the
London Missionary Society carried on work among the Malays at Penang,
Malacca, and Singapore, but then withdrew all their missionaries to
China, with the exception of Rev. B. P. Keasberry, who continued to work
among the Malays in Singapore as a self-supporting missionary until his
death, in 1872. He baptized a few Malays, both men and women, one or two
of whom are still living, but make no profession of Christianity. Within
the last twenty years we know of one Malay man and two or three women
who have been converted to Christianity and baptized in Singapore and
Penang, none of whom has gone back to Islam.

The extent to which polygamy is practised among the Malays depends very
greatly upon the amount which has to be paid as dowry, and this varies
very much in the different parts of the Peninsula and Eastern Sumatra.
Divorce, however, is common everywhere. In our personal intercourse with
the Malays, we have realized how very much the women resemble those of
other nationalities in their aspirations, but how useless it is for them
to try to make any real progress, because they are so tied by customs.
They say, "We must be content to live as we do, for we are powerless to
do otherwise." When they go out for walks they must be closely veiled
or covered, and must walk in front of the men, which seems courteous to
us until we are told the reason, which is that the men can watch them,
and see that they do not cast glances at other men. Many of the women
learn to read the Koran, and a few learn to read and write Malayan in
the government vernacular schools, but the latter is sometimes objected
to on the ground that the girls will write letters to men. It is very
difficult to get Malay girls to attend a Christian school, for fear they
might become Christians. The people living in the agricultural districts
seem to be happy and contented, and yet here polygamy is more common
than in the towns. The heart of the wife and mother is often burdened
because her husband has taken a second or third wife, when there is
little enough money for one family to live upon. As a rule the men do
not want their wives to know when they are taking new wives. They
usually say they are going away to work for a few days. We have been
asked to write letters to such husbands requesting money, and begging
the husband to return. Sometimes the answers to these letters contain
loving messages to the wife, asking her not to believe the stories told
her,