isely as German East Africa formerly separated the British
holdings in the northern and southern portions of the Dark Continent.
And, were I to indulge in prophecy, I should say that the day would
come when the fate of German East Africa will overtake Lower Siam.
History has shown, again and again, that the nation, particularly if it
is as small and feeble as Siam, which forms a barrier between two
portions of a powerful and aggressive empire is in anything but an
enviable position.

Politically that portion of the Malay Peninsula which is within the
British sphere is divided into three sections: the colony of the
Straits Settlements, the four Federated Malay States, and the five
non-federated states under British protection. The crown colony of the
Straits Settlements consists of the twenty-seven-mile-long island of
Singapore and the much larger island of Penang; the territory of
Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite Penang; Malacca, a narrow
coastal strip between Singapore and Penang; and, to the north of it,
the tiny island and insignificant territory known as the Dingdings. By
the acquisition of these small and scattered but strategically
important territories, England obtained control of the Straits of
Malacca, which form the gateway to the China Seas. In 1896, as the
result of a treaty between the British Government and the rajahs of the
native states of Perak, Selangor, Pahang, and Negri Sembilan, these
four states were brought into a confederation under British protection.
Though they are still under the nominal rule of their own rajahs--now
known as sultans--each has a British adviser attached to his court, the
Governor of the Straits Settlements being _ex officio_ the High
Commissioner and administrative head of the confederation. The
non-federated states consist of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Trengganu,
the rights of suzerainty, protection, administration, and control of
which were transferred by treaty from Siam to Great Britain in 1909,
and the Sultanate of Johore, which occupies the extreme southern end of
the peninsula, opposite Singapore. In the non-federated, as in the
Federated Malay States, British advisers reside at the courts of the
native sultans.

Starting at Johore, which, some Biblical authorities assert, is
identical with the Land of Ophir, and running through the heart of
British Malaya from south to north, is the Federated Malay States
Railway, which has recently been linked up with