The Skin Of This Reptile Was Marked Throughout With
Broad Bands Of Black And White Alternately.
There was an ill-favored
skull of a crocodile hanging up to dry, with teeth three inches long.
One
Day lately a poor Hadji was carried off by one, and shortly
afterwards this monster was caught, and on opening it they found the
skull of the Hadji, part of his body, a bit of his clothing, and part
of a goat. I brought away as spoils tiger's teeth and claws,
crocodile's teeth, bear's teeth, etc.
I went also to the Government offices. The skin of a superb tiger,
which was killed close to Klang after it had devoured six men,
decorated the entrance. I heard two cases tried before the Resident.
The first criminal was a Malay, who was "in trouble" for the very
British crime of nearly beating his wife to death. She said she did not
want to prosecute him, but to get a divorce. She was told to apply to
the Imaum, and the man was bound over to keep the peace for six months.
The next case was a very common one here, and the court was crowded
with Chinese onlookers. A Chinaman had bought a girl (very nice-looking
she was), and now a man wants to marry her, upon which her owner
produces a promissory note from her, and demands $165 as her price! It
was impossible to make him understand that the transaction is utterly
illegal and immoral. The Resident addressed some very strong and just
words to this man in reprobation of his conduct, which were translated
for the benefit of the crowd.
I cannot elicit anything very definite, here or elsewhere, about the
legal system under which criminals are tried in these States.
Apparently, murder, robbery, forgery, and violent assault come under
English criminal law, and must be equally punishable whether committed
by a Briton, a Chinaman, or a Malay. But then nobody, except a
Christian, can be punished for bigamy. So criminal law even undergoes
modification by local custom; and the four wives of the Mussulman, and
the subordinate wives of the Chinaman, have an equal claim to
recognition with the one wife of the Englishman. Even Mohammedan law,
by which the Malays profess to be ruled, is modified by Malay custom,
which asserts itself specially in connection with marriage, its
frequent attendant repudiation, and inheritance.
The "Malay custom" (adat Malayu) seems to have been originally a just
and equitable code, though ofttimes severe in its punishments, as you
will see if you can get Newbold's _Malacca_, and was probably suited to
the people; but it has undergone such clippings and emendations by the
successive Rajahs or Sultans of these native States, that the custom
now in force bears a very faint resemblance to the original adat. It is
said, indeed, that each alteration has been for the worse, and that now
any chief who introduces anything of his own will, justifies it as
"adat Malayu." Mr. Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, says
that the few upright Rajahs who exist say that there is no longer any
"adat Malayu," but that everything is done by "adat Suka hate," i.e.,
the custom by which a man can best suit his own inclination.
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