330 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



long since in Perak, and later at the Bindings, has rendered pain- 

 fully evident. A body guard of six stalwart policemen from IVIr. 

 Syers' force watches over the Residency night and day, so that 

 there is Httle to feai- from foes without. Captain Douglas has en- 

 tered, heart and soul, into the development of the territory of 

 which he is vu'tuaDy the governor ; and it is gratifying to see such 

 a promising country in such good hands. Under the control of 

 the shiftless Malays its resources would never have been developed. 



It takes the British Government to rule such places and make 

 them habitable for producers, and worth something to the world. 



Nominally, the old Sultan of Selangore is still a sultan, and 

 ruler of the country, but actually he is a mere figure-head, Hving 

 off in a corner at Selangore, and quietly enjoying the royalty of 

 $2,000 per month, which is paid him out of the revenues of the 

 country which he is not competent to govern and develop. His 

 son, the heir appai-ent to the figure-headship, has a much larger 

 harem than his svdtanic papa, and also some notions of his own 

 about government, which may result in giving the country a back- 

 set if he ever acquires the power to put them in force. 



The Territory of Selangore has a coast line of one hundred and 

 twenty miles, and it extends into the interior about fifty miles, 

 where it joins Pahang, another territory of the same political com- 

 plexion. Its population in 1880 was fifteen thousand. The chief 

 productions of the country are tin, gutta, rattans, rice, gambler 

 (pepper), and tobacco. The principal industries are tin-mining, 

 gardening, and gambling. The average monthly production of tin 

 is six hundred bharas, or two hundred and forty thousand pounds. 

 The soil of the interior is certainly very rich, and I should think 

 could be made to produce sugar-cane, tobacco, and perhaps coffee 

 also, vrith great profit. 



As a sort of parting send-off, we were dined the last evening of 

 our stay by IVIr. Turney, Treasurer of Selangore and his estimable 

 lady. This is what the Klang people mean by being "civil" to 

 strangers. Healthy civility surely, but the odds are every time in 

 favor of the stranger. 



Almost my only disappointment in Selangore was that, from first 

 to last, we found no snakes in the jungle. I fondly hoped to meet 

 a python in his native wilds and see what he would do, or at least 

 an Ophiophagus elaps — snake-eating cobra — but neither did we see. 

 My imagination had pictured the forests of the East Indies as pro- 

 ducing a big snake for every square mile, but they are almost aa 



