learned in Pahang, in
the days before the appointment of a British Resident, cannot now be
experienced in quite the same measure anywhere else. Both Trengganu and
Kelantan have produced their strong rulers--for instance, Baginda Umar
of Trengganu, and the 'Red-mouthed Sultan' of Kelantan--but neither of
the present _Rajas_ can boast anything resembling the same personality
and force of character, or are possessed of the same power and
influence, as distinguished Sultan Ahmad Maatham Shah of Pahang, in the
brave days before the coming of the white men.

In subsequent articles, I hope, by sketching a few events which have
occurred in some of the States on the East Coast; by relating some
characteristic incidents, many of which have come within my experience;
and by descriptions of the conditions of life among the natives, as I
have known them; to give my European readers some idea of a state of
Society, wholly unlike anything to which they are accustomed, and which
must inevitably be altered out of all recognition by the rapidly
increasing influence of foreigners in the Malay Peninsula.

THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST COAST

I have eaten your rice and salt.
I have drunk the milk of your kine,
The deaths ye died I have watched beside,
And the lives that ye lived were mine.
Is there aught that I did not share,
In vigil, or toil, or ease,
One joy or woe that I did not know,
Dear hearts beyond the seas?

KIPLING (adapted).

Although the States on the East Coast lie in very close proximity one
with another, the people who inhabit them differ widely among
themselves, not only in appearance, in costume, and in the dialects
which they speak, but also in manners, customs, and character. The
Pahang Malay, in his unregenerate state, thinks chiefly of deeds of
arms, illicit love intrigues, and the sports which his religion holds
to be sinful. He is a cock-fighter, a gambler, and a brawler; he has
an overweening opinion of himself, his country, and his race; he is at
once ignorant, irreligious, and unintellectual; and his arrogance has
passed into a proverb.[5] He has many good qualities also, and is,
above all things, manly and reckless,--as those who know him well, and
love him, can bear witness,--but his faults are very much on the
surface, and he is at no pains to hide them, being proud rather than
ashamed of the reputation which they cause him to bear. He is mor