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MALAY PENINSULA 473 are armed . They are skilful hunters, however, catchSee also: fish by in-
geniously constructed traps, and live almost entirely on See also: jungle-roots
and the produce of their hunting and fishing
.
The most civilized
of these See also: people is found in Upper See also: Perak, and the members of this clan
have acquired some knowledge of the See also: art of planting, &c
.
They
cannot, however, be taken as typical of their See also: race, and other specimens
of this people are seldom seen even by the See also: Sakai
.
From See also: time to time
they have been raided by the latter, and many Negritos are to be
found in captivity in some of the Malayan villages on the eastern See also: side of the peninsula
.
The See also: mistake of speaking of the Sakai tribes as practically identical with the See also: Semang or Pangan has very frequently been made, but as a See also: matter of fact the two races are absolutely distinct from one another
.
It has also been customary to include the Sakai in the category of Malayan races, but this too is undoubtedly incorrect
.
The Sakai still inhabit in greatest numbers the country which forms the interior of Pahang, the Plus and Kinta districts of Perak, and the valley of Nenggiri in See also: Kelantan
.
Representatives of their race are also found scattered among the Malayan villages through-out the country, and also along the See also: coast, but these have intermixed so much with the See also: Malays, and have acquired so many customs, &c., from their more civilized neighbours, that they can no longer be regarded as typical of the race to which they belong
.
The pure Sakai in the interior have a See also: good knowledge of planting See also: rice, See also: tapioca, &c., fashion See also: pretty vessels from bamboos, which they decorate with patterns traced by the aid of fire, make loin-cloths (their only garment) from the bark of the trap and ipoh trees; are very musical, using a See also: rude See also: lute of See also: bamboo, and a nose-See also: flute of a very sweet See also: tone, and singing in See also: chorus very melodiously; and altogether have attained in their See also: primitive See also: state to a higher degree of See also: civilization than have the Semang
.
They are about as tall as the See also: average Malay, are slimly built, See also: light of colour, and have wavy See also: fine hair
.
In their own language they usually have only three numerals, viz, na-nun, one; nar, two; and ne', three, or variants of these; all higher arithmetical ideas being expressed by the word kerpn, which means " many." A few cases have been re-corded, however, of tribes who can count in their own See also: tongue up to four and five
.
Among the more civilized, however, the Malay numerals up to ten are adopted by the Sakai . An examination of their language seems to indicate that it belongs to the Mon-Khmer See also: group of See also: languages, and the anthropological information forthcoming concerning the Sakai points to the conclusion that they show a greater See also: affinity to the people of the Mon-Khmer races than to the Malayan stock
.
• Though they now use See also: metal tools imported by the Malays, it is noticeable that the names which they give to those weapons which most closely resemble in character the See also: stone implements found in such numbers all over the peninsula are native names wholly unconnected with their Malay equivalents
.
On account of this, it has been suggested that in a forgotten past the Sakai were themselves the fashioners of the stone implements, and certain it is that all tools which have no representatives among the stone kelts are known to the Sakai by obvious corruptions of their Malayan names
.
The presence of the Sakai, a people of the Mon-Khmer stock, in the interior of the peninsula has also been considered as one of many proofs that the Malays intruded from the
See also: south and approached the peninsula by means of a See also: sea-route, since had
See also: Emery See also: Walker .r._ they swept down from the
See also: north, being driven
thence by the people of a stronger breed, it might be expected that the fringe of country dividing the two contending races would be inhabited by men of the more feeble stock
.
Instead, we find the Sakai occupying this position, thus indicating that they have been driven northward by the Malays, and that the latter people has not been expelled by the Mon-Khmer races from the countries now represented by See also: Burma, Siam and French Indo-See also: China
.
The Sakai population is dying out, and must eventually disappear
.
(With regard to the Malay, see MALAYS.)
Archaeology.—The only See also: ancient remains found in the peninsula are the stone implements, of which mention has already been made, and some remarkable ancient mines, which are situated in the Jelai valley in Pahang
.
The stone implements are generally of one or two types: a long rectangular adze or wedge rudely pointed at one end, and used in conjunction with a mallet or flat stone, and a roughly triangular axe-See also: head, which has evidently been fixed in the
some 750,000 to 800,000, while the See also: Tamils and other natives of See also: India number about roo,000, the aboriginal natives of the peninsula perhaps 20,000, Europeans and Americans about 65oo, and Eurasians about 9000
.
The colony of the Straits Settlements, and to a lesser extent the towns of the Federated Malay States, carry a considerable heterogenous population, in which most of the races of See also: Asia find their representatives
.
Races of the Peninsula.—Excluding the Tai, or Siamese, who are undoubtedly See also: recent intruders from the north, there are three races which for an extended See also: period of time have had their home in the Malay Peninsula
.
These are the Semang or Pangan, the Sakai or Jakun, and the Malays
.
The Semang, as they are most usually called by the Malays, are Negritos—a small, very dark people, with features of the See also: negroid type, very prognathous, and with See also: short, woolly hair clinging to the See also: scalp in tiny crisp curls
.
These people belong to the race which would seem to be the true aboriginal stock of See also: southern Asia
.
Representatives of it are found scattered about the islands from the Andaman group southwards
.
The state of civilization to which they have attained is very low
.
They neither plant nor have they any manufactures except their rude bamboo and rattan vessels, the fish and See also: game traps which they set with much skill, and the bows, See also: blow-pipes and bamboo spears with which they
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.
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See also: Railways
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Federated Malay States
under British See also: Protection, Y%G
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..
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Capitals of Provinces in Slam o
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cleft of a split stick
.
A few stones, which might perhaps be arrow-heads, have been found, but they are very rare
.
The mines, which have been constructed for the purpose of working See also: quartz lodes containing gold, are very extensive, and argue a high stage of civilization possessed by the ancient miners
.
They consist of a number of circular or rectangular pits sunk from the cap of a See also: hill, and going down to a
See also: depth of in some cases as much as 120 ft., until in fact the miners have been stopped by being unable to See also: cope with the quantity of See also: water made when the level of the valley was reached
.
The shafts are placed so close together that in many instances they are divided by only a couple of feet of solid ground, but at their bases a considerable amount of gallery See also: work has been excavated, though it is possible that this was done by miners who came after the people who originally sank the shafts
.
Native tradition attributes these mines to the Siamese, but no importance can be attached to this, as it is very general for the Malays to give this explanation for any-thing which is obviously not the work of their own ancestors
.
A theory, which seems to have some probability in its favour, is that these mines were worked by the Khmer people during the period of power, energy and prosperity which found its most lofty expression in the now ruined and deserted city of See also: Angkor Thom; while another attributes these See also: works to the natives of India whose See also: Hindu remains are found in See also: Java and elsewhere, whose influence was at one time widespread throughout Malayan lands, and of whose religious teaching remnants still linger in the superstitions of the Malays and are preserved in some purity in See also: Lombok and See also: Bali
.
In the See also: absence, however, of any See also: relics of a kind which might See also: lead to the See also: identification of the ancient miners, their See also: nationality and origin are matters which must continue to be See also: mere questions of See also: speculation and conjecture
.
See also: History.—The first hint to reach See also: Europe concerning the existence of habitable lands to the eastward of the See also: Ganges is to be found in the writings of See also: Pomponius See also: Mela (A.D
.
43) which speak of Chryse, or the See also: Golden Isle, as lying off Cape Taurus—supposed to be the most easterly point in Asia—and over against the estuary of the Ganges
.
Thereafter there occur vague references to Chryse in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, &c., but the earliest trace of anything resembling first-See also: hand knowledge concerning the peninsula of Indo-China and Malaya is revealed in the writings of See also: Ptolemy, whose views were mainly derived from those of his predecessor See also: Marinus of Tyre, who in his turn See also: drew his deductions from information supplied to him by the mariner See also: Alexander who, there is every reason to think, had himself voyaged to the Malay Peninsula and beyond
.
In the light of
See also: present knowledge concerning the See also: trade-routes of Asia, which had been in existence for thousands of years ere ever Europeans attempted to make use of them, it is safe to identify Ptolemy's Sinus Perimulicus with the Gulf of Siam, the Sinus Sabaricus with the Straits of Malacca from their southern portals to the Gulf of See also: Martaban, the Aurea Chersonesus with the Malay Peninsula, and the See also: island of Iabadius or Sabadius—the See also: reading of the name is doubtful—with See also: Sumatra, not as has often been mistakenly attempted with Java
.
Although the first definite endeavour to locate the Golden See also: Chersonese thus See also: dates from the See also: middle of the 2nd century of our era, the name was apparently well known to the learned of Europe at a somewhat earlier period, and in his Antiquities of the Jews, written during the latter See also: half of the 1st century, See also: Josephus says that See also: Solomon gave to the pilots furnished to him by Hiram of Tyre commands " that they should go along with his stewards to the See also: land that of old was called See also: Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India, to fetch gold." After the time of Ptolemy no advance in know-ledge concerning the geography of south-eastern Asia was made until See also: Cosmas Indicopleustes, a See also: monk and an Alexandrian
See also: Greek, wrote from See also: personal knowledge between A.D
.
530 and 550
.
His See also: primary See also: object was to prove that the See also: world was built after the same shape and fashion as the Ark made by the See also: Children of Israel in the See also: desert; but he was able to show that_the Malay Peninsula had to be rounded and thereafter a course steered in a northerly direction if China was to be reached
.
Meanwhile inter-See also: Asiatic intercourse by means of sea-routes had been steadily on the increase since the See also: discovery of the way to utilize the monsoons and to See also: sail directly to and fro across the See also: Indian Ocean (attributed to the Greek See also: pilot Hippalus) had been made
.
After the decline of the power of See also: Rome, the dominant force in Asiatic commerce and navigation was See also: Persia, and from that time onward, until the arrival of the Portuguese upon the scene early in the 16th century the spice trade, whose chief See also: emporia were in or near the Malay
Peninsula, was in Persian or Arab hands
.
There is considerable reason' to think, however, that the more frequent ports of See also: call in the Straits of Malacca were situated in Sumatra, rather than on the shores of the Malay Peninsula, and two famous See also: medieval travellers, Marco Polo and See also: Ibn Batuta, both called and wintered at the former, and make scant mention of the latter
.
The importance of the Malay Peninsula, as has been noted, consisted in the See also: privilege which its locality conferred upon it of being the distributing centre of the spices brought thither from the See also: Moluccas en route for India and Europe
.
As early as the 3rd century n.c
.
Megasthenes makes mention of spices brought to the shores of the Ganges from " the southern parts of India," and the trade in question was probably one of the most ancient in the world
.
So long, however, as India held the See also: monopoly. of the clove, the Malay Peninsula was ignored, the See also: Hindus spreading their influence through the islands of the See also: archipelago and leaving traces thereof even to this See also: day
.
The See also: Mahommedan traders from Persia and See also: Arabia, following the routes which had been prepared for them by their forebears, broke down the Hindu monopoly and ousted the earlier exploiters so effectually that by the beginning of the 16th century the spice trade was almost exclusively in their hands
.
These traders were also missionaries of their See also: religion, as indeed is every Mahommedan, and to them is due the conversion of the Malays from rude See also: pantheism, some-what tinctured by Hindu See also: mythology, to the Mahommedan creed
.
The See also: desire to obtain the monopoly of the spice trade has been a potent force in the fashioning of Asiatic history
.
The Moluccas were, from the first, the See also: objective of the Portuguese invaders, and no sooner had the See also: white men found their way round the Cape of Good Hope and established themselves successively upon the coast of East
See also: Africa, in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of See also: Aden and the See also: Malabar coast, than Malacca, then the chief trading centre of the Malayan Archipelago, became the object of their desire
.
The first Portuguese expedition sent out to capture Malacca was under the command of DiogoSee also: Lopez de Siqueira and sailed from See also: Portugal in 1508
.
At See also: Cochin Siqueira took on See also: board certain adherents of See also: Alphonso d'Alboquerque who were in See also: bad odour with his See also: rival d'Almeida, among them being See also: Magellan, the future circumnavigator of the world, and Francisco Serrao, the first See also: European who ever lived in the Spice Islands
.
Siqueira's expedition ended in failure, owing partly to the aggressive attitude of the Portuguese, partly to the very justifiable suspicions of the Malays, and he was presently forced to destroy one of his vessels, to leave a number of his men in captivity, and to sail See also: direct for Portugal
.
In 1510 a second expedition against Malacca was sent out from Portugal under the command of Diogo Mendez de Vasconcellos, but d'Alboquerque retained it at Cochin to aid him in the retaking of See also: Goa, and it was not until 1511 that the See also: great See also: viceroy could spare time to turn his See also: attention to the scene of Siqueira's failure
.
After some futile negotiations, which had for their object the recovery of the Portuguese captives before hostilities should begin, an assault was delivered upon Malacca, and though the first attempt to take the city failed after some hard fighting, a. second assault made some days later succeeded, and Malacca passed for ever into European hands, The Portuguese were satisfied with the possession of Malacca itself and did not seek further to extend their See also: empire in Malaya
.
Instead they used every endeavour to establish friendly relations with the rulers of all the neighbouring kingdoms, and before d'Alboquerque returned to India he despatched embassies to China, Siam, and several kingdoms of Sumatra, and sent a small See also: fleet, with orders to assume a highly conciliatory attitude toward all natives, in See also: search of the Moluccas
.
Very soon the spice trade had become a Portuguese monopoly, and Malacca was the great headquarters of the trade
.
It should moreover be noted that Magellan's famous expedition had for its object not the barren feat of circumnavigation but the breaking down of this monopoly, without violating the terms of the papal bull which gave to See also: Spain the See also: conquest of the West, to Portugal the possession of the East., In 1528 a French expedition sailed from See also: Dieppe, penetrated as far as See also: Achill in Sumatra, but returned without reaching the Malay Peninsula
.
It was,
however, the first attempt ever made to defy the papal bull
.
In 1591, three years after the defeat of the See also: Armada, See also: Raymond and See also: Lancaster rounded the Cape, and after cruising off Penang, decided to winter in See also: Achin
.
They subsequently hid among the Pulau Sambilan near the mouth of the Perak See also: river, and thence captured a large Portuguese vessel which was sailing from Malacca in See also: company with two Burmese See also: ships
.
In 1595 the first Dutch expedition sailed from the Texel, but it took a more southerly course than its predecessors and confined its operations to Java and the neighbouring islands
.
During this period Achin See also: developed a determined enmity to the Portuguese, and more than one attempt was made to drive the strangers from Malacca
.
Eventually, in 1641, a joint attack was made by the Achinese and the Dutch, but the latter, not the people of the sturdy little Sumatran See also: kingdom, became the owners of the coveted port
.
Malacca was taken from the Dutch by the British in 1995; was restored to the latter in 1818; but in 1824 was exchanged for Benkulen and a few more unimportant places in Sumatra
.
The first British factory in the peninsula was established in the native state of Patani on the east coast in 1613, the place having been used by the Portuguese in the 16th century for a similar purpose; but the enterprise came to an untimely end in 162o when Captain Jourdain, the first president, was killed in a See also: naval engagement in Patani Roads by the Dutch
.
Penang was See also: purchased from Kedah in 1786, and Singapore from the then sultan of Johor in 1819
.
The Straits Settlements—Singapore, Malacca and Penang —were ruled from India until 1867, when they were erected into a See also: crown colony under the See also: charge of the Colonial Office
.
In 1874 the Malay state of Perak was placed under British protection by a treaty entered into with its sultan; and this eventually led to the inclusion in a British See also: protectorate of the neighbouring Malay States of See also: Selangor, Sungei Ujong, the cluster of small states called the See also: Negri Sembilan and Pahang, which now See also: form the Federated Malay States
.
By a treaty made between Great Britain and Siam in 1902 the See also: northern Malay states of the peninsula were admitted to lie within the Siamese sphere of influence, but by a treaty of 1909 Siam ceded her suzerain rights over the states of Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis to Britain
.
Singapore is the See also: political, commercial and administrative headquarters of the colony of the Straits Settlements, and the governor for the time being is ex officio high See also: commissioner of the Federated Malay States, British North See also: Borneo, See also: Sarawak, the Cocos-Keeling and See also: Christmas Islands, and governor of Labuan
.
See See also: Sir F
.
Swettenham, British Malaya (1906); H
.
Clifford, Further India (1904); Journal of the Malay Archipelago, See also: Logan (Singapore) ; Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Singapore) ; Weld, Maxwell, Swettenham and Clifford in the Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute (See also: London) ; Clifford in the Journal of the Royal See also: Geographical Society (London)
.
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