MAKING A RUBBER PLANTATION 71 



ground rises a wall of jungle. We are right when we 

 jump to the conclusion that the rubber lands were once 

 jungle too, and when we tell ourselves that, in spite 

 of the fact that the bulk of the population of this 

 Peninsula is Oriental, the plantations, roads, and 

 railways owe their origin to Western enterprise and a 

 Western scheme of development. 



The Mala}^ Peninsula consists of the Straits Settle- 

 ments — Singapore, Malacca, Province Wellesley, the 

 Bindings, and Penang, which are British— and of a 

 number of Native States. But British influence is 

 quickly becoming as active in the Native States as in 

 those parts of the country which are British possessions. 

 Indeed, four of the native divisions — Negri Sembilan, 

 Selangor, Perak, and Pahang — are united as the 

 Federated Malay States, and administered on up-to- 

 date progressive British lines by a Federal Council. 

 The Governor of the Straits Settlements, who is High 

 Commissioner of the Federated Malay States, presides 

 over the Council, and its membership consists further 

 of the Sultans of the four States in question, the British 

 Resident of each, and four unofficial members, three of 

 whom are British and one Chinese. Three other 

 States have a British adviser, and the Sultan of Johore 

 has availed himself of the aid of a similar official to 

 help him develop his territory, particularly with a view 

 to furthering the interests of rubber-growing. 



The principal rubber lands in Malaya are situated in 

 the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, 

 and Johore. We have come to a rubber estate in 

 the heart of the Federated Malay States, where the 

 plantation area is about to be enlarged. Another tract 

 of jungle is to be cleared and planted with Hevea. 



