1834.] ofNaning, in the Malayan Peninsula. 607 



Population and Revenue. — The census of 1829, gives the population 

 of Naning at 3,458 souls, of whom 1,800 are capable of bearing arms, 

 and 911 houses. The revenue is derived from its produce, and has 

 been estimated before the war at 3,000 dollars per annum ; — this is 

 probably above the average. 



The Panghulu levied an annual tribute, formerly, from every house 

 of five gantams of rice, and two fowls, and two cocoanuts*. 



The principal villages are those of Sabang, Taboo, Chirara Pootih, 

 Malikie, Battang, Malacca, Sungie Seepoot, and Brissoo Sabang, 

 with the small campongs around, contain 148 houses ; they present 

 similar features to other Malay villages ; the houses are situated near the 

 edges of paddy fields, and invisible at a distance from the number of 

 cocoanut and other fruit trees, by which, as well as a Paggah fence, 

 they are usually surrounded ; they are straggling, and one village runs 

 into another, in a manner from which it is impossible for a mere 

 observer to know where the one ends, and the other commences. 



Taboo, the chief village and former place of residence of the ex- 

 panghulu of Naning, lies about seven miles from our principal post, 

 Alor Gajah, through an undulating country of jungly hills and uncul- 

 tivated rice -grounds. 



About two and a half miles from camp (Alor Gajah), crowning a 

 small eminence, seventy yards to the left of the road, stood the stock- 

 ade of Bukit Sabooseh, taken by Captain Pouxton's detachment on 

 the 25th May, 1832. This position commanded the Taboo road. 



Below this hill, on the Taboo side, lies the village of Malikie, to 

 which the expedition in 1831 penetrated. Farther on, about a mile, 

 in a commanding position on the road, which gradually ascends to it, 

 stood the stockade of Bukit Perling ; thence towards Taboo, the de- 

 scent of the hill is very steep, and as usual, terminates at the foot, in 

 an uncultivated swampy rice-ground. 



Perling was decidedly the strongest military position taken up by 

 the enemy, and in some measure deserved the name " The Key of 

 Taboo," bestowed on it, by the Panghulu. 



From this up to the Taboo lines, the country on the left bears traces 

 of a better cultivation, and a once numerous population. 



The Taboo lines consist of a long mud wall, about eight feet high, 

 and three or four thick, rivetted by stakes and branches of trees laid 

 parallel to each other ; this wall runs across the rice-grounds in the 

 front, on the edges of the raised ground, on which grows a thick cocoa- 

 nut tope, forming the rear, and containing a burial-ground, with seve- 

 ral deserted houses ; the lines are 840 feet long. There is a bastion - 



* He also possessed the privileges of Hu Deudia, Pengutan, and Kapala Ayer. 



