A Man Of Great Honesty Of Purpose And Kindliness Of Heart,
Captain Murray Possessed Many Of Those Qualities Which Are
Required for
the successful administration of a Malay State, and though he labored
under the disadvantage of want of knowledge
Of the native tongue, he yet
was able to attach to himself, in a singular manner, the affections of
all around him. For the last six years, Captain Murray has successfully
advised in the administration of the Government of Sungei Ujong,
consolidating order and good government, and doing much to open out the
country and develop its resources. His name will ever be associated with
its prosperity, and his memory be long fresh in the hearts of its
inhabitants."]
After it grew dark we had the splendid sight of a great tract of forest
on fire close to the sea. We landed here at a pier eight hundred feet
long, accessible to launches at high water, where several peons and two
inspectors of police met us. Our expedition has been the talk of the
little foreign world of Malacca. We had an enthusiastic welcome at
Government House, but Captain Shaw says he will never forgive himself
for not writing to Captain Murray in time to arrange our transport, and
for sending us off so hurriedly with so little food, but I hope by
reiteration to convince him that thereby we gained the night on the
Linggi river, which, as a traveling experience, is worth all the rest.
I. L. B.
A CHAPTER ON SELANGOR*
Selangor - Capabilities of Selangor - Natural Capabilities - Lawlessness
in Selangor - British Interference in Selangor - A Hopeful Outlook
Selangor is a small State lying between 2 degrees 34', and 3 degrees
42' N. Its coast-line is about one hundred and twenty miles in length.
Perak is its northern boundary, Sungei Ujong its southern, and some of
the small States of the Negri Sembilan and unexplored jungle and
mountains separate it from Pahang on the east. It is watered by the
Selangor, Klang and Langat rivers, which rise in the hills of its
eastern frontier. Its population is not accurately known, but the
result of an attempt to estimate it, made by the Resident in 1876, is
fifteen thousand Chinese and from two thousand to three thousand
Malays. Mr. Douglas, the late Resident, puts the Malay population at a
higher figure, and estimates the aboriginal population at one thousand,
but this is probably largely in excess of their actual numbers.
[*In offering this very slight sketch of Selangor to my readers as
prefatory to the letters which follow, I desire to express my
acknowledgments specially to a valuable paper on "Surveys and
Explorations of the Native States of the Malay Peninsula," by Mr. Daly,
Superintendent of Public Works and Surveys, Selangor, read before the
Royal Geographical Society on May 8, 1882. I have also made use of a
brief account of the Native Malay States by Mr. Swettenham, Assistant
Colonial Secretary to the Straits Settlements Government, published in
the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of
"Our Malay Conquests" by Sir P. Benson Maxwell, late Chief Justice of
the Straits Settlements.]
The wealth of Selangor lies in its apparently inexhaustible tin mines.
The range of hills which forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula
rises in places to a height of seven thousand feet, and it is from this
range that the alluvial detritus is washed down, beneath which is
deposited the layer of ore or wash, which varies from four inches to
ten feet in thickness.
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