SINGAPORE. 
405 
chiefs have, in fact, nearly depopulated the former, and what they have 
left undone, the pirates in their incursions on the weakened towns, have, 
by their cruel deeds of murder and rapine, completed. The part of the 
peninsula that is tributary to the king of Siam has fared but little 
better; for his extortions are said to know no bounds. Some accounts 
state that the Malayan peninsula has once been the seat of civilization, 
and that various mines have been discovered, by some of the few 
travellers who have made short excursions from its coast. It is 
alleged, on the other hand, that both it and Singapore were colonized 
as late as the twelfth century, by the people of Sumatra; other conjec¬ 
tures, said to have some foundation in the traditions of the natives, 
state them to have been inhabited previously to that epoch, by a half¬ 
savage race, which had the features of the Papuans. Other accounts 
again, assert, that the aborigines were the Jakongs, or Rayetutans, in 
the interior, and the Rayetlaut, or fishermen, on the sea-shore. 
The Malayan peninsula contains nine petty states, each of which is 
ruled by a chief, who acknowledges the authority of the king of 
Johore. The Dutch, however, formerly had through commercial 
treaties much influence with the chiefs, and with the consent of the 
king of Johore, elected a Bugis chief, by the name of Dyar Cambodia, 
over the nine states. This produced a division and contentions: four 
of them revolted, and invited over a prince of the royal blood from 
Sumatra, Rajah Malayan, whose party was finally successful, and 
drove Dyar Cambodia into retirement. Upon this, stipulations were 
entered into, by which it was agreed that the four chiefs should be 
assembled by the sovereign to consult on the affairs of state, and that a 
majority should rule. In return they w T ere to provide for the mainte¬ 
nance of the sovereign, by levying an annual tax on the inhabitants, 
each house contributing annually one gantam of rice, two cocoa-nuts, 
and one suku. 
On the occasion of all rites, such as marriages, deaths, and circum- 
cisha.s in the royal family, each district was bound to send three 
buffaloes, to distribute alms to the poor, and in case of war to furnish 
its quota of men, arms, and ammunition. Dyar Cambodia sought 
refuge at the island of Rhio in 1773. Since that time the kingdom has 
undergone various revolutions, and different sovereigns have held rule, 
who have finally by their intestine wars almost depopulated the 
country. 
The inhabitants have many singular customs, in some respects not 
unlike those heretofore described as existing among the Polynesian 
islanders. 
In religion, the Malays of the Peninsula are all Moslems, and are 
