MALAY LAND TENURE. 147 



" But no sooner has the cultivator got rid of the assessor than 



• he falls into the Lauds of tLe renter, who, under tLe autho- 

 c rity with which tLe law invests him, finds himself possessed 



' of unusual powers of vexation and annoyance. He may be^ 

 1 designedly out of the way when the cultivator sends notice of 

 f his intention to cut; and if the latter, to save his harvest 

 ' from perishing on the stalk, ventures to reap it in his ab- 

 f sence, the penalties of the law are instantly enforced against 



• him. Under the pressure of this formidable control, the 

 c agricultural proprietor, rather than lose his time or his crop 

 ' in dancing attendance on the renter, or submitting to the 

 •' multiform annoyances of his subordinates, is driven to pur- 

 ' chase forbearance by additional payments ; and it is generally 

 ( understood that the share of the tax which eventually reaches 

 ' the Treasury does not form one-half of the amount which is 

 { . thus extorted by oppressive devices from the helpless pro- 

 ' prietors. - " 



" The same process which is here described for the collection 



• of the tax upon rice lands in the valleys is resorted to for 

 ' realising that upon dry grain in the uplands and hills ; and it 

 ( is a striking confirmation of the discouragement to the exten- 

 ' sion of agriculture, which is inseparable from a system so 

 ' vexatious and so oppressive, that by a return of the produce 

 f of the paddi tax and that on dry grain for the years prior to 

 ' 1846, during which the cultivation of every other description 

 ' of produce had been making extensive advances, it was shewn 

 ' that the production of corn had been for some time station- 

 ' ary in Ceylon ; and the increase has been very inconsiderable 



since, 



>;* 



Chapter X. 



LAND TENURE IN MALACCA UNDER 

 EUROPEAN RULE. 



British rule in Malacca dates from 1825, the year in which 

 the cession arranged by the treaty with the Netherlands of 



* Sir Emerson Tennent's Hist, of Ceylon, II, 170, n. 



