MALAY LAND TENURE, 79 



cultivator. Abandoned fruit-plantations, on the other hand, 

 may be successfully claimed and resumed by the proprietor, or 

 by any one claiming under him by descent or transfer, as long 

 as any of the trees survive, and the proprietary right is not 

 extinguished until all evidence of proprietorship is gone.* 



A general view of the tenure of land in a Malay State has 

 been given by Colonel Low ; f the State selected as a type of the 

 rest being Kedah, as it existed before the Siamese conquest : — 

 " The sovereign was lord of the soil, which the orang bindang, 

 " or ryots, cultivated under regular tenures. The chief one was 

 " termed surat putus, under which the occupier paid at the out- 

 e ! set the price of one mas, or rupee, for every orlong of land. 

 " He received this deed from the Raja, and it was stamped, with 

 " the chops of the latter and his ministers. It was in perpetui- 

 " ty, and could not be alienated, but was subject to resumption 

 '• by the Government if the possessor allowed the land to go to 

 " waste within a given period — sometimes thirty years. Instead 

 " of a regular quit-rent, each ryot capable of labour was sub- 

 " jected to a capitation-tax of 16 gantangs of paddy and one of 

 " cleaned rice, which would now be equivalent to nearly a 

 w dollar. This was occasionally commuted into a copper pay- 

 " ment." But Colonel Low fails to remark, what I believe to 

 be the case, that only a small portion of the land of the State, 



* This is what T have myself observed in Perak, and have heard declared 

 by natives to be the custom of the country. It agrees with what Maesdex 

 says of the Malays of Sumatra : — 



" Whilst any of those (fruit-trees) subsist, the descendants of the planter 

 " may cl aim the ground, though it has been for years abandoned. If they are 

 " cut down, he may recover damages ; but if they have disappeared in the 

 lt course of nature, the land reverts to the public." 



f Dissertation on Penang and Province Wellesley, p. 6. The practice of 

 using a written document has perhaps been borrowed by the Kedah Malays 

 from the Siamese : <4 A Chan Naa, or cultivator, who is desirous of clearing 

 " ground, applies to the headman of the village. The latter shews his written 

 ' ' application to the proper officer, who directs him to inspect the land and 

 " measure it. The applicant, having cleared it, receives a written title ; but 

 " although he is not iu it vested absolutely with a right in perpetuity, still 

 " the land forms thereafter a part of his real property, is alienable by deed of 

 " sale, or by gift, and descends to his heirs at law. From this it is clear that 

 " the King can take advantage of so defective a title. Prescription is the 

 " owner's best safeguard."— Colonel Low, Journ. hid. Arch., I, 337 = 



