of honor" was received with the honors due a great sovereign, 17 guns being fired. I did not go to that landing; neither did I attend the grand "at home" reception he gave a few days later. A few days ago the governor sent for Tunkee Allam and unfolded to him that in spite of his complaints of unfair play and protests presented the home government would not interfere with regard to the election held in Muar and its result. As a bonus for his sacrifices the governor offered him a monthly stipend of $1,250 for himself and all the members of the sultan's family, to be paid to him and his successors during the pleasure of the British Government. This offer, I am told, Tunkee Allam indignantly refused, assuring the governor that because his grandfather and father had been cheated and wronged he saw no reason why he should submit in like manner; that they had the power to go and take his province by force, and he would have to yield to might. Thus the matter now stands, until in all probability it will be taken by force. Just imagine what an affection the poor natives must harbor for their civilized rulers! It is very evident that such despotism, interference, and usurpation are sad promoters of public confidence, agriculture, commerce, and enterprise generally, and no one need be astonished if commerce is and will be suffering. The foregoing is one instance only of several of like nature that occurred during the last year or two. All this as regards international commerce is to be deeply deplored, for there is hardly a richer region on the face of the earth than the peninsula of Malacca and the Sunda Islands, and so accessible to vessels, large and small. To this I have already alluded in several of my preceding annual reports. Enterprising men go and examine the country far into the interior, at great risk, and find all they can ask to make, as far as appearances go, planting remunerative. Some take grants of land from the powers that be with firm intention of embarking in planting, getting out timber, &c., but somehow as soon as they commence they find themselves beset with all kinds of obstacles and hinderances of which they knew nothing at first, and finally they abandon their enterprise in disgust and quit the country." (pp. 744 to 746.) No. 7. Extract from Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, etc., of their Consular Districts, No. 19.-May, 1882. "AMERICAN TRADE WITH THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS." Report by Consul Studer, of Singapore. "My commercial supervision, to make it valuable for our commerce, does not only embrace the territory of my consular jurisdiction, viz., 'the Straits Settlements,' for which I receive my salary (in fact it is the smallest portion of it), but it takes in the largest portion of Sumatra, the Malay states on the peninsula of Malacca, due north and east of this colony, nearly all under Siamese suzerainty, but bringing their products to this port and Penang, the largest portion of the coast of Borneo, and many islands in Netherlands India (really under the jurisdiction of the consul at Batavia, but bringing their products chiefly to this market), and even, in a measure, French Cochin-China, where we have no consul. To extend our commerce in the surest way, I should be able to visit at least the most important ones of these countries and islands, but I cannot, for the want of appropriations for traveling and for paying for services rendered in the consulate during my absence.” (P. 176.) No. 8. Extract from "Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, etc., of Their Consular Districts.” No. 19--May, 1882. PRODUCTS OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. Gutta-Percha and Rubber. "These products have been a very important article of export from this port and Netherlands India, more for England and France than the United States, but during the past two years the exports thereof to the United States have greatly increased. Both gutta and rubber are found in the heavy jungles of the peninsula of Malacca, Sumatra, Borneo. Celebes, and other large islands in the Sunda Archipelago; but the largest quantity of gutta, as well as the best quality, is obtained from Borneo. It used to be very plentiful in accessible places, i. e., in the watersheds of the peninsula, and of excellent quantity, but the native gatherers, in order to obtain a goodly quality in as short a time as possible, instead of tapping the trees judiciously, cut them down very promiscuously, and as the tree is of rather slow growth, the field of supply for years to come will remain more or less exhausted. In the remote fastnesses of the jungles of the peninsula, especially in the Malayan states under Siamese souzerainty, where the peninsula is broadest, it exists in abundance, but the hardships and danger to gather and prepare the milk as well as to bring it to the coast are too many and too great, and until those parts are developed by enterprising men the supplies there from will remain light. The same difficulty exists in many parts of Sumatra. The rubber tree is more plentiful than the gutta tree on the peninsula, and of much faster growth, and fair supplies are still obtained. I am glad to say that the colonial government is encouraging the planting of gutta trees (various species), and of rubber trees also in some of the Malayan provinces. The Netherlands-India Government, also, I am told, has taken steps to save the trees and foster their cultivation. The prices range from about $30 to $60 and $65 per picul and still higher. Both come into market in the shape of a large ball, a loaf of bread, or a small cheese. A very good judge is required to make proper quotations. First, it is judged according to color and solidity of mass; the whiter and more solid (of uniform color), the higher the price. Every lump coming into market must be cut asunder, not only to judge the quality, but to see whether any fraud has been committed by the native gatherers, by mixing stones, lugs of lead or iron, gravel, or sand into the mass when soft and warm, just before giving it the shape already mentioned, to make it weigh heavy. Sometimes no fraud has been attempted by the natives, but the milk has been gathered in a shiftless, indifferent manner. It must be understood that the milk (susu in Malay) is thick and sticky, and that shortly after exposure to the air it becomes compact or solid. If, for instance, the milk from a tapped tree, instead of being caught in a vessel should fall on sandy, porous ground, it would not be lost in, or sink through it, as water or thin liquid does; it could be gathered, but owing to its resinous tendency a crust of earth or sand would stick to it-be taken up with it. Some natives after tapping a tree insert a spile and catch the milk in troughs and other tight vessels; some again catch into baskets lined with palm or other large leaves; and the milk thus caught is clean, free from foreign substances; others simply tap the tree and main branches in various places, and let the milk run whither it wants to, down along the trunk or on the earth, and take or scrape all foreign substances adhering to it with it. When caught neatly or purely, the mass, without any further process, is exported under the name of 'gutta susu' (gutta in state of milk). When not shipped under that name, the milk after having been gathered is slowly, gradually boiled in large kettles filled with water, for the purpose of cleansing it. Through heat it becomes soft, and sand and earth will fall to the bottom, while bark, chips, grass, or leaves will come to the surface in a scum, and can be taken off. As soon as the water has sufficiently cooled to permit handling the mass, the latter with the water is dipped out into a large trough or bowl; the mass is kneaded to squeeze the water out and to give it the shape in which it goes into the market. It is then, during the kneading process, that heavy substances, as lead, iron, stones, &c., are worked into it. For this reason the lumps must be cut, as well as to ascertain whether the 'susu' has been boiled properly-all foreign substances removed." (pp. 273, 274.) No. 9. Extract from Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. 30, 1898-99, pp. 372-374. Life in the Malay PENINSULA AS it Was and Is. By Mr. Hugh Clifford. "Thus in the Malayan States, as we found them when first we began to set about the task of moulding their history for ourselves, the Sultan was theoretically the owner of the whole country and everything that it contained, all others holding their possessions in fief from him, or from his vassals on his behalf. The country was divided up into a number of districts, each of which was held in fief from the Sultan by an Orang Besar, or great Baron. The power which each of these men held in his own district was practically unlimited. Thus in Pahang a dozen years ago each of the great chiefs, of whom there were four, had the power of life and death over all the people residing in his territories. * * * * * "Under the four great chiefs, or barons, there were the chiefs of the Council of Eight. These men were related to the greater barons in precisely the same manner as the latter were related to their Sultan—that is to say, that they owed them fealty, and were bound to follow them in time of war. "Under the eight chiefs, each of whom had his sub-district, the boundaries of which were clearly defined by his letter of authority, were the chiefs of the Council of Sixteen-squires who owned a few clusters of villages, holding them in fief from one or another of the Council of Eight. Under them again were the Thirty-Two and the Sixty-Four, who existed more in theory than in reality, for no man in all the country knew its internal economy with sufficient intimacy to be able to name more than a few of them, and the little village headmen who claimed to belong to one Council or another were probably not sufficiently numerous to make up the required total of Ninety-Six." No. 10. Extract from "Around the World with General Grant," etc., by John Russell Young. "Singapore, the capital of the Straits Settlements Colony, is one of the prettiest towns in the East. It marks the southernmost point of our journey, for when at Singapore you are within eighty miles of the equator. The entrance to the town is picturesque. You have been sailing along the coast of Malacca for three or four days, and during your journey land has been in sight-low, shining |