MALAY SLAVERY LAW. 249 
the value of a free man at $25 (100 dtdor). Theoretically, a 
man could not be fined more than that sum, and was entitled 
to be released from bondage, on the tender of that sum, what- 
ever might have been the nominal amount of the fine imposed by 
a Chief. In practice, however, in a state of society recognis- 
ing no right but that of the strongest, the acknowledged exist- 
ence of this custom has not prevented the imposition of fines 
by Rajas and Chiefs far exceeding in amount the sum above 
named and the retention in bondage of persons whose relation 
would willingly pay that sum for their release. 
Slaves and debt-bondsmen in Perak before 1874.—The num- 
ber of slaves and slave-bondsmen now in Perak is probably 
3,C00, about one-sixteenth of the whole Malay population. 
Before the establishment of settled government, under the 
administration of British officers, this form of property was much 
more valuable than at present. Every Raja and Chief was ac- 
companied, when he went abroad, and was served when at 
home, by numerous dependents, debt-bondsmen, and slaves, who 
lived in or near his house, and belonged to his household. If 
they misbehaved they might be beaten and tortured, and slaves 
(‘abdi) might bekilled. If they ran away a regular scale of re- 
wards, calculated according to distance, defined the payment 
to be made by their owner to any one capturing them. The 
ownership of a number of slaves and debt-bondsmen was a 
mark of a man of rank, wealth, and influence, and the aggre- 
gate amount of capital represented by his debt-bondsmen often 
amounted to several thousand dollars. The desire to possess, 
as a dependent, some particular person, sometimes led to the 
invention of fictitious debts, and people were liable, with little 
hope of redress, to be dragged from their homes and taken to 
the house of some great man, nominally as security for some debt, 
of which, perhaps, they had never heard. No work that debt- 
bondsmen performed for their creditors and masters operated 
to lessen the debt. They served in his household, cultivated 
his fields, and worked in his mines; but such service was mere- 
ly a necessary incident of their position and was not accepted 
in part payment. Sometimes the master fed and clothed them, but 
more often they had to supply themselves with all necessaries, 
