MAKING A RUBBER PLANTATION 73 



planting begins. Stumps are uprooted, and removed 

 with all the wreckage left by the fire, so that the land 

 to be planted is quite clean. This more thorough 

 method is followed by growers who prefer not to run 

 any risk of their rubber-trees becoming infected by 

 possible disease among the trees that formerly occupied 

 the ground ; but complete clearing is a long and costly 

 business. 



Grassland is sometimes used for rubber-growing. 

 Paths are cleared and the rubber is planted in rows, 

 between strips of grass ; or the whole of a given area 

 is completely cleared before planting is begun. The 

 most common grass, called lalang, is the worst pest 

 with which many of the planters have to contend. 

 It is difficult to uproot, and any that may be left in 

 the ground spreads very rapidly. 



In Malaya the work of clearing is nearly all done by 

 Sakai and Malays. 



The Sakai are the aborigines of the country, who 

 live in the jungle. They are very skilful woodcutters. 



The Malays, it is believed, are descended from natives 

 of Southern India, who emigrated to Sumatra. In 

 1360 some of the emigrants made the short journey 

 over to the mainland, and settled in the country which 

 we call the Malay Peninsula. They increased and 

 multiplied, and became more and more powerful, 

 although first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, 

 tried very hard to get the upper hand of them. When 

 the British succeeded the Dutch as the chief European 

 power in the Peninsula, the Malays were at first left 

 in undisputed possession of the interior of the country. 

 But they quarrelled and fought so much amongst 

 themselves that the interior was always in a state of 



10 



