5. An Attempt Was Made In 1879 To Procure A Census Of The Population
Through The Chiefs Of The Village Communities.
Each of these chiefs
recorded the name of every householder in his district with the number
of persons, distinguishing their sex and condition.
6. A total of 47,359 is thus arrived at for the free native Malay
population. Of these 14,875 were males above, and 9,313 below, 16 years
of age. The females numbered 14,761 and 8,410.
7. The number of slaves was returned as 1,670, of whom 775 were males
and 895 females. The slave debtors were respectively 728 and 652,
giving a total of 1,380; the two servile classes numbering, of both
sexes, 3,050. I fear, however, that these numbers do not include all
the bond population, as His Highness the Regent and one or two others
with extensive claims did not give in returns.
8. I regret to state that the attempt which, as reported in my letter
of the 14th December, was liberally made by the Toh Puan Halimah, chief
wife of the ex-Mentri of Perak, to facilitate the manumission of her
slaves and debtors by working off the just claims against them on fair
terms, was successful only to a very inconsiderable extent. The Malays
of Perak are, as a rule, so adverse to and so unaccustomed to steady
labor, and can so easily provide for their wants, that they altogether
decline, except for short periods, to perform services of any nature
even for high wages.
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