XXII GOVERNMENT 267 



by no means a mere formality ; they take an active 

 part in its deliberations and decisions. 



Beside the Supreme Council there exists a 

 larger body whose functions are purely advisory. 

 It is called the Council Negri or State Council, and 

 consists of the Rajah and the members of the 

 Supreme Council, the Residents in charge of the 

 more important districts, and the principal " Native 

 Officers" and Pengkuhis, some seventy members 

 in all. This Council meets at Kuching once in 

 every three years under the presidency of the 

 Rajah, who provides the members with suitable 

 lodgings and entertains them at dinner. At the 

 meeting of this council topics of general interest are 

 discussed, and the Rajah makes some general review 

 of the state of public affairs and the progress achieved 

 since the previous meeting. But the principal 

 purpose of the institution is the bringing together, 

 under conditions favourable for friendly intercourse, 

 of the leading men of the whole country. Each 

 new member is formally sworn in, taking an oath 

 of loyalty to the Rajah and his government. The 

 native chiefs return from these meetings with an 

 enhanced sense of the importance and dignity of 

 their office and with clearer notions of the whole 

 system of government and of their places in it. 



Though Mohammedan law remains as the basis 

 of the law administered among the Malays, notable 

 improvements have been introduced, e.g. the death 

 penalty for incest and corporal punishment for 

 conjugal infidelity have been abolished ; slave- 

 holding, though not made illegal, has been dis- 

 couraged throughout the country by rendering it 

 easy for slaves to secure their freedom ; and the 

 power of the master over his slave has been greatly 

 restricted. A man is not allowed to marry a second 

 or third wife, unless he can prove himself able to 

 provide for each of the women and her offspring ; 



