation of small states known as the Negri Sembilan (i.e. Nine States) on the west coast, and the state of Pahang on the east coast. Each state is under the rule of a sultan, who is assisted in his legislative duties by a state council, upon which the resident, and in some cases the secretary to the resident, has a seat, and which is composed of native chiefs and one or more Chinese members nominated by the sultan with the advice and consent of the resident. ”

“ It is all very well for the Kĕdah ladies to sacrifice their shadows to obtain possession of a pĕlsit, leaders of society must be in the fashion at any cost; but there are plenty of people living in Perak who have seen more than one ancient Malay dame taken out into the river and, despite her protestations, her tears, and entreaties, have watched her, with hands and feet tied, put into the water and slowly pushed down out of sight by means of a long pole with a fork at one end which fitted on her neck. ”

“ I HAVE the honour to report that, with reference to a letter received by me from his Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements requesting me to proceed to Banda Bahru, on the Perak River, within five miles of the scene of the murder of the late Mr. Birch, I embarked Major-General Colborne, C.B., at Penang, and proceeded,immediately to the Dindings, proceeding up the Perak River in Her Majesty's ship " Fly " as far as Durien Sabatang, the highest point in the river to which a gun vessel can proceed, and in my galley reached Banda Bahru on the 1 st of December. ”

“ The following extract relates to one of the largest rivers of the Peninsula, the river Perak, which gives its name to the largest and most important of the Malay States of the West Coast. Perak means silver, though none is mined in the country ”

“ Coffee appears to be so nearly "played out" in Ceylon, that many coffee-planters have been "prospecting" in Perak; and now that the Government of India has consented to the importation of Indian coolie labor into the State, under certain restrictions, as an experimental measure, a future of coffee may be predicted with tolerable certainty. One of the causes for satisfaction in connection with this State is that the Malays themselves are undoubtedly contented with British rule, and are prospering under it. Crime of any kind in the Malay districts is very rare. ”

“ The military police force now consists of a European superintendent, ninety-four constables, paid 45s. per month, and twelve officers, all Malays; but as it is Malay nature to desire a change, and it is found impossible to retain the men for any lengthened periods, it is proposed to employ Sikhs, as in Perak.
Sungei Ujong, like the other States of the Peninsula, is almost entirely covered with forests, now being cleared to some extent by tapioca, gambier, and coffee-planters. Its jungles are magnificent, its hill scenery very beautiful, and its climate singularly healthy. ”

“ Maxwell, the Assistant Resident here, a really able and most energetic man, very argumentative, bright, and pleasant; and Captain Walker, A.D.C. to Sir W. Robinson, on his way from the ceaseless gayeties of Government House at Singapore to take command of the Sikh military police in the solitary jungles of Perak. The third, Mr. Innes, Superintendent of Lower Perak, whose wife so nearly lost her life in the horrible affair at Pulo Pangkor, was in dejected spirits, as if the swamps of Durion Sabatang had been too much for him. ”

“ Slavery and debt bondage exist in all the native States; except in Selangor and Sungei Ujong, where it has recently been abolished, as it is hoped it will be in Perak. The slaves of the reigning princes were very easily acquired, for a prince had only to send a messenger bearing a sword or kris to a house, and the parents were obliged to give up any one of their children without delay or question. ”

“ MR. EDWARD ALEXANDER IRVING, Inspector of Schools, Hongkong, was born in 1870, and at the age of twenty-one joined the Perak Civil Service as a junior officer. Whilst in the Malay States he qualified in law, and acquired a knowledge of Malay, Hakka, and Cantonese, and filled various appointments in Perak and Selangor in the Mines Departments and Chinese Protectorate. ”

“ 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. ”