Malay Sketches — — — —

1 [jfflffi msmnE SWTO1M 'X r,% PRINCETON, N. J. \ Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. Division DSSl Section ,3.11 ¥ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/malaysketches00swet_0 MALAY SKETCHES — — — — . BY THE SAME AUTHOR UNADDRESSED LETTERS Crown 8 vo, 6s. Third Edition “Deep gratitude is due to Sir Frank for giving these letters to the world . the lazy descriptions of Eastern life, the musings on great scenes, the stories, and the utterances of social wisdom are all delightful, and add body to a book remarkable for a rare delicacy and charm.” The Athenceum. “ His narrative style is admirable, and his episodes are always interesting. One could read for many hours of the clever mongoose and tigers and croco- diles. ... Sir Frank Swettenham has a pretty humour. The style in which these ‘Unaddressed Letters’ is written is excellent.” The Pall Mall Gazette. THE REAL MALAY PEN PICTURES Crown 8 vo, 6s. “No pen except that of Mr. Conrad has drawn the Malay character so faithfully or so graphically. It is a combination that is very alluring, and we confess to finding Sir Frank Swettenham’s book of Malay sketches most fascinating reading. " The Pall Mall Gazette. “ Sir Frank Swettenham understands perhaps better than any other roving Englishman ' The Real Malay.’ ” The Morning Post. SIR FRANK ATHELSTANE SWETTENHAM JOHN LANE : THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON AND NEW YORK MDCCCCIII £ $ & $ & THIRD EDITION Printed by Ballantynk Hanson & Co. London & Edinburgh CONTENTS PACE INTRODUCTION . ix I. THE REAL MALAY I II. THE TIGER 12 III. A FISHING PICNIC *9 IV. THE MURDER OF THE HAWKER 25 V. MENG-GfiLUNCHOR 31 vi. Amok 38 VII. THE jdGET 44 VIII. THE STORY OF MAT ARIS 53 IX. LlTAH 64 X. THE ETERNAL FEMININE 83 XI. IN THE NOON OF NIGHT 92 XII. VAN HAGEN AND CAVALIERO 103 XIII. THE PASSING OF PfiNGLIMA PRANG SEMAUV 112 XIV. BfiR-HANTU .... 147 XV. THE KING’S WAY 161 XVI. A MALAY ROMANCE . 179 XVII. MALAY SUPERSTITIONS 192 XVIII. WITH A CASTING-NET 211 XIX. JAMES WHEELER WOODFORD BIRCII 227 XX. A PERSONAL INCIDENT 248 XXI. NAKODAH ORLONG 27O XXII. EVENING 281 NOTE ON THE COVER DESIGN HE colours used on the cover of this book are those recognised as “ Royal ” colours in one or other of the Malay States. Throughout the Peninsula yellow is the special colour worn or used by those oj Raja birth. 'Ey the ancient Malay sumptuary laws the lower classes were not allowed to wear yellow garments, nor to use this colour in the decoration or furniture of their houses. These laws are no longer rigidly observed, but in most Malay States the use of yellow fabrics is confined to the Raja class. It is a universal practice to put letters addressed to Malay rulers ( when they are of Raja birth) into covers of yellow cotton cloth or yellow satin, while those addressed to Rajas who have no official position , or to chiefs of importance but not of Raja birth, are stitched into covers of white cotton. In some of the States the royalflag is yellow, in others it is white or black, while in several of the more important States , NOTE ON THE COVER DESIGN of Sumatra [as for instance in dcheen), black garments are the special privilege of the %aja class. In Terak the three highest native authorities in the State the Sultan his heir [styled his , %flja Muda), and Wazir [the %aja Bendahara), white yellow and black fly flags of , , respectively , and these three colours united have, for the last twenty years, been adopted as the Perak State flag. The three daggers on the cover are good types of the Malay “ kris,” the favourite national weapon. The originals of these particular specimens are in the Perak museum and were photographed for this design. F. J. S. Xmas day, l8<pj. PREFACE * 1 I HIS is not a book of travels, nor is it, in even A the smallest sense, the record of a traveller’s experiences in a foreign land. It is a series of sketches of Malay scenery and Malay character drawn by one who has spent the best part of his life in the scenes and amongst the people described. These pages contain no statistics, no history, no geography, no science, real or spurious, no politics, no moralising, no prophecy,—only an attempt to awaken an interest in an almost undescribed but deeply interesting people, the dwellers in one of the most beautiful and least known countries in the East. The traveller will come in time, and he will publish his experiences of Mal&ya and the Malays ; but while he may look upon the country with a vii PREFACE higher appreciation and paint its features with a more artistic touch, he will see few of those characteristics of the people, none of that inner life which, I make bold to say, is here faithfully por- trayed. FRANK SWETTENHAM. The Residency, Perak, 28 March 1895. rill “ Quel eat done ce pays, disaient- ill l’un a l'autre, inconnu a tout le reste de la terre, et ou toute la nature est d'une espece si differente de la notre?" Voltaire T MAGINE yourself transported to a land of eternal A summer, to that Golden Peninsula, ’twixt Hin- dustan and Far Cathay, from whence the early navigators brought back such wondrous stories of adventure. A land where Nature is at her best and richest : where plants and animals, beasts of the forest, birds of the air, and every living thing seem yet inspired with a feverish desire for growth and reproduction, as though they were still in the dawn of Creation. And Man? Yes, he is here. Forgotten by the world, passed by in the race for civilisation, here he has remained ix INTRODUCTION amongst his own forests, by the banks of his well- loved streams, unseeking and unsought. Whence he came none know and few care, but this is the land that has given to, or taken from, him the name of a Race that has spread over a wider area than any other Eastern people. Malaya, land of the pirate and the amok, your secrets have been well guarded, but the enemy has at last passed your gate, and soon the irresistible Juggernaut of Progress will have penetrated to your remotest fastness, slain your beasts, cut down your forests, “civilised” your people, clothed them in strange garments, and stamped them with the seal of a higher morality. That time of regeneration will come rapidly, but for the moment the Malay of the Peninsula is as he has been these hundreds of years. Education and •contact with Western people must produce the inevitable result. Isolated native races whose numbers are few must disappear or conform to the views of a stronger will and a higher intelligence. The Malays of the Peninsula will not disappear, INTRODUCTION but they will change, and the process of “ awaken- ing” has in places already begun. It might be rash to speculate on the gain which the future has in store for this people, but it is hardly likely to make them more personally interesting to the observer. This is the moment of transition, and these are sketches of the Malay as he is. A I Jetons-nous dans cette petite barque, laissons-nous aller au courant : une riviere mene toujours a quelque si pas des endroit habite ; nous ne trouvons choses agreables, nous trouverons du moins des choses nouvelles “ 1 Allons,’ dit Candide, * recommandons-nous a la Providence ’ ” Voltaire MALAY SKETCHES I THE REAL MALAY He was the mildest manner’d man That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat Byron, Don Juan O begin to understand the Malay you must live T in his country, speak his language, respect his faith, be interested in his interests, humour his prejudices, sympathise with and help him in trouble, and share his pleasures and possibly his risks. Only thus can you hope to win his confidence. Only through that confidence can you hope to understand the inner man, and this knowledge can there- fore only come to those who have the opportunity and use it. So far the means of studying Malays in their own country (where alone they are seen in their true i A MALAY SKETCHES character) have fallen to few Europeans, and a very small proportion of them have shown an inclination to get to the hearts of the people. There are a hundred thousand Malays in Perak and some more in other parts of the Peninsula ; and the white man, whose interest in the race is strong enough, may not only win confidence but the devotion that is ready to give life itself in the cause of friendship. The Scripture says : ‘‘There is no greater thing than this,” and in the end of the nineteenth century that is a form of friendship all too rare. Fortunately this is a thing you cannot buy, but to gain it is worth some effort. The real Malay is a short, thick-set, well-built man, with straight black hair, a dark brown com- plexion, thick nose and lips, and bright intelligent eyes. His disposition is generally kindly, his manners are polite and easy. Never cringing, he is reserved with strangers and suspicious, though he does not show it. He is courageous and trust- worthy in the discharge of an undertaking ; but he is extravagant, fond of borrowing money, and very slow in repaying it. He is a good talker, speaks in parables, quotes proverbs and wise saws, has a strong sense of humour, and is very fond of a good joke.

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