MALAY LAND TENURE. 127 



According to the Menangkabau law of inheritance, the 

 nephew on the sister's side becomes heir to his uncle's pro- 

 perty to the exclusion of the son of the latter. The tradition 

 which accounts for this singular regulation is to be found in 

 Newbold's work on the Straits of Malacca, vol. II, p. 221. 

 A similar custom prevails in the Eastern Province of Ceylon 

 and in parts of India, and there is a Sinhalese legend, not 

 unlike the Malay one, explanatory of its origin."* This 

 custom is still observed in the district of Naning in the 

 interior of Malacca, and in liambau, Sungei Ujong and the 

 Negri Sambilan. 



The Perak custom differs from this. In that State the lands 

 and houses of the deceased descend to his daughters equally, 

 while the sons divide the personal property. The latter are 

 supposed to be able to create landed estates for themselves, by 

 clearing and planting land which they may select, or, at all 

 events, to obtain the use of land by marrying women who may 

 have inherited it. 



However, the more active of the Muhammadan priests and 

 mosque officials, especially if they be foreigners and not Perak 

 Malays, endeavour, as far as they can, to get the Muhamma- 

 dan law of inheritance adopted, to the exclusion of the local 

 custom. The older men are more conservative. From infor- 

 mation supplied by an old Imam up the country, I learn that 

 the principle of distribution practised in his district is as fol- 

 lows : — 



" If a man dies without children, leaving a widow, his pro- 

 " perty is divided between her and the icaris of the deceased. 

 " If he leaves a wife and children, the property is, in the first 

 " instance, divided into two equal shares, one of which gees to 

 " "the icaris of the deceased and the other is again sub-divided 

 " into four parts, one of which ( one-eighth of the whole ) 

 " goes to the widow and the other three ( three-eighths ) are 

 " divided among the children/'' 



" If there are children of both sexes, the three-eighths above- 

 " mentioned are divided into four portions, of which three go 



Tennent's Ceylon, II, 458. 



