Nor Is It Difficult To Perceive
Whether The Relations Between The English Official And The Natives Are
Hearty And Cordial,
Or sullen and distrustful, or whether the Resident
makes use of his position for purposes of self-aggrandizement, and
struts
Tempestuously and swaggeringly before the Malays, or whether he
devotes his time and energies to the promotion of prosperity, good
order, and progress, in a firm and friendly spirit.
After a very quiet day we went at sunset, to see Rajah Dris, not taking
the dog. The trifling matter of the dog being regarded as an
abomination is one of the innumerable instances of the ingrained
divergence between Moslem and Christian feeling. Rajah Dris lives in a
good house, but it is Europeanized, and consequently vulgarized. He
received us very politely on the stairs, and took us into a sitting-
room in which there were various ill-assorted European things. His
senior wife was brought in, a dull, heavy-looking woman, a daughter of
the Rajah Muda Yusuf, and after her a number of slave women and babies,
till the small room was well filled. The Rajah hospitably entertained
us with tea, milk, and preserved bananas; but I noticed with regret
that the white table-cloth was much soiled, and that the china and
glass were in very bad taste. The house and its equipments are a
distressing contrast to those of the Datu Bandar in Sungei Ujong, who
adheres closely to Malay habits. Rajah Dris sent a servant the whole
way back with us, carrying a table lamp.
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